Technology

Updated: Sales of Sony's PS3 video games console surged 300 per cent after the company released a cheaper model in Japan last week, according to leaked survey data.

Sony Japan introduced the new PS3 model with a 40GB hard disk drive on November 11. One day later, local PS3 weekly sales figures had soared from an average of 16,000 to almost 66,000.

A massive denial of service attack has disabled some of the world's largest virtual goods trading sites. The Korea-based sites hit by the attack are responsible for a substantial portion of the country's estimated $1bn trade in virtual gold, weapons and other items for games like World of Warcraft.

A folding oven woven out of soft cloth could be on sale as early as next year predict scientists who demonstrated a prototype today. Despite weighing only a few hundred grams, the lightweight electrical oven can be made hot enough to roast chicken, according to the researchers who developed it.

Thin and flexible conductive elements are woven into the oven's highly heat-resistant fabric, said the researchers, who demonstrated the folding kitchen appliance to reporters at a restaurant in Taiwan today.

Without announcing a deal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs today dropped broad hints that an agreement could be imminent to distribute the songs of the Beatles on his company's iTunes music download service.

Ebay has lost half its market share in China in only three months as the online auction giant struggles to get to grips with local competition in the world's largest market. News of the shocking reversal comes less than a month after eBay CEO, Meg Whitman, claimed Chinese operations were 'going well'.