Week in Review: Google backs off... a bit

Google gives ground in online news battle

Google appears to be trying to calm tensions in the online content war, telling publishers it will limit how many free stories readers can access from the Google News aggregation site.

But the battle's not over, as Google chief executive Eric Schmidt wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal saying his site isn't to blame for the media industry's troubles.

Microsoft's black screen of death

A security firm called Prevx claimed the latest round of security patches from Microsoft was causing a "black screen of death" on computers.

Microsoft denied the claims and then the security firm withdrew the accusation and begged forgiveness days later, saying it had been wrong along.

Computers are still blacking out, but it's apparently because of malware, not Microsoft.

The best of the rest

A Liverpudlian designer has created an iPhone worth millions take that, Tesco. Twitter was dubbed word of the year, and Office 2010 is set to arrive in June.

An EU shakeup sees some top IT figures shuffled to new roles, and Sony Ericsson patches a flaw in its Satio handset, but it's not enough to get it back on shelves.

What's more, tech hit Parliament as MPs debated Gary McKinnon's looming extradition and Peter Mandelson's Digital Economy Bill.