23rd June 2000 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Kiddie smut law shot down again

Janet Reno's frustration mounts

The Third US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia let stand a lower court decision which found the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) so broad that it could affect virtually any Web site, requiring only that some prosecutor somewhere find some bit of content potentially "harmful to minors". The suit against the COPA was …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 04:30
MS and DoJ agree schedule for Supreme Court

MS on Trial That takes care of the summer then...

The DoJ and Microsoft agreed a briefing schedule yesterday, and proposed it to the clerk of the Supreme Court in a letter from Seth Waxman, the DoJ's solicitor general, who will head up the case there. Microsoft would file on 26 July, the DoJ reply would be by 15 August, and if Microsoft chose to reply, it would be by 22 August …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 07:40
Does MS get the net, or is it building its own again?

Analysis The .NET project is a big pile of stuff, but where the structural beef?

Despite the extra preparation time provided by delays, Microsoft was still generating more heat than light at its great Next Generation Windows .NET announcement. The speakers were Messrs Gates, Ballmer, Maritz, Muglia and Belluzzo (no Allchin, as he's having a long holiday). Microsoft's press team must have been in overdrive, …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 07:47
Hitachi capitulates to Rambus

Dramurai raise white flag: 'we surrender'

Semiconductor firm Hitachi signed a deal with Rambus ending litigation between the companies and agreeing to pay royalties on synchronous memories and double data rate (DDR) memories. Hitachi will pay Rambus a settlement fee and royalty payments for both RDRAM and any DDR or SDRAMs it chooses to manufacture. And Rambus said it …

Channel 23 Jun 2000, 08:16
Compaq to create 0.13 micron Intel killer

Alpha sixpence is better than Alpha penny

Fears that Compaq will ditch the Alpha processor appear to have been scotched with sources claiming the firm will produce the 64-bit processor using a 0.13 micron process and target it at Intel IA-64 processors. But at the same time, the move to IBM copper technology seems to have thrown something of a spanner into Compaq's …

Channel 23 Jun 2000, 09:32
Handspring grabs quarter of US PDA market

Updated Palm Platform dominates retail sales with 92 per cent marketshare

PalmOS licensee Handspring, which successfully IPO'd earlier this week, grabbed the number two slot in the US PDA retail marketshare chart, according to figures for May just released by market researcher NPD Intelect. April marked Handspring's debut in the retail channel after setting up its - initially rather shaky, it has to …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 09:35
Kenwood boffins crack MP3 quality block

Technology gives your MP3s true CD quality

Scientists at Japanese consumer electronics giant Kenwood have figured out how to make compressed digital music files like MP3s sound as good as the CDs they were ripped from. The technology, codenamed Supreme Drive, attempts to replace the high frequency sound signals usually lost when music is first converted into digital …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 09:53
Windows ME gold code available for free

All over the Net like a rash, apparently

Windows Millennium Edition was released to manufacture earlier this week for September shipment to users, but if you just can't wait, the gold code is available for FTP download from a number of sites, according to Register sources. We haven't downloaded the OS ourselves, (not least because it's a whopper, and we'll have a …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 10:23
Brits big on net porn and gambling

We love the Dotcum revolution

Britain is an e-nation of porn addicts and gamblers, according to the latest research from wired watchers, NetValue. More than a third of all Netizens in Britain - some 3.6 million people - visit adult Web sites and 40 per cent of the top 6,000 sites are X-rated. No real surprises there, but then again, who would wager against …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 10:38
BT to sell off Openworld

Oh, yes it is... Oh, no it's not... Oh, yes it is... Oh, just shut up will ya

BT has played down reports it is considering to float its broadband operation - BT Openworld - and embark on a round of costly media content acquisitions. Marc Deschamps, BT Openworld's COO, told Reuters that BT would probably float Openworld and that the telco would consider buying content providers. Deschamps is reported to …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 10:40
ATI stock tumbles on earnings fears

It's not going to get any better any time soon

ATI's shares fell 16 per cent on the Canadian stock exchange yesterday on investor fears that the 3D graphics market leader is going to see a significant shortfall in earnings. ATI's shares closed at C$13 ($8.80) after hitting a low of C$12 ($8.16), just 20 cents above its year-low of C$11.80. ATI stock also trades on Nasdaq, …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 10:56
How much should I charge Intel?

PC Clinic The bad Dr Spinola answers your questions

Every fortnight or so, Dr Spinola gives you sound advice about problems you have with your PC. This time round, he covers technical support, infra-red technology, blackmail, problems associated with Microsoft Fright Stimulator, and the amount of "cash" you need on a "chip". Q Dear Doc, I recently found myself in a Scandinavian …

Bootnotes 23 Jun 2000, 11:13
Napster tries to talk its way out of RIAA suit

VC backer urging out-of-court settlement with music biz

Napster is busily engaged in lawsuit settlement negotiations with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), according to talks participants cited by the Wall Street Journal. Surprise, surprise. Napster really can't afford to be taken to the cleaners by the world's major recording companies. While it once might have …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 11:25
Live online orgy promised

Brit voyeurs chomping at the bit

Porn voyeurs are in for a treat next month, with the promise of a record-breaking online orgy. A Californian pornographer is planning to Webcast a "copulation marathon", MSNBC.com reports. The antics will revolve around five ladies, who aim to break the world record of having sex with 620 consecutive partners. The shagathon is …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 12:09
Lastminute denies user collapse

And other Dotcom doings

Lastminute.com is contesting research figures that show a collapse in user numbers. Internet analysts Netvalue reckon the number of people visiting lastminute's travel site dropped from 668,000 in April to 485,100 in May. Maybe users are getting wise to the site having a misleading name and that it just sells expensive holidays …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 12:44
Ballmer on Whistler, UIs, services and Windows.NET

