29th June 1999 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
-
Is it a bra, or an anti-mugging device?
Storm in a B-cup
First the Armageddon Bra, a wearable computer that warned its owner of impending nuclear attack. Now we have the Techno Bra, designed for women too scared to walk the streets at night. Combining a heart monitor, GPS positioning, Chantilly lace trim and underwiring, the Techno Bra vibrates silently when its heart beat is raised. …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 05:45
-
Daewoo pumps up PC production in Europe
Gets by, with a little help from its affiliates
Daewoo is to outsource PC assembly in Europe to an Korean affiliate. Daewoo said the move would reduce its PC building costs in Europe by half. Currently it relies on third party companies to assemble its PCs in Europe. The unnamed Korean affiliate has set up a assembly plant near Paris, capable of handling 30,000 PCs a month, …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 06:12
-
Final MS witness sinks slowly, boringly
MS on Trial The gold-plated MIT economist don't give good rebuttal
Gross generalisations based on insufficient knowledge of the industry were the hallmark of rebuttal evidence by Dean Richard "Schmalensee" Schmalensee. It fell to Michael Lacovara to examine him for Microsoft, an unenviable task. Dean Schmalensee had a ready denial for anything he was asked to deny, and confirmed everything he …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 08:05
-
Linux, open source baffles MS witness
MS on Trial Is it easy, is it hard? Confused by that, too...
Dean Richard Schmalensee claimed that the threat of Linux (to Microsoft) after the AOL-Netscape merger had increased, but did not explain how this could be. Schmalensee admitted he had found it "frankly hard to keep up with all the developments in Linux", and was puzzled that "serious corporations are spending serious money on …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 08:13
-
AMD pitches 3DNow at embedded market
The all-singing, all-dancing router is almost upon us...
AMD has made its pitch for the set-top box and appliance markets with the first shipments of the K6-2E, the first member of AMD's embedded x86 family to include 3DNow and MMX technology. The company has priced it at $59 for the 300MHz version, and $56 and $55 for the 266MHz and 233MHz respectively. Low power versions are $69 for …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 09:46
-
MS browser stats based on dud data
MS on Trial Six million, plus or minus two million? Oh dear...
Much of Microsoft's defence has relied on some data - the so-called MDC data set - that is now realised to be seriously duff. Microsoft's economics expert, Dean Richard Schmalensee, admitted that he might not currently be up to speed on statistics, and indeed he wasn't. Schmalensee reworked data that should have been presented …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 09:47
-
Moonlighting witnesses should resign their posts
Opinion They've probably got enough money to found their own colleges by now, anyway
Dean Richard Schmalensee of the MIT Sloan School of Management, best known for his 1978 article on the ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry, has abused his academic position by spending far too much time as a consultant, against the interest of students at MIT. He also brings discredit on MIT for acting as a mercenary for …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 09:51
-
Teenage hacker cracks CurrantBun
We speak to the perp, and he ain't no schoolboy
A teenage hacker broke into the CurrantBun.Com Web site at the weekend and bagged a rack of personal details about The Sun's online readers. David Habanec -- an 18-year-old telecomms worker from London -- bragged about the computer software loophole to his cyberfriends before hacking into CurrantBun.com for himself. He then …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 09:54
-
Samsung unveils 1 Gigabit DRAM
Part based on 0.13 micron process
Samsung yesterday confirmed it has produced a 1Gb SDRAM part using a 0.13 micron process. The company said the part was ready to go into production, but it did not say when it will begin to do so. More likely it will use the technology for 128Mb and 256Mb parts, making them more competitive with rival DRAM vendors' chips -- …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:25
-
IEEE finally ratifies 1000Base-T
Chips to make it work here at last
The IEEE has finally dotted the Ts and crossed the Is on its IEEE 802.3ab standard, known less formally as Gigabit Ethernet over copper cabling or 1000Base-T. The spec. was to have been ratified earlier this year, but a dearth of physical layer chips prevented manufacturers from shipping product. That in turn persuaded the IEEE …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:26
-
I did it to show off, says hacker
In an exclusive interview, the CurrantBun hacker tells of his motivation
