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26th January 2001 Archive

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  • How to make DSL work properly

    In spite of your provider's malevolence

    For about a year The Register's Washington bureau has been one among many frustrated Verizon DSL subscribers. It wasn't our first choice (having already been a profoundly dissatisfied Verizon mobile phone subscriber) but they were the only provider we could get at our location. From day one we had problems, most of which …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 01:25

  • Microsoft crippled by S'Kiddies

    Company's own techies didn't do enough damage

    DoS'ing Script Kiddies easily disabled most of Microsoft's major Web sites Thursday, just as the company was recovering from the humiliation of being accidentally taken off line by its own (MCSE?) technicians Tuesday and Wednesday. "During the morning of 25 January, Microsoft was the target of a denial-of-service attack against …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 08:46

  • Bonsai Kitten craze sweeps online world

    The things people do

    Hardly a week goes by without computer games being blamed for turning people into psychopathic killers, so it was strangely reassuring to see some of these dangerous maniacs up in arms over the spoof Bonsai Kitten web site. After being included as a novelty 'link of the day' on Blue's News, a popular indie site almost as old as …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 09:25

  • Nvidia licenses AMD LDT bus

    Connects graphics company's North and Southbridge parts

    Nvidia has licensed AMD's Lightning Data Transport bus technology, as have nine other companies, while 20-30 more are evaluating it, Chimpzilla told attendees at the Platform Conference in San Jose, this week. The Nvidia connection is particularly interesting, given the work the company, which is better known for its graphics …

    Channel 26 Jan 2001, 10:33

  • WorldCom to shed loadsa jobs?

    That's what they say

    WorldCom has refused to comment on a report that the telco is to lay off up 11,500 of its workforce. WSJ.com said the outfit is set to shed between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of its staff citing sources close to the company. WorldCom employs some 77,000 people. It's understood the cuts will come in areas where WorldCom is …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 10:53

  • Flame of the Week You jumped up smug sanctimonious hacks

    Stop preaching at me it does my head in...

    Re: We know what Ginger is This hot item just in from an anonymous reader - an angry, angry man: ohh look at us, we know what it is, we see through the hype because we're fucking smug and we tell our wives that we love them look at me I've got a wife Jeez isn't modern life shallow why don't journalists have some perspective …

    Flame of the Week 26 Jan 2001, 10:55

  • BTInternet flat-fee ISP slips into the water

    Just like watching the Titanic launch

    BTInternet has launched its FRIACO-based 24/7 Net access service today as expected and is marking the occasion with a monster multi-million pound ad campaign. Apparently, the adverts, "humorously depict" BTInternet Anytime surfers forgetting how to perform "real world" tasks like driving a car or using an escalator. Gawd help …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 10:58

  • Colour Palm V debuts on Web

    Officially called the m505, apparently

    The next version of Palm's Palm V PDA has unexpectedly made its debut on the Web. An anonymous leaker sent the pic to PalmStation.com, which is understandably sceptical about its authenticity. After all, doctored piccies purporting to be next-generation PDAs turn up all the time. However, we think the site may have something …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 11:00

  • Windows Roundup DirectX 8.0a, IE 5.5 not bugfix looms

    What kind of UI would you like in Whistler?

    ActiveWin has reported the official release of DirectX 8.0a, after Microsoft announced its site was down for the third time this week. But after further investigation and a couple of e-mails, it seems that DirectX 8.0a is more of a developer and/or manufacture release. A reader says that after downloading it, he saw no …

    Software 26 Jan 2001, 11:06

  • Rambus unfazed by Intel DDR plan

    RDRAM will rule by 2002 anyway, company reckons

    Rambus expects Intel to release a DDR SDRAM chipset for the Pentium 4, and it's none too bothered by the fact. That's certainly the tone of comments made by Rambus' VP for worldwide marketing, Avo Kanadjian, interviewed over at EBN. Kanadjian claims he "isn't worried" about Chipzilla's DDR plans. As an example of his lack of …

    Channel 26 Jan 2001, 11:42

  • Engrish – Readers reply with forked tongue

    Damn chiat lat man!

