6th July 1999 Archive

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Fibre channels incompatible, HDD company claims

A year ago Corporations will find difficulties connecting everything

From The Register No. 85 -- a year ago. A senior executive at Quantum has said it is delaying the introduction of fibre channel products because of incompatibilities between different offerings. John Barnes, regional director of Quantum Europe, said today: "We do have a programme for fibre channel but also a programme for Ultra …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 05:56
Internet set to bring down society

Opinion Daily Mail gets all reactionary about technology -- must have been a quiet news day

The Daily Mail yesterday published a full-page story about the corrupting influence of the Net under the headline 'SUMMER OF DISCONTENT'. In an inflammatory piece that will only serve to fuel the prejudice of its readers, the Mail alleged that the Internet is spreading anarchy among the nation's mild-mannered middle classes. "A …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 08:54
Cyrix has real chance now…

...once it's freed from its NatSemi shackles

An industry analyst said today that he expects good things from Cyrix, provided it can keep to its existing roadmap. Joe D'Elia, senior microprocessor analyst at Dataquest Europe, said that he thought the combination of chipset company Via and Cyrix would produce good technology. He said that Cyrix had somewhat languished under …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 09:26
AMD tilts to PC133 – 1Ghz Athlon, SMP by 2000

Company spinmeister speaks out guardedly

AMD may be poised to jump onto the PC133 bandwagon, company exec Drew Prairie seems to hint in an interview last week. Speaking to CPUReview editor William Henning Prairie commented: "DDR SDRAM seems to make more sense than RAMBUS." That puts flesh on our earlier scoop: K7 to get PC-133 support from Via Although Prairie made no …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 09:41
Rise processor has FP problem

But next parts with higher clock speeds may fix it

Reliable sources said today that there is a floating point problem with the Rise 266MHz processor. According to the sources, the glitch is similar to the FDIV bug which plagued Intel's Pentium chip four years back. With some calculations, the source said, the processor will throw up erroneous results. Although there currently …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:12
MS to turn IE Favourites into giant Data Mountain

Wrap up warm before you head for the summit, folks, and watch out for the parrot...

A sniggering reader mails us the URL for Microsoft's fabled research division, claiming it's a blank page. This may be the case if you look at it on a Mac, but we can see it fine. "This URL is supposed to provide a glimpse into Microsoft's next-generation user interface," he says. But "at least on my Mac, the page comes up blank …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:19
ITU says ‘yes’ to ADSL

Now it's an official standard

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) yesterday at long last ratified ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) as an international high-speed datacomms standard. Thanks to the technology's adoption in the US, ADSL was always destined to emerge as the next connectivity standard after ISDN and analog modems, but the …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:23
LocalTel ups the Tempo for Screaming.Net

Beefs up service in response to user criticisms

The telco behind Screaming.Net has responded to growing criticism from users about the quality of its service. In an email to Screamers -- a term of endearment used to describe those who use the service -- LocalTel acknowledged that there have been difficulties connecting to Screaming.Net. The Surrey-based telco also conceded …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:31
Still no 0800 decision – AOL

Couldn't find its AOL with both hands behind its back

AOL UK has confirmed it is still running trials on different price plans and services and that users will have to wait up to eight weeks before any formal decision is made. The online service provider (OSP) was responding to a claim from one Register reader who said he'd received a CD from AOL offering toll-free 0800 access to …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:38
Credit card-less Net payment scheme to go global

NetCharger to roll out in 40 countries worldwide

UK e-commerce operation Magex, which hopes to become the standard for making secure payments via the Internet, now has some competition, from Hong Kong-based company New Media Corp. Last week, New Media announced it will be rolling out its NetCharger software in 40 countries during the next three months. The launch follows …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:44
Taiwanese mobo makers up in arms over 810

SiS picking up business

A report in Asian magazine Eurotrade is suggesting that the number of errata (bugs) in the 810 chipset is causing many Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers to complain vociferously. The magazine says that follows another fix for the 810, for the real time clock (RTC), which Intel confirmed to us yesterday was shipping. An earlier …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 10:59
Musicmaker.com readies $420 million IPO

EMI's favourite online music company comes to market

US custom CD supplier Musicmaker.com is set to make its IPO following a three-month delay incurred when the company went into takeover talks with British music giant EMI, one of the world's 'big five' music labels. In the end, EMI bought just half of the company, in exchange for Musicmaker.com gaining the rights to EMI's back …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 11:10
How to get a parasite out of your socks

You use software tweezers

Our favourite spin doctor at chip design Decadence explains to us what parasite extraction is. According to him, you find these parasites when two trannies line up together in your sock (system on a chip) and cause unwanted capacitance. So how do you get these parasites out? You use software tweezers. Gasp. ®

Business 6 Jul 1999, 11:12
Heavy Metal headbangers play virtual guitar on the Net

Music for the Deaf

Lock up your daughters, get out your leathers and start headbanging because thanks to Iron Maiden, heavy metal is getting its own site on the web. Managed by media group Sanctuary, the Iron Maiden web site has an average log on time of 90 minutes and gets five million hits a month. Although there are only an estimated 10 million …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 12:34
EU ‘undermines’ Web commerce

