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14th February 2001 Archive

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  • Intel retires hurt from streaming media biz

    Too many players, not enough money

    Intel is to scrap its streaming media unit, less than a year after opening up for business. The 200 employees of Intel Internet Media Services will be offered jobs within the company. Last May, Intel announced its intention to grab a flat slice of the streaming media market. The chip giant said it would spend a couple of …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 08:17

  • WorldCom raises spectre of job losses

    Best hide behind the sofa for this one

    Staff at WorldCom International and UUNet have been warned that the integration of both companies will almost certainly lead to job losses. In a "Dear Colleague" internal memo issued to employees yesterday, WorldCom International head, Liam Strong, continued to expound the merits of UUNet becoming enveloped by WorldCom. But he …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 08:49

  • UMC doubles Q4 profits

    Thanks to Motorola and Infineon business

    UMC has said its Q4 profits have more than doubled from the same period a year ago. Its success is down to chipmakers such as Motorola and Infineon subcontracting their production to UMC. For the three months to 3 December, UMC reported a profit of NT$16.7 billion ($505 million), more than double the NT$7.2 billion ($218 …

    Channel 14 Feb 2001, 09:19

  • Deja UI too costly to save, Google boss tells Reg

    But yours sucks worse says Usenet founder

    Google killed Deja's front end to its newly acquired Usenet archive because maintaining it was judged too costly, co-founder and CEO Larry Page told The Register yesterday. Although the historical archive has been saved from the moribund Deja operation, one of the co-founders of the Internet discussion system added his voice to …

    Media 14 Feb 2001, 10:39

  • Govt peddles broadband Britain happy pill

    Comment But the effects wear off fast

    Reading the Government's latest offering on its vision for a broadband Britain is like swallowing a happy pill. A few paragraphs in and the gloom of the last six months begins to disperse. The depression that has dogged you about the roll-out of ADSL and local loop unbundling begins to lift. ...you know it's not all that bad. …

    Data Networking 14 Feb 2001, 10:52

  • Apple begins to code key MacOS X apps

    Mac Rumour Roundup AirPort enhancements don't quite ring true, though

    Apple is working on a fully native MacOS X version of AppleWorks. According to AppleInsider, the company has shipped the latest developer release to staffers. Essentially, the MacOS X release is simply a re-compliled version of the current shipping release, AppleWorks 6.0, though some extensive work is expected to take place to …

    Mac Channel 14 Feb 2001, 11:11

  • Orange has plums squeezed. Market yelps too

    And France Telecom had gone to so much trouble

    Well, after all the fuss, a huge cut in issue price and more general nonsense, the Orange float has been a flop. It's currently sitting at six per cent below the issue price of 10 euros. At times it was nearly eight per cent below. Every financial journalist and analyst now suddenly knows that it was going to be a failure all …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 11:52

  • Woundup WinXP beta build 2428 ships – quietly

    And some other stuff happened too...

    A slew of Windows XP news came in after Microsoft's conference, so I'll try to summarise it all in one paragraph and not bore you. I won't even comment on the new (horri... err.) Windows XP UI, but to get a feel for it, you can look at Microsoft's Windows XP Web site which has some basic screenshots and spiel on how the UI was …

    Software 14 Feb 2001, 11:54

  • VIA confirms March launch for Samuel II

    1GHz Ezra/C5C coming later, 1.2GHz C5X coming later still

    VIA will debut the next version of its Cyrix III processor, based on the upcoming Samuel II core, next month, as predicted. And the company confirmed and clarified what we've heard about Samuel II's successor, Ezra, also known by its internal codename, C5C. Samuel II's codename was C5B. It adds 64KB of on-die L2 cache to the …

    Channel 14 Feb 2001, 12:06

  • Microsoft names new president and COO

    Hey Ricky you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind

    Microsoft has named Rick Belluzzo as its new president and chief operating officer. He will replace Bob Herbold, who is retiring at 58. Belluzzo has been with MS since September 1999, previously a VP at HP and CEO of SGI. His job will be to "guide the company's business strategy and direct business operations, sales, marketing …

    Software 14 Feb 2001, 12:10

  • Twisty turny tilting mouse is about

    Groovy four degrees of freedom for gaming

    Hall Effect Technologies has announced a new mouse that it says will revolutionise gaming and software design. It has a stationary footprint, and has four degrees of freedom so it can move forward and back, side to side, tilt up and down and twist from left to right. HET says they have been in talks with "loads" of games …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 12:33

  • BT to release Mac ADSL drivers Monday

    Will support them, too

    BT will ship drivers on Monday that will allow Mac users to use its home-oriented ADSL service with the bundled Alcatel SpeedTouch USB modem. The company's ADSL ISP subsidiary, BT Openworld, told The Register that the drivers have been given the thumbs-up BT's broadband infrastructure division, BT Ignite. BT Ignite said the …

    Mac Channel 14 Feb 2001, 12:37

  • NEC to cut spending on basic chip manufacturing

    Coping with over-supply

    NEC has said that it will scale back investment in its semiconductor business by as much as 20 per cent next year because of a decline in chip prices it expects will continue into 2002. In an interview with Bloomberg, Keiichi Shimakura, NEC's deputy president in charge of semiconductors, said that the firm will cut capital …

    Channel 14 Feb 2001, 12:47

  • Dixons boss offloads shares, stock drops

    Sir Stanley reckons business is overvalued?

