29th March 2000 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Tamagochi is back – oh no…

Little beasts on mobile phones

People in Europe have long referred to the mobile phone as the executive's Tamagochi. The slur reflects the kind of love/hate relationship people have with their mobile phones here. Now, in a case of life imitating 'figure of speech', the Tamagochi may actually be appearing on mobile phones soon. Or will do if Lucent is …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 07:55
Ronnie Biggs sets up official Web site

Great Train Robber aims to counter 'rubbish'

Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs is to set up his own Web site in a bid to counter some of the "absolute rubbish" written about him. The site - which will include photos from his personal collection, a biography and a chat room - will be run from Brazil, where Biggs has lived for the majority of the last 35 years following his …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 08:06
Four reasons why T-Online doesn't bark

This ain't going to be a dog stock

T-Online is to price its shares at E35-50, valuing the ISP anywhere between E39-55 billion (£24-55 billion), according to "people close to the share issue" cited by the FT. This will make it easily Europe's biggest Internet player. Only nine per cent of T-Online's shares will be released for IPO, and 60 per cent of this is …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 08:25
Celeron IIs arrive, Screaming Sindie in tow

These are inexpensive little numbers

As predicted, Intel has today released two Celeron processors based on its 0.18 micron Coppermine Pentium III technology. The 600MHz and 566MHz chips cost $181 and $167 respectively, provided you buy a thousand each of the babies. Intel said it will introduce faster clock speeds of the Celerons before June. Pat 'Kicking' …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 08:48
WAP throws up latest bunch of gazillionaires

Believe the m-commerce hype

A new generation of dotcom millionaires will be created when mobile Internet - WAP, in other words - and third-generation (3G) cellular network vendors go public, analysts at BRC and EPS of London predict in reports released this week. If the recent activities of venture capitalists are any indication, BRC and EPS may be right. …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 08:53
Last minute objection delays MP3™ filing

Now the European Union will chew things over

Hypermedia, which claimed yesterday that it has succeeded in registering MP3 as a trademark in the European Union, has had a spanner thrown in its works. Another German company, mp3.de GmbH, based in Trier, the birthplace of Karl Marx, managed to file an objection to the application on the last possible day such objections could …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 09:09
What the Hell is… MExE?

Java virtual machine on mobile phone

This definition is derived from a research report by Durlacher The Mobile Station Application Execution Environment (MExE) is, essentially, the incorporation of a Java virtual machine into the mobile phone. The MExE is a framework on mobile phones for executing operator or service provider specific applications. It enables full …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 09:11
Bitter war breaks out inside Intel

Battle of the Boards spawns huge heap of codenames

The motherboard and server division at Intel is at loggerheads with the chipset division, a source inside the 70,000-employee company has revealed. That has led to a mass of mobos that will be released during the course of this year and next, many of which will not use Intel chipset technology. The source, who works within OPSD …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 10:42
Nintendo preps cellphone with built-in Gameboy

Is that a Monster in your Pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

Nintendo will soon allow mobile phone users to while away the idle moments between 'I'm on the train now' calls with a little videogame play. The Great Satan of Cartoon Italian Plumbers is working on a handset that has a built in Gameboy Color handheld console. Right now, Nokia owners can waste time on Memory (find matching …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 10:53
Spam war victory for BiblioTech

Offender faces $1000 per spam fine in future

Spambusting London-based Internet outfit BiblioTech has chalked up a major victory in the war against junk email. It has taken on and beaten US spam supremo Sam Khuri – the man behind bulk spamming company Benchmark Print Supply – in the US. Khuri has to pay BiblioTech an undisclosed sum in damages and will have to pay $1000 to …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 10:55
Palm profits surpass Street 'spectations

Revenue, profits way up - and that's pre IPO

Palm Computing yesterday showed off its first set of financial results as a public company - though for most of the reported quarter, the third of fiscal 1999, it remained a 3Com subsidiary. For the three months to 25 February, the company made $15.5 million, up from the same period last year's $8.7 million, on revenues up to $ …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 11:31
Net access for all – engineering firm

ABB opens cybercafés for staff

Engineering group ABB is opening cybercafés in its offices and factories. This will, the company said, give all 8000 of its UK workers access to the Internet. The first cybercafé has been opened in the company's power transmission plant in Stone, Staffordshire. ABB UK chief executive Eric Drewery said: "Prime Minister Tony Blair …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 11:37
£10m says Gameplay is European gateway

More than just a dotcom

Leisure and e-commerce outfit Gameplay.com, has signed a doo WAP a diddy diddy cum m-commerce agreement with a subsidiary of the Carphone Warehouse, the company announced today. The move is Gameplay.com's latest strategic move to provide games and e-commerce on a range of different platforms. Today's announcement comes on the …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 11:49
MS Office 2000 patch – breaking more than it fixes?

