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6th March 2001 Archive

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  • Canadian paper buys Napster in Sealand story

    'We got our own Shawn Fanning'

    Young Canadian computer science student Matt Goyer claims to be preparing to set up a Napster clone with HavenCo, which operates out of the ludicrous principality of Sealand, to evade recording industry lawyers, according to a story in Monday's Globe and Mail. Sounds like a killer solution: a Napster clone run offshore by a …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 2001, 06:02

  • CIA patching ECHELON shortcomings

    Relax, it's for your own good, and the sake of your children

    A core objection to paranoid rants regarding the US National Security Agency (NSA) electronic eavesdropping apparatus called ECHELON is the simple observation that spooks trying to use it are literally buried in an avalanche of white noise from which it's quite difficult to extract anything pertinent. But now the US Central …

    Security 6 Mar 2001, 07:47

  • Systems Union launches SunSystems 5

    Channel Flannel

    Systems Union is launching a new version of its mid-range accountancy software product, SunSystems 5, this week. The product is the culmination of £30m investment and 400 man-years of development, according to the company. Systems Union was bought last year by Freecom.net, owner also of Pegasus. The group, since renamed Systems …

    Business 6 Mar 2001, 09:28

  • BTopenworld CE insults Net users

    We're just using the Net for a 'weird kind of entertainment' apparently

    A senior exec at BT has slurred the good name of British Net users describing their online activities as a "passive and sometimes rather weird kind of entertainment". BTopenworld CE, Andy Green, delivered his insults during a debate organised by the Parliamentary IT Committee (PITCOM) on the White Paper on the Regulation of …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 2001, 11:21

  • MS gears up for public WinXP beta with interim external build

    Apparently still doesn't quite know how to Whistle, Steve...

    Microsoft has released another pre-beta 2 interim build of XP to external testers, but although this might be interpreted as meaning we're still not there yet, some of the mods in the code are largely added in preparation for the impending widespread beta. But anybody holding their breath waiting for the full poop on Product …

    Software 6 Mar 2001, 12:08

  • Email snooping code of practice delayed

    Data Protection Registrar overwhelmed with responses

    The Data Protection Registrar's code of practice for surveillance in the workplace has been delayed due to the large number of responses from a public consultation. The code of practice is vital for clarifying what employees and employers are entitled to do in the workplace following several pieces of new legislation. The …

    Security 6 Mar 2001, 12:19

  • Compaq dodges dodgy floppy drive lawsuit

    Texas judge ruling

    Compaq has escaped a customer lawsuit that accused the PC giant of knowingly selling defective machines. US District Judge Thad Heartfield dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, according to Bloomberg. The suit alleged that Compaq had for years been flogging computers with dodgy floppy disk drives and controllers that failed to …

    Business 6 Mar 2001, 12:36

  • Palm m105 debuts on firm's Euro Web site

    All the details

    Palm has posted data on the successor to its m100 consumer-oriented PDA, the m105, suggesting availability is imminent, as we predicted here. The details appear on the company's European Web site, suggesting the device will either ship over here first - a big step forward for the decidedly non-Eurocentric Palm - or European …

    Business 6 Mar 2001, 12:56

  • Tony Blair accepts ‘first’ email petition

    Updated PM leads from front and leaves workload behind

    Tony Blair is to accept the 'first ever' fully electronic petition. Number 10 Downing St will accept 2,000 emails from concerned stockbrokers calling for stamp duty to be removed from stock and share purchasing - currently a tax of 0.5 per cent on every transaction. Well, that's the line anyway. Soon after we posted this story …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 2001, 13:19

  • Brit dotcom turns down £3m for URLs

    It's not enough

    A British dotcom is auctioning its collection of floral URLs after turning down an offer of £3 million for them last year. Unfortunately, at this stage it's not exactly clear what any potential bidder will get for their money. In a statement Peter Calvert, MD of Flowers Direct, said he was taking the action because the …

    e-Business 6 Mar 2001, 13:21

  • MS swipes old (51) OS/2 guru to head .NET server sales

    Long history of cooperation with Beast of Redmond, says here...

