Top Java exec quits Sun

Vice-president and fellow Graham Hamilton, one of Sun's most influential figures, has left Sun after 11 years, weeks after Sun finally released Java under the general public licence.

This is according to The Register, which quotes Sun as saying Java "father" James Gosling, also a Sun VP and fellow, is taking over Hamilton's role.

"Sun refused to comment on why Hamilton left; however, reports say Hamilton objected to open-sourcing Java. His concerns appear to centre on the ability to maintain compatibility," notes the article.

China's Banking Regulatory Commission (BRC) has issued a strong warning to banks, saying they should attach great importance to IT risks - as the security, reliability and efficiency of IT have a direct bearing on the stability of the financial industry.

China's People's Daily Online reports the BRC will hold a bank's board of directors, supervisory committee and top management, responsible for any breakdowns in its trading and payment system.

In April, the inter-bank trading system of China Unionpay (the nation's only national electronic payment network operator) broke down for six hours, blocking about 2.46 million trades involving an aggregate turnover of 129 billion yuan.

At its annual Capital Market Days recently, Nokia announced four new mobile phones - the 6300, 6290, 6086 and 2626. All four models are expected to begin shipping in the first quarter of next year.

"These new products... give consumers a choice in selecting the right balance of technology and design to meet their lifestyle and budget," said Nokia's executive VP for mobile phones, Kai Oistamo, in an ITNews Online report.

The habits of the most elusive of the big cats, the snow leopard, may no longer remain such a mystery, according to BBCNews.

"For the first time, a team has fitted a snow leopard with a global positioning system (GPS) collar to track the secretive creature's movements," explains the article.

Ashley Spearing, of the leopard research team in the Chitral Gol National Park in the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders, says because of their solitary nature, the steep, rocky terrain they inhabit, and their twilight activity, snow leopards are extremely difficult to study.