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24th May 1999 Archive

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  • Tosh profit plummets by 89 per cent

    A year ago US division records operating loss

    From The Register, a year ago Another Japanese giant has turned in poor financial results, with Toshiba announcing a drop of profits by 90 per cent. Last Friday, Fujitsu reported a similar decline in figures. Toshiba said that its net profit droped by nearly 90 per cent for its latest financial year to 7.34 billion yen on sales …

    Business 24 May 1999, 07:15

  • Clothed K7 found on Web

    Hardware site says it had mitts on one

    Hardware site Firing Squad has posted what it claims is a preliminary set of benchmarks for the up-and-coming K7. The site said that it had access to a pre-production model and while it wasn't able to benchmark it to its usual standards, it saw and felt enough of it to give it a reasonable spin, it claimed. Pictures of the …

    Business 24 May 1999, 07:39

  • Final MS trial depositions line up

    MS on Trial Is this the beginning of the end? No.

    There are more depositions to come before the trial resumes, although the DoJ has not yet posted the required formal three days notice of the dates and places. Judge Jackson's procedural Order allows witnesses to be deposed before they are examined in the witness box and cross-examined. However, witnesses can only be deposed a …

    Business 24 May 1999, 07:46

  • Has Microsoft's defence run out of ideas?

    MS on Trial The AOL-Netscape gambit clearly isn't working

    "One of the things I committed to when I took on this job was to go back to court, to not take 60 cents on the dollar to settle for a consent decree." So said Joel Klein, the Department of Justice's antitrust chief, dropping a hint about his attitude to any attempt by Microsoft to try for a weak consent decree again. Klein was …

    Business 24 May 1999, 07:49

  • Unsealed Caldera documents expose MS' DR-DOS moves

    MS on Trial Oh joy! A fresh smut supply from Gates and Kempin!

    The Caldera case is likely to be cited long after the details of what Microsoft did with its technosabotage efforts on DR-DOS are forgotten. In the Salt Lake City District Court, Magistrate Judge Ronald Boyce has confirmed that news organisations have a right under the First Amendment to the American Constitution ("Congress …

    Business 24 May 1999, 07:55

  • Minnow eats whale – Olivetti beats DT Italian bid

    And now it's quite possible nobody's going to love Deutsche Telekom

    Deutsche Telekom's bid to merge with Telecom Italia collapsed horribly over the weekend, leaving the German giant's strategy apparently in ruins. Olivetti, which had been mounting its own hostile bid for Telecom Italia, squeaked acceptances of 51.02 per cent at the eleventh hour, leaving DT to return to its tent. Which former …

    Business 24 May 1999, 09:05

  • Lies, damn lies, benchmarks and awards

    Opinion Ill-considered awards are damaging the IT industry's health

    Few would disagree that Microsoft deserves every marketing award ever invented - providing of course its business practices do not cause it to be disqualified. It is therefore surprising that Microsoft does not seem to receive the recognition of marketers, while other award givers fall over themselves to make awards to Microsoft …

    Business 24 May 1999, 09:08

  • North East of England to become leading networked region

    Geordies set to lead the wired way thanks to major investment

    The North of England is to become a leading light in the wired world, the government has decided. The shock announcement paves the way for transforming the north-east into one of the most networked regions on the planet. No mean feat -– in this part of the world, PCs walk the beat, buses take you to work and servers are found in …

    Business 24 May 1999, 10:03

  • Five sacked by Rolls Royce for porno emails

    Abuse of company network leads to dismissal

    Rolls Royce has sacked five people at its Bristol office for using its corporate network for sending "grossly offensive" hardcore porn. The employees were given their marching orders a fortnight ago although their dismissals were subject to an independent appeal. All five failed to have their dismissals overturned at separate …

    Business 24 May 1999, 10:27

  • Pete Sherriff exposed as whiskey-guggling libertine

    Caught in shot with his paramour

    Digital camera toting Tim Richardson managed to catch roving reporter Pete Sherriff as he paid a flying visit to our office last Friday. And his snap will answer many questions about the mystery reporter who has broken so many Intel stories and grievously harmed so many AMD stories over the last two months. Pictured here is …

    Business 24 May 1999, 10:32

  • Is Compaq stark-staring bonkers?

    Wisht lads...ha'd yer gobs...

