It’s been one year since the Google citywide Wi-Fi system brought free wireless internet to its hometown of Mountain View, California and the search giant is taking the occasion to release some statistics on the project so far.

Google reported that traffic on the network has grown approximately ten percent monthly in the last year to bring the numbers up to about 15,000 unique users in 25,000 homes each month. People are logging on from every corner of the city, and virtually all of the 400 routers the company installed are being used on a given day.

Sony is the face of a new malware threat that deals with fingerprint-authenticating USB drives.

According to a report from F-Secure, Sony’s MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reading software comes with an infected USB stick. The software reportedly installs a hidden file on the user’s computer and is invisible from certain antivirus scanners.

It’s a mirror case of Sony’s huge debacle with Sony BMG Music CDs that prompted users to install malware when the CD was played back on a PC.

Unlike the Sony BMG case, however, it is believed that Sony did not have malintent with the MicroVault software. F-Secure says the rootkit placement is likely just a way to make the software more secure.

Adobe Labs has released a tool to let customers of the RawShooter software convert image-editing settings to equivalents in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

The RawShooter conversion tool is a free download and works on Windows systems. However, because the two programs operate differently when it comes to features such as noise reduction, tone curves and color balance, images won’t necessarily appear the same, Adobe cautioned.

The cofounder of a Web site that offers free streamed music from top artists said he’s determined to operate his service legally despite menacing overtures from Universal Music Group.

The Web site, Deezer.com, based in France, has been signing up users at a fast pace thanks to its user-friendly interface and streamed music from thousands of artists including Maroon 5, Rihanna, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

The site offers about 200,000 songs and has signed up 300,000 registered users in the past few months, cofounder Jonathan Benassaya said on Monday. Most of the users are in France, he said, although the site is available in 16 languages.

The record labels have been less enthusiastic. Universal Music, a division of Vivendi Universal SA, said on Friday that Deezer.com’s use of its music was illegal and that it would take “all measures necessary” to get its music removed from the Web site, according to press reports.

Benassaya insisted on Monday the service is legal, however– or at least, that it will be soon.

TorrentSpy.com, the BitTorrent tracking site facing a copyright lawsuit from the motion picture industry, is shutting down access to users in the United States, the company said in a statement late Sunday night.

The barring of U.S. residents by TorrentSpy comes as a U.S. district judge is expected to rule any day on whether TorrentSpy must turn over its user information to the Motion Picture Association of America. That group filed a civil complaint against the company last year accusing TorrentSpy of violating copyright law.

“TorrentSpy’s decision to stop accepting U.S. visitors was not compelled by any court,” according to a statement from the company. “Rather, it arises out of an uncertain legal climate in the United States regarding user privacy and the apparent tension between U.S. and European Union Internet privacy laws.”

The company also said that because its servers are located in the Netherlands, the site will remain accessible to users outside of the United States.

A company that claims it was ready to sell software to unlock iPhones said it will hold off for now.

UniquePhones announced on August 25 that it was prepared to sell the software from its Belfast headquarters until a lawyer called at about 3 a.m. to inform them that the move could constitute copyright infringement and illegal software dissemination. The lawyer claimed he was calling on behalf of AT&T.

“UniquePhones is taking legal advice to ascertain whether AT&T was sending a warning shot or directly threatening legal action,” the company stated in a blog post over the weekend. “The logistics of different continents as well as it being a weekend factors into how the situation develops.”

UniquePhones indicated it would assess the potential legal ramifications of releasing the software and decide what to do if denied the right to sell it.

“A substantial delay caused by any legal action would render the unlocking software a less valuable commodity as well as creating unforeseen security issues for the company,” the company said in a prepared statement.

The company claims to offer unlocking services for more than 1,500 handsets from leading companies like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.

Taiwan’s Acer Inc will buy Gateway Inc for $710 million to double its U.S. presence and unseat China’s Lenovo as the world’s No. 3 PC maker, while dealing a blow to its efforts to grow in Europe.

Gateway said on Monday it would exercise its right to take a first attempt at buying the parent of Paris-based PC maker Packard Bell BV. The move is a setback for Lenovo, which had also been courting Packard Bell to expand its relatively weak presence in the European consumer market.

Acer Inc said it entered a definitive agreement to pay $1.90 per Gateway share, representing a premium of 57 percent over its Friday close on the New York Stock Exchange. Gateway stock rose 59 cents, or 49 percent, to $1.80 on Monday.

Video-sharing Web site YouTube has met with harsh criticism in Germany for hosting clips that incite racial hatred, according to a news report due to be broadcast on German public TV late on Monday.

The videos hosted on YouTube include clips of a 1940 anti-Semitic propaganda film “Jud Suess” and two music videos of outlawed German far-right rock band Landser, which show footage from World War II depicting Nazi military operations.

Report Mainz, which is due to air the program, said in a statement that Social Democrat (SPD) parliamentarian Dieter Wiefelspuetz said airing the clips on YouTube in Germany was scandalous. Report Mainz quoted him as saying: “Publishing these films amounts to aiding and abetting incitement of the people.”