Reuters - More than half of Americans visited
a library in the past year with many of them drawn in by the
computers rather than the books, according to a survey released
on Sunday.

AP - The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn’t expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.

Reuters - Rock band Radiohead’s decision to
release its new album “In Rainbows” by itself — online,
without a record label’s help and at any price the user chose
– rocked the industry last fall.

PC World - Microsoft chair Bill Gates has a tough job ahead of him at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.

AP - Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes, according to a new study.

AP - The chief financial officer of China’s dominant Internet search engine Baidu.com has died after an accident while on vacation in China, the company said.

PC World - The entrance of two new operating systems from well-known brands shakes up the plans of some mobile operators and indicates some fundamental changes in the mobile industry.

AP - Gilbert Strang is a quiet man with a rare talent: helping others understand linear algebra. He’s written a half-dozen popular college textbooks, and for years a few hundred students at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been privileged to take his course.

AP - When Laura Gernell heard about a place where people gave away perfectly good things to strangers ? no money changing hands, no questions asked ? she figured it was too good to be true.

AP - In the weeks leading to Christmas, an online wine retailer gave 15 percent discounts to anyone who sent in a photo of its newspaper ad snapped with a camera phone.