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1st August 2000 Archive

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  • ARM and Ericsson get cuddly

    More Bluetooth wibble and a licencing agreement

    Ericsson has gained access to ARM's ARM7TDMI processor core for use in its Bluetooth products. The deal enables Ericsson to re-use the ARM intellectual property among all its divisions. In theory this will reduce development costs, speed up time to market and make for greater flexibility in the design process. Related Story …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 06:46

  • Spinal Tap to fill Napster void

    New music download site offers literally one song to choose from

    Legendary British rockers Spinal Tap - known as one of Britain's loudest bands - have set up a new music download site to fill the void left by the closure of Napster. A new Tap song, Back from the Dead, will be available for download later today from Tapster.com. Lead guitarist Nigel Tufnell said: "Napster was very confusing …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2000, 06:58

  • Beeb appoints gnumeedjia guru

    Definitey not a job only for fools and horses

    The BBC has found someone prepared to head up its brand new, all-encompassing, forward-looking gnumeedjia outfit. Ashley Highfield, 34, - currently the MD of Flextech Interactive (part of Telewest) - is the new director of the New Media Division at the Beeb, the corporation said today. Reporting directly to Greg Dyke, the BBC' …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2000, 06:58

  • Roll-up! Roll-up! Second money-burning Internet auction on way

    This time we're talking broadband fixed wireless

    Final details for the auction of digital radio spectrum that will allow high-speed Internet access have now emerged. There are 51 companies going for 42 licences throughout the UK and initial expectations are that the government could rake in £1 billion. The planned launch date for the auctions has been set back from this summer …

    Data Networking 1 Aug 2000, 07:00

  • Intel backtracks on support forum closures

    Updated Busy week for U turns at Chipzilla

    Hard on the heels of this week's decision to stab Rambus in the back [er, surely 'offer Pentium 4 users a choice of memory?' - Ed], comes another Intel U turn. Chipzilla's unilateral decision a couple of weeks back to close all its support forii met with a storm of protest from regular users. Intel planned instead to deal with …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 07:02

  • Microsoft gives $1m each to presidential conventions

    But it's mainly software - cheap or what?

    Microsoft is the number two contributor to the committee hosting the Republican convention with a donation of $1 million according to a Bloomberg report. And number one, since you ask, is that other old breakup hand, AT&T. George W and friends will not however be whooping it up at Microsoft's expense, as the donation apparently …

    Software 1 Aug 2000, 07:38

  • MS Hotmail servers begin switch from FreeBSD to Win2k

    This had better work, or Bill will be really angry...

    Microsoft is gearing up to neutralise one of its biggest ongoing embarrassments - the fact that its Hotmail service runs on FreeBSD/Apache. According to Netcraft's July Web Server Survey, Microsoft has started to move some Windows 2000 machines into the Hotmail load balancing pool; all being well, this will be the beginning of a …

    Software 1 Aug 2000, 07:42

  • HP, Canon sued in printer patent case

    Patent boot delivered in Motor City

    Hewlett-Packard and Canon are being sued for alleged patent infringement of printer technology. The case, filed in the US district course for the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), alleges that Canon, Inc., Canon USA, Inc. and the Hewlett-Packard Company have breached a patent owned by Steven B Michlin, the plaintiff. The …

    Business 1 Aug 2000, 08:22

  • The Spy who Employed Me

    Code for snooping at work

    British employers will have to tell staff when and where they spy on them, under new guidelines devised by the data protection commissioner. By now, most large companies should have in place snooping policies to ensure that staff are not accessing or distributing racist, pornographic or other illegal or unsavoury content by …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 08:48

  • Duron placeholder for AMDgeddon…

    ...Intel Celeron shortages looming

    Readers who wonder why they haven't seen much marchitecting of AMD's ineffable Duron microprocessor need wonder no longer. The firm is barely marketing the Duron apart from on its own Web site and people are flocking in their droves to buy the AMD Athlon, which now has established itself as a brand, despite its own ineffable …

    Channel 1 Aug 2000, 09:00

  • Echelon spy system wildly exaggerated – official

    Defcon 08 Do the bloody maths...

    By wireless... The infamous Echelon satellite spy system, reportedly operated by the US National Security Agency (NSA), is largely a product of popular imagination and journalistic mythology, a US government official with ties to the intelligence community said during several sessions at Defcon. "I wish we had something like …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 09:45

  • Rambus: You're terminated *!@$ – Intel

    Always wondered what those *!x£$ meant

    As an innocent young bairn brought up in bonny Scotland we were always puzzled when we came across **** in a piece of text. Did adults have some dark secret they weren't sharing with their children? Not as perplexed as when every front page of every UK national newspaper carried big white blanks when Britain and France invaded …

    Channel 1 Aug 2000, 10:03

  • Microsoft suggests Canadians can't add

    Written numeracy test required

    In a fabulous worldwide webfest building up to the launch of Windows ME on 14 September, M$ invites anyone in the world (as long as they live in the US or Canada - oh, and not you, Quebec, you're out as well) to enter a prize draw to win a copy of ME autographed by Bill Gates. Gosh. 50 winners a day will receive a 'limited …

