‘Apprentice’ star Howard Ebison is in training to run Derby’s 10k run in memory of a fellow contestant’s mum, who died of cancer; he also hopes to run in the London Marathon.

Ebison finished sixth in 2009’s edition of the BBC series, becoming a casualty of Sir Alan Sugar’s boardroom after choosing low-risk products as product manager in his team’s shopping channel challenge.

But Ebison, who moved to Derby in 2008 to live with his partner is aiming now to be a hit and raise £3,000 by running both the Derby race and the London Marathon in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Support charity and in memory of the mother of his fellow Apprentice rival James McQuillan.

Both James and Yasmin Siadatan – the series’ eventual winner – will join Howard in the Derby run.

Edie.net reports that a Peterhead firm have been fined following an explosion in May 2008, which sent cement powder into the air and falling onto homes and businesses up to two kilometres away.

The firm, CEBO UK, has pled guilty to a charge of breaching its Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) permit and ordered by Peterhead Sheriff Court to pay court costs plus a fine of £14,000.

The explosion was caused when a silo broke due to poor maintenance. It was found that the silo’s hatch lid retaining brackets were badly corroded during a SEPA investigation. It also found silo maintenance records weren’t up to date and the silo should not have been in use.

Cement, although in common use, is an abrasive powder which can cause damage and harm to the environment, human health and property, said SEPA’s investigating officer Martyn Howie.

Google’s new Nexus One mobile phone could become embroiled in a legal battle over its name. According to a report on Sky News, the family of sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick have reportedly asked Google to stop using the Nexus One name.

For geeks among us, they will know the connection between the two, but for those who don’t here’s an explanation.

Phillip K. Dick is the cult sci-fi author responsible for the book ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ which formed the basis for the film ‘Bladerunner’, starring Harrison Ford. In the book, a bounty hunter known as Nexus 6 (or six) chased down cyborgs. In the film, Nexus Six was a class of ‘replicant’ – a cyborg designed to look human.

Google’s phone, which was launched earlier in the week and has created a large amount of buzz, runs Google’s Android operating system.

The family of Phillip K. Dick claim intellectual-property infringement by Google and have asked the search giant to stop using the name, claiming there is a clear association between the characters of Dicks’ work and the name for Google’s latest creation.

Google have so far refused to comment on the claims by Dicks’ family, but say the name has nothing to do with the author’s work and that their use of the word ‘Nexus’ was used in its original sense, as a place where things converge.