20th March 2000 Archive

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Mattel sues hackers, wins injunction

UPDATE: And they want names, names....

The makers of Cyber Patrol, a popular Web-filtering software product, filed suit against two computer enthusiasts who are distributing a crack enabling precocious sprouts to decrypt their parents' password or the product's secret list of banned URLs and so access forbidden Web sites. Microsystems Software, in partnership with …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 06:45
Compaq, HP slog it out in retail sector

There's money to be made down there

Sources revealed prices and specifications of both Compaq and HP boxes aimed at the retail market, confirming a battle royal in the sector. As we reported 10 days ago, Compaq will introduce two machines based on Pentium III Coppermine processors -- the 7598, using a 600MHz chip, and the 7599, using a 700MHz processor. Both of …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 07:25
Yankee legislators, stay home

Get off my domain

Another day, another fight over domain name policing. The latest twist in the top-level domain name saga concerning .com, .net and .org see new disputes over fees charged by Networks Solutions Inc, and a legal jurisdiction land-grab spat. A proposed class-action suit against the 1995 agreement between NSI and the National …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 09:13
Lastminute loves World Online

Co-brand, revenue-split kind of thing

Dutch ISP World Online and lastminute.com are to snuggle up together and embrace one another as part of a joint marketing deal. In return for providing selective just-in-the-nick-of-time offers on a joint branded Web page, lastminute.com will get a slice of revenue from advertising and sales. Which is nice, as the newly-floated …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 09:28
AOL mops up Bertelsmann stake

Time Warner makes them best of enemies

It's been on the cards since AOL acquired Time-Warner, but now it's happened: AOL has agreed to buy Bertelsmann's 50 percent stake in AOL Europe and AOL Australia to AOL for $6.75 to $8.25 billion - but not until after January 2002. In Europe, AOL has around 15 per cent of the market, according to Datamonitor. CEO Thomas …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 09:46
Compaq gets PC boost from Gartner

Manages to square Tandem, DEC acquisitions

A note from the Gartner Group to its customers has claimed that Compaq had solved many of its difficulties with its acquisitions of Tandem and DEC (Digital), as well as channel problems, and should be a "strong short list" candidate when corporate buyers are putting PC acquisitions out to tender. The report, called Compaq's PC …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 09:54
MIPS, TSMC strike joint soft/hardcore licence deal

System-on-chip deal to dramatically cut entry prices

A joint venture between MIPS and foundry TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) means players wanting to get quickly to market with 64-bit and 32-bit technologies now have a cheaper and easier route, an executive told The Register today. Under the terms of the agreement, which have not been disclosed, MIPS …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 10:17
Heat is on to find the world's most boring Web site

Steve 'Interesting' Davis issues dull challenge

Do you think you know the world's most boring web site? Then send the URL to former snooker world champion Steve 'Interesting' Davis at notinteresting@altodigital.com. Many hours of surfing has convinced him that he is "not after all the most boring man in the world. "I've come out of the closet and am proud to be boring. I'm …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 10:31
Intel i820 sales flap weakly towards flop

Caminogate Multi millions? Big four Taiwanese firms don't think so

Initial suspicions that Intel's i820 chipset is a turkey have been confirmed by Taiwanese newspaper The Commercial Times, which reports that four big mobo companies have said sales have failed to get off the ground. At CeBIT 2000 last month, we reported that a number of Taiwanese mobo manufacturers were unhappy with sales of …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 11:12
Ten things we'd like to see in the Budget – PwC

Gordon Brown, texture like sun...

