Apple has won a patent dispute against Motorola over the "slide-to-unlock" feature on its iPhone.

The battle between Arm Holdings and Intel looks like it is heating up. Normally used to taking market share from its rivals, Arm was left deep in the red last night by the news that Intel is about to give the chipmaker a taste of its own medicine and take it on in the burgeoning smartphone market.

One start-up founder said patents were a 'big consideration' for the industry, adding they could be 'very damaging if you stray into an incumbent's turf'

Kingfisher flew up the blue-chip index last night after vague rumours suggested that two of its fellow DIY retailers from across the Atlantic could both make a move for the B&Q owner.

Net giant and Android owner becomes mobile phone maker after $12.5bn buy

Outlook: Buying Motorola ramps up the pressure on Microsoft to buy its own handset maker – probably Nokia, or maybe even Research in Motion

Google stepped up its assault on the smartphone and tablet computer market today with the £7.7 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola.

The set-top box maker Pace stunned the market yesterday with a warning on profits after it was hit by the supply chain issues exacerbated by the earthquake in Japan. The news wiped £190m off the company's value, almost 40 per cent, as the shares closed at 93p on the day.

A smartphone that requires the owner's fingerprint to be scanned before it will allow anyone to access the web, play games or even make a call is launched today.

It has helped a group of teenage actors become some of the hottest young stars in Hollywood, made a multi-millionaire of its author, and turned a small town near Seattle into one of America's hottest tourist destinations. Now the Twilight franchise is striking a blow for the fortunes of a cash-strapped New York hand model.

Somehow, the Chilcot Inquiry has become like Big Brother. About once a month it pops up as a small item in the news and you think: "Oh blimey, I didn't realise that was still going on." Before long, like Big Brother, they'll come up with stunts to try and revive some interest. So they'll reintroduce contestants from previous inquiries such as Martin McGuinness and Christine Keeler, or make some witnesses complete a task of finding hidden ping-pong balls in the room or they have to give evidence blindfold.