23rd August 1999 Archive

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AMD Harley gets delivered to Compaq Pfeiffer

Four years ago Mercy dash from Austin to Houston

From The Register No. 22 -- four years back It sounds like a venue The Beatles played at in the 60s, but as it's based in Austin, Texas, we expect it's not quite as much fun. From here, the vice president of applications solutions products, Terry Smith, embarked on an epic journey which makes Easy Rider look like a wet day at …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 06:46
Gates puts $5bn more into charity pot

Biggest gift by a living donor

Bill Gates has whacked in another $5 billion (or it could be $6 billion -reports vary) into his very own home-grown charity. This is the biggest gift yet made by a living donor. But Gates has a couple of billion dollars to go before his charitable foundation overtakes The Wellcome Trust, the world's largest, with $19.1 billion …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:03
i820-Camino incompatible with graphics boards?

Will Intel fix it by the end of September?

Our friends over at Korean website K-Bench are reporting that the i820 Camino chipset has run into further difficulties. Samples supplied to Intel customers are incompatible with existing graphics boards, it claims. According to the report, which may be found here, Taiwanese mobo manufacturers say there is a problem between AGP …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:20
Net Finance News: 1-7 Aug 1999

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6 Aug, 1999 Online shopping kids are full of beenz Wall St tumbles as Net stocks stumble Ofex-listed EarthPort.com plc -- which operates fundraising lotteries on the Net -- has appointed Andrew Millard as MD of its EarthPort Entertainments Ltd subsidiary and a director of the main board. United News and Media (CMP's new …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:29
Net Finance News: 8-14 Aug 1999

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Aug 13 1999 E-bank promises easy money online Sony commits to online music sales 12 Aug 1999 African-American site gets big four backing Web site set aside for free AOL registrations Ofex-listed Asian Online -- a portal for the Asian community in the UK -- has raised £800,000 from the issue of two million ordinary shares. …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:32
Via may produce Alpha chipsets

Another brick in the wall?

Chipset, and now CPU manufacturer, Via has strongly hinted it will support the Alpha processor in the future. But, at the same time, it has said it will only produce uniprocessor chipsets for the AMD Athlon. In a FAQ on its Website, Via says: "Currently there are no plans to support DEC-Alpha CPU's, but it is possible that in …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:34
Microsoft, Amazon and the Drugstore connection

Pin money for Melinda Gates

It was not surprising that Jeff Bezos should be casting around to turn what the Daily Telegraph magazine on Saturday called whiteknuckleride@amazon.com into a "shop-the-Web" service. From Sonys to Viagra it says, so whatever next? Profits, you may cry. Well, not exactly. Amazon founder Bezos recently acquired a 46 per cent …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:39
Compaq's Capellas, Pesatori talk OpenVMS turkey

Those inside Q know, now you do too..

US Compaq analyst Terry Shannon has obtained a copy of an internal email that CEO Mike Capellas and senior VP Enrico Pesatori sent to all employees recently. The full text of the email, outlining Q's OpenVMS strategy, is obtainable at Shannon's Web site. According to the email -- dated 12 August -- Compaq wants to move existing …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 07:52
Wireless alliance to boost Palm-cellular interoperability

Nokia, Lucent and 3Com make intriguing bedfellows...

Nokia, Lucent and 3Com have formed a new group to push ubiquitous wireless networking. And significantly, one of the other founder members of the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA) is Symbol Technologies, which produces wireless networked industrial handhelds based on 3Com's Palm Pilot. The objective of the group is …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 09:04
Compaq Alpha cuts pull rug from Microsoft's 64-bit NT

Compaq still loves 64-bit NT, apparently, but just doesn't want to spend money on it...

Is Compaq pulling the rug out from under Microsoft? The news of job losses in the company's NT Alpha development unit last week at least indicates that Compaq is reducing emphasis on NT as an OS for the Alpha platform, but more important from Microsoft's point of view will be the crumbling of a long-standing alliance, and the …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 09:07
eBay bans $6500 Iridium share auction

Way too risky to allow to continue, quakes online auctioneer

Online auction house eBay finally decided where it stands on the auctioning of shares -- it doesn't like the idea. This weekend it pulled the plug on a member's attempt to offer a raft of shares in troubled satellite cellphone company Iridium to the highest bidder. As first reported on The Register on Friday, the Iridium …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 10:04
Intel ships Profusion SMP chipset, announces large cache Xeons

Eleven OEMs to announce later on today

As expected, for quite some time, Intel will today announce details of its "Profusion" symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) chipset. At the same time it will roll out Slot Two Xeon processors with 1Mb and 2Mb caches. The so-called "building blocks" for SMP systems will be processors with caches of 512K, 1Mb and2Mb, the Profusion …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 10:17
Reader warns of Intel-NT overclock shock

Reader's Letter Cunning Wintel plan puts spanner in works?

