The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

26th April 1999 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Program released to counter remarking

    A year ago Re-clocking of PII/266 rife

    From The Register No 74, 25 April 1998 A German magazine has released a piece of software which detects whether PII/266 microprocessors are remarked as 300MHz units. Andreas Stiller, technical editor of c’t magazine, told The Register he believed that the scam is rife in Germany and in other geographies. According to Stiller: " …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 06:29

  • Win2k beta 3 – will MS ship a million copies?

    Judging from the figures, this week's beta could be one of the company's star products

    With the third (and allegedly, final) beta of Windows 2000 due for release this week, some interesting numbers are starting to leak out. Major corporate customers, PC manufacturers and existing beta testers ought to get the code within the next few days, but Microsoft says it's producing 500,000 CDs of the beta software over the …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 09:51

  • Win98 Second Edition could ship within weeks

    It's on final release candidate, and it's a lot readier than Win2k.

    Spot the difference. Beta 3 of Win2k is rolling out this week, and the pre-release publicity strongly implies it's really, really nearly ready. The final, final (no, really) build of Windows 98 Second Edition RC3 (Release Candidate 3) went out in the past couple of days, and Microsoft's publicity machine has barely mentioned it …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 09:56

  • VIP goes Dutch with new office

    Manchester-based reseller starts European expansion

    VIP Computer Centre has revealed plans to open its first European subsidiary, spurning industry tittle-tattle that its head is on the block. The Manchester PC components distributor will open an office in Holland by the end of June. Stan Cookson, a director at VIP, said the office would open in Holland within two months. He said …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 10:43

  • Hooray, hooray, it’s CIH virus day

    Your system is under attack from more bugs than you can shake a stick at

    If you can read this -- then you're one of the lucky ones. One of the survivors. For today, Monday 26 April 1999, is the day the deadly flesh-eating Chernobyl virus is set to strike PCs all over the world, coinciding with the thirteenth anniversary of the infamous nuclear accident in Russia. According to the experts, it has the …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 10:52

  • Revealed: Intel’s most wanted

    Chipzilla wants 'em and is willing to pay top dollar…

    As reported here earlier, Chipzilla is always more than keen to get its mitts on some of what it so charmingly refers to as "imitator" products. The chip behemoth is also offering a reward, the size of which indicates the perceived threat from each rival part. Following our earlier story, a source at Satan Clara has kindly …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:00

  • Row over Y2K weakspots in City

    Action 2000 wants to name and shame the non-compliant

    Action 2000 is facing resistance to its name and shame campaign for companies not millennium compliant. The Financial Services Authority is fighting publication of its own list of City firms still at risk. It feels the information is confidential and could alarm savers, investors and borrowers, according to yesterday’s Mail on …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:02

  • Cyrix downprices current chips

    And stealth launches MII-366

    Our friends at Cyrix have sent us the latest prices for their Cyrix MII family. The prices are when you buy 1,000. You will note that this is the first official mention of the MII-366. This really is what you call keeping your head below the parapet... M II-300 US-$40 M II-333 US-$42 M II-366 US-$62 Err, that's it... ®

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:04

  • Intel thought police to wheel into action over ad

    It's vital everything's exactly right!!!

    If we had green ink in our HTML, we'd publish the headline in that...however: Chipzilla takes itself very seriously. And when it comes to its brand names, 'seriously' is far too frivolous a word to use - something more along the lines of 'get it right or die horribly' is more apposite. This is the company that has a long list of …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:15

  • Nerds Army to defend Queen & country

    intro

    Stand by your modems, you miserable lot... The British Army is spending £500,000 -- the same price tag as a Tomahawk Cruise missile -- on a Web site to recruit soldiers. One in four of all enquiries the army gets from potential recruits now comes via the Net, and with a ground war in Kosovo becoming more likely, it looks like …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:29

  • Profits arrive for Memory Corporation

    In the black at last – but only just

    Memory Corporation recorded its first pre-tax profit for the quarter ended 31 March. The Scottish semiconductor company saw pre-tax profit reach $6,482 for the first quarter. This was up on the $1.2 million loss for the same period last year. Sales soared to $36.1 million for the recently EASDAQ-listed company, from $6.05 …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 11:42

  • More woes for Compaq as market share drops

    Dataquest, IDC figures show worldwide market healthy

    Compaq, which carelessly lost its charismatic CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer just over a week ago, is not doing well selling PCs in the US market. Figures from IDC and Dataquest have revealed that Compaq, alone amongst other large PC vendors, managed to lose market share in Q1 1999. Its competitors, however, did OK. The IDC figures, which …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 12:11

  • 466MHz Celeron, 810 chipset launched, at last

    Updated Creature supports both 66/100MHz Front Side Bus

    Intel has now introduced its 810 chipset and a 466MHz Celeron today, as first revealed here a good while back. The processor will be supported by a large number of PC vendors. At the same time, Intel also announced a 333MHz mobile Celeron, as well as a low voltage mobile Celeron at 266MHz, as also anticipated here. The 810 …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 12:20

