27th September 2000 Archive

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Congress might screw RIAA over MP3 shares

Fair use gets a fair hearing

US Representative Rick Boucher (Democrat, Virginia) introduced a bill, called the "Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000", in the House Monday which would protect a downloadable audio database from copyright infringement complaints if it were accessible only to people who had previously purchased the music in another format …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 06:54
Compaq sweats, gets Inspiration

Could be worse, could be Perspiration

The company formerly known as The Big Q and also known as Compaq, is re-branding itself yet again, next Monday, with a fantastic advertising campaign that flies in the face of history and literature. Monday, it will unveil a whole new series of advertisements claiming that "Inspiration is the Number One Cause of Greatness", …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 08:13
SightSound pulls out of $50m IPO

Virtual video store feels it is not the belle of the dotcom ball

Online film e-tailer SightSound.com has pulled out of a $50 million float, citing poor market conditions. The Pittsburgh-based outfit, which lets users download films over the Net, today withdrew the IPO, which had been planned for Nasdaq. The company "does not believe that the public markets would favourably respond to an …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 08:46
Motorola upgrades PowerPC G4

Slimline PPC 7410 aimed at embedded market

Motorola yesterday unveiled its latest PowerPC G4 processor, the 7410, but the new processor is unlikely to please Mac users looking for a chip capable of catching up with Intel's ever-growing megahertz lead. To be fair, the new chip isn't meant for Macs. Motorola is aiming the 7410 at the embedded market, but it does highlight …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:04
Jobs unveils upgraded iBook

Updated CEO rises from waters of flooded Apple Expo Paris

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just announced upgrades to the company's consumer-oriented portable Mac, the iBook. Speaking at Apple Expo Paris, Jobs said the iBook's top-of-the-line model - the Special Edition - will now sport a 466MHz PowerPC 750 (aka G3) processor, up from 366MHz, and will finally offer a FireWire (aka IEEE 1394) …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:08
Apple ships MacOS X public beta for $30

Pay us to help us, says Mac maker

Apple has released its public beta, but only on CD and for those Mac users keen enough to shell out 25 quid or 30 bucks, depending on their country of residence. The software will only be made available through the AppleStore, though we note that US buyers, unlike their European counterparts, have the option of buying a brand …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:08
MS names date for Mac Office 2001

Disk space odyssey?

Microsoft has at last said when it will ship Office 2001 for the Mac: just under a month from now, on 11 October. The suite will be re-branded Office:Mac on launch, as will its component apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. New to the suite is Entourage, which brings Outlook's email and PIM functionality to the Mac version of …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:08
Apple forces name-switch on Napster cloner

Farewell, AppleSoup; hello, Flycode

Apple's lawyers have been quietly busy persuading a Napster clone developer to change its name. And, indeed, the software company formerly known as AppleSoup should now be referred to as Flycode. Flycode received a cease and desist request from Apple's ever more busy legal eagles some six weeks ago shortly after AppleSoup, …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:11
Taiwan vendors team to push 1394

No, you don't want USB 2.0...

A band of Taiwanese companies and Taiwan-based subsidiaries of US operations have come together to promote IEEE 1394 as the standard connectivity and networking technology for information appliances. The consortium, dubbed The Taiwan 1394 Club, will be kicked off later this month by founder members Via, Texas Instruments, …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:11
Apple Paris protest plan pulled

Disgruntled users to meet with Apple UK instead...

Angry British Mac users have called off their planned disruption of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Apple Expo Paris on Wednesday. Group leaders have instead been persuaded to meet with the head of Apple Europe and "key Apple UK executives" at the company's UK HQ sometime after the show - presumably after 19 September, …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:11
Apple adds Genentech boss to board

CEO Levinson to drive science computing push?

Apple was clearly so impressed with Genentech chairman and CEO Arthur D Levinson's performance in their Power Mac G4 Cube promotional video that the company has given him a place on its board. Levinson gushed so freely on the style, elegance and coolness of the Cube, that Apple CEO Steve Jobs obviously felt he was so on message …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:14
Apple seeks intellectual property watchdog

Trademark counsel to chase product info leakers?

Apple's recent brush with Mac-oriented Web sites publishing details of upcoming product launches has clearly forced the company to rethink its legal support. To beef that up, the Mac maker this week launched a quest for someone to pursue any it suspects of infringing its trademarks and copyrights. The company's IP Witch Finder …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:14
What the hell is… Apple's Display Connector?

Is it proprietary or isn't it?

Apple's proprietary Apple Display Connector (ADC) may not be quite so proprietary or such a smart piece of Apple technology as the company would have us believe. According to one Register reader, ADC is simply is Plug and Display (P&D) port, developed by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) under the sponsorship …

Mac Channel 27 Sep 2000, 09:14
Version 3.0 of Tarantella pressures Citrix

Rewrite runs faster, washes whiter claims Scaldera spin-off.