Speaking exclusively to The Register's Tim Richardson, the man behind last weekend's attack on CurrantBun.Com explains why he did it and what he hoped to achieve. But with the threat of criminal charges hanging over him, David Habanec must be asking himself if it was all worth it. The teenager who claims to have hacked into the …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:28
-
Creative Labs to dump S3
Vendors part ways over S3's Diamond Multimedia buyout
Creative Labs has become the first graphics card vendor to fall out with S3 following the 3D accelerator chip developer's announcement last week that it intends to by Diamond Multimedia. Creative launched its Savage 4-based 3D Blaster card in the Spring, but yesterday the company said the product would be discontinued when it …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:28
-
Merced silicon unlikely to arrive until Q3, Q4
Architectural teams and similar difficulties the reason
Working samples of Intel's Merced processor are now unlikely to arrive until Q3 or Q4 of this year, several sources have now confirmed. An engineer at Intel, who declined to be named, says that problems with architectural teams mean that working processors are still difficult to improve. And separate sources at both Compaq and …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:28
-
Big Blue wins contract with God
Vatican to use Netfinity infrastructure
Sources close to IBM today confirmed the company had won an account to supply Netfinity boxes to the Holy See (surely 'Holy C'? -- Ed) in Rome. The source would not say how large the deal was to supply the Vatican, but said: "This is not a worldwide network, it could be one of the largest deals in the universe." In other news …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:33
-
How DoJ is slowly extracting MS' secret documents
MS on Trial Little by little, they're coming into the public domain
David Boies for the DoJ has been making steady progress in getting Microsoft documents that Microsoft wants kept confidential into the public domain. And Judge Jackson has made it clear that he will quite likely decide to unseal a good few more later in the trial. Boies made it clear that he did not like Microsoft's practice of …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:36
-
SDMI drafts digital music plans
Portable Device Spec. goes beta -- final version due 7 July
The Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) has announced its provisional specification for portable digital music players. As anticipated, the spec. calls for a two-stage implementation process: the first offering basic SDMI compliance, followed by an upgrade to screen out pirated files as and when the SDMI figures out which …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:40
-
Via buying Cyrix in bid to save PC133 from Intel?
Cross-licence deals, crossed wires, cross Chipzillas?
Via Technologies' licensing spat with Intel gets more complicated by the day - according to US mag EBN, the company is in negotiation to buy NatSemi's Cyrix unit. (See story) EBN reports that NatSemi has confirmed it's in talks with Via, and suggests that the deal could be clinched as early as tomorrow (Wednesday). If it does …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:40
-
MS gives Win98 SE update away for free – in the UK
Hilarity this side of the pond, as MS US continues to charge $19.95
If you thought Microsoft's Windows 98 SE upgrade strategy couldn't get any more complicated, you were wrong - Microsoft UK is giving it away free. This simplifies matters immensely for users who'd been puzzling over whether to download the free go-fasters or free service pack (as and when you can download that one) or splash out …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 11:45
-
Email tax a ‘hoax’ claims US Postal Service
It wouldn't say no to a 'five cents an email' fee, though
The US Postal Service has branded as "completely false" rumours circulating by email that the US government is planning to levy a surcharge on email usage. The email claims the per-message fee would be donated to the Postal Service to cover the $230 million in revenue it has lost as people send letters electronically rather than …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 12:05
-
Ciscom employee fined £1000 for abusive email
Holds on to his job despite guilty verdict
An employee of Middlesex-based reseller Ciscom has been fined £1000 for sending a sexually abusive email and hacking into a network to disguise his identity. Neil Campbell sent the offensive note to a female employee of Shropshire-based TNS Distribution earlier this year. The email included the phrases "I hate you" and "you …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 12:28
-
Free PC spam offer mystery
Pyramid sales scheme with as many unanswered questions as a mummy's tomb
Emails were circulating today offering free PCs in exchange for customer participation in multilevel marketing. The IT give-away spam was offering a 300mhz PC, with 36 speed CD-Rom, 3.2 Gb hard drive, 32 Mb Ram, Windows 98 and 14" monitor. It promised no credit checks, deposits or contracts, plus $800 when the user found two …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 12:37
-
So how much does an MS star witness cost – $1m?
