Toyota plans to recall around 400,000 of its Prius hybrid cars to replace software that controls the antilock braking system (ABS), the auto maker said Tuesday.

The global recall is in response to driver complaints about poor braking performance under some conditions. It will see new software loaded into the car that should improve braking while ABS is active at low speeds, the company said.

"We heard concerns from customers and are recalling the cars in order to resolve the problem completely," said Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, at a packed Tokyo news conference.

SAN FRANCISCO – Internet company IAC/InterActiveCorp lost $1 billion in the fourth quarter because it wrote down the value of its search business, but the results beat expectations and offered the latest indication that the online advertising market is improving.

IAC, which is run by media billionaire Barry Diller, said Tuesday its net loss amounted to $7.94 per share in the last three months of the year. This compares with a net profit of $227.4 million, or $1.57 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

In the most recent quarter IAC took a $991.9 million impairment charge to account for decreased projections for revenue and profit growth at IAC's search properties, which include such Web sites as Ask.com and Dictionary.com.

To entice security researchers to look for holes in the Chrome browser, Google has announced it will pay $500 for bugs found in the code. But several experts say that's not enough money to motivate skilled vulnerability researchers.

'I think it's ridiculous,' Charlie Miller, a senior security researcher at Independent Security Evaluators, said when asked Monday for his opinion of Google's new bug bounty program. 'It's insulting. It's so low.'

Under Google's new 'experimental' incentive program announced last week people will get paid $500 for select interesting and original security vulnerabilities discovered in Chrome, or $1,337 for particularly severe or clever bugs. That figure refers to the geek term for elite, or 'leet,' which can be spelled out using the numbers.

Mozilla hopes its Firefox browser can drop support for Mac OS X 10.4, the operating system also called Tiger released in 2005, but the plan is running into some resistance.

If the support is indeed removed, then Firefox 3.6 would be the last version to support Mac OS X 10.4, with updates coming until several months until the succeeding version is released.

'We would like to take advantage of more modern technologies on Mac OS X and 10.4 support has been a hindrance,' said Josh Aas, one of Mozilla's Mac experts, in a mailing list post. 'We are planning to make the decision to remove 10.4 support final and remove the code from the tree. If you have any strong objections please let us know now.'

San Francisco – It's almost a pathetic assertion: This year, the Mac will break out of its ghetto and become a mainstream computer for individuals and businesses alike. That unfulfilled desire is foretold every year and has been since the mid-1980s, when Apple's then-groundbreaking computer was quickly sidelined by the IBM PC and, later, Microsoft Windows.

The strong growth of the iPhone and the big buzz around the recently announced iPad could give the Mac an extra boost, giving happy customers reason to consider switching to a Mac for the same levels of delight, sophistication, and quality.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Google Inc has sent a cease and desist letter to the operators of a Chinese search website whose logo bears a close resemblance to its own.

Goojje's home page is adorned with a Google-styled logo and the familiar paw print logo of China's top home-grown search engine, Baidu Inc.

The website, whose name is a play on words with the final syllable "jje" sounding like the Chinese word "older sister," while the "gle" syllable of "Google" is pronounced like the Chinese word for "older brother," provides search and social networking services.

Microsoft is researching how gadgets like the company's Xbox game machine, surface computers and accelerometers in mobile phones could be used to improve health care.

Some of the applications from Microsoft Research, the software giant's lab branch, plug into existing Microsoft products like HealthVault, a Web service for patients to track their own health records.

One of those projects, an application called MyLife for Windows Mobile phones, could help a user log health metrics like blood pressure and weight, and monitor daily activities including exercise, walking and eating. Ongoing work on the application could allow it to help personal logs using built-in devices on a phone like its camera, its accelerometer and its microphone.

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian man has agreed to pay Nintendo 1.3 million US dollars for illegally uploading a game to the Internet six days before its global release, the firm said Tuesday.

Nintendo said it had settled the Federal Court action against the man who hacked into New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii gaming console and put it on the world wide web on November 6, 2009.

"The legal proceeding resulted in a settlement in which the individual will pay to Nintendo the sum of 1.5 million (Australian) dollars by way of damages to compensate Nintendo for the loss of sales revenue caused by the individual's actions," it said in a statement.

BRUSSELS – Toyota Motor Corp. says it is recalling some 50,000 Prius cars to change the software for the anti-lock brake system.

The company said Tuesday it has received reports of problems with brakes during slow and steady breaking on bumpy or slick road surfaces when the system is ued.

It says it will take some 40 minutes to change the software at authorized Toyota dealers.

Toyota says there have been no accidents linked to this issue reported in Europe. The recall only affects the third-generation Prius. It is recalling some 437,000 Prius and other hybrid vehicles worldwide.

South Korea's two biggest cell phone makers previewed on Tuesday handsets they plan to unveil at next week's Mobile World Congress exhibition in Barcelona.

Both phones feature full-screen touch panels on their face, Wi-Fi and close links with social networking services.

The Samsung Monte is an extension of the company's S-series of phones and includes applications for Facebook and MySpace, and widgets for access to Twitter, Bebo and several instant messaging networks.