    Radio ads use Geordie accents and refer to losing side Compaq UK has inaugurated a series of adverts on commercial UK TV spoken by someone in a Geordie accent who refers to Newcastle United player Alan Shearer. Newcastle lost the FA Cup last Saturday…®

    Business 24 May 1999, 10:43

  • Intel says Web Pad “just an idea”

    It's those crazies at the Architecture Labs

    Any idea that Intel might introduce a $500 so-called "Web Pad" later in the year are more than slightly exaggerated, a spokesman said today. That follows a report in AP of a Portland housewife who tested a slim device which allowed her and her family to move around the house accessing PCs and the like. The Intel representative …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:04

  • US DRAM anti-dumping ruling expected soon

    Taiwanese manufacturers gear up for decision

    The US government is expected to issue a ruling in the next ten weeks that may well go against Taiwanese manufacturers of memory products. The complaint, originally issued by US memory manufacturer Micron, alleges that a number of Taiwanese memory companies unfairly hurt its business by selling parts at uncompetitive prices. If …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:30

  • Datatec takes IBM's Helm

    New chief exec set to bolster group's ecommerce expansion

    Datatec has poached IBM's Rikke Helms to head its Logical arm. Helms will join the South African-based networking group as chief executive of the Slough division this summer. She will help develop Logical's e-business system. Helms joins from Big Blue where she helped steer IBM toward its emphasis on ecommerce as VP of ecommerce …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:38

  • IBM outlines channel e-commerce plans

    PartNerWorld name of the game

    Big Blue will later today outline a partner initiative aimed at its channel partners and divided into three tiers. PartNerWorld will have a ciommon tiered structure of three membership levels: advanced, premier and member across all models, brands and offerings. IBM will also provide a common set of terms and conditions (Ts&Cs) …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:39

  • Nintendo pursues emulator sites

    Shifts focus from developers to host ISPs

    Nintendo has declared all emulators illegal and has begun shutting down Web sites that contain them, starting with www.snes9x.com, online home of Dutch developer Jerremy Koot, on Friday. The Great Satan of Italian Plumbers' actions now seem targeted more at the ISPs hosting sites devoted to emulation, rather than the developers …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:53

  • Mail servers crash and burn at Freeserve

    Problem lasts all weekend – not helped much by rude support staff

    Freeserve customers -- all 1.5 million of them -- have had a frustrating two-and-a-half days after the mega ISP's mail server bombed big time this weekend. The mail server crashed on Friday evening and it took technicians all weekend to resuscitate the server and generate a pulse. Although technicians managed to revive it last …

    Business 24 May 1999, 11:54

  • MP3 scourge's royalty raise rejected

    Recording industry will not be paid more for digital music transmissions

    The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last week failed to win higher royalty rates on digitally transmitted music for its members. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia threw out the RIAA's demand that the Library of Congress increase the standard royalty paid to recording companies for the use of …

    Business 24 May 1999, 12:08

  • Abit Bios offers super FSB speeds

    Beta allows range of between eight to 30

    Our friends at the Hardware overclocking page have taken the trouble to download a beta BH6 Bios from Abit's FTP server. And according to benchmarks they have run, FSB (front side bus) selectors range from eight to 30. At the same time, according to the hardware site, the Bios includes a divider number which is likely to be a …

    Business 24 May 1999, 12:20

  • Texas Instruments to score $1bn on Hyundai deal

    Korean company coughs up over infringed patents

    Chip makers Texas Instruments (TI) and Hyundai yesterday signed a ten-year cross-licensing deal following TI's victory over the Korean company in a patent infringement case last March. TI claimed that Hyundai had wilfully infringed two wafer fab patents after an original agreement between the two companies had expired and they …

    Business 24 May 1999, 12:26

  • Free Web access – not yet, says BT

    Denies newspaper speculation, but won't rule it out either

    BT has dismissed weekend press reports that it is looking to introduce "radical new ways of charging for Net access" as pure speculation. While the giant telco makes no secret of the fact that it is always looking into new ways of charging for its services, claims that it is to introduce toll-free Internet access are just sheer …

    Business 24 May 1999, 12:37

  • Net sex sales shoot to $3bn by 2003

    Survey More sex please, we're brutish

    Sex is proving so successful on the Net, even straight-laced research companies are taking note. On Friday Datamonitor claimed its survey of smut-hungry surfers suggested the $1 billion currently spent on adult content will triple in less than five years' time. The company said porno punters paid $970 million for impersonal …

    Business 24 May 1999, 12:43

  • Intel ready to roll with StrongARM Web pad 'idea'?

    Mysteriously, IAL says the 'concept' will have a reference design this month

    The 'just an idea' nature of Intel's WebPAD competitor (Earlier story) seems somewhat flexible. Our earlier spokesman no doubt failed to remember Intel Architecture Labs (IAL) director of marketing Ed Arrington promising to unveil a reference design for the very same "concept" later this month. Such a cunning plan would give …

    Business 24 May 1999, 13:25

  • Compaq spins off PAIX

    Sells it for $70m cash+considerations

    Compaq has started spinning off its acquired companies barely ten minutes in IT terms after it bought them. The latest to go is Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX), which Compaq has sold to AboveNet for a cool $75 million, most of which is cash. AboveNet will provide "certain services" to its ex owner. ®

    Business 24 May 1999, 14:13

  • Compaq/IBM trash PC prices

    Eleven per cent cut across EP and EN models and Intellistations falter

    Our friends over at the NECX, a firm which specialises in watching how computer and component prices fall, is reporting that Compaq is cutting prices by nearly eleven per cent on a number of its models. The models concerned are the Deskpro EP and EN models, And IBM has cut prices on its IntelliStation Z Pro systems by an average …

    Business 24 May 1999, 14:29

  • CPU prices go into free fall on spot market

    Despite pricing concerns from majors

    The spot market is the place where items are traded at more realistic prices than the semiconductor companies that make them would like. We're not saying that prices put out by semiconductor companies are unrealistic, just that sometimes they seem a tad high for the market which uses them (PC manufacturers) as a whole. The NECX …

    Business 24 May 1999, 14:37

  • Roel Pieper flees Philips glare

    Skiing accidents…what next? We thought Holland was flat...

