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7th September 2000 Archive

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  • HW Roundup India strikes

    The world is very, very big

    Welcome, then, to ItIQOnline, a very literate site - as you'd expect from India - which also seems to have a top story about Hewlett-Packard up there. Unfortunately, our Chinese, Japanese and Korean is not too good, otherwise we'd link to those sites all the time. They seem to have more hardware news than most. Intel reckons …

    Hardware Roundup 7 Sep 2000, 01:08

  • Granny allergic to PCs – official

    Intel et al deny it's personal

    Pity, all you geeks, hackers and crackers, poor Joan Stock of Saltford, Bristol, who can't go near a PC without experiencing terrible headaches. Surprise, surprise, the more cynical among you might say, having no doubt experienced some damn severe migraines yourselves over blue screens of death, hard drive failures, …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2000, 09:29

  • UK users prepare anti-Apple protest action

    And warn Steve Jobs in advance.... ahem

    A band of Brit Mac users is planning to disrupt Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Apple Expo Paris next week, according to an email from the group mailed to just about every Mac news site on the planet. Well, bang goes any chance of making your protest, guys. The important thing to remember next time - if there is a next …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:34

  • Apple identifies alleged lead secrets leaker

    Updated Worker Bee discovered

    Apple has discovered the identity of at least one of its employees who's been craftily passing company secrets to the press. The Mac-maker filed a suit alleging violation of company copyrights and trade secrets earlier this month. The complaint targeted 25 unnamed individuals, but Apple said it would run each of them to ground …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:42

  • MacOS X public beta in two weeks – Jobs

    Powerbook, iBook revs stay under wraps

    Steve Jobs astonished the Mac faithful at San Francisco's Seybold Seminars by announcing MacOS X for Intel hardware, and a range of new Apple-branded consumer appliances. Of course, he didn't - we just made all of that up. But Apple flacks have been working hard for the past few days to dampen expectations of new hardware …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:42

  • PowerPC G4 Plus breaks 1GHz barrier

    Trouble is, yields suck, apparently

    Motorola has begun sampling its next-generation PowerPC 74xx processor, aka the G4e or G4 Plus. According to a "trusted" Motorola source, cited by MacOS Rumors, the company's test runs are producing chips that run over 500MHz, with some even reaching 1050MHz, breaking the gigahertz barrier. Motorola's goal with the G4 Plus is …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:42

  • Apple moots IBM Power 4 as G4 successor?

    Expect major Cube meltdowns if it did

    Is IBM working on a version of its server-oriented Power 4 CPU - aka Gigaprocessor - tailored to Apple's motherboards? That's certainly what one Mac-oriented rumour site is claiming, citing Big Blue sources. Likely? Well, if Apple's product strategy includes servers, it might be. Otherwise, we're not so sure. Apple has thrown …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:50

  • Xtrem unveils 1.2GHz Mac

    Liquid cooling to leave Mac fans drooling?

    A little-known Swedish start-up is claiming to have crashed the 1GHz barrier ahead of Apple - and by using only a single PowerPC processor. Xtrem's claims its XtremMac G4 is based on a single PowerPC 7400 chip operating at 1.2GHz. Essentially, the machine appears to be a regular, off-the-shelf Power Mac G4 mobo, processor, …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 09:50

  • How to survive Whistler

    Stardock's embrace and extend gambit

    Leading Windows customisation outfit Stardock Systems will release a major rewrite of WindowBlinds, 2.0 in beta form on Monday, and it's available to Object Desktop subscribers now. It's also another step which Stardock hopes will see it survive and prosper when Whistler is released. This, the next consumer version of Windows, …

    Software 7 Sep 2000, 09:55

  • World Online denies plug-pulling

    Soothing words calm savage beast

    World Online has moved to quash consumer fears that it is about to ditch unmetered Net access. Earlier this week company UK CEO Simon Preston told The Register that he was "committed to unmetered Net access". "We are not going to withdraw from the unmetered market," he said. But some customers aren't so sure. Yesterday, …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2000, 09:56

  • Apple raises legal sword over rumour sites

    Steve 'Damocles' Jobs strikes to end product leaks

    Apple yesterday fired off a broadside toward Mac-oriented rumour Web sites and their sources in an attempt to block leaks of future product announcements. Apple's action involved a misappropriation of trade secrets suit filed in the Satan Clara Superior Court and directed at 25 unnamed individuals. The suit demands monetary …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2000, 10:48

  • MS has yet another crack at handheld PCs

    We think the point this time is they're not supposed to sell in stacks...

    The operating system formerly known as Windows CE is coming round for yet another go, this time in the shape of the Handheld PC 2000 form factor. Microsoft's abject failure so far to make a serious go of the handheld/PDA market, or even to nail down a proper definition and stick to it, clearly hasn't convinced the company that …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 10:49

  • Pop.com film site flickers out

    Was Spielberg really anything to do with it?

    Another dotcom has crashed. But, interestingly, it never actually started. So why do we care about Pop.com? Because it was loosely connected with celebrities of course. Apparently it was backed by Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard, although no evidence for this exists. It was going to be a film site, and spent $7 million of the $ …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 11:30

  • Bidders named for fixed wireless auction

    Twelve of them on the starting line, 42 licences up for grabs

    The government has announced the approved bidders for the fixed wireless auctions, starting 16 October. Fifty-one companies expressed their interest in July and this list has been cut down to 12. The "broadband fixed wireless access services licences" will allow fast, permanently connected Internet access without the need for …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2000, 13:07

  • Clinton's emails an historical goldmine

    Very interesting when you think about it

    The 40 million emails sent between Bill Clinton and his White House staff in the last eight years will be a historical goldmine, presidential biographer Stanley Kutler has said. Stan wrote a book about the Nixon Tapes - you know, the recorded conversations that proved Nixon knew about Watergate - so he knows what he's talking …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2000, 13:17

