What kind of example does a parent want to set for their child? We must teach them that shoplifting is bad, even though as a protest against the creeping rise of the soulless shopping experience many people are stealing groceries via the self-checkout system. According to a new survey by the website watchmywallet.co.uk, almost a third of us have done just that. It's tempting, sorely tempting – but it is wrong.

A group of Islamic radicals have been charged with planning to kidnap a French judge.

This year marks an unusual 30th birthday. It was in 1982 that Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, suggested that users of his college's online messageboard combine a colon, hyphen and bracket to highlight sarcastic posts and curb misunderstandings. Thus, the online "smiley face" was born.

1. IronKey (8GB)

The Government is squandering an "obscene amount of public money" on computer equipment, paying an average of £3,500 for desktop PCs costing £500 on the high street, a scathing report from MPs says today.

A schoolboy whose family endured an eight-year struggle to prove that his cerebral palsy was caused by medical negligence yesterday took the campaign against cuts in legal aid to David Cameron's front door.

The parcel company at the centre of a UK bomb incident last year has been barred by the Government from screening air cargo at some UK sites for security reasons, it was announced today.

Today is World Book Day in the UK and Ireland, a "worldwide celebration of books and reading" which, in the UK anyway, is "a partnership of publishers, booksellers and interested parties, who work together to promote books and reading for the personal enrichment and enjoyment of all." All, that is, except those who wish the future of books wasn't so alarmingly rocky.

Hotly tipped Welsh rockers The Last Republic are pioneering music technology that allows you to play along with their debut album using just a computer and webcam. At live dates, fans of TLR have been donning T-shirts featuring a special design and playing air guitar along to music from the band's debut album, the movements of their arms triggering guitar sounds in a laptop.

To correct a reference in yesterday's article about MPs' expenses: the computer equipment Ms Kirkbride claimed for was not delivered to her brother's home but to her own home where he sometimes stayed. We are happy to make it clear that Ms Kirkbride was cleared by the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee of wrongdoing in claiming mortgage payments for the extension to her house in which her brother stayed.

An Israeli startup has launched a system that aims to make mobile computing easier by letting users type on invisible keys instead of a keyboard that typically takes up much of the screen.

The back-up power group Chloride yesterday came out fighting following last month's takeover approach from Emerson as it unveiled a strong set of results. This prompted analysts to suggest the US group would have to up its bid by more than 20 per cent.