Technology is displacing the telephone directory from American households. Environmentalists and households, among others, are now questioning the wisdom of printing 2,000 pages of phone numbers hardly touched by consumers who prefer speed dialing features of their mobile units or Internet search engines to find a contact number. A number of apartment buildings in South Boston reported 2008 editions of newly delivered phone books remain untouched in foyers.

An Oregon town mayor has been kicked out from her post after posing on a fire truck in her black bra and underwear. According to city officials, Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist narrowly lost in Monday's recall election, 142-139, in a town with 500 registered voters. The recall is effective Tuesday.

Research In Motion Inc. (RIM), maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, apologized Monday for the more than two hours of service disruption that affected millions of its customers in the U. S. and Canada. According to Networkworld. com, the "service disruption" that affected RIM's infrastructure starting at 3:30 p. m. EST prevented BlackBerry phones from sending or receiving messages, browsing the Internet or using the BlackBerry Internet Service Web site.

Tory MEPs confused Birmingham, Alabama for Birmingham, England and put up a picture of the former on their website confusing web browsers in the process. According to the Daily Mirror, web browser were shocked to see skyscrapers instead of what they were expecting - the Bullring and Spaghetti Junction.

A new subgenre of malware that ransoms your PC is now stalking the internet for victims, says a security developer. The so-called "ransomware" locks up your PC and demands $35 to return control to you is on the prowl, said Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software Distribution in Clearwater, Florida. Victims of the Delf. ctk Trojan horse are told to dial a 900 number that can be traced to a payment processor used by hardcore pornography Web sites, he added.