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1st May 2001 Archive

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  • Apple appoints developer evangelist

    Replaces Richardson

    Apple has replaced the now departed former VP of developer relations, Clent Richardson. The new incumbent is Ron Okamoto, who's done senior product management and marketing stints at Adobe and Macromedia, so he clearly knows the market, and what it's like to develop and market applications for the Mac. Okamoto will report …

    Mac Channel 1 May 2001, 08:55

  • DTI calls for reseller kitemark

    Why?

    Hewlett Packard wants to see a government-sponsored industry kitemark for resellers, CW360.com reports. The site appears to have got its knickers slightly in a twist over the story as, according to CRN UK, the scheme is DTI-led and HP is just one of a number of vendors discussing the project with the DTI. The Big Idea behind …

    Channel 1 May 2001, 09:27

  • Excite@Home slashes 380 jobs

    Maypole dancing is cancelled

    Excite@Home stuck two fingers up to its workers yesterday after it announced 380 redundancies on the eve of May Day celebrations marking the struggle of workers everywhere. There will be no maypole dancing at the broadband outfit's offices in Redwood City, California, today - no skulking off with the milkmaid for a rummage in …

    e-Business 1 May 2001, 09:28

  • Judge dismisses ‘dozens’ of Rambus allegations

    Rambus vs Infineon All but three claims chucked out

    The US Court has chucked out 54 of Rambus' patent infringement claims against Infineon, leaving the chip maker to answer just three allegations. Trial judge Robert E Payne ruled that Rambus had failed to prove that its single-rate and double data-rate SDRAM patents had been ripped off by Infineon. Rambus, he said, could not …

    Channel 1 May 2001, 09:30

  • Farewell Sir Iain Vallance!

    We pop round BT Towers with some flowers and a card

    As sticklers for good manners, we decided to visit BT Towers at St Paul's yesterday and wish the company's chairman Sir Iain Vallance farewell as he leaves his job today. It seemed a little rude to turn up without anything, so we bought him some lovely white lillies and a "Sorry to hear you're going" card to present to …

    Bootnotes 1 May 2001, 10:06

  • Bright Station shares continue slide

    That's what happens when you run out of cash

    Shares in Bright Station continued to slide this morning following its announcement yesterday that it was running out of cash. Yesterday its share price dropped by a quarter to 15.25 pence wiping off £9 million from the value off the company. In early trading this morning shares fell a further 3.25 pence to 12 pence - around …

    Business 1 May 2001, 10:12

  • WinXP: one more slip, and it's put back to 2002

    Santa's elves preparing upgrade coupons

    Any further slippage in WinXP's development schedule will result in the whole project being knocked back into 2002, according to a CNET story by the estimable Joe Wilcox. As we pointed out yesterday, there is no more slack in the schedule if Microsoft is to make the holiday sales season, but credit where credit's due, Joe has …

    Software 1 May 2001, 10:28

  • BT to sell Japan Telecom stake to Vodafone

    Needs the money

    BT is to sell its 20 per cent stake in Japan Telecom to Vodafone in order to relieve its debt burden. It is also in talks with Vodafone - which, let's remember, is a main rival in the wireless market - to sell its 17.8 per cent stake in Spanish mobile company Airtel. These are tough decisions but they had to be taken and new FD …

    Business 1 May 2001, 10:42

  • Blow for ‘Windows Mainframe’ as Compaq dumps Unisys

    Single figure UK sales

    Compaq has followed Hewlett Packard in dropping Unisys' flagship ES7000 server, the much-vaunted 'Windows mainframe'. Compaq will instead focus on 8-way systems, clustered if need be, in preference to the high-price, high-end 32-way box. The 'e-@action Enterprise Server ES7000' was dropped from HP's line-up last month; the …

    Business 1 May 2001, 10:51

  • IBM preps first Itanium workstation

    Collisions, explosions or gravity

    IBM is claiming the first Itanium-powered workstation to market with the launch of the M Pro Intellistation. Or maybe it's the Z Pro.. IBM contradicts itself in the press launch invite, helpfully posted on Sourcewire. First it refers at to the new Xeon-powered Z Pro, and then, it boasts of "exciting possibilities for animations …

    Business 1 May 2001, 11:00

  • Buy AMD! Buy AMD! – Robertson Stephens

    Intel rival on a roll

    AMD will continue to steal marketshare away from Intel, so it's really worth buying its stock. Now. That's the message from Wall Street watcher Robertson Stephens, following a pep-talk from AMD's senior staffers. The company said again that it rates AMD's stock as a 'buy'. AMD shares closed at $31 last night. According to RS …

    Channel 1 May 2001, 11:12

  • Sony releases CD-R/RW digital camera

    150Mb and little movies too

    Sony has announced it will put its CD-R/RW digital camera on the market on June 8. The camera is called the CD Mavica and uses an eight centimetre CD, capable of holding 150Mb worth of images. There will be two models - the MVC-CD300 and the less fancy CD200 (basically three million pixels as opposed to two million). …

