All Hotmail users are now advised to change their password used on the Hotmail site – And if the same password is used for various other sites, then change them all too. This is due to a big information theft operation – Where over 10,000 Hotmail login details were publicly posted on the internet. Although the details have been taken offline now, backup copies of the information have already been taken – Which means your login details could be saved by criminals.

The list of 10,000 is said to be a small portion of a huge list – With the 10,000 login details only having usernames beginning with A and B. This means that although your details may not have yet been published online, they could still be saved elsewhere as part of a bigger list. For this reason, it’s important that you change your password just incase you are part of this huge list, because you could experience some major issues if other people have access to your e-mail account.

Microsoft have been informed on the publishing of this list, and are apparently “investigating” the leak of the information. It is still unknown how these details were actually found. It could be because of various methods – Such as hacking certain services, or installing a virus onto the computer’s of innocent victims. We expect Microsoft to notify the public with more information as they’ve discovered it.

For now, however, there really isn’t much we can do. The only thing we can do is to change our passwords, make sure our computer’s are clean of viruses and make sure everyone else knows about this problem – The more people who know about this information theft, the better.

In the United Kingdom, the iPhone has been locked onto the O2 network, giving O2 the monopoly on the product – Which gives them the right to stop certain development in applications by denying the publishing of certain applications which could hurt the revenue of the O2 company. Now, however, Vodafone and Orange have both got rights to the iPhone – Meaning that the iPhone will be available on both of these networks very soon.

Orange have claimed to be able to release the iPhone on their network in time for Christmas, which is a great time to release it as the iPhone has shown no signs of slowing down. Orange haven’t released any pricing details of the iPhone on their network as of yet, but more details are expected to be announced as the time until Christmas grows forever closer.

Vodafone are the latest company to gain rights to the iPhone. The latest talks were around a week ago, where Vodafone have paid for the rights to it. Unfortunately, they may not be as successful as they have claimed to release it sometime in 2010, which gives both O2 and Orange time to increase their sales and leave Vodafone trailing behind. No pricing details have been announced by Vodafone yet, either.

One of the benefits of more networks gaining rights is the fact that the costs may be lower – The networks will be in a pricing war to gain more customers, so you can be sure that these latest networks will provide lower costs in order to gain your customs.

Bill Gates has always told about how good a tablet PC would be. Finally, Microsoft have announced their first tablet PC product – The official name is the Microsoft Courier.

Controlled by a stylus on it’s touchscreens, the Microsoft Courier has two 7 inch displays, which are hinged together in a book-type fashion. According to Microsoft, it will be smaller than an average-sized laptop, but bigger than a normal PDA.

The product will operate as a web browser, media player and a book reader, which isn’t bad for a device like this. Bill Gates has also said that this is currently only a late-prototype, and that a digital camera and even wireless charging may be included in the final release.

Another interesting point is that Apple are apparently working on a product of the same type. Apple’s tablet PC will have a 10 inch screen, and it will work like a big version of the iPhone. It will work as a games console, book reader and an internet hub. What is surprising is that Apple’s device may even be in shops by Christmas, which gives them a significant advantage as far as sales are concerned. There is no release date announced for Microsoft’s product, as of yet.

One thing to think about, however, is if this Microsoft product will actually be successful. Microsoft have never had much luck in the gadgets market, as shown with the Zune MP3 Player which is struggling to fight against Apple’s iPod range. So far it looks like a good idea, but will they be able to turn a good idea into a good reality?

Users of Palm Pre phones in the United States have long been using iTunes as a way to sync media onto the Palm Pre. It does this by faking the hardware signature of an iPod, to break through Apple’s restrictions in the software.

However, after the latest iTunes release several days ago, the new software breaks compatibility of the Palm Pre – Locking millions of Palm Pre users out of iTunes until a further solution has been found.

In the latest September 2009 keynote, Steve Jobs announced that the new iTunes gave some great new features, but didn’t mention that it would stop Palm Pre’s from working on this software.

The Palm Pre did work with iTunes 8.2.1, and was able to transfer media as long as it wasn’t protected by DRM.

According to an Apple spokesman, they said the new version “disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre”.

Palm don’t seem disappointed by the move, claiming that this new change will effect Apple’s users too. Other people have claimed that Palm will have found a solution within a month or so.

The temporary solutions that Palm have said are to stick with an older version of iTunes, transfer media through USB or use a different third party application.

It’s a good job that Palm Pre users aren’t completely locked out of their device.

Apple just announced some changes to their product lines in the keynote made yesterday. They aren’t great changes, and they certainly aren’t the changes people were hoping for or expecting.

First of all, the iPod Touch is being lowered in price – As well as a new 64GB model to be released. In the US, the price will be $199 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB and $399 for 64GB. There was no camera to be found on the iPod Touch sadly, as people were expecting due to the rumours going around. It just proves that you shouldn’t believe rumours.

Also, the iPod Classic wasn’t killed off as some people thought would happen, Apple have increased the size of it to a massive 160GB, while retaining the same price of $249.

The iPod Shuffle is now to be released in more colours, and has also had a price drop. They will now cost $59 for 2GB or $79 for 4GB.

Probably the main announcement from this keynote was the iPod Nano – It is now getting a video camera on the back of it. There is also to be a built-in microphone and built-in speakers on the back. Moreover, there is VoiceOver technology, as seen on the iPod Shuffle. The price of this new model will be $149 for 8GB or $179 for 16GB. Unfortunately, there is no WiFi.

That is it in terms of hardware. There are updates to the software though.

iTunes 9 has been released. This new software improves store navigation, a nicer User Interface, more advanced Genius playlists, App Management for your iPhone and a new feature called Home Sharing – Allowing you to share your music or videos to computers on the same network. You can also send iTunes items as a gift or add them to a wishlist.

There was a new software update for iPod Touches and iPhones too – Called 3.1. This new update will have App Store Genius capabilities – Which will show the apps in a list which it thinks you might like, based on what you’ve downloaded before. That was just about it, however.

It was great to see Steve Jobs leading the keynote once again, after his illness several months ago.

In terms of the keynote in general, it wasn’t very exciting and the announcements just didn’t match up to people’s expectations. Maybe their next will be better.