7th April 2000 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Ledger and Morris launch Net-centric distie

If we had a 20 per cent margin for every 'different' distributor...

Neil Ledger and Ian Morris, co-founders of networking outfit Data Connectivity, have started yet another distributor. This one promises to be a "new breed of distributor". Could this perhaps be one that can make some margin? equIP Technology aims to be "a link between fast emerging Internet enabling technologies and the new …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 07:42
Free games download site opens for business

Watch ads while megs tick slowly by? Shurely 'Poor' Entertainment? - Ed.

Pure Entertainment Games' site allowing users to download computer games for free went live this week. The Freeloader.com Web site currently offers five titles to download, Rat Attack, Grand Theft Auto, Blastian, Demon Invaders, and Moon Defender, with around another twenty planned for the site's official launch, expected on May …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 07:44
Intel gets private, parallel Kuck

Open multiprocessing company bought

Chip giant Intel said late yesterday it had bought Kuck & Associates Inc (KAI) to help it build software tools to create cost effective multiprocessing systems. Neither firm said how much Intel had paid for the company, but KAI has pushed the case for OpenMP, an open multiprocessing environment meant to aid more efficient …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 07:47
Domino Dell denies it will use AMD chips

But Cheapzilla's market share, stock price rises

Fevered speculation that Dell, a major distributor of Intel technology, might be the last domino to fall to AMD with its Athlon microprocessor, was dampened down by an executive at the PC firm late yesterday. Kevin Rollins, a vice chairman at the Dull Corporation, told the Reuters wire that the reports were not true. He …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 08:07
Alpha chip powers Celera genome burst

Mysterious unannounced chips aid "secret of life"

Biotech firm Celera said yesterday that it has now finished sequencing 99 per cent of the human genetic pattern, and confirmed it will complete its corporate push during the course of this year. Sources close to the firm's plans said it has used "mass quantities" of an as yet unreleased 667MHz Alpha processor, each of which …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 08:30
Intel gives Euro e-biz Amsterdam high five

Plunges loadsadosh into five countries

Chip giant Intel is to spend "multimillions" fostering e-business in Europe, it said today. The company said it is opening e-biz solution centres in Holland, German, Sweden, France and England which will help create and validate solution stacks running on, err x86 boxes. Three of the five centres will open during the course of …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 08:56
Cellphone LCDs to dominate display production this year

Value of phone display production to exceed notebook screen value in Q4 2000

LCD manufacturers will increasingly shift production from notebook screens to cellphone displays, with balance of production favouring the latter by the end of the year, according to Japanese research company Nikkei Market Access (NMA). "There is a possibility that the LCD production value for mobile phones will exceed that for …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 09:35
$333,000 for a Pentium III?

Well, it does have a piano wrapped round it

In a startling triumph of technology over common sense, Yamaha has built an electronic piano costing a third of a million dollars – for that kind of money you can buy three new Steinway concert grands with more than enough money left over to build a music room on your house to put them in and pay for some piano lessons on top. …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 09:41
MPAA on legal warpath with 2600 again

Popular hacker site sued for DeCSS linking

The powerful Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) lobbying outfit has taken another heavy-handed swipe at the DeCSS utility programme which enables users to decrypt the playback protection of DVDs and run them on unauthorised players. The group has named 2600.com publisher Eric Corley, aka Emmanuel Goldstein, in a …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 11:17
QXL shares rally on analyst's prediction

Plucky Brits go gunning for eBay

QXL saw shares dip slightly today after an analyst's tip yesterday sent prices soaring. The UK online auctioneer saw its share price more than double to 606 pence, up on Wednesday's close of 280 pence. At one point the dotcom's shares leapt as high as 800 pence on the London Stock Exchange – with 54 million shares traded in QXL …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 11:20
Cisco backtracks on spam the spammers advice

It was all a terrible mistake – you don't say

Cisco has admitted that it made a "serious error" by advising its customers that the best way to treat unsolicited email was to retaliate with abusive emails. In its publication The Easy Guide to Network Security, Cisco advised that dumping large useless files on spammers was equally as good, although this approach has been …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 11:25
Sony backpedals on privacy flap

Mega-corporation gives in to the rude masses

Sony caved in to populist threats to its bottom line this week as players of its on-line game EverQuest rose to arms over a bizarre proposal to monitor their computers for "hacking tools" as a condition of joining the game. The game's developers, Verant Interactive, announced its intention to bar people from the game who refuse …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 11:44
Compaq makes small but important mistake

The Big Number change claims a casualty. K'snurk!

