Top 10: Swine flu spreads, Apple hires, Twitter hack

Hands down, the swine-flu outbreak captured the headlines this week (and led to some obviously hysterically hyped headlines along the way). Amid the speculation about how much havoc the new virus will wind up wreaking on the world, there also was some more moderated speculation about what Apple is up to in hiring a bunch of chip designers. Oh, and another high-profile Twitter account was hacked ... again.

1. E-health data collection key to tracking swine flu spread, Is IT ready for a pandemic after mergers, layoffs? and 10 tips for swine flu planning: Whatever happens (or doesn't happen) with the swine flu, the outbreak serves as a reminder that it is always a good idea to have plans in place for dealing with pandemics and other disasters. As usual, IT is playing a role in tracking the new virus and the Internet is in prominent play as well, both in terms of spreading important information and news, and as a tool for those who market in hype, fear and opportunistic spam.

2. Apple snapping up chip designers: Apple has been in a hiring binge for its chip design team, which has given Apple fans, and critics, further fodder for the ever-popular activity of speculating on what the company is up to.

3. Update: Hacker: I broke into Twitter: A French hacker claimed to have gotten administrative access to the Twitter account of the site's director of product management. Twitter cofounder Biz Stone said on a blog that there was indeed an account breach. The site has experienced a number of security issues in recent months (see number eight for more on issues and benefits of Twitter).

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