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5th December 2000 Archive

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  • Tiny Computers – ‘acquisition target for Dixons’

    Channel Flannel

    Tiny Computers, the PC system builder/retailer, is being lined up as an acquisition target for Dixons, the UK's biggest electricals retailer, according to MicroScope, which cites 'industry rumours'. Tiny's UK sales manager, Steve Precious, left the company last week, as part of what the newspaper describes as 'a high-level shake …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 08:18

  • Compaq no turkey, hungry for Asian markets

    Sexy Siemens excites Indian sensibilities

    An article in local New York rag The Wall Street Journal said yesterday that Compaq's CEO, Mike Capellas, is giving thanks that US consumers don't think its PCs are turkeys. Although the piece doesn't quite say the following, the suggestion appears to be that Americans, after they had stuffed themselves silly on silly dead …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 10:03

  • UMC fingers SIS

    'Systematic abuse of patents'

    Two Taiwanese chip makers are squaring up for a fight over intellectual property rights. United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has filed a lawsuit in San Jose against Silicon Integrated Systems (SIS), claiming that SIS got into the chip making business by 'engaging in a systematic pattern of abuse of UMC's intellectual …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 11:32

  • Voters turn to St Chad for election solace

    More Bore and Gush

    The farce that is the US election has benefited at least one group. Traffic to the web site of the church of St Chad's in Lichfield has rocketed from four to over 300 hits a day since the start of the recount. No, the US voters are not turning to God in their desperation; they just all want to know what a "chad" is so they are …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 12:17

  • Big Brother awards rock the LSE

    And leave Reg reporter with headache

    The great and the good when it comes to privacy invasion were honoured last night at the London School of Economics in the third annual Big Brother Awards. The awards are set up to highlight and publicise organisations that are invading the UK population's privacy, offering unconventional categories like Most Invasive Company, …

    Bootnotes 5 Dec 2000, 12:34

  • AMD gets business boost in Germany

    Maxdata backs Chimpzilla for large corporates

    Germany's third largest computer manufacturer, Maxdata, is to use both AMD Athlon and Duron processors in systems aimed at enterprise and small business users in Germany. A number of other European manufacturers including Vobis and Tiny have also recently moved away from an Intel-only product line. Maxdata supplies systems to …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 12:34

  • Cisco looks rosy, 3Com peaky

    Cisco to carry on Borg-like acquisition spree

    Cisco chief executive John Chambers has told financial analysts it the networking behemoth is on track to match its aggressive growth targets for next year in sharp contrast to the grim outlook forecast by other networking firms. Chambers admitted that capital spend by telecommunications service providers were slowing but …

    Data Networking 5 Dec 2000, 12:40

  • Excite cans Chello deal

    Got a bit complicated

    Excite@Home has canned its plans to merge its international operations with Chello. The merger would have created the largest broadband group outside the US but Excite, the AT&T controlled group, called an end to the five-month-long negotiations because the deal had became too complicated. Irish telco Eircom is just about to …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 12:43

  • Compaq plans $1bn purchase of own stock

    Taking advantage of depressed share price

    Compaq wants to buy back $1 billion worth of shares, taking advantage of the dip in tech stocks and bolstering the company against expectations of poor PC sales during the current financial quarter. Compaq's announcement won approval on Wall Street, pushing up tech stocks in general - Nasdaq gained 1.8 per cent. "At current …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 13:23

  • Micron, Microsoft partner on Xbox RAM

    DDR SDRAM chosen instead of Rambus

    US Dramurai Micron has been contracted by Microsoft to supply DDR SDRAM for the upcoming Xbox console. Neither company would say how much the contract is worth, but since it covers a six-year period, it's likely to be significant. Each machine is currently specced to 64MB of memory, but that could well increase by the time of …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 13:37

  • Thin and flexi disc to battle CDs/DVDs

    You can wrap it round a beer can

    A US start-up has developed a digital disc five times thinner than a standard CD and flexible enough to wrap around a beer can or slot into a magazine without breaking. Matthew Leek, Thin Disc Media's co founder, estimates that the discs will cost about half as much to produce as regular CDs and says that their use in …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 13:55

  • Amazon's privacy policy under attack again

    Update 'Illegal, illegal, illegal' is the rallying cry

    Privacy groups have attacked online bookseller Amazon in both the UK and US over its privacy policy and trade practices. Junkbusters, along with Privacy International in the UK and the Electronic Privacy Information Centre in the US, has requested a government investigation into the company. Amazon.co.uk is breaking data …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 14:04

  • Oftel chivvies up BT over DSL

    Well, someone has to...

