13th August 1999 Archive

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AMD Athlons on retail sale in Japan

Supplies available in Akibahara

The first retail versions of Athlon K7 processors have started appearing in shops in the Akihabara electronics district of Tokyo. At the same time, motherboards have also started making an appearance in the shape of the MicroStar MSI MSD-6167, according to this site. The article says, translated, that the motherboard is around ¥ …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 08:48
RIMMs start to ship in volume

A year ago Meanwhile, Hyundai dumping case delayed

Posted 13 August 1998 -- a year ago South Korean conglomerate Samsung has started shipments of its 64Mbit modules based on Rambus technology. According to reports, volume production of the RIMMs (Rambus in line memory modules) has already started with production of 100,000 units a month. It is supplying the modules to Dell, …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 08:57
Internet Explorer hit by fresh security scare

FTP security compromised by browser design

US site Bugnet is reporting a potentially dangerous bug in version 5 of Microsoft Internet Explorer. According to the report, when you use the browser to download a file from an FTP (file transfer protocol) site, user names and passwords are revealed. Bugnet points out people typically use FTP to download large files, so their …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 09:04
Sony commits to online music sales

December launch likely to involve Net Walkman release too

Sony will begin selling and delivering music via the Internet in December, the Japanese wing of the company's music division said yesterday. The first batch of tracks, including new releases and back catalogue material, will be offered to Japanese customers, but it's going to be difficult to prevent overseas buyers from using …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 10:53
Time to feed the World (Wide Web)

Live Aid goes online

First it was Live Aid -- now brace yourself for NetAid. Top artists including Bush, The Corrs and Robbie Williams will join rock legends Jimmy Page and Pete Townsend to take part in a global gig broadcast simultaneously over the Web, TV and radio. Cisco and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are behind the monster …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:08
Seagate U8 HDDs aim for bargain basement

Taking on the entry-level PC market

Seagate had extended its 'U series' of hard drives with the new U8 models. Volume production is set for September with evaluation models currently doing the rounds. They will be available in capacities of 17.2, 13.0, 8.4, and 4.3GB. The company says that the U8 will provide real value to the sub-$700 PC market. The drive boasts …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:09
E-bank promises easy money online

Easyeverything group plan Net finance venture

The entrepreneur behind discount airline EasyJet and a new chain of super-cybercafes is planning to open an Internet only bank next year. Stelios Haji-Ioannou -- who is also just about to launch a discount online car rental business -- wants to harness IT to cut the price of traditional banking services. It's too early to say …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:15
Computer Associates teamz up with UMC

Updated Story was true... we weren't on diethylamide after all

We reported here early yesterday that Computer Associates was to team up with Taiwanese local foundry United Microelectronics Corp (UMC). And the reports are now confirmed. The deal, according to UMC, will leverage its foundry knowledge and CA's engineering know-how to produce a "next generation" of global positioning system ( …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:20
Judge dismisses ATI Real 3D ‘nuisance suit’ claim

Real 3D's patent infringement claims judged "valid"

3D graphics specialist Real 3D has won the first round in its patent infringement case against graphics giant ATI. US District Court Judge Sue Robinson this week threw out a countersuit filed by ATI claiming that its Rage product line doesn't infringe Real 3D patents and that those patents are invalid anyway. ATI's suit …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:21
Rambus officers offload over 50,000 shares

Heap of transactions happened yesterday

A number of directors and officers at Rambus sold thousands of shares in the company yesterday. The shares closed on Wall Street yesterday just short of $87. In mid-July, Rambus shares stood at around $117, but the price fell after Intel appeared to waver over its support for Direct Rambus. According to Web site InsiderTrader. …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:35
Palm blocks daVinci PDA sales

Device's OS contains stolen PalmOS, 3Com subsidiary alleges

Palm Computing was granted this week an injunction preventing Olivetti's US subsidiary importing, exporting, distributing or selling its Royal daVinci PDA. Palm's action centres on allegations that the Olivetti PDA's operating system, Nexus, developed by Hong Kong-based software company Echolink Design, contains huge chunks of …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 11:45
AltaVista takes on US market with free service

Set to alter the US Net vista?

