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1st December 1998 Archive

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  • A year ago: Chips with everything – Netfinity delayed

    Big Blue sups with the Devil

    From The Register Issue 62 A breakfast with Mike Lunch provides the sausages and beans we need

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 07:36

  • Intel moves into e-commerce software

    Purchase of iCat gives company Web storefront operation plus software suite

    Intel is to buy privately-held e-commerce specialist iCat Corporation for an undisclosed sum - and, for that matter, for undisclosed purposes. The Seattle-based company has been in operation for five years, and produces secure e-commerce software and services, working for a number of large companies, but also offering 'do-it- …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 10:01

  • Adaptec puts Ultra2 into Linux source

    Ultra2 support will also be available via Red Hat 5.2

    Adaptec says it has now provided all the tools, product and documentation for the development of Ultra2 Linux drivers. Ultra2 capabilities are now in the main Linux source, and are to be released in Red Hat's Linux 5.2. According to Red Hat Ultra2 developer Doug Ledford, Linux support of Adaptec is "better than anything …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 10:41

  • Pace chooses C-Cube for NTL set-top system

    Major contract for UK two-way cable set to roll

    Pace Micro Technology is to provide the set-top systems for the rollout of UK cable company NTL's two-way digital cable network. NTL has 25 per cent of the UK cable market, covering 5.2 million homes. The Pace systems will use C-Cube's AViA@tv set-top platform, which will provide Web access, hi-fi audio/video, browsing, email, …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 10:43

  • Apple, Imatec lawsuit talks collapse

    $1.1 billion patent infringement set to go to court

    Apple and imaging software developer Imatec have failed to reach an agreement to prevent the latter's $1.1 billion patent infringement lawsuit against the Mac maker reaching the courts. However, the first hearing is unlikely to begin before next March, over a year since Imatec filed the suit in New York. Imatec's case centres on …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 11:28

  • Intel posts 440ZX, 440ZX66 chipset specs

    New sets cut-down versions of 440BX for mid to low-end systems

    Intel has posted details of its new 440ZX and 440ZX66 chipsets on its Web site -- even though it has yet to announce them officially. The two chip-sets have been designed for Pentium II and Celeron-based systems, respectively. Both support a maximum RAM space of just 256MB, and neither is capable of handling multiple processors …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 11:42

  • Sega ships 150,000 Dreamcast consoles at launch

    But that's all it had to sell...

    Sega sold 150,000 Dreamcast machines at the WinCE-based, 128-bit next-generation games console's launch in Japan on Friday, the company said yesterday. That figure represents all the machines Sega had lined up to supply stores' customer pre-orders. It's telling that the statistic doesn't include sales beyond those early orders …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 12:03

  • Shortage of PII 333MHz and 350MHz now acute

    Some problems for manufacturers in pre-Christmas run-up

    Demand for Pentium II 333MHz and 350MHz has so outstripped supply that there is an acute shortage of parts, a distributor has warned. Two weeks ago, Intel admitted that there was heavy demand for the PII processors, while yesterday it said that the PII 233, 266MHz and 300MHz were not now generally available. At the time, Intel …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 12:16

  • Aliens 1: Intel 0

    Roswell UFO laid groundwork for Pentium II, claims leaked 'official' US government files

    We owe the microchip revolution not to Intel but to aliens, if allegedly official top secret US government documents, released on the Web yesterday, are true. The documents appear in a book entited The Truth and published on The Word is Truth website. The site claims to show that one or more alien vehicles crashed in the US in …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 12:21

  • Mendocino the culprit in Pentium II scam

    Watch out for substitution

    End users are being warned that a scam where Pentium II processors are substituted for Celeron Mendocino chips could dent their expectations. According to the report, unscrupulous Taiwanese manufacturers are inserting 333MHz Mendocino chips into Slot One cartridges and passing them off as PII/333 parts. A UK source, who declined …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 12:39

  • Can the AOL-Netscape deal be made to work?

    The Register picks it over, and concludes that it's going to be a tricky business

    With the dust now settling on the AOL-Netscape-Sun deal and the details now filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, it's time to step back for a moment and consider the implications. The fixers included John Doerr, a venture capitalist with Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers who is on the boards of AOL and Netscape. …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 13:01

  • Microsoft misses NT beta three deadline

    Slips to Q1 1999

    Microsoft has missed its promised deadline of shipping NT 5.0 beta three by Thanksgiving Day and has now quietly said the beta will be ready in Q1 1999. The slippage emerged At Comdex/Fall, two weeks ago, meaning that it is now likely that the gold version will not be available until Q3 1999, at the earliest. At the Intel …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 13:09

  • Linux Worm attacks continue despite warnings

    Patch available from Red Hat

    Red Hat has posted a patch on its Web site after it emerged that the latest version of Linux, release 5, has been found to be susceptible to attack from a Worm virus. The Worm targets ISPs' Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) servers running Intel-based hardware controlled by Linux. It subverts essential components of the OS …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 13:13

