NEC gets radical with high-power organic battery

NEC has announced plans to develop a high-power battery that would protect computers from data loss if the power supply is interrupted. By connecting four 35W cells, the organic radical battery (ORB) would pack enough punch to power a 140W desktop PC, though its application could extend to any high-power device including household electronics. The battery is connected to the power unit of the PC and when a power failure, blackout or voltage drop (of 20 per cent or more) occurs, the ORB supplies power to the PC while data is backed up and the computer shut down. ...more

Apple fixes HelpViewer security vulnerability

Apple has released a security update to fix the vulnerability exposed last week. The update fixes the HelpViewer application. 'Apple takes security very seriously and works quickly to address potential threats as we learn of them-in this case, before there was any actual risk to our customers,' said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. ...more

321 bust

321 Studios, which has been under sustained legal attack from movie studios, has raised the white flag and gone out of business. The company, which made DVD-X Copy and DVD Copy Plus had been sued by the studios on the grounds that the products assisted piracy. The studios alleged that circumventing the CSS copy protection built into DVDs was an offence under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. ...more

HP's double-figure digicam

HP has introduced a digital camera for ?99, including VAT. The Photosmart 120 has a 1megapixel CCD and 4Mb of internal memory on which to store captured JPEG images (up to 12 at best quality of 1,152x864 resolution) or up to 35 seconds of MPEG video. Storage capacity can be increased through the CompactFlash card slot. ...more

The gates open to the wireless village

Let's chat. Version 1.0 specifications for the Wireless Village - a mobile instant messaging and presence (IMPS) initiative - have been announced today, along with a successful demonstration using Ericsson's IMPS server and handsets from SonyEricsson, Motorola and Nokia. ...more