Between the ego and the easel

How does a TV series avoid sensationalising the life of an artist who relished scandal? Well, you start by looking at the pictures...

Teenage clicks

When Steve Gibson's website was repeatedly attacked by a malicious hacker, he tried reasoning with his tormentor, to no avail. Then he asked the FBI to intervene; but they couldn't help either. So he set about the daunting task of tracking down the culprit - and discovered a secret society of teenage cyber-anarchists who can bring down any online operation at the touch of a button. Stuart Millar reports.

The peasant revolts

Reinaldo Arenas was thrown in jail by Castro and later killed himself in New York. Now an Oscar-nominated film celebrates the life of this controversial Cuban writer

The great Mom and Pop rip-off

Wall Street is entering a storm of litigation as investors round on the analysts who sold them the dot.com boom, writes Jane Martinson.

Defining moment for Disney

If the $135m Pearl Harbor bombs at the box office, America's best known media company will be in deep water.

Microsoft’s plan for world domination

Its operating system won the battle for the desktop. Now the software giant wants to remould the internet in its own image to keep its dominant position. Jack Schofield reports

MoD claims answer to email viruses

The days of the global email virus may be numbered. Ministry of Defence scientists have developed software that could prevent devastating, worldwide, mail-borne infections such as the infamous love bug. By Stuart Miller.

Escape of the cybercaesar

The dot.com strategy of France's richest man has fallen apart but Bernard Arnault still looks likely to come out on top. By Randeep Ramesh.

Echoes of war

Ten years ago, military history was a backwater. Now it drives a good deal of publishing, cinema and television. From novels such as Captain Corelli's Mandolin (out as a film next month) to non-fiction blockbusters such as Stalingrad, war is everywhere - and the trend is increasing. D J Taylor discusses the development of the war novel

Starfish connects the slums

Education led from computer screens in shipping containers hopes to provide girls in the slums an alternative to prostitution. Hazel Southam reports

Second sight

There's currently a way to access an internet as fast, convenient and uncluttered as it was in the old days before banner ads, animated gifs and cookie attacks. It's the streamlined, text-only world of Wap says Douglas Rushkoff