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10th March 2000 Archive

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  • Aureate “spy” hoax exposed

    And The Register's diligent 'butt work' helps contain it....

    The Web has been alive this past week with rumours of a trojan secretly installed by Aureate Media and which enables the company to track users' on-line activities. Aureate software, we are told, collects hard drive information, tracks the pages where users surf, records their downloads, and steals and even modifies system …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 05:32

  • Feds charge Coolio while DoS attackers remain at large

    Well, at least they're not totally empty-handed....

    Seventeen-year-old New Hampshire computer enthusiast "Coolio" a.k.a. Dennis Moran has been arrested and charged with, among other things, breaking into a Los Angeles Police Department anti-drugs Web site. Moran is accused of breaking into the Los Angeles Police Department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) programme …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 06:29

  • NatSemi's IA strategy paying off

    Q3 shows big profit over last year's loss

    The window of opportunity National Semiconductor opened for itself last year with information appliances (IA) appears to be paying off, the company said today, following the release of financial figures that showed it made a profit in its third quarter. The company turned in net profits of $327.8 million on turnover of $548.9 …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 08:18

  • Novell ships eDirectory for Win2k, claims sales victory

    NOS wars continue...

    Novell has started shipping NDS eDirectory for Windows 2000, and is offering a free 100-user licence to those who acquire Windows 2000 before mid-May. It is charging $2 per user for additional licences - the same as for running with other platforms. This gives users an alternative to Active Directory, and allows users with …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 08:40

  • Corel-Intel Linux PC claim triggers row

    Chipzilla seems not to be entirely happy. Oh no.

    Could "Cortel" challenge Wintel? According to a report in the Toronto Globe and Mail on Thursday, Corel is talking to Intel, and an unnamed OEM with a view to launching a cheap Corel Linux PC, presumably also loaded with the WordPerfect suite. In an interview Corel CEO Michael Cowpland just before Corel's annual shareholders' …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 08:42

  • EDS duped by ‘NATO’ fraud

    Ships kit to top secret project - never to be seen again

    Electronic Data Systems (EDS) yesterday admitted it was conned out of millions of dollars worth of kit through a fake NATO project. It appears that a group of scamsters posing as NATO and US Air Force officers approached EDS in 1997 with "a highly sensitive voice recognition project for NATO". So impressed was EDS, that it …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 08:55

  • Say Eh-Oh to PlayStation

    Teletubbies hit games trail

    Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po are set to be the next PlayStation stars. The BBC has developed a Teletubbies console game aimed at children as young as two. Priced at £24.99, Play with the Teletubbies is the first PlayStation game designed specifically for toddlers. The move by the BBC, which itself admitted the game had no …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 09:01

  • Amazon's Bezos calls for radical change in patent laws

    But won't unilaterally disarm its patents

    After weeks of stinging criticism and exposure to an impassioned online debate, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has called for a fundamental reform of the US patent system and pledged to volunteer his own time to achieve it. Notably, however, Bezos did not budge on cries for Amazon to relinquish its patents on 1-Click …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 09:03

  • Oftel loosens BT shackles

    But is it good for competition?

    Oftel is to release BT from part of its regulatory bondage that prevents it from competing in the international telephony market. The winged watchdog claims that BT's market share has now fallen to below 37 per cent for international calls made by business users. In the residential market, its share has dropped by 12 per cent …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 09:22

  • Hyundai legal spoils Infineon IPO party

    Alleged DRAM infringements filed

    Just a few days before Siemens subsidiary Infineon floats off to collect billions on the stock market, it has received a letter from m'learned friends representing Hyundai alleging patent infringement. Hyundai yesterday filed an action against Infineon US, Siemens Microelectronics, Siemens AG and Siemens Corporation, alleging …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 09:36

  • Intel Europe centralised puppets on a string

    Analysis Concerns mount over shipments of processors

    Chip giant Intel is not making things any easier for itself following the series of disasters that beset it last year during its annus horribilis. When it launched its Coppermine processors in both desktop and mobile versions last October 25th, only a day later it antagonised a vast swathe of its customers by telling them just …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 11:05

  • Nearlylastminute.com consults lawyers over Sun article

    Nothing to do with us, Squire, Lastminute says

    A Norwich company has denied allegations made in The Sun that it was plotting to redirect traffic away from lastminute.com. In statement issued by nearlylastminute.com the e-outfit said: "Urgent legal advice is being sought regarding the totally false allegations published in todays [sic] UK national press. "A further statement …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 11:29

  • InterX shares rocket, buys PharmWeb

    Heading for FTSE 250 territory

    This defies rational explanation -- InterX's shares have leapt £3 this morning to £39.25, following a £50 million new share issue and a £80 million share sale by the directors. It is now worth £1.4 billion. A dilutive placing and big directors sale (at £34 per share) should have seen InterX's share price fall. But investors …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 12:40

  • ATI to demo gigatexel renderer, animation accelerator

    Charisma Engine and Pixel Tapestry to accelerate 3D rendering 'tenfold'

    ATI will reveal today how it plans to out-3dfx 3dfx with two technologies that, it claims, will provide a tenfold increase in 3D rendering power and far more realistic graphics into the bargain. The technologies in question are what ATI is already calling the Charisma Engine - which sounds so similar to the PlayStation 2's …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 13:03

  • Oftel hails BT moves to unlock local loop

    Forecasts roll-out prior to full launch

    Oftel has published a consultation document today which it says outlines the legal framework for unbundling the local loop (ULL). Kicking off in June, the framework will deliver the legal force behind all the proposals to open up Britain's phone network to competition. The "winged watchdog"* claims this is a "key new stage …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 14:01

