Psystar stops selling Mac clones with Apple's OS
Mac clone maker Psystar has agreed to pay Apple nearly $2.7 million in a partial settlement approved by the federal judge who has overseen the 17-month case. Read more...

Northrop Grumman launches cybersecurity research group

Apple, Psystar strike deal in copyright case

Apple moves to kill second Psystar lawsuit

Psystar promised investors huge clone sales

Milan prosecutors seek prison sentences for Google execs

Apple asks judge to shutter Psystar's clone business

Man pleads guilty to selling fake chips to US Navy

'Godfather of Spam' sentenced to four years in prison

EU drops Qualcomm antitrust investigation

More Standards and Legal Issues Stories

Retail mania, IE woes, EU charges
As in years past, this was a traditionally slow IT news week, especially in the U.S., where Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday was a primary focus, followed by the annual retail extravaganza known as Black Friday. For the uninitiated, the day after Thanksgiving is spent by many in wild throes of consumerism with some stores opening at the stroke of midnight to admit hoards of bargain hunters, while others spend online, on what we're told is the start of the holiday shopping season. While it may seem that the "black" refers to how woeful many will feel when their credit-card bills arrive, it's actually a reference to retailers moving into profitability because of holiday shopping. Our trivia lesson for the week over, we also should note that there was some real news that occurred, what with the ongoing IE exploit and the larger world not sidetracked by holidays, real or imagined.

Three indicted for Comcast hack last year
Three hackers have been indicted for redirecting the Comcast.net Web site to a page of their own making in 2008.

AMD and Intel patch things up, HP buys 3Com
We had a blockbuster deal this week, with Hewlett-Packard saying it plans to buy 3Com, and a blockbuster settlement, with Advanced Micro Devices and Intel ending a long-running legal dispute. By midnight tonight, Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers are supposed to file a revised book-search settlement proposal, which could add to our top stories list for the week. For now, though, what follows are our top IT headlines of the moment.

iPhone security problems bring new risks
In just four days, not one but two worms targeting the iPhone have emerged. Both of the worms target the same vulnerability, a default password in the SSH server that is installed on jail-broken iPhones. While one worm is a mostly a nuisance, the second siphons personal information from the iPhone, which makes it a serious identity theft threat.

PeerBlock Helps You Surf the Web in Secret
They're lurking out there--sleazy spyware companies, unscrupulous advertisers, and just people you don't want looking at what your computer is doing. PeerBlock (free), an open source program, offers part of a solution--low level blocking of packets coming from, or going to, a long list of hosts.

TSMC court win a major blow to China's biggest chip maker
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) has won a major victory over China's biggest chip maker in a court case that could have wide ranging implications for the loser.

Practical identity protection you can use
Is it Christmas already? I'm beginning to receive informative e-mails about evil hackers who want to steal my identity during the dangerous (and ever lengthening) holiday season. As usual the advice ranges from lame to impossible.

Microsoft and EU settle, phishing scams, busts
Capping our list of top IT news stories this week, Microsoft and the European Commission reached accord on the ongoing antitrust case against the company. While this will free up some room in future top-news lists, we expect that we'll continue to have no end of bad news related to phishing scams, of which there was plenty this week as well. Thankfully, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison added some levity to the mix, though his brand of joking undoubtedly fell flat at Salesforce.com.

NotAwesome Firefox Add-On Hides History
Enough people loved Firefox's history and bookmark searching location bar that the name "AwesomeBar" caught on. While this tool is great for productivity, its omniscience is a serious privacy concern. Don't let your boss see that you've been looking for a new career on job search Web sites. You can clear your history, and completely exclude bookmarks from displaying in the bar, but why waste such a useful feature just to hide a few URLs? NotAwesome is a simple, free add-on that allows you to selectively hide bookmarks from the incriminating gaze of the AwesomeBar.

Trouble With Default Settings at Online Stores
As an Amazon Prime member, I pay a yearly lump sum that entitles me to free two-day shipping for my many Amazon purchases. But six months ago, I noticed that small shipping charges were appearing on my bill at checkout; free two-day shipping was no longer the default choice on my purchases. Instead, a check mark ap­­peared next to the option for paid overnight delivery.

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