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12th March 2001 Archive

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  • Amazon's Bezos investigated by Feds

    Another stock-chucking coincidence

    The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is casting a jaundiced eye on stock sales executed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shortly after receiving advance copies of a negative financial report, the New York Times reported Friday. However, the Commission will neither confirm nor deny that an investigation is underway, according …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 05:51

  • Works starts on Apple's Palo Alto store

    Site built by old Gap hand

    Construction appears to have begun on Apple's Palo Alto store site, but judging from the pics posted on Think Secret there's a long, long way to go before the outlet is kitted out and ready for business. Think Secret's images don't add much to the story - they could be fixing up someone's garage for all we can tell - but the …

    Mac Channel 12 Mar 2001, 10:34

  • March 12 is the day for June May

    Affinity gets new UK CEO

    Affinity Internet Holdings has appointed non-executive director, June May, as its new CEO for the e-business' UK operation. She takes up her position behind the big desk in a swanky new office with "immediate effect". Wayne Lochner moves aside to become CEO for the Affinity Group and will focus on group strategy, investor …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 10:57

  • Wycombe Web site plea finds a winner

    Wandering striker puts Wanderers in FA Cup semi-finals

    A player who came forward after a plea for strikers on Wycombe Wanderers Web site has put the second division outfit into the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Roy Essandoh came on from the substitutes bench to dramatically head Wycombe into the last four of the English Cup competition for the first time in its history. His strike …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 10:59

  • To hell with mobos, overclockers and chips

    HWRoundup We broaden our horizons

    Arencha all just bored to tears with reading about motherboards, cooling fans, overclocked CPUs and what have you? After all, this is the hardware roundup page and there's more to HW than just stinking chips and mobos, isn't that right? --------------------cut here------------------- So, let's look today at a few other …

    Hardware Roundup 12 Mar 2001, 11:39

  • Shrinks called in to Singapore Schools

    Young users hit by Net addiction

    Top schools in Singapore have called in psychiatrists to straighten out kids suffering from Net addiction. Doctors warn that cases of Net addiction have rocketed from just three cases a year in 1996 to 80 a year. This virulent epidemic is causing worry in Singapore where three out of five people have Net access. Medics warn …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 11:39

  • Sony, IBM, Toshiba team on broadband supercomputing CPU

    But is SIT just AIM all over again?

    Sony, Toshiba and IBM are to co-operate on what they're calling a "supercomputer on a chip" and which to us sounds like the successor to the Emotion Engine processor currently driving the PlayStation 2. Codenamed Cell, the new chip will form the basis of a massive $400 million, five-year R&D project. The goal of that research: …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 11:47

  • Infobank: losses up, board member out

    Still loads of money in the bank though

    Loss-making e-commerce software company Infobank has made even greater losses this year, but thanks to another round of fundraising still has over £90 million in the bank. The company lost £36 million for 2000, as opposed to £10.8 million last year. Gross profit down as well from 2.3 million from £4.6 million last year. This on …

    e-Business 12 Mar 2001, 12:03

  • T-Online to axe 10% of staff

    ISP to shed helpline and call centre bods

    Europe's largest ISP, T-Online, is planning to axe call centre and telephone helpline staff because it says it can't maintain the high costs. According to the FT, the company is expected to shed 10 per cent of jobs by not renewing fixed-term contracts. This could reduce the headcount from 1,950 to 1,750 by the end of the year …

    e-Business 12 Mar 2001, 12:03

  • Big Blue signs up for extreme ultra-violet action

    Tech to make possible 10GHz, 0.1 micron CPUs

    IBM has joined Intel's Extreme Ultra Violet consortium to help develop next-generation lithography techniques capable of creating on-chip circuitry less than 0.1 micron in size. At its most basic, the process of making chips involves photographically etching the circuitry onto the chip material and burning away the bits in …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 12:09

  • LogoWatch Sema aflame with vital energy

    Striking free-flowing abstraction blah, blah, blah...

    Whatever happened to the days when a corporate makeover meeting would go something like this: Managing Director: "Our logo is crap. Can we change it?" Marketing Director: "Yes." Managing Director: "Can it be blue? I like blue." Marketing Director: "What about a bit of orange as well?" Managing Director: "Hmm - ok. By …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2001, 12:49

  • Euro Web site devalued by defacement

    UK Govt and Novell fall victim to IIS hacker

    A UK Government Web site providing information for business about the euro has been devalued by Internet vandals. The site, Euro.gov.uk, was defaced by well known hacker Prime Suspectz who posted a message bragging about his hacking skills and poking fun at the English. Prime Suspectz's message, which is mirrored on defacement …

    Security 12 Mar 2001, 13:13

  • How Cyberpunk lit influenced technology

    Did you know Robert Heinlein invented the waterbed?

