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25th November 1999 Archive

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  • Gates email rallies troops to target congress candidates

    Political Action Committee channels money to candidates 'sensitive to IT issues'

    The MacOS Rumors site has published the text of what appears to be an email to Microsoft staff from Bill Gates, rallying the troops to help fund a campaign to target "only those key individuals who can make a difference" in next year's US congressional elections. That means helping candidates "who are sensitive to IT issues." …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 05:53

  • Intel loses big industry face to AMD over Coppermine

    Analysis Chipzilla's .18 blue moon is made of cheese

    Chip giant Intel pre-announced the 733MHz version of its Coppermine Pentium III along with a heap of other .18 micron processors on the 25th of October last. But now the evidence is mounting that we're only likely to see systems introduced by major vendors in January of next year. Both Gateway and HP have confirmed to us in the …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 09:04

  • AMD wins major battle in Intel price war

    Verdigrisgate: we will fight them on the silicon beaches

    There will be no price reductions on existing Athlon processors when AMD introduces its 750MHz microprocessor next Monday, sources only a cigarette packet away from the company said today. That represents a major victory for AMD against Intel, and shows that the upstart chip firm is beginning to make the chip giant feel the pain …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 09:18

  • PalmOS extends lead over WinCE – just

    But Casio, for one, is growing much faster, claims US research

    Palm Computing and its licensees continue to outsell Windows CE-based handheld providers, and by an even greater margin, if market research company NPD Intelect's latest snapshot of the US market is anything to go by. According to the numbers, the 3Com subsidiary took 77.9 per cent of the US PDA market this September, up from 75 …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 11:42

  • 08004u in relaunch bid

    Shuts up shop ahead of planned revamp

    Troubled ISP 08004u has shut down -- for the time being at least. It seems the Dundee-based company is getting ready to relaunch its service on 1 December. No doubt it's looking to start again with a clean slate. This is contrary to speculation that the ISP was on the verge of going bust after 22,000 Net users gained …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 11:58

  • Net exec convicted of child porn offences

    Caught in police sting after trying to meet teenage boy

    As America sits down to its annual binge of turkey and pecan pie, perhaps it should give thanks that another paedophile has been nailed by police. Yesterday 50-year-old William Michael Bowles, the founder and chairman of Silicon Valley Net company, iBEAM Broadcasting Corp, pleaded guilty to using the Internet to solicit sex …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:11

  • Kenwood unveils first MP3 hi-fi system

    Digitally-distributed music in your living room

    Japanese consumer electronics giant Kenwood this week demo'd the world's first hi-fi units with built-in support for Internet-sourced digital music tracks. Kenwood's offering, a mini component system, was shown at the Audio Expo 99, held in Tokyo. In addition to the usual CD player, radio and tape deck, the unit contains a modem …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:14

  • Chipzilla, AOL enter into confusing PC deal

    Making it easier for consumers by not giving away too much information

    AOL Europe and Intel have got their heads together to devise a way of making buying a PC and gaining Internet access easier and more affordable Unfortunately, no one seems to know exactly how it will be done. In a vague statement received from Intel today, the chip maker said: "Through the agreement with Intel, AOL Europe will …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:22

  • Fujitsu goes lead free

    Serves up a diet of healthier chips

    Fujitsu has said that it will make all its products lead-free by the year 2002 and will unveil a line-up of chip with lead-free solder by next October. The Japanese company has developed two types of lead-free solder, according to AziaBizTech. One is used for printed circuit boards and the other for parts assembly. There will be …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:24

  • Pick your own bug squisher

    McAfee opens up choice of anti-virus products

    McAfee Software has launched a clutch of restructured products which it claims allows users to choose how they receive protection from viruses. McAfee VirusScan includes 30 days' product updates, 30 days' technical support and a lifetime's supply of file updates which users can download form McAfee's Web site. Priced at £24.95 ( …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:26

  • Korea to take 40 per cent of DRAM market

    It's quids in for Hyundai and Samsung

    Hyundai and Samsung are expected to increase their share of the DRAM market to over 20 per cent each this year -- equating to about £2.7 billion. News of the Korean companies boosted status comes at the same time as a merger between Japanese chipmakers NEC and Hitachi. This link-up will give the combined company 15 per cent of …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:27

  • Dell nudges IBM out the way

    Easy PC says the direct seller as Big Blue fails to shift its bulk

    Dell has overtaken IBM to become the number two in world sales of PC servers, and could soon be snapping at Compaq's heels, according to figures from IDC. The online direct seller's success is down to acceptance of the PowerEdge brand -- launched in September 1996. Since that year, Dell has seen its worldwide share shoot up 475 …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:29

  • Intel pumps $12m into Euro Linux distie

    Is Chipzilla discouraging Linux' AMD support?

