28th June 2000 Archive
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Judge refuses to rule on Mitnick's probation status
Catch-22: Probation officer had asked for guidance
US District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer has refused to step between Kevin Mitnick and his probation officer, who has denied the legendary phreaker's request to take a job writing a column for "Contentville," an e-zine scheduled for rollout next month. Mitnick is forbidden to use mobile phones or computers, or work in a computing- …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 02:16
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ZDNet hack-contest server disabled
Some kids just can't play nice
ZDNet's eWeek has announced a capture-the-flag challenge to crackers called Openhack, inviting all comers to compromise a system set up for demonstration purposes and win cash prizes "ranging from $500 for defacing the Web server to $1500 for compromising the e-mail server, to $2500 for cracking into the database server," the …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 03:20
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PR flunkeys make hacks look like monkeys
Miller Freeman puts foot in mouth
Miller Freeman's PR Audit unit yesterday had the nerve to distribute a leaflet at the Networks Show in Birmingham, and in the press office itself, advertising a guide to UK journalists called Know Your Journalists. The guide, which costs a whopping £725, is a quarterly number which in the words of the flacks will allow you to " …
Bootnotes 28 Jun 2000, 07:34
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Lucent Avaya ‘formed of letters that fit together and enhance one another’
Made-up name for Enterprise Networking division
"You will not find this name in the dictionary," said Donald Peterson, Lucent chief executive. "It is up to us to fill it with meaning." The name is 'Avaya' pronounced uhv-EYE-uh, a made-up word for Lucent's loss-making enterprise networking division, which is in the process of being hived off as a separate company. …
Data Networking 28 Jun 2000, 07:47
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Via gives DDR ringing endorsement
Hey, Rambus, are you listening?
Unswayed by the decision by Toshiba and Hitachi last week to license Rambus patents for double data rate (DDR) and SDRAM, plucky chipset firm Via has waded in by saying it offers its unequivocal support for these memory types as the industry standard. In a press statement just released from Taipei, the firm took the somewhat …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 07:48
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NSA memos suggest ECHELON exists
Not quite a smoking gun, but close enough
Two confidential and one secret memo from the US National Security Agency (NSA) recently obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) imply that the Agency does gather an enormous amount of data, an observation which in turn suggests that the global surveillance network known as ECHELON really does exist. The …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 08:26
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DoubleClick, referral URLs and why The Reg is wrong
Company exercises right to reply
Recently we wrote a story about Web form 'leakage', under the headline Another day, another Doubleclick privacy PR disaster. DoubleClick thought the piece was inaccurate and harsh, particularly because it was singled out for "an Internet problem" - the leakage of personal information through referral URLs. We offered the …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 08:49
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Cisco routers vulnerable to easy attack
Infrastructure protection begins at home
Networking behemoth Cisco has issued an advisory explaining that certain security scanning utilities can cause its routers to crash. Repeated exploitation of the defect can result in sustained denials of service, meaning that the scanners can conveniently be used to attack a system. "A defect in multiple Cisco IOS [Internet …
Data Networking 28 Jun 2000, 08:51
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Sony Palm-based PDA debuts on Web
French site scoops pics
Sony's upcoming Palm-based PDA, due to be demo'd at PC Expo this week, has also made an appearance on the Web, over at French language site PDA France. As per the sneak preview Sony granted to the Wall Street Journal, the unnamed PDA is kitted out in standard Vaio colours but in all other respects is recognisably a Palm-style …
Business 28 Jun 2000, 10:04
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Dell signs up for .NET with MSN-Dellnet deal
This is how we integrate our hardware friends, folks...
Microsoft announced its first major partner for .NET yesterday - because if you think about it even for just a couple of minutes, Dellnet is .NET. And as it will be shipping in the US from this fall, it's clear that the transition to .NET is going to be rather more seamless than we might have envisaged. Dellnet from MSN is at …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 10:10
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Palm to bring wireless Net to its PDAs
Well, sort of... you'll still need cables, etc.
Palm yesterday filled out the detailed of its earlier promise to equip all of its handelds with wireless Net access by the end of the year. The Palm Mobile Internet Kit essentially loads any Palm device with the software that already ships with the Palm VII. The Kit will contain drivers for Palm's Web clipping system, which …
Business 28 Jun 2000, 10:27
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3Com restructure zaps Q4 profits, sales
And it won't be back in the black before this time next year
Comms giant 3Com yesterday saw its sales plummet and profitability go out of the window thanks to the company's major reorganisation following its exit from the high-end router and low-end modem markets. The company also warned that its return to profitability won't happen as soon as it had previously predicted. Don't expect …
Business 28 Jun 2000, 11:02
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Infineon predicts Q3 profit surge
Dramurai rakes it in thanks to massive memory demend
Euro chip company and Siemens spin-off Infineon yesterday predicted a "significant" rise in its Q3 income, pushing its profits for the quarter way above the E300 million ($281 million) it had been expecting. The company cited increased demand for memory chips and the rise in prices that that demand has generated as the key …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 11:23
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Spying on MS – yes, it's the Man from Oracle
Company bravely admits funding Trashgate nonsense
Oracle says that it hired Investigative Group International to spy on Microsoft-funded support groups like the National Taxpayers Union, the Independent Institute (not so independent, after all), and the Association for Competitive Technology. Since it was clear enough that these outfits were toeing a particularly pro-Microsoft …
Software 28 Jun 2000, 11:26
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Yell pell mell for IPO
Yah boo sucks to dotcom moaning minnies, shouts relaunched e-commerce portal
Yell.com, BT's international directories and ecommerce business, is displaying all the vital signs of a company getting ready to float. In April, BT's head man, Sir Peter Bonfield, announced that Yell.com would be prepared for an IPO later in the year. And gawd bless 'im, 'e wuz right. So Yell.com, part of BT's Yellow Pages …
Business 28 Jun 2000, 11:36
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BT delays ADSL yet again, again
Guess who else's fault it is this time?
