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5th April 2001 Archive

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  • Hubby's sex site revenge backfires

    Looking at ten-year stretch in Malaysian jail

    A businessman faces ten years in a Malaysian jail cell after an attempt to humiliate his estranged wife on a sex Website backfired. In a bitter quest for revenge, the man borrowed a friend's laptop and logged onto a Singapore site which had sex-for-hire. He tapped in an advert that featured his wife touting her wares online, …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 07:25

  • S'kiddies find hacking BT all too easy

    Visa and British Midland also hit

    Hackers are exploiting the failure of firms to update systems even after falling victims to attacks. Yesterday btworldwide.com, which runs of the s'kiddies favourite Web server IIS, was defaced by Prime Suspectz in an attack which followed hot on the heels of the defacement of search.bt.com on April Fool's Day. That defacement …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 07:28

  • Site owner confirms Apple Chicago store leased

    More info on industry's worse kept secret

    The Chicago Tribune has added to the growing body of evidence that Apple is indeed building a retail outlet in the Windy City. According to the paper, Apple has signed a "long-term lease" for the 33,000sq ft site at 679 N. Michigan Avenue - a location already revealed as Apple's choice for its Chicago store. The site emerged as …

    Mac Channel 5 Apr 2001, 09:33

  • Napster downloads rocket

    Song filter-induced drop-off reversed

    Napster usage is on the increase again after its post-filter dip, online entertainment market watcher Webnoize has reported. At its peak, the number of songs downloaded in a month from the MP3 sharing network was around 2.79 billion files, achieved last February. Napster's court-imposed song filtering mechanism was implemented …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 10:44

  • SurfControl sales rocket by 200%

    Employers just love filter software

    Filter führer SurfControl, the enemy of work slackers, porn addicts, and people who want IT information, whether its favourable to SurfControl or not, is doing rather well. The Net filter company is still losing money, but busted forecasts by getting third quarter sales to leap by 200 per cent to $11.1 million. It has also said …

    Software 5 Apr 2001, 11:09

  • Attack of the 13ft crabs

    Britain faces giant crustacean terror

    Just when weary Britons were anticipating a reopening of their ravaged countryside, a new ecological threat has emerged which could transcend even the foot and mouth crisis. Birmingham's National Sea Life Centre has taken delivery of five Japanese spider crabs, a creature so fearsome that the aquarium has been forced to take …

    Bootnotes 5 Apr 2001, 11:11

  • WindRiver buys BSD

    Bezerkley Unix heads for server appliances, storage

    Embedded OS developer WindRiver has acquired the software assets of BSDi, which distributes the server BSD/OS. Jordan Hubbard, leader of the FreeBSD project, joins WindRiver as principle technologist. WindRiver co-founder Jerry Fiddler described BSD technology as 'wonderful and unparalleled', and with a sideswipe at the GNU …

    Software 5 Apr 2001, 11:19

  • Lucent denies bankruptcy rumours

    How the mighty fall

    Lucent has denied market speculation, brought about by a collapse in the value of its share price, that it is about to file for bankruptcy protection. The market has been rife with rumours that a major telecommunications equipment manufacturer was about the file for bankruptcy, and speculation pointed to Lucent. In order to …

    Data Networking 5 Apr 2001, 11:50

  • Intel grants staff cut-price, cash-'em'-in-quick stock options

    But price higher than Nasdaq-traded shares

    Intel has granted 80,000 workers the right to buy additional stock at the knock-down price of $25.69 a pop. The only snag: they might be better off buying on the open market - last night, the stock fell to $22.63 on Nasdaq. At issue is Intel's well-established policy of offering staff stock options. Usually stock can only be …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 11:52

  • FT.com cuts jobs

    All in the name of integration

    Pearson - which owns FT.com - is to axe ten per cent of its new media staff in a move to cut costs and integrate its online and paper-based operations. Around 40 people are facing redundancy although the giant media organisation said the news was not unexpected. It seems Pearson has been telling staff for the last eight months …

    e-Business 5 Apr 2001, 12:28

  • Employer snooping code: don't eavesdrop on staff

    Delays anger unions

    Delays in the arrival of the code to set out employees rights regarding company snooping has been angering Unions. The FT has quoted a senior TUC policy officer who believes the delays mean employee rights are inevitably going to be fought for via test cases in court. Sarah Veale, senior policy officer at the Trades Union …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 12:58