    Oftel has intervened between BT and two rival telcos in a bid to break the deadlock concerning ongoing negotiations regarding the provision of broadband services. Today's draft ruling finds in favour of Energis and Thus after they failed to reach agreement with BT about proposed DSL interconnection agreements with the monster …

    Data Networking 5 Dec 2000, 14:21

  • Football fansites get sweet FA

    Fees demanded for fixture lists

    Ordinary football fans who run Web sites dedicated to supporting their clubs are facing legal action from the game's governing body in England. The FA Premier League has sent out letters warning supporters that they could be in breach of copyright for publishing their team's fixture list. In a letter to Arsenal fan, Andy …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 14:25

  • Bigger tits for Lara Croft

    Update It's a miracle she can even stand up

    Lara Croft's breasts are to get a boost for the new version of Tomb Raider. According to the game's designers, her 38D assets [see Technical Briefing below] will be given "more definition". They won't necessarily be bigger but will have added detail - so, presumably they will look bigger. We're also waiting on an answer as to …

    Software 5 Dec 2000, 14:30

  • Vendors, users team to create secure XML

    Spectre of proprietary MS rival casts shadow

    A group of 45 IT companies and enterprises has formed a group that aims to create a standard way to secure internet-based transactions that use XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The AuthXML Working Group will develop a specification covering authentication and authorising information in XML which it will then submit to the …

    Software 5 Dec 2000, 14:59

  • LSI Logic warns on Q4 revenue

    Less than half previous estimates

    More gloom and doom for US tech stocks came today in the shape of a profit warning from chip maker LSI Logic. The company warns that Q4 earnings and revenue will be lower than expected due to low customer demand and inventory build up. Q4 revenue is expected to be just three to four per cent up on the $728 million of the last …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 15:25

  • Win prizes galore in our Xmas draw

    Reg plays Santa to lucky readers

    Madness, complete madness - that's the only word for our extravagant Xmas competition which gives every Reg reader the chance to win some IT-related booty. We've been on the blag for the best part of a day to assemble the most awe-inspiring crimbo kit cornucopia ever to grace our pages. Even Chipzilla came up with the goods, …

    Bootnotes 5 Dec 2000, 15:26

  • Mac Rumor Roundup Superfast G3s and ‘CubeBooks’

    Our take on what the Mac rumour sites sources are claiming

    Apple may be about to revive the slimline PowerBook Duo - in the form of a light yet powerful executive-oriented notebook equivalent of the Power Mac Cube. At least that's what an AppleInsider source claims, according to a report on the site. After enquiring whether Apple might once more offer a low-weight portable like the …

    Mac Channel 5 Dec 2000, 15:27

  • Windows Woundup The latest news from around the sites

    Where it's at, what it is, where to stick it...

    Probably the biggest story of the week was the release of Office 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2). Unlike Office 2000 Service Release 1a (SR1a), SP2 is 'patch only' - Microsoft will not reissue the full product with these fixes preinstalled, as it did with SR1a. As always, Microsoft screwed up and included the much-hated Outlook …

    Software 5 Dec 2000, 15:30

  • Alert! Quantum computer on horizon

    Boffins patent improved quantum dot process

    The day when the quantum computer finally appears is edging closer. The latest step is the simple and fast construction of quantum dots. Researchers at the University of Nebraska claim to have developed an architecture that betters its nearest rivals performance by 500 per cent. They have created a technique, which has been …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 15:52

