1. LittleBigPlanet, the PS3 game released in November, was meant to be launched in October. Why the delay?

   1. The BBFC uncovered possibly offensive hidden interactive content that the developers hadn't detailed

   2. One of the music tracks featured passages from the Qur'an

   3. Publisher Sony asked developers Media Molecule to "boost the colour"

   4. The game wasn't completed on time

2. 

   What was the value, at the time, of Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo on 1 February 2008?

   1. $1bn

   2. $44.6bn

   3. $46.4bn

   4. $46.6bn

3. How many of the 1,561 UK government websites identified as surplus to requirement had been closed by October this year?

   1. None

   2. 54

   3. 549

   4. 2,178

4. 

   What is the new landmass called in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King?

   1. Northern Wastes

   2. Northrend

   3. Northshire

   4. Northern Territory

5. Which 80s pop star benefited from a global game to trick people into clicking through to YouTube?

   1. Rick Astley

   2. Boy George

   3. George Michael

   4. Prince

6. The original iPhone's computing power is equivalent to which old Apple laptop?

   1. "Wallstreet" G3 Powerbook (233MHz, released May 1998)

   2. "Lombard" G3 Powerbook (333MHz, released May 1999)

   3. "Pismo" G3 Powerbook (400MHz, released Feb 2000)

7. 

   In his book The Big Switch, Nicholas Carr likened the arrival of cloud computing to which utility?

   1. Electricity

   2. Water

   3. Gas

8. Which country didn't this year propose to introduce new regulation of internet content?

   1. Japan

   2. France

   3. Australia

   4. China

9. What is CarTorrent?

   1. A way to swap radio station choices between cars

   2. A way to send mileage and engine control unit data to your garage

   3. A way to swap traffic information between cars

10. What was the company now known as Platte previously called?

    1. Micro Bill Systems

    2. Micro Billing Systems

    3. Micro Billing System

    4. Microbill System

11. 

    The Office for National Statistics will spend how much constructing a complete address database for the whole UK, replicating that of the Ordnance Survey and Post Office?

    1. Nothing (£0)

    2. £5 million

    3. £10 million

    4. £15 million

12. ...and what will be done with that database afterwards?

    1. Sold off to the highest bidder

    2. Used to replace that of OS and the Post Office

    3. Destroyed

13. What is Schofield's Third Law?

    1. Your data aren't safe unless you have two separate copies

    2. Never put data into a format you can't get out again

    3. The easier it is for you to access your data, the easier it is for someone else to access your data

14. 

    How much would access to a web feed of the weekly register of deaths in the UK cost?

    1. Nothing (£0)

    2. £1,000

    3. £62,000

15. Microsoft faced a class action lawsuit over Vista. What's the alleged offence?

    1. It allowed companies to call their PCs "Vista-capable" while knowing they couldn't run all versions of the OS

    2. It forced PC makers to call their machines "Vista-capable" while knowing when they couldn't run all versions of the OS

    3. It didn't specify what "Vista-capable" meant, allowing a free-for-all

16. 

    Mitchell Baker works for Mozilla as its "chief lizard wrangler". But what's her unusual spare-time pursuit?

    1. Trapeze artist

    2. Shark taxidermist

    3. One-armed wrestling champion

17. Phorm came to prominence in March over its plans to serve advertising based on people's surfing habits. By what name was it previously known?

    1. 101 Media

    2. 111 Media

    3. 121 Media

18. 

    A colourisation technique used on Dad's Army in December was previously used on black and white versions of which classic BBC programme?

    1. Hancock's Half Hour

    2. Doctor Who

    3. Top Of The Pops

    4. Blue Peter

19. What is the maximum theoretical speed of BT's ADSL2+ system now being introduced?

    1. 12 megabits per second

    2. 24 Mbps

    3. 50 Mbps

    4. 78 Mbps

20. 

    A new system that would boost mobile phone signals in your home is called a...

