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11th October 2000 Archive

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  • Motorola's G4 Apollo augurs 1GHz Macs

    Ok, but when exactly?

    After skipping a generation of upgrades, Motorola outlined its plan to steer the G4 chip back on course at Microprocessor Forum in San Jose yesterday. David Bearden of Motorola's Somerset lab outlined a new G4 design which makes much use of cache and process technology improvements to take the chip beyond the 1GHz frequencies …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 07:23

  • Samsung greases the Alpha skids

    Which is just as well...

    Compaq doesn't exactly indulge in willy-waving at the annual Microprocessor Forum. Last year, this scribe hunted high and low for the Alpha team, tracked them down in their hotel room at the Fairmont, and discovered they had one of the showstoppers in their SMT, "SMP on a chip" plans. This year Q appeared to be equally …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 07:23

  • Gerstner dodges questions on IT economy

    New IBM chip plant more important

    Big Blue's big cheese Lou Gerstner dodged questions on the state of the IT economy today while trying to promote his company's latest venture. The CEO and chairman of IBM stood in front of the stars and stripes in the State of New York Executive Chamber office of Governor George Pataki. He waxed lyrical on the PC vendor's plans …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 07:23

  • AMD grabs high ground with SMP Athlon

    A convincing tour de force...

    AMD unveiled its multiprocessor plans yesterday, and judged solely on its technical merits, the Athlon-based SMPs that result ought to cause some late nights at Santa Clara. And not just of a tactical nature, but strategic. If we weren't so nasty and cynical, we'd be tempted to describe it as a technical tour de force that bears …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 09:23

  • ARM heralds two ‘major product innovations’

    As royalties roll in

    ARM Holdings, the semiconductor IP firm, today announces "two major product innovations" at the Microprocessor Forum. Helpfully, ARM has already told the world about these product innovations, in the statement accompanying today's Q3 results. "The first is an ARM architecture extension which provides developers of wireless …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 09:23

  • Dell: ‘When will Europeans embrace technology’

    Why oh Why oh Why

    Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell Computer, attributed the failure of European companies to "embrace technology fully" as a factor in the company's Q3 sales shortfall, the FT reports. Speaking at a conference in Madrid yesterday, Dell said: "The market has not been as strong as we would have liked. When do I see it changing …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 09:23

  • Boxman goes titsup.com

    CD retailer 'nears liquidation'

    Boxman.com, the online CD retailer, is close to liquidation after failing to find more funding, according to the FT. The company suspended its Website on Monday and is asking its shareholders and creditors permission to go into voluntary liquidation. Boxman was unfortunate in its timing - the Swedish-founded, London-based …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 09:23

  • Lastminute beefs up board

    Yahoo! announces best ever results

    Lastminute.com has appointed Allan Leighton as non-executive chairman of the company, replacing Pieter Bouw, who has been chairman since November 1998. Bouw will remain as a non-executive director of the board. Leighton is a non-executive director of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc, Wilson Connolly Holdings PLC, Leeds …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 09:23

  • Palm speeds into in-car device market

    Automotive industry partnership to be announced later today

    Palm will today follow Microsoft into the in-car information systems biz, with the announcement of a deal with Delphi Automotive Systems to develop a PalmOS-based car dashboard device. Delphi, we assume, will become a PalmOS licensee, using the OS as the basis for its in-car system. Quite what the device will do, we'll have to …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 09:55

  • Chipzilla and Transmeta in power squabble

    Microprocessor forum hosts war of words

    Without naming any names, Intel has countered claims from Transmeta that Intel's processors ran hotter and consumed more power than Transmeta's own Intel compatible products. According to a report in the online NYTimes, Intel said that not only did it have stuff in the pipeline for 2002 and 2003 that would keep it ahead of the …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 10:15

  • Hypnotizer in brain washing scare

    Don't look into their eyes

    Hypnotizer is trying to brain wash innocent Net users by employing its streaming video software to send out subliminal messages. This dangerous mind-bending behaviour came to light after a protest group calling itself Hypnotizer enAbles The Enemy (HATE) said it was to picket a trade show in London to publicise this abuse of …

    Bootnotes 11 Oct 2000, 10:32

  • ATI revamps Radeon roadmap

    Rage 128 Pro not long for this world?