More clues as to what the next generation will be about

Microsoft's big .NET presentation this week didn't get too specific about next year's first Windows implementation, confining itself to describing it as "the next generation of Windows" while implying that it would be built on Whistler. But company president Steve Ballmer, who's been doing interviews again, was maybe a little …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 12:52
Technical problems hit RedHotAnt

Not our fault, guv, honest

Kent-based, RedHotAnt, has not been squished despite concerns from users that they hadn't heard a peep from the ISP for the last couple of days. Reports from frustrated users suggested that the whole service - including RedHotAnt's Web site, email service and technical support - had gone belly up. Fears that the company behind …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 13:32
Iacobucci out in Citrix top level reorg

Fallout from profits warning spreads widely

Citrix founder and wise old friend of The Register Ed Iacobucci has been axed as part of a management shake-up that also downgraded company veteran and CEO Mark Templeton, and removed Michael Brown from the board. Templeton remains as president, while former CEO and long-term company backer Roger Roberts moves in as chairman, …

Software 23 Jun 2000, 14:22
Barrett: 'Microsoft breakup won't affect the industry'

Et tu, brute?

Obviously demob happy at the prospect of a spot of fishing in the Russian countryside, Intel CEO Craig Barrett was in relaxed mode with hacks in Moscow earlier today, accidentally stabbing Microsoft in the back in the process. "I don't think there will be a big impact to the industry if Microsoft is split up according to the …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 14:23
Inkjet printed LEDs, anyone?

Plastic Surgery From CDT's New-Look Management

CDT seems to have put its management wobbles behind it and come up with a rather clever idea to print light emitting diodes using an inkjet printer. The Cambridge company develops light emitting polymers - electronic plastics that glow. Yesterday it achieved a double first by developing a 2.5-square-inch full-colour ink-jet …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 14:35
DRAM 64Mb chips to hit $10 by year end

Korea ups export forecast

Prices for 64Mb DRAM chips are set to hit $9 or $10 by the second half of this year, The Korea Times reports. The Korean Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy cited supply shortages as the prime reason behind the steady increase in memory cost, and said the drought looked likely to last until the end of the year. The …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 14:45
3dfx ‘frustrated’ by revenue shortfall

Margins hammered by component shortages - and Voodoo 4/5 delays...

A frustrated Alex Leupp, CEO of 3dfx, has been forced to admit that his company isn't going to meet revenue expectations when it posts its Q2 fiscal 2001 results shortly. The company blames a shortage of components, though we'd add the degree to which it has been cutting the prices of its Voodoo 2 and 3 boards, and the fact it …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 14:46
Oh to be a Modern Urbanist

Any resemblance to Register journalists is at best fictional, at worst, miles wide of the mark

This is a press release issued by breathe dated June 7. A DAY IN THE LIFE OF 26 YEAR OLD JOURNALIST JAMIE EVANS It's amazing what happens when you breathe. It's Autumn 2000. Jamie is a 26-year old journalist. He works for one of Europe's top business titles based in London. He's been with the publication for 18 months and is …

Letters 23 Jun 2000, 14:50
Neuro boffins mimic brain action

Get your spanner head on to read this

A breakthrough in electronic engineering could revolutionise computing, and lead to radical improvements in hardware designed to aid the deaf and blind. Researchers at MIT and Lucent Technologies have created an electronic circuit which mimics the biological circuitry in the cerebral cortex. "Neuroscientists have found that …

Channel 23 Jun 2000, 15:08
breathe suffers asthma attack

Warning: story can only be read by Modern Urbanists

breathe - the style-conscious ISP - has run out of puff. After jumping on the all-you-can-eat-unmetered-Net-access bandwagon in March the ISP has now pulled the offer. As of June 16, breathe no longer offers unmetered Net access for £50. The reason, it seems, is that breathe now has attracted 50,000 users, each of whom was …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 15:15
Trading Standards check out RedHotAnt

Hey, what's 50 complaints among friends

Kent County Council has received "40 or 50 complaints" about RedHotAnt, Kent County Council Trading Standards said today. Rob Davies, a spokesman for Trading Standards, said the complaints had been received over the last couple of months. He also confirmed that officers have visited the ISP at its Hythe offices on at least one …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 16:01
AMD Zone takes punt on AMD roadmap

Plus reviews a gogo

The AMD roadmap stretching to Q1 2001 is currently on the front page of AMD Zone. Duron 750 by Q4 followed by the Duron 800 in Q1 2001 unless Intel makes things change. While you're mulling that over, pop into UK Gamer and check out how to overclock your existing Athlon. Where? Here. Okay, getting away from AMD. Penstar …

Business 23 Jun 2000, 16:01
NTL – another router falls over

More trouble from the land of tamed technology

Following yesterday's story about NTL's router service, we have had a number of emails from frustrated NTL users. According to readers, no sooner was the GW1 router was up and running (or limping according to some of the more unfortunate subscribers), the GW2 linx router toppled over. One disgruntled NTL user asked: "... the …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 16:29
Readers' Letters Mad Maggie, Mad Mikey, Mad readers

It's a kinda psychiatric special. But then what is sane, man?

Sorry there hasn't been any letters Round-Up for two weeks but Your Right Honourable Letters Ed (that's me) has been otherwise occupied in a different part of Europe and no one was foolish enough to sort through the muck to find the reader gems. Quite right too. Another downside is that now there are an inexcusable number of …

Letters 23 Jun 2000, 16:56
AT&T wins broadband access appeal, sort of

On to Washington

The battle between Portland, Oregon and communications behemoth AT&T has been shifted to federal turf, as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that local jurisdictions do not have authority to force cable companies to share telecommunication lines with local ISPs. The appeal follows a Portland City Council …

Music and Media 23 Jun 2000, 21:03