  • 1.2GHz Mac maker preps launch

    Shipping late January 2001 - maybe

    Xtrem has provisionally set January 2001 as the ship date for its much-anticipated - and scepticism-inducing - 1.2GHz Macintosh, XtremMac The Sweden-based hardware company caused controversy last summer when it announced a modified Mac equipped with a proprietary cooling system to chill the computer's processor right down to a …

    Mac Channel 5 Dec 2000, 16:16

  • Govt ministers distance themselves from email spy plan

    David Shayler, Lord Cope tell The Reg what they think

    Government ministers are distancing themselves from the Draconian surveillance measures proposed by NCIS deputy Roger Gaspar in a report to the Home Office. The report, asking for all communications data in the UK to be stored for seven years in government-run data warehouses, was leaked to the Observer at the weekend and met …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 16:47

  • Seville honours Reg PR maestro

    Street named after Spinola

    Spotted alongside a rather fine tapas and wine bar in central Seville: Spain's salute to our very own Doctor Spinola, master of spin and medic of the microprocessor. We're not sure why the beautiful southern Spanish city would want to name a street after the good Doctor, and he's not saying. 'Cardenal' is, we understand, …

    Bootnotes 5 Dec 2000, 16:50

  • Anand twiddles with GeForce2 Pro

    HWRoundup Up Up and away

    Anand gets his teeth into Nvidia's GeForce2 Pro. Faster than a GTS and cheaper than an Ultra, but is it any good? Well, the conclusion isn't snappy, but can best be summed up in the sentence: yes, but we probably won't buy it. Go here for the rest. The Sharky boys don their tech support hats and put together a guide to CPU …

    Hardware Roundup 5 Dec 2000, 16:52

  • Cisco 600 routers offer cracker fun

    Is it trying to force software upgrades?

    Cisco has advised users to update the software used in its 600 family of routers following the identification of what it admits are multiple security vulnerabilities. Early versions of the operating system on the routers, which is called CBOS, are vulnerable to no less than four separate problems, Cisco admitted in a security …

    Data Networking 5 Dec 2000, 17:01

  • No Olympic Web-coverage for ten years

    That's two million years in Internet time

    Sports fans will have to wait at least ten years to view the Olympics on the Net, thanks to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In a World Wide Web shrinking exercise, sites will not be allowed to carry video and audio of the Olympic Games until they can guarantee that only surfers in the same country as the site have …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 17:28

  • ‘Super silicon’ outfit confirms AMD link

    Isonics in talks with other chip makers

    Last week, The Reg reported that, for over 12 months, AMD had been producing test chips using a new, pure version of silicon with greatly enhanced thermal properties, making a 1.7GHz Palomino a more practical proposition. Today, the boss of the Californian company responsible for the 'super silicon', reacting to increased stock …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 17:43

  • My.MP3.com back up and running

    For a $49.95 annual fee, though

    MP3.com relaunched its virtual CD collection, My.MP3.com, today after an seven-month hiatus. As company CEO Michael Robertson said last month, the new version of the service is available in two forms. The first, free to the user but paid for by advertising, allows users to access up to 25 online copies of CDs they already own …

    Music and Media 5 Dec 2000, 17:46

  • Intel to cut P4 prices by 19 per cent

    Wants more systems under $1999

    Intel is cutting prices on Pentium 4 as well as selected Pentium III and Celeron parts next Sunday (December 10). Chipzilla says the move, predicted by The Reg last week, is aimed at enabling more mainstream system price points below $1999. The 1.5Ghz P4 is cut by nine per cent, while the 1.4Ghz part goes down by 19 per cent. …

    Channel 5 Dec 2000, 18:17

  • Sun goes shoplifting for Christmas Clusters

    Picks a pocket or two

    Sun seems to have been overcome with selective amnesia at the launch of its Sun Cluster 3.0 and Sun Management Center [sic] 3.0 today. As expected, Full Moon take three raised the nodes supported to eight, but did not introduce a new cluster file system. However, the feature comparison tick-list omitted TruClusters and …

    Business 5 Dec 2000, 22:10