The clock is ticking – on 22 April phone numbers in many parts of the UK will change. Among those affected will be businesses in the Greater London area. One of those is Compaq UK. We got a press release from Compaq this morning and noticed it had changed its letterheads to accommodate the new phone number – 0181 is gone and in …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 11:56
Beer swilling Linux users hit the Lake District

For the holiday of a lifetime, bring your own penguin

The Register has stumbled across what appears to be the perfect holiday for anyone who wants to combine their love of walking and beer with the delights of Linux. The Linux Beer Hike (Die Linuxbierwanderung, or LBW) is an annual event, we're told, and this year it's being held at Coniston, in England's Lake District from 30 July …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 12:13
Samsung mobiles get fancier

New features! But in different phones!

The mobile is just like the Walkman in the 1980s - every three months they get smaller and cooler (the size of a tape! Auto-reverse!). The only difference is that because we're dealing with IT, any feature has to be an acronym. Samsung is bringing out a new range of phones at Mobilexpo 2000 (Birmingham, next month). The ones we' …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 12:20
I need a new driver, what to do?

PC Clinic Trust Spinola, he's a quack

Having trouble with your brand new machine or with the lovely application software that's cost you an arm and a leg? Our very own PC paramedic, Dr Spinola will guide you through the hardware morass. This month he discusses memory modules, drivers, hardware sites and getting good public relations coverage. Q I have a very …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 12:27
DoJ may brief White House on MS penalties

MS on Trial The case creeps closer to government

The White House may be asked to be briefed by the DoJ about the penalties it will seek against Microsoft, it emerged yesterday. The DoJ has declined to comment, other than to say that Janet Reno, the attorney general would participate if so, and this suggests that a briefing is likely. Meanwhile the reverberations of Bill Gates …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 12:37
Pollsters and TV ads – the MS fight back begins

MS on Trial We'll try the court of public opinion instead

Microsoft's strategy for its appeal in the court of public opinion has been revealed by a lucky chance, when a market research pollster who was surely working for Microsoft called a WSJ reporter. It's not absolutely certain who the firm involved was working for, Microsoft won't confirm that it's the client, but the questions …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 13:14
Mystery ‘EU client’ orders 2.5m ADSL CE devices

A breakthrough for Microsoft - but with whom?

Rumour has been raging about a mysterious "EU client" for large numbers of set-top boxes since Illinois-based Dauphin Technology part-announced the deal in February. Dauphin has now revealed that the deal is for 2.5 million CE-based units at a total value of $500 million, and although the company still won't say who the "other …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 13:37
Buy online without a credit card

Could this be the answer to paranoid e-shoppers' prayers

A Scottish software company believes it's found the perfect way to pay for goods, downloads and services over the Net without having to use any of that fancy e-commerce fluff. Lights Out Limited says its WebMetering system is the "answer to the 'micro-payments' problem" enabling punters to buy online without having to own a …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 13:57
BMG digital music service to launch this summer

Based on IBM, Reciprocal technology, service to be offered through retailers

'Big five' member Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) is set to go live with its own digital music distribution service this summer. BMG's service will provide music from "top artists" and offer not only chart hits but back catalogue tracks, too, and will mark a significant step forward in a major label's digital music programme. The …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 14:29
FBI, DoJ want new Net monitoring toys

FIDNET not enough for these guys

There seems to be no end to the shopping list of Orwellian tools the FBI and Reno Department of Justice are straining to acquire. The FBI is seeking US $75 million from Congress for a massive data-gathering systems upgrade, which will include a new system called 'Digital Storm' that simplifies and accelerates the collection of …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 14:30
Quake developer not responsible for school killings – judge

