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6th March 2000 Archive

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  • Hardware Roundup Soyo wanna mobo?

    We avoid 1GHz Athlons in our wibble...

    We're avoiding the temptation to link to countless reviews of 1GHz microprocessors this morning -- goodness knows there are enough of them. Instead, some more tranquilising news from around the hardware sites. At Hard OCP, there's a photograph of the X-Station. Well, it may not be Microsoft's X-Station, but it's definitely an X- …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 08:16

  • AMD suffers Gigglehurts hype attack

    Cheapzilla's spinolas can't contain themselves

    You've got to giggle at the press release AMD put out signalling its PR triumph over the dark forces of Intel's massive PR department, if only for the level of hyperbole it reaches in places. Before we start on that deliciousness however, let's get the nuts and bolts out of the way. AMD is shipping 1GHz Athlons, and Gateway and …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 08:44

  • Compaq may avoid multi-$ hit with Presario patch

    Q-Lawyers attempt to breath sigh of relief

    In a move which may avoid it having to pay swingeing damages over a law suit which cost Toshiba $1.2 billion last year, Compaq told nearly two million users of a software patch which fixes a glitch in a disk controller system. The Wayne Reaud law firm filed class action cases against Compaq, Packard Bell, HP and e-Machines on …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 10:08

  • Web site league tables for UK, France and Germany

    NetValue figures for January

    Here's NetValue's rankings for the top ten Web sites for UK, France and Germany in January. France 1 - Wanadoo 2 - Yahoo 3 - MSN 4 - Grolier Interactive 5 - Ibazar Group 6 - Multimania 7 - Voila 8 - Groupe Libertysurf 9 - AOL 10 - Microsoft UK 1 - MSN 2 - Yahoo 3 - Freeserve (.co.uk) 4 - AOL 5 - Microsoft 6 - Lycos 7 - Excite 8 …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 11:29

  • Carole Vorderman up for sale on eBay

    It's a real life Countdown Conundrum

    One of Britain's favourite TV presenters has been put up for sale on eBay. Bidders looking to purchase their own Countdown countess have until tomorrow to buy the limited edition Carole Vorderman. The ad reads: "1 Original, Shrinkwrapped Carol Vorderman. Mint Quality. "Only 200 ever made (The Other 199 are now presenting TV …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 11:51

  • Sicilian couple win £270k from Net gambling…

    ...using hacked credit cards

    A Sicilian couple 'won' £270,000 from betting on an online lottery -- using stolen credit cards. Apart from the fact that the money wasn't theirs to spend in the first place, the odds don't look particularly healthy. Electronic systems expert Guiseppe Rossi, 34, and Sandra Elazar, 33, spent £500,000 on their gambling spree. …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 11:55

  • Japanese firm offers 50,000 free Dreamcasts

    From 'free PC' to 'free DC'

    The so-called 'Free PC Revolution' may have been quelled at the first shot, but a Japanese company is hoping that it may fare rather better if it gives away 50,000 Sega Dreamcast consoles. The scheme, run by Japan's J-Data Co., follows the free-PC pattern pretty closely. In order to receive a gratis Dreamcast, punters will have …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 12:07

  • Ex-Bay City Roller found with kiddie porn

    Pleads guilty to charges

    A former member of 70s teenie-pop band The Bay City Rollers has pleaded guilty to charges of possessing child pornography in his home. Derek Longmuir, 48, once the drummer with the pop group and now a nurse, also admitted downloading four indecent images from the Internet. He said he did this only out of curiousity, while taking …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 12:14

  • Sony sells 980,000 PlayStation 2 consoles in two days

    But it shipped rather less than that...

    An unsurprisingly chuffed Sony this morning announced it sold 980,000 PlayStation 2s in Japan over the weekend - just 20,000 units shy of its one million-machine target. What's 20,000 units among friends? Quite a lot really, especially when a good proportion of the total number of machines sold hasn't actually shipped yet. Sony …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 12:28

  • It's first come, first served: AltaVista

    Not everyone's going to get on. Plus there's no ISP and no telco -- yet

    AltaVista UK has warned that its new unmetered ISP will be rolled out first come, first served, leaving many people potentially disappointed. There's every prospect that AltaVista could be responsible for an undignified scramble for unmetered access in much the same way that embarrassed Screaming.net, CallNet0800, Telewest, et …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 12:52

  • Dell in ding dong over cybersquatting

    Takes action against 23 people around the world

    PC giant Dell is suing 23 people for alleged cybersquatting after a series of domains using the word Dell were registered. The action has been taken against 17 companies and six individuals, according to a report in the Austin Business Journal, who have registered names such as Dellbackup.com, Dellsolutions.com and Dellparts.com …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:13

  • Name change for Cisco distie RBR

    Comstor brand brings UK division into line with Datatec parent

    RBR Networks has changed its name to Comstor and laid out its Web plans for the next twelve months. The UK distributor today switched its branding to cash in on the Comstor name – the existing US Cisco distribution business of parent company Datatec. The move is the first part of Datatec's plan to bring all its Cisco …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:20

