25th July 2000 Archive

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Sony to outsource notebooks to Taiwan

Or... how brands aren't really brands

The IT powerhouse that is Taiwan is set to pick up elements of the Sony Vaio notebook line at the end of this year, in another coup for manufacturing on the island. Not completely coincidentally, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Mosel Vitelic and Japanese company Sharp are to set up a joint venture in a new science …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 05:51
Evergreen intros FireWire PC card

Updated UK customers get duff deal

Pretty soon now, The Register will be attending the Intel Developer Forum, this time round held not in the desert but in San Jose. At such gigs, as regular readers will be aware, there is an exhibition area where you can spot the latest trends in fans and also stop by the IEEE 1394 booth, where the lads and lasses are usually …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 06:08
Palmisano moves up into Gerstner heir slot at IBM

But has Lou enjoyed all the good years already?

Sam Palmisano has been made president of IBM as well as COO, which positions him as the most likely to succeed Lou Gerstner as chairman when he retires. Palmisano was executive assistant to John Akers, the previous chairman, then ran IBM Japan before a stint as number two in global services. He went on to run the personal …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 09:14
Beige boxes bog standard stays

Transparent fruity colours don't go with territory

In just a fortnight's time, the spotty adolescent PC youth will be 19 years old, and no doubt has already plotted out his future plans involving, as they must, ever faster microprocessors and even faster memories. (Just like dogs are male and cats are female, so PCs must be masculine and Macintoshes feminine, musn't they?) The …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 09:27
Turkey pong protestors turn cybersquatter

Not bootiful, says Bernard Matthews

A group of Norfolk villagers have gone online to protest at a Bernard Matthews stinky turkey farm. The British Action Group Against Turkey Smells (Bagats for short) say the poultry stench is so bad at the farm in Briston, near Holt, they can't even bear to open their windows on a sunny day. And they've turned cyber-squatter …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 09:55
RIAA vs Napster: case opens tomorrow

How the two combatants will argue the toss

The Recording Industry Association of America's music piracy suit against controversial software developer Napster comes to the US District Court in San Francisco tomorrow. The RIAA will ask the presiding judge, Marilyn Patel, to shut down Napster's service pending the software company's trial on charges that it aids and abets …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 10:22
Mythology dominates MPAA strategy in DVD trial

Lies, damn lies and statistics

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) suit against three New York Webmasters who made available for download the controversial DeCSS utility which defeats the CSS encryption scheme on DVDs appears to be founded on a queer blend of statistical rot and hacking hysteria, not to mention a few outright lies. Among the …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 10:34
Compaq to intro AMD Sledgehammer servers

Iceberg hits Itanic earlier than expected?

Major AMD OEM customers - including Compaq - will introduce Sledgehammer-based servers as early as Q4 this year, it has emerged. Yesterday we reported that silicon for AMD's 64-bit x86-based answer to Intel's Itanium, which we have decided to codename Iceberg rather than Sledgehammer, is already in the hand of major customers …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 10:52
MP3.com loss balloons after lawsuit costs

But revenues rocket

MP3.com's Net-based music business is certainly thriving, despite losing a major copyright infringement case earlier this year. For its second fiscal quarter, the company saw revenues leap a massive 963 per cent year on year. Revenue for the quarter hit $20.2 million, up from the $1.9 million MP3.com posted for the same period …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 10:59
Booby-trap your PC

On the trail of the lonesome hardware pine

We can thank Kyle Bennett at HardOCP for pointing us to this link at I Am Not A Geek on how to booby trap your PC. No Semtex seems to be involved, but on the other hand you have to use the dreaded DEBUG utility to prevent intrusion of your box. We've added this link to a trusty Reg favourite 102 Ways to Kill your Computer. Go …

Hardware Roundup 25 Jul 2000, 11:21
Napster seeks new business via Liquid Audio deal

A sign it accepts the RIAA will win?