  • We all still want Bluetooth

    But we'll be long in the tooth before we get it

    According to some kinda research or other, everyone is still mad for Bluetooth - despite the fact that it's beginning to look like a universal con job. Annual shipments of Bluetooth devices by (you've guessed it) 2005 will reach 1.4 billion (for some reason, the research chooses to refer to units as nodes). Apparently next year …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2000, 13:23

  • CallNet in ‘destructive’ whispering campaign

    Denies ISP being run down

    The new head of World CallNet has refused to comment on allegations that only a handful of its unmetered punters have signed up to its new unmetered service. On Tuesday CallNet ceased offering unmetered Net access to its 100,000 punters. Industry insiders have claimed that only 2,000 people have opted for Callnet's new 1p a …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2000, 13:28

  • Sega unwraps SegaNet

    Aims at PC online gamers as well as console owners

    Sega today launched SegaNet, its ISP and online gaming service aimed at both PC users and owners of its own games machine, Dreamcast, as expected. The move marks an attempt by Sega to explore revenue sources beyond its traditional games console and software sales. Dreamcast has arguably done rather less well than Sega hoped, …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2000, 13:39

  • Hitachi plans Transmeta Crusoe notebook for November

    Sony, IBM, Hitachi - turning into a bit of a horse race, this...

    Hitachi today confirmed that it would be using Transmeta's Crusoe in notebooks from November, and added that it will roll out Crusoe Linux Internet appliances at the same time. The company was one of a clutch of Japanese supporters announced by Transmeta CEO Dave Ditzel earlier this year, and one by one these now seem to be …

    Channel 7 Sep 2000, 14:26

  • Intel not shipping the best drivers for its Easton mobo

    It's all a mystery to us

    One of the few criticisms in our review of Intel's otherwise tasty D815EEA Easton mobo was the rather rudimentary audio capabilities of the board unless it was equipped with the optional SoundBlaster audio chip. It turns out that the Analog Devices AD1885 CODEC that we criticised was operating with both hands and feet tied …

    Software 7 Sep 2000, 14:51

  • IBM shows off wireless ThinkPads

    Bluetooth access coming in Q4

    IBM will today show off its fresh ThinkPad i series which will allow punters to get online wirelessly. Big Blue's consumer notebooks will have a standard LAN wireless capability, so there will be no more fiddling around with cables to access the Web - assuming you can get hold of a Bluetooth-enabled modem to do the actual …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 14:58

  • Mobile commerce bit of a non-starter

    Forrester talks sense - we say 'we told you so'

    A report by Forrester Research (The Reg's favourite research company) has said what we've been going on about for ages: that's purchasing goods over mobile phones, PDAs and interactive TVs is a white elephant. The choice phrase in the report by Carsten Schmidt is: "Just because a retail sale is possible on a device doesn't make …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2000, 15:01

  • Acer lost £450 million on cancelled IBM contract

    Aptiva phase out blamed

    Acer lost NT$20 billion (£450 million) in sales this year because IBM cancelled a contract for its Aptiva desktop PCs. Taiwan's largest computer manufacturer claims that losing the contract wiped NT$18 billion (£403 million) off its sales for the first half of the year and a further NT$2 billion in the second half. IBM is …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 15:05

  • Hardware Roundup take two

    Two hardware roundups in one day? We're just too good to you lot

    Seeing as we just found a whole bunch of stuff that came out after our first hardware roundup earlier today, we thought we'd bring you up to date. Overclocker's Workbench looks at a Socket A to Slot A converter, yet another i815E mobo, this time from Soltek, and has some sound advice on getting your swapfiles in shape. …

    Hardware Roundup 7 Sep 2000, 15:22

  • Intel shoots self in foot. Twice

    Reg praises Intel, wheels immediately fall off

    We're obviously going to have to stop writing nice things about Intel, because no sooner do we praise Chipzilla for doing something well, than it all goes horribly pear-shaped. We praised the Great Stan of Chipsets for producing a nice mobo in the shape of the Sheena Easton Intel makes nice mobo shock! and then we found that …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 15:59

  • Email details UN man's last hours

    Soon after, Carlos Caceres was hacked to death by Timorese militia

    The United Nations has released the final email sent by one of its three workers killed yesterday in West Timor just hours before militiamen hacked them to death and set fire to their bodies, the BBC reported today. The email was read out in full at a meeting of the UN Security Council. 'Harrowing' is one word for it. "We sit …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2000, 16:22

  • Hi-tech dollars buy US election

    Dems get $10.7 million, GOP gets $8.7 million

    The PR farce that is the US Presidential election looks like it may be won on IT and cyberdollars. Computer equipment and services companies are the eighth biggest contributors in this round of the Presidential campaign. So far they have coughed up more than $20 million for their favourite candidates - $12 million more than in …

    Business 7 Sep 2000, 16:25

  • You vill enjoy yourselves. That M$ party in full

    Somehow we get the feeling that the new watchword is 'partnership'

    And so Microsoft is 25 years old. To celebrate, it hosted a party last night in metallic nightclub Legends (just off Saville Row, London). On arrival, we were bemused when handed a large round badge with our name written beneath the large moniker "Cher". What's all this about?, we asked. It will all become clear, a PR bunny …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2000, 17:24

  • Verizon slashes DSL tariffs

    Cheap high-speed Web access in UK seems even further away

    Verizon Communications has slashed 20 per cent off selected DSL high-speed Web tariffs. The company, product of the merger between Bell Atlantic and GTE, made the changes to bring pricing into line with pricing in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region - which saw price cuts in July. Tariffs were cut to $39.95 from $49.95 on …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2000, 17:28