Price Check: Digital Cameras

We take a look at UK prices for digital cameras. What hasn't changed since we checked in August is the fact that you can still pick up the 0.5 megapixel Polaroid 320 from Easyetrader for ?23. ...more

Stupid idea of the day

How often have you had a great idea transform itself into a dumb idea before your very eyes? Well two Staffordshire lads must have been suffering from a similar syndrome when they decided to send an e-mail to the US president. Did they just send George "Dubya" Bush a note wishing him well with his new presidency? Did they heck, the two schoolyard chums decided to send him a death-threat and, to make matters even worse, they included some lewd comments about Bush's twin daughters. Of course, the Americans don't take kindly to having their president threatened and so the CIA was immediately informed. ...more

Pioneer, Sigma Designs to develop Blu-ray player for 2006

Pioneer is joining forces with Sigma Designs to develop a Blu-ray player for release in the first half of 2006. Russ Johnston, senior VP of marketing and product planning for the home entertainment division of Pioneer Electronics (USA) said that the Sigma will provide a system-on-chip that will enable Pioneer to focus on software development. 'Pioneer intends to be the first company to offer a high-quality, Blu-ray DVD player that contains all the key features expected from a consumer product under our brand name,' he said. ...more

Spam king sees the light

A spam king has settled a court case with Microsoft and the State of Texas and has agreed never to distribute spam emails again. In fact, he has started up his own anti-spam business. Ryan Pitylak, who admitted sending 25 million emails every day during his operations in 2004, has agreed to a fine of around $1 million and has apparently been forced to put up his house and luxury BMW up for sale to pay his legal costs. ...more

Microsoft ruffles anti-trust feathers with IE-only documents

The MHT file format 'significantly limits the practical usability' of the relevant documents, claims the US Government and the seventeen states who were part of the final settlement. Microsoft, which has been forced to publish details of its software as part of its antitrust settlement, is providing the information in a form which can only be read by Internet Explorer, according to Associated Press. The US Government and the seventeen states who were part of the final settlement have complained that the MHT file format 'significantly limits the practical usability' of the published documents as it doesn't support sufficiently useful search technologies. ...more