According to the Associated Press, “China’s main mobile phone company said Friday it will launch trial service of the homegrown Chinese next-generation standard next week, possibly moving the huge market closer to the long-anticipated rollout of new services.  Companies expect a multibillion-dollar wave of spending on equipment once China awards licenses for third-generation, or 3G, service. But Beijing has delayed a decision while it tries to develop its own system to compete with global standards.  China Mobile Communications Corp. said in a statement it will test the standard, known as TD-SCDMA, by issuing 20,000 phones and 5,000 data cards on Tuesday in Beijing and seven other cities.  The statement gave no indication how long the test would last, whether it would be expanded to other areas or when licenses might be awarded.”

The Register reports that, “

[i]n a sudden about turn, analysts at Forrester Research have decided AJAX technology is not the best solution to rich Internet applications after all.  In a report, Forrester has recommended businesses should resort to vendor-specific platforms such as Adobe Systems’ AIR and Microsoft’s Silverlight because AJAX can’t deliver the performance demanded by so-called ‘power users.’”

Slashdot reveals that “the MacBook Air was the first laptop to fall in the CanSecWest hacking contest.  The successful hijacking took place only two minutes into the second day of the competition, after the rules had been relaxed to allow the visiting of websites and opening of emails. The TippingPoint blog reveals that the vulnerability was located within Safari, but they won’t release specific details until Apple has had a chance to correct the problem. The winner, Charlie Miller, gets to keep the laptop and $10,000. We covered the contest last year, and the results were similar.”

The Los Angeles Times writes that “[j]ust as consumers now pay for HBO, they may one day be charged for a digital music service as part of their monthly Internet bill. 
After resisting subscription services out of fear they would weaken CD sales, music companies are considering the idea in an attempt to reverse plummeting sales and unabated illegal downloading of music from the Internet.  This week, Sony BMG Chief Executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz told a German newspaper that Sony was in discussions with other music labels and partners to offer an online music subscription service.  Warner Music Group confirmed Thursday that it was discussing a subscription service, at a cost of perhaps $5 a month added to Internet bills, that would allow users to download, copy and share music. Revenue would be divided among the labels.”

The Register reports that “US legislators are clamping down on the use of RFID technologies to steal personal data as cards using the technology become more ubiquitous.  Washington state governor Chris Gregoire this week signed a bill which will make data theft by RFID illegal and punishable with up to 10 years in jail.  The bill was signed in response to the growing use of RFID tags in the state, ranging from driver ID cards to company ID cards and retailers’ loyalty cards.  The legislation is intended to prevent criminals using RFID readers to gain information from those cards without the owner’s knowledge.”