    Interview with Cyberpunk author Pat Cadigan No less than Gillian Anderson, Scully in the X-files, once called American author Pat Cadigan "The Queen of Science Fiction." Her novels Synners and Fools both won the Arthur C Clarke Award, writes John O'Reilly. Along with William Gibson and Bruce Sterling in the 80s she was a …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 13:21

  • Birt linked to top Ofcom job

    Former Beeb boss leads Oftel supremo

    The former head of the BBC has emerged as favourite to head the new super communications watchdog Ofcom. The FT claims Government sources have put Sir John Birt top of a list of candidates likely to take up the role when the new all-encompassing regulator comes into effect some three years from now. The news is likely to come …

    Telecoms 12 Mar 2001, 13:22

  • STMicro signs Hercules to ship Kyro II graphics

    Nvidia said to be 'unconcerned'

    STMicroelectronics has begun volume production of Kyro II graphics accelerator and signed Guillemot to ship cards based on the chip. The Kyro II is a licensed version of Imagination Technologies' PowerVR platform, best known as the basis for Sega's Dreamcast console. The Kyro II implementation of PowerVR 3 is based on a more …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 13:31

  • Get your new global domain names here

    But can we see new.net surviving?

    A start-up company, New.net, is offering Internet users the chance to register one of 24 new global domain names, including many that were dismissed by ICANN in its recent review, like .kids, .shop and .xxx. The news has been greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by the Internet community who are tired of ICANN's inactivity …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 14:04

  • Apple preps AMD-based thin client

    Mac Rumour Roundup Credibility stretching time...

    Apple is working on an x86-based diskless workstation aimed - we guess - at corporate desktops and educational establishments, according to a post over at Wincent.org. And, just to get the juices of all the anti-Intel folk out there flowing, the x86 chip Apple intends to use is an AMD part. Sounds too good to be true? It may …

    Mac Channel 12 Mar 2001, 14:31

  • BOFH: How to upgrade your Quake Server

    Episode 6 Needs must

    BOFH 2001: Episode 6 "I'm not going!" The PFY snaps at a suggestion from The Boss that he and I need to go on a full-day Company induction course for contractors. "Why not?" The Boss cries, surprised by The PFY's rejection of a whole day doing stuff-all. I mean true, the implication is that he's becoming middle management, but …

    BOFH 12 Mar 2001, 14:39

  • WinXP beta 2 slides a week – a marketing thing?

    RTM still mysteriously unharmed, so go figure...

    The release date for beta 2 of Windows XP has slipped another week, to March 21st, according to Paul Thurrott of WinInfo. The latest delay however doesn't seem to be because of any major 'gotchas' - the XP beta code has been pretty solid for some months now, so mightn't the delay be more about the people Microsoft will be …

    Software 12 Mar 2001, 15:08

  • Vulture culture bugs Intel profit future

    Analysis Do my butts look too big in this portfolio?

    The latest in a line of profit warnings from chip giant Intel was re-inforced when Cisco, too, announced its profits were unlikely to be as favourable as expected and announced it would slim its corporate butt by letting excess weight (staff) go. Although, at first sight both firms appear to have a dissimilar profile, there is …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 15:17

  • Broadband row damaging consumer confidence

    Cable better than DSL...

    ntl believes the current stand-off between BT, and AOL UK and Freeserve, could be damaging consumer confidence in broadband technology. Speaking to The Register Jerry Roest, ntl's Group MD, Broadband, declined to comment directly on the dispute. However, on a more general note he warned: "The worry is that people might start …

    Telecoms 12 Mar 2001, 15:53

  • UK becomes haven for Internet gambling

    Now this is more like it

    The UK is set to become an Internet gambling haven after the Chancellor abolished betting duty in his Budget last week. The current nine per cent tax on all bets was abolished and replaced with a 15 per cent tax on bookmakers' profits - a tax which they have promised not to pass onto consumers. We have to admit we were slightly …

    e-Business 12 Mar 2001, 15:59

  • London Internet Exchange traffic breaks 6Gbps

    Growth of 1Gbps/100 days

    Internet traffic travelling through the UK's main peering centre for ISPs has passed the 6 Gigabits per second milestone. According to the latest figures from the London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles more than 90 per cent of the UK's Internet traffic, the bandwidth it handles has more trebled in the last year alone. …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 16:12

  • PlayStation CPU to shift to 0.13 micron

    Sony promises faster Emotion Engines

    Sony and Toshiba are migrating the PlayStation 2's Emotion Engine CPU over to 0.13 micron fabrication process. The shift will also be applied to the console's Graphics Synthesiser (GS) chip. Last month, Simplex Solutions, which developed the GS for Sony, unveiled the next generation of the part, fabbed at 0.18 micron. The …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 16:12

