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4th May 2001 Archive

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  • US ‘National Security’ surveillance up in 2000

    Secret court authorizes FBI bugs and black bag jobs

    US federal agents filed a record 1,005 applications to perform electronic surveillance and covert physical burglaries in supposed terrorism and espionage investigations last year, all of which were granted, according to US Department of Justice (DoJ) figures made public Wednesday. The FBI's national security wiretapping in …

    Security 4 May 2001, 01:51

  • Microsoft UK 0wn3d

    Prime Suspectz going for a record

    Microsoft's UK Web site was defaced late Thursday by Prime Suspectz with a simple re-direct page and the unostentatious message: "Thank you for visiting. You are now being redirected to the Microsoft UK web site. Please click here if you are not redirected within 5 seconds. ©2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." In …

    Media 4 May 2001, 03:04

  • Lucent workers busted for inside tech swindle

    Selling US trade secrets to China -- again

    The FBI on Thursday nailed three Chinese nationals -- two Lucent Technologies scientists and a hanger-on -- on charges of forming a company called ComTriad Technologies through which they sold Lucent trade secrets to a Chinese outfit they formed with a commercial cabal of Beijing plutocrats known as Datang Telecom Technology. …

    Data Networking 4 May 2001, 05:05

  • EarthLink founder crashes, burns in fraud probe

    And takes several other Scientology dupes with him

    Atlanta, Georgia ISP EarthLink co-founder and 'Church' of Scientology dupe Reed Slatkin is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for running an investment scam, the Los Angeles Times reports. Slatkin is thought to have operated a Ponzi scheme (or 'pyramid scheme'), in which 'early adopters' are …

    Media 4 May 2001, 06:11

  • Exploits for several million Microsoft servers posted

    This oughta be a blast....

    Several exploits have been developed for a buffer overflow vulnerability in servers running IIS 5.0 on Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, which we reported on Tuesday. The vulnerability exists in the .printer ISAPI (Internet Server Application Programming Interface) filter (C:\ …

    Software 4 May 2001, 07:01

  • BT builds for the future

    Watford to become major telco centre

    These are unsettling times for workers at BT. Those hard-working folk at BT's plush HQ opposite St Paul's Cathedral in London have been told that the building is going to be sold and they're going to have to hop it. No worries though - because BT already has offices dotted around London's M25 ring road including locations near …

    Business 4 May 2001, 09:56

  • Official: BT not anti-competitive

    Joy at BT Centre as removal men eye up the place

    BT has been found not guilty of anti-competitive behaviour following its introduction of bundled voice and Net products at the end of last year. In November Oftel initiated the launch of its own investigation under the Competition Act into the BT Surf Together and BT Talk & Surf Together tariffs among fears that BT was abusing …

    Media 4 May 2001, 10:14

  • Student wins first SMS poetry competition

    Inspired by granny. Aw bless.

    The world's first text message poetry competition has been decided and the winner is 22-year-old student Hetty Hughes. Hetty is doing a degree in peace studies and was in the midst of an essay on the United Nations when she caught sight of a pic of her gran. The text poem was finished minutes later. This is it: txtin iz messin …

    Bootnotes 4 May 2001, 10:20

  • Evesham loses Luke Ireland

    Corny joke man's got a new venture

    Evesham.com's operations director Luke Ireland is leaving the business to start his own venture. He'd been with the company for 10 years, and if you want to wish him well his last day is 1 June. Luke started at the direct PC seller as a Saturday assistant while he was still at school. He joined full time straight after he'd …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 10:55

  • Show us the source, then Mr Mundie – developers

    Letter to Hobbyists reaches Version 3.0

    Some Microsoft updates just take longer to arrive than others. It's taken 25 years to refine Bill Gates' Open Letter to Hobbyists, and in the best tradition of second system syndrome, the follow-up is not only massively bloated, but a lot less usable than the original. "As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you …

    Software 4 May 2001, 11:08

  • Blueyonder cuts cost of broadband

    Strings attached as ever

    Blueyonder has cut the cost of its broadband Net access service. The branded service from Telewest is now available for £25 a month which includes the cost of renting a cable modem - but only as long as punters also subscribe to its other telecoms and TV services which start from £9.60 a month. The price cut puts blueyonder on …