    SuSE, the German Linux distributor and less-cool European equivalent of Red Hat, is receiving Euro 12 million ($12.8 million) from Intel and Apax Partners for marketing and the establishment of sales and support offices worldwide. SuSE also wants to establish a network of business partners. It seems most unlikely that Intel's …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:31

  • Big Blue stock drops after reporting practices slammed

    IBM's sums too tricky for brokers, apparently

    IBM shares lost $4.125 at one point yesterday, and closed down $1.5625, following a report quoting the forensic accounting expert Howard Schilit of the Centre for Financial Research and Analysis in Rockville, Maryland, who criticised Big Blur's treatment of one-time gains in its accounts. Schilit had issued a report suggesting …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:44

  • Government hacking saga continues

    But this time it's anarchists rather than crazed Tories

    Following the insane ramblings of the Conservative party yesterday, it appears as if there is a non-imaginary threat of hacking on the cards. A group which calls itself the Electrohippies has announced its intention to sabotage commercial and government Web sites on Tuesday to coincide with an anti-capitalist protest in London. …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:46

  • The inside story on Alpha and NT

    Updated Retracts restructuring warning

    What actually happened between Microsoft and Compaq when the latter pulled the rug on 32-bit Alpha NT in mid-August, and one week later did the same with 64-bit Alpha NT? Information Week is reporting today that Compaq said it will not take a restructuring charge, as it reported yesterday, which gives a fresh twist to the tale. …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:50

  • FIC to bundle OpenLinux 2.3 with PCs

    Also intros Via chip set mobos and Rambus 820 mobo

    Taiwanese firm First International Computer (FIC), said today it has signed a deal with Caldera to bundle OpenLinux 2.3 with PC systems it supplies. At the same time, FIC, which is currently in litigation with chip giant Intel, said it would intro the KA11 and KA31 motherboards, supporting the 133MHz frontside bus and using the …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 12:56

  • Man acquitted in HP-under-the-bed case

    US reseller not guilty of stashing stolen gear under his bed

    A reseller accused of hoarding $4.7 million (£2.9 million) of stolen IT kit under his bed was last week acquitted by a US county court. Joseph Ventimigilia was arrested three years ago for allegedly receiving stolen Hewlett-Packard "nitro boards" – essentially very big, very expensive motherboards. US police found 78 of the …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 13:16

  • Incoming 3dfx CEO has axe and is willing to use it

    If it's necessary to 'clean house' I will, warns Leupp

    3dfx's outgoing CEO Greg Ballard, who quit in apparent disgrace over the company's inability to get its next-generation 3D chip, the VSA 100, out in time for Christmas, has named his successor: Alex Leupp. Leupp was until last week president and CEO of Chip Express, a Santa Clara, California-based ASIC developer, and spent six …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 13:21

  • Visio unveils upgrade 2000

    What to buy for the network manager who has everything

    Software developer Visio is launching two upgrades to its range of network management products. Visio 2000 Professional Edition starts shipping today in the UK and Northern Europe. It is an upgrade to Professional version 5.0 and is designed for database analysis and basic network management. The product has an RRP of £279, or £ …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 13:54

  • Supermarket price wars: mobiles, the sequel

    But it's all a big game of bluff and value-for-consumer guff

    Like a bunch of kids in a playground, the supermarkets just can't stop winding each other up. Now Tesco has taken the argy-bargy to the hopscotch patch, aka the pre-paid mobile market. The market leader will cut £20 off One2One models, charging what it claims is one of the lowest prices in Britiain - £49.99. All the others are …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 14:43

  • Intel's Vancouver mobo still very slippery

    Is it hard to buy, or has overfishing killed it off?

    Boxed motherboard Cape Cod (the CC820) may be swimming around the channel in shoals, but its counterpart, the Rambus one from Vancouver (the VC820) is still pretty hard to find. After ringing round major UK distributors including Avnet, Flashpoint, Hall Mark and others to try and buy an Intel boxed Rambus i820 motherboard, we …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 16:16

  • Nvidia Q3 revenues set record – again

    Company's sales hard on the heels of 3dfx

    Nvidia's run of record-breaking quarters continues, this time through its third three-month period of the 2000 fiscal year racking up revenues of $97 million and profits of $10.6 million. That compares to revenues and profit for the same period last year of $52.3 million and $7.1 million -- amounting to growth of 86 per cent and …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 16:37

  • AOL guns for gay grannies

    Trust us -- it's there in the ads...

    Top marks to AOL for promoting minorities -- or at least targetting the homosexual over-60s market with its new AOL 5.0 software. How else can we explain the 'user' testimonial included in the Great Satan of Online Services' latest US radio ad, which says (and we quote, having heard it at least five times over in Las Vegas last …

    Business 25 Nov 1999, 17:12