Consumer activists at loggerheads with Internet industry

So much for the Single Market. EU proposals to improve consumer rights could torpedo ecommerce retail development in Europe. Eurocrats want to introduce the right for consumers to sue companies in breach of contract in the country they live -- and not as at present - the country that the company operates from. The extra expense …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:22
AOL strikes Euro DSL satellite provision deal

With a German outfit - but we can't help noticing the footprint covers Europe

AOL is moving into broadband satellite services in Europe, with the announcement of a joint venture between AOL Germany and German Internet outfit Strato Medien AG. Strato is the Internet subsidiary of ISDN and broadband specialist Teles, whose products will also be integrated in the joint venture. The agreement will be worth …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:33
Oftel urged to postpone number change

MPs hit out at mismanagement of UK's phone numbers

The telecomms watchdog, Oftel, has been accused of mishandling the management of telephone numbers in the UK by MPs sitting on the trade and industry select committee. In a report published yesterday, the group demanded that Oftel delay the overhaul of the country's telephone numbers and codes until further analysis is carried …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:40
Small firms must be helped online, Parliament says

It's up to the government to lead the way - gawd help us all

Ditch the jargon and cut costs, that was the message from yesterday's Parliamentary IT Committee (Pitcom) committee meeting on ecommerce and small businesses. The meeting, entitled "The Quick and the Dead, Ecommerce and Small Firms", was held between members of Pitcom and the IT industry, looking at how to encourage small …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:42
Watchdog bites into BT monopoly

It's time to unbundle that local loop

BT is set to lose its telecomms monopoly in the UK, although consumers will have to wait at least two years before they can benefit from increased competition. That's the conclusion of a report published today by telecomms watchdog Oftel; it calls for BT to open up its local networks to allow other telcos to deliver broadband …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:44
Alien Life Form found on Seti site

But the search for intelligent life in Birmingham continues

Alien watchers who came together over the Web to search for extraterrestrial life may be disappointed to learn that the site co-ordinating the experiment has been hacked. Then again, they may not -- since this may be just the proof they were looking for in their quest to discover whether or not we are alone. For they may …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:46
MS UK extends free Win98 SE upgrade to OEM PCs

Updated Now will somebody tell the call centre grunts about this?

Microsoft UK has now put in place a mechanism that will allow all UK Windows 98 owners to get a free upgrade to Win98 SE. But the trouble is that it doesn't seem to have told the staff of the Microsoft Connection about it yet. A user trying to get an upgrade after reading about it on The Register tells us: "The person at the …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 13:55
World Bank bans Case Technology

Former Anite division faces allegations of corruption

Watford-based company Case Technology this week became the first company to be barred from World Bank financed contracts over allegations of corruption. Case received a permanent ban from being awarded the contracts, ordered by James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, on 2 July. A Dutch company involved in a bid with Case …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 16:35
Cash back from Compaq

Aims to avoid pre-Y2K slump with trade-in offer

Compaq is giving users up to £330 when they trade in their old PC in an attempt to fuel hardware sales. The Y2Buy programme offer applies to customers who buy new Compaq gear before 30 September. It is aimed at users who want to replace old laptops, desktops, workstations and monitors with products that are Y2K compliant. Compaq …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 16:37
MS and the ASP business – Maritz memory fails again

The lad seems to have entirely forgotten the strategy MS has been developing all this year...

Here's a puzzle. Paul Maritz has been holding forth to VNU Newswire at TechEd Europe about application service providers (ASPs) and says Microsoft is only involved in the ASP business insofar as Hotmail, which he says outsources email for 50 million people, can be counted in the ASP class. But the good Paul seems to have …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 16:55
Biometric ATM debuted by NCR

You tell it how much cash you want - it laughs in your face

NCR has developed what is being heralded as the next generation of cash machine (that's ATM, if you're in the US). Developed by NCR's Advanced Solutions team in Dundee, Scotland, the new machine is being tested in Canada. Called Stella the Teller, and featured on the BBC's Six O'Clock News TV programme in the UK, the machine …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 17:54
BA tells Y2K bug to take flying jump

Hacks dismiss publicity stunt as, err, publicity stunt

The 'World's Favourite Airline' claims that it has vanquished the millennium bug, having flown a test flight with all systems set to New Year's Eve 1999. But according to a report in today's Evening Standard, some IT journalists and computer experts dismissed the British Airways (BA) flight as a publicity stunt, calling it " …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 18:45
Micron says it has no problems with memories, whatever

Fabs still operating, says company

Micron's DRAM operation in Boise, Idaho, today denied there was any problem whatever with its memory production. Rumours had circulated for the whole of the day that there was a major problem with its fabrication process but they were firmly squashed by a representative we spoke to. She said: "We have not had any significant …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 20:26
Apple's ISP plan may hit the mark

Analysis Will Apple's second attempt to get eWorld right succeed this time?

Apple's emerging plan to break into the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business may well prove to be one of the company's shrewdest moves. Doubly so, it the suggestions that it also intends to recast its own Web site as an Internet portal -- a virtual gateway onto the Web -- turn out to be true too. Apple itself is keeping its …

Business 6 Jul 1999, 22:55