    Media 4 May 2001, 11:10

  • Israeli BOFHs flock to sign up as spies

    Mossad hunts for workers among dot com fallout

    Jobless high technology workers are beating a path to the doors of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, in order to find work. According to figures obtained from Israeli paper Maariv, Mossad received more than 1,000 applications after it placed a newspaper ad seeking staff needed to expand its technology department. This is a …

    Business 4 May 2001, 11:12

  • Stop! Don't install Easy CD Creator 5 til you read this story

    Latest version can wipe out Win2K machines

    The latest version of the popular CD recording software Easy CD Creator, version 5, is killing Windows 2000 machines stone dead so hold off until you have read all the guidance. The developer of the software, Roxio, has put up a security notice on its site saying that a "small percentage" of people using the Windows 2000 OS …

    Software 4 May 2001, 11:17

  • Ideal underpins AMD biz with ASUS franchise

    Mobo a gogo

    ASUSTek has signed up Ideal Hardware to distribute its mobos into the UK system builder market. Ideal is best known for its storage business, and it is by far the UK's biggest supplier of hard disk drives into the system builder market. But the company is also the UK's sole AMD-only distie (parent Bell MicroProducts is also …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 12:02

  • Knife hangs over 73 Computacenter jobs

    But this is a positive story...

    Computacenter has told 73 workers that they are at risk of being jobless after its decision to re-integrate its ebusiness division back into its main operation. It's hoped that many of those fingered will find jobs within Computacenter although the outfit has confirmed that there may be casualties. Staff at iGroup were told …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 12:04

  • AOL in cahoots with Compaq, HP to derail WinXP, .NET?

    Plan to defang Windows Experience while spreading smut about bugs

    AOL is considering what amounts to all out war on Microsoft and Windows XP, according to a document obtained by Betanews, which has been getting its hands on some corkers of late. If genuine the document is an AOL internal strategy memo listing "response scenarios" to XP. Practically all of them are seriously hardball, and at …

    Software 4 May 2001, 12:13

  • Psion tells investors about state of its handheld business

    And 2.5G networks. Oh dear

    Psion chief exec David Levin has said Q1 sales are significantly ahead of last years at the company's AGM today. But this isn't down to the handheld market. "As anticipated in March, trading in the Psion Digital division, particularly in palmtop markets, continues to be difficult," Levin said. Psion Digital is the single …

    Business 4 May 2001, 12:15

  • Samsung launches ‘custom’ Rambus RIMMs

    Multi-channel, too

    Samsung wheeled out three new quad-channel Rambus memory modules yesterday aimed at servers and high-end PCs. The new modules have a data throughput of 6.4GBps - four times the 1.6GBps speed of the more commonplace one-channel RDRAM modules. Each RIMM can hold up to 512MB of memory, though the mobile-oriented SO-RIMM version …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 12:18

  • NEC results, a tale of two halves

    Scaling back

    NEC's results are out today and it's a tale of two halves. In the early part of its financial year it enjoyed strong sales of cellular telephones and growth of its PC and semiconductor memory business, this more than offset weak sales from mainframe computers and colour LCDs. But the second half of the year was hit by a huge …

    Business 4 May 2001, 12:50

  • Mobiles blamed for Fat Kids

    Artery in Furs

    British kids are the fattest ever, and it's all down to mobiles. Apparently. One in nine children between the ages of seven and 11 is medically obese, a study at Leeds Metropolitan University has discovered. The study has been published in the British Medical Journal and points to a doubling in obesity since the last time a …

    Data Networking 4 May 2001, 13:05

  • AMD plots 15 May server, mobile Athlon launch

    Looks like Palomino's going to be led out to the course

    AMD looks set to launch its next-generation Athlon, codenamed Palomino, at a special event on 15 May. That, at least, is the most likely scenario. What the company will unveil isn't yet known for certain, but piecing together snippets of information from a variety of sources close to AMD and to its reseller channel, we expect …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 13:27

  • Mundie retrofits Net visionary tag to Chairman Gates

    Just a point release from having invented it, apparently

    The Cult of the Dear Leader proceeds apace at Microsoft, as yesterday's stage-managed piece of source-mongering by Craig Mundie amply testifies. In his preamble to his Shared Source presentation, Craig tips the hat to His Billness, who seems now to all intents and purposes the inventor of the Internet: "as early as 1995, Bill …

