27th April 2001 Archive
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SDMI crack team scurries away in fear again
The professor who cried wolf
Princeton University Computer Science Professor Edward Felten, who has credited himself and his team with cracking the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) Public Challenge, has once again wussed-out after threatening to do something frightfully daring like publish the results of his research. Felten first backed down from …
Music and Media 27 Apr 2001, 07:03
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Egghead credit card hack: serious questions remain
Stonewalling as a way of life
It started with a tip from a Register reader whose bank advised him to cancel his Visa credit card after shopping at on-line retailer Egghead.com, then developed into a tour de force of public-relations worst practices, and finally ended in lingering doubts about whether Egghead's vehement claim that no credit card data was …
Security 27 Apr 2001, 07:09
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AOL class action clears first hurdle
The beginning of the beginning, not the beginning of the end
Net users who alleged that AOL access software tampered with the workings of their PCs have cleared the first hurdle in their legal fight against the Internet giant. Earlier this week the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida gave the green light for Net users to proceed with their legal action to …
Music and Media 27 Apr 2001, 10:00
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PlayStation and consumer electronics do better for Sony
But the real money is in action films
Sony has narrowed losses at its consumer electronics business and PlayStation division. Overall it has reported strong Q4 profits, but this is because of top arty martial arts flick Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the less good movie Charlie's Angels Group net income for the three months to 31 March was 15.8 billion yen ($ …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 10:03
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Tosh op profits dip on memory slump
Notebook sales slide
Toshiba is back in black for the year, but the company's operating profits dipped in the second half due to the chip market slump. Operating profits for the six months to 31 March were down 4.3 per cent to 126 billion yen ($1.02 billion) on fairly flat sales. The company posted net profits of 96.17 billion yen ($780 million) …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 10:48
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French to lead Bell Microproducts Euro push
Ideal reshuffle
Ian French, Ideal Hardware's CEO, is to work full time on European M&As and growth for parent company Bell Microproducts Europe. BME has set up five new European subs in its quest to be come the continent's definitive storage services distributor." Joining him at BME as CFO is Steve Lundy, previously finance and operations …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 10:59
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MS applying prod activate tech to Win2k et al?
Well, if they're going to do it, they're not going to do it just a bit, are they?
A post on The Tech Report suggests that Microsoft just might be preparing to retro-fit XP’s product activation to Win2k. According to the author, installation of the Internet Explorer 6 preview on a Win2k machine resulted in the addition of a new, suspicious-sounding registry key. The item appears as \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 11:26
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'They've just replaced one Sir Idiot with another'
The City, media and investors unimpressed by BT top-job change
The City, media and everyday investors are not impressed with the announcement yesterday that Sir Iain Vallance was to step down as BT chairman and be replaced with current BBC governor Sir Christopher Bland. One Internet poster appeared to capture the mood when he said "they have just replaced one Sir Idiot with another". BT' …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 11:29
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Firms turn to vigilante tactics against crackers
Cyber-anarchy looms
Firms are becoming prepared to adopt vigilante tactics against crackers in response to a rise in cybercrime that law enforcement measures alone cannot be expected to control. That was the conclusion of a panel of security experts at London's Infosecurity show yesterday who warned that the reluctance of business to use the law …
Security 27 Apr 2001, 11:42
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IBM makes nano chip breakthrough
Updated Nano nano says Mork
IBM has claimed a breakthrough in producing smaller processors based on nanotechnology. Nanoelectronics isn't new, but IBM's Thomas J Watson Lab says the new research - it's actually a process improvement - makes more precise and reliable placement of transistors based on carbon nanotubes, rather than silicon possible. …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 12:15
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Madge.web goes titsup.com
Receivers called in
Madge.web, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Token Ring card maker Madge Networks, has gone bust. Its parent company has called in the UK receivers and is actively seeking to sell the rich media streaming host as a going concern. Madge Networks BV is to restate its results to January 31, 2001 to "reflect the fact that" Madge.web …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 12:48
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Siemens to axe another 3,500 staff
The IT job cull continues
Siemens will axe a further 3,500 jobs following a poor set of Q2 results, the company announced yesterday. The job cuts will come from its corporate networks business and add to the 2,600 in the mobile side of the business announced two weeks ago. The cuts come on top of an appalling two weeks in the IT industry. A slowdown in …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 13:18
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Alcatel, Lucent mull merger
But a deal is unlikely to come off
Alcatel has held talks with Lucent Technologies concerning a possible acquisition or merger of the two companies. According to a report in Wall Street Journal wider discussions flowed out of negotiations about the sale of Lucent's fibre-optic business to Alcatel, which debt-ridden Lucent values at $6 billion. The paper quotes …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 13:24
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Wicca man gets hot under collar
Summer is a-coming in...
