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31st January 2001 Archive

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  • Raging Bull spears new owner

    AltaVista flogs site to Terra Lycos

    It's amazing how many page impressions you can rack up with a discussion site. Raging Bull's two million readers wade through, on average, 100 pages each a month and spend 100 minutes each month working through the posts. Trouble is, it's difficult to get good money from even good discussion sites - the audience may be right, …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 07:56

  • Woundup Win2k slow progress, more on Whistler keys

    But it's all pretty quiet out there...

    ZDNet has an interesting piece concerning the slow but sure growth of Windows 2000. The news that has dominated the Web sites since Windows 2000 was released a year ago is probably the deployment issue. Millions of companies have already either upgraded from NT or have been convinced, and upgraded from a Unix/Linux operating …

    Software 31 Jan 2001, 10:39

  • Apple to drop ATI for Nvidia

    Mac Rumour Roundup By the end of the year, at any rate

    Within the next 12 months, Apple will be buying all its graphics components from Nvidia, AppleInsider's souces have claimed. Certainly it's a plausible allegation. Apple now has Nvidia-derived boards in its top three Power Macs. One Power Mac ships with ATI Rage 128 Pro parts, it's true, but that may well be Apple's way of …

    Mac Channel 31 Jan 2001, 10:52

  • Chipzilla confirms prices cuts

    What did we say?

    OK, so it was a day or so later than expected, but Intel has at last hacked back the prices of its current line-up of desktop and mobile, pro and consumer-oriented processors. Chipzilla confirmed the cuts yesterday. As predicted, the reductions are greatest on the Pentium III and Pentium 4 parts, to shift the former and begin …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 11:10

  • Kingston delays consumer LLU

    Join the gang

    Kingston Communications has become the latest telco to lose interest in competing head-to-head with BT in Britain. Today it announced it was delaying the roll-out of unbundled broadband services to residential customers until next year. It will still proceed with providing broadband services over unbundled lines for business …

    Data Networking 31 Jan 2001, 11:27

  • Alcatel predicts increase in mobile, Net sales

    Weak telco demand offset by ADSL and mobile growth

    Alcatel has forecast a slowdown in demand from service providers for networking equipment that will result in a slowdown of its growth this year. Announcing its annual results, Alcatel said that sales in its main telecoms business will rise by between 20 to 25 per cent this year, slightly down on an earlier forecast of 25 per …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 11:33

  • ARM's profits jump 53%

    DRAM doesn't do the biz for Infineon

    ARM's Q4 pretax profits have jumped 53 per cent thanks to the mobile phone bonanza pushing up license sales and royalty payments. Pretax profit was £10.1 million, up from £6.6 million for the same quarter a year earlier. Turnover rose 58 per cent to £29.8 million. As the phone market slows ARM is looking to push its business …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 11:34

  • Intel plant discharges excess emissions

    We knew it was full of hot air, but this is ridiculous...

    Intel pumped over a third of a ton of chemicals into the air around its Rio Rancho chip foundry during the last three months or so, the company's official air pollution readings, filed with the New Mexico government, reveal. The emissions were made during 12 incidents involving the shutting down of the plant's air pollution …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 11:39

  • BT schmooze provides short-term relief

    Aaaaaahhhhh, that's better

    BT chiefs had a cosy dinner with a select group of City fund managers and - who'd have guessed it - the next day shares in the lumbering, monster telco perk up. According to today's Mail, BT claims it was a private meeting and nothing was discussed that would have affected the share price. After all, that really wouldn't be …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 11:57

  • RedHotAnt site disappears

    Is this the end?

    There are fresh concerns today about Kent-based ISP, RedHotAnt, after its Web site disappeared overnight. El Reg has spent most the morning looking for it - but we can't find it. We even looked down the back of the sofa and in the knicker drawer - but still, nothing. According to one Vulture-eyed Reg reader: "As of 6.15 …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 12:42

  • Europe to go titsup.com

    So says PwC

    Europe is going titsup.com thanks to Internet companies burning money faster than ever before, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers has said. Only 28 per cent of the big Internet companies (it spoke to 150 firms) are making a profit - down from 45 per cent in its previous quarterly survey. Of these companies, 23 are looking shaky …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 12:59

