Week in Review: Fry thinks Windows Phone 7 gets it right, UK tackles cyber crime

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Windows Phone 7 changes Microsoft’s “outlook”

This week the chief executive of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, unveiled his company’s latest mobile operating system with the help of a much-loved English celebrity.

Revealing six handsets from the likes of HTC, Samsung and Dell, Ballmer brought on QI quizmaster Stephen Fry to give the OS its backing.

Known for his Apple fan boy status, Fry was a very surprising VIP, but he claimed Microsoft had finally “got it” and understood what phone users were looking for.

The devices are set to be launched on 21 October.

UK funds the cyber crime fight

A week before the coalition’s spending review, many Government departments are filled with fear about the cuts they will have to make.

However, this week, two senior Government officials, tasked with fighting the threat of cyber crime, hinted they would be getting more resources rather than less.

First, Iain Lobban, director of GCHQ, gave a rare speech trying to make real the threat cyber crime posed to the UK and its economy. A day later Neil Thompson, director of the Office of Cyber Security, claimed the Government were to make a “step change” in the way they tackled the threat.

We will just have to wait until next Thursday to see if they get the extra cash for their campaign.

Best of the rest

It has been a tough couple of years in the tech industry but Intel this week signalled a change. The chipmaker predicted it would make $11 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of this year, ending a tough 12 months on a high.

The UK was shown to be at risk this week thanks to poor Wi-Fi network protection. Research showed 40,000 networks across the UK could be hacked in less than five seconds and 20,000 of those didn’t even have a password to protect them.

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