Dell in biggest ever notebook PC batteries recall
San Francisco: US based laptop and PC maker Dell Inc is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries which are catching fire on overheating. This is the biggest recall in the company's 22-year history and was issued on the advice of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Dell said the voluntary recall was because of the lithium-ion batteries made by Sony Corp. unit Sony Energy Devices Corp., which Dell said could in rare cases produce smoke and catch fire.

The batteries are also used by other computer makers, including Apple Computer Inc., which said it was looking into the issue. Hewlett-Packard Co. said its notebooks were not affected by the recall.

Dell said no injuries have been reported to the defect involving the Dell-branded batteries. The company has received six reports of batteries overheating, causing damage to furniture and personal belongings, the safety commission said.

About 2.7 million of the recalled notebooks are in the United States.

The recall comes as Dell is trying to refresh its image with a marketing campaign to demonstrate improvements in customer service after the company received complaints of inferior after-sales service. Dell is investing about $100 million this year and hiring 2,000 people in the improvement efforts.

U.S. consumer safety officials said they were reviewing all Sony-made lithium-ion batteries in laptop computers for fire hazards.

A battery of the type involved in the recall was in a Dell laptop that erupted in flames in Japan earlier this year. Such batteries are also used in a wide array of gadgets including cellphones, digital cameras, camcorders and music players.
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Microsoft warns of security risks to game makers
Seattle: Microsoft Corp. has warned video game developers that PC games have become a target for criminals. Multiplayer online games, such as "World of Warcraft," that are hugely popular have created a market for valuable game identities loaded with gold or other hard-earned forms of in-game currency that can be used to buy new weapons, magic spells or other trappings to advance within the game.

Using malware or software designed to infiltrate a computer system, hackers steal account information for users of MMO games and then sell off virtual gold, weapons and other items for real money.

Online game accounts are already on sale in the black market next to stolen credit card accounts, fraudulent passports, fake work papers and other illegal items gathered by identity theft.
In fact, some game accounts can be worth up to $10,000.
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World Bank sees China's economy grow 10.4 pct this year
The World Bank has said that the Chinese economy is expected to grow 10.4 percent this year and 9.3 percent in 2007. China's gross domestic product expanded by 10.9 percent in the first half of the year, implying second quarter growth of 11.3 percent. The outlook for the country's economy remains "favorable," prompting no need for overheating worries, the bank said in a quarterly report released in Beijing.

With production capacity continuing to expand in line with demand, inflation low and the current account in surplus, the main policy concern is not general overheating for now. In the long term, however, the continued investment boom warrants concerns about efficiency and makes more moderate growth desirable, explained the report. The World Bank statistics revealed that from January to June, six million urban jobs were created, 60 percent of the government's target for the year. The private sector created 5.9 million jobs in the first quarter, far more than the number of jobs shed by state-owned and collective enterprises, 2.6 million.

The bank also attributed the strong fixed assets investment to local government behavior, saying local rather than central governments have more clouts in most economic decisions. From January to June, between 10 and 20 percent of investment was carried out by local governments, it said.
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