    Dixons chairman Sir Stanley Kalms has offloaded more than third of his stake in the company causing shares in the business to plummet. Kalms remaining holding dropped £785,000 on the move, because his decision seriously put the wind up other investors who also started selling. Kalms is known for being a smart stock market …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 12:50

  • Crawford out in InterX boardroom putsch

    Co-founder takes helm

    Philip Crawford has resigned as CEO of InterX with immediate effect. (This is a euphemism for being fired.) Company co-founder and executive director Simon Barker has replaced him. Today, the company revealed it signed up two customers for Bladerunner (a high-ticket content management/customer tracking software platform …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 12:51

  • Hacker defaces Intel's Web site

    Security gaff makes Chipzilla into Chumpzilla

    A sub-domain on Intel's Web site has been defaced, apparently by same hacker that also sprayed tasteless graffiti on Gateway's site in an earlier attack. Support pages on Intel's site were replaced by a profane message from The-Rev of cracker group the "sm0ked crew". The defacement, which is almost identical to that inflicted …

    Security 14 Feb 2001, 13:02

  • AMD relaunches LDT as HyperTransport

    Targets broader markets than PCs and servers

    AMD has renamed its Lightning Data Transport (LDT) technology HyperTransport and, as predicted, plans to create a consortium of supporter companies to drive the adoption of the technology and its establishment as a standard. HyperTransport is AMD's new core I/O bus, providing a high speed, high bandwidth connection between a …

    Channel 14 Feb 2001, 14:14

  • Woman gets mobile phone stuck up back orifice

    Updated Ring my ring game goes horribly wrong

    A 20-year-old Taiwanese woman had to have a mobile phone surgically removed from her back passage after a sex game went horribly wrong. According to a report by PA doctors in Taipei eventually managed to get the phone - a Nokia 8850 - out and said kinky sex games with her boyfriend has led to the rectal rumpus. Why a …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2001, 14:46

  • WinXP testers get unique IDs from MS, plus a workaround

    Redmond logic: 2428 code will only work with ID, unless you disable it

    Microsoft has ratcheted up the security in the latest build of the Windows XP, which went up on Microsoft's FTP servers last night, and on the 'unofficial' FTP servers shortly afterwards. But it's a virtual ratchet, largely - according to the build 2428 release notes that escaped along with (of course) the code, each technical …

    Software 14 Feb 2001, 14:51

  • DoJ investigates MS role in Corel Linux pullout

    Another administration, another subpoeana...

    Microsoft has confirmed that it's the subject of a new antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice, over its investment in Corel this time. Although the new Bush administration is seen as being more likely to ease up on Microsoft than the previous tenants, it still appears to be business as usual round at the DoJ. …

    Software 14 Feb 2001, 15:16

  • Dutch police arrest Anna Kornikova virus suspect

    20 year-old could face 4 years in lock-up

    Dutch police have arrested a man suspected of writing the Anna Kornikova computer virus. Police in the northern province of Friesland are holding a 20-year old who faces possible charges of damaging computers through releasing the worm, offences which carry a jail term of up to four years. The man, who cannot be named under …

    Security 14 Feb 2001, 15:21

  • Two more years for 10.8TB card

    Major solid state wait

    Keele High Density, the intellectual property company formed as a joint venture between Cavendish Resource Management and Keele University, has pushed back the likely arrival date of its ultra-high capacity solid state storage technology yet again. The company was founded on the basis of research carried out by Ted Williams, …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 15:24

  • Conflicting standards

    The day the subs were out to lunch

    Want to get the latest news on Buy.com? Look no further than the February 8th issue of The Industry Standard Europe. Page 16 carries the sad news that Buy.com is to shut down its UK operation. If you find that a bit upsetting, don't fret. Just turn to pages 22-23 where there is happier news - John Lewis has saved the day …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2001, 15:28

  • The pay-phone is not dead!

    Mobiles didn't kill it yet, says Oftel

    It turns out that people who don't have mobiles or fixed landline phones use payphones more than any other group. This earth-shattering fact is just one of an array of useful conclusions draw by Oftel researchers from their latest research into the telephone habits of the average Brit. They also discovered that people who use …

    Data Networking 14 Feb 2001, 15:59

  • Fujitsu Siemens claims transaction processing record

    Running SQL Server on system no one's likely to buy

    Fujitsu Siemens is claiming a world records for database performance, based on recent US tests conducted with a version of Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 running on its Primergy H200 server. Based on the industry standard Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC) benchmark tests, Fujitsu Siemens is claiming that its dual …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 16:37

  • ICANN explains ‘thinking’ behind top domain decisions

    It was never anything to do with how good the application was (?!)