MS on Trial But remember he's not bought - just retained
So often, the more that is charged for something, the poorer the value. So it is with Dean Richard Schmalensee's fees: he proved our maxim with his inept testimony. David Boies, special trail counsel for the DoJ, launched straight into an attack when he finally got to cross-examine Dickie last week. "How much money have you been …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 13:28
-
Intel to sell own-brand Xeon servers via ISPs
But as this is gear the customer doesn't ever get to touch, the badge doesn't matter, right?
Wasn't it just the other day a certain reckless Register hack suggested Intel would be selling Intel-branded PCs Real Soon Now? Well, a big hello to the Intel Service Provider Programme, which among other things will be selling Intel PIII and Xeon server platforms in "special form factors" via ISPs. The special form factor, of …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 14:03
-
Silicon Spice, home of Pentium design chief, breaks cover
But only a little bit. Now we know it's SOC with a high gate count
Seriously enigmatic chip start-up Silicon Spice has broken cover - slightly, and indirectly. The company has been running one of the Web's more minimalist Web sites for some time now, and that doesn't tell you much more than it's engaged in something seriously revolutionary in wide area communications. Click here to watch paint …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 14:28
-
Shareholders blast BT over misleading offer
Plan Unlimited? Plan Very Limited more like
BT shareholders are up in arms accusing the monster telco of backing out of an offer of toll-free access to the Internet. Thousands of shareholders were invited to apply for free membership of BTInternet Plan Unlimited -- an "exclusive and valuable offer" which would have saved them £129.25 a year for Net access. But the prize …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 14:30
-
Going ULL for leather
Local loop unbundling - not as dull as you might think
As far as acronyms go ULL might not appear to be all that dynamic at first glance, but it's been heralded as the most important issue facing the industry today. Unbundling the local loop (ULL) would allow telecomms providers to offer a wide range of services to homes and businesses using the existing copper phone infrastructure …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 15:35
-
Which? scheme has channel's Dabs all over it
Movement to boost consumer confidence gathers more members
Dabs Direct has become the latest channel addition to the Which? Web Trader scheme. The Bolton-based reseller joins Simply Computers and Evesham Micros in supporting this code of practice for online businesses. (See earlier story) The initiative, set up last week, has 22 companies involved in the scheme, involving businesses …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 15:37
-
Compaq flogs AltaVista for $2.3 billion
Lycos investor steps in to claim lion's share as IPO plans become a distant memory
Compaq has confirmed that it has sold its AltaVista division to investment house CMGI. The deal was done by way of a stock swap, valuing the former Digital search engine business at $2.7 billion, the deal itself being worth some $2.3 billion CMGI gets 83 per cent of AltaVista and, by turn, Compaq ends up with a 16.4 per cent …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 16:30
-
UK gov admits it lags behind on Web
Cannot keep pace with the rate of change, minister says
The government has admitted that it is unable to keep pace with the development of the Internet and wired services. "The government can't move as quickly [as the Net industry] -- it is difficult for us," said the minister for ecommerce, Michael Wills MP. "I appreciate the government is slightly slow on its feet but we are …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 17:37
-
NCD boosts reseller programme
Extra tiers expand range of services available to channel
Network Computing Devices (NCD) has added two tiers to its Diamond Partner accreditation programme. The manufacturer of integrated thin client hardware and software has launched the extra levels as part of a reseller recruitment drive, giving the Diamond Partner Programme three tiers. The new entry level, NCD Authorised Partner …
Business 29 Jun 1999, 17:41
