The government will spend an extra 25m to put thousands more mobile devices in the hands of police in an attempt to further reduce paperwork and give officers on-the-spot access to information when out on patrol.

In May, policing minister Tony McNulty announced a 50m investment to furnish 27 police forces with 10,000 mobile computers. The new funding will pay for an additional 15,000 handheld computers by March 2010, bringing the total number to around 30,000 by 2010, according to policing support organisation the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which will manage distribution of the cash.

Richard Earland, chief information officer of the NPIA, said reducing the bureaucracy burden on police officers is a key theme of the government’s policing green paper, published last week, and of the independent Flanagan Review of policing which, among other things, has highlighted the need for the police to boost community presence, increase efficiency and better manage information.

Mobile devices can play an important role in delivering these reforms, Earland added.

He said in a statement: “When used appropriately, handheld computers keep officers out in the community and make them visible to the public.

(Full article ‘Police to get thousands more mobile devices’)

Administaff Inc., a Houston-based provider of outsourced human resources services, this week began notifying about 159,000 former and current employees about a stolen laptop containing their unencrypted personal data.

The information belonged to Administaff worksite employees in 2006, including 96,000 former workers and 63,000 current ones.

A note posted on the company’s site described the event as “random,” with the personal information apparently not the target of the theft. “At this time, the company has no reason to believe that the personal information has been accessed or used improperly,” Administaff said.

The laptop computer, which was reported missing on Oct. 3, contained data that was being compiled “in response to a governmental reporting requirement,” according to Administaff.

(Full article ‘Stolen laptop prompts Administaff to alert 159,000 of possible breach’)

PC World has released more information about and made new claims for its forthcoming "carbon neutral" PC.

It will have a recycled aluminium case and use sustainably forested wood in the screen bezel, mouse and keyboard, and the company is purchasing carbon offsets to match the consequences of its manufacturing process.

After announcing plans to back in February to build the PC, the retailer has kept quiet about the project, until this week when The Independent ran a story with more information about the pricing and manufacturing of the machine.

The company says that at around 40 watts, its PC will use between 13 and 17 percent of the energy of a standard desktop and will retail for around 399, with the screen costing an extra 100.

(Full article ‘‘Carbon neutral’ PC uses more wood, fewer watts’)