Ahead of tomorrow's Budget, PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) technology division has published a list of ten things it would like to see included in the Chancellor's speech. The ten points are, PwC says, ways in which Budget 2000 can give the UK IT industry a boost. Here, reproduced in full, is the PwC top 10 things the hi-tech …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 11:29
So Farewell, Iridium, shot down in flames

The Death Satellite

Ill-fated Iridium has died after failing to find a buyer on Friday. The US phone company's 66 satellites worth $6 billion will be pulled out of orbit at a cost of more than $40 million to parent company Motorola. Services have been severed with most of the company's 55,000 customers. The company said it would spend $8.3 million …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 11:49
Beijing issues cybercafe porn guidelines

No. No. No

Beijing officials have threatened to shut down cybercafes where punters are caught peering at porn. A statement has been issued laying down strict new guidelines in an attempt to wipe out "mischievous" use of the Web, The China Daily reported. The authorities said they planned to vet all cafes to judge who was worthy of running …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 11:58
Apple defeats ‘OS 9’ trademark suit

MacOS 9 protected by 'fair use' rule

An attempt to force Apple to drop the 'OS 9' from its MacOS 9 operating system was chucked out of court on Friday. Veteran OS developer Microware Systems brought the case after MacOS 9 was released last autumn. Microware offers an operating system of its own called OS-9, and has done for years. It claimed Apple had infringed its …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 12:00
When was the last time you read the Bible?

seek and ye shall find....?

How we laughed. We spotted a story in the business section of yesterday's Observer (19 March) about Lastminute.com finding itself in legal hot water courtesy of a German travel agency. The story had been broken, the Absurder said, by "Silicon.com, the online IT industry news bible". The whole thing read as though the Sunday …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 12:39
Ex-magistrate faces jail over obscene email blizzard

11,000 in 17 days

A former magistrate faces five years in jail after bombarding another JP with a torrent of abusive emails. Peter Cartwright sent 11,000 emails in 17 days, mostly including "virtually childlike strings of obscenities", to Michael Leigh after a business deal turned sour. The messages, sent to Leigh's office computer, were traced …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 13:25
The supersoaraway STMicro sales machine

In Brief: Peddling like crazy

STMicroelectronics will post Q1 revenues 46 per cent up on the same period last year. Sales for the period to April 1, are expected to come in at $1.6 billion or higher, against $1.1 billion in Q1, 1999, according to the French chip giant. Analysts says it is riding high on the back of booming demand from mobile phone makers …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 13:38
Net price wars are just beginning – ICL

Mobile Internet next battlefield

The outbreak of the internet-access price war is good news for consumers as well as for the start-up companies - many of which will require a large consumer base if they are ever to see profits. More significantly, it represents the first real step towards a world where everyone can access the internet "any time, any place, any …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 14:36
Circuit City shuts doors on i-Opener $99 PC hack

Spoilsports, American-style

Circuit City, the US giant computer retailer, has issued an email memo to staff, announcing that orders for multiple units of the I-Opener Net appliance would be cancelled, due to "increased demand" and limited availability. Circuit City had been selling the I-Opener, made by Texas company Netpliance, as a $99 loss leader, …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 14:48
Intel 866MHz, 850MHz will be launched today

And a quick look at chip availability...

As expected, Intel is expected to announce the arrival of 866MHz and 850MHz Coppermine Pentium IIIs, when the company opens its portals at eight o'clock AM, Santa Clara time. (See link at end of story -- Intel has just posted the press release 15.52 UT). The company is also expected to announce the arrival of Xeon versions of …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 15:14
Florida software pirate sent to jail for 30 months

Boy, that's harsh

A Florida man has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for trafficking in counterfeit software, after he was caught with just $52,000 of bootlegged product in his possession. The Business Software Alliance hails the Florida State Circuit Court's tough stance - which is not altogehter so surprising really - this …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 17:13
Tubbie Terror spreads like an epidemic

Toys, Muppets, movie stars et al - Be afraid. Be very afraid

It's a sick, sick world out there. After discovering a cult following for the Tubbie Terror Web site last week – where the fluffy funsters' blood flowed like rivers – we decided to peer into the darker side of the Web. And what an educational experience it's been. So many cute, cuddly characters to kill in cyberspace, but so …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 18:08
Rambus stock tumbles on Tom's Hardware report

The message begins to sink in

We can only imagine the flames from burnt day traders scorching Tom's Hardware's way following the site's recent blockbuster article and killer test on Rambus, the go-faster for big, big bucks memory technology. This is to blame for a 20 per cent fall in Rambus share price, an analyst claims. "The stock is getting killed …

Business 20 Mar 2000, 22:03