    Microsoft has hired former IBMer Cliff Reeves as VP, marketing of the "Windows.NET Server Product Management Group." We're not entirely sure what the blazes that is either, but according to the man himself he'll be delivering "enhanced business solutions to our customers and partners, through the Windows.NET Server family," and …

    Software 6 Mar 2001, 13:45

  • Stop the antivirus vendor hype

    Only 800 have ever infected anybody's computer

    A senior figure in the antivirus industry has spoken out against the misinformation and myths which surround computer viruses - many of which he said arise due to hype from vendors themselves. David Perry, global director of education for Trend Micro, said the public harbour a number of common misconceptions about computer …

    Security 6 Mar 2001, 14:57

  • SCH plans £2bn sales after Compelsource buy

    Fighting talk from Rigby

    British computer giant Specialist Computer Holdings expects sales to grow to £2 billion next year. Peter Rigby, chairman and CEO of the Birmingham company, said sales would grow by around a third for the 12 months ending March 31 2002. These figures compared to £1.5 billion in the financial year 2000 to 2001, and £600 million …

    Business 6 Mar 2001, 15:18

  • VIA subsidises DDR to boost uptake

    Micron 128MB DIMMs offered to OEMs at half price

    VIA is taking a leaf out of Intel's book and - to all intents and purposes - bundling its preferred high-performance memory with its chipsets. So, what Intel does with Rambus RDRAM, VIA does with DDR. Chipzilla is providing PC OEMs with low-cost - to them, at any rate - RDRAM modules, the idea being that this will ensure they …

    Channel 6 Mar 2001, 16:05

  • Internet is best place to use credit cards

    Luddite Cassandras take note and shut up

    Well after months and months of poorly researched and hysterically hyped stories on how the Internet was a den of credit card fraud, new figures show that actually the Internet is a pretty good place to flash the plastic. Yes, credit card fraud stepped up from £2 million to £7 million last year but considering the huge increase …

    e-Business 6 Mar 2001, 16:32

  • 90m US wireless surfers expected by 2005

    But narrowband will still rule

    The number of wireless surfers in the US is expected to grow to 88.6 million in 2005. This compares to 4.1 million wire free Web users last year, according to figures from Jupiter Media Metrix. Of these, 74.9 million will use voice-centric handsets, 7.3 million data-centric handsets, and 4.4 million online PDAs. Jupiter got …

    Music and Media 6 Mar 2001, 17:31

  • Alcatel says ‘non’ to users

    Needs to work on its customer service

    ADSL modem manufacturers, Alcatel, has apologised for refusing to talk to users about its products. Earlier today a reader told El Reg that Alcatel wouldn't speak to him about their ADSL products. They insisted he speak to his ISP instead since it was responsible for supporting the wee devices. Our reader said he'd tried that …

    Telecoms 6 Mar 2001, 17:33

  • Now WAP surveys are cwap

    Connecting... connecting... connecting

    Today is a great day for the truth ladies and gentlemen. We've already had some light shed on the nonsense spewed out regarding Internet fraud and now it's back to our old friend, the WAP phone. Through rigid stubbornness, we have managed to stay still while everyone else has come round to the fact that WAP phones are crap. But …

    Data Networking 6 Mar 2001, 17:40

  • Why Hotmail users get so much spam

    Default links to junk emailer easy pickings

    Hotmail has come under criticism for placing its subscribers' email addresses on a public Internet directory site when they sign up for the service, making them easy prey for spammers. Customers signing onto Microsoft's free Web based email service are automatically added to Infospace's Internet White Pages directory by default …

    Security 6 Mar 2001, 17:48

  • UK gets whiff of ADSL competition

    Don't hold your breath

    British ISPs can expect to source wholesale broadband services from a telco other than BT following a ruling today by the telecoms regulator, Oftel. However, when this will be come reality is anyone's guess. The proposed interconnection arrangements announced by Oftel today mean that Energis and Thus will be able to take their …

    Telecoms 6 Mar 2001, 17:50

  • Gates $109m house gets service pack

    Building plan sparks pregnancy rumours

    Bill Gates' plans to expand his $109 million home have prompted speculation over the patter of tiny feet. The Microsoft billionaire has applied to city officials in suburban Medina in Seattle to build onto the mansion to make it more liveable - including the addition of another child's bedroom. Casa Gates, on the shores of …

    Bootnotes 6 Mar 2001, 18:16

  • Amazon division hacked, thousands of CCs exposed

    Door wide open for 4 months

    Intruders found their way into Amazon division Bibliofind, which hooks up buyers and sellers of rare or out-of-print books, and maintained convenient access to a database of 98,000 customer accounts for about four months. The intruders are believed to have downloaded the company's customer records, including credit card details …

    Security 6 Mar 2001, 20:54

  • Luna UI heading for Microsoft's Stinger

    Updated Upping stakes in smartphone vaporware war

    Want to see what Microsoft's Stinger smartphone looks like? Tech site Infosync, which has a good track record for nabbing screenshots of unreleased gadgets, has posted a number of examples of the new device's user interface. Stinger appears to be theme-aware. One screengrab shows the WinCE look and feel, while another looks an …

    Business 6 Mar 2001, 21:06