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3rd November 2000 Archive

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  • Six charged in $3m New York school computer bid-rigging scam

    Brazen

    An ex-New York schools superintendent was among six people charged with nicking $3 million through a computer bid-rigging scam yesterday. Celestine Miller and her husband, William Harris, were allegedly paid $1 million for their part in the scheme, which siphoned off cash meant for school computers. The bribe came from Thomas …

    Business 3 Nov 2000, 07:14

  • Ellison not dead and not leaving Oracle

    Software giant victim of rumour mill

    Oracle today rubbished rumours that its flamboyant founder Larry Ellison was flying the coop. The speculation that CEO Ellison and CFO Jeff Henley were leaving apparently started hours before the software giant's doors opened for business at its California HQ this morning. It helped drag Oracle's share price down almost six …

    Software 3 Nov 2000, 08:36

  • For Sale: LineOne

    Well worn ISP that's failed to live up to promise. £340 million ONO. Will P/X for an old Cortina

    There's speculation today that British ISP, LineOne, could be up for sale. Bloomberg claims that United News & Media Plc and BT are to start showing a bit of leg next week to woo some interest in the ISP. One of the reasons, it seems, is that not only does LineOne apparently leak money, it's also deemed to be "too small" to …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 10:14

  • CIX bought by Norwegian outfit

    A real bundle of laughs

    The great grandpappy of British ISPs, CIX, has been bought by Norsk Data - a subsidiary of Norwegian telecoms and IT outfit, Telenor AS Details of the deal were not disclosed. According to a statement: "The acquisition of CIX strengthens Norsk Data's portfolio of services in the UK." No one from CIX - which stands for …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 11:19

  • Net dad Vint Cerf slams RIP

    You're mad if you think encryption will solve everything

    Vinton Cerf, one of the founding fathers of the Internet, has attacked the RIP bill as a dangerous new piece of legislation. Speaking at the Compsec conference in London yesterday he commented: "Oh my god. A lot of us in the US are very worried about the RIP Bill, it has raised some of the same concerns as Carnivore." He said …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 11:39

  • Send digital snaps to mobile devices

    Ericsson and Canon give birth to the e-polaroid

    Ericsson and Canon have snuggled up to work together on a way of transferring images from digital cameras to mobile devices. The agreement centres on the development of imaging applications for the current GSM standard, GRPS and the forthcoming 3G. The companies said they would release consumer devices, separately, next year. …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 12:33

  • NTL cuts 1,300 staff in restructure

    And it's middle management that gets the bullet

    Top UK cable company NTL has announced it will sack 1,300 staff (of 22,000) in a restructure of the company. The news comes a week before the company's quarterly results and is due to a series of acquisitions it has made in the last year and a half. The cuts are perfectly logical since there has been some overlapping with the …

    Data Networking 3 Nov 2000, 12:35

  • Priceline.com CFO quits and staff face axe

    Auction site boldly goes where many dotcoms have gone before

    Flawed and loss-making auction site Priceline.com is looking even more precarious with the announcement that its chief finance officer Heidi Miller has packed her bags and 16 per cent of the staff are to be fired. The news came complete with some poor Q3 results. Miller had been in the job less than a year and had come from …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 13:01

  • 400 Freecall users out on their ear

    Sorry end to a sorry story

    British ISP, 24-7 Freecall, has kicked off 400 subscribers it claims were abusing its unmetered ISP. It claims some users stayed connected to the flat-fee unmetered service for 23 hours a day. In a statement issued late yesterday afternoon the ISP said those fingered by the company had used the service commercially - something …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 13:46

  • (inaudible) unveils new chiefs for IPO

    Symbian to show first Crystal phones on Monday

    Former Microsoft UK product chief Mark Edwards has joined Symbian, the company announced today, to fill the top sales and marketing position. (inaudible) has also appointed a new CFO Thomas Chambers to "prepare for a public flotation - a natural next stage in Symbian's development, and key to our continued success," according to …

    Software 3 Nov 2000, 13:49

  • McAfee frozen PC lowdown

    Everything you wanted to know about how to get that PC working again

    Yesterday we heard that a McAfee automated virus update had caused PCs to freeze up - something that wasn't appreciated by sys admin and those wishing to, say, use their computer. Details were sketchy but you readers have come up trumps and emailed us all the relevant info. A McAfee employee also helped explain how to fix the …

    Software 3 Nov 2000, 14:31

  • Chipsetzilla wins back market share

    Or so they say

    Intel veep Paul Otellini told analysts this week that the chip behemoth "has recaptured its chipset market share" and in particular has boosted production of the 815 range. Otellini said when the 815 was introduced early this year, it was 'production limited' because Intel's fab capacity was devoted primarily to processor …

    Channel 3 Nov 2000, 15:15

  • Mitchell: I was the ‘fall guy’

    Mitchell claims he took the hit for AltaVista cock-up

    Andy Mitchell claims he took the rap for AltaVista UK's failed bid to offer unmetered Net access. Speaking to the BBC Mitchell said he was just the "fall guy" for the failed operation and that he wanted to "wash his hands" of the whole affair. By inference, he fingered his former employees as being behind Britain's biggest …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 15:58

  • Net blasts off for outer space

    To boldly set up a web where no man has set up a web before

    The first satellite to form part of a solar system wide communications network will launch this month, according to Vinton Cerf, the creator of the TCP/IP protocol. Speaking at the Compsec conference, he outlined his work as a visiting scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory research facility in Pasadena. One of the …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 16:04