Less than a year after Freeserve changed the face of Net access in the UK, AltaVista could be about to do the same thing in the US. The monster search engine has launched a subscription-free ISP that could give the whole US market a massive jolt. Called AltaVista FreeAccess, it provides dial-up access to the Internet without …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 12:02
Red Hat stock heads skyward on second day's trading

Company market cap nearly $5 billion

Linux distributor Red Hat saw its market capitalisation soar from $3.48 billion to nearly $5 billion on the second day of trading in the newly-IPO'd company's stock. Red Hat shares began trading on Wednesday, and by close of play had more than tripled their value, rising from an initial price of $14 to just over $52. Yesterday, …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 12:06
OS-9 developer set to battle Apple's Mac OS 9

Microware alleges trademark infringement

Apple's decision to call the next release of its operating system Mac OS 9 could see the company hauled through the US courts by a small real-time OS developer that has already trademarked its 'OS-9' product. Microware's OS-9 is aimed at embedded applications and, ironically enough, runs on the same Motorola 680x0 and PowerPC …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 12:29
Stop the madness, Quantum boss pleads

Seagate fingered for slashing prices

Disk drive manufacturer Quantum, is calling for an end to "unsustainable" price cuts across the industry. Mike Brown, chief executive at Quantum said that Seagate was one of the worst culprits. Quantum accused its rival of pricing its products below its costs, which forced others to do the same. Quantum said that it would not …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 12:32
Y2K bug eats London's electricity

Bug fix attempt backfires big-time

A botched attempted to fix the millennium bug left over 2,000 Londoners without electricity last week. London Electricity was graded 'blue' by the government watchdog Action 2000, indicating no material risk of disruption. A spokesman said: "Our Powerkey meters don't recognise the date change. They would keep supplying …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 14:02
Fraud row lands EDS in yet more hot water

Sends out letter accusing housing benefit claimants of cashing missing cheques

EDS has made it into the headlines again, but not for the right reasons. The latest instalment in the blighted history of managing council finances in the UK concerns over one thousand computer generated letters accusing housing benefit claimants of fraud. The letter, which reached 1,400 people in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 15:20
Euro-market for clever handhelds to soar this year

Survey Palm, it do well

Tthe Western European market for smart handhelds was worth over $1 billion last year. And this year, even more growth is expected, IDC says. The market was fuelled in 1998 by the Palm III and future growth will come this year because of the Palm V and small CE devices, IDC thinks. Growth in Europe is mostly because of …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 16:18
Athlon fire resistant, graffito resistant and aesthetically sound

Just keep your eyes on your own...ok

Regular readers will remember that at our first year Register party, one staffer was taking a leak between an AMD PR and an Intel PR, and invited them to shake hands across the divide. Well, little did we suspect what the divide was. Enter, then the Athlon panel, which is fire resistant, Adamson Rust proof, and easy to maintain …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 16:31
AT&T sues Intel

Phonezilla and Chipzilla stomp all over each other for paltry sum

Mighty corporation AT&T has sued mighty corporation Intel in what US law describes as a statutory action. The suit was filed on 11 August in the US District Court in San Jose, and is referred to judge Edward A Infante. The statute number is 28:1331. This refers to cases where sums claimed are less than $10,000, according to …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 19:52
Intel attempts to grab PC-133 spex

Late to the game, but not too late to dominate

Intel is attempting to queer the pitch of other PC-133 memory players by introducing its own standard in 10 days time, according to US wire Electronic Buyers' News Earlier this week, we reported that Intel will introduce a so-called "Vancouver" motherboard next month that will allow system builders to switch between Direct …

Business 13 Aug 1999, 19:57