Paducah killer's actions could not be foreseen

Quake-maker id Software is not guilty of producing games that warp children into mindless killers, a US court ruled yesterday. The $33 million case was brought by parents of kids killed by fellow pupils at the Heath High School in Paducah in 1997. They alleged that, as a keen player of violent computer games, killer Michael …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 14:42
Boffins unveil ‘instant download’ chip

Hundred gigabytes per second electronic-to-optic data conversion rate claimed

Scientists from the Universities of Washington and Southern Carolina have devised an optical chip that promises to make the transmission of data down cables practically instantaneous. The device, dubbed the Opto Chip, but known more formally as an electro-optic modulator, converts electrical signals into pulses of light which …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 14:44
Anoto pen will change the world

Maybe. But even if it doesn't, it's still pretty cool

Whenever vice-presidents start philosophising over a new product, you're looking at either a significant technological advance or the death of the company. This may well be the former. So what is it? It's a fat biro. And a computer. And a mobile phone. It's made by Anoto, which is owned by C-Techologies - the company that has …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 14:46
CCM Distribution outlines post MBO strategy

Ecommerce still on backburner

CCM Distribution expects to have its MBO wrapped up by the end of May, and has outlined plans to grow sales to £30 million for this financial year. The Cheshire-based business last week announced it was switching tactics to become a high-tech investment house called Fundamental e-Investments. As a result, CCM MD Brent Cutler is …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 15:00
DoubleClick wins ‘Greatest Corporate Invader’ award

Just when they thought it was safe to go back in the clickzone...

DoubleClick has won the coveted "Greatest Corporate Invader" prize in Privacy International's 2nd annual Big Brother awards. The award was presented (although it's not clear to whom) at Privacy International's Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2000 Conference, which was held earlier this week in Toronto. A judging panel of lawyers …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 15:14
ATI to unveil Rage 6 on 24 April…

...the day before Nvidia launches the NV11 and NV15

ATI admitted today it is working on a high-end, high-margin 3D graphics chip. Speaking to Reuters, CFO Jim Chwartacky said: "We will be announcing a high-end product that reinforces and extends our reach into the higher margin part of the PC market." Not that we're entirely surprised. Surely Chwartacky is referring to the …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 15:15
Windows ME hits beta 3, to demo this weekend

Live from Redmond. Well a bit live, anyway...

The first public showing of the next version of Win9x, Windows Millennium Edition (or WindowsMe, as Microsoft now tags it) will take place this weekend at 30 movie theatres across the United States. Along with WindowsMe, the audience will see Pocket PC and FrontPage 2000 demos beamed direct from Redmond. The event, Spring 2000 …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 15:16
IBMer loses sex harassment case

Judge kicks out claims that female boss forced man to endure compliments

A former IBM employee in Hong Kong is facing ruin after a judge threw out his case which alleged that he had been sexually harassed by his female boss. Judge Maggie Poon Man-kay said Ray Chen knew exactly what he was doing when he entered into a relationship with Tamara Rus, a project manager from Australia, and only made the …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 15:43
Pentium III defies the laws of physics

Strange goings on in Lancewood

Amid the horror of Caminogate and Rambus, an increasing number of observers are singing the praises of Chipzilla's earlier chipsets, the desktop BX and the server GX. They may not be state of the art, but they have a major benefit: they work. In the case of the GX, they appear to work better than conventional wisdom would allow …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 16:00
Crypto code is protected speech – appellate court

Not inexpressive, just because you can't understand it

The Sixth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that application source code is protected by the First Amendment because it is a means of communication among programmers, the Associated Press reports. The ruling marks the first time a federal appellate court has ruled that source code is protected by the First Amendment to …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 18:18
New Web site security scanner will read your HDD

Relax, it's for your own good....

Internet Security Systems (ISS), is offering an on-line scanner for Web sites which surveys users’ hard drives to detect any potentially dangerous programs, such as Trojans and viruses, that may have been placed on the machine without their knowledge. The ISS Online Scanner will automatically test individual computers, identify …

Business 7 Apr 2000, 19:17