14th January 2000 Archive

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Totalise doles out free PCs to schools

...in return for 100 connections

Totalise, the share giveaway ISP, is dishing out free PCs to every British school, in a limited time promotion. The catch? There isn't one, really -- but there is a pretty demanding performance hoop to jump through in this "collect this many coupons" kind of an offer. Participating schools must bring on board 100 new …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 08:58
Power-saving modes in Pentium IIIs go awol

Copperwhines continue to put Katmai amongst pigeons

Correspondence between Intel technical support staff and end users suggests that much-vaunted power saving modes in Pentium III Coppermine processors seem to have done a bunk. Data sheets that Intel is supplying on Coppermine Pentium IIIs state: "The Pentium III processor utilizes multiple low-power states such as AutoHALT, Stop …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 09:12
Gates steps down as MS CEO – DoJ deal pending?

Moving the boss and his tantrums aside is a positive sign, surely

The timing of the resignation of Bill Gates as Microsoft CEO is not a coincidence, since it had apparently been discussed "several months ago" with members of Microsoft's board. Gates did not complete 25 years as CEO of Microsoft, as he would probably would have liked history to record, since Micro-Soft (as it was then called) …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 09:25
Intel erratum-not-bug policy not-good-enough

Letter Yet more Copperwhines about shifting sand

(A reader has responded to news that there is yet another bug in Intel's Coppermine processor with a letter that claims chip manufacturers should not be allowed to get away with these mistakes.) Though we both know that Intel's erratae represent bugs, the correct Latin to English translation is "mistakes", or "errors". Given …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 09:38
Athlon outclasses Intel's Pentium III ‘in almost every respect’

Superior design, IT Network proclaims

The IT Network has published a provocative compare-and-contrast piece on the AMD Athlon and Pentium III chip designs. Author Ajith Ram emerges as an advocate for the AMD approach to architecture, which, he says, "outclasses the Intel's Pentium III in almost every respect". His article is also a useful primer on chip design …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 09:43
Chipzilla beats chest as its Q4 beats Wall Street

Analysis The Intel miracle continues...

You have to give Intel credit for at least using the technology that it sells. Thanks to the miracle of the Wibbly Wobbly Web, we were able to sit through one and a half hours of its conference call yesterday evening and didn't even have to download the top-heavy Real Player in order to do so. Those on the Intel side of the …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 10:21
Slots the problem with Intel Xeons

The secret of a Xeon is in the VRM, folks

Those puzzled about the exact difference between a Coppermine 800MHz Pentium III and a Coppermine 800MHz Pentium III Xeon need scratch their heads no more. Intel yesterday announced its 800MHz Pentium III Xeon part but there is no motherboard support for the part yet, it confirmed today. As we reported, the Xeon processor …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 10:43
Drug abuse is ‘the curse of the computer age’

This could give sensationalism a bad name

We lifted the above headline from Tuesday's Daily Mail, which printed the screamer to promote an interview with Keith Hellawell, Britain's anti-drugs 'Czar'. Enthusiasm appears to have got the better of the sub-editor who wrote the header, because Hellawell doesn't actually claim that drug abuse is "the curse of the computer age …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 10:51
UK at risk from pump & dump

Market needs to wake up to dangers before it's too late

A UK lawyer is warning that Britain is ill-equipped to fend off attack from pump and dump Internet share scams which have taken the US by storm. Speaking to The Register, Steven Phillippsohn of solicitors Phillippsohn Crawfords Berwald said the US has the Security and Exchange Commission to monitor Internet traffic but the UK …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 11:26
Warner Music partners with MTV-alternative Launch

Video content deal prepares ground for major label's own move on streaming market

Internet video streaming company Launch Media has signed its third deal with a major content supplier, adding nearly 10,000 titles from Warner Music's video catalogue to its stock of 1200 titles from Sony and EMI. The deal comes as all the 'big five' record labels -- Warner, Sony, EMI, Bertelsmann Music Group and Universal -- …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 11:45
Kingston debuts 2GB HP memory upgrade

Doubles server bandwidth

Kingston Technology is shipping the first 2GB memory upgrade for Hewlett Packard's N-Class and L-Class Enterprise servers. The two-piece kit is made up of two 1GB memory modules. Using 256Mbit 133MHz ECC SDRAM and Kingston's own technology, it doubles the bandwidth provided by HP's servers and workstations. The chipset supports …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 11:47
Bill's big adventure: Windows as universal Web platform

NGWS some stuff cooked up to keep him busy in retirement? Not exactly...