    Engrish - the terrifying truth We have an exemplary bulging mailsack this week regarding punters taking a chainsaw to English. Marco Silvestri clearly think he's the only polyglot on the planet: About your idiot article on The Reg: A Language is just a tool to communicate between different people. We can use english, …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 11:49

  • Ingram gets Web licensing boost

    Its taken 32% of licensing business

    Online licensing now accounts for 32 per cent of Ingram Micro's licensing business after just three months of running the scheme. Vendors covered in the LicenseLink service, which launched in October, include Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec, Lotus and Powerquest. Peter Nevison, Ingram category manager, told Computer Reseller News …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 11:52

  • MS details Jump-off point for Windows Java dev

    But it's Not There yet, as we used to say about something else...

    Microsoft has announced a Java migration path to .NET, in a move that currently looks more like circling the wagons than an aggressive assault on Sun's turf. The Java User Migration Path (JUMP) to .NET offers a set of tools to help developers using Microsoft's Visual J++ to convert to C# and .NET, but it's only due to beta this …

    Software 26 Jan 2001, 12:02

  • Reg hack in ite House arning

    e are itless ankers

    White House Ws go Walkabout Looks like we've really blown it this time. Or rather, lovely Lucy Sherriff has blown it with her sarky comments about good 'ol dubya Bush and the missing White House W's. No sooner had the piece hit the screens than she was approached by two gum-chewing Scicilians in golf pants, Hawaian shirts and …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 12:13

  • Ericsson to stop making mobile phones

    Been losing a lorra money

    The world's number three for mobile phones, Ericsson, has said it will stop manufacturing handsets because of huge losses in its consumer products arm. The announcement came with the company's fourth-quarter results. The demand for mobile phones is rapidly slowing as the world+dog now has one and chief exec Kurt Hellstroem has …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 12:39

  • Shiva shut-down annoys resellers

    Perle offers alternative

    Intel has come in for some reseller flak over the way it's handling the closure of its Shiva division. Shiva's remote access products were discontinued from 4 January, but will be supported for a further two years. However Computer Reseller News has found resellers unhappy with how much warning they got about the shut down. …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 12:42

  • Totalise vaporises workers – confirmed

    Update: Is this another company for the titsup.com file?

    AIM-listed Totalise has confirmed it has canned a "substantial" number of its workforce. In a short statement the British ISP said: "Totalise has confirmed that, following an operational review, it has reduced its work force substantially, with the company now far more focused on its core businesses with proven income streams …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 12:44

  • Australia v USA II – The Diggers wade in

    Seconds out, round two

    Australia v USA - The gloves are off The gloves are indeed off in our Pacific rim clash of titans. Morgan Dell jumps out of his corner fighting with: Those bastard seppo yanks. In response to Andre A. Smith: I had to laugh when he mistook Guy Brush's use of the word geocentric for egocentric. Presumably, being an illiterate …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 12:49

  • Datatec reduces debt with UUNET SA sale

    Channel Flannel

    Datatec, the South African-owned networking equipment reseller and distributor, is flogging its 76 per cent stake in UUNET SA to Worldcom for $138.5 million. Datatec announced in November its intention to sell the business to Worldcom. It will use the proceeds to reduce debt and to buy back shares. According to Reuters, the …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 12:57

  • Doc gassed on phone while gassing patient

    Manslaughter charge follows heart attack death

    A woman died in a dentist's chair because her anaesthetist was too busy talking on his mobile to pay proper attention to her condition, a jury at the Old Bailey heard. Richard Kaul, 37, allegedly failed to follow General Dental Council guidelines on sedation and used an unapproved "backdoor" method. Kaul, who is a London …

    Data Networking 26 Jan 2001, 13:24

  • Games-World demands apology

    pissedoff.com

    Chris Incledon of Intensive Networks LTD is a mite irritated by Kieren's Games-World.net scoffs over Barrysworld demise. Chris is also technical manager of Games-World: Hello There, I think your write up about the press releases is way out of line and I would like you to print an instant retraction. Originally we had a good …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 13:42

