8th August 2000 Archive

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Straight outta Seattle: Redmond Linux

Cheeky distro not quite what you might think...

Ever wondered what a Seattle-flavoured Linux distro looks like? The Redmond Linux project could give us a clue. Former Microsoft staffer Joseph Cheek is the lead developer for the distro, which he says brings some of Microsoft's Cathedral software engineering practices to the open source Bazaar. Cheek told The Register that …

Software 8 Aug 2000, 05:40
Intel engineers AMD's success, Dham it

It woz Vin Dham, Atiq Raza, Dana Krelle wot dunnit

If you fast flip back to The Register No. 18, dated 22 May 1995, you will find us reporting the exit of Intel senior VP Vinod Dham to Nexgen - the hi-tech firm which AMD finally bought and which helped catapult it into the big time. Just two years later, we reported in issue No. 62 on the mysterious disappearance of Dham, …

Channel 8 Aug 2000, 08:12
Intel, Panasonic set music security standard

More secure than an Intel roadmap, anyway

A deal struck between Intel and Panasonic-Matsushita will likely better any music security proposals set by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) working group, the companies said today. Intel and Panasonic have developed software products which they say will offer security on music held on PCs and transferred to other …

Business 8 Aug 2000, 09:10
IBM boffins put Linux on very large wrist watch

But what's it for?

IBM has announced that it's put Linux onto a "smart watch" in order to demonstrate that the OS can scale down to small devices. But it's only a research demo, and not intended as a product. Which from the sound of it is maybe just as well. It's a fat watch, for starters. It's 56mm x 48mm x 12.25mm, which from where we're …

Software 8 Aug 2000, 09:33
UK retailer exposes M$ subliminal ad plan

Buy WinME by hypnosis. Apparently...

Our thanks to UK online retailer Bluepoint (and to reader Chris for point it out to us) for 'revealing' Microsoft's latest selling technique: subliminal advertising. You know the kind of thing: flash up an image so quickly it's below the viewer's perception threshold but gets picked up and (hopefully - if you're the advertiser …

Bootnotes 8 Aug 2000, 10:54
High prices, false steps help Windows lose to Linux in China

It's looking increasingly like a downhill struggle...

When Bill Gates was questioned about Chinese support for Linux during an interview with Red Herring recently, he claimed that "our fastest growing server business is in China", which was surprising. Gates was also extremely upset when the interviewer suggested that the Chinese liked Linux: "What the heck are you talking about? …

Software 8 Aug 2000, 11:22
Java flaws bust Navigator security

Hundreds may soon be poking through the Brown Orifice

A bug in Navigator allows anyone to read a PC's local files over the Internet. The startling hole affects every Navigator since version 4 on all operating systems. Dubbed Brown Orifice by the person who posted a program to exploit the hole, the bug's potential damage has already been over-hyped by the press but as one expert …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 11:25
AltaVista spooked by ghost service

ISP fails to answer vital questions

AltaVista has refused to provide any proof that its much-hyped unmetered access product - announced in March - is anything more than a phantom service. Despite repeated requests for confirmation the e-company has failed to deliver any proof that the service has been rolled out. One PR said the service was being used by more …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 11:27
HW Roundup Gladiac compatibility nightmare continues

Athlon KV200-R KT133 also proving troublesome

Insane Hardware has a report on the continuing compatibility difficulties that the ELSA Gladiac seems to be suffering from. Now there are problems with another Athlon mainboard - the KV200-R KT133. Click here for more info. No one knows whose fault this is yet! If you are a budding Linux user, but don't really know where to …

Hardware Roundup 8 Aug 2000, 11:57
Software Warehouse's old retail chain shuts doors

30 stores and 150 staff affected

One Stop Computer Solutions, formerly Software Warehouse's retail business, has fallen into administrative receivership four months after Jungle.com boss Steve Bennett offloaded the business. All 30 shops at the Midlands-based business are currently closed, and more than 150 staff are believed to be affected. Martin Hall and …

Business 8 Aug 2000, 12:34
Penguin sticks head in the sand

Publisher muscles in on katie.com

The US publishers of a harrowing real-life tale about Net-related child abuse are refusing to admit they cocked up after naming the book after a Web site owned by a British woman. Ever since Katie.com - Katherine Tarbox's personal account of being seduced online by a paedophile - was published earlier this year, Katie Jones' …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 12:37
Chinese government shuts down dissident site

Wok's going on here? More counter-revolutionary content

The first dissident site run from inside China has unsurprisingly been shut down and officials are hunting for its organisers and the hosting company. While China is normally renowned for its open attitude towards its citizens' opposing beliefs - it no longer kills them, it just locks them up - the Ministry of State Security ( …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 12:40
Merrill Lynch top nob on dotcom downer

Our regular look at the dotcom cash thrash

A Merrill Lynch top nob has downgraded 11 online stocks including eBay, DoubleClick and Barnes & Noble. Henry Blodget feels the Internet industry is slowing and competition is levelling the market. InterClubNet, an online network for football clubs to trade players, is going ahead with the float it announced last month. As is …

Business 8 Aug 2000, 12:53
DTI and Which? at odds over phone safety

The Reg wonders who to trust

Consumers have been left without a clue - should they go hands-free or clamp their mobile phone to their ear? Research published by the government today indicates that hands-free mobile phone kits are safe to use. These new findings appear to totally contradict a recent report from Which?, the consumers association magazine. …

Data Networking 8 Aug 2000, 14:50
Martha Lane Fox dating Neil Morrissey?

She likes a bit of bad behaviour

Dotcom femme fatale Martha Lane Fox is rumoured to be dating Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey. The two were seen sharing a romantic dinner at swanky London eating spot Sheekey's, according to celebrity gossip mag Now. And Morrissey is reported to have "enjoyed several cosy dates" with the 27-year-old Lastminute.com …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 15:18
AltaVista in missing persons manhunt

They're out there... somewhere

The Register has launched a desperate attempt to find users of AltaVista's headline-grabbing unmetered Net access service. An attempt yesterday to woo these elusive users - there are allegedly some 120,000 of them out there - with a lonely hearts ad failed to draw a single bona fide response. Britain's Net users - and the Reg …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 15:50
IBM claims AIX 5L is proof of Monterey concept

Inspirational name for next Unix flavour

AIX 5L, the latest version of the AIX operating system from IBM, will see the light of day this autumn, the company says. IBM is touting the system as proof of the success of Project Monterey, since it is a tangible result of the collaborative work. Contributions to the Project include IBM's DYNX/ptx multipath I/O and NUMA, and …

Software 8 Aug 2000, 16:12
eBay, Yahoo pull spam auction

It's all about privacy. Well, it ain't about money

Yahoo and eBay have pulled an offer to sell a 20,000-name mailing list of US investors from their auction sites. Direct-marketing firm Market Logisitics offered the list which includes names, email addresses and telephone numbers. The two companies pulled the item off their auction sites saying that it violated their terms of …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 16:46
CD replicator busted in $1.2m MP3 piracy case

Thank you for the (counterfeit) music...

A Swedish CD-ROM replicating company is to pay $1.2 million after being caught with pirated MP3 files and software. More than 20,000 CD-ROMs were found at Stockholm-based DCM Group, a division of Digital Communication Media (DCM), after a "knock and talk" version of a dawn raid. The Business Software Alliance (BGSA) and the …

Media 8 Aug 2000, 22:22