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18th December 2000 Archive

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  • Foster, Xeon prices and strategies leak

    Roadmap But when the four XXXX, Intel, when?

    Chip giant Intel will introduce 1.4GHz and 1.5GHz of its server version of the Pentium 4 - code-named Foster, at $490 and $695 respectively, when it launches them. That could be as early as Q1 next year, although currently Chipzilla is keeping its cards close to its chest. However, roadmaps seen by The Register just a few days …

    Channel 18 Dec 2000, 08:39

  • Pentium III not long for this world

    Roadmap Carry on Gravy Training

    The roadmap we saw towards the end of last week demonstrates Intel's clear intent to eventually displace Pentium III processors with Pentium 4 and Foster technology. And the sooner the better, as far as the firm is concerned. But there are some clear differences from the past. Unlike the good old days when the Intel gravy …

    Channel 18 Dec 2000, 09:12

  • PlayStation 2 upgrade glues games

    Not our fault, Sony insists

    Sony has denied responsibility for the failure of three PlayStation 2 games to work with the console's most recent revision. It's the software's fault, the consumer electronics giant said. The software in question comprises three titles - one of them from Konami - break when run on PlayStation 2s shipped after 8 December. At …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 10:04

  • VIA centres sights on .13 micron Samuel II

    Cyrix III + Savage 4 + Pro-133X on single chip still on track

    VIA will focus more closely on low-power processors next year in a bid to beat off the blues induced by the global slowdown in PC sales. That way, the company hopes to take ten per cent of the global CPU market - amounting to around 15 million microprocessors - which it reckons will push its processor production operation into …

    Channel 18 Dec 2000, 10:28

  • Breathe losses rumoured to be £50 million

    You could buy a lot of microscooters for that

    Modern urbanist ISP, Breathe, has collapsed with losses of £50 million, according to reports over the weekend. The trendy outfit created by mobile phone entrepreneur, Martin Dawes, appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrators on Friday. Since then, the ISP hasn't breathed a word. Funny, really, when you think that it's …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 10:41

  • Mac Rumour Roundup Apple's G4 vs. G3 plan

    Can it break the megahertz perception barrier?

    Apple will ship consumer-oriented iMacs and iBooks with higher clock speeds than its flagship Power Mac machines, according to company documents described over at MacOS Rumors. The plan, according to the documents, goes something like this: Apple will roll-out consumer machines using IBM's PowerPC 750CXe CPU - a G3 class …

    Mac Channel 18 Dec 2000, 10:55

  • Breathe calls in administrators

    Modern urbanists on respirator

    Modern urbanist ISP Breathe.net could be about to draw its last breath after it called in the administrators this morning. PriceWaterhouseCoopers was appointed at the High Court in Manchester. No one at Breathe was available for comment today. Management decided to hide behind receptionists in a bid to avoid explaining why the …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 11:02

  • Wanadoo in Euro buying spree

    Enough change left over from Le Freeserve to buy Spanish outfit

    France Telecom's Internet unit, Wanadoo, is furthering its European expansion by buying Spain's Indice Multimedia for E360 million ($323 million). Indice has a ten per cent share of the Spanish Internet market. That's on top of the £1.6 billion it's paying for British ISP, Le Freeserve. Durlacher Corporation - the European …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 11:41

  • $10m super'puter to crunch genetic code

    7.5 trillion calcs per second from IBM

    Genetics research firm NuTec Sciences has ordered the largest supercomputer in the commercial world, to date, from IBM. The contract is worth $10 million. IBM says that the new machine will be 600 times faster then Deep Blue, and will perform 7.5 trillion calculations per second. The computer will consist of 1250 of IBM's …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 11:53

  • MS pushes business to Win2k via Win9x price hikes

    There goes the air supply again...

