10th July 2000 Archive

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Notebook PCs a liability – Compaq

Business under threat from PC insecurity

A survey conducted on Compaq's behalf by MORI has concluded that business is under threat because of the lack of notebook security. MORI surveyed over 2000 businesses in the UK on Q's behalf and discovered that 60 per cent of employees do not use a password when they log on to a notebook or PC while over 75 per cent do not take …

Business 10 Jul 2000, 07:11
Semi kimonos open: 12 inches revealed

Calling it 300mm sounds boastful

The firms which make the equipment used by semiconductor firms to make silicon chips are predicting a rush to 12in wafer technology worth an estimated $60 billion in investment. That news will be announced at a semiconductor industry silicon fest, Semicon West, with firms including Applied Materials expected to show a line-up …

Channel 10 Jul 2000, 08:19
Israel to make a million 1.7GHz Pentium 4s

Shedloads of Willamettes about to hit the streets - or the big OEMs, at least

Chipzilla has ordered its plant in Israel, Fab 18, to drop everything and produce 5000 Pentium 4 wafers - each containing around 200 little P4s - within six weeks. Sources close to Fab 18 tell The Reg that these chips will be rated at 1.7GHz. Fab 18 is used to dealing with abrupt U-turns. Until March, the plant had been …

Channel 10 Jul 2000, 10:11
Gay London vicar blackmailed by online friend

The Internet will lead you astray every time

A gay London vicar has fled his parish after an online liaison turned into a blackmail attempt. The Reverend Neil Follett, 50, struck up a friendship with a German academic over the Internet. This resulted in the German visiting him at his Victorian vicarage in London's exclusive Knightsbridge district. But the relationship …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 11:05
Back with the WAP

Weekly roundup: things are looking up, I tell you

A week is long time in politics and, it seems, mobile application protocols. We still maintain WAP is crap while also saying it will become popular at some point. How can we be so two-faced? Easy. The current slew of gateways, sites and phones are the equivalent of early Gameboy models. Your WAP phone is a Gameboy, your PC, the …

Data Networking 10 Jul 2000, 11:42
BOFH wants to know: how dangerous are your users?

Episode 24 Quizlings or Quislings?

BOFH 2000 Episode 24 (Quiz no.3) Sure, they look about as likely to rebel as the pack of mindless sheep that they are - but can they be trusted? Are your users reading forbidden literature? Are they trying to climb the technical greasy pole behind your back? How will you know? Can the cattle prod be trusted to solicit …

BOFH 10 Jul 2000, 12:17
Eidos to get £700m offer

And other bubble economy nuggets

Infogrames is understood to have offered a buyout deal for Eidos that values the computer games company at £700 million. The talks are said to have reached the final stages, with the French software group putting forward an all-share deal, making Eidos shares worth between 600p and 700p, according to todays FT. But the FT …

Business 10 Jul 2000, 12:29
Top Secret US plane ‘caused Chinook crash’

The truth is out there

When an RAF Chinook helicopter carrying almost all the senior intelligence officers working in Northern Ireland crashed into the Mull of Kintyre six years ago, pilot error was given as the official explanation of the disaster. Since then, a number of people and especially UK IT mag Computer Weakly have continued to maintain …

Bootnotes 10 Jul 2000, 12:50
Abit KA7 gets more kudos

And meet the new Hexus chiller thriller

If, like me,you've discovered that your computer is limping a little, then the first place you want to check out today is Hexus.com for its system price guide. Staying with the first time system builder looking for a decent board, the mobo-minded at Arstecnica think they have found just the thing. The Abit KA7 has been the …

Hardware Roundup 10 Jul 2000, 13:06
‘Magnificent breasts’ get pulled by content security firm

They're not chicken

Email monitoring is set to be the next cyber cash-cow, according to a report out today. It may sound slightly Big Brotherish, but more and more companies are latching onto the idea of monitoring staff email to stop unwanted or dangerous data from entering or exiting their cyberwalls. IDC has forcasted that the worldwide market …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 13:59
Click here to send an email on your bog-standard phone

You get three goes for free

If you were wondering which hi-tech toy you'd waste five minutes on today, look no further. Now you may know about this already but today was the first we'd heard of it. What are we on about? Sending an email message using your run-of-the-mill, industry-standard mobile phone. All of those that are now writing us an email to …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 15:18
Pentium 4 pricing revealed

And no bus licence for t'others

Sources close to Intel's plans have now revealed the prices for the first two flavours of the up-and-coming Pentium 4, formerly codenamed Willamette. The Pentium 4 running at 1.3GHz will cost $795 when it debuts in September, with its 1.4GHz brother coming in at $895. But Intel will attempt to start its familiar pricing scheme …

Channel 10 Jul 2000, 15:27
Mutant Watch registry hacked, McCarthyite Senator says

Months of snitch-work up in smoke

The Mutant Watch Web site has been attacked by activists bent on destroying its registry, site spokesman and neo-McCarthyite busybody 'Senator Kelly' is reported to have said. "Last night, these cowards hacked through Mutant Watch security. They defaced my personal likeness (which I don't mind) but more importantly, they …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 15:30
Even the government thinks UK police are Web-stupid

New cyber agency to sort out the mess

The government is setting up a new police agency to deal with Internet crime. The hi-tech bobbies will tackle the increasing number of criminals that use the Internet to hide from the law. As we pointed out last week, the UK police haven't got the foggiest when it comes to making Net technology work for them. Criminals who are …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 15:39
EDS chief flies into the arms of Computacenter

UK's top dealership gets a good servicing

Computacenter has nabbed the UK MD of services giant EDS. David Courtley started as services director at the UK reseller giant today. The 43-year-old was reluctant to give more details on what his role at Computacenter would involve, saying he would rather wait until the reseller's PR machine spins into action later this week …

Business 10 Jul 2000, 15:47
TV hunt for e-greedy start ups

£1 million to burn for the people's favourite

The hunt for the next dotcom companies to burn up millions in venture capital, and then keel over and die, starts tonight at 8.00pm GMT. Demonstrating an astonishing sense of timing, Channel 4's programme, The E-Millionaire Show, starts broadcasting tonight, during the heart of the dotcom doldrums (not to mention Eastenders). …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 16:35
Lloyd's of London insures against hacking

Get whacked, get a cheque

Computer security outfit Counterpane Security has begun offering coverage against losses due to malicious hacking, which will be underwritten in part by insurance powerhouse Lloyd's of London. Counterpane claims to be the first to guarantee direct reimbursement if an intruder should make a pudding of its defences. The guarantee …

Music and Media 10 Jul 2000, 16:49
BT: a new dictionary definition?

To do a BT: to delay; to contradict yourself; move slowly

Blimey, BT never fails to amaze. You'd think that after all the trouble it's had in the past four months it would have sorted out its PR. But it would appear that the big dumb giant is confused, saying one thing one day and another the next. The most recent cock-up is its suggested break-up into smaller dumb beasts. One thing …

Data Networking 10 Jul 2000, 17:01
VNU still to buy ZD Euro paper biz

No, you still can't have a job

We know we've told you this already but VNU is going to buy Ziff Davis' European IT magazines so it can become a serious player in the German market. There is still paper work to be signed apparently but the deal's a definite goer. Ziff's UK boss, David Craver, told his troops on Friday that for them the war is now over. …

Bootnotes 10 Jul 2000, 17:38