  • Aristo erotic rock chick slams toffs

    Her Web site talks of divorce and snobs

    The wife of Lord Burford, Canadian Louise Robey, has posted a message on her fan site detailing the breakdown of her marriage and slamming Britain's aristocracy whom she has been forced to endure socially. The red-headed Canadian who can only be described as a "colourful character" became a tabloid favourite when they found out …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 13:44

  • P4 piece hertz reader's feelings

    An apprentice boffin lets rip

    Math/CS major James Perry has got a bee in his bonnet about Mike Magee's Pentium 4 Foster may sink the Itanic. I'm writing this since I think someone needs to correct the general misconception surrounding the Itanium that many people have - particularly Register journalists. In particular, in your article you state: "Will they …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 13:47

  • Scientology exposé finds favour

    Good job guys!

    Scientologist Web site rips off urban75.com It's always good to absorb a bit of praise on a Friday. Take it away Fredric L. Rice: It was a wonderful job you guys did on that breaking news about the notorious Narconon organization's theft of Urban75's web site. The news is expected to break here in the United States some time …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 14:25

  • ARM to use PowerVR 2 technology

    3D graphics for mobiles

    Chip designer Imagination Technology has signed a deal with ARM Holdings to get its PowerVR 2 graphics chip it developed integrated into future ARM designed processors. Imagination hopes this will mean its 3D graphics chip design will end up in three-quarters of the world's mobile phones and TV set-top boxes. The deal comes in …

    Channel 26 Jan 2001, 14:26

  • 95%? You lucky, lucky devils

    Mobile phone connection rate coveted by Finns

    UK mobile networks connect 95% of the time Readers' letters 95%? You're having a laugh The 95% connection rate claim has sparked off a right old debate down here at Vulture Central. Our readers haven't finished yet by a long way. Tim Auton gets down and dirty with: I can see why the results are grossly inaccurate when …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 14:31

  • Everquest stamps on Bob Smith

    Original, high-fantasy names demanded

    Everquest class action threat over auction spat Regarding this Everquest palaver, Colin MacDonald sent in an amusing factoid: Er, you missed the really funny bit, that they even dictate the *names* you can use. And no, I don't mean they ban stuff like "Rumpleforeskin", they ban "Bob Smith" because all names should be (quote) " …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 15:00

  • Microsoft dragged kicking and screaming

    Windows to enter late eighties by 2006?

    Windows to go 3D... but not in Whistler Andrew Orlowski was most impressed with Chris Ross's erudite musings on his recent article. So were the letters department, so here you go: That'll be Microsoft "innovating" then. This is an area that has been explorered a lot, especially on Unix. Most notibly in "Rooms: The Use of …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 15:03

  • MS DNS mess matched by 25% of Fortune 1000

    All servers on same network segment. Tsk

    More than a third of companies are vulnerable to the kind of domain name system (DNS) problems that made Microsoft's web sites unavailable this week. A survey by Icelandic DNS specialist Men & Mice on a random sample of 5 000 active .com domains, showed that 38 per cent of sites were running all their DNS servers on the same …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 15:08

  • Maxtor and Western Digital in profit, Quantum isn't

    Hard drive results roundup

    The major hard drive players are all releasing their end-2000 financials, and they're a bit of a mixed bag. After 11 consecutive loss making quarters, Western Digital must have broken out the bubbly after reporting a profit for the quarter ending December 31. On revenues of $530.7 million, a profit of $1.8 million is not to be …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 15:27

  • Readers' Letters Tariff too cheap for MS

    £2,500 to remove any story? Peanuts!