  • LG shuts down Welsh iMac production line

    Plant couldn't assemble them cheaply enough for Apple

    LG Electronics plant in South Wales has punched out its last iMacs, according to a report local paper the Western Mail. The reason: it can't make Macs cheaply enough to meet Apple's aggressive cost requirements. Apple apparently wanted a $100-250 cut in the cost of production, but LG said that this was impossible without making …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 15:18

  • Rambus share price edges closer to $500

    Crash Register And other runners and riders in the stock racing derby

    Last time we checked, the Rambus share price (ticker: RMBS) had hit $431, making it a Register share tip that really would have coined it in for readers if they'd bought when we recommended at the beginning of December. Since Wall Street opened earlier today, the price has rocketed by over $51, and it looks like one share will …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 15:35

  • Nippon Iridium halts new subscriptions

    Ashes to ashes, dust to dust...

    Nippon Iridium (NI) began ringing the death knell for its ailing parent yesterday, when it announced it will no longer accept new subscriptions to the global cellphone-by-satellite service and will soon begin buying back handsets from existing subscribers. The action itself was no great surprise. NI's majority shareholder, …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 15:42

  • Planet support staff put themselves in the picture

    Aren't Webcams great

    No one can accuse Planet Online (POL) of being faceless. If you have a problem, and no one else can fix it, then the menfolk and womenfolk of the 2nd Line CoreSystems Support group say they will sort it out. What's more, you can watch them on the job -- live. Their Webcam is focused on POL's operation in Leeds -- in the silicon …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 15:50

  • Supanet pays you to surf

    Not just Supa, but smashing too

    In a week when ISPs have fallen over themselves to offer flat-fee unmetered access to the Net, one company now claims it wants to pay people to use its service. Supanet -- a subsidiary of Time Computers -- said today it was setting up a trial to examine how people would use the Net if given low-cost unlimited access. One …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:17

  • US preacher finds demon-possessed PCs

    And they speak in tongues, too

    Forget about viruses and malicious hackers; the real threat these days is far more insidious. Your home computer may be host to a demon, and you and your family may well come under its malevolent control, the Weekly World News reports. "While the Computer Age has ushered in many advances, it has also opened yet another door …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:19

  • Sony asks buyers to return faulty PlayStation 2 MCs

    But reiterates recall denial

    Sony has admitted there's a problem with some PlayStation 2 Memory Cards - or rather that there's an issues beyond the trouble the company has had sourcing sufficient MCs to go round. Claims that the consumer eletronics giant was recalling all the MCs it had shipped emerged on Wednesday, but were quickly denied by Sony's US wing …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:25

  • More class action grief for AOL

    Get orff my registry

    America Online has received yet another class action lawsuit alleging that its AOL 5.0 software damages PCs. The proposed class action lawsuit filed in Federal Court in Denver, Colorado, yesterday claims that AOL "violated federal electronic communications law by releasing software that, without adequate warning, made major …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:31

  • PlayStation 3 to ship 2002

    From The Register, October 99 X-Box's late 2001 launch may not matter too much...

    From The Register, 10 October 99... Head of Sony's PlayStation operation Ken Kutaragi today pledged to drive the technology behind the company's Emotion Engine processor line -- the heart of the upcoming PlayStation 2 -- way beyond that of Intel's Pentium family within the next six years. And he hinted at the rapid evolution of …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:39

  • LineOne joins Free Everything gang

    24/7 toll-free access and no subs

    LineOne has stepped forward this afternoon to become the latest e-outfit to offer toll-free and subscription free 24/7 access to the Net. Today's announcement was not really unexpected since LineOne was already offering limited toll-free Net access thanks to a deal with discount telco, Quip!. It began offering the service last …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 16:54

  • Motorola tells Iridium customers to expect the worst

    Buyer must be found by 15 March - or else...

    Iridium's deadline - and never was a word more appropriate - to find a buyer or liquidate has been extended to 15 March, Motorola has told the troubled satellite venture's customers. "Unless a qualified buyer comes forward and provides additional funding by March 15, 2000, we do not expect Iridium service to be available after …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 17:36

  • Intel censors Pentium III forums

    Excises all references to you-know-who

    The very day that Intel introduced its first 1GHz Coppermine processor, two days after AMD's release of its one gig chip, the company enforced new rules on its Pentium III product support forum. People who posted messages referring to Intel's competitor have now had their messages removed and replaced with a standard message …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 17:44

  • X-Box unleashed: MS snubs PC OEMs, dumps AMD Athlon

    Updated The spec and the plan escapes - Intel gets the gig after all

    Microsoft's X-Box games console has made it out of the traps hours in advance of the official launch, due to take place later today in San Jose. To a degree the machine is as widely expected, but there are several key points and areas of fuzz worth paying attention to as well. It's going to use a custom graphics chip co-designed …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 17:45

  • Intel snatches X-Box victory, eats AMD Athlon's lunch

    Historically, we'd just like to point out, AMD is always Wintel roadkill

    As was eminently predictable (we can say this, because we predicted it), Intel snatched AMD's lunch at the final fence of the X-Box drama today. And what a tacky, tawdry affair it was. Compulsive readers (who should really see a doctor about it) will have noted we pointed up the lack of an AMD reference in Microsoft's original X …

    Business 10 Mar 2000, 18:36