The higher the ghost rating, the deader the site

There are millions and millions of Web pages hosted on servers around the world, but what happens when someone just forgets to update them? One site is dedicated to hunting down the ghost ships that pass in the cyber night. If you pop over to Ghostsites, you can see what happens to the forlorn Web sites that have been abandoned and neglected. If they took canine form, they'd be shipped off to Battersea Dogs' Home until a new owner came along. ...more

Viva open source Java

Viva, a new website dedicated to open source Java, has been made live. Currently the site includes a directory listing of open source Java runtimes, compilers, libraries, test suites, FAQs, UI toolkits and such like. There will also be links to Java runtimes from the research community, information about open source basics and Sun's official open source PR. ...more

A new Microsoft keyboard hits the desk

The Caps-Lock key still lives on. Microsoft promises its new Office Keyboard will be the most significant keyboard advancement since the introduction of its ergonomic Natural Keyboard Elite 1994. The major features of the keyboard (pictured) are a "Single Touch Pad", multi-tasking on the F-keys and Office XP support. ...more

Adobe scans barcodes into the PDF format

Adobe is expected to announce the addition of barcodes to PDF-based electronic forms. The move is designed to make it easier for paper-based businesses to switch to electronic data gathering, according to a report on CNet. When a barcode-enabled PDF from is filled in, Acrobat Reader will convert the entered data into a barcode and add this to the form. ...more

Sony and NEC join up for control of CD and DVD drives

Sony and NEC have set up a joint venture to produce CD and DVD drives in an attempt to maintain market share in the face of strong price competition. The combined operation will take the best technologies and expertise from both parties with the aim of increasing their aggregated 20 per cent of the global market and overtaking the 28 per cent share held by HLDS, itself a joint venture between Hitachi and LG. Sony will hold a 55 per cent stake in the new company against NEC's 45 per cent and both companies are preparing to transfer their respective optical disc drive operations to the joint venture before 1 April 2006. ...more