    ICANN has explained its peculiar rational behind the choice of global top-level domain names, and defended accusations that the entire process was flawed, at a Congressional sub-committee. Chairman of ICANN, Vinton G. Cerf, was faced with a barrage of criticism over the process, its limited time span, and the final choices made …

    Media 14 Feb 2001, 16:47

  • Acer to cut 500 staff this week

    Foreign workers in Taiwan given the boot

    Acer Inc is to cut 500 staff in Taiwan by the end of the week, the company said today. The layoffs, representing around five per cent of the company's workforce worldwide, will affect foreign workers at its Hsinchu industrial park, according to Dow Jones. Acer, which currently has around 6,000 staff in Taiwan, said many of the …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 16:56

  • TSMC starts fabbing Nvidia Xbox chips

    Countown to launch begins

    Nvidia's Xbox graphics chip and the console's Southbridge, dubbed the Media Communications Processor, have been sent off to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for production. Which means, of course, that Microsoft can soon start building consoles ready for Xbox's ship date, "this fall", according to Microsoft …

    Channel 14 Feb 2001, 16:57

  • Sex ads on police computer case goes to tribunal

    TV says Met isn't PC

    An industrial tribunal has heard that a Transsexual police worker used Metropolitan Police computers to produce ads for an escort agency. Angela Day, who was known as Keith Engvall before her op, was dismissed from her job as a civilian worker in Paddington CID when the allegations came to light. She is claiming unfair …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2001, 16:58

  • BTIgnite president hits back at ADSL knockers

    Not so bad after all

    The president of BT Ignite has moved to calm fears about the sluggish roll-out of ADSL in Britain and reassure ISPs that the telco is doing everything it can to speed up and improve the broadband installation process. In an interview with The Register Steve Andrews explained how BT Ignite has made great strides over the last …

    Media 14 Feb 2001, 17:05

  • Bill Gates Sr fights Dubya's estate-tax ban

    His kid's rich enough, apparently

    The father of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has initiated a high-minded petition to fight Dubya's proposed estate-tax cuts and has enlisted support from some of America's wealthiest Vulgarians, though not his own son, the New York Times reports. The senior Gates was a successful lawyer in Seattle for decades and earned himself …

    Software 14 Feb 2001, 17:15

  • Pedos volunteered system passwords to cops

    Pre-RIP Act so they didn't have to

    The investigation into the w0nderland paedophile ring could have been scuppered at the last minute if the men had not given police their encryption keys. A spokeswoman for the National Crime Squad told The Independent that "We were only able to get into their systems when they voluntarily gave us their passwords." If the same …

    Security 14 Feb 2001, 17:25

  • In space no-one can hear you boot

    I'm sorry Dave - I can't do that

    This snap of the International Space Station Alpha is worth a closer look. Among the space gear and the bloke reading the instructions for the flat-pack pine shelving unit, is an IBM Thinkpad (arrowed). If you look closely at the screen (you'll have to take our word for this, or check out the original pic here), you can …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2001, 17:35

  • Apple moots return to UK Mac show

    Talking to event organiser

    Apple has been in negotiations with the organiser of the UK's unofficial Mac show - indeed, the UK's only major Mac-oriented event - raising the possibility that the company may abandon its policy of focusing solely on Europe's only official Mac event, Paris' MacWorld Expo Europe. According to a MacWorld UK report, one Bob …

    Mac Channel 14 Feb 2001, 17:52

  • AOL lays out legal defence over version 5.0 class actions

    There isn't a case. Simple.

    The class action against AOL is due to arrive in Miami's District Court on 2 March, and the Internet giant has laid out its legal defence. The action - a conglomeration of several filed early last year - is seeking compensation for damaged caused to people's computers thanks to version 5.0 of its software. The software, it is …

    Media 14 Feb 2001, 18:01

  • Elonex sues Compaq over power saving patent

    Goes after a dozen companies in all

    London system builder Elonex is suing a bunch of computer monitor makers, including Compaq and Gateway, over alleged infringement of power saving patents. The 12 separate lawsuits, brought by Elonex IP Holdings and the Netherlands' EIP Licensing, claim that a dozen manufacturers infringed three Elonex patents regarding power …

    Business 14 Feb 2001, 18:08

  • Have you forgotten it's Valentines Day?

    Then click here - we could save your relationship

    Somewhere, deep down in the unromantic recesses of your mind you know that 14 February is Valentine's Day. It may not have surfaced into your consciousness yet. If it this is the case, you run the risk of damaging your relationship or at least having a blazing row when you get home. Time is short but don't panic. First of all, …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2001, 19:09