  • Software sniffs out cheats on the Web

    Crib copy at your peril, warns Vocalyser developer

    Time could be running out for people who like to copy others' work by downloading it from the Internet and claiming it as their own. A team at Birmingham University has developed a program, called Vocalyser, which is being put to good use in the English department, spotting students that have plagiarised work. Apparently, some …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 13:19

  • Big SK Five subs under government threat

    Loss making divisions will be shut next year

    The South Korean government is talking tougher and will get tougher with the big five chaebols (family concerns). Reports in tomorrow's papers in South Korea will say that the Ministry of Finance and Economy will shut down subsidiaries Hyundai, LG, Samsung, Daewoo and SK which cannot be clearly demonstrated make money. That …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 15:37

  • Equator readies entry into media processor market

    MAP1000 implements DSP functionality through C-programmable core

    US chip developer Equator Technologies is set to unveil its MAP1000 media processor this week. Its unique selling point: the chip delivers DSP and ASIC functionality through software written in a high level language. Equator's chip is provides hardware developers with a platform through which functionality like MPEG decoding and …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 15:57

  • Vocalis launches talking Web sites

    Talk is cheap, Gov -- honest

    Speech recognition specialist Vocalis Group plc wants people to talk to Web sites instead of viewing them using traditional graphics-based browsers. The Cambridgeshire-based company wants to sign up 1000 companies in the UK to take part in a trial next year that will test the appeal of using their text-to-speech technology. …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 16:21

  • SoS hits out at VCs

    No time to be cautious, says Mandelson

    Peter Mandelson has slammed venture capitalists and pension funds for not investing more in hi-tech start-ups. The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said unless more cash is pumped into these services it could jeopardise the UK's future economic prosperity. Speaking at the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 16:32

  • Wireless LANs are go

    IDC highlights leader in booming market

    Proxim has come out with the largest share of the wireless LAN market, according to an IDC report into the wireless network market which predicts massive growth in this sector over the next five years. The California-based LAN manufacturer leads the competition with 30 per cent of wireless LAN network interface cards (NIC) …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 16:38

  • EU members fail to agree on crypto directive

    States split over whether to allow market to define technology for digital signatures

    EU technology minister Martin Bangemann yesterday slammed France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Portugal for the "old attitudes" to new technology, after the four failed to agree with other EU member states on a unified cryptography policy. Britain, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands believe that specific technical requirements …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 16:45

  • Hire Intelligence posts second ad for franchisees

    Aussie PC rental operation seeks similar, preferrably non-smoker, GSOH

    Hire Intelligence, the Australian PC rental company, is attempting to expand its UK market share by seeking franchisees through newspaper ads. A second ad appeared in the Times today, asking for businesspeople to come forward and buy franchises for £30,000-38,000. It claimed annual profits of £83,500 on capital (including stock …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 16:53

  • Heppe hops home from TDK Europe

    Marsden returns to modem maker as MD

    PC Card modem specialist TDK Systems Europe is to gain a new MD when the present incumbent, David Heppe, returns to his native US later this month. His replacement, Keith Marsden, was formerly MD at Grey Cell Systems, the company TDK bought in September last year. Indeed, the company only just changed its name from TDK Grey Cell …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 17:05

  • Opinion: Give Microsoft a break

    Great Santa not Great Satan

    If you read the pages of The Register regularly you'd think we had some obsessive-compulsive attitude which meant we disliked Microsoft. Some of us actually sort of love Microsoft here. These are the people, after all, who gave us cut and paste, real time. It was possible to cut and paste using GEM from Digital Research and it …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 17:26

  • E-commerce in red-tape bondage threat

    We will not straitjacket business, says DTI

    The government's plans to turn the UK into a thriving centre of electronic commerce could be jeopardised if it becomes too obsessed with rules and regulations. Paul Barker, a consultant at KPMG, warned that over regulation could severely hamper the UK's progress, although he did broadly approve of the government's measures, as …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 17:30

  • Charity begins at home

    Well, in Salford to be precise says EDS

    Outsourcing giant, EDS, is investing £2 million over five years to support an arts-based urban generation project in Salford, Greater Manchester. The Lowry Project, named after the Salford artist, is a development which includes an art centre, two theatres, three art galleries, and a number of restaurants and bars. The site is …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 17:42

  • Microsoft tells press what to think about Java

    Bill only got worried because he believed Sun propaganda, apparently...

    Microsoft hasn't been getting a terrific press so far in the antitrust action, but today the company seems to have had a spectacular bout of lateral thinking. What about pulling all the journalists in and telling them what it all means before, er, it all happens? It's an interesting innovation, anyway. Microsoft was today …

    Business 1 Dec 1998, 21:39