An Australian-led research team has successfully written data to and read data from a silicon-based quantum bit (qubit), essentially creating the world’s first working silicon-based qubit. [ + ]

Andrew Collins looks at the past week in IT, including Google’s legal woes, even more social media messes and an underwhelming reveal from Apple. [ + ]

We take a look at the more interesting stories in IT from the last week, including Nokia’s Lumia trickery and the Australian federal government's ambiguous data retention plan. [ + ]

Scientists at Stanford University have discovered that the TCP internet protocol, created in the 1970s, closely mirrors the food-foraging behaviours of a species of ant - behaviours that have existed for millions of years. [ + ]

We take a look at the more interesting stories in IT from the last week, including media personality Charlotte Dawson’s hospitalisation following vicious Twitter exchanges, secret patent talks between Larry Page and Tim Cook, and Michael Malone’s sale of $13 million worth of iiNet shares. [ + ]

When a computer is switched off, any passwords you used to login to web pages, banks or other financial accounts evaporate into the digital ether, right? Not so fast! Researchers in Greece have discovered a security loophole that exploits the way computer memory works and could be used to harvest passwords and other sensitive data from a PC even if it is in standby mode. [ + ]

The mountains of structured and in many cases unstructured data that is building everywhere is being seen as an opportunity, not a problem, in Europe where it is thought that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. [ + ]

We all recall the commotion surrounding the Y2K bug at the turn of the last century. Now, many vendors are using the concept of BYOD (bring your own devices) to scare organisations into buying new products. What many IT managers don’t realise is that they may already have the tools to control this influx of wireless devices. [ + ]

Diamonds might be forever, but IT is not. Technologies and products that were once hot are now as dated as Joan Collins’ shoulder pads, Red Symons’ Skyhooks make-up or Warwick Capper’s footy shorts. While the aforementioned treasures may be lost to us forever, it is possible to plan for the end of life (EOL) of your IT kit. Stephen Withers explains. [ + ]

Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are becoming the preferred target of cybercriminals, since they are less likely to have strong security in place. Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor, AVG Australia and New Zealand, provides some tips for SMBs looking to reduce their chances of being compromised by cybercriminals. [ + ]

There’s a lot riding on your choice of cloud provider - pick the wrong one and you could end up a headline in the next data breach news story. However, picking between these providers can be confusing. [ + ]

Data integration software vendor Informatica has appointed Franco Flore as Channel Sales Manager for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Flore will be responsible for Informatica’s channel program in ANZ and will manage the local implementation of the company’s INFORM Partner Program for the channel. [ + ]

VSS Monitoring has announced that it has earned the 2012 Global Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the infrastructure packet broker market from Frost & Sullivan. VSS Monitoring was recognised with this independent, third-party award due to its leading technical innovation, differentiated product offerings, extensive customer base and ROI/cost savings. [ + ]

AT&T has appointed Peter Thomson as General Manager for its New Zealand operations. Thomson has also been appointed Sales Manager for Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. [ + ]

All too often, IT workers are handed a messy and mysterious IT system devised by someone else, a system with no rational structure, little documentation and no explanation of how it got so bad. Conway’s Law can help explain how the system got to that point and help to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Justin Butcher, Analyst at IBRS, explains. [ + ]