Microsoft is investigating how one of the most hotly anticipated Xbox titles of the year appeared on the net three weeks ahead of its official release. Halo Reach, due to be launched on 14 September, appeared on file-sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay. Within hours of being available,

Top mobile phone maker Nokia and chip maker Intel said on Tuesday their software joint venture had got off to a solid start. "Take-up is really positive," Mika Setala, director of industry alliances at Nokia, told journalists. "The MeeGo community is active, vibrant," said Martin

The world`s two biggest personal computer makers are locked in a pricey struggle over which can move away from the PC business the fastest. Computer maker Hewlett Packard (HP) has launched a $1.6bn (£1bn) bid for data storage firm 3PAR, trumping a $1.2bn offer made by rival Dell last

Twelve people are to face court accused of using stolen credit cards to buy their own songs on iTunes, police said. A gang is alleged to have created about 20 songs and uploaded them to be sold on the iTunes and Amazon online sites. They are alleged to have used stolen or cloned credit

In a symbolic exchanging of the pop princess crown, Lady Gaga will soon become the world`s top Twitter user by overtaking current champ Britney Spears` number of followers. According to social media statistics service Famecount.com, Gaga recorded 5,635,460 followers earlier today, while

Smartphones will make up over half of Asian mobile phone sales by 2015, with 477 million units likely to be sold, an industry report said Monday. Consultancy Frost and Sullivan said smartphones would account for 54 percent of the Asia-Pacific mobile market in five years, up sharply from

Bank of America Corp, the largest U.S. consumer bank, and Visa Inc, the world`s largest payment processor, plan to begin a test program next month that lets customers use smartphones to pay for purchases in stores.The program, to run from September through the end of the year in the New

Google has released a highly-requested Gmail feature for Linux users: video and voice chat. Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux distributions are supported, with RPM support coming soon. To try it out, download the required plugin at gmail.com/videochat. The release may be good news,

The world`s biggest chip maker, Intel, has agreed to buy the security technology firm, McAfee. Through buying McAfee, a leading security technology firm, Intel intends to build security features into its microprocessors which go into products such as laptops and phones. Intel will pay

A solution to security concerns on BlackBerry has to come from Research in Motion, a top Bharti Airtel executive said on Friday, adding that operators like itself can only co-ordinate efforts. Sanjay Kapoor, the mobile operator`s chief executive for India and South Asia, also said he

The movie stars top the latest list of the most dangerous celebrities to search for online, according to new research by computer-security software maker McAfee Inc. It`s far from an Oscar, but landing atop McAfee`s annual list carries a distinction all its own: It means that criminals

YouTube has just announced it will be featuring its top videos in a new section called YouTube Charts. This page will keep you updated on which videos are trending right now, which are all-time classics, how various vids stack up against one another and more. Think of it as the Billboard

Social networking behemoth Facebook has added a feature that allows members to share where they are while on the move. Places, as it is known, marks the company`s first foray into the "location-based services" space, which has become popular with users who want to share where they shop,

Microsoft released an update to its Windows Live Essentials 2011 beta, which brings added functionality to Movie Maker, Writer, Mail, and Family Safety. With the update, Microsoft has made Windows Live Messenger faster, more social, and more efficient; the update delivers shorter sign-in

Sony Corp`s Playstation 3 will feature higher-capacity hard drives in North America this fall to let consumers download more games and entertainment, the company said. The game console will come with about 33 percent more storage capacity than previous versions, but at least one analyst

Spain has become the latest country to launch an investigation into the collection of sensitive wi-fi data by Google. Google has admitted that its Street View cars had "accidentally" collected data from unsecured wi-fi networks in more than 30 countries. It is in response to a complaint

India has sent formal notices to the country`s mobile operators telling them they must have equipment to monitor Blackberry services by 31 August. The move will increase pressure on Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) to allow Indian security agencies access to encrypted messages.

Facebook members were warned today of a rogue "dislike" feature luring users into giving away personal information to scammers. The site said it was investigating examples of the scam, which tricks members into giving away permission to access their profile pages. The scam tricks users

More than half of Britons admit making their online passwords easily available on the internet and never change their details unless prompted to do so, research indicates. Experian, the credit reference agency, warns that millions of people leave themselves open to identity fraud by

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser turns 15 on Monday. The first version of the browser, Internet Explorer 1, debuted on August 16, 1995. It was based on Mosaic, a web browser Microsoft had licensed from a company called Spyglass Inc. Starting with version 3.0, Microsoft started