CDs that glow in the dark

There are some pretty weird and wonderful gadgets on the market, but none so weird as a product from CD duplicator Optech. The LumiDisk takes optical disc technology and turns it into something you'd least expect. Building a special phosphor layer into its CDs, Optech has come up with a way of transforming the humble CD into, of all things, a nightlight. ...more

UK games chart: FIFA 07 gets second wind

There's a new number in this week's ELSPA UK games chart, but it's a familiar face: EA's FIFA 07(DS, GBA, GC, Mob, PC, PS2, PSP, Xb, Xb360). The reason for its second-half resurgence? It seems supermarket discounts have boosted sales (a price of ?30 still fitting it within ELSPA's 'full price' criteria). EA's street racing game Need For Speed: Carbon (DS, GBA, GC, PS2, PSP, Wii, Xb360, Xb, PC, PS3) stays at number two, with Microsoft's Gears of War, for the Xbox 360, slipping down to number three. ...more

One million tax forms delivered by wires

The Inland Revenue has announced that it received over a million Self Assessment tax returns electronically in the year ending 31 Januay 2004. The taxman says that of the 1,079,298 online tax returns received, 689,264 were via the Internet, whilst the remaining 390,034 were via the Electronic Lodgement Service which uses approved third party software to deliver the assessments. Although dogged by problems in the early days, the Inland Revenue has improved the usability and reliability of the service so that many more people are comfortable filling in their self assessment forms online and with the knowledge that it hasn't been 'lost in the post'. ...more

China Telecom moves to block Skype

China Telecom, China's biggest telco is reported to be looking at ways to block calls made by the Skype VoIP service. However, this time it would seem the reason is not to crack down on dissidents as reported last week. The reason for the crackdown appears to be purely commercial. ...more

Comment: Why Linux could be the new Copland

Copland was the operating system meant to succeed the Mac OS 7. But it just drifted along, its development largely driven by the demands of its engineers rather than the needs of Apple's customers. The project went on for over three years, with little notable progress. ...more