    Business 1 May 2001, 11:55

  • Dell to can more staff

    Could be another 5,000

    Dell is going to can thousands more workers according to analysts quizzed by Bloomberg. The company slashed 1,700 jobs in February, but now Ashok Kumar, an analyst at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, reckons they need to get rid of at least 3,000 more. And Eric Rothdeutsch, an analyst at Robertson Stephens, thinks the figure could …

    Business 1 May 2001, 11:59

  • Codebreaker II Oh dear, oh dear…

    Abject failure as deadline looms

    It seems like an age since we last reported on progress in our Codebreaker II competition. Well, the challenge is due to close on Friday and we haven't had the slightest impression that anyone is even close. To be frank, we're a bit worried about you. Some of your pleas for help have been enough to melt even the hardest heart …

    Bootnotes 1 May 2001, 12:01

  • Intel Online Services warns workers of job ‘redeployments’

    Redeployment not a layoff - unless we can't find a job for you...

    Staff at Intel's Online Services operation are preparing to hear the worst on Friday morning, when the company is expected to announce major cuts to the division's headcount. The scale of the reduction is not yet known, but according to an internal email sent to IOS staffers today and seen by The Register, it's going to be " …

    Music and Media 1 May 2001, 12:15

  • $1m hacking contest planned

    Expensive publicity stunt. If they pay up

    A Canadian start-up firm is planning a hacking competition that will offer a prize of a cool $1 million to anyone who can crack its security product. Saafnet believes its forthcoming AlphaShield 2000 technology provides immunity from cyberattack for home users and small business with always on broadband connections. To test …

    Security 1 May 2001, 12:42

  • Whistler Server confirmed as Windows 2002

    Just don't say it, OK? Don't

    With its usual exquisite timing, Microsoft has announced that the server version of WinXP will be tagged Windows 2002 Server. That's the name that was expected, and it has nothing to do with it shipping in 2002 - which it probably will. Server is intended to come out a little after WinXP ships, so if WinXP makes it for October …

    Software 1 May 2001, 12:53

  • Sony says ‘yes’ to US next-gen Clié PDA

    Will be launched outside Japan after all

    Sony will be bringing its newest Clié PDA to the US, the company announced today. Launched in Japan earlier this year, the PEG-N700C is the realisation of the entertainment-oriented PDA the Sony had in mind when it announced back in 1999 that it was licensing Palm's OS to build one. The first Clié provided something of a …

    Business 1 May 2001, 14:25

  • Govt e-troops rally round uninspiring leader

    E-envoy in Yankee slang shocker

    The government e-envoy Andrew Pinder tried his best to put some life into his troops at the Government Computing annual conference in London today. Despite his brave words though, there remains an indisputable smell of mediocrity in the air. Giving the keynote speech at the conference - held in the Business Design Centre and …

    Business 1 May 2001, 14:35

  • Mayday! Reg offices under siege…

    ...by the police... and now the activists...

    May Day is fast becoming a traditional day for rioting in London. This year, activists have turned their attentions north and west of their usual stamping ground in the City, to the West End. That's right, to RegLand, just a brick's throw from Oxford Street where the action is supposed to go off. Shops are shut, often boarded, …

    Bootnotes 1 May 2001, 14:41

  • ISS to acquire Network ICE

    Intrusion detection Iss Ice Ice baby

    The two most significant players in intrusion detection are getting into bed. Internet Security Systems has announced it is acquiring privately-held firm Network ICE. The all-stock deal is worth approximately $195 million and is expected to close in June 2001. According to the firms, Network ICE's desktop applications and …

    Business 1 May 2001, 14:53

  • Bill Gates is the Devil, Hitler implicated

    Not very exclusive pix...

    A helpful reader sends a jpg of two adjacent pages from Germany's Net-Business magazine. And need we say more? Well, yes, now you mention it. Net-Business does have a web operation, but the text isn't up there yet, and fortunately we can't read it on the image we've got. The article on the left, we're informed, is largely about …

    Bootnotes 1 May 2001, 14:53

  • BT lifts ADSL restrictions

    Supply sorted, but is there the demand?

    BT is to lift restrictions on the supply of wholesale ADSL connections after tripling capacity over the last couple of months. The decision could help spark an increase in take-up of broadband ADSL services if ISPs are confident that the lifting of restrictions is a genuine improvement to BT's wholesale service. Up until now …

    Telecoms 1 May 2001, 14:55

  • Micron Technology reveals buyer of PC biz

    Cuts losses and gets out quick

    Micron Technology has revealed the buyer of its PC business - investment outfit Gores Technology Group. Gores will take on the assets and liabilities of the PC making business, while Micron will give it $70 million in cash towards working capital. The deal releases Micron from any obligation to fund the PC business, but the …

    Business 1 May 2001, 16:01

  • Symantec forgets to renew its digital certificate

    Updated Doh

    Our thanks to Ophir of Israel for unearthing this amusing cock-up, courtesy of Symantec. The security software specialist forgot to renew a digital certificate on one of its Web sites. enterprisesecurity.symantec.com, is designed to act as a showcase for Symantec products, but its Verisign-supplied digital certificate …