  • Microsoft Hack: Warned of weakness three months earlier

    Some people just won't be told

    Microsoft knew about the weakness in its security three months before it was hacked, but failed to do anything about it, according to a speaker at the Compsec conference in London. James Adams, CEO of iDefense, a computer security company, has said he warned the software giant about the vulnerability three months ago. "They …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 16:14

  • BT may be investigated for 3G auction-rigging

    Typical arrogance or government frustration? The latter most likely

    The Dutch competition authority NMa is pondering whether to investigate BT over possible rigging of the Netherlands 3G mobile licence auction. BT was present in the form of subsidiary Telfort and held talks with another bidder, Versatel, on the first day of the process - something that was against the rules. Telfort eventually …

    Data Networking 3 Nov 2000, 16:50

  • Car companies offer AOL for $3 staff perk

    Web-savvy workforce a must

    General Motors and DaimlerChrysler are to offer cut-price AOL Internet access as a perk to staff. In all, 300 US employees will get to log onto the Net for $3 per month - AOL normally charges $21.95 for the privilege. They will also be offered AOL's interactive TV for $5 a month, and an interactive TV-Satellite TV combo for $31 …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 16:56

  • Kids give up fags for mobiles

    The youth of today, huh?

    Teenagers are giving up cigarettes in preference to fashionable mobile phones according to an anti-smoking organisation and the tabloids - who know a good story when they see one. The scurrilous claim is based on a survey that showed smoking levels were falling among teenagers. The survey was published in the British Medical …

    Bootnotes 3 Nov 2000, 17:31

  • UK Web site to lift lid on ‘police corruption’

    It's a (un)fair cop, gov

    A Web site allegedly operated by "serving and retired Surrey Police officers" is set to blow the whistle on police corruption. The site is due to go live on Sunday and claims to be written and produced by serving officers who have themselves been the "victims of police corruption". It claims it will details the "conduct of …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 17:56

  • Intel wants to have DDR cake and eat it

    Plays Rambus off against VIA over P4 support

    VIA could go ahead with its own DDR chipset for Pentium 4, with or without Intel's agreement. The world's number one and two chipset makers are known to be discussing an agreement whereby VIA could provide DDR support for the P4 in the light of Intel's current agreement with Rambus which prevents the company from supporting DDR …

    Channel 3 Nov 2000, 18:01

  • Single South African surfers search for sex

    Like cybersex and rolling in cash, says MSN

    Single South African surfers are a good catch - young, into sex, and rolling in cash, a survey claims. Around 53 per cent use the Net more than once a day, while a quarter of respondents to the MSN survey said they log on daily. Meanwhile, 18 per cent of South Africans have indulged in an online romance, and the most searched …

    Music and Media 3 Nov 2000, 18:46

  • Readers' Letters Storm in a TEMPEST?

    And why would we want to look at your PC, anyway?

    Can't pay - won't pay To quote from your page on Only UK viewers have to pay:- "instead they work by detecting the TV tuner's local oscillator which always leaks a small amount of radiation back up the aerial." I have to question this because there's a couple of flaws here. Firstly 99% of tv's sold now conform to CE approval …

    Letters 3 Nov 2000, 19:12

  • Sun's Oz super computer goes horribly pear shaped

    Teraflop aim achieves giga flop, Q lurks to strip flesh off bones?

    A terse note at the site of APAC, the outfit running Australia's bid "to be recognised as an 'advanced computing' country," reveals something deeply embarrasing for one of the industry's most prominent pushers of gigafloppery. It says: "The initial configuration of the APAC peak computing system failed acceptance tests in …

    Business 3 Nov 2000, 19:18

  • Flame of the Week AMD gets it right, and we don't

    Short and sour

    "Qwerty" writes:-<</p> IDIOT! Do some research you fukn retard! Maybe you'd see that DDR systems are available right now. I don't expect a retraction from your sorry ass. Integrity and unbiased reporting is way too much to ask. PS...FUCK YOU ®

    Business 3 Nov 2000, 19:22

  • Flame of the WeekAMD get it DDRrright. But we don't.

    Short but sour

    "Qwerty" writes: IDIOT! Do some research you fukn retard! Maybe you'd see that DDR systems are available right now. I don't expect a retraction from your sorry ass. Integrity and unbiased reporting is way too much to ask. PS...FUCK YOU ®

    Business 3 Nov 2000, 19:26

  • Readers' letters the best of the rest

    Taking the piss

    Eight miles high Andrew Brown DarwinWars author writes:- Mushrooms are more complicated than your Norwegian correspondent, thinks. Fly Agaric contains not one but two hallucinogens (atropine and butrophine, if my raddled memory serves) and the point is that each is poisonous if taken in large enough quantities to induce an …

    Letters 3 Nov 2000, 19:46

  • MS helps you hack Scientology out of Win2k registry

    In German. But hey, sometimes it's not integrated after all, OK?

    A bizarre storm over Windows 2000 and Scientology in Germany has resulted in Microsoft conceding defeat. Microsoft Deutschland has posted instructions for removing the defrag program from all Win2k products. Strange but true, the fact that the defrag program was written by Executive Software of California, whose CEO is a member …

    Software 3 Nov 2000, 20:17