Comet 'sold 94,000 pirate Windows CDs', claims Microsoft.

Microsoft has accused high-street retailer Comet of pirating 94,000 Windows Vista and Windows XP recovery CDs and selling them to consumers.
The software giant announced this morning that it had "filed a suit" against Comet Group PLC, accusing the group of manufacturing counterfeit discs at a factory in Hampshire and selling them through its UK retail outlets. Comet has 248 stores across the UK. The allegedly counterfeit recovery discs were then sold to customers who had bought desktops and laptops running Windows, Microsoft said.
Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting David Finn called Comet's actions "unfair to customers" in this morning's statement.  "We expect better from retailers of Microsoft products - and our customers deserve better, too," he said.
In an official statement, Comet said it had sought legal advice from "leading counsel" to "support its view that the production of recovery discs did not infringe Microsoft’s intellectual property."  " Comet is satisfied that it has a good defence to the claim and will defend its position vigorously," the retailer said.
Comet made an operating loss for the six months to October of €6.4m (£5.3m). Owner Kesa Electricals group is selling Comet to private equity shop OpCapita for £2 with the sweetener of a £50m capital injection from Kesa. The deal is expected to close next month.

BT defends record on local cable theft.

A COMMUNICATIONS company has defended its response to a spate of attempted cable thefts. Copper telephone cables have been cut in North Luffenham four times since September in what police believe is an attempt to steal them and sell them to scrap metal dealers.
Each time residents and businesses were left without phone and internet access for several days, with many complaining they were losing business. They have now contacted Rutland MP Alan Duncan to ask for his support to tackle the problem.
Mr Duncan (Con) said: “These thefts are as socially unacceptable as any vandalism and those responsible should be treated as severely as we did the rioters.
“Clearly the primary fault lies with the thieves themselves but I have written to BT urging them to improve the response they offer to those left without service by the criminal actions of others.”
BT is now reviewing its security and considering using alarms to deter criminals.
A spokesman said: “Metal theft is a growing problem in the UK and we fully understand and share the frustrations of residents and businesses who are impacted when criminals attack our network in this way.  Network security is of paramount importance to us and we are constantly reviewing our processes to make sure our infrastructure protection is robust.”

Man enters US without passport - thanks to his iPad

A Canadian man who realised he forgot his passport as he approached the US border found a new way to gain entry - his iPad. Martin Reisch said on Tuesday a slightly annoyed US border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented a scanned copy of his passport on his Apple iPad.  Mr Reisch was half an hour from the border when he decided to try to gain entry rather than make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.  He told the officer he was heading to the US to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend's kids.   He said the officer seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad.  "I thought I'd at least give it a try," Mr Reisch said. "He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas."  Mr Reisch, 33, said he took a scanned photo of his passport years ago in case it was over lost or stolen while traveling. He said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.  He said he doubts he'd get away with it again and will bring his passport next time.

Steve Jobs action figure set for shop shelves

The popularity of collectable figurines may have declined from the golden years of Star Wars statues and Hulk Hogan toys, but when it comes to Apple fanboys, replica models of the late Steve Jobs are sure to be a hot property.
While Apple has been a stickler in the past over the production of such models, Chinese company InIcons is having another crack of the whip with a 12 inch Jobs poseable figure, set to go on sale in February.
The collectable, equipped with trademark polo neck, jeans and John Lennon specs, is of a 1:6 scale and will retail for around $100 (£64).  The company has stopped taking pre-orders for the GI Jobs, after an apparent overload of interest.