6th April 1999 Archive
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Internet set to run out of names
Yes it's official - demand outstrips supply and it all ends in tears
Forget the flesh-eating millennium bug and the porn-posting Melissa virus -- the Internet is facing a far nastier fate. The Net is running out of domain names -- and with 50,000 of the things being registered each day, the crisis could end in total meltdown unless something is done about it. It could even lead to an all-out war …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 02:47
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India's billion thinks Compaq is DeskPoor
A year ago Imagine what the situation is like in Nigeria...
From The Register No. 72, 6 April 1998 Compaq’s cheapo PC for second and third world consumers, the DeskPoor 1000, has provoked a heap of indignation in India. The sub-$1,000 200MHZ Pentium PC incorporates obsolete technology, and does not include the price of the keyboard, the mouse and the monitor, critics say. But the outrage …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 05:25
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Chipzilla screams at IT world's most famous Belgian
Do you recognise us, Gaston? Here's $30 million that says you do
Chip giant Intel said late yesterday it had taken a $30 million equity stake in Lernout & Hauspie (L&H). The firm is run by Gaston Bastiaens, an ex-Apple and Quarterdeck employee, and makes speech recognition and natural language software. The L&H technology is also licensed by Microsoft for use in some of its products. Intel …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 05:37
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Intel applies famous CPU price fork…
...and why the grey CPU market works
At the end of this week, Intel will slash prices on its Celeron, PII and PIII processors by as much as 20 per cent, as revealed here earlier. The PII/333 will become one of the Intel disappeared. See our story on the 23rd of March, Intel too slash Pentium III prices on 11 April. But, in the meantime, a reader has asked us how …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 06:06
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Good morning Silicon Carbide Valley
Doesn't quite have the same ring to it...
Wall Street's local newspaper is reporting that a boffin has come up with a mixture of substances that will give better chip performance than silicon. The Wall Street Journal said that boffins at the University of Delaware, US, have invented a mixture of silicon carbide and germanium which will perform better and at higher …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 06:16
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Hardware freaks overclock 300 Celeron to 600MHz
It's supercooled
Our friends over at The Overclocker Page have produced a Celeron system using a 300A processor that now racks up 600MHz. And, at the same time, they have got hold of PC-133 SDRAM to boost the speed that little bit more. There are picture's at the site. The system uses cooled water and a combination of other cooling methods to …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 06:56
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Naked RDRAM pix found on Happy Cat site
There's gold in them thar edge connectors
Our favourite Japanese site, Happy Cat has posted some pics of Rambus modules on its Web site. Our friend Daiki says that the Japanese caption describes them as 300MHz DRDRAM from Mitsubishi. People were showing them in back rooms at CeBIT but wouldn't let us in. So does this mean that reports there is a further problem with …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 07:41
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IT outfits creep up Fortune 500
They mostly did better, but autos and oil still hold the top slots
By and large, IT companies have moved up the latest Fortune 500 while oil companies and sugar water companies like Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola have gone down. Ranked in order of 1998 sales, General Motors still tops the list, with Ford second and Wal-Mart third, displacing Exxon to fourth. General Electric comes fifth ($100.5 …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 08:08
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Microsoft teams with EFF to push Web privacy
Sleep easy - Redmond will look after your personal data...
An improbable double act - Microsoft and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is to announce tools to promote and protect Web privacy later today. Typically one would expect any privacy tools Microsoft would announce to be geared towards promoting Microsoft platforms, but the support of the EFF suggests that maybe this time …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 08:11
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NT Embedded – a solution in search of a problem?
You can do some interesting things with Microsoft's latest, but why would you want to?
At WinHEC later this week Microsoft is due to demonstrate Windows NT Embedded for the first time, but it may turn out to be a solution in search of a problem. Microsoft is pitching NT Embedded as a way to tie low-cost and low-footprint devices into 'standard' Windows corporate networks, but resolving the necessary smallness of …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 09:05
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c't anti-spam campaign gets Melissa boost
UK netizens might think twice now
The campaign started by German magazine c't and also supported by The Register has received a boost because of the scare caused by the Melissa virus. Over the last 10 days, the entire worldwide corporate establishment has shuddered after a "feature" in Microsoft Outlook meant the replication of a macro virus to other email …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 09:57
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Intel makes no comment on Coppermine cache
Will we, won't we see 64K L1 cache in Coppermine?
