22nd March 1999 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
-
Those Rise pix from CeBIT 99
Updated Fabless startup to partner with STMicroelectronics
See our earlier story: Rise chairman confirms Socket 370 mp6II on way We now are almost certain that Rise's fab partner will be STMicroelectronics (formerly known as SGS), although Rise's CEO David Lin refused to say which company will fab its mp6II chips. Since we wrote our original story, we have obtained a far more detailed …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 09:26
-
Register gets first ABC figures
Just a hairsbreadth short of 1.4 million page views in February
The Register has received its first officially audited figures from the independent Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). The figures, for the short month of February, which apply to the most popular UK Web sites, show that we received just under 1.4 million page views. (Note, not hits). That makes us one of the top UK sites, …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 11:32
-
Microsoft courts UK banks for online love-in
Joint online banking initiative to boost market
Microsoft is to team up with a number of UK banks in an effort to create a unified online banking service. The service will be called the Finance Channel and will feature on the MSN site. Among the banks thought to be in negotiation with Microsoft are Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and Co-operative Bank. The online …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 12:00
-
Internet is a tool for democracy, says UK government
But home Web use still lags behind
Governments need to use the Internet to enhance democracy and debate, according to the culture secretary, Chris Smith. Taking part in an interview broadcast on BBC Online he said: "We need to develop the ability to use the Internet as a sort of enormous town meeting." "I think all governments need to see that as a way of …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 12:19
-
DoJ-Microsoft split to happen on 29 March?
Split likely to cause flurry in share dealing
Sources close to Microsoft suggested today that as part of a deal with US Department of Justice (DoJ), a company split will happen next Monday, 29 March. According to the source, the sides are getting closer, with Microsoft lawyer Bill Neukom already in discussions with Justice Department officials, as well as representatives …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 12:43
-
Scottish businesses targeted by anti-piracy hoaxers
BSA and FAST named in fake letter
Companies in Scotland are being warned of a bogus letter allegedly sent by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) warning of an impending audit for illegally held software. The letter says that companies will be contacted by a Mr T Thorpe on behalf of FAST (Federation Against Software Theft) who will carry out the audit on behalf …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 12:58
-
Micromuse founder killed in F1 smash
Drugs bust millionaire and two others die in tragic accident
Computer multi-millionaire Chris Dawes was killed instantly yesterday when his McLaren F1 crashed into a tree in Essex. Dawes, founder of software company Micromuse, died when his £640,000 limited edition sports car hit a tree and burst into flames. Three bodies were found in the car on the A120 near Great Dunmow. According to …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 13:25
-
CE Motor had no wheels
Huge stand, but where's the beef?
We were unpleasantly surprised, wandering around Halle One at Cebit to see a big yellow taxi on the Microsoft stand. This one looked like one of the new Beetles, rather than the Kubel One or the Kubel Two during the war. But the funniest thing about Microsoft's push into Halle One was that the car had no wheels, while just …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:07
-
Pole recognised by the Polizei
He had to get back to Warsaw...
We managed to survive the huge messe up on Friday evening when all the Hannover trams broke down by catching a bus where the driver kept making German jokes. One of his choice samples was: "This bus is going to Poland" and that made all of his German fellow travellers laugh. It was a peculiarly German joke. When the bus let us …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:11
-
Emoticons pollute Philips mobiles
Our Graham is not a fan
The short message service (SMS) of GSM phones has been a technology in search of a real use ... other than alerting roaming users outside the coverage of their provider's service coverage that there is a message waiting. Well,no more. Philips has come up with a profoundly useless SMS service: the sending of what it calls " …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:13
-
Viking Helmets made the grade
All points north, we thought...