    Microsoft displayed its habitual exquisite timing last week, following up on the profit warning by kicking Windows ME and Windows 98 out of its corporate volume discount purchase plans. Effectively this will make it harder and more expensive for companies to buy the older Win9x software, and will channel them towards buying …

    Software 18 Dec 2000, 11:54

  • More email victims at Royal & SunAlliance

    41 suspended for 'lewd' Bart Simpson cartoons

    Insurance company Royal & SunAlliance has suspended 41 staff for distributing "lewd" Bart Simpson cartoons. The decision to suspend staff was taken after an internal investigation - sparked by the receipt of an email featuring the offending Simpson attachment by one of the company's directors. The company has rolled out the …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 12:46

  • 24/7 Freecall pledges refunds

    Telia breathes sign of relief

    24/7 Freecall has pledged to refund Net users who've been booted off the service even though they had paid for the service. In yet another U-turn, Sal Abdin, the head of 24/7 Freecall, told The Register that all those affected would received a refund - even though the ISP originally said it would not reimburse people. "They …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 12:49

  • Warner Bros/ Harry Potter dispute kicks off again

    Claire Field's father doesn't take lightly to being manipulated

    We thought it was all over, but the argument over the Harry Potter Web site run by 15-year-old Claire Field has kicked off again following her father's anger at media manipulation by Warner Brothers' head of publicity Barbara Brogliatti. Warner's had threatened legal action against Claire, and offered her £9.99 to sign over her …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 13:24

  • Reg scores Quote of the Year

    Extended lunchtime sessions vindicated

    Champagne corks popped this morning at Vulture Central when we discovered that we had been included in today's Guardian media section's Quotes of the Year piece. So where did they get this piece of Kieren McCarthy pub-inspired wisdom? An exhaustive investigation into 24/7 Internet access? A rivetting account of Chipzilla's …

    Bootnotes 18 Dec 2000, 13:25

  • Intel, Rambus beefing up legal departments

    Tooling up in readiness?

    Intel is advertising for more lawyers to work on intellectual property and patents. The list of vacancies at the chip behemoth at HotJobs includes vacancies for an additional four attorneys. Meanwhile, Rambus is also looking to hire another patent attorney here, whose job description includes the phrase "You will also perform …

    Channel 18 Dec 2000, 13:58

  • SAS Web site pulled

    Who dares gets binned

    The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has pulled the plug on a Web site dedicated to the Territorial Army branch of Britain's elite special forces unit, the Special Air Service (SAS). A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the site, which was set up to attract volunteers to the London-based 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserves), was …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 14:47

  • Le Freeswerve – c'est magnifique

    Mon dieu - it has reduced le losses

    Le Freeswerve has halved the amount of cash it lost in the last quarter, it reported today. It made an operating loss of £6 million (before share-based compensation, amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items) in the Q2 to 11 November, compared to £14.6 million in the previous quarter. Turnover during the same period …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 14:55

  • Monster BT bill man gets reprieve

    Another nice story from the Reg Xmas Cracker

    Remember Nick Everitt? He received a quarterly phone bill in September for £1,465 even though he was dialling a freephone Net access number. The bill, which was 467 pages, reduced his wife to tears. However, in this season of goodwill to all men, BT has revised down the bill to just £190, writes Nick in a touching Christmas …

    Bootnotes 18 Dec 2000, 14:56

  • Armed raiders seize back counterfeit goods

    Real IRA link suspected in raid where rockets fired

    Irish police suspect that dissident Republicans are responsible for an armed hold-up during which counterfeit goods were seized back. Sources within the police force, quoted in The Irish Times, said that dissident republicans, probably the "Real IRA", were behind the raid and that the goods would likely end up being sold at …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 15:02

  • Sun selects Eazel's Nautilus for Solaris shell

    Will slot into integrated Gnome and StarOffice

    Sun is to bundle Eazel's easy-to-use Linux front end, Nautilus, with its own Unix variant, Solaris. The plan, announced today, is part of a joint development programme under which the two companies will ensure Nautilus works with Solaris, supports a broad range of different languages and contains tools to help users with …