    Security 1 May 2001, 16:04

  • LogoWatch Telco punts for pink pound

    Norweb undergoes chromatic realignment

    Well, it's all go on the corporate makeover front. Oh yes, it's been a busy time in the land of Powerpoint presentations and flipcharts. According to an email we received this morning, One of the UK's leading telecoms suppliers for business communications is re-branding. As of yesterday, 'Norweb Telecom' became 'Your …

    Bootnotes 1 May 2001, 16:07

  • Click-and-nowt disease travels to Ireland

    Updated Thousands of excessive' Net users kicked off

    Nearly 3,000 Net users in Ireland have been kicked off the Esat NoLimits service for "excessive use" in an exact mirror of what happened in the UK last year. We have had around 50 emails from very angry Reg readers in Ireland, many of who claim they were given no warning that they were about to be kicked off. Others have …

    Music and Media 1 May 2001, 16:14

  • eBay is the best Web site in the world

    Amazon forced from its throne

    Online auction site eBay is now king of the castle when it comes to e-commerce sites, according to the latest figures. And Amazon's a dirty rascal. The Nielsen/Net Ratings report claims that eBay's visitors have grown by more than four million in March to reach 22.13 million. This figure makes the site bigger than previous …

    e-Business 1 May 2001, 16:23

  • Christian ministry worker solicits underage sex on Net

    'CervixOpener' bit of a give-away

    A Christian ministry worker faces up to 20 years in jail after he used an Internet chat room to try and get underage sex. Edwin Saleh yesterday admitted to US District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper that he had sought sex with a 14-year-old girl and kept a stash of child porn pictures, KCBS - Channel 2000 reports. The 43- …

    Music and Media 1 May 2001, 16:28

  • Rambus stock drops 8.8% after Judge's ruling

    Investors get off the 'bus

    Rambus investors reacted to yesterday's setback in the company's legal action against Infineon by knocking $1.50 off the memory developer's share price this morning. Yesterday, RMBS stock closed at 17, its average price over the last week or so. This morning it opened at 15.50, a fall of just over 8.8 per cent. It quickly …

    Business 1 May 2001, 16:28

  • Standalone Windows Media Player 8 hits the web

    Really tightly bundled with XP? Not quite...

    Software surgeons as-yet-unknown have made a nonsense of Microsoft's requirement that Windows' Media Player 8 will only work with its forthcoming Windows XP operating system. A standalone version, which can be installed on Windows 2000, was popping up all over the web today. As reported on the wires, but not confirmed by …

    Software 1 May 2001, 16:30

  • Sports.com buys Megastar

    Football and tits

    Sports.com has bought the Megastar web site from United Business Media for an undisclosed sum. 'Undisclosed' these days suggests (too us, anyway):'embarrassingly little". Sports.com reckons it is the leading supplier of online sports info in Europe, but it is it operating in a very overcrowded marketplace and it is difficult …

    e-Business 1 May 2001, 17:14

  • Thus Internet revenues flat

    Ohÿ

    The Internet division of Scottish telco Thus had a flat year, increasing revenue by only 2 per cent over the last 12 months. Publishing it's preliminary results for the year ended 31 March, Thus revealed that full year Internet sales increased a smidgen to £76.1 million. Traditional dial-up subscription and termination …

    Telecoms 1 May 2001, 17:16

  • Cisco beefs up VoIP portfolio

    Speech recognition

    Cisco is to add unified messaging and speech recognition technology to its voice over IP (VoIP) products, in a bid to tempt more firms to ditch their old phone systems. The new software products, most of which will be available this quarter, include Cisco Personal Assistant, Cisco Unity 2.46 unified messaging, Cisco IP …

    Data Networking 1 May 2001, 17:23

  • Microsoft IIS hole gives System-level access

    Redmond "strongly urges" patching "immediately"

    Strong words from the official voice of Redmond today, urging admins to patch a recently-discovered buffer overflow vulnerability in servers running IIS 5.0 on Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, make it clear how serious a security problem the Beast has on its hands. "Microsoft …

    Software 1 May 2001, 20:29

  • The First Titsups of Spring

    April is the cruellest month

    The dotcom funeral march continued in April, with 55 Internet companies shutting up shop during the month. The number of fatalities was higher than in March, when 44 dotcoms closed down, according to a report from net evaluator Webmergers.com. It also compared miserably to the days of April 2000 - when investors couldn't throw …

    e-Business 1 May 2001, 20:36

  • Starbucks invites Compaq in for coffee

    $100m wireless Internet deal

    Compaq has signed a $100 million, five-year deal to give Starbucks customers high-speed, wireless Internet access with their latte. Starting this summer customers will be able to connect via their own wireless-enabled devices, through a local network picked up over the airwaves in each store. They will also be able to log on …

    Music and Media 1 May 2001, 21:37

  • Napster judge disappoints record industry

    For a change

    US District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel responded to recording industry demands that Napster move Heaven and Earth to eliminate copyrighted works from its network with a disappointing ruling. Rather than stiffen her injunction requiring Napster to locate and remove all copyrighted songs, Judge Patel recommended Friday that the …

    Music and Media 1 May 2001, 23:12