Licking its wounds, Citrix regroups next week at its Thinergy Conference in Florida. But ahead of that Tarantella chose this week to crank up the pressure another notch by releasing Version 3.0. This, the company's Peter Bondar tells us, involves a complete rewrite rather than minor adjustments. He says it now supports ten …

Software 27 Sep 2000, 10:00
AMD thumbs nose at Intel woes

Investors' browsers get smoothed...

Toni Beckham, the nice lady in charge of investor relations at AMD, has gone on record to re-assure people that while Intel might have a problem, its own status in Europe is absolutely fabulous. Beckham told an AMD investor that the firm's guidance on its futures has not changed. In a posting at Silicon Investor, she is quoted …

Channel 27 Sep 2000, 10:15
Revealed 3Com's first Net appliance – Audrey

Etch-a-sketch shaped women-friendly device revealed on 3Com site

3Com is busily preparing the way for the launch of the first product in its upcoming Ergo family of Internet appliances with a Web site of its very own, as a reader over at PalmStation has discovered. The site, currently sitting on 3Com's public server, announces Audrey, 3Com's Palm-connectable appliance, aimed at women. …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 10:26
US Air Traffic Control system vulnerable to hackers

No background checks done on Johnny foreigners

A US government report, due to be published today, will assert that the US air traffic control system could be vulnerable to hackers. It says that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed to complete proper background checks on foreign nationals it employed to ensure that the system was Y2K compliant and other computer …

Software 27 Sep 2000, 10:51
Nvidia to take X-box South Bridge to PC OEMs

Working on a graphics-enable North Bridge part too

Nvidia will move into the chipset market with an X-box inspired product it's currently calling the Media Communications Processor (MCP). MCP essentially combines peripheral I/O, networking and audio functionality onto a single piece of silicon. The product is being developed for Microsoft's X-box games console, for which Nvidia …

Channel 27 Sep 2000, 11:07
More lawsuits fly in Intel/ Broadcom spat

Oh yes you did, oh no we didn't, etc, etc

Communications chipmonger Broadcom has asked a California superior court for an injunction against Intel in a bid to stop Chipzilla from selling products Broadcom claims are the result of stolen trade secrets. In the latest round of the acrimonious feud between Broadcom and Intel, Broadcom claims Intel used Broadcom chip …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 11:25
Fuel cell to power notebooks and mobile phones

It's a gas, gas, gas

A development by Motorola could be the first step towards fuel cells small enough to power a mobile phone and laptop computers. The Motorola boffins have developed and demonstrated a multi-layer ceramic system that processes and delivers fuel and air to the fuel cell membrane electrode assembly (MEA). By eliminating the need …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 12:21
Andreessen to get even richer with LoudCloud IPO

Just don't ask what it does

Marc Andreessen, the not-too-poor co-founder of Netscape, has filed plans for an IPO of his latest Net venture LoudCloud.com. The company is worth around $600 million and he hopes to make $150 million from the float. Andreessen owns 18.2 per cent of Loudcloud, giving him another $100 million to sit on his estimated $500 million …

Business 27 Sep 2000, 12:25
AOL turning Japanese with DoCoMo

Is it a wireless, stake swapping kinda thing? I really think so

AOL and Japanese mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo have signed a big touchy feely deal in which they will both work on the mobile Internet market. It not actually official yet (probably formally announced today) but then it's hard to keep a $100 million deal quiet. That, incidentally, in the sum that DoCoMo is expected to invest …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 12:31
S3/VIA integrated chipset hits the streets

AMD applauds

The chipset formerly known as Twister, S3 and VIA's ProSavage KM133, is now sampling. Designed for Socket A Duron and Athlon processors, it combines VIA's Apollo KT133 chipset with the S3 Savage4 3D and Savage2000 2D graphics engines, and is aimed squarely at the value PC segment. The launch of the ProSavage KM133 follows on …

Channel 27 Sep 2000, 12:47
ZDNet proves yet again why it's the best

...at being hopelessly out of date

Do you remember all that stuff about unmetered Internet access - you know, how it all went horribly wrong and everyone has had to scrap it? Well one of the most interesting aspects of it was when AltaVista went temporarily insane and denied rumours (for about a month) that it was lying about having subscribers to it service. It …

Bootnotes 27 Sep 2000, 13:57
BT fingered by own LLU plans

Why aren't we surprised?

The sorry saga of local loop unbundling (LLU) took another turn for the worse today after the Times reported that more than a third of Britain's population will be without broadband services because they live in "deadzones". The leaked BT document identifies Cornwall, Wales, the North East, North West, Scotland and Northern …

Data Networking 27 Sep 2000, 13:58
Transmeta claims five-year jump over Intel

Didn't that used to be two years?

Once upon a time, it was impossible to get a word out of Transmeta, the chip start-up which established a Garbo-like mystique in pre-launch mode by the simple expedience of keeping its gob firmly closed. Today, it's difficult to get the chip designer to shut-up. Dave Ditzel, CEO and one-man PR juggernaut, is now claiming that …

Channel 27 Sep 2000, 14:05
New MSN client swipes your email, spams your friends

Tales from the Redmond marketing masterclass...