  • Euro dotcom top brass get 60% pay rise

    To make up for the share options

    The chief execs of dotcom businesses have received a nice fat 60 per cent pay rise in the last 12 months. The average pay packet is now £170,000. According to a survey by IT recruitment group Futurestep, the dotcom top brass have also bagged twice the number of share options previously held. The huge pay increase and the extra …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 13:00

  • Chipzilla gears up for 2GHz-plus PCs

    Intel Roadmap Update Desktop processors to Q2 2002

    Intel will have pushed the desktop PC beyond 2GHz at the high end, and driven the Pentium 4 processor down into the lowest reaches of the mainstream PC market by the end of the year, The Register has learned. The basics of Chipzilla's plan comes in an update to the desktop processor roadmap we saw late last year. Northwood, the …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 13:24

  • Pentium 4 price blitz to push out PIII

    Intel Roadmap Update Chip charges coming up

    Intel's latest roadmap update reveal an ongoing process of price cuts through to 27 May, driving down the cost of adopting the Pentium 4 and squeezing the last few drops out of the PIII. On 4 March, Intel will trim P4 prices in preparation for the 15 April launch of 1.7GHz part, at which point prices will go down again. The 1. …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 13:24

  • New e-envoy named!

    Updated And the selection process was a waste of time!

    Well, four months after Alex Allan quit as the government's e-envoy and after an open invitation to the UK for anyone to put themselves forward for the job, the incredible choice has been made. Yes, it's Andrew Pinder! His selection hasn't been officially announced yet but the government has leaked the story to the FT today so …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 13:36

  • Dell disses handhelds and Net appliances

    The Reg hangs out with Mike

    Say what you like about Michael Dell, the man certainly does not lack confidence in his product or his business strategy. When CEOs of big computer companies come to talk to the press, you expect to hear a lot about their vision of the future. Speaking in London today, Michael Dell spent more time shooting down other visions …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 13:47

  • Intel to hijack world with InfiniBust – analyst

    Rambus redux?

    The minions of the Satan Clara chip factory may be busy at work weaving a fabric to ensnare the entire computing and networking industries, but according to a leading industry analyst, this fabric has a few Rambus-sized holes in it. InQuest Market Research reckons InfiniBand - for which silicon and software began sampling this …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 15:21

  • Cisco ships 10Gbps router

    Great Satan of Routers tries to bury Juniper

    Cisco will today launch a range of high-speed networking kit targeted as service providers, including a 10 Gigabit router and an optical networking control box. The 12400 series of Internet routers, available today at prices starting from $120,000, are the first from Cisco to break the 10 Gigabit barrier. However other firms …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 16:00

  • New York amid dotcom boom

    Read the report if you don't believe us

    Gnumeedjia luvvies in New York reckon life on the Net isn't as bad as everyone makes out and that their businesses will survive the current dotcom downturn. According to the New York New Media Industry Survey: Climate Study, January 2001 published today, 70 per cent of new media businesses surveyed report they are "somewhat" to …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 16:02

  • Register screensaver challenge

    Competition You can be Reg God for a Day

    Always looking to employ our readers' talents to the greater benefit of mankind, we are giving you the chance to be God for a Day. What we want is a vulture-themed Reg screensaver which we can offer as a free download to our beloved fans. The winner of this tekkie challenge will appear in a front-page Reg article, complete …

    Bootnotes 31 Jan 2001, 16:05

  • The most ludicrous form of dotcom advertising we've ever seen

    And it's all to do with blood, sex and tears

    So there we were, down the Mason's Arms, when Lester cries: "What the hell is that on his back?" Sure enough, one of the boxers on the Eurosport channel had something written on his back. "It's bloody advertising!" Not only advertising, but Sven Ottke from Germany, fighting Branco from Italy, (we don't know what weight - looked …

    Bootnotes 31 Jan 2001, 16:07

  • Letsbuyit ditches 200 staff

    Just put it out of its misery, please

    Letsbuyit.com is to lay off 200 staff and scrap operations in some countries in an effort to avoid collapse. In the never-ending saga of the dotcom that simply refuses to die, around 60 per cent of employees will be shown the door. Today's announcement follows 27-year-old hacker-cum-new media entrepreneur Kim Schmitz bailing …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 16:11

  • Chipzilla readies 1GHz Mobile PIII

    Intel Roadmap Update My laptop has a Toilet-in...