  • Fakegifts.com duo plead guilty to selling fake gifts

    Kiss goodbye to cheap cyberchic

    The US dotcom duo allegedly behind e-tailer fakegifts.com have pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit goods. Mark Dipadova and Teresa Gayle Ford were arrested in January after their site ruffled designers' feathers by offering cheap imitations of products such as Cartier watches or Gucci handbags. They were charged with three …

    e-Business 12 Mar 2001, 16:17

  • AMD Palomino, Morgan slide to July

    AMD Roadmap ClawHammer ship date dropped altogether

    AMD's Palomino processor - the next-generation Athlon - will not ship until July, according to a revised desktop roadmap leaked to Germany's c't magazine. Palomino, the successor to the current Athlon core, Thunderbird, was originally due to ship this quarter at over 1.2GHz, according to a roadmap we saw at the tail end of 2000 …

    Channel 12 Mar 2001, 16:48

  • Senator reveals plan to offer human organs over the Internet

    Donate a kidney online

    Americans may soon be able to offer a kidney or liver over the Internet if a New York senator gets his way. The city's senior senator Charles Schumer wants to introduce legislation to start a nationwide online registry for organ donors, today's New York Post reports. Potential donors would sign up and their details would be …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 16:54

  • Amazon.com unveils Handspring Edge early

    Tells all about new PDA ahead of official launch

    Handspring may be due to launch its high-end PDA, the Visor Edge, later today, but Amazon.com got there first. The Edge's sales page confirms what previous leaks had revealed and Handspring was expected to admit today. The PDA will come in a metallic silver or metallic blue case, contain 8MB of memory and provide compatibility …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 17:54

  • ICANN's VeriSign registry deal done without consultation

    Is it a complete stitch-up?

    ICANN has come under fire at its Melbourne conference by effectively passing a controversial new deal with root registrar VeriSign without consulting anyone. The "deal" will see Network Solutions (now part of VeriSign) hand over the .org registry at the end of 2002 and the .net registry by 2005. It will keep control of the .com …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 18:17

  • Register screensaver challenge result

    Mat Bowden to be God for a Day

    We have a result in our Register Screensaver Challenge. It's South African Mat Bowden and his pals who are crowned with laurels. The competition saw some good work all round, and the following deserve an honourable mention: Alistair Braidwell Roy Rerink Toby Inkster Stephen Mills Nik Fox Wesley Brown We're not going …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2001, 18:21

  • Did major cable outfit host leaked WinXP code?

    Oops. But if it did, it's gone now...

    One of Microsoft's biggest worries is that software will become 'Napsterised,' and that universal broadband connectivity will result in its intellectual property whizzing untrackably and unpaid for throughout the Web. And actually, if you were watching the right place at the right time this afternoon, you might have concluded …

    Software 12 Mar 2001, 18:22

  • Upgrade bug causes awkward BIND

    For some users

    A small number of users upgrading their Domain Name System (DNS) servers to guard against a major exploit in BIND have become entangled in a denial of service issue. The problem in updating from BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) 4.9.x or 8.2.x to 9.1.0 is more a case of getting your hair singed than of jumping from the …

    Security 12 Mar 2001, 20:14

  • South Africa.com v. South Africa the country hits US courts

    Virtual countries, real lawyers' fees

    South Africa has vowed to fight for the URL southafrica.com when the case enters the courtroom in New York next month. The bizarre lawsuit was filed last year by Seattle-based dotcom Virtual Countries, which currently owns the domain name, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. It targets both the …

    Music and Media 12 Mar 2001, 20:18

  • Capellas bags Compaq cash, stock, options, etcetera

    Get your Reward on Earth

    Compaq captain Michael Capellas got paid a whopping $5 million for his graft last year at the PC giant. Capellas, who took over from Ben Rosen as Compaq CEO and chairman in September, netted a base salary of $1.2 million plus $3.8 million bonus in 2000, according to a statement made to the Securities and Exchange Commission. …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 20:39

  • Engage makes progress – and loses $700m

    All in one quarter

    US marketing software outfit Engage Technologies saw losses grow to almost $700 million for its second financial quarter. The Massachusetts-based outfit, majority owned by CMGI, reported a net loss of $695.6 million, or $3.53 per share, for the quarter ended January 31 2000. Before extra items, including restructuring costs, …

    e-Business 12 Mar 2001, 22:36

  • Police arrest alleged software counterfeiters

    Channel Flannel

    Police have arrested two men, following a raid on alleged counterfeiters in the West Midlands, Silicon.com reports. "Four separate raids on two offices and two private houses resulted in the seizure of counterfeit CDs, DVDs, Playstation games and videos. The haul has an estimated street value of £67,000," the news service says …

    Business 12 Mar 2001, 22:52

  • EA, Nintendo scrap Yahoo! piracy suit

    Portal to clean up 'virtual flea market'

    Games giants Nintendo and Electronic Arts have agreed to ditch their lawsuit against Yahoo! regarding pirated goods on its site. The three companies today announced a ménage aimed at stopping pirate video games appearing on Yahoo! auctions and classifieds. They aim to use the portal's filtering technology to block counterfeit …

    Games Industry 12 Mar 2001, 23:01