    Software 18 Dec 2000, 16:16

  • eToys warns on revenues

    Xmas shoppers not flocking to site

    eToys has warned that it won't be filling as many Christmas stockings as previously thought. The Los Angeles-based e-tailer said late on Friday that orders for the current quarter were less than expected, forcing it to halve Q3 revenue forecasts. It now expects net sales of between $120 million and $130 million, down from the $ …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 16:45

  • France says ‘non’ to US DVD imports

    You're not allowed to watch films that haven't been on at the pictures yet

    France has effectively banned the import of US DVDs by tightening a 1982 law designed to protect the nation's cinema industry. French law currently outlaws imports of movies that have yet to be shown in the cinema. Exceptions to the rule are videos - or DVDs, for that matter - that are sufficiently different from the big-screen …

    Software 18 Dec 2000, 16:45

  • Blue sky flash memory fizz

    The situation is highly charged

    Flash memory looks set to get cheaper and more reliable if a new manufacturing technique developed by Lucent takes off. At the moment, Flash memory works kind of like a bathtub. I know, it sounded strange to us too, but that is what the boffins at Lucent's new spin off, Agere Systems, are using as a teaching example. We'll …

    Channel 18 Dec 2000, 17:26

  • Baa.com – domain battle decided but case goes on

    Legal precedent sought

    BAA plc may have secured the ownership of Baa.com, after the domains current owner Tom Bourke settled the domain dispute out of court, but previous owner Michael Lawrie is having none of it and vows to fight the big corporate all the way. Lawrie hopes to set a legal precedent in the UK over domain name ownership. His case …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 17:40

  • Port scans are legal

    No threat to civilisation, US judge finds

    A tiff between two IT contractors that spiralled into federal court ended last month with a US district court ruling in Georgia that port scans of a network do not damage it, in reference to a section of the anti-hacking laws that allows victims of cyber attack to sue an attacker. Last week both sides agreed not to appeal the …

    Music and Media 18 Dec 2000, 17:43

  • Linux Intel chipset chowdown

    HWRoundup Anand chews 'em up

    Over at Anand's today there is a battle for the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of the land of the penguin. The Intel 815 and BX chipsets face off against VIA's Apollo Pro 133A in thisLinux showdown. Planet Hardware has a look at the stocking filler that is the Guillemot Maxi Sound MUSE sound card. The review is generally …

    Hardware Roundup 18 Dec 2000, 17:48

  • Kempin, star MS enforcer, gets Ballmer special projects gig

    Unbounded joy breaks out in PC biz - free at last?

    The man who pays the bills at Microsoft is switching over to overseeing "special projects" for company president Steve Ballmer. According to today's Wall Street Journal the switch of jobs for Joachim Kempin, the senior VP in charge of Microsoft's OEM software business, was announced in an internal Microsoft memo a few weeks ago …

    Software 18 Dec 2000, 17:50

  • Serious security slip at BTOpenwoe

    Credit card details unprotected

    Due to a serious security lapse, users signing up to BTOpenworld's ADSL service have been invited to send credit card details over an insecure internet connection. A vulture-eyed Register reader, who tried to sign up to the telcom giant's domestic version of BTOpenworld, noticed he was invited to submit his credit card details …

    Data Networking 18 Dec 2000, 18:01

  • Gateway turns showrooms into PC supermarkets

    Desperate stock shifting bid

    Gateway has changed its retail strategy in a last-ditch attempt to shift Christmas stock. From now until December 24, US shoppers will be able to walk out of any Gateway store with a shiny new PC under their arm. The PC maker previously used these outlets as showrooms for its products - which punters would order and have …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 18:03

  • HP worker's fall from plane may have been suicide

    Bizarre circumstances of tragic death

    A preliminary investigation has concluded that a Hewlett-Packard worker who fell 2,000 feet to her death from a plane last week probably committed suicide. The body of Elisabeth Otto, who worked in the computer-giant's purchasing division, was discovered in a garden in Sacramento after she fell from a company-operated plane. …

    Business 18 Dec 2000, 18:53