UK Jedi get green light Those who intend to declare their religion as 'Jedi' in the forthcoming UK census have some competition in the form of the Pagans. Whereas the Jedi are a frivolous bunch of spotty youths out to annoy the government, the Pagans are an international force of alternative faiths. And not just naked tree …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 13:30
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Computer fires man II
This time it's personal
Computer fires man DIY boxshifter B&Q is not the only company to use telephone virtual interviews to weed out undesirable job applicants - even after they've already worked for the company. Andrew Veitch should know: Many years ago I worked for the Standard Life in Edinburgh. I worked for a year in the pensions department …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 13:32
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ISS – Ivan knows best
International Space Station broken by Americans
Space station computers crash What, I wonder, would NASA make of Elijah Jacob Shalis International Space Station theory?: For a while I believe the Russian module controlled the station and all its aspects and there were no problems. A few months ago those tasks were transferred to a US module and NASA ground control. It looks …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 13:35
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Business 2.0 folds in Europe
Future shuts German ops
Future is to shut down Business 2.0 in Europe. The closure of the UK, German and Italian editions will cost it £1 million. At the same time, it is shutting down its heavily lossmaking German subsidiary, Future Verlag. Not so long ago Business 2.0 ws described as the jewel in Future's crown. In February, the company employed …
e-Business 27 Apr 2001, 14:27
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Sony releases Linux for Playstation2
Speeds and feeds in the King's Engrish
Sony has released a beta of the long-awaited Linux kit for its PlayStation2 games console. The kit includes a 40Gb hard disk, which connects through the PC Card adaptor, a VGA adaptor, and mandatory custom USB keyboard and mouse. Or as the website puts it - once munged through Babelfish for a delightful Engrish effect - "mouse …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 14:37
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FOTW Absolutely zero effort
You ought to be ashamed of yourself
Dixons' PC builder talks to the Reg. It's normally the Vulture Central footsoldiers - the hacks - who are on the receiving end of flame abuse. Rarely does our beloved news editor, Rob 'The Pond' Blincoe, cop some. After all, he merely edits the poorly-researched and semi-illiterate drivel that we punt out. It is with great …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 14:39
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Pope on ropes
Yuri Gagarin backs NASA ban
NASA grounds Pope NASA has received the whole-hearted support of reader James Langford in banning Endeavour crew member Umberto Guidoni from delivering a extra-terrestrial message from the Pope: I don't know what a 'papal missive' is (or really care) but I am glad to see NASA have done this. Religious nonsense and intollerance …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 14:40
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Does anybody know who's in charge of security here?
Confusion between ISPs and users lets crackers reign
Confusion between the level of security an ISP is willing to provide, and the level of protection users understand they receive, leaves companies vulnerable to attacks by crackers. That's one of the main conclusion of a survey of ISP and end-user attitudes to security by consultant MIS Corporate Defence Systems which found that …
Security 27 Apr 2001, 14:58
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Creative posts $100 million Q3 loss
But has still managed some 'important successes' apparently
Creative Technology - the folk behind the SoundBlaster cards - has posted a $101 million loss for its third quarter, compared to a net income of $88.3 million in Q3 last year. It's not the company's fault though, claims president Craig McHugh. This loss included one-off charges of $31 million and the stock market nobbled its …
Business 27 Apr 2001, 15:00
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Readers' Letters Reg buys Intel spin
All our base still are belong to Chipzilla (yawn)
1.7GHz P4 spanks 1.33GHz Athlon in Quake 3 The splendidly-named Spencer T. Kittelson reckons that standards are slipping at your runaway Reg. Seems we've been a little unkind to the Athlon: [Your article] should contain the subheading "But gets beaten in virtually everything else". That would help cancel out the slant. I've …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 15:08
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Transsexual jokes too close to home
Submariner speaks
Miss France or Mr Snip? Life on the Vulture Central Mailbag desk prepares you for most things. Occasionaly, however, we do get something rather different. Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for Kimberly: Really Kieren, I am a bit disappointed. I found the linked page amusing, but let's just say my humor is lacking this morning ( …
Letters 27 Apr 2001, 15:08
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Dixons opens 100th PC World store
Slashes 300 management jobs
Dixons Stores Group is cutting a layer of management out of its PC World stores leaving 300 managers without a job. It is also reaching its 100th store milestone this weekend - we believe it's going to be a branch in Liverpool, and we're waiting to hear which cast member of Brookside is going to cut the ribbon. The company …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 15:13
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Time Computers culls 130 workers
Not making as many PCs
Time Computers cut back around 130 jobs from its head office this week, according to the remaining staff. The company admits it was caught out by the first time computer market dropping off 12 months earleir than it had expected. Workers have gone from almost all departments except sales, and the figure includes at least 20 …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 15:13
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Compaq buys US systems integrator
Channel Flannel
