18th February 2000 Archive
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Malicious hacker seeks to manipulate share price
'Enterprise computing' enthusiast uploads bogus press release
The phrase 'enterprise computing' got a new meaning yesterday as a malicious intruder uploaded a bogus press release to a Web site run by US biotech outfit Aastrom Biosciences in an apparent attempt at manipulating the company's share prices. The fraudulent press release announced a merger between Aastrom and Geron, another …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 06:55
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Playboy pays $700k for Cinema.com
Definitive global portal
A self-confessed Leeds playboy claims to have beaten Hollywood's finest to secure the online film market. Steve Hill, chairman and MD of data access middleware company Easysoft, has paid $700,000 for the URL cinema.com. Hill says he outbid rivals Sony and Universal Studios to secure the domain name, which he plans to turn into …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 08:58
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Gates paves way for opening up Windows source
Oh no he doesn't, shout panic-stricken spinmeisters in unison...
Bill Gates was reported in a Bloomberg news release last night as saying that "Microsoft Corp would be willing to open the source code for its Windows software to competitors if that was all it would take to settle the antitrust case filed by the Justice Department". Gates was also attributed as saying that "If we can have a …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 09:05
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Trust me, I'm a Government-approved Web retailer
Vital groundbreaking hallmark
The Government yesterday unveiled a scheme to give online SMEs an 'e-hallmark'. The initiative is a joint venture between the Alliance of Electronic Business and the Consumers Association and endorsed by the government. It is also part of a new programme to accredit online codes of practice called TrustUK. The moves are part of …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 10:35
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0800 court case trundles on
Date for trial set today
A British teenager charged with a number of Net-related offences, including using an unauthorised 0800 number to gain toll-free access, is to appear before magistrates today in Corby, Northants. The brief court hearing will set a date for when Chris Buckley, 18, is due to appear before a Crown Court. Last month Buckley opted to …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 10:37
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MS thumps tub for Win2k rollout
It's big in Philadelphia...
Fashionwise, the big Win2k launch was a sports jacket event for the Microsoft stars, but there was an uneasy balance between formality and fun at the carefully scripted event in San Francisco. Some 5.000 people were present, which just happens to be the number of Microsoft staff involved in creating the $1 billion product (or …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 11:05
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Every man is an island with the Net
Ultimate isolating technology
The Net is turning people into loners who prefer a computer interface rather than the warmth of a smile from fellow human beings. It is responsible for dehumanising people, leading to social and dysfunctional problems among its users. It is also blamed for the breakdown of family groups. Looking on the bright side, Net users …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 11:39
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DRAM spot prices fall through the floor
Production cuts required?
Spot DRAM prices in Korea are tumbling toward $5 per 64Mb unit, Asiabiztech reports. What it calls the "benchmark 8Mb x 8, PC-100 chip" is currently trading in the $5.80-6.15 per unit range. Falling prices throughout the first half of the year will mean that chip vendors are likely to cut back on production -- but not quite yet …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 11:51
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DDI to close Nippon Iridium
Japanese telco to cease funding Iridium too
Japanese telco DDI yesterday said it will shut Iridium Nippon, the ailing satellite comms venture's Japanese operation, in which it's the majority shareholder. DDI president and chairman Yusai Okuyama said his company will also no longer fund Iridium itself -- even if its current management team are allowed by other investors to …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 11:54
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Ingram warns price increases are on the cards
Blames vendor squeeze
Ingram chairman and CEO Jerre Stead yesterday warned that vendor squeezes would force through trade price increases. "In 1999, Ingram Micro and other distributors have experienced changes in vendor terms and conditions and incentive programs that have resulted in increasing the cost of goods we sell to our customers," he said. " …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 12:04
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e-Minister gets her Bills mixed up
E-Commerce must wait its turn
It appears the E-Commerce Bill won't be the first Act of the millennium, as announced by e-commerce minister Patricia Hewitt yesterday, because the first new Act of Parliament has already been signed. The Northern Ireland Act 2000 is, in fact, the UK Parliament's first Act of the millennium. And even if this wasn't the first, …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 12:12
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McCaw to buy Iridium assets in 11th Hour change of plan
$75m cash injection delayed -- Iridium only gets $5m for now
Iridium yesterday paved the way for Teledesic boss Craig McCaw to take over the company, when an earlier financing deal between the troubled satellite comms venture and McCaw's Eagle River Investments was torn up and a new procedure put in its place. Now, Iridium will receive a $5 million cash injection to keep it operational …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 12:18
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MSN's next big heave – broadband access from space
Can Microsoft grab a lead over the Hughes-AOL combo?
