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20th June 2000 Archive

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  • Intel notebook demos '100% Transmeta compatible'

    Analysis Volt farce on the mobile spin front

    Intel used its mobile chip launch this week to allay fears of incompatibilities between Transmeta presentations and its own demonstrations of mobile Notebook chips. Previously, spin engineers had encountered technical difficulties in the demanding science of reproducing Transmeta publicity point-by-point. But The Register was …

    Channel 20 Jun 2000, 07:17

  • Cybercrime scares Americans

    Self-serving survey claims

    Two thirds of Americans - that must be, oh, around 180 million people - feel threatened, or are concerned, by cybercrime. And more than 60 per cent reckon that Internet consumers are not protected enough from cybercrime, and around the same number say they are less likely to do business on the Internet as a result of cybercrime …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 07:35

  • Boss is jumping beenz

    OK, so we did this one for the headline

    Philip Letts, chairman, chief executive and president of beenz is leaving the company that he helped found. It all sounds amicable enough - if rather sudden - from the positively gushing press release announcing his resignation from the virtual currency company, with pat-on-the back quotes from Letts and the people he is …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 08:02

  • VNU to shell out £15m for ZD Euro paper biz

    And no, you can't have a job

    After a good few weeks of wrangling it looks as though Dutch publisher VNU has been told £15m is a fair price for Ziff Davis' European paper mags. So that's what it has got to pay. The figure was settled on after a spot of arbitration following due diligence. VNU has been dying to get into the German market, where it is titchy …

    Bootnotes 20 Jun 2000, 09:12

  • Proxim buys Farallon for Mac expertise

    Drives into budget networking

    Proxim, the acquisitive wireless networking specialist, has bought small LAN veteran Farallon for $14 million, all but $4 million of it in shares. Best known as a supplier of Mac products - even though it has always sold to the PC market too - Farallon's Mac expertise is what interested Proxim. Picking up Farallon's product …

    Data Networking 20 Jun 2000, 09:17

  • Windows ME in the shops 14 September

    It's RTM time, folks

    Son of Windows 98, Windows Me, has been released to manufacturing. Punters will be able to buy retail versions on Thursday, 14 September. Pricing will be the same as for Windows 98: £139 for the full product and £79 for a version upgrade. ®

    Software 20 Jun 2000, 10:23

  • Intel .13 micron fab online next year

    Barrett rides into town to cut the tape

    Intel is spending $2 billion to build a new wafer fabrication facility in Leixlip, Ireland. Fab 24 will include 135,000 square feet of cleanroom in a total of more than a million square feet of space. The fab will build products on the 0.13 micron process. Construction will begin immediately with first production expected in …

    Channel 20 Jun 2000, 10:44

  • AOL's Steve Case shafted in penis hoax

    Someone's pulling your plonker

    AOL has launched an urgent investigation into why people are receiving spoof emails allegedly sent from its CEO, Steve Case. Two emails have been discovered by The Register so far. One claims to include details about an "upgrade to fix all the bugs in your version of AOL". The other advises that "penis enlargement and …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 11:07

  • Windows ME goes gold – in shops 14 September

    And no free upgrades this time around folks, apparently...

    Windows Millennium Edition (ME) was officially released to manufacturing on Monday, Microsoft announced yesterday; the new, latest, last version of Win 9x will be rolled out on 14 September, at which point it will be available in the shops and preinstalled on machines. Given the usual six to eight weeks lead time PC OEMs need …

    Software 20 Jun 2000, 11:33

  • ZDNet is castrated

    Well, admits to having no balls

    Limp IT news outfit - ZDnet - has admitted it doesn't have any balls, according to top columnist Jane Wakefiled. In her latest column Jane Wakefield: You've Got Mail the author blames email for bastardising the English language and even describes herself as an "email snob". However, the admission that ZDNet is gutless comes …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 11:48

  • Compaq owed $94 million by Inacom

    Told: 'Get in line with everyone else'

    Compaq yesterday said it was owed $94 million by Inacom - the US distributor that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. Compaq claims Inacom has been withholding payments for computers and services since the PC manufacturer bought Inacom's distribution business in February, today's Wall Street Journal reports. …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 11:55

  • LinuxPPC launches latest Netscape fix

    Communicator 4.7.3 resolves numerous bugs, security issues

    LinuxPPC has released the latest version of Netscape Communicator for the open source OS running on PowerPC-based computers. Netscape Communicator 4.7.3 rolls in a stack of major bug fixes and resolves a number of security issues that emerged in previous releases, primarily involving the browser's use of cookies and SSL. …

    Software 20 Jun 2000, 12:03

  • IBM takes Microdrive to 1GB

    And it comes with rubber safety bumpers

    IBM has boosted its Microdrive line to include a one gig drive. In the storage per square inch stakes, the Microdrive ranks in top ten per cent of all IBM's storage products. It will sell for around $500. The matchbook sized drive is destined for the digital camera market which will for about a third of shipments. A similar …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 12:03

