Pune, Aug. 7 : Ever since software developers and hardware experts made their presence felt in Pune in 2002, there has been no looking back for the Information Technology (IT) sector in this industrial city of Maharashtra.

The progressive trends in the IT industry have benefitted businesses like real estate, hospitality and consumer services to a great extent.

The business ventures of real estate and hospitality have directly and indirectly gained the optimum from the IT boom in Pune.

In the real estate market, there has been a visible growth where it has generated around 70,000 employment opportunities.

Around 30,000 to 40,000 commercial buildings and residential dwellings have been constructed annually.

London, July 31 : New research has shown that three per cent of 100-year olds have referred to an online encyclopaedia, and that four times that number use the Internet.

During the study, three in every hundred centenarians reported that they had done a little research using the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, while two in every hundred said that they had Googled someone.

The study also revealed that three per cent of the centenarians had had browsed the likes of Amazon to find a gift, while two per cent had used the internet to research a health topic.

Seven per cent reported being familiar with e-mail, and more than half of them even said that they had either sent or received digital photos.

London - A British computer hacker accused of breaking into top secret US defence and aerospace systems Wednesday lost his appeal against extradition to the US where he could face a life sentence if convicted of sabotaging vital defence systems.

Gary McKinnon, a 42-year-old computer and UFO enthusiast from Glasgow, Scotland, has been described as the "biggest military hack of all time."

His appeal against a 2006 High Court ruling was rejected by the Law Lords Wednesday, Britain's top appeal court.

McKinnon was never charged in Britain after admitting that he accessed 97 computers of the Pentagon and the US space agency NASA between 2001 and 2002 in an alleged search for information on UFOs.

London, July 24: Internet giant Google has come up with a new online encyclopaedia to counter Wikipedia.

Users will be allowed to write articles on their own areas of expertise on the new free service called ‘Knol’, which stands for unit of knowledge.

Google hopes that internet users will contribute to articles on a wide range of topics, from gardening and pottery to Byzantine art and neo-classical literature.

Google insists that its new service differs from Wikipedia in many respects.

Washington, July 23: A large percentage of online banking sites have at least one design flaw, which in turn, can make customers vulnerable to cyber thieves when it comes to their money or even identity, finds a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher.

Atul Prakash, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and doctoral students Laura Falk and Kevin Borders examined the Web sites of 214 financial institutions in 2006 and found that 75 percent of them had security flaws.

According to the study’s researchers the design flaws aren''t bugs that can be fixed with a patch, in fact, they stem from the flow and the layout of these Web sites.

London, July 21: When it comes to brands, Google is the one Brits like the best.

The search engine took the top spot in the new poll, while last year’s winner, Microsoft came in at second spot.

Third on the list was Mercedes-Benz, followed by the BBC at number four.

The top five favourite brands were rounded off by British Airways, reports The Sun.

Stephen Cheliotis, of pollsters the Superbrands Council, said: “Everyday staples seem further than ever from the affections of the British people.”