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20th March 2001 Archive

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  • MS-only hosting firm comes to UK

    Better security etc.

    In the wake of the much-publicised raids by Russian hackers on online ecommerce systems, hosting firms are pushing their ability to provide better security as a means to get more business - and some are doing this while sticking by NT. Managed hosting service provider Data Return, which set up a sales office in the UK last week …

    e-Business 20 Mar 2001, 07:57

  • New mem benchmark thrashes DDR, Rambus

    HWRoundup Lake, trees, hardware sites, breeze

    Greetings, after a while, to Bill Henning at CPU Review and to a new memory benchmark which, he promises will really give those sub-systems a good pasting. He promises results from testing Rambus and DDR systems real soon now. --------------------cut here------------------- Over at Tom's Hardware, there's the second part of an …

    Hardware Roundup 20 Mar 2001, 09:19

  • BOFH plays Golf!

    Episode 8 And Wins the Day

    "Oh Bugger!" The PFY cries as the Human Resources server switches into silent running mode (i.e. OFF) "Damn!" he again cries as one of our large file share machines follows suit, "What am I doing WRONG?" Sighing, I walk over and take the club from his hand. "You're hooking the ball," I say, showing him for the third time how …

    BOFH 20 Mar 2001, 10:55

  • Transmeta x86 notebook to hit CeBit show

    PaceBook has separable screen, base

    A start-up firm is expected to launch a Transmeta-based x86 tablet-notebook at CeBit later this week which includes a separate screen as well as dictation and handwriting recognition. The unit, called the PaceBook, is being introduced by PaceBlade, which will show the notebook at Transmeta's stand in Hall 13 at the CeBit show …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 10:58

  • Palm marketshare nibbled by PalmOS partners

    Updated Handspring and Sony wax as Palm wanes - but watch out for Compaq

    Palm's US retail marketshare continued to shrink last month, but at least the company has the consolation that what it has lost has all gone to PalmOS licensees and not PocketPC. The PDA company took 59 per cent of the PDA market in February, down two per cent on January's figure and six per cent on December, according to US …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 11:12

  • UK attracts 1m new Net users since October

    More and more kids online

    The Net attracted 700,000 new UK-based home users between January and February 2001, according to the latest figures from Jupiter MMXI. The massive rise was attributed to punters who bought a new PC for Christmas and those who thought they'd save a few bob waiting for the January sales. In total, a million people were added to …

    Media 20 Mar 2001, 11:23

  • HP launches Web-enabled printers

    They can email, so they can spam

    Hewlett-Packard is launching a range of five Net-enabled printers today, which connect online without going through a PC. At the bottom end the printers will send out emails or pager messages that they're running low on toner or paper. At the top end they'll take Net delivered print requests from any Web enabled device - that's …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 11:26

  • Storage Computer starts patent fight with Hitachi

    It's about error correcting technology

    Storage Computer Corp has kicked off legal proceedings against Hitachi Data Systems in the UK, claiming some of Hitachi's storage products infringe two of its European patents. Storage Computer is after damages, legal costs, and for Hitachi to stop selling the products in question. The complaint alleges that certain of Hitachi …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 11:45

  • British Columbia to limit sale of violent video games

    Proposed law calls for classification and distribution licences

    The government of Canada's British Columbia province is seeking to enact a law that would force games developers to have their software rated and sold as if it were a movie. The proposed legislation, recently announced by BC's Attorney General, Graeme Bowbrick, will see the territory essentially adopt the US' Entertainment …

    Software 20 Mar 2001, 11:56

  • Intel pressure mounts on AMD, Via

    Rumour Mill AMD pressure mounts on Via, Intel

    Wait for one rumour patiently for months and six or seven come along all at once. But financial pressures are beginning to cause the rumour mills in the x86 microprocessor business to turn much, much faster than the windmills in Cervantes' Don Quixote. And, although these are rumours, we stress, all of them emanated from …

    Channel 20 Mar 2001, 12:11

  • Creative to axe 500 staff, shut US plant

    Desperate times call for desperate measures

    Sound card supremo Creative Technology is to cut ten per cent of its worldwide workforce and shut US manufacturing plant in a desperate bid to cut costs. Blame the economic downturn, the company said, as it announced the closure of its factory in Malvern, Pennsylvania, which it acquired in 1997 when it purchased Ensoniq. …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 12:41