    ATI has quietly updated its roadmap charting the evolution of its Radeon - no other 3D chip washes pixels whiter - graphics accelerator part. The new gameplan appears to pave the way for the current Rage 128 Pro chip to be quickly phased out in favour of cross-the-range desktop Radeons. It also features ATI's long awaited …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 10:36

  • Anarchist hacker voted onto ICANN board

    And a grumpy libertarian

    The controversial elections for five ICANN board directors have ended and the results are in. The five represent different continents and were decided by the public, who logged onto ICANN's site and made their selection. The results are: Africa: Nii Quaynor Asia/Australia/Pacific: Masanobu Katoh Europe: Andy Mueller-Maguhn …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 10:37

  • Motorola makes $598m Q3 profit

    Set-top boxes doing well

    Motorola's Q3 earnings climbed 66 per cent on the back of sales of advanced mobile phones, chips and digital TV set top boxes. Profit rose to $598 million from $361 million in Q3 last year. Sales grew 18 per cent to $9.49 billion, up from $8.06 billion. Sales in the personal-communications segment, the cell phone part of the …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 10:46

  • QuickTime 5 brings MacOS X feel to Windows

    Fortunately, you can change the skin if you don't like Aqua

    Apple yesterday announced the latest version of its QuickTime multimedia authoring and playback technology, and released a public beta of the software. Essentially, QuickTime 5 upgrades the existing software with some extra technology and brings the classic MacOS and Windows QuickTime Player application's interface into line …

    Mac Channel 11 Oct 2000, 10:59

  • Seagate hit by component famine

    It's gonna last well into March 2001

    Seagate, the world's biggest HDD drive company, today said it would be unable to meet all customer demand because of a components shortage. It expects this to continue for at last well into the start of 2001. Charles Pope, the company's chief financial officer specifically referred to unfulfilled demand in the Pacific Rim. The …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 11:30

  • Porn biz sets sights on PlayStation 2, XXX-box

    Come PlayStation with me...

    The porn industry is said to be the hidden hand behind the success of the VHS home video format over the superior Betamax - and it could do the same for Sony's PlayStation 2. According to Games Business, Vivid Interactive - it's the world's largest purveyor of adult movies, we're told - plans to launch a series of interactive …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 11:30

  • EC blesses AOL Time-Warner wedding

    But US government still has to say 'yes' too

    The European Commission has given the go-ahead to AOL and Time-Warner to proceed with their $135 billion merger, as expected. The Commission's members today voted to approve the merger, though the two would-be partners will need to make a number of undertakings first. AOL will indeed have to buy out German media giant …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 11:47

  • BT to offer free local calls

    Exclusive Just like they have in America, Ma, well, almost

    BT is to offer off peak unmetered local calls from December bringing the UK more in line with the US system of telecoms charging. The monster telco has all but cleared the final regulatory hurdles with Oftel to offer the service for a fixed monthly fee. The new tariff applies to both voice and data calls but it's understood …

    Data Networking 11 Oct 2000, 12:36

  • HWRoundup Is the 1.1GHz Athlon all it is cracked up to be?

    Plus yet more gaming roundups, and a glimpse of the P4

    If you have oodles of cash burning a hole in your pocket and youy fancy owning the fastest processor on the market at the moment, are you going to get your money's worth? Chick's has reviewed the 1.1GHz TBird. Prepare yourself for a barrage of benchmarking. Read all about it. ATI's Radeon DDR graphics technology is closely …

    Hardware Roundup 11 Oct 2000, 12:49

  • Myveggie
    patch.com – grow your own online

    E-gardens for E-potatoes

    A new site called myveggiepatch.com is selling all the benefits of having a decent vegetable garden, that is vegetables, without all the work - weeding and so on. Through the site, wannabe urban gardeners and other e-potatoes can buy a patch of arable land in the countryside, which will then be cultivated by myveggiepatch.com …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 13:42

  • Hacktivist edits on-line newspaper

    And we see a handy libel defence

    A hacktivist going by the alias 'Exiled Dave' broke into on-line newspaper the Orange County Register last week and edited several stories, one of which said that Microsoft founder Bill Gates had been arrested for hacking into "hundreds, maybe thousands" of systems, according to an article by Adam Pennenberg for Inside.com. The …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 14:30

  • Oftel launches LLU board game

    Fun for all the family

    Oftel could be about to corner the Christmas market with the release of a new family bored (it's deliberate, OK) game. Forget Cababge Patch Dolls, Teletubbies or those silly little micro scooters ridden by modern urbanists, the nattily titled Allocation Of Space For Operators In BT Exchanges could be the bestsellers among kids …

    Data Networking 11 Oct 2000, 14:36

  • RIAA readies for legitimate Net music sales

    But doesn't bother to explain how

    The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) - most famous for bringing court cases against MP3-based companies like Napster and Diamond Multimedia - has "reached agreement" with National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) on how to allow licensing of music over the Internet. In a press release, the two said the system …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 14:41