  • Intel's Barrett predicts PC shortages for 18 months

    Stockholm Bad forecasting and low investment to blame

    The CEO of Intel, Craig Barrett, has predicted continuing worldwide PC shortages for the next 12 to 18 months. "The cause of the shortages is due to under-investment in 1996 and 1997. Inaccurate forecasting added to the problem. The only cure is to make more capital investment," he said. Barrett claims the PC drought is the …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 12:06

  • ZDNet in castration shock

    Having no balls explains a lot

    Limp IT news outfit - ZDNet - has admitted it doesn't have any balls, according to top columnist Jane Wakefiled. In her latest column Jane Wakefield: You've Got Mail the author blames email for bastardising the English language and even describes herself as an "email snob". However, the admission that ZDNet is gutless comes …

    Bootnotes 20 Jun 2000, 12:07

  • Kozmo.com delays IPO

    And other cyber news

    US online convenience store Kozmo.com has postponed its flotation until market conditions improve. The New York company, which filed for the IPO in March, had hoped to take the company public by this month, sources told CNET. The company is now understood to be looking at a September IPO. Kozmo has also run into trouble over a …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 12:11

  • I've got a Willamette at home

    My brother in law gave it to me, honest

    For those readers who like that sort of thing, Hardware Central has posted some pictures reputed to be of an early sample Willamette. The pictures are of the usual electronic quality - ie. complete crap - but that didn't put off our resident semiconductor sleuth from poring over them with a magnifying glass. The conclusion he …

    Channel 20 Jun 2000, 13:07

  • BT invented hyperlinks shock

    The backlash begins

    BT's announcement that it invented the principle behind the hyperlink has receiving mocking condemnation from a number of Register readers. "Ted Nelson might have a few things to say to BT about this..." wrote Mark Allerton pointing to the Professorial Home Page of Ted Nelson, Project Professor, Keio Shonan Fujisawa Campus, …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 14:22

  • Got an Intel i815E? Use the AGP slot

    More reviews from planet hardware

    Bit of a mixed bag out there today. in Hardware Land. Lots of little titbits to check out, and a beginner's guide to Benchmarking. Sharky takes a look at the new i815E chipset from Intel. While generally scoring well, the performance suffers terribly with onboard video in particular in content creation. Sharky advises people to …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 14:46

  • AOL to sell set-top boxes

    Webco's iTV plan sucks in subscribers via the hardware

    AOL is to flog set-top boxes so that couch potatoes can use the Net while watching TV. The service will only be available in a few areas, including Phoenix, Sacramento and Baltimore to begin with, but the giant Internet/media company hopes AOLTV will be a hit with mass-market consumers. The interactive TV will carry features …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 15:12

  • Chinese cybercafes dubbed ‘electronic heroin’

    45 shut down

    Chinese officials have launched a fresh crackdown on cybercafes after a regulation banned them from operating within 200 metres of schools. Police in Xiamen, in China's Fujian province, have shut down 45 Internet cafes in the city, the South China Morning Post reported. Chinese kids were turning some of the establishments into …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 16:35

  • Eidos confirms takeover talks

    Lara Croft could fall into French hands

    Eidos, publisher of the Tomb Raider computer game series starring the pneumatic Lara Croft, saw its share price soar today after confirming it was in takeover talks. "The company is currently in the early stages of discussions which may or may not lead to an offer for the whole of the issued share capital of Eidos," it said in …

    Business 20 Jun 2000, 17:09

  • Bluetooth danger to world nuclear balance

    Intel in urgent talks with French

    A visit to Intel's wireless communication centre here in Stockholm today revealed that the designers have not quite got worldwide agreement on frequencies. According to an Intel boffin at the site this morning, his company and the Bluetush SIG are currently conducting intense negotiations with the French government. He said …

    Bootnotes 20 Jun 2000, 17:12

  • Missing hard drives reappear under FBI's nose

    Just when you thought the cavalry had it under control...

    Two hard disk drives containing secret information on nuclear weapons, which disappeared from a secure area in the Los Alamos National Laboratory, were found behind a photocopier days after the area was searched, making it all but certain that they were replaced under the noses of FBI investigators. The FBI's Computer Analysis …

    Music and Media 20 Jun 2000, 17:42

  • Overcharging for Windows: how MS may beat the rap

    There's evidence, but it's not clear if anyone will mount the killer lawsuit

    This week Microsoft scored its second victory against a class action claiming it overcharged for Windows, when a Nevada judge granted the company's motion to throw out the case. This follows on from an Oregon ruling last week, where the judge rejected the claim on the basis that consumers could only sue if they'd bought directly …

    Software 20 Jun 2000, 18:06

  • Judge points MS case straight at Supremes

    MS on Trial Vandellas snubbed again...

    Riding over Microsoft's objections, Judge Jackson has decided to send the appeal in the antitrust case direct to the Supreme Court. Earlier in the case the judge had indicated he felt it would make sense for the inevitable appeal to go straight to the highest authority, but Microsoft has been wriggling, and the appeal court has …

    Software 20 Jun 2000, 21:23