Compaq is to buy a US systems integrator called Proxicom for $266m. This will increase the numbers of service professionals working for Compaq in North America by 1000, or 20 per cent of the total. Compaq is getting to look more and more like IBM with each passing day. The company may have lost its crown as the world's biggest …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 15:37
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Atlantic hesitant about DSL, EasyNet encouraged
Reg Broadband roundup
British-based Atlantic Telecom is forging ahead providing DSL-based broadband service in Holland and Germany but is hesitant about progress in the UK. Releasing its Q4 performance statistics today it reported that it had signed a framework agreement with mobile telco outfit, Sonera, to provide DSL services in Holland and is …
Telecoms 27 Apr 2001, 15:38
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Online chip broker sets out UK stall
Channel Flannel
ce Consumer Electronic AG, the online chip broker, is setting up a subsidiary for the UK and Ireland. Based in Germany, ce Consumer Electronic is also a wholesale distributor of electronics components, with subsidiaries in several countries. There's a profile of the company here. ®
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 16:00
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SCO channel chill bodes ill for Caldera
Penguinistas flee the coop
The day after Caldera cut 17 per cent of its staff (including OS/2 and Java vet Nick Petreley), we found ourselves musing how urgently the Utah-based Linux distro needed the stability of SCO's revenue. Caldera is expected to complete the merger next week. But, um what stability ... and what revenue? Those questions are posed by …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 16:14
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MD of Cisco gold partner pleads guilty to fraud
Director of NSC Technology up in court
The managing director of Cisco Gold Partner NSC technology has pleaded guilty to several counts of fraud at the Crown Court at Middlesex Guildhall today. Muhammed Yaseem was in court with co-defendants Charles Warner Allen and Jonathan Palmer, not of NSC. Yaseem started NSC Technology in 1992 with two colleagues and by 1999 it …
Channel 27 Apr 2001, 16:28
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WorldCom to axe 800 UK jobs
They've taken their time but...
WorldCom is expected to announce massive job cuts as early as next week slashing its UK workforce by almost 20 per cent. The committee responsible for handling the redundancies in the UK is meeting this afternoon after delaying a decision on the redundancies last week due to insufficient information. Negotiations are expected …
Telecoms 27 Apr 2001, 16:33
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All your Unix™ are belong to Dennis Ritchie
Bearded synchronicity
Dennis Ritchie, co-author of Unix and the C language, has posted a panoramic view of the sheer versatility of his operating system. Or more precisely, the Unix name itself. Pre-empting the All Your Bases meme (which should have expired by now, as it was on its last legs when we wrote about it), the great man has rounded up …
Bootnotes 27 Apr 2001, 16:47
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Lego porn! Hot and plasticky
Furniture porn has competition
While you can get sacked for looking at, saving or Photoshopping your work colleague's head onto some filthy porn, the Internet has provided us with a clean, safe, legal way of focussing those lustful intentions. In this field of comedy porn, the crown is undoubtedly held by FurniturePorn.com. There was a brief tussle for the …
Music and Media 27 Apr 2001, 17:14
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Reports of death of email viruses greatly exaggerated?
AV firms attack MoD technology
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has come under fire over the capabilities of a product designed to protect business from the effects of email viruses, such as the Love Bug and Anna Kournikova worm. Anti-virus vendors have said that software developed by the MoD's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) is neither …
Security 27 Apr 2001, 17:20
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NT 4.0 SP7 available, but not on planet Earth
It's shipped Jim, but not as we know it...
NT 4.0 Service Pack 7 is available - but not on this planet. Sharp-eyed reader Jon Bright, who has interesting tastes in bedtime reading, points us to a few clues to this bizarre piece of Microsoft channel segmentation. If you check the January crew logs for the International Space Station, and you don't nod off immediately, …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 17:32
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Chinese crackers May attack US warns FBI
Feds detail likely plan of attack
The FBI yesterday issued an alert warning system administrators to bolt up their security hatches in order to block possible attacks next month by Chinese crackers bent on revenge against the US. The agency said a spate of Web page defacements by the Chinese might be expected early next month because of heightened political …
Security 27 Apr 2001, 17:39
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Google restores Usenet archive, plans posting
So that's where the DAT went
Google overnight yanked the Deja backup tape out from under the Foosball table, where it had been propping up that wobbly leg, and now much of Deja's historic Usenet archive is online again. Google also plans to add the ability to post Usenet message by mid-May, company spokesman David Krane told us. The company took enormous …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 17:59
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UK is broadband laggard – OECD
But maybe not for long
Britain is languishing in 21st place in a league table of broadband-enabled countries according to figures compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The figures show that South Korea is currently experiencing the highest penetration levels among OECD nations with 10 broadband connections per …
Telecoms 27 Apr 2001, 20:21
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Microsoft's Passport service: No Marylanders allowed?
Newsforge spots conflict of interest
Passport is Microsoft's online wallet service, to which you're supposed to sign in once and shop online feeling all secure forever after. Except, perhaps, in Maryland, where the local version of the UCITA law, which Microsoft itself worked to pass, conflicts with Passport's terms of use so heavily that Maryland residents are …
Software 27 Apr 2001, 21:53
