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10th April 2001 Archive

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  • Carrier rolls out Web-enabled air cond

    So hackers can freeze your goolies off while you sleep

    Gizmo fetishists with an inexplicable urge to fiddle with their home AC controls remotely via a WAP phone or a PC are bound to delight in Carrier's announcement of its new Web-connected 'smart' air conditioners. "For customers of all types, from dealers and installers through facilities managers to commissioning engineers, this …

    Music and Media 10 Apr 2001, 08:31

  • Freeserve throws punch in Net fight scene

    The gloves are off

    Freeserve is to test the water to see if Net users are prepared to pay small amounts of cash to watch premium-rated broadcast content on the Web. Britain's biggest French ISP is to run a pay-per-view trial in the run-up to the Lennox Lewis versus Hasim Rahman world title fight in South Africa on 22 April. For £1 (plus VAT) a …

    Music and Media 10 Apr 2001, 09:20

  • MS gives MSDN WinXP Beta 2 access after all

    Web-based product key distribution arrives...

    Microsoft mollified MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) subscribers at the tail end of last week by giving them download access to WinXP Beta 2 code. Microsoft also mollified The Register by pressing a CD into its hot little hand, but more of that RSN. The MSDN move takes the heat off the company, which was being beaten up …

    Software 10 Apr 2001, 09:45

  • Tesco's Net sales hit £237m

    Doing £6m a week

    Tesco's Internet shopping business, Tesco.com, has posted sales of £237 million for the year to 24 February. The operation lost £9 million. The Tesco division includes its ISP and its home shopping service. The results are in line with Tesco's forecasts. The supermarket chain says it has one million registered users and …

    e-Business 10 Apr 2001, 09:53

  • May the false declaration be with you

    The Census Return of the Jedi

    If you've ever harboured a secret desire to dress up in a brown robe and run around brandishing a light sabre - and claim the whole lot against tax as liturgical paraphernalia, now's you chance. On Sunday 29 April would-be Jedi Knights have a rare opportunity to achieve official recognition for their 'religion'. The date marks …

    Bootnotes 10 Apr 2001, 09:56

  • Intel to cut up to 60 per cent off P4 prices

    April to host massive Spring sale

    Intel will release the 1.7GHz Pentium 4 in two weeks' time at way below the processor's expected price, Taiwanese Web site C-Tech has claimed. Instead of coming in at $637, the site says, the part will ship for $352 - a cut of just over 44 per cent. Initially, we were a little sceptical. Our Intel roadmap suggests a launch …

    Channel 10 Apr 2001, 10:00

  • Cheapo supermarket Aldi sells PCs

    £699 1GHz PIII with DVD, CD-RW, no monitor

    Super cheapo supermarket chain Aldi started flogging PCs this morning, but expects to be sold out by the end of the day. The £699.99 Medion machine it's selling is a 1Ghz PIII with a HP Nero 5 CD-RW and a Liteon DVD. It doesn't come with a monitor but the company is offering a Medion 17 inch display for £99.99. And 17 inches is …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 10:29

  • PowerPC G5 to hit 2GHz

    Mac Rumour Roundup Approach this claim with caution...

    Motorola is pushing ahead with the design of the PowerPC 7500 - aka G5 - company sources have claimed, according to a report over at MacOS Rumors. We're sure they are, but we're not so sure the report's claims are entirely accurate except in a very broad sense. The report's information is a little too close to the details …

    Mac Channel 10 Apr 2001, 11:15

  • BTopenworld boss chats to The Reg

    'If we're not in better shape in 3 months I'll be a very unhappy CEO'

    Andy Green is the CEO of openworld, BT's mass market Internet division that includes both dial-up and broadband operations. Appointed a year ago when BT announced a major restructuring programme, Green has overseen the commercial introduction of broadband and his business now boasts some 26,000 ADSL customers. Tim Richardson …

    Telecoms 10 Apr 2001, 11:17

  • Morse buys Delphis for up to £40m

    Pumps up services

    Morse, the mid-range computer reseller, is beefing up its services capabilities with the acquisition of Delphis Holdings. It is paying £15m upfront, 600K in cash and the rest in loan-notes and shares. Delphis could gain up to another £25m in loannotes and shares depending upon profits performance for the next three financial …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 11:46

  • Le Freeswerve does L'U-Turn

    Adieu Unlimited Freeserve Time, adieu

    Freeserve is set to ditch its loss-making unmetered Net access product despite giving assurances that (UFT) would not be scrapped. Britain's biggest French ISP gave the assurances at the end of last year after Le Freeswerve announced its intention to introduce an unmetered product, AnyTime, for £12.99 based on the wholesale …

    Music and Media 10 Apr 2001, 12:08

  • TSMC dismisses UMC legal threat

    Don't work with SIS, warns UMC, or else...

