Canon goes scan-tastic

A herd of new scanners is headed our way from Canon pastures for the home and office, from as little as ?69 inc VAT. Starting at the small end, there are two 600dpi models: the N670U and the N676U, both aimed at the home user and retailing at ?69 and ?89 inc VAT respectively. These models take up little room on your desk and can even be rotated vertically for upright scanning. ...more

Hole found in Samba code

A security vulnerability in the open source Samba server code could allow an external attacker to remotely and anonymously gain Super User (root) privileges. Samba.org reports that: 'A flaw has been detected in the Samba main smbd code which could allow an external attacker to remotely and anonymously gain Super User privileges on a server running a Samba server. ...more

Top five ISPs dominate UK broadband provision

Just five ISPs account for 88 per cent of the UK broadband market, following the series of high-profile acquisitions that have taken place of late. In June 2006, 10 providers shared 82 per cent of the market between them. Of those 10, Telewest and Virgin have since merged and AOL has been absorbed by Carphone Warehouse, while BT and Tiscali have both expanded their user bases with the acquisitions of PlusNet and HomeChoice respectively. ...more

Fujitsu unveils solid state laptops

Fujitsu has unveiled its first laptops to use solid state storage instead of traditional hard disk drives. The pen-enabled Lifebook P1610 and LifeBook B6210 ultra-portable notebooks will be offered to customers with an option to ditch normal hard disks for flash-based drives. As we have reported, memory firms < SanDisk and Super Talent have announced replacements for hard drives using Nand memory. ...more

FTC clears HP merger

The finish line is in sight as the FTC approves the HP-Compaq deal. Although not unexpected - the deal has already been approved by the EC and Canadian regulators - the unanimous approval for the merger from the US Federal Trade Commission is still another tick in the box as the shareholders' vote looms. Shares in Compaq rose nearly 4 per cent on the news; HP's price dropped 2 per cent, or 40 cents. ...more