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25th April 2000 Archive

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  • US State Department shakeup over missing laptop

    No idea what it contained, and Milosivic isn't talking

    US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ordered the Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (note name) to assume responsibility for Department, em, security, from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research after reporting last week that a laptop computer containing sensitive information had gone missing from Department …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 06:41

  • Corel warns of cash-flow crises if Inprise merger fails

    'May occur' is not the same thing as 'will occur'

    Corel admits it could run out of cash within 90 days. The company told the Canadian Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday that unless its planned merger with Inprise/Borland goes ahead, its financial results fail to improve or other sources of finance are not secured, "a cash deficiency may occur within the next three …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 07:30

  • Name Keeper names no IP names

    Free hosts on the net

    "On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog," read the caption in the now-famous New Yorker cartoon depicting a dog sitting in front of a CRT. Closer to home and far more relevant is the fact that using dynamic IP address assignment - which guarantees that you’ll be assigned a different IP address each time you dial up your ISP …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 07:40

  • Applix spins off ApplixWare Linux division

    Subsidiary changes name, goes open source (sort of) in bid to turn business around

    Loss-making Applix is to spin off its ApplixWare operation into a separate company to be called VistaSource. And it's opening - to a degree - the source code for its Linux-based office productivity software into the bargain. Applix's scheme here is to allow it to focus on its core e-business planning, customer management and …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 08:11

  • Microsoft kicks Compaq's Alpha in teeth

    Only after Q headbutted MS first

    Microsoft is advising corporate IT buyers that choosing the Alpha microprocessor as a future platform is a risky business. But, at the same time, some elements of Microsoft also appear to be blissfully unaware that Compaq kicked it in the teeth last year when it said that it would no longer support NT or Windows 2000 on the fast …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 09:06

  • SEAT touts ‘dot cool’ cars

    Lame marketing ideas of our time

    Spanish carmaker, SEAT, (pronounced say-at, not seet) is launching special editions of its Ibiza and Cordoba motors called "dot cool". The cars cost £7,995 and £8,995 respectively, according to Auto Express, although once you have bought the Net-liveried motor expect the price to plummet. At the very least the performance of the …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 09:07

  • Intel cuts prices on CuMine processors

    Xeons, Pentium IIIs and Celerons see drop

    As anticipated, and as sure as eggs is eggs and and as yesterday was a choccie chomping Bank Holiday in the UK, Intel duly made some price adjustments on a number of its Pentium III, Pentium III Xeon and Celerons. The last time Intel made similar cuts was on 26 March. Intel, which described the moves as part of its typical …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 09:41

  • Transmeta targets Intel's mobile underbelly

    There's margins and there's gross margins

    While folk in Blighty were noshing away at their choccie Easter eggs yesterday, start-up Transmeta was busy announcing support for its range of x86 mobile processors to the tune of a $73 million investment from some heavyweight PC names. Transmeta also got additional dosh from some world class financial investors to the tune of …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 10:10

  • ATI launches Radeon

    Not a washing powder but a 3D accelerator, apparently

    ATI yesterday unveiled its newest graphics accelerator, formerly called Rage 6 but dubbed, as we predicted, the Radeon 256 - which sounds more like a washing powder than an Nvidia or 3dfx killer. But there you go. Washes pixels whiter, anyone? The spec is impressive. ATI has already announced the Radeon's Charisma Engine …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 11:06

  • £22bn 3G mobile auction put on hold

    Don't call us, we'll call you

    The mega auction for the right to operate the UK's third generation mobile phone network - which has so far raised £22 billion for the UK Treasury - has hit a technical snag. On the weekend when millions of UK phone users were dazed and confused by the third set of major area code changes since 1995, the phone lines to the …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 11:23

  • Employees wear the cyberslacks

    Get back to work, your boss knows what you're up to

    Two-thirds of employees in the US are cyberslackers using the Internet for their own personal interests instead of work. Not only is this a waste of time, money and resource, it is also responsible for using up precious bandwidth at work and is a massive drain financially on employers. That's the conclusion of a study by US e- …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 11:28

  • USB-based micro Flash drive to ship 20 May

    ThumbDrive looks like a Sony Memory Stick but plugs into any USB port. Smart, huh?

    Japanese peripherals company Shin-Nichi Electronics (SNE) will ship an unusual take on Sony's Memory Stick solid-state floppy concept next month with a Stick-sized Flash card that plugs into any USB port. SNE's ThumbDrive isn't based on Memory Stick per se, but the influence clearly shows. Memory Stick is a slim, almost flat …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 11:44

  • HP eventually wakes up to Win2K

    Oops! Maybe we should write some drivers, guys.

    When Windows 2000 was launched back in February, a common complaint was a shortage of drivers, video cards in particular being badly served. The latest - and we're really talking late here - group of users to be hit are those using one of HP's popular OfficeJet printer/fax/scanner devices, who were originally promised that a …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 12:28

  • Earth, Wind, Fire and Water hurled into laptop designs

    You don't have to be mad to work in IT - or do you?

    What is it about the IT industry that attracts more crazies than an explosion in a sex toy factory? Linux geeks choose their favourite operating system partly because they like fiddling with it, but mainly because it isn't made by the Company Which Must Not Be Named. Mac users are just plain mad and the less said about WAP phone …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 12:34

  • Intel: Willamette already sampling

    Gelsinger: He's the man, the man with the golden touch

    Intel has already started sampling Willamette, its next generation IA-32 microprocessor, according to Intel senior VP Pat Gelsinger, as quoted by Nikkei Business Wire. Gelsinger also said that Intel will continue to up the frequency of Coppermine Pentium IIIs beyond the 1GHz it has already achieved, the Asian news service …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 13:35

  • WAP is easy – but gadget geeks only need apply

    How to write a press release

    These people know how to write a press release - make it short, make it punchy, and get your news point established in the first par. Even if it is trivial. In recognition of this fine piece of opportunism, we are publishing this in full, with a couple of minor changes, for style. PR companies take note... WAP Geographical …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 13:53

  • InterX confirms Ideal Hardware sale

    Bell Microproducts is buyer

    California IT distributor Bell Microproducts has confirmed it is to buy InterX subsidiary Ideal Hardware. Bell Microproducts has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Surrey-based distributor, it said today. No price tag was put on the deal, which will mark Bell Micro's first step into the European storage market and give …

    Business 25 Apr 2000, 15:57