Microsoft's numerous attempts to build market share for the Microsoft Network have failed so far, but the company keeps coming, and the latest heave, broadband satellite access, could just turn into MSN into a 'must have' success. The new service will be available in the US initially, will only be available for MSN on Win9x …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 12:23
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Queen forced into online banking
Coutts loses interest in counter service
The Queen will soon be one of the first Brits forced into banking online or over the phone. No longer will Buckingham Palace servants be able to pop into Coutts Bank to cash the royal cheque or bring back a few fifties from the hole in the wall. The high society outfit has announced it is withdrawing counter services at all its …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 12:50
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Apple culls more Euro marketing teams
Centralisation in Paris continues, as we anticipated
Apple has begun the second stage of its plan to centralise its European operations in Paris by moving German, Swiss and Austrian marketing teams to French capital, as predicted by The Register. The move follows last December's transfer of UK marketing and advertising operations to Paris and the loss of four jobs at the British …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 13:14
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MacOS' Sherlock surreptitiously sends email addresses
Second Apple security glitch spotted
A security glitch that exposes users' email addresses has been found lurking within Apple's Sherlock Internet search technology. The discovery comes a month after it was detected that Apple's iTools online service transmits users' passwords without scrambling them first. The latest discovery was made by MacWelt magazine and Web …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 13:40
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Dot-Com firms are hacking each other – expert
Sophisticated attacks launched in pursuit of the competitive edge
All this talk of fifteen-year-old kids vandalising the Web is a smoke screen behind which dangerous, professional crackers are pleased to take cover, security expert Mark Rasch revealed during testimony before a Senate hearing on Internet security earlier this week. The lure of big, fast-money scores in virtual commerce is …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 13:59
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Cisco Euro-disties ratchet up service
Router touters
RBR Networks, Datatec subsidiary and Europe's biggest Cisco distie, has launched a web site that will enable dealers to "find, quote for and order products more accurately and efficiently than ever before". The site is integrated with Cisco's Network Product Marketplace for resellers. Tech Data, which would like to be Europe's …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 14:30
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CeBIT bans Tom's Hardware, Register
...and other online hacks
Online journalists will be banned from next week's CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany. According to the powers that be at the Messe, writing for the Internet is no proof of being a reporter. So if it ain't in print, it ain't worth the paper it's not written on. So far as British Web journalists are concerned, only those …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 14:39
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Abbey National in Cahoots with Net banking
Wipe the Smile off that Egg
The Abbey National has joined a number of other British banks by announcing it is to set up an Internet arm. Called Cahoot, it certainly takes top prize for the most ridiculous name for a Net bank. No doubt officials at Egg are beside themselves with joy. Abbey plans to let Cahoot soak up some £200 million to get the operation …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 16:06
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64-bit Win2k beta for Q2 as Wintel reforms around Itanium
Does this in some way relate to Intel's snubbing of MS arch-enemy, Sun?
Another day, another beta - fresh from launching Windows 2000 yesterday, Microsoft said that it would deliver a beta of the 64-bit version in Q2 of this year, and reiterated that it expects to ship the finished version at the same time as Intel's Itanium goes out the door. Microsoft has of course provided abundant proof in the …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 16:24
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Intel's ‘Kicking’ Pat Gelsinger changes sex at IDF
ZDNet secures another World exclusive
Poor old kicking Pat Gelsinger. Not only does he have to put up with the likes of The Register's very own Mike Magee at the Intel Developer Forum this week, but the uncreasingly awful ZDNet adds insult to injury by asserting that Pat is now of the female persuasion. Ace reporter Matthew Broersma writes today (only 72 hours late …
Business 18 Feb 2000, 22:24
