Ricoh extends digicam range

Ricoh has announced the Caplio RR1 digital camera, the latest in a range of distinctively styled image capturing devices. The Caplio RR1 boasts a four megapixel CCD* giving a maximum image size of 2,272x1,704 pixels. The camera is capable of capturing stills, video and sound or any combination thereof, and features time exposure, interval (between 30 second and three hour intervals) and continuous shooting options. ...more

Oracle to release free version of its 10g DBMS

Database giant Oracle has finally faced up to the threat of MySQL and decided to fight fire with fire. It is to release a free version of its database manager in order to stem the flow of developers and particularly novice programmers to the open source database. The company has announced the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE), a free, starter edition of the world's largest proprietary database software. ...more

Olive oil circuit runs nano-scale rings round silicon

Scientists at a Canadian university have created the first 'wet' semiconductor device capable of outperforming conventional silicon chips, by 'painting' it onto glass. The University of Toronto (UofT) team cooked up semiconductor particles just a few nanometres across in a flask containing extra-pure oleic acid, the main ingredient in olive oil. The researchers then placed a drop of solution on a glass slide patterned with gold electrodes and forced the drop to spread out into a smooth, continuous semiconductor film using the spin-coating process. ...more

CA's ex-CEO Kumar charged with fraud

As expected US authorities have charged former executives of Computer Associates with fraud. Amongst those charged were the former CEO Sanjay Kumar. The charges related to alleged accounting malpractices which took place between January 1998 and September 30, 2000. ...more

Novell and Microsoft 'agree to disagree'

The collaboration between Microsoft and Novell already appears to be crumbling to dust just weeks following the announcement. Novell has issued an open letter in which it asserts that signing a patent covenant with Microsoft not to sue each others' customers is not an admission of infringement. Barely hours later, Microsoft released a statement claiming the companies have 'agreed to disagree' over the issue. ...more