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11th April 2000 Archive

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  • Porn site confusion forces gadget site relaunch

    Hotbox gets fiery

    Men's gadget site Hotbox.co.uk has relaunched itself as Firebox.com following brand confusion with Hotbox.com - a site which offers, among other things, "over 2875 video channels of pure sex". Founders Michael Smith and Tom Boardman were aware of the porn site's existence when they started the site in April 1998, but following a …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 06:32

  • Fujitsu Siemens appoints CEO

    Customer-focused, forward looking fine-tuner

    Fujitsu Siemens Computers has named Paul Stodden its new president and CEO. The appointment of Stodden, formerly head of IT services at Siemens, follows last month's ousting of joint presidents Winfried Hoffmann and Robert Hoog. Fifty-two-year-old Stodden worked at IBM Deutschland and General Electric Medical Systems Germany …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 06:36

  • Intel re-opens wallet – rapacious moths fly out

    Buys another company as IXA mycelium spreads

    Another piece of the complex jigsaw puzzle that Intel is using to build its IXA networking strategy has snapped into place. The firm said late yesterday it had opened its wallet and paid cash for a telephony solutions firm Picazo Comms, which will be used to bolster it and its Dialogic subsidiary. Intel said that the acquisition …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 06:48

  • Anti-censorship site censored!

    ISP pulls plug

    The director of the Campaign Against Censorship of the Internet in Britain has challenged Dr Laurence Godfrey to sue him following claims by CACIB that it was gagged over the publication of a story on its Web site. The civil liberties Web site was taken down after Laurence Godfrey, who recently won damages in a libel case …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 06:55

  • Osicom falls into receivers' arms

    Pioneer Intel solutions distie on its knees

    Welsh PC assembler and distributor Osicom has gone into administrative receivership. David Gilbert and Simon Michaels of BDO Stoy Hayward were appointed joint administrative receivers on 6 April. The Cardiff-based outfit, which claims to have been the UK's first Intel Authorised Solutions Provider, has 36 employees. The company …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 07:12

  • Rambus PC figures give that FUD feeling

    Letter Time for a new RegMark™

    Following an article we published yesterday in which we mentioned that Rambus has posted figures showing that its RIMMs do not need to be more expensive than synchronous memory, a reader (email address supplied) has sent us the following letter: Sorry if I keep writing about nitpicky techie things, but I noticed another one …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 08:31

  • Sony details music download service

    Coming next month, ahead of rival big name labels

    Sony, like fellow 'big five' international recording label BMG, will soon launch an digital music distribution service focused on third-party retailers. Sony's scheme will go live later this month - BMG's won't happen until the summer - and provide over 50 tracks (51, we presume...) through Web sites run by Tower Records, …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 09:26

  • MS IE source code give away: the WSJ changes its mind

    MS on Trial But that doesn't mean the story wasn't true...

    The strange thing about yesterday's Wall Street Journal story on Internet Explorer was that although it seemed one of the paper's better scoops, it wasn't getting promoted. As a matter of fact, it was being steadily downplayed towards oblivion through the day. But now all is revealed - sort of; the WSJ published it by accident. …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 09:31

  • Tucows does an Andover.net with Linux site buy

    It's a pre-IPO thing, we guess

    Tucows, the Canadian software download site, is pumping up its editoriaL content with the acquisition of Linux Weekly News. Terms were undisclosed. Tucows has been knocking around for years as a destination site for free and paid-for downloads. The advent of Linux, and all the various distros, suits its business down to the …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 09:41

  • 3DLabs buys Intense 3D as ATI, Nvidia breathe down neck

    Shoring up workstation market against game-oriented rival look to high end

    3DLabs is to snap up Intergraph's graphics chip division, Intense 3D, for 3.69 million shares - worth around $30 million - and a further $25 million in cash and/or stock if the division performs well throughout the rest of 2000. The buyer described the acquisition of Intense 3D's product line as "complementary" and it's true …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 10:35

  • Hitachi unveils ‘free PC’ scheme

    100,000 Win98 boxes MUST GO!!!