Chip giant Intel has made a firm no comment following speculation that its Coppermine technology will include 64K of level one cache. Rumours circulated towards the end of last year that the original iteration of Katmai (Pentium III) processors would include double the cache but they proved unfounded. Now speculation is rife on …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 10:17
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Unshackle ecommerce, say UK lawyers
Government warned not to stifle development with red tape
The Law Society is warning the UK government not to strangle the development of ecommerce with red tape. Responding to the government's consultation paper, Building Confidence in Electronic Commerce, the Law Society believes that since no one can accurately predict how ecommerce will develop over the next few years it would be …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 10:29
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IBM rolls out four way H70 kit
Rack mounted systems have application failover
Big Blue has revealed details of the latest models in its RS/6000 family and has claimed the products will give it a headstart over competitors HP and Sun. The H70 is an enterprise server with a claimed 50 per cent boost over its old H50 model and improved 64-bit PowerPC chips. IBM also has introduced a cluster of machines …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 10:48
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Journalist beats-off Microsoft subpoeana
Hats off to Dan Goodin for hanging in there - and brickbats to Yahoo for not
Electronic privacy may be coming, but the legal right to privacy in the US is not what might be expected from assurances by Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft. True stories of general interest nevertheless have a greater likelihood of being told without repercussions if told to a journalist, as Dan Goodin of CNET has shown by shaking off …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 10:50
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Industry chip association says sales levelling out
Sales total $10.88 billion in February
Trade association the Semiconductor Industry Association said that its worldwide figures for February show the market is levelling out. According to the SIA, that represents a growth of 3.3 per cent compared to February last year. Said Doug Audrey, the SIA director of finance: "This month's numbers show signs of continued …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 11:01
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Melissa virus targeted by UK retail giant
WH Smith Web site offers help as a new virus looms on the horizon
More than a week after she first hit the headlines, Melissa has caught the eye of a leading UK company. WH Smith, the Great Satan of high-street booksellers, is offering an antidote to anyone bitten by the Melissa bug through a free 30-day trial of anti-virus software. The high street giant is offering a trial version of …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 11:35
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S3, Via confirm chip cooperation
Where does that leave Intel?
Chipset company Via and graphics company S3 confirmed today they had set up a strategic alliance. Both will work together to produce integrated chipsets for both AMD and Intel microprocessors. The first fruits of alliance are expected to arrive in the second half of this year aimed at both mainstream and low end PCs market. …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 11:48
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Internet set to run out of names
Yes it's official - demand outstrips supply and it all ends in tears
Forget the flesh-eating millennium bug and the porn-posting Melissa virus -- the Internet is facing a far nastier fate. The Net is running out of domain names -- and with 50,000 of the things being registered each day, the crisis could end in total meltdown unless something is done about it. It could even lead to an all-out war …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 14:47
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OMG shrugs collective shoulders at Linux
Is there much money in Linux, anyway?
The latest raft of directors appointed to the board of the OMG holds out little hope, or hype for the Linux community. The object management group (OMG) today appointed nine directors to its board from a range of different software companies but no great figures from Linux were there. Instead, a spokeswoman for the OMG said that …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 15:59
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Web software consolidation as JSB snaps up Kansmen
First post-float acquisition for UK Web access firm
JSB Software Technologies will make California-based Kansmen its first acquisition since floating last year. UK-based JSB has entered a "conditional agreement" to buy the software company for an initial consideration of $2 million cash and deferred consideration of up to $3 million in cash and shares. It is hoping to raise the $ …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 15:59
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LG fiddles while Mexico iMac plant burns
Will Apple's Q3 results be affected?
Apple's iMac production programme was hit last week by a major fire at LG Electronics' Mexicali, Mexico plant. Damage from the fire itself, reported by the AppleInsider Web site, and the water used to put it out, forced the closure of the plant for "at least a month", according to LG sources quoted by the site. Quite what the …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 16:21
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PointCast ex-CEO looks to re-acquire company
Founder Hassett wants back in
PointCast founder and former CEO Chris Hassett looks set to make a bid to buy back the ailing push technology provider. Hassett today confirmed he has engaged a New York investment bank to investigate and possibly action the acquisition of a majority stake in PointCast. "PointCast has tremendous assets that continue to make it a …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 16:29
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Yahoo! and Micron team up to provide small business service
Direct seller brings portal into people's homes
Micron Electronics has signed up with Yahoo! to provide customised start pages for home and small business users. The plan is part of the vendor?s launch of its wider mConnect programme with EarthLink, Yahoo! and 3Com. Micron's Millennia PCs will come equipped with a co-branded Micron/My Yahoo! start page, including general, …
Business 6 Apr 1999, 16:36
