IDG News Service —

How will we ever get a leg up on hackers who are infecting computers worldwide? Microsoft's security chief laid out several suggestions Tuesday, including a possible Internet usage tax to pay for the inspection and quarantine of machines.

Today most hacked PCs run Microsoft's Windows operating system, and the company has invested millions in trying to fight the problem.

Microsoft recently used the U.S. court system to shut down the Waledac botnet, introducing a new tactic in the battle against hackers.

s you surely know, Google has accused China of hacking into its systems and is considering pulling out of China altogether. The U.S. government is taking this seriously, and Google has partnered with the NSA (National Security Agency) to get to the bottom of this.

Among the many open source projects on the upswing is Drupal, a content management system written in PHP; Drupal has attracted a lot of attention from developers and mindshare among end users. This week, when Drupal 7 was about to go into Alpha test, I spoke with Dries Buytaert, creator of Drupal and also the founder of the Drupal services company, Acquia.

The excitement around 3D TV at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) did not appear to be influencing companies at the AVN-Adult Entertainment Expo taking place at the same time, despite the fact that the adult industry is often a first mover in new video technologies.

Electronics giants such as Sony and Samsung unveiled a range of new products for 3D home entertainment at CES, including ultra-thin-screen HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players, in high hopes that consumers will snap them up this year.

The adult industry is taking a more cautious approach.

Despite the numerous technologies that exist for sending data through the air there's one cable that most gadgets can't do without at some time. The power cable remains a necessary but sometimes unsightly part of many modern electronic appliances -- but now even that might be on the way out.