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So does the garbage man need a PI license, just in case he sees something in the trash? Does the gardener need one just in case the plants dieing in a corner of the yard are due to buried evidence?

BobJacobsen writes "CBSnews.com has an article about Bill Gates and Steve Balmer answering questions at the 'All Things Digital' conference. When asked about 'high points' in his time at Microsoft, Gates replied 'Windows 95 was a nice milestone.' The article continues 'He also spoke highly of Microsoft SharePoint Server software, but didn't mention Vista.' Was there really nothing else that Gates considered a high point?"

mattnyc99 writes "Looks like Kim Jong Il's up to it again: Popular Mechanics has an in-depth report on North Korea's biological and chemical weapons stock, which has been developed in secret and has gone largely unnoticed amidst the country's nuke threat."

Forrester Research alarms journalists with a report concluding that Apple has sold only 22 songs through iTunes per iPod sold. People are eating it up -- but it misses the point. iTunes isn't meant to make money -- it's a security blanket for users and record labels.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/topheadlines/~3/60320714/commentary_tech.html

Rolgar writes "At launch, you could easily acquire a Wii, at least when compared to the other console launches in the past year. Now, at least in some locations, its near impossible to get your hands on one, as one blogger reports it. So, when will you be able to walk in and buy one at the counter. February? July? Next Christmas? 2008?"

lizzyben writes "Baseline reports that Providence Health & Services, a health — care service provider, lost information on 365,000 patients — after 10 backup tapes and disks were stolen from an employee's minivan. Now, 12 months and $7 million later, the company remains mired in the aftermath.

From the story: "The incident also exposed Providence to a relatively unknown, costly and potentially dangerous variation of ID theft — medical ID theft. Here, thieves can use stolen information to obtain treatment in victims' names, corrupt their medical records and file false insurance claims.

"People whose health records are stolen and falsified may get the wrong medical treatment, find their insurance exhausted or become uninsurable, says Pam Dixon, executive director of World Privacy Forum and author of a report, Medical Identity Theft: The Information Crime that Can Kill You. Medical ID theft 'can affect your health and well-being,' she warns.""