It's depressing to think how many times we have written this headline but BT has done it again. ADSL will now be available in August - or maybe in September - but most likely whenever competitors threaten to impinge on the lazy giant's territory. Oh, and this time it's the fault of the ISPs... for failing to provide enough …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 11:55
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Transmeta signs stack of notebook suppliers
Big Crusoe design wins reveal Taiwanese connection
Transmeta CEO Dave Ditzel yesterday told the PC Expo crowd about a heap of design wins for the chip company's x86-emulating, low power consuming Crusoe CPU. Computer makers who have apparently backed Transmeta include Fujitsu, NEC and Hitachi, and Ditzel also confirmed earlier reports that IBM will be using Crusoe in an …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 12:11
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AltaVista begins 48-hour countdown to ISP launch
'All-you-can-eat' Net access service to go live Friday
The countdown to the launch of AltaVista's all-you-can-eat Net access service has begun. In less than 48 hours the most hyped yet-to-be-launched ISP in Britain will finally flick the switch and open for business. Oh, the suspense. It's been four months, don't you know, since AltaVista first made its announcement. Frankly, the …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 12:16
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Cybersquatting, the Procter & Gamble way
There be one rule for the rich and one for t' poor, I tell yer
Procter & Gamble has announced it is selling off nearly 100 domain names that it has no plans for. The monster company's huge number of recognised brand names - including Pringles, Pantene, Ariel and Crest - will of course not be available, but there are some real gems here, including flu.com, beautiful.com, romantic.com, scent …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 12:58
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AOL instant message block is for ‘security reasons’
We love IM interoperability, but not yet, says Pinocchio...
AOL has told federal regulators investigating its virtual monopoly in instant messaging that the reason it won't let competing systems interact with it is because of security concerns. AOL has told the FCC that it supports the idea of different systems working together but only when privacy and security issues have been sorted …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 14:29
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Microsoft low-cost MSN appliance out in Q3
CE-based, and built by eMachines
Microsoft's dedicated MSN access device, the much demoed MSN Web Companion, is to be built by low-price PC vendor eMachines, and will go onto the market in the third quarter of this year (we think they mean September rather than Saturday). It'll be priced "well below traditional PCs," and will be based on the CE operating system …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 15:07
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Give us your poor, your huddled masses…
And we'll get them set up with the Post Office
Trade secretary Stephen Byers today told of a new Post Office Bill that will change the grubby little boxes into beacons of the Internet age. He listed the three main aims of the bill as: Establishing a universal bank Quoting a figure of 3.5 million people without a bank account in the UK, post offices will act as a bank, …
Music and Media 28 Jun 2000, 15:45
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Transmeta grows Crusoe line-up
Updated Three more low-power, x86-compatible CPUs coming soon
Transmeta yesterday unveiled the extension of its Crusoe family of CPUs with three new varities of the low-power, x86-emulatin' chip. The current Crusoe line-up comprises the 5400, a high clock-speed chip for the Windows notebook market, and the 3200, aimed at portable Internet access devices. The 5400 is to be joined by the …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 15:48
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Kids shun Martha Lane Fox
They don't know what they're missing
Kids might be turned on by computers, games and the Internet but they have little or no interest in getting a job with a dotcom when they grow up. That was the sad and sorry conclusion of a careers briefing delivered by Martha Lane Fox, co-founder of lastminute.com, Neil Sansom, marketing director of Freeserve and Sortis …
Business 28 Jun 2000, 15:48
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Willamette goes to market as Pentium 4
Branding. It's what you do to a cow
Intel is to flog Willamette desktop CPUs under the Pentium 4 name tag. Not altogether surprising, when you consider the gazillions Intel has pumped into Pentium branding. Willamettes are set to ship this year, sometime after June. We have more pictures to publish - watch this space... ®
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 16:17
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BBC, Slashdot mashed by spud pranksters
P-p-p-p-potato power... NOT!
Everyone is ultimately gullible - it's just the degree of detail that separates us. However, when a bunch of pranksters claimed to be running a Web server from a dozen potatoes, you'd think the alarm bells would start ringing. It may be unsurprising that Slashdot bought the bait and ran its Potato-powered Web server story. It …
Letters 28 Jun 2000, 16:29
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Nokia licenses RealPlayer for video-capable cellphones
More great daft ideas of our time...
We've heard of cellphones that allow their users to listen to MP3 tracks, but streamed video too? That's what Nokia and RealNetworks have in mind. The pair today said they would develop a version of RealPlayer that will run on Nokia's EPOC-based next-generation smartphones. That's right, EPOC. So presumably we can also look …
Data Networking 28 Jun 2000, 16:41
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Sacked Intel geek wreaks terrible revenge
Chip shortages all down to one disaffected geezer?
Should you, dear reader, be unceremoniously fired from your comfy job for life, would you feel any animosity to your former employer? Of course you would. So when Paul Barton heard the grim reaper tolling the death knell "could you just step into my office, Paul?" thoughts of revenge swam unbidden into his mind. Paul Douglas …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 19:43
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AMD blows Intel into the mobile weeds
PowerNow streets ahead of SpeedStep
Lawks, as my old mum used to say. The imitators are taking over the asylum. AMD's PowerNow technology is so far ahead of Chipzilla's Geezerville/Speedstep concept as to make Intel look very second rate indeed. Much was made of Intel's SpeedStep concept when it bounded onto the mobile stage. Indeed it was pretty cool, allowing …
Channel 28 Jun 2000, 19:43
