25th February 2000 Archive

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Inside Quartz: Symbian's new Palm-killer platform

Analysis And to what extent are the Symbian buddies really friends?

Need Symbian ever produce anything? Given the London stock exchange's excitement when Symbian announces an alliance, and its indifference when it announces a product, the company can be forgiven for cancelling any further products, and simply arranging some more meetings. But IDC for one has noticed that Quartz has the …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 09:38
Shotgun-toting Ericsson gang tangles with Greek SWAT team

Survival of the foolish in Swedish team building, evidently...

A misguided Ericsson team-building exercise almost wound up at the sticky end of a Greek police SWAT team. Two managers from the fun-loving Swedish company decided to see how a busload of Ericsson employees would react to a mock hi-jack, kidnap and robbery. Unfortunately, when the bus, which was travelling between Athens and …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 10:43
AMD Thunderbird is go go

CeBIT 2000 Well, sort of, so so

Stopped by the big AMD stand at much bigger Halle 13 here at CeBIT to check out how far the company was advancing in the plans it has to introduce the Thunderbird Athlon et al. There we met Steve Lapinski who whisked out a Thunderbird chip who told us that AMD is almost there with the part. In passing, he whisked us through a …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 10:43
Toshiba shows off wearable devices

CeBIT 2000 Computers you can hang round your neck -- what will they think of next?

In five years' time we'll be wearing PCs around our necks or carrying them rolled up in our pockets -- at least according to Toshiba we will. Toshiba brought over some of its top designers from Japan to this year's CeBIT to show off what it thinks the future holds for computer development. And that future, according to Toshiba …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 10:45
Sending out an SOS(.com)

US company cashes in on domain sale frenzy by selling URL and trademark

A small US Webco is looking to cash in on the inflated price of some domain names by putting its own distressed URL up for sale. SOS Group said both its sos.com domain name and trademark are for sale. Edwin F Marsullo, Jr., SOS' director of sales and marketing, said: "We are a small, local, self-funded start-up software company …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 10:50
Via downplays swift Joshua impact

CeBIT 2000 Slow and steady, not quick and dirty

Via's chairman is making a keynote speech here at CeBIT later in the day and is sure to say some interesting things about the relationship it has with Intel and the rest of the industry. But, in the meantime, we stopped by the Via stand, which like AMD, Intel and National Semiconductor, is also in the farflung reaches of Halle …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 10:59
MS shows GSM Pocket PC, plans games for devices

All this and Pocket Internet Explorer too...

Microsoft is to launch its next rev of Windows CE pocket computer, now dubbed 'Windows-powered' Pocket Pcs, before the middle of the year, company mobile device division marketing manager Brian Shafer said at CeBIT yesterday. Shagfer demoed a unit produced by Siemens and Casio with integrated GSM and running Pocket Internet …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:04
Ten month Flash memory drought ahead

CeBIT 2000 Semi-firms puff and blow to keep up with demand

A massive shortage of Flash memory will affect the ability of manufacturers to deliver solutions to the market, one of the founders of French firm Dane-Elec said today. According to Nessim Bodokh, director general of the firm, semiconductor firms have put Flash memory on allocation for a total of 10 months, as they struggle to …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:17
S3, German boffins demo stereoscopic OpenGL display

Runs any app in real 3D. Look, ma, no spex

Quake III Arena in real 3D, anyone? It might not be far off, thanks to work done by graphics specialist S3 and Germany's Dresden University of Technology to create an OpenGL-based stereoscopic display system. The key to the technology is Dresden's D4D 3D monitor, which displays images in stereoscopic 3D without forcing the …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:25
Stowaway for Palm a $99 keyboard throwaway

CeBIT 2000 Bags of stuff from Targus

Targus, maker of bags to OEMs and the rest of us, acquired a firm called Port a couple of years back and wants to sell a range of add-ons for notebooks and PDAs as well as the things that hold them. Just nosing around the stand, we discovered that the firm will release a foldaway keyboard, only a little larger than the Palm …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:30
The dead centre of the Web

Undertaker to Webcast funerals

A US funeral director in North Syracuse is offering to Webcast funerals for those people who can't pay their last respects in person. Fergerson Funeral Home claims it is the first in the US -- if not the world -- to offer the service. Webcasts are available in streaming video without having to download any additional software. …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:33
Corel, S3 aim Linux at NT graphics arena

And will the next release of Corel Linux to support non-x86 platforms?

Corel's plan to defeat Microsoft in the desktop PC arena by pitching Linux against Windows took another step this week when the Canadian company said it will support S3's high-end Fire GL1 graphics accelerators in the next major release of Corel Linux. S3 acquired the FireGL line when it bought Diamond Multimedia. The FireGL, …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 11:47
Teachers get Tiny PC deal

Government scheme gets thumbs up after first four weeks

As the drive to drag the UK's teaching community into the technological age continues apace, PC vendor Tiny is heralding the Government's Computers for Teachers scheme as a success. In the first four weeks of the scheme, Tiny has sold more than 2,000 discounted PCs to teachers. It works by offering teachers a subsidy of as much …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 12:11
Ericsson uses NatSemi WebPAD for Linux screen phone

CeBIT 2000 And NatSemi Citrix licence signals big Linux push

Ericsson and NatSemi have unveiled a Linux Internet appliance based on the NatSemi Geode WabPAD platform. The device's appearance at CeBIT follows on from the first signals that NatSemi was pushing into Linux territory with WebPAD last October - a further indication of where NatSemi thinks it's going is that it announced it had …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 12:25
Stormy waters ahead for disk drive market

