Sony unveils mini PC

Japanese news agencies report that electronics giant Sony has unveiled the world`s smallest personal computer that runs on Microsoft`s Windows XP operating system. The handheld gadget, called `type U`, a new product in Sony`s VAIO series, weighs only 550g and measures 167mm in width and is 108mm high, roughly the size of a medium-sized school notebook.

Priced at around US$1 900, the type U will hit the local market at the end of this month.

Its standard memory capacity is 256MB and hard drive capacity of about 20GB. Input can be done by either a stylus, a pointed instrument used on pressure-sensitive screens, or a collapsible keyboard.

The SCO Group has admitted it has had to lay off around 10% of its workers in Lindon, Utah, to bring its Unix operations into the black, reports The Inquirer. The company is apparently losing money on its Unix operation, which was one of the areas that its key investor, BayStar, wanted the company to axe.

SCO needs all the cash it can to launch myriad lawsuits against Linux users. It claims that Linux contains code taken from its flavour of Unix.

The Inquirer reports that a Japanese professor who invented file-sharing software Winny has been arrested for alleged copyright theft. Isamu Kaneko, a 33-year-old assistant professor at the University of Tokyo, was arrested on suspicion of developing and offering free illegal downloads through Winny.

He was also accused of helping two Japanese men who were arrested in November on charges of using Winny to disseminate movies and games on the Internet.

Winny is big in Japan where it has more than 250 000 users. It is a problem for digital content providers there, because it is good at protecting users` anonymity.