Microsoft's ever-resourceful marketing goblins seem to have come up with a killer combination of features designed to win hearts and minds for MSN Explorer, the jazzy Internet-email client intended for newbies from the Great Unwebbed. The second beta of the software has a built in 'spam a friend by mistake' function, and if you …

Software 27 Sep 2000, 15:00
Psion mounts £299 digital radio land grab

Zippo, Beetle, Fender Strat... soap on a rope

Would-be Nathan Barleys will have another gadget to flourish next month when Psion ships its "smart" digital radio tuner, Wavefinder. It's the first mass-market device for picking up DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) transmissions, according to Psion and the BBC. Wavefinder is just over two feet long (including cable, obviously), …

Data Networking 27 Sep 2000, 15:10
Intel: you will talk to the Internet

It'd make a change from Intel blethering on about it

John Miner, VP and general manager of Intel's Communications Products Group, told bemused delegates at Networld+Interop that the rapid convergence of voice and data networks is being driven by the move to e-business and the addition of voice capabilities to the online experience. In English, this roughly translates as: "You …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 15:43
Blair swaps PCs for kids

VNUNet reports unbeatable offer

Tony Blair is offering to swap one PC in return for every five children, this headline from VNUNet suggests. Some colleagues have urged me to take up Tonee's offer - possibly because I am the father of five. Which they think is greedy. ®

Bootnotes 27 Sep 2000, 15:50
Baltimore/AppGate go for public access to company networks

Selling security benefits not scares

Baltimore Technologies has signed a deal with AppGate that will see it provide a security layer to AppGate's flagship server product of the same name. This will provide application authentication, a level of security beyond a company firewall. The tie up means that a network that has proper identification and authorisation …

Software 27 Sep 2000, 16:21
Now T-Online loses CFO

And that made three

Dear oh dear oh dear. It's a trickle then it's a flood. It looks like the rumours that T-Online's entire board would resign over Ron Sommer's (CEO of parent company Deutsche Telekom) interference may well be true. Having already lost chairman Wolfgang Keunje "for personal reasons" (isn't everything personal?) and marketing …

Data Networking 27 Sep 2000, 16:28
HWRoundup GeForce2 MX board hoard

Plus Dell's $3000 i4000 notebook

Sport and geeks rarely mix, but Formula One is a bit of an excdeption. After all, there is a whole big pile of technology involved here. The gang at Planet Hardware have decided to investigate the nature of the beast in Grand Prix racing. And we are not talking about Schumacher this time. Dan's Data takes a good long look at …

Hardware Roundup 27 Sep 2000, 16:56
That's right folks, it's another WAP round-up!

Much the same in the crazy wireless world

Okay, so what's been happening with WAP? Well, not all that much. i-Mode has got some more useful publicity with AOL's deal with NTT DoCoMo. People are talking about i-Mode taking over the world again. But mostly it's been a case of folk looking beyond the narrow confines of mobile phones and philosophising about the bigger …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 17:10
Greasing the free software skids under Novell

And what Microsoft giveth, Microsoft taketh away...

Although Red Hat rolled out its big budget distro Red Hat Linux 7.0 this week, a far more intriguing release has appeared this week with nary a mention from the corporate trade press. It's come via the flamboyant and ever-entertaining Jeff Merkey, formerly chief scientist at Novell where he took the credit for designing the …

Software 27 Sep 2000, 17:33
Carnivore reviewer chosen

Well someone has to do it

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has found a compliant, pseudo-academic body to perform its promised review of the Carnivore e-mail sniffer after several prominent universities including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Purdue University, Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan and the Supercomputing …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 18:11
E*Trade security hole still not bunged

Company sticks finger in dike, expert says

"A steel vault. A moat. Fort Knox. We've got something a little better," on-line brokerage firm E*Trade boasts to its prospective customers. E*Trade employs "some of the most advanced technology for Web security," the PR blurb continues. "In other words, your personal information is for your eyes only." So naturally it was with …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 19:48
Hacks in tent uproar at Sun's ‘Net Effect’

Do they think this is New York or Glastonbury?

Hacks were in uproar today at Sun's New York launch of its "Net Effect" strategy. After heated encounters at the registration desk first thing, journalists were ferried into a large, sweaty white tent near Central Park for the presentation. A gaggle of Sun execs, including company president and COO Ed Zander, senior VP chief …

Bootnotes 27 Sep 2000, 20:14
FBI consultant pleads guilty to hacking

Feds eat their own

Max Butler aka 'Max Vision' on Monday pleaded guilty to one felony count of unauthorized access to protected computers and recklessly causing damage. The former FBI consultant on computer crime had been indicted by a federal grand jury in March and charged with fifteen counts of breaking into scores of US government computers as …

Music and Media 27 Sep 2000, 21:35