    Hitachi is to give away 100,000 PCs in Japan to boost the country's e-commerce industry - and, naturally, its own profits. The Hitachi deal will operate through third-parties - e-commerce companies will be able to hand over PCs to punters, paying the manufacturer from their own hopefully increased sales. Hitachi's partners will …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 10:57

  • MS hires spin doctor to lobby for Bush trial backing

    MS on Trial The trial creeps ever closer to the campaign

    Microsoft has retained Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition and now "senior consultant" to the George Bush presidential campaign. The reason, if it needs to be spelt out, is to persuade Bush to speak against the DoJ case. Bush has previously said that Microsoft was "an engine of growth" and that he favoured " …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 11:33

  • Wide Open News Linuxcare CEO Departs, IPO Postponed

    Major anagement changes

    San Francisco-based Linuxcare has replaced CEO Fernand Sarrat with a newly created office, led by the company's VP of service delivery, Pat Lambs. Also named to the new office is Arthur Tyde, Linuxcare cofounder and executive VP, Ted Schlein, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and chairman of Linuxcare's board, and …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 11:57

  • Via buys S3 chip biz for $323m-plus

    Meanwhile, S3 becomes Diamond Multimedia... er... an 'Internet appliance company'

    Via has bought S3's 3D chip business, just like it said it would yesterday. The announcement came a little later than planned, but the deal is pretty much what the company yesterday told Taiwan's Commercial Times it would be. The acquisition will cost Via at least $323 million in cash and securities, with further sums to be paid …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 12:52

  • Bitboys delays 3D superchip to up feature-count

    It works though, claims CEO

    Bitboys, the 'revolutionary' Finnish 3D silicon company, has broken its silence to explain why it didn't announce chips based on its Xtreme Bandwidth Architecture (XBA) last month. Back in January, when XBA itself was unveiled, Bitboys promised to "introduce the final product specifications, product names and target prices of …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 13:18

  • Fishy pirate gets snared in Net

    Cod Almighty, he was caught red handed

    It's a tale of fish and piracy on the high seas, me hearties, the likes of which have never been heard before in these parts. The chief fishery officer for the Sussex Sea Fisheries District Committee, Stephen Holman, has coughed up to leading a secret life and trading illegally in thousands of pounds worth of counterfeit …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 13:30

  • China conducting ‘pre-war recon’ on line

    Sun Tzu would love the Internet

    "A military operation involves deception." Therefore, "lure the enemy in with the prospect of gain; then take him by confusion," the old Chinese military strategist, Sun Tzu, advises in his famous Art of War treatise. There is hardly a more penetrating insight into China's dual programmes of seducing Western corporations into …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 13:56

  • Bo! Teenagers SMS call to stress-test UK mobile network

    Impractical, operators say

    In what can be described as the techie equivalent of asking everyone in China to jump up and down at the same time to see whether it starts an earthquake, two teenage lads from Nottingham want to be bombarded with as many SMS messages as possible to "stress-test the UK's mobile phone network". Thomas Scott, 15, and his pal, …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 14:33

  • Customers afraid to visit Sun

    Offices in dodgy areas, apparently

    Sun has launched its first European competency centre, housed in an elegant building in an upmarket area of Paris just a spit from the Seine. As any good estate agent will tell you, the three most important things to consider when moving to a new property are location, location and location. "We used to have cheap real estate …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 16:06

  • Boffins unveil 600Gb per inch non-volatile RAM

    Wonders never cease...

    US Navy scientists have managed to combine a hard disk and Flash memory to create a new solid state magnetic memory medium that provides instant access - or as near as dammit - to its non-volatile contents. And the capacity of the marvel of the modern age? "We anticipate we can put 400 gigabits (Gb) in a square inch," US Naval …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 22:09

  • Readers solve Pentium III laws of physics dilemma

    Cache for questions

    You may not want an Intel Coppermine Pentium III. You might well be better off with an older Katmai processor instead. For although the newer part boasts a level two cache running at full core speed, it is now clear that despite Chipzilla's claims that 256K running at full speed is equal to 512K at half speed, Coppermine is …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 22:23

  • Mobile monsters make m-commerce world domination bid

    The numbers stack up

    Mobile phone behemoths Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola have joined forces to develop what they hope will become the de facto standard for secure mobile electronic transactions. The companies believe the move will create a huge demand for new mobile phones offering secure e-commerce for transactions such as banking, buying train and …

    Business 11 Apr 2000, 22:36