Two groups of iPhone and iPad users are suing Apple saying apps for the gadgets leak personally identifiable data.

The groups want to stop personal data being passed around without owners being notified or compensated.

Apple is just one of six application makers being pursued by the two groups of consumers.

The legal firm putting together one class action lawsuit said it might also take action against Google over data leaking from Android applications.

Backflip Studios, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com and others were named in court papers supporting the lawsuits.

The papers allege that many applications collect so much personal data that users can be individually identified. This is despite Apple operating a policy that allows data to be shared with third parties only if an app requires the information to keep running.

The complainants said many firms, including advertisers, wer ... Read more »

NEW YORK – Time Warner Cable Inc. customers from Portland, Maine, to Pensacola, Fla., could lose access to one of their network TV stations because of a contract dispute with Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The dust-up between Sinclair and Time Warner is one of a growing number of disputes over the fees that cable providers pay broadcast stations to include their signals in channel lineups. The last high-profile dispute that caused a blackout came earlier this year when Cablevision Systems Corp. customers went without Fox programming for 15 days — missing two World Series games.

In most cases, however, cable and broadcast companies have been able to avoid blackouts, even if negotiations go down the wire.

Broadcast companies used to allow cable providers to carry their channels for free and made their money selling commercial time. But competition with cable networks for ad dollars has intensified, and the recession underscored how quickly ad spending ca ... Read more »

SEOUL (Reuters Life!) – Stressed out South Korean men without time to date can now at least pretend they have a girlfriend, albeit on their smart phone.

Launched on November 30 by Nabix, a South Korean developer, the iPhone application "Honey it's me!" is warming lonely hearts with the voice of "Mina," a 20-something virtual woman.

For $1.99, Mina will make video-calls four times a day, showering subscribers with a message of bliss from 100 available. With recorded messages such as "good night, sweet dreams," Nabix said it would help subscribers feel someone cares for them and is consistently thinking of them. ... Read more »

ROUND ROCK, Texas – Dell Inc. said Monday it has a deal to buy the data storage company Compellent Technologies Inc. for $884 million.

The offer price is slightly more than Dell said it would pay last week, before the companies had signed a formal agreement. Dell will pay $27.75 per share, up from $27.50.

Compellent shares dropped 73 cents, or 2.5 percent, to close at $27.98 Monday. Dell shares fell 54 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $13.35. ... Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc.'s holiday trimmings will include 600 to 700 layoffs in the Internet company's latest shake-up triggered by lackluster growth.

Employees could be notified of the job cuts as early as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with Yahoo's plans. The person asked for anonymity because Yahoo hadn't made a formal announcement.

The planned cutbacks represent about 5 percent of Yahoo's work force of 14,100 employees. It will mark Yahoo's fourth mass layoff in the past three years.

The latest two housecleanings have come under the company's current CEO, Carol Bartz, a Silicon Valley veteran hired nearly two years, despite a lack of experience on the Web or in advertising — Yahoo's main source of revenue. ... Read more »

WASHINGTON – It will take several more years for the government to fully install high-tech systems to block computer intrusions, a drawn-out timeline that enables criminals to become more adept at stealing sensitive data, experts say. ... Read more »

Wikileaks did it again. The website exists solely for the purpose of making secret information public, and some of its greatest hits -- or worst disasters, depending on your point of view -- have consisted of tens of thousands of leaked military documents relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. ... Read more »

November 29 - December 5, 2010

WASHINGTON – Travellers and transportation screeners alike dream of a day when people will no longer have to spread their legs and lift their arms for intimate pat-downs or see-through body scanners. ... Read more »