Every month seems to bring another episode of sensitive personal information escaping into the wild because a corporate or government laptop computer is lost or stolen. A common response is a lot of hand-wringing over how the data should have been encrypted. But some key questions usually go unanswered. Why is so much private data allowed to be on laptops to begin with? What do people do all day that compels them to tote around records on, say, 26 million Americans, the staggering number seen in the recent Veterans Affairs case? “It’s pure laziness. There’s actually no excuse for it,” said Avivah Litan, a security analyst for Gartner Inc. “There’s no good business reason for it.”

Vonage is once again in the legal hot seat, having been sued by yet another company for allegedly infringing on patents. Patent-holding company Klausner Technologies said Monday it filed suit against Vonage in federal court in the eastern district of Texas. Klausner claims that Vonage, which sells Internet voice calling service, is infringing on patents being used as part of its voice mail service. Klausner is seeking damages and royalties worth about $180 million.

Matsushita, the maker of Panasonic brand electronics, said it hoped to start selling the world’s largest plasma television by early next year. Measuring 2.4 metres by 1.4 meters and weighing 215 kg, the 103-inch panel is bigger than a double-sized mattress and almost as heavy as an upright piano.

Freescale Semiconductor has won the race to get a magnetic form of computer memory to market, but its high price could keep it from appearing in machines in the near future. On Monday, the Austin, Texas-based specialist in embedded semiconductors released its MR2A16A chip, which the company says is the first commercial MRAM, or magnetoresistive random access memory, device. MRAM is faster than most other types of computer memory; Freescale’s chip promises to read or write data in 35 nanoseconds. In addition, MRAM can hold data even after the computer is turned off. Proponents say it could replace both flash memory, used inside cell phones and cameras, and DRAM, employed inside computers to shuttle data to the processor.

Though you may have been “googling” people for years, the verb you were using was technically slang, until recently. On Thursday, Merriam-Webster announced its latest update, and the new science and technology words added to the venerable dictionary include agritourism, biodiesel, mouse potato, ringtone and spyware. And google is defined as a transitive verb meaning “to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.” While the entry retains capitalization in explaining the word’s etymology–“Google, trademark for a search engine”–the verb google is lowercase.

SanDisk and Skype announced that Skype users can now make free calls and chat on almost any PC without having to download software. The Skype software will now come pre-loaded on SanDisk’s newest Cruzer Micro and Cruzer Titanium lines of Skype-certified U3 enabled smart drives. This will allow consumers to make free PC-to-PC audio and video calls to Skype users in most major markets. SanDisk’s Cruzer Micro and Cruzer Titanium with U3 gives users a portable way to carry files and programs without leaving any personal information behind on a computer. This means Skype users can take their Skype account complete with their contacts, settings and preferences on a device that is smaller than a pack of chewing gum and make calls, with video as an option, from any PC such as those in Internet cafes and hotels.

Data loss prevention company Sun Star Corporation announced that it has made available a team of specialists to address the concerns around backing up data for laptops. The announcement of Wells Fargo’s loss of client data following the disappearance of a laptop on a cargo plane has many businesses concerned about safety. Sun Star has also made available detailed datasheets offering specific data on products and solutions for laptop data security.

Stop Gina Hughes in the street on any given day and you’ll find the following in her bag: a Treo, a Bluetooth headset, a digital camera, an iPod–and, quite possibly, a few more gadgets for good measure. Swing by her house and you’ll see a couple of TiVos and flat-panel televisions, a MacBook Pro, a camcorder, a PlayStation Portable and a Nintendo DS Lite. Hughes, who writes a tech column for Yahoo, could be the poster child for today’s girl gadgeteers. Passionate and knowledgeable about her gear, and a careful consumer known to spend weeks researching a product before plunking down her cash, she’s part of a growing legion of women who, more than ever before, are getting gung ho about gadgets. And figures show they’re becoming major players in the consumer-electronics market.

The British music industry stepped up its campaign against illegal file-sharing by demanding that two Internet service providers suspend 59 accounts it believes are being used to swap copyrighted songs. The British Phonographic Industry trade group called on Cable & Wireless and Tiscali to join a crusade against consumer practices that have undermined music companies in recent years.

Like with a bad movie that achieves cult status because it’s just that bad, the folks at CNET love to hate something about these unlucky 13 products and downloadable duds from the past three months.