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.

Washington - The successor to Windows Vista now has a name: Windows 7.

Although the new operating system is not due to hit store shelves until late next year, Microsoft felt that now was the time not only to unveil the name of the next version of the world's most-used operating system but, more importantly, the rationale for the abandonment of the "aspirational" naming scheme of recent versions of Windows.

London, Oct 16 : In a breakthrough study, European physicists have developed a unique computer circuit that can build itself - a development that can lead to self-assembling computers.

A team of European physicists has developed an integrated circuit that can build itself. The work, appearing in this week''s Nature1, is an important step towards its ultimate goal - a self-assembling computer.

Currently, computer chips are made by etching patterns onto semiconducting wafers using a combination of light and photosensitive chemicals.

San Francisco - Global computer sales from July to September grew 15 per cent from 2007, but tougher economic conditions around the world meant that many of the 80.6 million devices sold were less expensive notebooks, according to research issued Tuesday by Gartner.

Growth was slowest in the United States, where sales increased 4.8 per cent from the third quarter of 2007.

"The US home market saw definite softness," said Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa, while the Asia Pacific region was impacted by slowing PC sales in China. "The global PC market finally felt the impact from global economic downturn."

London, Oct 13: Six computers have been unable to pass a major artificial intelligence test that involved holding a conservation with a person, thus indicating that computers are still not quite clever enough o fool humans.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the test, known as the Turing test, tested six machines to see if they could pass themselves off as humans in text-based conversations with people.

Although two machines came close to imitating a real-time “chat”, the Turing Test has not been passed.

The Turing test, developed by British mathematician Alan Turing in 1950, is a proposal for a test of a machine’s ability to demonstrate intelligence.