    Intel will launch its first 1GHz mobile processor next March, less than a month after releasing a 700MHz "low voltage" PIII, the follow-up to this week's "ultra-low voltage" 500MHz PIII. March will also see a 750MHz Mobile Celeron, followed by an 800MHz part in May, and 850MHz and 900MHz chips in Q3 and beyond. Chipzilla's …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 16:28

  • Mobile PIII price cuts coming

    Intel Roadmap Update 'Back to school refresh'

    Intel will cut the price of the 1GHz and 900MHz Mobile Pentium III less than two months after its launch next March in what it calls a "back to school refresh". The 1GHz part will launch at $772, falling $637 on 27 May. At the same time, the 900MHz chip will come down from a launch price of $562 to $423, after experiencing an …

    Channel 31 Jan 2001, 16:28

  • Music megaportal might ease P2P losses – study

    But legal intimidation is such fun

    Major music labels could cash in on revenues currently being lost to P2P services like Napster and Gnutella if they would only develop a consistent marketing platform such as a portal, and cross-license each others' content, according to a white paper by German outfit Diebold Group. The paper, A Survival Plan for the Music …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 16:32

  • First 480Mbps USB 2.0 controller arrives

    Chipset delays threaten take-up

    The first USB 2.0 integrated peripheral controller, capable of data rates of 480 Mbps was launched yesterday by Cypress Semiconductor, but adoption could be held up by chipset delays. The EZ-USB FX2 is sampling now, with production quantities coming later in Q1, priced from $8.25 to $9.75 in volumes of 1,000 units. The Windows …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 17:09

  • Satellite bandwidth market opens in London

    Buy buy buy, sell sell sell

    An exchange to trade bandwidth on the world's satellites was opened in London this morning. The London Satellite Exchange, will employ 13 people, six of whom are traders in satellite bandwidth. The Exchange will sell capacity to service providers and big corporations looking for a market where they can get a better deal on …

    Data Networking 31 Jan 2001, 17:24

  • We love Ace's Hardware

    Advertisers sign up. Now

    Recently, we've written about the cold wind blowing through games and hardware review sites which depend upon ad networks for their income. So it comes as little surprise to us that the ad networks have rescinded deals with some of their affiliates. But we're astonished that "UGO Networks no longer represents Ace's Hardware, …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 17:31

  • British e-tailers offer shabby e-returns service

    Comet, PCWorld, Boots don't make it easy

    British e-tailers have shabbier returns policies than their US rivals, a survey claims. Major UK sites, such as electronics sellers Comet and PCWorld, fail to mention exactly how to return goods, while Boots has no returns policy at all on its site. Nine out of ten top UK e-commerce sites do not have a link to the company's …

    Music and Media 31 Jan 2001, 17:34

  • Kylix throws free goodies back into Linuxland

    IDE closed, but libraries, tools punted towards freedom

    Borland will ship Kylix, aka Delphi for Linux in the next month, and threw a coming out party for the software at LinuxWorld Expo in New York. It's isn't open source, but that said, there'll be plenty of red meat to throw back into the free software mixer as a result of Borland's porting efforts. Pricing is similar to the …

    Software 31 Jan 2001, 17:51

  • Lucent looks at holographic storage

    Stumps up boffins, gets VC cash

    Lucent has sent up a new venture, called InPhase, to investigate the potential of holographic storage, long the stuff of science fiction novels, and storage vendors' dreams. In theory, three-dimensional storage would allow high storage densities and fast data transfer speeds. It would work by storing data as a series of …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 18:02

  • MVP.com goes titsup.com

    Gretzky and Jordan backed sports site gets 'sin bined'

    Sports and outdoor equipment e-tailer MVP.com has announced it is going out of business. MVP.com will continue trading for the time being but has confirmed plans to sell its domain name, trademarks and the rest of its business to SportsLine.com. Directors of MVP.com include basketball great Michael Jordan and Ice Hockey legend …

    Business 31 Jan 2001, 18:07

  • More KT133A ass kickin'

    HWRoundup Anything new at the party?

    The explosion of KT133A motherboard reviews has not stopped over the last few days. Anand and friends took a look at another contribution yesterday, the K7T Turbo Socket-A KT133A ATX from MSI. Can they bring something new to the party? As preproduction samples go, this one must have been fairly good scoring 8.5/10, but the …

    Hardware Roundup 31 Jan 2001, 18:12