  • 24/7Freecall gets FRIACO

    Smell the excitement

    24/7Freecall is phasing out its current unmetered Net access product in favour of one based on the wholesale unmetered Net access product, FRIACO. The new FRIACO-based product will cost £14.99 a month - £5 a month cheaper than the ISP's existing product. To start with the service will be available in the London area, before …

    Media 20 Mar 2001, 12:53

  • Cisco sells optical components unit

    And launches DWDM kit

    Cisco is to sell Cisco Photonics France to HighWave Optical Technologies for an undisclosed sum. The business, a maker of optical amplifying devices, will boost HighWave's manufacturing output by 15 per cent. HighWave makes high-end optical networking components and specialises in DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) …

    Data Networking 20 Mar 2001, 13:11

  • Alcatel ships Linux USB ADSL driver

    But files it under proprietary licence

    USB ADSL modem maker Alcatel has shipped its long-promised Linux driver. However, the company seems to have misunderstood just what the phrase 'open source' actually means. Alcatel's driver allows Linux fans to use the company's USB-based SpeedTouch ADSL modem. In the UK, BT Ignite bundles that modem with the home ADSL offering …

    Software 20 Mar 2001, 13:24

  • BT bottles crisis talks

    Wouldn't you?

    BT has called off an emergency meeting with key shareholders tonight because it feels it is being press-ganged into making strategic decisions by the media. The monster telco is up to its armpits in debt and appears to be at a loss to reverse the situation. Tonight's dinner was billed as extremely important to the future of …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 14:14

  • Welcome to the Hotel Intel (ifornia)

    Such a lonely place...

    One of Intel's trademarks is The Intel Hotels of Distinction. This pompous moniker refers to a series of motels that used to exist in Silicon Valley. However, the company's hospitality tentacle has evidently not been completely amputated. Thanks to the reader who supplied this shot which only goes to show that one of the …

    Bootnotes 20 Mar 2001, 14:15

  • Reg readers on keeping the open PC alive

    You speak your brains

    Hale Landis' posting predicting the end of the PC as an open hardware platform has drawn some strong reactions from Register readers. Many of you are alarmed, and many more optimistic. Several of you interpreted it as an extension of Intel's control over the PC standard: but we don't think that's what Landis meant. Quite the …

    Letters 20 Mar 2001, 14:27

  • Pro-Palestinian virus raises its head

    Trying to make Israelis eat spam

    Pro-Palestinian political activists have created an worm virus called Injustice and they released the beast onto the Internet. Computers infected with the virus send pro-Palestinian messages to 25 Israeli organisations and government agencies. Antivirus firms have said that Injustice is relatively benign, because it does not …

    Security 20 Mar 2001, 14:32

  • How does PC World make its money?

    We think it's the ink

    PC World will turnover £100 million this year through sales of printer consumables - inks, toners, and ribbons. Dixons, PC World's parent, isn't breaking down any sales figures, but this is our estimate based on the size of the printer consumable market, PC World's dominance in the UK, and from various on and off record …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 15:34

  • Stephen Fry hates Microsoft

    A Room 101 special

    Comedian, writer and actor Stephen Fry launched into an attack on Microsoft and Windows on the TV programme Room 101 last week. The programme - which takes its name from novel 1984 - invites celebrities to select the things in the modern world that they most despise and argue why they should be banished to Room 101. Stephen Fry …

    Bootnotes 20 Mar 2001, 15:38

  • Lastminute board man quits

    Big nob backs out

    A founding investor of Lastminute.com has quit the board and left the business. Tom Teichman joined the board in 1998 after leading a consortium backing the business. According to the Daily Mail, Teichman is not leaving because of the dotcom's performance, share price, or musical differences. He's off to concentrate on his …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 15:38

  • PC card gives notebook thieves the finger

    That means: fingerprint security for laptops

    Toshiba has moved a touch closer to the future as depicted by sci-fi films with the release of a fingerprint reader for notebooks. The imaginatively titled Fingerprint Reader is a PC card and will fit into any Type II slot. A fingerprint reader is nothing new but Toshiba claims this one is the best so far for security as it …

    Security 20 Mar 2001, 15:40

  • UK govt funds e-fridges and e-washing machines

    E-Textiles Minister announces

    The British Government is to spend £70 million investing in "electronic technologies", the Minister for Textiles and part-time E-Minister, Patricia Hewitt, said yesterday. £20 million will be used to invest in pioneering work for "intelligent products" such as washing machines that read intelligent clothes label before …

    e-Business 20 Mar 2001, 15:44

  • Novell reinvents itself for the Internet

    BrainShare We weren't there

    Novell has revamped its product portfolio as it prepares to take on Microsoft in the growing Internet services marketplace. Kicking off its BrainShare conference, Novell introduced enhancements to its Net services software portfolio (called One Net) which it hopes will be more compelling to firms than Microsoft's .Net strategy …

    Software 20 Mar 2001, 16:05

  • EMC: How did this escape?

