Munich - Posting the details of one's doings on the Internet for the world to see is all the rage right now. Micro-blogging is one recent form of short online messages that is particularly well-suited to letting other people have permanent access to the details of one's daily life. Experts expect that this type of exchange will soon become an integral component of digital communication.

Micro-blogging combines characteristics from various communications worlds. As with traditional web-based diaries or blogs, micro-bloggers create a profile with a blog service and use it to post short entries. These posts are not normally more than 140 keystrokes long - shorter than a standard text message.

Munich - Most PC users are happy enough with a standard keyboard and mouse. Gamers, however, can be very demanding when it comes to their hardware, and manufacturers have responded with keyboards and mice specially tuned to their needs.

While these devices include a variety of extra functions, the question of whether the extras justify the significantly higher prices is a matter of debate.

Stuttgart, Germany - More German youths have a computer of their own than a television. While 71 per cent of 12 to 19-year-olds own a computer, the share of youths with their own TV came to 61 per cent, according to a 2008 "JIM Study" by the Stuttgart-based Media Pedagogy Research Association Southwest.

Hamburg - Data on a computer is only worth encrypting if that data is actually secure. Unfortunately, some data encryption programs have significant security gaps, according to a study by the Hamburg-based magazine Computerbild.

The magazine tested eight encryption programs, including some freeware releases, in co-operation with experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology.

Four programs received "inadequate" marks due to significant security problems. Those include Free CompuSec, Disc Enryptor, DriveCrypt and Desktop Home. Some of those programs store the password for accessing encrypted data in plain text, which would give thieves easy access.

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh), Oct 18 : The countdown to the launch of Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned moon mission to be launched on October 22, will start on Monday.

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Associate Director M Y S Prasad said, "The countdown will start on Monday early morning."

On Friday, the spacecraft was moved to the launch pad.

Prasad said that preparatory activities, including checking of various parameters in payloads, to start the countdown are going on.

London, October 18 : U. S. experts are urging cell phone users to exercise the same caution with their mobiles that they do to protect their computers from spam and virus attacks. 

The Georgia Institute of Technology Information Security Center (GTISC) says in its annual Emerging Cyber Threats Report that mobile devices can become targets for hi-tech criminals.

The report suggests that with the rise in the number of smartphone users, more applications will allow financial and payment infrastructure that employs them, and cyber-criminals will try to obtain such sensitive data.