We were astonished to see at this year's CeBIT Messe that people were wearing Viking helmets, the points of which must have had red neons in them to flash so brightly. We learnt the truth, very quickly. These people were given small skullcaps with LEDs inside and that is why they flashed so brightly. Viking Components was also …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:18
-
CeBIT 99: Thin clients cache in
As American as Applet Pie
Netco, a small company from Blankeberg in former east Germany, is showing an interesting Applet Cache device at CeBIT and, for some strange reason, in the US Pavilion. The Applet Cache is intended for use with thin-client workstations in branch offices. The Cache is designed to eliminate the need for on-site expertise, to reduce …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:22
-
Sun pursues wild beasts to the Serengheti
Will they all end up in a COMA, we wonder
A Sun chap came up to us at CeBIT 1999 and vouchsafed that the next iteration of its so-called Starfire stuff is codenamed Serengheti. We thought to ourselves, perhaps that is a term for something wilder than we had ever seen before. But no. It is, instead, Sun's coda for COMA, a four letted acronym that must attract a lot of …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:24
-
Intel's Maloney makes funny smell reference to wind and bums
Estrange, but true
A copy of a new magazine by Intel UK has reached the hands of The Register. All of us are puzzled by the level of wit displayed. The magazine, called Intelligence features senior VP Sean Maloney, who was, we know, once the right hand man of Andy Grove, the effective maker of the chip giant. The magazine Intelligence quotes …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:34
-
CeBIT 99: Let German speak unto American
Our Graham awards top marks for remarkable L&H demo
Hats off to Lernout & Hauspie for a remarkable CeBIT demo that combined speech recognition, machine translation, voice synthesis and intelligent agents. That's a lot of technology to run together in real time. Lernout & Haupsie demonstrated its Multilingual Chat by having an American and German speaker chatting together in their …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:39
-
Aunty Beeb to hold Net classes
BBC to show Joe Public what the Web is all about
The BBC is flexing its muscles as a public service broadcaster to educate UK Net virgins about the joys of the Wibbly Wobbly Web. As part of a major six part campaign starting next month, the BBC has teamed up with supermarkets, soccer clubs and pubs to offer free "crash courses" on how to use the Net. The WebWise Challenge …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:40
-
This is the time for takeover Action
Rumours of US-led acquisition surround mail order dealer
Action Computer Supplies has confirmed talks with a potential buyer are taking place. Discussions are at a "'very preliminary' stage, which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the company," according to a statement issued today by the UK reseller. The mail order company made the announcement in direct response to what …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 16:44
-
Netscape staff wait to see who’s for the chop
AOL started off offering an extra month’s pay to get them to stay – so much for loyalty
It's an unpleasant time for Netscape employees as they wait for leading Internet company, AOL, to decide exactly where the axe is to fall and which jobs will be slashed. Reports from the US suggest that as many as one in five jobs could go as AOL -- which completed its acquisition of Netscape last week -- cuts costs and embarks …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 17:04
-
Iomega flogs off Ditto
Tape back-up line sold for $3 million
Iomega has sold its Ditto family of personal tape back-up drives to Tecmar Technologies for around $3 million. The storage specialist said the deal would allow it to focus on its other storage brands, Zip, Jaz and Clik, which the company described as "core" products (though how your entire line can be 'core' is another matter). …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 17:13
-
AOL/Sun deal gets Tandem knickers in a twist
The problem is which servers they use...
A reader has pointed out to The Register a fundamental flaw with the Sun-AOL deal. AOL uses Tandem's Himalaya servers to deliver all sorts of services to its end users. Sun will sell AOL $500 million of its iron to AOL, a sum approximately equal to 500 of its UE10K boxes. A few years ago, AOL decked Stratus because its equipment …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 17:19
-
Jobs to go as CHS sees poor results
Weak Q4 and full year blamed on vendor rebate problems
Broadline distributor CHS Electronics will cut staff by 10 per cent and shut offices worldwide in a $15 million cost-cutting plan after posting a drop in profit in 1998. The US channel giant has outlined a huge overhaul to slash costs, including halting employee recruitment and trimming current staffing levels by about 600. It …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 17:45
-
UK company launches portable MP3 player
MP3-GO aimed at hi-fi market rather than PC users
UK-based Memory Corporation has unveiled MP3-GO, the latest portable digital music player to challenge Diamond Multimedia's Rio PMP300 for the solid state music hardware market. MP3-GO is a combined CD ripper and music storage system with separate portable player, called SoulMate, and Internet access device, Audio Port. …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 18:02
-
Baan shareholders slam non-exec packages
Board ignores criticism
Fireworks are banned in the Netherlands (except for New Year's Eve) but you wouldn't have known it at a recent Baan shareholders' meeting. According to a report in NRC Handelsblad, Jan Baan, who last year was forced to resign from the board, snatched the microphone from a critical private shareholder to take part in an argument …
Business 22 Mar 1999, 18:08