  • Linux worm attempts to take over insecure servers

    Vandals and hackers assault open source OS

    The third Linux worm this year, which tries to exploit lax security on Web sites running the open source OS, has been discovered. Adore, which is similar to the earlier Ramen and Lion worms, scans Linux hosts on the Internet to determine whether they are vulnerable to well known exploits. These include a well publicised …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 13:26

  • Samsung to make Quad Data Rate SRAMs

    Now a gang of four

    Samsung is backing the Quad Data Rate (QDR) high-speed memory chip standard and joining Cypress Semiconductor, Micron Technology, and NEC in developing the technology. QDR is the multi-source standard for high-performance memories in switches, routers and other applications needing to operate at data rates above 200 MHz. Mike …

    Channel 5 Apr 2001, 13:27

  • Alcatel unfazed by AMD Flash suit

    We'll settle out of court, comms company predicts

    Alcatel has expressed its confidence that it will persuade AMD to withdraw the lawsuit the chip maker launched against it on Tuesday. AMD alleges the French comms equipment company is in breach of contract for wishing to withdraw from a $300 million agreement signed last year to buy Flash memory chips. Whether it found a …

    Channel 5 Apr 2001, 14:07

  • Dell shrugs off hardware slump

    Says it will nail $8bn Q1 sales target

    Dell is super-confident of hitting its $8 billion sales forecast for Q1 - and that's what it told analysts at its annual conference in New York today. The re-statement emphasises Dell's confidence in its business model as competitors suffer declining demand. In a statement chairman and CEO Michael Dell bragged about "Dell's …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 14:16

  • Thieves swipe third truckload of PC games

    £120,000 worth of Serious Sam CDs nicked

    The European Leisure Software Publishers Association, the games industry's answer to Shaw Taylor, is seeking your help to track down an audacious band of robbers who've run off with three separate lorryloads of PC and PlayStation games. We say 'audacious', but the tea leaves don't appear to have had too tough a time of it. The …

    Games Industry 5 Apr 2001, 14:47

  • Users track down Apple's firmware RAM parameters

    It's all in the DIMM data

    Apple's firmware fix for dodgy memory now appears to target ill-configured DIMMs rather than the SDRAM chips themselves, it has emerged. The Mac maker released its firmware upgrade last week, aimed at G4 Macs and some G3-based machines. Included in the upgrade is a check that disables memory that Apple considers to be …

    Mac Channel 5 Apr 2001, 14:54

  • Systems Union losses soar

    Nokia, Adaptec

    This has been a significant and challenging year," Systems Union Group Bob Morton said in statement accompanying the accountancy software firm's results. Net loss was £106.6m, up from £2m the previous year. There has been a massive reorganisation of Systems Union Group - formerly an overpriced dotcom, the business now owns two …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 15:25

  • Cracker in ‘credit card Viagra sting on Gates’

    Claims in Sun story on Curador beggar belief

    A teenager hacker, who is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to stealing credit card details from a number of insecure Web sites, has reportedly claimed he sent a shipment of Viagra to Bill Gates using the Microsoft boss's own credit card. In an 'exclusive' story given star billing in today's issue of The Sun, Raphael Gray …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 16:17

  • Armed gang blag laptops – leave trail of green chillies

    Get 'em while they're hot

    Mac and Tosh laptops, worth £500,000, have been snatched by armed robbers from Inmac's warehouse in Runcorn, Cheshire. The four masked robbers struck at 5.15am on Tuesday 3 April. They rounded up security staff, tied them up and locked them in the toilets. Three employees were seriously injured and sent to hospital following …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 16:32

  • Yahoo! signed to Sony, Universal digital music service

    Well, 'Rival' offering has AOL...

    Why weren't Sony and Universal part of the digital music distribution initiative announced by fellow 'big five' recording companies EMI, Warner and BMG on Monday? Because they were working on a service of their own, which they effectively launched today. Called Duet, the venture is backed by Yahoo!, which will provide access to …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 16:37

  • MPAA believes all Netizens are criminals

    Valenti urges even more copy protection

    There is perhaps no major figure in the copy-protection dispute more hyperinflated with irrelevant gaseous Sophistry and bizarre intellectual pretensions than MPAA President Jack Valenti. "The copyright industries....represent America's greatest economic asset. And, I might add, its premier export trade prize," Valenti …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 16:52