Napster yesterday tacitly admitted it will have to change the way it does business by licensing online music veteran Liquid Audio's rights management technology. It's also a sign that Napster may be anticipating that tomorrow's court hearing in its battle with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will go against …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 11:29
Vodafone chief agrees to pump bonus back into company

And some dotcom ding-a-dang dongs

Vodafone boss Chris Gent yesterday agreed to shift some of his £5m cash bonus into shares in the mobile phone company to pacify revolting shareholders. The proposal involves the telecomms CEO buying around 900,000 Vodafone shares during the next year and keeping them for a minimum of three years. This would add to his existing …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 11:46
Apple Q3 profits, revenues up

Quarter growth good despite few product intros - to be remedied later today...

Apple saw profits rise beyond Wall Street expectations (just) yesterday, when it reported Q3 2000 income of $163 million on revenues of $1.825 billion, up 17 per cent on the same period last year. That income translates to earnings of 45 cents a share, one cent above the Street's 'spectations, according to First Call polls. It …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:35
Apple Newton tech to power next Palm?

Device codenamed Calvin offers true handwriting recognition, apparently

Has Apple's Newton technology finally made it to the Palm world? That's certainly one interpretation of a series of alleged leaks from the handheld computing company about an upcoming low-end device. According to information sent to PDA Geek, Palm is working on a device codenamed 'Calvin' - after, we assume, the well-known …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:35
Apple unveils Power Mac Cube

Stylish desktop Mac for the ultra-trendy

Apple today launched its first completely new computer in a year - and confirmed many of the rumours that lay behind the legal threats it has against a series of Mac-oriented Web sites. Towards the end of his MacWorld Expo keynote, CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the Power Mac G4 Cube, a stylish 8in all-round desktop machine that, …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:35
PPC 500MHz limit forces Apple down dual-CPU route

Where the heck are faster Motorola PowerPCs when you need 'em?

Motorola's ongoing problems getting faster PowerPC 7400 (aka G4) processors out of the door has forced Apple to convert its professional Power Mac desktop line to multi-processor machines. And for what's essentially a stop-gap solution, the new Power Mac G4s are quite clever. For the same price as a current G4, the new machines …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:35
Motorola sees near-twofold Q2 profit growth

Chip-related profits up 592 per cent

A 592 per cent rise in profits from its semiconductor operation helped drive Motorola's second quarter earnings 91 per cent to $515 million - 23 cents a share - the chips-to-communications company said yesterday. Motorola's profits were right in line with Wall Street expectations, according to First Call polls. Last year, the …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:37
Apple's Mac Cube: the iMac's replacement?

Maybe, but we still say appliance

More details are emerging about Apple's 'Cube' Mac, courtesy of "sources with insight" who've been talking to AppleInsider. Between them, said sources are claiming the cube will fall within a $999-1499 price range, depending on spec. They also say that the machine will have no internal expansion options - for add-in cards at …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:37
Apple gets heavy with third Mac Web site

This time it's MacInTouch's turn to 'cease and desist'

Apple's highly active legal department has targeted yet another Mac Web site, the venerable MacInTouch, for publishing what the company effectively claims are illegally obtained trade secrets. A couple of days ago, MacInTouch published a reader's letter claiming to state what Apple will announce at MacWorld Expo in New York …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:37
Nvidia denies Apple OEM deal claims

Such an arrangement would be tricky in any case

Nvidia has poo-pooed rumours that it recently signed an OEM deal with Apple. Rumours to that effect appeared on German magazine c't's Web site late last week, and prompted a rapid response from the 3D graphics company: "There is no truth to this rumour," Dan Vivoli, Nvidia's VP of marketing, told Apple-oriented site MacCentral …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:40
UK Mac dealer Camelot goes under – again

'It's only a model...'

