Epson boasts inkjet breakthrough for producing lightweight circuit boards

Epson has overcome one of the major obstacles to producing thin, lightweight circuit boards for use in compact devices by using its inkjet technology to print the boards using electrically conductive inks. The production of multilayer boards usually involves a complicated method known as photolithography, but this has not proved conducive to creating thin and lightweight boards that, it is hoped, will increase the performance and reduce the size and weight of future devices. Epson's method uses an inkjet system to alternately draw patterns and form layers on the board using two types of ink: a conductive ink containing a dispersion of silver micro-particles measuring from several nanometers to several tens of nanometers in diameter, and a newly developed insulator ink. ...more

TUC turns to the Web to battle 'unpaid overtime culture'

The TUC has launched a website designed to tackle the UK's unpaid overtime culture. It says that over five million people in the UK are contributing ?23bn in free time to their employers each year. www. ...more

China tests US software to block Skype calls

China has begun testing software from a US company that blocks Skype Internet-based phone calls. In September we reported that China Telecom was looking to block eBay-owned Skype's VoIP service, worried about the threat to its own landline business. Atlanta-based Verso Technologies' NetSpective M-Class software is capable of filtering out both VoIP calls and peer-to-peer traffic, in addition to providing bandwidth and content management tools. ...more

Hotmail to get upgrade today?

Hotmail, the world's largest free email service, is about to get a major overhaul according to the developer website Beta News. The site reports that an announcement of a Hotmail facelift may come as early as today. Among the improvements will be an increase in the amount of storage space offered free to users - up to 2GB - which would put it in line with Google's Gmail and Yahoo! Mail. ...more

Microsoft announces 'critical' security flaw

The monthly Security bulletin from Microsoft offers thin pickings for potential hackers this month. The bulletin reports a single vulnerability in Windows - albeit a critical one. A vulnerability exists in the Windows Graphics Rendering Engine that could allow a hacker to gain control of the computer and run malicious code. ...more