    Software 1 Aug 2000, 10:39

  • Microsoft talks X-box to The Reg

    Canny compromises make it a contender

    At its Analyst Day last week Microsoft announced that Xbox developer kits were now shipping, and we wondered where they were. Well don't look in vain. The release of the developer kits - which officially now merits its own press release - is only aimed at the select handful of games publishers who've signed up to the X-Box …

    Business 1 Aug 2000, 11:08

  • Thus sees 30 per cent wiped off share price

    While Chief Yahoo! joins Cisco board

    Thus, formerly Scottish Telecom, has suffered the fate of Icarus as a profit warning issued by its ISP, Demon, wiped out 30 per cent of the share value. The company said that Demon had been hit by the explosion of flat-rate unmetered ISPs. Operating losses rose to £18million compared with £4.6million in the same period last …

    Business 1 Aug 2000, 11:34

  • Royal Mail ditches e-mail operation

    Second class idea gets stamped on

    The Royal Mail has scrapped its email-to-letters operation because the service is unpopular with Net users and commercially unviable. RelayOne - which has been up and running for the last 18 months or so - stopped taking orders last week and will be shut down for good on Thursday. A spokesman for the Royal Mail said: "We had …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 11:47

  • Sony to start selling chips online by November

    Aiming for $2 billion Web sales

    Japanese giants Sony and Mitsubishi are to start selling chips and components online. Sony plans to be flogging CD players, audio-visual kit and computer parts online within two to three months, including all the 4000 different types of chips it makes. The company expects Web sales to account for 65 per cent of group sales of …

    Business 1 Aug 2000, 11:51

  • Mobile Athlons to be made of wood?

    Codename havoc in Austin

    Chimpzilla's codename strategy has been thrown into confusion according to JC's Pages. It appears that US car maker Chevrolet doesn't wish to be associated with high technology and has thrown a wobbler over AMD's use of the Corvette and Camaro codenames for its forthcoming mobile Athlons and Durons. Maintaining the automotive …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2000, 11:58

  • PIII 1.13GHz and T'bird in benchmark blow out

    Find out who wears the crown

    The Pentium III 1.13GHz monster comes under scrutiny at Planet Hardware today. The guys run it head to head with the one gig Athlon T'Bird, just for fun, on what they call "mainstream benchmarks". Go forth and seek knowledge - or at least more info. Iwill has announced a claimed first ever DDR motherboard based on the ALI …

    Hardware Roundup 1 Aug 2000, 12:20

  • Windows ME set to clean up

    Will scale the heights

    A site which should be expecting a call from M$ lawyers real soon now can be found here. ®

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2000, 12:21

  • So what will WAP 2.0 be?

    Hopefully a lot of i-Mode with a bit of old WAP

    Okay, it looks like we're finally getting somewhere with WAP. Many people have baulked at the constant condemnation of WAP as a poor way of leading the world of wireless communications forward, but it seems as though that is the emerging consensus. The dream of a large group of companies to build a proprietary mobile standard is …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 12:59

  • Feng Shui is bad e-karma

    Now who's got their head stuck up their aurafice

    A British e-entrepreneur has lashed out at trendy new age businesses which prefer to invest in Feng Shui to make money, instead of adopting ebusiness practices. According to Andrew Wicking, MD of Surrey-based Intronets, he regularly encounters resistance from people who cannot see how the Net can open up new markets or cut …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 14:06

  • Pokemon whips Blair

    More popular than our beloved PM

    Pokemon star Pikachu is more famous with Britain's young adults than Tony Blair. The PM was recognised by 91 per cent of the nation's 16-21 year olds in a survey by e-tailer Amazon. But he played second fiddle to Pikachu (named by 93 per cent of kids) and Super Mario (96 per cent). And Blair fared better than his cabinet …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 14:30

  • Ford and Qualcomm bring the Net to your car

    The information superhighway is literally nearly here

    A joint venture between communications company Qualcomm and motor giant Ford is set to provide wireless services and Internet access for motor vehicles. Initially, the new venture will be known as Wingcast. Unsurprisingly, the services will first be produced for Ford's own fleet, but the company is also working with Nissan to …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 15:12

  • Virgin goes down on clients

    Droopy hardware makes bankers flaccid

    Following Barclays' cock-up yesterday, we were surprised to discover that Virgin customers have been unable to access their online accounts since this morning. Has it been the victim of a bank-hating hacker? Has it pulled its service ASAP following a security breach? That's the problem with media hype. Suddenly if the cashier …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 15:17

  • This megahertz madness must end

    Opinion Oi! Intel! Stop announcing unavailable products!