    The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has poo-poo'd warnings from United Microelectronics that it could be at the receiving end of a major lawsuit if it accepts orders from Silicon Integrated Systems. UMC's warning comes on the heels of its legal action - filed in the US courts - against SIS for allegedly ripping off …

    Channel 10 Apr 2001, 12:09

  • AltaVista brushes ‘doomed’ past under carpet

    PR fit for the Countess of Wessex

    This email alert just in from Firefly PR about an event tonight featuring their client, AltaVista UK. "2000 was the year of Andy Mitchell and the doomed free access offer. If you want to find out how AltaVista is moving forward in 2001, come along to a party to launch AltaVista UK's new search engine tonight." Charming. ®

    Bootnotes 10 Apr 2001, 12:10

  • SCC grabs £390m desktop deal from Computacenter

    Whoops, butterfingers

    SCC has grabbed a £390 million, five year, desktop supply deal from rival Computacenter. SCC will now handle desktop services for IT outsourcer Computer Sciences' customers. This means Computer Sciences is SCC's customer, and Computer Sciences customers include BAE Systems, Du Pont, AMP, JP Morgan and Bhs. This is SCC's …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 12:12

  • Cisco enters storage market

    Aims to unify storage, the Net and optical networking

    Cisco Systems has announced its entry into the storage market with the introduction of a router that allows access from an IP network to storage devices. The SN 5420 Storage Router, which is based on a developing IETF standard called, iSCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface over IP), is positioned by Cisco as a networking …

    Data Networking 10 Apr 2001, 12:15

  • Cypress Semi. cuts earnings, revenue projections

    Too many orders being cancelled

    Cypress Semiconductor has been dragged into the market doldrums: order cancellations have hit the chip maker hard, forcing it to re-estimate its earnings and revenue projections for the just-completed first quarter. So, for the first three months of Cypress' financial year, revenue will come in at around $262 million, down just …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 14:44

  • Mayor fears for e-London future

    Eek!

    The Mayor of London has called on the Government to take "urgent action" if London is to retain its position as "a world leader in e-business". Mayor Ken Livingstone was commenting on a report prepared by his e-business advisor, Energis' Colin Jenkins, which claims that the capital's current status as Europe's leading e- …

    e-Business 10 Apr 2001, 14:52

  • Tech recession to bottom-out in a year – Marimba CEO

    Glass half-full

    The US tech panic should last no more than a year, Marimba's CEO John Olsen told us today - he reckons the underlying financial performance of the technology sector is generally healthy. Once earnings begin to be compared to the current lows, rather than last year's highs, "it will bottom out, and the longest it can take is a …

    Software 10 Apr 2001, 14:56

  • Motorola embedding Bluetooth in printers and copiers

    Lets see if the demos work

    Motorola has announced a strategy for working with OEMs to embed Bluetooth wireless networking technology into devices such as desktop printers, copiers and medical imaging equipment. The idea is to build Bluetooth technology natively into a device rather than adding it via a plug-in module containing a transceiver chip. This …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 15:57

  • Wall St slashes Intel Q1s

    Gasp for ASP

    Right now, it's not so wonderful being Intel: falling PC demand in the US, and maybe in Europe too; rising OEM inventories; AMD giving it a run for its money, the new weakness in flash products, and networking equipment customers who are not in the best of health to buy the company's comms chip products. Nothing secret here: on …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 20:07

  • Join the Army, wear interesting computers and kill people

    Power Computing - or the Blue Screen of Death?

    Visitors to this month's Embedded Systems Conference in San Francisco needn't be alarmed if they see US GIs running around the place in combat fatigues. Chances are they'll just be there to showoff the latest in-the-field chic in wearable computers - the Land Warrior Integrated Soldier System. These high tech outfits are made …

    Business 10 Apr 2001, 20:22

  • Buffer the FTP Slayer

    Hacking FTP made easy

    Security experts have identified a potentially devastating vulnerability in FTP (file transfer protocol) servers. The weakness uncovered is a buffer overflow flaw that attackers could exploit to gain root privileges on affected FTP servers. The vulnerability affects several Unix platforms, including Sun Solaris 8, Hewlett …

    Security 10 Apr 2001, 20:34

  • Europeans take to Broadband like ….

    ...ducks to slaughter

    The appetite for broadband services in Europe is waning, according to research published today by Jupiter MMXI. It claims that by 2005, 23 million households in Europe are expected to have broadband access. Take-up will be slow with only 14 per cent of European households using hi-speed services by 2005, it reports. Jupiter's …

    Telecoms 10 Apr 2001, 20:38

  • Ericsson withdraws GPRS handsets

    Battery error

    Phone giant Ericsson is to withdraw a batch of GPRS handsets afflicted by a battery error. The model affected is the R520m, and Ericsson plans to take back all of the handsets shipped so far. "We are withdrawing the first volume we shipped to Sweden and to one or two other European markets, because there was an error in the …

    Data Networking 10 Apr 2001, 20:40

  • Intergraph inches closer to Intel patent win

    Treated like Royalty

    Intergraph has won the latest round in its ongoing patent battle with Intel. Last month the Court of Appeals ruled that Intel did not have the right to use the Clipper Technology patented by Intergraph. Intel promptly petitioned for a rehearing by the court. The petition was denied yesterday. "We are, of course, pleased by …

    Channel 10 Apr 2001, 22:06

  • 147 dotcoms die in Q1

    Record number of shutdowns

    The first quarter of the year saw a record 147 dotcoms go out of business, although there are signs that the dotcom death rate is slowing. The figure compared to just five dotcom shutdowns for January to March the previous year, and a total of 222 closures (with 15,000 jobs lost) for the whole of 2000. In March 2001 41 …

    e-Business 10 Apr 2001, 22:17