Chip giant Intel has warned since the beginning of this year that to overclock its processors is verboten. A reader describing himself as 'Firestormer' wrote to us with the following tale: "You might find this interesting, but if I'm correct, Intel and MS have finally come up with a way to defeat overclocking totally, at least …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 11:05
Akamai announces IPO plan

Shares to net $86.25m in addition to the $61.5m company has had of Apple and Cisco

Internet content delivery specialist Akamai, close chum of both Apple and Cisco, has said it plans join the Net IPO bandwagon real soon now. The company said it hopes its stock offering will raise $86.25 million, though that's as much for the Securities and Exchange's benefit -- it will be used to calculate Akamai's registration …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 11:08
Surfing the Net makes you mentally ill

But you're really in need of help if you're ready to swallow that one

Eleven million people -- six per cent of Internet users -- are addicted to the Net, according to a gaggle of psychologists in the US. People who surf for more than four hours a day are sick and should seek immediate medical attention. Symptoms range from mental disorders to behavioural abnormalities. In extreme cases, they could …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 11:27
Compaq kicked Down Under over retail plans

Decision to open its own chain of stores has provoked angry reaction in channel

Compaq is experiencing more than a little discomfort down under. As the PC giant reveals its plans to sell direct in the Australian market, it is being met by more than the usual channel whinging. Two of Australia's largest PC reseller chains have stopped selling Compaq kit in open retaliation to the direct-sales plan. The first …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 11:42
Mobile phones are next to Godliness

BTCellnet pays to mount transmitter in church spire

A country vicar has sparked outrage by considering renting out his church spire to BTCellnet as a transmitter site. The Rev. James Watson is all in favour of netting the £3000 per year rental to fund All Saints' Church in Braunston, Northants. This ecclesiastical entrepreneur, who carries a mobile phone in his cassock pocket, …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 11:52
Shortages in Taiwan are getting crucial, man

Mobiles affected big time, too

Shortages of basic electronic components are hitting makers of computers and mobile phones, and may be followed by price increases, analysts and manufacturers say. Cheap resistors and multi-layer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) are in short supply, said Mei Chen, who handles investor relations for Yageo Corp, one of Taiwan's largest …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 14:15
Intel changes verification spexx on chipz

Unilateral declaration of something or other on NEWSPEED

The Intel chip monster has warned, unilaterally and specifically, and on its support pages that something is afoot on chip voltages. On the Intel support page, the giant seems to have declared a shift in its voltages strategy. While this may only be of notional interest to non-technical readers of this title, the move is …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 14:54
DoJ trial summary damns MS with facts

MS on Trial The DoJ's 800 pages contrast sharply with the MS version

The most remarkable thing about the 800-page Plaintiffs' Joint Proposed Findings of Fact (PJPFF) is that is very much better than was anticipated. The PJPFF is the summary of the Microsoft trial so far according to the Department of Justice, so it is effectively a mirror image of Microsoft's version, analysed here last week. …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 14:55
Sanyo jumps on digital music bandwagon

Player to support Liquid Audio, MP3

Japanese consumer electronics giant Sanyo today pulled the wraps off its upcoming portable digital music player -- and announced it intends to offer a full range of digital music devices, from hi-fi separates to in-store kiosks. Sanyo's announcement follows July's release of the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) portable …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:25
God's techies write to The Register

Mobile phones in church? That's nothing...

Here at The Register had no idea that we had so many God fearing folk among our readers. In response to the story we ran earlier about BTCellnet installing a transmitter inside a church (see story) we have been informed that at least two churches in Scotland have mobile phone base stations installed in their spires. And, as one …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:43
Online bankers take off

Europe spanks US at Net banking

Online banking is growing faster in Europe than in the US, according to research commissioned by BT. The number of European banks offering online transactions rose by nearly 200 per cent between November and June, today’s Financial Times said. The US had less than a third of the number of Internet banks than in the eight …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:45
Tesco to launch cybercafes

Every little helps

Britain's leading supermarket is looking into opening cybercafes at its stores around the country. Tesco's plans coincided with news that it is to begin rolling out its home shopping service throughout the country. Ten stores will be hooked up to the scheme this week with a further five stores a week joining up until next spring …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:46
Alpha board bolstered by Scottish Telecom connection

Matthews' appointment follows £9.5m investment

The founder of Scottish Telecom, Rod Matthews, is to join the board of Alpha Telecom, the company announced today. He commented: "Alpha has developed an impressive operation in a short period of time - their ambition and motivation is exciting. My experience of building a significant telecomms business should prove significant …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:47
Fujitsu teams up with Xeons

Four and eight way servers to ship

Fujitsu is launching a new range of teamservers, based on Intel's Pentium III Xeon 550Mhz processor. The company says the new range will reduce the cost of ownership for its customers. The range includes the four-way L800i models and the eight-way T800i models. The L8001 prices start at £4060.00 for the L870ie 550/512 server, …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 15:54
Making Markets founder making tracks

Duthie sunning herself in California – nice work if you can get it

Making Markets has seen a parting of the ways between its two founders George Evans and Julia Duthie. Duthie, formerly Making Markets commercial director, has quit the company and its flagship service Send IT Now to join US start-up pingpong.com. Pingpong.com is Making Markets’ financial backer. But the company is pulling out …

Business 23 Aug 1999, 16:39