    It's absolutely typical. You streamline your backhanders and bungs department, and still there's confusion. Steve Rodway needs clarification: Was just wondering if there is any element of truth in the page Register Tariff 2001 'cause it strikes me, for a company like Microsoft, £2,500 would be well worth it for removal of any …

    Letters 26 Jan 2001, 15:59

  • Police radios can trigger positive breath test

    An ex-copper explains all to the Reg

    If you're ever asked to do a breath test by the police you might do well to insist that they turn off their radios before you blow into their breathalyser. The advice comes from an ex-copper who wrote to us after we printed a story about police concerns about interference from next-generation handsets He writes: "When at the …

    Data Networking 26 Jan 2001, 16:13

  • ISP accuses BT of price fixing

    'Restrictive practice' complaint now in Oftel's hands

    A Hampshire ISP is looking for other ISPs to rally round and support a complaint it's made against BT. Cloud Nine - a mid-sized business provider based in Basingstoke, Hampshire - claims the monster telco has hiked the price of its wholesale unmetered Net access product making it all but impossible for small and medium-sized …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 16:18

  • Network Associates misses Q4 targets

    Cos it stopped 'channel stuffing'

    Network Associates saw Q4 sales miss forecasts after abandoning its channel "stuffing" policy. The California company reported worse than expected losses of $127.2 million, excluding charges, for the quarter - against earnings of $30.1 million for the same period the previous year. Sales fell 73 per cent to $46.7 million from …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 16:31

  • Hot pics of ALi chipset DDR Intel board

    HWRoundup Anand kinda digs EPoX mobo design

    The new EPoX mobo showed up on Anand's site today. The board fares reasonably well and the sheer effort apparent in the new design wins lots of points. However, the design isn't perfect and the reviewer finds a couple of points that could be improved. Read the full monty here. The Sharkster got out his bench and scratched …

    Hardware Roundup 26 Jan 2001, 17:18

  • Egg.com's been down due to hardware problem

    Another 48 hours before customers get access

    Online bank Egg.com has been down all week but until five minutes ago couldn't be bothered to tell anyone, even customers, why. The basic information pages have been accessible the whole time but anything on its secure servers is still out of reach - meaning that customers have no access at all to their accounts. Despite this …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 17:28

  • eToys sees losses rise in Q3

    It's been buying customers at $40 a pop

    Struggling e-tailer eToys saw losses rise for the third quarter, leaving it with just enough cash to last until the end of March. The debt-ridden online toy merchant, which earlier this month said it would lay off 700 of its 1,000 staff and shut its European business, recorded a net loss of $85.8 million for the period ended …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 18:01

  • Britney gets filthy in front of 170,000 fans

    A new image perhaps?

    Britney Spears, the wholesome princess of pop, and queen of semiconductor physics is not the harmless little lamb we all took her for. It seems young Britney rather put her foot in it at a recent show when she failed to notice that her microphone was switched on and let rip with a barrage of rude words. She was to perform …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 18:06

  • Sex sells – but Web sites cost a fortune

    And the rest is anti-climax

    The company trying to making .tv domains the latest fashion accessory has scored itself a PR scoop with the announcement that www.sex.tv has gone for a record price. Unsurprisingly, it has gone to an "adult entertainment" company. Unfortunately that's where the information ends. How much was paid? Who bought it? What will it …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 18:09

  • Web privacy bandits named and shamed

    Spam merchants and credit card data dogs

    Internet sites are failing to either protect consumers privacy or adhere to international data protection laws. A study of 751 sites by Consumers International, the global federation of 13 consumer organisations, reveals that many European and American Internet sites aimed at consumers fall woefully short of international …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 19:00

  • SIAA sues auction site pirates

    $55K of software flogged for $144.85

    The Software and Information Industry (SIAA) has filed lawsuits against two alleged software pirates which auctioned their goods online. The suits against Michael Chu, California, and Julian Kish, Chicago, were filed yesterday by the SIAA on behalf of Adobe, Macromedia and Alias/Wavefront - a division of Silicon Graphics. They …

    Business 26 Jan 2001, 20:52

  • Fakegifts.com owners face criminal charges

    Where do we get our fake Rolexes now?

    The American duo allegedly behind fakegifts.com could face a lengthy spell in jail for selling imitation designer chic, such as Cartier watches, over the Net. Cartier, which started the investigation into Mark Dipadova and Theresa Gayle Ford in Columbia, claims it is the first action by federal prosecutors against sellers of …

    Music and Media 26 Jan 2001, 22:46