1. and : It didn't take long after Microsoft provided information about a critical Windows flaw, along with a patch, before attack code showed up. Developers of the Immunity security testing tool had an exploit written within a couple of hours of Microsoft's announcement on Thursday. Although the developer's software is only for paying customers, security researchers said they expected a version of the code to go public soon. That happened Friday afternoon when sample code appeared on the Web. The flaw, in Windows Server service, which is used to connect network resources, was also being exploited by a worm.

2. : Insufficient and faulty data used in risk management models contributed to the financial mess embroiling the U.S. and rippling across the globe, said former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Financial firms made business decisions using "the best insights of mathematicians and finance experts, supported by major advances in computer and communications technology," Greenspan told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year because the data inputted into the risk management models generally covered only the past two decades -- a period of euphoria."

3. : Yahoo will lay off at least 10 percent of its global workforce by the end of the year as part of a US$400 million cost-cutting plan, the company said as it reported that its third-quarter revenue rose just 1 percent to $1.77 billion compared to the same quarter last year. Although more than a few people, including , are wondering more loudly why it is that cofounder and CEO Jerry Yang is still in charge of an obviously sinking ship, Yang went with a positive spin on the bad news, claiming that the company is "well-positioned for future growth."

4. : Google's Android phone went on sale Tuesday, with people here and there standing in short lines outside of stores to be first to get their handsets. While there wasn't anything approaching the buzz surrounding the first iPhone sales, T-Mobile stores reported a steady stream of customers for its G1 phone, which is the first on the market to run the Android operating system.

5. : Comments from Intel executives who criticized the iPhone weren't appropriate, Intel said, after reports on the statements emerged from the company's developer forum in Taipei. Shane Wall and Pankaj Kedia said the iPhone is slow and incapable of running the "full Internet" because the smartphone has an Arm processor instead of, you guessed it, an Intel processor. "Apple's iPhone offering is an extremely innovative product that enables new and exciting market opportunities. The statements made in Taiwan were inappropriate, and Intel representatives should not have been commenting on specific customer designs," the company said later in a statement posted on its Chip Shots Web site.