    Ex-Tandem executive Roel Pieper has fled from the light shining at Dutch company Philips, only a year and a half after fleeing from Eckhard Pfeiffer. According to reports on US wires, Pieper, a Dutchman, resigned today, because of irreconcilable differences he had with the management of Philips. As we reported here, in The …

    Business 24 May 1999, 14:53

  • Wired, Lycos move to pacify shareholders

    Modifies stock-swap deal to favour founding stockowners

    Lycos and Wired Ventures, the company launched on the back of Wired magazine before the latter's sale last year to Conde Nast, moved last week to head of shareholder discontent over the allocation of shares when the two businesses merge. Lycos' takeover of Wired has been largely hidden by the higher profile merger with USA …

    Business 24 May 1999, 14:55

  • NTL contract safe as Virgin Net set to dual source its network

    We debunk yet more nonsense from our cousins in the world of print

    Virgin Net has denied it is to dump cable company NTL and replace it with Cable & Wireless although it has confirmed that there have been problems with its technology partner. A spokeswoman for Virgin Net said that some Sunday newspapers had simply got the wrong end of the stick although she did say that NTL's contract was due …

    Business 24 May 1999, 15:09

  • All becomes Santa Clara as Texas Micro merges with Radisys

    It's PCI stuff, of course -- and NGIO starts today

    Texas Micro, the mysterious company which appeared to pre-empt Intel's release of eight other press releases, has announced it is to be bought by RadiSys for $115 million. Last week we reported that Intel seemed to have been blind-sided by Texas Micro, one of its eight partners in the Applied Computing Platform Provider …

    Business 24 May 1999, 15:09

  • CTX on verge of shutting up shop in France

    Taiwanese monitor giant facing up to reality of major reorganisation

    Monitor company CTX is in the throes of closing down its European operation. The manufacturer said its French office was being "reorganised", but could not deny that it may need to close. Dave Stevenson, general manager at CTX Europe, told The Register: "Nothing has been finalised yet. Senior management in the UK and France are …

    Business 24 May 1999, 15:15

  • Branson seeks to emulate success of Amazon

    Not about to become an online bookstore though

    It's been a tense day at the UK headquarters of the world's most successful online booksellers. How were they going to break the news to their Amazonian bosses in the US that Virgin -- one of the brightest brands in business -- was about to become an online bookseller to rival the big A? "Branson battles to release Amazon's grip …

    Business 24 May 1999, 15:25

  • Energis sees earnings boost from Web

    Telcos benefit from growth of Internet use

    Making money out of the Internet might seem like the search for the Holy Grail to some, but not if you're a telco. Energis, floated off from National Grid earlier this year, has made a breath-taking leap toward being in the black thanks to the Web Pre-tax losses stood at £31.1 million -– around half of last year's figure. For …

    Business 24 May 1999, 15:59

  • Mobile phone tumour link is tenuous, says Motorola

    Never mind the mobiles, what about cigarette smoking? asks mobile phone giant

    Motorola has been accused of trying to hide side-effects of mobile phones from the public since last year. The phone giant wanted to cover up evidence that mobiles increased the risk of tumours, according to today's Daily Express newspaper. Professor Ross Adey claims he was commissioned by Motorola to carry out experiments on …

    Business 24 May 1999, 16:09

  • MS UK head to demand ecommerce tax breaks

    Time to take the Internet seriously, Svendsen to tell Internet World show

    Microsoft is calling for the government to introduce tax breaks to help promote ecommerce in the UK. In a speech to the Internet World trade show in London tomorrow, David Svendsen, Microsoft's UK CEO is expected to tell delegates that he wants the government to reduce VAT rates on electronic transactions. He believes such a …

    Business 24 May 1999, 16:41

  • Smile, you're online

    Photo booths to offer Web and email access in UK high street

    Draw the curtains, find your loose change and perfect that pout. Normally the domain of snogging couples, there is a plan afoot to transform the humble photo-booth into the next Web environ. Brits will be able to surf the Net or send email from the cabins by the end of this year. The brainchild of BT and Photo-Me International …

    Business 24 May 1999, 16:46

  • Intel has three days to tape Merced out

    That's three days, babes-in-the-wood

    As reported here on the 30 April, Merced engineers will now have to get their socks off if they want to make the due date of the 27 May. Although two chapters of the Merced manual have appeared -- and disappeared off the Intel FTP site in the last three days, it does not make the task any easier. Our friends at sandpile.org …

    Business 24 May 1999, 23:18