  • Carrera seeks protection from creditors

    Updated System builder off to High Court

    Carrera Technology, the UK system builder, is applying to the High Court for an administration order. The application will be heard on Friday 13 October, today's CRN reports. Administration is the closest thing that the UK has to the US Chapter II, and it is intended to give companies a breathing space from their creditors, …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 14:50

  • The UN says technology makes us sad

    Information overload is no laughing matter

    Technology can kill you. Oh yes it can. Really. You see, depression causes more work-related deaths and disabilities than anything other than heart disease. And now a recent study has shown that technology can cause depression. The United Nations' International Labour Organisation says that the continual influx of information …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 15:59

  • Oftel's all fingers and thumbs

    Still can't count, though

    In a thinly veiled attempt to show how influential it's been at driving down Net access costs in Britain, Oftel now claims that seven million UK homes (28 per cent) are now connected to the Internet, with almost one million homes going on line in the three months to August. It also claims that more than one and half million …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 16:01

  • MS moves slowly to patch latest IE5.5 hole

    Don't think it thinks it's that big a deal

    Microsoft says that it is just "days" away from a patch for the latest hole in Internet Explorer 5.5 exposed by Bulgarian security man, George Guninski. Guninski has a penchant for uncovering flaws in the browser the vast majority of his finds being IE related. This latest find is his 23rd this year. It exploits a MS software …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 16:42

  • SubSeven variant rears its ugly head

    Baby, I'm your backdoor man

    Eight hundred PCs have been found to be infected with a variant of the SubSeven backdoor, SubSeven DEFCON 8 2.1. Internet Security Systems X-Force has issued a security alert. The SubSeven variant only affects Windows 95 and 98 and most of the computers infected to date appear to be home computers on high-speed cable modem or …

    Software 11 Oct 2000, 17:05

  • China tech wriggling may snag PNTR

    Silicon Valley needn't pop the Champagne corks just yet

    The triumph of hope over experience was again enacted in Washington Tuesday evening, as US President Bill Clinton signed a bill granting permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China during a ceremony on the White House South Lawn. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a handful of Congressional boosters took turns …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 17:17

  • Antitrust trial goes into slow lane as Court sides largely with MS

    So March it is...

    The Court of Appeals has bent a little towards the DoJ in setting the schedule for Microsoft's antitrust appeal, but so little that we can deem it another victory for Microsoft. Spokesman Jim Cullinan, who's spent much of the trial so far denouncing and complaining, was even moved to describe the court's move as "fair and …

    Software 11 Oct 2000, 17:37

  • MS appeals schedule set

    Appellate Court splits the difference

    The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has announced a schedule roughly halfway between the lengthy one favoured by Microsoft and the quick and dirty operation which the US Department of Justice (DoJ) preferred. The whole can of worms is going to be in the judges' hands in slightly more than four months' time. …

    Music and Media 11 Oct 2000, 18:21

  • Windows-based destroyer to dominate littoral battlespace

    The US Navy loves Microsoft, true

    While one arm of the US government continues to bear down legally on Microsoft, another - the US Navy - looks more Windows-aholic day by day. Following on the Win2k carrier deal and Microsoft's prominent position in the $9 billion EDS Navy contract, it now emerges that Microsoft will be participating in development of the Navy's …

    Software 11 Oct 2000, 18:38

  • New York VC warns of more public dotcom deaths

    But this will be cathartic

    Dotcoms should brace themselves for a fresh spate of public company collapses, a major New York venture capitalist warned today. And it's not all the fault of the e-entrepreneurs - some of the venture capitalists are also to blame, according to Alan Patricof, chairman of Patricof & Co Ventures. "We're going to see a lot of …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 22:17

  • VIA to get into cheap PCs with new chips

    Has parts to deliver $200 machines

    VIA Technologies is to launch several chips next year aimed at the cheap PC market. "VIA has a bag of parts that can deliver a PC for $200 to $500, and that is going to open computing to the rest of the world," Glenn Henry, one of the Taiwan-based vendor's top designers, said at this week's Microprocessor Forum in California, …

    Channel 11 Oct 2000, 22:22

  • AMD beats forecasts with $219 million profit

    Tough quarter though, and worse to come

    AMD saw net income beat forecasts at $219.3 million for the third quarter. This was the fourth consecutive profitable quarter for the Intel rival, paving the way to its first full year in the black since 1995. It sold more than 3.6 million Athlon chips during the period, but admitted it was harder work than expected. But sales …

    Business 11 Oct 2000, 22:23