16th May 2000 Archive

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Forget ‘e’ and ‘m’, p-commerce is the future – 'strewth

What's the point in my Wap phone? No.32

Flippin' prefixes. Well, stop worrying about electronic and mobile commerce and welcome positioning-based commerce (catchy). Apparently, this is where your Wap phone knows where you are and feeds you information directly specific to your location. Now this idea fits into what can be called three-level thinking: First thought …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:47
Yahoo! sued for privacy invasion

Users get the best privacy money can buy

Only days after Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang signed on to a NetCoalition privacy scheme with a group of e-CEOs calling for "robust, visible and comprehensive" on-line privacy policies, a Yahoo! user filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that his privacy had been severely compromised. The lawsuit, filed with the US …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:47
'America's Most Wanted' site said DoS'ed after cyber-crime broadcast

Everyone's a critic

America's Most Wanted host John Walsh urged his viewers on Saturday night to help "take down" those responsible for the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks which briefly crippled numerous high-profile Web sites back in February. The low-brow crime-busters show from Fox Television draws a large audience with its …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:47
Eckhard Pfeiffer goes under QXL hammer

Auction sites link up for European domination

UK online auctioneer QXL has agreed to buy Eckhard Pfeiffer's latest venture, Ricardo.de, for 668 million in stock. Shareholders in the German company will get 42.6 QXL shares for every Ricardo share. Based on QXL's closing share price yesterday of 180 pence, the offer values each Ricardo share at around 27 per cent over its …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:47
Intel to drop prices on non-existent boxed chips

The non-event happens at the end of May

Chip giant Intel, still reeling from the effect of supplying over a million defective 820 chipsets to its customers, is rallying slightly by dropping prices on its 1GHz processor and a range of other chips no-one can get. Despite the fact that a previous document sent to its channel partners notified them that boxed …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
Cape Cod not cold in its grave, but that doesn't stop new Intel mobo launch

Great timing, guys

Even considering Chipzilla's legendary insensitivity to public opinion, you'd have thought someone at the compnay would have noticed that this week is probably not the most apposite time to be introducing a new motherboard. Even as truckloads of dead Cape Cods arrive back at Satan Clara, Intel is shamelessly pushing its latest …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
ACLU: Intel ‘violating free speech’

That man Hamidi back to haunt Chipzilla again

The American Civil Liberties Union is, according to NewsBytes, backing former Intel employee Kourosh Hamidi who was ordered to stop criticising Intel in internal emails. In a case of email as free speech, the ACLU has filed an Amici Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief in an appeal pending in the lawsuit brought against by Intel …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
Digital TV ‘threat to planet’

Yippee, we're all gonna die!

Learned researchers from one the UK's most respected universities have put their name to an absurd claim that digital TV set top boxes (STBs) are a major threat to global warming. Boffins from Oxford University say that because STBs are switched on all the time, they 'greatly add' to the amount of pollution caused and that the …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
Microsoft to patch Outlook

Fewer options, but it's still about empowerment

Micro$oft bit the bullet Monday and announced plans to develop a patch for its popular Outlook e-mail client which will save users from themselves by blocking those file types most likely to contain malicious code. Many have criticised the company for making products vulnerable to worm viruses like Melissa and the recent Love …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
Pope Jobs reveals third Macintosh secret

September OS X deadline falls under hail of gunfire

Carrot-munching ascetic Steve Jobs refused to throw any red meat to developers in his keynote to Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose. Mac OS X will be "available for installation" in January, said Jobs, a slippage of three or six months depending on which prediction you want to make your starting point. A public …

Business 16 May 2000, 10:48
E3 shows AMD, Intel games without frontiers

Booth babes maybe, but AMD's in the trailer park

Los Angeles, California was again the location of this year's E3 - the world's largest computer gaming convention, which draws attendees and exhibitors from all over the world. E3 is quite an odd mix of games, hardware, gamers and booth babes, but the combination must be enticing as, once again, the show packed the LA …

Business 16 May 2000, 11:03
Caminogate recall: refund or replacement?

Tricky decision - not

Intel has clarified its stance on the CC820 mobo recall programme. On its Web site here the company states: "If you are using a system with an Intel CC820 Desktop Board installed and you would like a refund or replacement for the Intel CC820 Desktop Board, please contact your place of purchase for information. The refund is the …

Business 16 May 2000, 12:16
AOL to pay $3.5 million over accounting irregularities

Profits should really have been losses after all

AOL is to pay $3.5 million to settle federal charges against it regarding allegations of serious errors in its accounts. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claimed the ISP had improperly accounted for certain advertising costs in the mid-90s, and put them down as assets. AOL's debatable accounting method counted its …

Business 16 May 2000, 13:00
Windows developer update – APIs are MS confidential IP

MS on Trial Ominous backtracking from Ballmer?

Steve Ballmer has become the latest Microsoft exec to make his bid in the MS doomwatch stakes. Writing in this week's issue of Newsweek Ballmer predicts that if the US government gets its way, less innovation, higher prices the undermining of "the future success of America's high-tech industry" will ensue. But come on Steve, …

Business 16 May 2000, 13:00
Office 2k for $5? How Microsoft buys its way into education

Hook them with a cheap ELA, get them standardised, reel them in...

After some spadework, we're starting to get a clearer picture of Microsoft's deal-making with US educational institutions. As we reported earlier this week, the business end of the deal from the student's point of view is that you get a copy of Office 2000 for $10, but there are various different permutations in operation that' …

Business 16 May 2000, 14:34
Government gets WIFfy in the midday sun

Phew what a scorcher

Wired Prime Minster Tony Blair has given his personal backing to a global talking shop designed to bring people together to discuss the issues facing the development of the Net. Mr Blair wasn't present at today's briefing at the London Eye which confirmed that HSBC, Network Appliance and British Airways were among a number of …

Business 16 May 2000, 14:34
CompuServe users fall through big hole in Net

Outage puts service out of action in Europe

CompuServe customers across Europe were left without Net access this morning after the ISP suffered technical problems. The scale of the problem is not known. Nor is it known at this stage how many people were affected, although the company did say it would issue further details when they became available. The problem first …

Business 16 May 2000, 15:42
LineOne's Chowdhury resurfaces at NBCi

You can't keep a good man down - nor a Jethro Tull fan

Ajay Chowdhury - who stepped down as head of LineOne last week - has resurfaced. The Jethro Tull fan (although, privately, he has expressed his dissatisfaction with Tull's most recent album, Dot Com) is to head-up NBCInternet's yet-to-be-launched European business. As the president and CEO of NBCi Europe, Chowdhury will help …

Business 16 May 2000, 15:42