  • Cisco stops sales of optical router

    Tactical withdrawal from key future market

    Cisco is to stop making an optical router because of weak sales of the product. Reuters reports that Cisco will stop producing the 15900 Wavelength Router, which it acquired with its acquisition of Monterey Networks in 1999, because of weak demand from service providers for the product which sits at the core of high-speed …

    Data Networking 5 Apr 2001, 16:59

  • How Reg reader outrage prompted Microsoft's Passport volte-farce

    Updated All the Astroturf too

    Few of the hundreds letters we've received in the past week sum up the outrage that greeted Microsoft's Passport Terms of Use better than this one:- I'd like to congratulate you on your article, perhaps one of the most-read in the publishing industry today. I work as a screenwriter, and I know of quite a few people who use …

    Software 5 Apr 2001, 17:03

  • Blur's drummer was pro Napster

    Now he thinks they're cowards

    Blur's drummer Dave Rowntree has said he's all for file sharing and doesn't believe and record companies have lost money because of Napster. In an interview with the Guardian Blur's bongo boy also said he thought Napster had now turned yellow and sold out. He was asked: "How do you feel about file-sharing software such as …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 17:07

  • SETI founder speaks about Intel P2P cancer project

    Lining corporate pockets?

    The P2P cancer project launched earlier this week by the University of Oxford, Intel, United Devices and the National Foundation for Cancer Research set alarm bells ringing all over the IT community. If corporate America was involved in a community PC effort to find these wonder cancer drugs, who would ultimately benefit? The …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 17:21

  • Napster's heinous crime: independence

    Intellectual property giants plot to control distribution

    It seems that Napster will never be allowed to bend over backwards quite far enough to appease the entertainment behemoths who want to see it shut down permanently. In February we reported that the embattled company would introduce a copy protection scheme with digital rights management outfit -- and Bertelsmann subsidiary -- …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 17:49

  • Hacked? Call a lawyer

    Feds urge security pros to call in shysters

    Network administrators tasked with investigating cyber attacks on corporate networks should consider adding a potentially strange and unfamiliar tool to their defensive arsenals: the phone number of the company lawyer. At least, that was the consensus of a panel of current and former law enforcement attorneys and corporate …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 19:05

  • CPRM creator blasts The Register

    Wotta lotta double-spiech

    The scientist behind the CPRM copy control caper took a swipe at The Register in a lecture at Stanford University yesterday. Unfortunately Jeff Lotspiech, manager Content Protection Technology Group at IBM's Almaden, marred an otherwise excellent talk on the subject with a display of selective amnesia. The billing promised to …

    Business 5 Apr 2001, 19:46

  • Pentagon cyber defense impaired – report

    Poor coordination in DoD response to hacks

    The US military's ability to defend against cyber attacks is hampered by a dearth of coordination among the armed services, and a poorly implemented alert system, according to a new report by government investigators. The report, "Information Security -- Challenges to Improving DOD's Incident Response Capabilities," was …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 22:12

  • Pentagon networks attacked 715 times in 2000

    Far less than anticipated

    The US Army, Navy and Air Force combined suffered 715 cyber attacks last year, according to a report from the General Accounting Office (GAO) released last week. The Navy reported the most attacks, 387, with the Army slightly behind at 299. The Air Force suffered only 29 attacks in 2000, according to the report, 'Information …

    Security 5 Apr 2001, 22:17

  • Top UK gamer abandons PC to bike across US

    31 days without Quake!

    Keen to dismiss the image of game players as freaks and geeks, a top British online gamer plans to cycle across the USA. Andrew Moore, who goes by the charming gaming name Gitface, is a member of the scary-looking UpsetChaps team and a regular winner on the UK public server online games scene. Although normally found playing …

    Games Industry 5 Apr 2001, 22:20

  • Take a bit of your driving test online

    The visual exam

    New Mexico has launched a scheme to let residents take the eye exam section of their driving test online. No longer will prospective drivers have to trek down to the state's Motor Vehicle Division office to get their eyes assessed before hopping in a car to take the rest of the test. They simply log on, adjust the window on …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 22:22

  • Effort to show Tim McVeigh dying on line

    It was only a matter of time

    On-line funhouse Entertainment Network has filed suit in US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana seeking permission to Web-cast the execution of convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh live, the company says. "The objective of Entertainment Network is to be known as one of the world's most inventive developers of …

    Media 5 Apr 2001, 23:18