Week in Review: Microsoft loses out, and Apple 3G fever

Yahoo makes a deal with Google, striking a big blow to Microsoft's online advertising plans

Yahoo will allow Google to sell search ads on its website, which analysts say could shut Microsoft out of the lucrative online bonanza permanently. They also expected that this signalled the end as the Yahoo and Microsoft had very different visions of a suitable deal and also of the future. It's long and winding road, and it looks like Microsoft investors are happy that they have avoided a risky deal while Yahoo shareholders are frustrated that they have missed out on a possible windfall.

Apple brings out the 3G iPhone

The Apple hype machine was in overdrive as usual, and it was a blessed relief when Steve Jobs finally showed off what many people have been counting down the days for. And yes, it does run 3G and has a number of business-friendly features - such as support for Microsoft push email - which could be crucial in its development as the smartphone rivalling devices such as the BlackBerry. Crucially, it is much cheaper - free on some tariffs and 100 for an 8GB iPhone with a 35, 18-month contract.

Cotton Traders website hacked, with the possible theft of around 38,000 credit card numbers

It's taken around five months, but details about the hack of a British clothing retailer's website have been revealed. Thousands of credit card details were thought to have been stolen, and could have been used for card not present' fraud. It's a big concern that it has taken this long for potential victims to be informed, as the public wants to know, but industry doesn't want to share.

Full versions of Firefox and Opera ready to go

New and improved competition to Internet Explorer this week, as a full version of the new Opera browser was released to the public while the a date for a final version of Mozilla Firefox was given as the 17 June, although people have only just started using the its latest Release Candidate 2. Mozilla claimed that the only reason it had a near-final version was to simply mop up some issues with the Mac OS X version of the browser, but after nearly three years of active development, it looks ready to go.