It might sound an odd thing to say about the iPhone that it's not user friendly but it's true. As soon as you want to do something Apple doesn't want you to do. you are on your own, you have to void your warranty, and you might find you are locked out of some of the services you bought the phone for in the first place. In short, the iPhone is user friendly if you use it as Apple want you to.

In the 1970s, The Ford Motor Company had acres of open storage filled with made-in-England cars that they could not sell. The culture was to keep factories open albeit below capacity. Now they, and other manufacturers, are facing the same dilemma. Ford says it's not going to make the same mistake again.

When we've looked at The Circuit of the Americas (tweely known by its owners as COTA) in Austin, Texas, we've been a bit disparaging, largely, it has to be said, because there has been so much uncertainty over whether it would ever come into being or whether, if it did, it would be ready in time for its inaugural Formula One race. We didn't expressly say "if a decent track comes out of this mess, I'll eat my hat," but it was strongly implied. Pass the ketchup, please.

As if being accused of risking perverting the course of justice (and giving Australian police the virtual finger) isn't enough (story) Facebook has now caused even more annoyance by refusing to remove a page that identifies operational undercover assets in Victoria.

IT Security company Kaspersky Labs says that it has identified a new variant of a threat. Called "miniFlame" (aka SPE) it is a small and highly flexible malicious program designed to steal data and control infected systems during targeted cyber espionage operations.

In terms of seriousness, it's not in the league of the disastrous brake pedal problem a couple of years ago but the scale of the recall is so huge that it's a PR nightmare.

After half-a-a decade of widespread criticism of China for the controls it has placed on the use of the internet including access to material that, in the opinion of the Chinese government, undermines the authority of the government and courts, Australia is wondering how to achieve the same result without incurring the ire of millions and the ridicule of the global community.

The Legal Services Board, an industry body representing and - after a fashion - regulating lawyers in England and Wales, is to propose to The Lord Chancellor that will-writing and post-mortem legal services should be "reserved" - that means only those falling within the scope of the LSB's supervision should be allowed to do them. That's going to cause a near riot. And it may be another nail in the coffin of small firms.

New York law firm FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP specialises in class actions, especially those where it alleges misconduct in relation to securities which, it usually claims, leads to a significant fall in share prices, thereby causing losses to shareholders. It's frequent press releases call upon those who held shares in companies at relevant times to join in the action they hope to mount and to get paid on a contingency basis. But all is not rosy.

Mexican company Grupo Mexico S.A.B. de C.V. is more than a little peeved. Its US subsidiary Americas Mining Corporation applied to the Delaware Supreme Court for "re-argument" as to legal fees in the case of Americas Mining Corporation, et al., v. Michael Theraiult, as Trustee for the Theriault Trust, No. 29, 2012. The court said "no" and in doing so has demonstrated the conflict of interest inherent in contingency fee ("no win, no fee") arrangements.

The Law Society of England and Wales long ago began a system of registering those that wanted to demonstrate they met certain criteria. It was a voluntary quality assurance scheme. It was, at the time, seen as a bit of a waste of time by professionals who had extensive experience and new what they were doing, a way for the second rank to gain credibility that they did not, fully, deserve on merit. Gradually, the idea mutated away from a marketing tool to part of regulation and it is now a compulsory registration of specialists in certain areas. The latest to fall under the compulsory requirement is Solicitor-Advocates. And disturbingly, many have not signed up with only days to go.

It's probably not a great idea for me, an English solicitor (retired) to be publicly harsh about my professional body. But, seriously, is the Law Society of England and Wales contrary or comatose? It really just does not "get" money laundering risks and its latest attempt to update its guidance demonstrates that its attitude is, simply, retarded.