MSNBC puts the boot in

How embarrassing. MSNBC has published a BugNet "Top 10 reasons you do not want to install the [Microsoft] Office 2000 SR-1," while very decently and reputably stressing that "Microsoft is a partner in MSNBC." Under the circumstances we could almost forgive MSNBC for the strange and sudden disappearance of the somewhat negative …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 12:33
S3 readies graphics chips hive-off

Several offers on the table

It's a very short press release -- and beggars many more questions than it answers. But here it is, in full. "S3 announced today that it is in discussions with and has received term sheets from several companies relating to the separation of S3's graphics chip business from the remainder of its businesses. "The company stated …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 13:22
Amstrad product of the century looks expensive to us

Pricing predicated on low email usage

Amstrad today launched its "product of the century", aimed at low email users - or the rich. Amstrad chief Sir Alan Sugar claimed the "e-m@iler" gadget would take high technology to the high street. The device is a telephone, answerphone, fax, personal organiser and monitor, with email facilities, all rolled into one. Its pull …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 14:07
Intel hits more probs with memory translator hub

The battle of the (desktop) boards inside

The CC820 (Cape Cod) motherboard has been placed on hold until Intel fixes the memory hub translator (MHT), which has caused performance degradation, The Register has learned. According to a source inside the company, all shipments have now been halted until Intel's chipset division comes up with a more reliable MHT. As noted …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 14:22
RIBA pays $190,000 for Architecture.com

Design qualities of a 60s tower block

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has coughed up $190,000 (£120,000) to buy the domain name architecture.com. The deal was struck with GreatDomains.com after the name was auctioned earlier this month. Alex Reid, general director of RIBA, said: "More companies are paying the high price tag for a simple dot com …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 14:49
Philips spins off TriMedia team

Sony named as first investor - others, IPO to follow, presumably

Philips has spun off its TriMedia media processor operation as a separate business backed by the Dutch consumer electronics giant itself and Sony. TriMedia Technologies will be based in Silicon Valley - with an eye to a Nasdaq launch, presumably - and marks the latest move by an chip company to target the sort-of-emerging …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 15:15
Games giants sue Yahoo! over ‘thieves market’

Counterfeit claims

Three games giants have filed a lawsuit against Yahoo! over alleged sales of pirated goods on its site. Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Sega accuse the online retailer of selling counterfeit copies of computer games and devices to copy games through its auction and sales sites. The companies filed the suit in US District Court for …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 15:18
Confident Novell struts in DENIM

Analysis Coming soon, medallion?

Novell, known for its nifty widgets and poor marketing, may just have a shot at turning itself around with its new corporate marketing plan called oneNet, which was unveiled at Brainshare in Salt Lake City this week. Behind the scenes there has been a major reorganisation and at least a partial resolution of the two-valley …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 15:19
Hitachi's antitrust case against Rambus

Alleges abuse, manipulation of the press, and breach of JEDEC rules

The Register has now seen a copy of Hitachi's deposition to a US court, countering a Rambus case and at the same time detailing its arguments that the firm is engaging in alleged antitrust activities. The civil action was placed before Judge Gregory Sleet and numbered 00-029 in a Delaware District Court at the end of last week. …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 15:20
Libraries create Web paedophiles, ‘expert’ testifies

Child-protective crusaders seek Congressional intervention

Public libraries are a hotbed of on-line pedo activity and must therefore be forced to install Internet filtering software on their public computers, psychotherapist Mary Anne Layden told a Congressional Committee on Children and Families which convened Tuesday to consider measures for protecting children from Internet predators …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 15:45
Low cost Alpha boxes on way

More roadmap stuff from API

Alpha firm API is readying a low cost Alpha system set to appear in July or August this year. According to postings on an Alpha NT mail list, the UP1100 will include embedded processor, and have features in common with the UP1000 in terms of memory, performance and chipsets. The reports add that the UP1100 will also include …

Business 29 Mar 2000, 16:09