British Mac seller Camelot has gone into liquidation - a day after announcing a plan to close temporarily pending a "reconstruction". Camelot was the trading name of Type Technologies, which bought the reseller the last time it went bust, back in the late 80s. Back then, Camelot was one of the UK's leading grey importers, …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2000, 12:40
BT hands over money for the Great British Stitch-Up

Marconi and Nortel rake it in as super-infrastructure plans take off

The winning suppliers of BT's new super-infrastructure have been announced. Marconi jumped in yesterday to tell the press it had taken the "up to £2 billion" contract to supply optical electronics and will work with Nortel Networks (which has been a little slower with its hyping effort). The two saw off bids from most of the big …

Data Networking 25 Jul 2000, 13:04
Murdoch goes titsupdotcom

Firedup.com to be snuffed out

The future of News Network Ltd - the five-month old new media arm of News International - is in the balance following further shock revelations obtained by The Register. Sources close to the company claim that all staff not involved with the online entertainment auction site, firedup.com, or the recruitment outfit, revolver.com …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 13:10
Linux server growth threatens MS revenue supply

Analysis One slice of the market pays lots, another doesn't - how long can that last?

This week's IDC report on the server market has some tantalising numbers for Linux fanciers. Linux server shipments will climb faster than the rest of the market, resulting in 2004 in Linux shipments of around 4.7 million, finally within spitting distance of Microsoft, at 5.7 million. But although this holds the possibility of …

Software 25 Jul 2000, 13:19
Wireless world plagues overworked support staff

Lost data costs UK $1bn per year

The onslaught of mobile IT is threatening to send overworked support staff over the edge. Companies love getting their staff to work remotely through PDAs and other mobile devices, but this increases the risk of data loss through human error or hardware problems. This in turn puts pressure on IT support departments to retrieve …

Software 25 Jul 2000, 14:55
Railtrack juggled 1100 different software apps

That explains a lot

UK train monster Railtrack has enlisted the help of IBM and Oracle after it discovered it was running a web of more than 1000 different software "systems". The figures were discovered during a W2K audit by IBM two years ago. Big Blue said it counted a total of 1100 diverse software applications, databases, platforms et al that …

Software 25 Jul 2000, 15:34
Wanna know how BT.com was hacked?

We had a sniff about and come up trumps

Last week, we were contacted by a reader who claimed to have taken bt.com, btinternet.com and gameplay.com offline through a denial of service attack. We checked it out and he wasn't lying. The anonymous person went to great length as to why he had attacked BT, quoting its appalling Internet access packages as the source of his …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 16:29
ISPA slaps LineOne

Oi... LineOne... No!

LineOne's decision to ditch unmetered access is in breach of its industry code of conduct, according to the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA). The British service provider has been given seven days to reply to allegations that it has failed to "act decently, fairly and reasonably at all times". ISPA claims it has …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 16:30
Britain wants foreign dotcom smarty pants

Get your CVs ready

The government is to relax Britain's immigration rules for dotcom entrepreneurs. Barbara Roche, Immigration Minister, today announced a scheme to vet foreign candidates on their CV and business ideas rather than their bank balance and family ties with the UK. The "Investors" scheme will be piloted from September 4 and will …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 16:54
Linux for big Alphas

64-Bit OS aimed at ISPs, server farms

TurboLinux has launched a 64-bit Linux OS for Compaq's Alpha systems. The OS supports very large files and is tuned for floating-point calculations making it significantly faster than competing 32-bit operating systems, according to Ly-Huong Pham, Executive VP of world-wide development at TurboLinux. The OS is aimed at users in …

Software 25 Jul 2000, 16:58
You've got four days to beat the Color Gameboy shortage

Only in the UK, but it's an interesting tale anyway...

In the UK right now colour Nintendo Gameboys are in serious short supply because of - as local Reg specialist Tony 'Don't you read my copy then?' Smith testily pointed out - colour LCD shortages. Which is a problem if you've a daughter demanding one before you go on holiday. Trudge up and down Oxford Street, no dice, so do you …

Business 25 Jul 2000, 17:10
RealNetworks admits to new spyware bug

And to being too thick to exploit it

A flaw in RealNetworks RealDownload, Netscape/AOL Smart Download, and NetZip Download Demon, discovered by Gibson Research founder Steve Gibson, appears, at least in the case of RealNetworks, to be the result of ignorance rather than nefarious intentions, according to a FAQ hastily issued by the company. "We weren't even aware …

Media 25 Jul 2000, 19:43