  • Intel's Gelsinger confirms S370 form factor for .18 micron

    And, saints preserve us, 810 supports Win2000

    A report in Taiwanese trade paper Eurotrade has quoted senior Intel VP Pat Gelsinger as saying that Socket 370 will be the form factor for Celerons running at 500MHz on .18 micron technology. The magazine is also reporting that the 810 chipset, announced today, and aimed at the low-end market, will support Microsoft's up and …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 12:33

  • Shock tactics used to publicise Y2K threat

    Action 2000 to put the frightners on

    A government advertising campaign is being planned to frighten people into believing the Millennium Bug will affect their lives. Action 2000’s latest plans mirror suggestions from a leading psychologist, who says using the threat of Y2K deaths might be necessary to convince people the Millennium Bug is dangerous. Elizabeth Allen …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 12:40

  • WH Smith to launch Web portal tomorrow

    Free Net access and all the usual suspects

    Reassuringly familiar high street newsagent and bookseller, WH Smith, is launching its new UK-focused portal tomorrow, in a bid to tap into the burgeoning demand for the Internet. Among the standard services and content you'd expect from a portal, including subscription-free Net access, whsmith.co.uk will also become a "living …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 13:08

  • Diamond MP3 plan still to pay off

    Revenues, profits down again

    Diamond Multimedia's latest results, for its first quarter 1999, suggest the company's attempts to improve its performance and successfully shift away from its add-in card vendor heritage aren't quite going to plan. For the quarter, ended 31 March, the company posted a profit of $1.3 million on revenues of $144 million. For the …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 13:22

  • Tempo hijacks free ISP service bandwagon

    Everyone wants to eat Freeserve’s lunch

    Tempo -- which claims to be the UK's fastest growing chain of electrical and computer superstores -- has pledged that all off-peak calls (6pm to 8am) made from a modem will be free when it launches its screaming.net service later this week. The fledgling ISP -- which has 44 stores up and down the country -- is providing the …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 15:15

  • Intel's move to sockets causes warehouse woes

    New technology is fine and dandy but...

    Chip giant Intel is now likely to face fire from its distributors and dealers after senior executives confirmed today Celeron Slot Ones are being dumped. We still wait to see whether or not Intel will move all of its Pentium IIIs to Socket 370, although the giant is still denying that. Pat Gelsinger, a senior VP at Intel US, …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 15:33

  • Gateway goes a-gunning for Dixons

    High noon on the high street

    Gateway yesterday promised to give UK high street king Dixons a run for its money over price and performance. The US home PC giant said Dixons had got away with selling what it called high cost, low performance PCs for too long, according to yesterday’s Mail on Sunday. Goran Mannerstrale, Gateway retail director for Europe, said …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 15:57

  • Now's the time to protect copyright – Diamond exec

    But who it's partnerning with is more telling...

    Diamond Multimedia today announced it is to incorporate InterTrust's rights management technology into its Rio MP3 player -- or at least future versions of the device. Diamond already has an agreement with Liquid Audio to support the latter's music format -- and presumably the rights management technology that goes with it -- in …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 15:57

  • AMD's Sanders to take back seat

    Updated Nexgen's Atiq Raza to take driving wheel at Front Side of Bus

    Influential Silicon Valley newspaper the San Jose Mercury News reported over the weekend that AMD's CEO, Jerry Sanders III, is likely to pass day to day operations at the company to Atiq Raza this week. Since the story we posted at 0800:17 this morning, AMD has declined to tell us what is happening, although one insider said: " …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 16:00

  • Avnet and Arrow team up online

    Channel players join forces to fight off Web newcomers

    Rivals Arrow Electronics and Avnet are to team up with a Web site to distribute chips and other components. The on-line semiconductor supermarket, ChipCenter LLC, will be developed with software maker Aspect Development and up-for-sale publishing house CMP Media. An announcement is expected today, and the Web site should be up …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 16:08

  • Red Hat unveils Linux 6.0

    New release of leading Linux distribution focuses on simplifying install tasks

    Red Hat has unveiled the latest version of its eponymous Linux distribution, 6.0. The new release brings the company's implementation of the open source OS up to date with version 2.2 of the Linux kernel. The new kernel's most touted feature (at least by Red Hat, whose official release mentions it three times) is its support for …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 16:15

  • Coppermine taped out and real copper on way

    Xeons will have two Mb of cache on die expected

    Intel taped out Coppermine samples last week, a very well informed source told The Register today. Two megabyte of cache on die is the ultimate aim, we understand. Select OEMs have just received samples, we are given to understand. Yield, when it ramps up, is likely to start at 667MHz but move to 733MHz shortly after intro. The …

    Business 26 Apr 1999, 16:17