    Software 4 May 2001, 13:56

  • Nvidia takes control of workstation graphics biz

    Snapping at ATI's heels

    Nvidia is the world's leading graphics chip maker... almost. In fact, the Gartner Dataquest survey that Nvidia cites put the graphics company at the top of the totem pole covered just the workstation market sector. So, while Nvidia is market leader here and dominates the mainstream desktop graphics arena, too, arch-rival ATI's …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 14:59

  • AOL UK stung by BBC investigation

    Punters not happy with free trial

    AOL UK has launched an urgent investigation after receiving complaints from people unable to cancel their free trial to the Internet service. Their problem was featured on a BBC Radio programme earlier today and drew 30 emails from listeners who all claim to have experienced similar problems. One listener complained that it …

    Media 4 May 2001, 15:16

  • BT boot sale offers more bargains

    Roll up! Roll up! We still need £5 billion

    BT is continuing in its telecoms boot sale with a 33 per cent stake in Malaysian operator Maxis up for the taking. As always happens in boot sales, the best items go first, so if it was a share in Japan Telecom you wanted, you're too late. That - as well J-Phone and Airtel stakes - have already been snapped up by Vodafone for £ …

    Business 4 May 2001, 15:34

  • British dame donates £10m to start Internet Institute

    University of Oxford gets green light to study cyber-society

    One of Britain's richest women has given £10 million to help launch an Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. It is hoped that the cash, given by Dame "Steve" Shirley, will make Britain the centre of global cyber-research. The Oxford Internet Institute (OII), which has also netted $5 million in government funding from …

    Media 4 May 2001, 15:40

  • Boxed P4 shortages? What shortages

    Plenty around

    If there was a channel drought of boxed versions of Intel's P4s earlier in the week things seem to have eased up now. The word from resellers was that Intel was telling anyone who wants to order a 1.7GHz P4 they'll have to wait at least four weeks for it - no matter how many they order, and the other versions of the P4 - 1.3GHz …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 15:52

  • Daily Radar.com falls off screen

    Another games site is switched off

    DailyRadar.com has become the latest in gaming Web sites to be switched off. A note on its site says: "Well, folks... The internet soufflé has collapsed (you probably read about it in the news), and Daily Radar is no longer publishing. Here's the top ten reasons Daily Radar will no longer publish:" It then goes on to give 12 …

    Games Industry 4 May 2001, 15:55

  • Compaq UK does its bit for price war

    May Madness

    Compaq UK is running a reseller price promo throughout in May. In other words the dealers get the discount and then it's up to them to decide how much to pass on to Johnny Punter. In practice, the customers will get, more or less the lot, so street prices should come in at up to 20 per cent cheaper than Big Q is currently …

    Channel 4 May 2001, 15:59

  • Napster ponders Microsoft as technology partner

    And tried to get Bill Gates to buy it, apparently

    Napster is talking to Microsoft about licensing Windows Media Technology as the basis for its future subscription-based, copyright-protecting music sharing service. According to a report in the LA Times, a Napster spokeswoman confirmed that the two companies are indeed exploring how the beleaguered software developer might take …

    Software 4 May 2001, 16:03

  • Intel pays students to go and work for someone else

    From P4 to P45*

    Intel is offering students cash incentives not to become part of its workforce. Intel got itself into the stew by offering jobs to this year's American graduates before the current downturn in the economy. But The New York Times today reports that the chip giant has since been quietly offering payments to those who agree not to …

    Business 4 May 2001, 17:07

  • Consumer GPRS is going to be a dog in the short-term

    Dead slow data speeds

    The launch of a service that promises consumers high-speed Internet connections over mobile phones will fall short of delivering the functions business users enjoy. As previously reported, from May 18 consumers can subscribe to a service from BT Cellnet that uses GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) phones designed to offer an " …

    Data Networking 4 May 2001, 17:13

  • May you live in Excite.com times

    Portal could shut, says Business Week

    ISP ExciteAtHome may shut down its Internet portal Excite.com if no buyers step in soon Businessweek claims. Patti Hart, ExciteAtHome's new CEO, is looking to sell loss-making Excite but "may shut it down in the next several months in no buyers emerge," the magazine reports. Hart, the former CEO of Telocity, was appointed CEO …

    e-Business 4 May 2001, 19:47