  • AMD US lags behind Euro Athlon demand

    In US, has a weeny market share

    That was the quickest conference call we ever had. After a 15 minute wait, Steve Lapinski, who heads up Athlon product marketing at AMD, was there, ready and waiting, to take calls from the world press but almost as soon as we got one in, and before we could get another one in, the call went off air. Our question to Lapinski, …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:26

  • Man banned from flogging BBC domains

    High Court comes to aid of Aunty Beeb

    The BBC has won a High Court injunction blocking any attempt by a British man to sell the domains bbc1.com and bbc2.com. The action was taken on the basis of "trademark infringement, passing off and breach of contract", according to a statement issued on Friday. In other words, the BBC reckons registered owner Stephen Taylor of …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:34

  • Cash Register: 22-29 Feb 2000

    Inflating the Bubble Economy

    29 Feb 2000 Lycos comes to US market with free Net access Refunds for SurfVeryLimited customers What a difference a Dot makes Martha Lane Fox hedges bets with Sale of The Century HSBC is to spend $2 billion on a global Internet strategy in the next 12 months, according to reports today. It will not create a separate Internet …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:35

  • Ingram Micro names new chief

    Stead's replacement now on board

    Ingram Micro has named its replacement for CEO Jerre Stead. Kent Foster, 56, today joined the distributor after quitting as president of telecomms company GTE Corp. Foster has a wide array of business interests – he also sits on the boards of Campbell Soup, New York Life Insurance and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. "The company …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 13:41

  • Lastminute: the backlash begins

    Sundays dig in

    City bookies may be squabbling about how much Lastminute will be worth after its the first day of trading (more than double the IPO price, they agree). But the Sunday papers are decidedly sniffy about the post IPO prospects of Lastminute.com. The Financial Mail on Sunday advises its readers to avoid the share offering. The …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 15:29

  • Linuxcare significantly downgrades IPO expectations

    $92m target drops to $56.6m in latest SEC filing

    Linux services company Linuxcare has massively downgraded its IPO expectations - or so its latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission would seem to suggest. The company's previous filing, which simply registered its intention to go public, set its IPO-derived fund-raising target at $92 million. But a follow-up …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 16:07

  • French ban email

    Worldwide Web too wide for some

    The French have unveiled plans to stop the tainting of their tongue by banning email. Politicians who once tried to make phrases like le weekend and le sandwich as unsavoury as frogs legs are at it again. This time they want to force the French civil service to stop using cyber-Anglicisms. Email will be replaced for bureaucrats …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 16:25

  • Profit jumps at Morse

    Trading gets off to good start for 2000

    Morse Holdings saw profits jump 27 per cent for the six months ended 31 December 1999. The reseller recorded profit before tax and goodwill at £14.5 million, compared to £11.4 million the previous year. Sales rose 41 per cent to £203.1 million. The Middlesex-based company said trading had started well for 2000. ® Related stories …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 16:29

  • Schools inspector slams mobiles & the Net

    Phones are a menace, the Web's a waste of time

    Chris Woodhead has called for mobile phones to be banned from the classroom. The Chief Inspector of Schools yesterday described mobiles as a "menace" and said he would not allow them if he was a teacher. "I think the mobile phone is extremely disruptive and if I was still teaching and there were mobiles that ever rang in my …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 16:54

  • London Police in URL ownership row

    Is this your domain, sir…?

    The Metropolitan Police Service -- London's police force -- is said to be taking action against a cybersquatter. Around 20 different names based around Metropolitan Police have been registered by Redwood Wilson, IT manager with an accountancy firm. The Met is concerned that Redwood's sites are attracting communication from …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 17:37

  • Novell to get 10 per cent of MS-Caldera settlement?

    Or so we're led to believe...

    Novell is to receive around 10 per cent of the Caldera v Microsoft settlement - enough to add perhaps $25 to $30 million of sunshine to the quarter, but not enough to get out the bathing togs. It will be interesting to see if Novell identifies the payment which would then give confirmation of the precise settlement amount, or …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 18:49

  • Lineo pitches Linux-based CE clone at MS OEMs

    By making apps easily portable, the company hopes to steal Microsoft's custom

    Lineo, the successor company to Caldera Thin Clients, is developing a Linux-based CE clone at its new research facility, cheekily set up earlier this year in Seattle. The product, Lineo Embedix PDA, is scheduled to ship in Q1 2001. Embedix PDA will include a CE-compatible layer on top of Embedix Linux, allowing CE applications …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 18:51

  • Congressional study rejects Clinton's IT security Czar, FIDNET

    GAO investigator slams intrusion detection

    The President's scheme to bolster US government computer security by appointing an information security Czar, and developing an automated monitoring system to expand intrusion detection known as FIDNET, is misguided, General Accounting Office (GAO) Government and Defence Information Systems Director Jack Brock told Congress last …

    Business 6 Mar 2000, 20:44