    1. nanocell

    2. picocell

    3. femtocell

    4. datacell

21. Failures of some electronics equipment was blamed on the removal of lead from solder because it

    1. led to microscopic "whiskers" growing between conducting parts

    2. was too viscous, leaving components unsoldered

    3. didn't conduct electricity well enough

22. If present trends in DNA sequencing continue, by 2012 how long and how much will it take to sequence all 6 billion bases in a person's genome?

    1. 2 minutes, $1,000

    2. 20 minutes, $10

    3. A few hours, $100

23. 

    What twist did Microsoft put on searching to make itself more attractive to users?

    1. Free access to paid-for online services

    2. Free TV streaming

    3. Paying searchers

    4. Free pizzas

24. Do crime maps break the Data Protection Act?

    1. Yes

    2. No

    3. It depends

25. 

    Why did Judge Alex Kozinski come to public notice in June?

    1. He ruled on a case involving "paedophilic" online cartoon images

    2. He had "rude" content on his personal website

    3. He threw out a class action against Microsoft

26. What was the name of the machine that reproduces itself?

    1. RepRep

    2. RepRap

    3. RapRep

    4. MC Rapper

27. 

    Taking into account the handset and phone/data plan cost, was the iPhone 3G more or less expensive than the original in the UK?

    1. Cheaper

    2. The same

    3. Pricier

28. What was the name of the Radiohead video that you could remix?

    1. House of Cards

    2. In Rainbows

    3. Five Step

29. How long does dealing with an email distract you from your train of thought, on average?

    1. 31 seconds

    2. 64 seconds

    3. 92 seconds

30. The Man In The White Suit was a film about clothing that couldn't get dirty. Now it's been realised - by what technology?

    1. Proton-masking

    2. Ion-masking

    3. Neutron-masking

31. 

    Why did people give Spore terrible ratings on Amazon?

    1. Stocks had run out

    2. They hated the gameplay

    3. Its restrictive DRM

32. What proportion of Dell customers chose to pay extra to "plant a tree" to offset carbon dioxide emissions from their new purchase?

    1. About 0.1%

    2. About 1%

    3. About 3%

    4. About 4%

33. How old is the pressure group MySociety?

    1. Three years

    2. Five years

    3. Seven years

34. In which month 25 years ago was the Guardian's first Technology supplement released?

    1. March

    2. July

    3. September

    4. October

35. In October, what did Ordnance Survey remind councils it was illegal to do?

    1. Put OS-derived data onto Google Maps

    2. Communicate with the Free Our Data campaign

    3. Sell OS maps from council offices

36. 

    How many copies of Grand Theft Auto IV were sold in the first weekend of release?

    1. 1.5m

    2. 2.5m

    3. 3.5m

    4. 4.5m

37. The government is piloting a web service to allow you to report a change of circumstances with a single message. Which life event is it not yet possible to report?

    1. Your birth

    2. Moving house

    3. Your death

38. 

    Which gizmo did not appear in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace?

    1. Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean 600m Co-Axial Chronometer

    2. A laser capable of emitting a beam of pure antimatter

    3. A VAIO LT2S desktop PC

39. Which of these people does not use Twitter?

    1. Tony Benn

    2. Stephen Fry

    3. John Cleese

    4. Andy Murray

40. 

    The Byron Review, released in March, summarised the available research on the effects of online and gaming content on children. What was its full name?

    1. Digital Youth Project

    2. Safer Children in a Digital World

    3. Caught in the web: Internet risks for children

Solutions

1:B, 2:B, 3:C, 4:B, 5:A, 6:C, 7:A, 8:D, 9:C, 10:A, 11:C, 12:C, 13:C, 14:C, 15:A, 16:A, 17:C, 18:B, 19:B, 20:C, 21:A, 22:C, 23:C, 24:C, 25:B, 26:B, 27:A, 28:A, 29:B, 30:B, 31:C, 32:B, 33:B, 34:D, 35:A, 36:C, 37:B, 38:B, 39:A, 40:B

Scores