Yet another version of Windows? Unsurprisingly the Next Generation Windows Services plan (strategy is too strong a word, as yet) Microsoft unveiled yesterday as Bill Gates cashed his chips went largely unnoticed. But an examination of the admittedly small quantity of information Microsoft has released so far reveals something …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 12:00
Windows skin site re-posts MacOS X desktop theme

Modified WinAqua back after Apple legal threat

Windows-modification site Skinz.org yesterday re-posted, albeit with minor modifications, software that makes Windows look like Aqua, Apple's upcoming user interface for MacOS X, according to MacWeek.com. The move follows demands from Apple lawyers earlier this week that the site remove the WinAqua 'skin' or face a world of …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 12:34
Win2k virus beats Win2k to release

The first of many spotted

Windows 2000 hasn't even been released yet, but virus writers are already hard at work. A new virus called Win2K.Inta - written by the 29A virus group – has been identified. Win2K.Inta was spotted by F-Secure – the anti-virus firm formerly known as Data Fellows. Mikko Hypponen, head of anti-virus research at F-Secure, said it is …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 12:40
UK spies recruited online

James Bond eat your heart out, we want crossword gurus

Good at crosswords? If so you could have the right mentality for a job at Britain's spy agency GCHQ. Crack the code of five characters in five parts hidden within the GCHQ Web site to reveal the message and then apply for the job. GCHQ – which stands for Government Communications Headquarters - is looking for IT specialists, …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 12:54
AMD market share bites Intel's ankles

Ouch! Hey Chimpzilla, that hurts!

US market research company Mercury is reporting that AMD now has a 17 per cent share of the x.86 market, a jump of nearly five per cent in a quarter. That will give Intel room for thought as it digests how well it performed in its Q4 results, reported yesterday evening. A report in today's Wall Street Journal says that Intel's …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 13:02
Bull's hit by PB-NEC charge – big loss for 99

Wildly underforming on the CAC front too. That's enough toilet jokes - Ed

Bull will make a loss of 280 million euros for 1999, although the information the company posts on its web site is less than forthright and mentions no such loss, which results from a charge against its stake in Packard Bell NEC. This essentially stopped US operations last November. Q4 revenue took a 6 per cent tumble compared …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 13:02
Govt. minister ‘employed’ by telco consultancy

There's an IR35 angle here, too

A junior Treasury minister appears to be moonlighting as the employee of Ovum, judging from the telecoms consultancy's web site. In the section headed: "About Ovum", the company reveals what "really sets us apart". This includes "finally, our independence and integrity. Ovum is 100% owned by its staff. We are therefore …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 13:58
Nomad tracks Creative music storage

Put 150 albums on a single device

Your whole record collection will fit on a box the size of a CD player in a device to be launched in April priced at under $600 (£360). The 14oz Nomad Jukebox from Creative Technology will hold 150 albums or 2,600 hours in 6GB of storage on a laptop-style hard disk. Using ID3 tags, information about each track can be stored such …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 16:23
Y2k bug ate our spy satellites

Weather blamed for Y2K spy-satellite problems

The Pentagon is still trying to play down Y2K problems with spy satellites, blaming the weather for an unexpected lack of intelligence. We were never blinded and "no significant intelligence was lost," said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon in a press briefing. It seems the five secret spy satellites used for military and …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 16:27
US releases 64-bit crypto products for export

Obviously because the NSA can crack it in real time now…

The Clinton Administration has kept its promise and lifted export restrictions on cryprographic technology, over the stubborn objections of US Attorney General Janet Reno. This marks one of the rare occasions when the Gigolo-in-Chief has dared exercise his authority over Reno, whose Draconian appeals for the protection of women …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 16:43
Christmas was a turkey for Electronics Boutique

Cut-throat competition blamed for stuffed figures

Electronics Boutique saw sales slide 18 per cent over Christmas and today warned its final figures for the year would be hit by the slump. Despite a 13 per cent increase in unit sales, revenue fell four per cent for the period, the retailer said. Bearing in mind it increased its number of stores to 298 last year, this figure …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 16:50
Japan's Sotec caves in to Apple over iMac-alike PC

Agrees out of court to pay damages, cease selling offending eOne 433

Apple today ended its legal battle with Sotec after the Japanese PC distributor agreed to cough up Y10 million ($94,000) in damages and to stop making, selling and exporting eMachines' eOne 433. The Mac maker launched its lawsuit against Sotec late last August. It claimed the eOne infringed Apple's copyright through its …

Business 14 Jan 2000, 16:55