The 'world's cheapest laptop', developed in India, was unveiled by Union Minister for Human Resources Development Arjun Singh at the Tirupati temple on Tuesday evening.
The laptop, jointly developed by several organisations, such as the University Grants Commission, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will be priced at around $10 to $20 (about Rs 500 to Rs 1,000), officials said.
S K Sinha, joint secretary in the ministry for education, giving a demonstration of the device which is smaller than the normal laptop, said that it will need some more fine-tuning. He said the laptop is expected to reach the market in about six months.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/feb/03india-unveils-10-dollar-laptop.htm

Reuters have a report that Toshiba is planning to quit production of HD-DVD players, which seems will drive the last nail in the format's coffin. The source seems to be public broadcaster by name NHK from Tokyo. The report also claims the move will cost Toshiba millions of dollars. http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSL1627196120080216/

French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany have won the 2007 Nobel Prize for physics. They discovered the phenomenon of "giant magnetoresistance", in which weak magnetic changes give rise to big differences in electrical resistance.

The knowledge has allowed industry to develop sensitive reading tools to pull data off hard drives in computers, iPods and other digital devices. It has made it possible to radically miniaturise hard disks in recent years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7035247.stm

BBC reports that, customer demand has forced Microsoft to extend the shelf life of Windows XP by five months. Microsoft was scheduled to stop selling the six-year-old operating system on 30 January 2008 to leave the field clear for Vista.

Now the date on which many sellers of XP will no longer be able to offer it has been lengthened to 30 June 2008. Microsoft said the change was to help those customers that needed more time to make the switch to Vista.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7017624.stm

Delhi teacher Uma Khurana was accused of forcing students into prostitution. As the "sting" came out in LiveIndia news channel, riots broke out in the city and a mob attacked the school at which Ms. Khurana worked. She also spent 10 days in prison. A police investigation later revealed the sting had been faked and the teacher falsely accused. The teacher has been reinstated and the undercover journalist, Prakash Singh, who made the report has been arrested. India's Broadcasting Ministry said the report on Live India had been "defamatory, deliberate and false". Live India is the first news channel to be banned in India. The station says it was misled by its reporter. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7005185.stm

Steve Jobs announced that Apple is giving $100 back for those who purchased iPhone before the price drop announced yesterday. According to Steve, "... we have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. ... We want to do the right thing for our valued iPhone customers. We apologize for disappointing some of you, and we are doing our best to live up to your high expectations of Apple." Here is the open letter from Steve, http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/