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20th February 2001 Archive

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  • Sage buys TAS Software for £9.7m

    Channel flannel

    Sage Group has mopped up another British accountancy software competitor, this time Epsom-based TAS Software, the developer of TAS Books, for £9.7 million in cash and loan notes. TAS Books is designed for sole traders and small businesses. To encourage resellers to use its channel Web site, Network Associates has launched a …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 07:51

  • One.Tel exchanges blows with BT

    Handbags at 30 paces

    Discount telco One.Tel plc placed an ad in yesterday's Times disputing claims that BT is 24 per cent cheaper than its competitors. The tit-for-tat move follows an earlier BT ad which highlighted the findings of an independent report into the cost of using the phone. One.Tel believes BT is "dreaming" over its "misleading" claim …

    Data Networking 20 Feb 2001, 10:15

  • The Liquid PC

    The dos and don'ts of using water to cool your computer

    I woke up recently and thought, "Let's pour gallons of water into my extremely expensive computer and see what happens," writes Tom 'Mugwum' Bramwell. Admittedly it sounds like rather an odd thing to suddenly lust after, but actually, when it comes down to it, it's both quiet and more efficient than regular heatsink and fan …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 10:28

  • NEC slashes profit forecasts by a third

    Hit by chip glut and PC slowdown

    The chip glut and PC sales slowdown has caused NEC to slash its annual earning forecast by a third. It now expects to make profits of 60 billion yen ($516 million) for the year to 31 March instead of 90 billion yen. Sales are expected to hit 5.4 trillion yen, 1.8 per cent below earlier forecasts. For the full year, semi- …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 10:37

  • Apple PowerBook G4 hit with DVD jam bug

    US offering free fix

    Apple has acknowledged a build flaw in the new Titanium PowerBook G4 that causes DVDs to stick inside the notebook's casing. Questions remain, however, over what the company is doing about the problem. The issue has been doing the Mac user sites for a while. The glitch - an otherwise very minor misalignment of the slot-load DVD …

    Mac Channel 20 Feb 2001, 11:14

  • Apple will launch new kit in Tokyo, exec hints

    Euro staffer spills the beans, sort of

    Apple will announce new products this week at MacWorld Expo Tokyo, the company's European Education Director, Brendan O'Sullivan, has hinted. Speaking to the Irish Times, O'Sullivan said the company will introduce new machines, for which innovation is the key, he added. And: "We will keep innovating with portable products such …

    Mac Channel 20 Feb 2001, 11:15

  • Screen price drop crashes Hitachi LCD targets

    Price of 14.1in has fallen 40% from last year

    Hitachi warned yesterday that it would miss its LCD sales targets this year, blaming the falling costs of the screens for the depressed figures. The company said that prices of 14.1-inch screens had fallen 40 per cent from last year, because other manufacturers had increased production, flooding the market. This, combined with …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 11:32

  • Tiny cuts 60 jobs

    Less operational staff, more customer services

    PC assembler and retailer Tiny Computers is laying off 60 staff from its HQ in Redhill, Surrey. The job cuts will be made from the operations side of the business. However Tiny is stressing that there will be jobs available in customer services for some of those facing redundancy. Staff were told yesterday that the company …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 11:34

  • Transmeta powers ‘pearly pink’ PC for pussy

    Hello Kitty gets kitted up

    Transmeta has made its coolest design win yet: its Crusoe 5600 chip will power a notebook styled on Japan's most famous pussy. Yes, cute kids cartoon craze, Hello Kitty, will soon have her own "pearly pink" coloured sub-notebook PC, according to the button-eyed kitten's creator, Sanrio. To be fair, it's note a Transmeta design …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 11:45

  • Woundup How WinXP product activation will work

    Maybe...

    According to an e-mail I recently received from a Microsoft spokeswoman, the new Windows Product Activation feature in Windows XP is still in full effect. How this will work is still unknown, but Ars Technica has a write-up of what we might expect. Ars itself qualifies the piece heavily, as there's no way of knowing yet if this …

    Software 20 Feb 2001, 11:58

  • UK rejects CD-R tax

    Buy all your recordable media over here

    The UK will not follow the rest of Europe and impose levies on recording equipment and media. Indeed, the Government remains "firmly opposed" to the tax, according to a Department of Trade and Industry spokesman, cited by the Financial Times. Last week, the European parliament passed the European Union's proposed directive on …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 12:13

  • BT chairman to be replaced by Sir Marconi

    That's the word in the City

    BT remained tight-lipped about the future of its chairman, Sir Iain Vallance, following reports that the monster telco has lined up the head of Marconi for the job. Observers are convinced Sir Iain will step down later this year despite BT's insistence that his contract doesn't expire until 2002. And now Sir Roger Hurn, …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 12:39

  • WinXP to include support for Transmeta Crusoe chips

    A DLL-spotter writes...

    Support for Transmeta CPUs is quietly under development as part of Microsoft's next generation WinXP OS. Beta testers staring vacantly at the blue install screen while filenames flash by claim to have been jolted awake by the evocatively-named crusoe.dll. Microsoft's developers have helpfully tagged the file as a "processor …

    Software 20 Feb 2001, 13:22

  • Halifax online bank loses £88m since launch

    Early days yet..