    Intel has never detailed exactly how many of its CPUs it ships - at any speed. But at the high end the word on the street is that, over the past three months, AMD probably shipped more than a dozen 1GHz CPUs for every Intel chip of the same speed. Time was when Intel saved its technology demonstrations for IDF, where luminaries …

    Channel 1 Aug 2000, 15:32

  • Chipzilla moves deeper into Cisco territory

    Needs more backbone, apparently

    Intel has snapped up Los Angeles-based Trillium Digital Systems for $300 million in cash and Intel stock. The deal is aimed at bolstering Intel's backbone networking and telecommunications offerings. Trillium's software is typically used by suppliers of SS7, IP, ATM, Wireless and ISDN products. Trillium will become part of …

    Data Networking 1 Aug 2000, 16:20

  • CIX kicks its own butt

    Ditches Toll Free service

    CIX - the ISP that attracts a certain "calibre" of net user - has ditched its toll-free Net access service a little more than a month after it was introduced. The move is an embarrassment to CIX which, when it launched the product last month, boasted that "unlike newcomers to the Internet market, CIX cannot afford to provide a …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 17:24

  • FT's Net scaremongering denounced

    You'll still be able to make a cuppa whenever you want

    According to the Financial Times yesterday, "Internet hotels threaten to sap London's power". We rubbed our chins while we read that the plan to build a whole range of "Internet hotels" - known to you and me as data centres - in London was going to bring down the National Grid and leaving poor old Mrs Miggins without the watts …

    Data Networking 1 Aug 2000, 17:28

  • Stephen King set to net $1m from online experiment

    He's gonna write chapter 3

    Stephen King looks set to make at least $1 million from his latest online book experiment. The King today confirmed his fans' response to The Plant has been strong enough to warrant him writing the third instalment, despite sales threatening to wilt just after the July 24 launch. In the first week of the first chapter going …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2000, 17:32

  • BOFH wants to know – would you make a good engineer?

    Episode 28 Tough competition

    So you think you've got some idea of what hardware's all about then? Think MAYBE you could mix it with the big boys of computer repair and come out relatively unscathed? Well now's the time to put it to the test! 1. You hear a loud clatter from one of the fan units of a machine you're servicing. An Amber FAN light at the front …

    BOFH 1 Aug 2000, 22:51

  • Apple goes big on handwriting recognition

    Dusts off some old Newton development

    Apple is developing a handwriting recognition software bundle, according to a report by Matt Rothenberg over at ZDNet. Nicknamed Inkwell, it would appear that the software was conceived for use on the now discontinued Apple Newtons. According to Rothenberg's sources, the software will have a control panel, some help features …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 22:57

  • Apple's consumer strategy slips

    Analysis Niche to see you - to see you, niche

    Apple's plan to grow its business by attracting consumers could be breaking down. According to data from market researcher Media Metrix, cited by Nando Times, Apple's share of computer-owning US households fell from 4.9 million homes in January 1999 to 4.6 million for the same month this year, a drop of around six per cent. In …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:03

  • Jobs snubs ATI over new Mac leak – allegedly

    Yeah, right...

    Pity poor ATI. The graphics company does appear to have aroused the wrath of Apple CEO Steve Jobs for daring to pre-announce some of the new Mac kit Jobs himself was set to unveil during his MacWorld Expo keynote t'other day. ATI said in a MacWorld Expo exhibitors' write-up that Apple would be announcing a new iMac with ATI's …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:03

  • Apple vs. MacOS Rumors: just a cunning stunt?

    We suspect not - but that doesn't mean the site's right

    Mac Web site MacOS Rumors' bluff was called yesterday when one of the two articles claimed by it to have been pulled at the request of Apple's legal team were posted on Apple's own public Web server. Meanwhile, one enterprising Mac user claimed to have emailed MacOS Rumors with entirely ficticious information about what the …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:04

  • Apple vs MacOS Rumors: the thick plottens

    When is a story's illustration not a story's illustration?

    An attempt to re-post an article that Mac Web site MacOS Rumors originally published and later claimed had been pulled at the behest of Apple's legal department isn't quite what it at first appeared. The copy of the MacOS Rumors was posted on the Apple-hosted mac.com site. It contained what to all intents and purposes appeared …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:04

  • Apple's cubic Mac rumour resurfaces

    Total flim-flam - or Apple's Net Appliance?

    Less than a week after Mac scuttlebutt site MacOS Rumors pulled a couple of stories about a new, cubic Mac enclosure, allegedly at the behest of Apple's legal department, rival rumour site AppleInsider has published a report that confirms - in part, at least - its rival's articles. Come on, guys, this is getting silly... The …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:04

  • ATI pre-announces Apple MacWorld unveiling

    Updated New iMacs, Power Macs to be revealed Wednesday claims ATI

    Apple's relationship with graphics specialist ATI appears untroubled by talk of a deal between the Mac maker and Nvidia, and calls from 3dfx for a more level playing field in the Mac 3D graphics accelerator biz. Certainly, ATI is claiming (according to MacCentral) that MacWorld Expo, which kicks off in New York tommorrow, will …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:04

  • Apple lawyers target Mac rumours site

    So will the next iMac be the NeXT iMac?

    Yesterday, we noticed that Apple had gagged Mac-oriented Web site MacOS Rumors, forcing the site to remove a couple of stories. The articles claimed Apple is working on a cube-shaped follow-up to the popular iMac. According to reports today, Apple's lawyers alleged MacOS Rumors had violated the company's "proprietary and …

    Mac Channel 1 Aug 2000, 23:04