CeBIT 2000 Analysts predict OEM uptake of CD-RW

It's going to be a long, hard slog for players in the European disk drive market this year, according to IDC. Bob Peyton, director of European storage research at the analyst company, today warned hard drive manufacturers to batten down the hatches as he made his predictions for the rest of the year. "The hard disk drive market …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 12:40
VA Linux revenues rocket – but so does loss

And the cost of buying Andover.net is still to come

VA Linux Systems lost $12.6 million during its second quarter, which came to a close on 28 January, despite making $20.2 million in sales of hardware running the open source OS and associated services. For the same period last year, at which point the company was privately held and so under no obligation to publish its results, …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 12:43
AOL hit by second class action

More accusations about AOL 5.0 software

America Online is facing yet more legal pressure over the alleged debilitating effects of its AOL 5.0 software. Seattle attorney, Steve Berman, filed a class action lawsuit against AOL yesterday in King County Superior Court, Washington state. Berman -- who has led similar actions against tobacco companies and the Exxon Valdez …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 12:56
BT network falls over

Update 0800/0345/0845 numbers take a dive

BT engineers are still working flat out to solve a major problem after part of BT's network fell over at around 10:30 GMT this morning. Details are still sketchy, but it's understood that the failure affects part of BT's 0800, 0845 and 0345 platform of numbers, which is currently running at between 30 and 50 per cent capacity. …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 13:03
Ericsson demos prototype EPOC communicator

CeBIT 2000 Got one after all, apparently...

Just the day after giving the impression it wasn't brim-full of enthusiasm for Symbian's Quartz communicator platform, Ericsson unveiled one. Ericsson reps had been present for Symbian's Quartz rollout on Wednesday, but as apparently the company was saving its ammo for its own product (well, prototype), they were confined to …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 13:50
Oh yes it is, oh no it's not – ZDNet UK goes panto

Is truth the first casualty of hit-related incentivisation?

Angels watch over some people. But they do something else entirely over less fortunate individuals, it would appear. Just hours after we were compelled to draw attention to ZDNet UK's bizarre fingering of MIPS as the mystery hardware platform for EPOC's second front yesterday, up popped an almost equally bizarre ZDNet story …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 14:56
Register beards CeBIT spinmeisters on online press ban

CeBIT 2000 They've got a little list of approved sites, apparently...

As politely as we could, and regretting any note of sarcasm, The Register asked the CeBIT organisers at their press conference about online journalist accreditation. We sensed our question was not welcome, especially with the cameras rolling and the media licking their pencils. "You say that the most dynamic part of the industry …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 16:20
Freeserve takes ten per cent of UK MP3.com wannabe

Yet-to-launch Floot.com swaps equity for access to ISP's subscriber base

Freeserve will take a ten per cent stake -- value in cash terms unstated -- in an online music supplier, Floot.com, that hasn't even launched yet. In return, the free ISP will market Floot's catalogue as part of its ADSL service, which it's trialling at the moment, but which is due to go fully live in the spring. Freeserve's …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 16:38
BT struggles to cope with massive network failure

Two out of three gateways out of action

Today's network nightmare at BT has been described as the "the biggest technical problem BT has ever faced", according to one anonymous source within the telco. Two gateways in Cambridge and Leeds crashed simultaneously earlier this morning severely impacting the performance of BT's network. BT's third gateway in Croydon is …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 16:39
Motorola unveils phone in a watch WAP device

CeBIT 2000 But you can't buy it yet

Motorola was showing off the future of telecomms today with a mobile phone watch. The prototype device is a single band phone that is worn like, as well as designed like, a watch. It has a cord attached to the tiny phone which runs up the arm under clothing and has a headphone socket attached. The battery is also located in the …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 17:06
Net start ups to get developers' forum

Come to Monte Carlo, and find out what to do with your cash

Dot com start-ups will soon be offered advice on how to spend all that lovely crisp cash handed over by eager venture capitalists and e-crazy investors. The Start-Up Forum, planning to make its first appearance this summer, is a new event designed to help young Internet companies get financial advice on how to run their business …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 17:12
Intel could be forced to go fabless – Via

CeBIT 2000 Opens doors to rapprochement with chip giant

Wen Chi Chen, president and CEO of Via, formally introduced the Cyrix III chip here at CeBIT today but in the process introduced several new elements. Despite the slides being very similar to those shown in San Jose three days back, Mr Chi Chen expanded on his company's plans. He said that Via will stay fabless, because of the …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 17:23
Net is bad news, says Archbishop

Isolation, suicide, it's not a pretty picture

The head of the Anglican Church, has hit out at the dangers of the Internet. Speaking at a gathering in Liverpool earlier this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said the Internet could leave people feeling isolated. And he warned that while the Net meant people now had access to a vast array of information, it …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 17:30
Palm plans GSM wireless access in Europe this year

CeBIT 2000 But is sketchy on the who and the how

Palm intends to have GSM wireless connectivity in Europe by the end of the year, Greg Rhine, VP of worldwide sales, said in CeBIT today. But he was less than specific about where he was going to get it, and what form it would take. Talking to The Register, Rhine said the issues are more concerned with user perception than with …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 18:24
ZDnet UK hits mother of all millennium bugs

Sheee...it... What day is it?

Grief, do they think we have nothing better to do than deal with bizarre ZDNet UK stories? Richard Barry's curious belief (and apparently, that of his partner in crime, Psion founder David Potter) that the Russians lost the battle of Stalingrad perhaps gives us a clue. Wave after wave of dud stories is being aimed at us in order …

Business 25 Feb 2000, 19:57