    Intelligent Finance, Halifax's online bank, has lost £88 million, in just four months of operation. That's about a million quid a day, not including weekends of course By comparison, Egg, the Prudential's online bank. Egg reported an annual loss of £155 million yesterday, but said it would break even by Q4. Of course IF's …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 13:35

  • Opera to ship Mac browser preview this week

    MacOS X support some way off yet, though

    Opera will release the first Mac public test version of its popular Web browser this Thursday. The release is based on version 5 of the browser. The software developer dubbed the release a "technology preview", which essentially means it's still in the very early stages of testing. That said, with a wide public testing …

    Mac Channel 20 Feb 2001, 13:48

  • Battered, bothered, bewildered – Nortel and Lucent shareholders

    Nortel lawsuits, Lucent loans struggle

    Cisco's recent results may have been disappointing, but that's nothing compared with the troubles of rival networking industry heavyweights Nortel and Lucent. Nortel Networks faces at least three class-action lawsuits and allegations of insider dealing for allegedly misleading investors about the health of its business when it …

    Data Networking 20 Feb 2001, 14:49

  • PGP creator Zimmerman leaves Network Associates

    Differences over publishing source code for PGP

    Encryption guru Phil Zimmerman has left Network Associates citing differences with the security giant about publishing the full source code for the latest version of the widely used encryption program, PGP. Zimmerman, the creator of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), is leaving Network Associates (NAI) after three years as a senior …

    Security 20 Feb 2001, 14:55

  • Hackers are terrorists, says UK law

    'This bill actually strengthens people's civil liberties' apparently

    Under British law, cyberterrorists - known to you and me as hackers - are now to be treated the same as terrorists such as the IRA. The Terrorism Act 2000, which became law yesterday, has broadened the definition of terrorist organisations to include those who plan violent protests in the UK (even if the protest takes place …

    Security 20 Feb 2001, 14:57

  • E-minister spins a good yarn as Minister for Clothes

    An expert on cross-stitch - not so hot on ADSL

    Is there no end to Patricia Hewitt's talents? Not content with being the E-minister and leading the nation's crusade towards "broadband Britain" she's also the Textiles Minister. Last week she launched a major report into the economic future of the nation and how super fast communications will propel Britain as a wired leader …

    Music and Media 20 Feb 2001, 15:58

  • Lucent optical kit to reduce mobile network downtime

    And cut costs

    Lucent Technologies today introduced a high-speed optical networking product designed to cut the operating costs of mobile network operators while reducing network downtime. The WaveStar Wireless Network Solution is said to provide wireless carriers with the tools to create and maintain their own high-capacity fibre-optic …

    Data Networking 20 Feb 2001, 16:44

  • Oftel launches review of mobile charges

    Keeps cards close to chest

    Oftel has announced a review into what mobile phone companies charge for incoming calls. It is keeping an open mind on this and welcomes comments from all mobile companies, consumer groups and "anyone else is welcome". It is also working fairly fast - existing constraints expire in March 2002 and all consultations should be in …

    Data Networking 20 Feb 2001, 16:49

  • Sharp tools up with Linux to fight Palm

    Hoping programmability to key to corporate success

    Sharp is looking to Linux as the basis for the next generation of its Zaurus PDAs - at least as far as models sold outside Japan go. The next Zaurus - provisionally due in the US before Christmas, according to a Sharp spokesman cited by Reuters - will run ship with Linux to overseas buyers, but Japanese customers' machines will …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 16:57

  • 1.3GHz Athlon action kicks off

    Chips, systems, lab tests

    It looks like 1.3GHz Athlon action is about to kick off, ahead of AMD's official launch at CeBIT next month. The system builders have already got their processors, and the testing labs of the PC magazines are getting kit in to review. Yesterday we reported Dabs.com is advertising 1.3GHz Athlons in the April issue of computer …

    Channel 20 Feb 2001, 17:15

  • Graphics on a budget with the ATI Radeon VE

    Non-performance market

    ATI's new Radeon VE launched yesterday to a mixed, but mostly positive, reaction. The multi-monitor support was a hit, but in terms of raw performance, Nvidia's GeForce2 MX had the edge. It is aimed squarely at the budget section of the market, or 'value' end, as the marketing people like to call it. The board is inexpensive - …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 17:28

  • Police grab DNA from server thieves

    How to avoid leaving your sweat on a Sun server case

    The police have teamed up with forensic scientists to discover ways of grabbing DNA samples from serious IT hardware blaggers. The cops are so concerned about the multi-million pound thefts of high-end server mobos, they're taking forensic experts back to the scenes of crimes to grab DNA samples - usually sweat and saliva - …

    Business 20 Feb 2001, 17:31

  • NSA chief says bin Laden has superior technology

    Trust no one

    Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden has superior technology at his disposal than the National Security Agency, the head of the super-secretive spy agency has told an American documentary programme. Superior technological capabilities helped bin Laden to mastermind the simultaneous 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and …

    Security 20 Feb 2001, 17:37

  • Newsgroups can be terrorists too

    Let's hear it for catch-all legislation

    The government has pulled newsgroups and ISPs as well as hackers into the Terrorism Act, passed yesterday, thanks to what one lawyer has called "an unfortunate, over-wide draft". Under section 12, titled "Support", the Act makes it an offence for someone to arrange, manage or assist in arranging a meeting (private or public) in …

    Security 20 Feb 2001, 17:53

  • Click here for Amazing Computer Stories

    HWRoundup Also ATI v Nvidia

    Tech Extreme has posted another batch of "Amazing Computer Stories" here for us to read, laugh at and feel superior at the end of. And why not. Check it out to cure the "It's still so long till the weekend" blues. Anandtech takes another look at the ATI vs Nvidia situation, this time from the drivers' perspective. Timely, …

    Hardware Roundup 20 Feb 2001, 18:37