    Bumlickycrawly of the month

    March 16, 2001 I am deeply pleased to share with you some exciting news regarding EMC's Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Dick Egan. Dick has been nominated by President Bush to be the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ireland. Dick, of course, is honored and excited to be nominated. For those …

    Bootnotes 20 Mar 2001, 16:32

  • TSMC trims equipment spend by one fifth

    Blames the chip slump

    The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has cut this year's plant budget by half a billion US dollars, the firm's CFO let slip this weekend. The decision, prompted by the collapse in the world semiconductor market, will see TSMC cut its proposed 2001 capital spend from $2.7 billion to $2.2 billion - a reduction of nearly …

    Channel 20 Mar 2001, 16:44

  • Protect yourself from Mir fall-out

    And from a free taco

    There are two big fears surrounding the prospect of the Mir Space Station crashing to earth. It might hit you on the head It might hit Taco Bell's floating target, and everyone in the US will get a free Taco If you're worried about the first possibility then visit eBay and bid for the 'Crashing MIR Space Station Detecto …

    Bootnotes 20 Mar 2001, 17:02

  • WinXP beta testers still in open revolt over product activation

    And is there maybe some sign of MS wavering?

    Microsoft still hasn't been able to sell its Product Activation protection scheme to its own beta testers, judging by some of the recent traffic in the Windows XP private beta newsgroups. Transcripts obtained by The Register indicate continuing hostility (as you might expect from techies), and even seem to signal that the …

    Software 20 Mar 2001, 17:03

  • Sun, AOL take MS HailStorm to the Feds

    Raining stones

    Sun and AOL have selected HailStorm as the new battleground in the ongoing antitrust case against Microsoft, according to The Industry Standard. HailStorm is Microsoft's platform for B2C web services, only unlike anything resembling a competitive marketecture, it drives traffic through Microsoft's own servers. Sun and AOL Time …

    Software 20 Mar 2001, 17:17

  • Intel becomes second most boring IT company

    Buys into storage

    Chip giant Intel, a firm which used to be so much fun before it developed its building-block strategy, has gone and really done it this time. It has just announced that it has bought German company ICP vortex Computersysteme in cash for shares. ICP vortex Computersystem - even the name doesn't slip off the tongue - specialises …

    Channel 20 Mar 2001, 18:20

  • Bring me the Head of Sir Peter Bonfield

    Pressure mounts for BT CEO departure

    BT has declined to comment on reports that CEO, Sir Peter Bonfield, is about to resign. Shares closed up 22.5p (4.5 per cent) to 522.50 p on the day's trading amid rumours that Sir Peter will step down. Financial newswire, AFX says that City dealers anticipated the move following a board meeting at the company today. Asked …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 21:06

  • Dataram buys bust Danish firm

    $32 million deal

    Dataram is to buy the assets of ailing Danish memory manufacturer Memory Card Technology A/S (MCT). US-based Dataram will pay $32 million for a bunch of MCT's assets, including its subsidiaries in Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. MCT is currently in the Danish equivalent of Chapter II, makes memory …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 21:40

  • Titsup.com x 52

    50 more than last year

    More than 300 dotcoms have gone titsup.com since January 2000, with half flopping in the last three months. February 2001 saw 52 dotcoms depart cyberspace - ten of these targeted businesses, while the rest were aimed at consumers or at a mixed bag of surfers. The shutdowns were valued at more than $1.5 billion in investment, …

    Media 20 Mar 2001, 21:45

  • Oracle trims workforce

    Who's next?

    Oracle is joining the IT herd and culling jobs - a move affecting between one and two per cent of staff. The software giant said today that up to 866 jobs would go worldwide "through normal attrition and regular business performance assessments". The staff cuts come a week after Oracle met reduced fiscal third quarter results …

    Business 20 Mar 2001, 21:48

  • Identity Thefts from the Rich and Famous

    How can you be a trainee dish washer?

    A trainee dish washer has been arrested in New York after allegedly using the Internet to defraud millions from US celebrities and millionaires. According to the New York Post, which broke the story, Abraham Abdallah allegedly used Internet access at a local library and copies of Forbes magazine to steal the identities of 200 …

    Security 20 Mar 2001, 21:52