14th May 2001 Archive

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Iomart sells Madasafish

And slams Oftel over broadband

Iomart, the Scottish-based ISP has sold its Madasafish consumer operation to an undisclosed buyer for £3m in cash. The company will stick to web hosting for businesses and other Internet operations. Although the sale of Madasafish improves Iomart's cash reserves, which stood at £12m at December 31, and reduces its operating …

Telecoms 14 May 2001, 06:53
Free PCs for the poor on sale in black market

The Reg applauds this recycling effort

In October last year, the government delivered a massive boost to the UK PC recycling industry when it revealed its intention to donate 35,000 PCs to the poor in a £10m scheme. How long before these PCs were nicked, we asked at the time (Story: Poorest Brits to be given PCs)? Not so very long, laptops doled out to the poor in …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 07:24
AMD launches Athlon 4, Duron mobiles

Recruits Compaq to the cause

AMD today officially unveiled: its new name for the Athlon, the Athlon 4; two new mobile chips; amd Compaq as a customer for aforesaid mobile. The Athlon 4 1GHz mobile CPU and its cheaper brother, the new AMD Duron mobile processor (available in two flavours) are both built using 0.18 micron copper technology in Dresden (last …

Channel 14 May 2001, 09:18
Tester ID leak leaves WinXP beta site wide open

Latest build victim of The Great Escape

Windows XP beta code has been leaking gently for practically the whole process, but on Friday Microsoft fell victim to the Big One. A beta tester's login leaked, was broadcast across IRC and via instant message, and the Great Escape ensued. Interim build 2469, which itself showed up on Friday, escaped in volume, but as a beta …

Software 14 May 2001, 09:36
WinXP to get USB 2.0 support after all

Just not straight away

Microsoft is to supply USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP after all. Earlier this year, the software giant said XP would not support the next generation serial connectivity system, preferring instead to focus on IEEE 1394 as the OS' high speed peripherals interface Software support for the won't make it into XP's initial release, …

Software 14 May 2001, 10:20
Win2k SP2 out – but unofficially?

It's there, but as yet is unannounced...

Another Microsoft leak? On Friday The Register was under the impression that Win2k Service Pack 2 had just been released, but looking at it now, we're not sure that was exactly the case. News of SP2's availability was first broken by CNET, which said that Microsoft had "quietly posted" it, and looking at the CNET story again, …

Software 14 May 2001, 10:22
Berners-Lee finally gets credit due to him

A fellowship of the Royal Society

Tim Berners-Lee has finally been awarded the credit due to him by receiving a fellowship of the Royal Society - the UK's highest scientific honour. It may seem a natural step considering Berners-Lee was the main man behind the World Wide Web by inventing its address system, but the decision to make him a fellow of the UK most …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 10:25
C&W shells out $340m for Digital Island

Loose change

Cable & Wireless has dipped into its £6bn cash reserves to buy Digital Island, the lossmaking Microsoft-centric ISP for $340m in cash and assumed debt. Digital Island supplies managed Web services for Cisco, ETrade, FT.com and Microsoft, among others. Blue chip clients account for 70 per cent of its $140-$145m revenues and …

Business 14 May 2001, 10:27
DCC reports excellent year for IT distie ops

France, UK and Ireland

DCC, the Irish distie conglomerate, saw revenues for Sercom, its IT wholesaling divisio,n grow 39 per cent to €753.9m in 2000:(1999: €542.3m). Profits were up 52.5 per cent from €20.5m to €31.2m, while operating margins moved up a couple of points from 3.8 per cent to 4.1 per cent. Sercom Distribution has four operating …

Channel 14 May 2001, 10:50
Acer caught in towering inferno

Was it bad? It's a fire, all fires are bad

Acer lost five offices, at a cost of $20.36 million, as a Taiwan tower-block turned into a towering inferno on Sunday. According to a report by OC Workbench fire fighters battled the blaze for 35 hours before getting it under control. The 26-storey building was home to dozens of high tech companies. Taiwan's vice president …

Business 14 May 2001, 11:00
Blair in shoot-to-kill conflict

The nasty side of politics

Britain's political leaders might be involved in an election battle - but at onlinegames.net they're fighting for their lives. Over the weekend thousands of gamers took part in a political "shoot 'em up" featuring Tony Blair, William Hague and Charles Kennedy. According to the pre-game blurb: "Whatever you think about the …

Games Industry 14 May 2001, 11:40
NTL announces link-up with Orange

Updated Mixing up your mobiles and cables

NTL is to announce an alliance with Orange that will see Orange routing calls through NTL's cable network and NTL offer a mobile phone service. Both will benefit from lower costs. The deal is mostly thanks to the fact that France Telecom owns Orange and 25 per cent of NTL. Orange is likely to act as an operator for an NTL- …

Telecoms 14 May 2001, 11:50
C2000 speeds up reseller returns

Search and track

Reverse logistics is the bane of the channel. Poor handling of returns can mean the difference between huge loss and small profit. And in the consumer sector it can mean the difference between survival and collapse, especially if the Consumer Association gets its teeth into you. Here's how C2000 deals with returns for resellers …

Channel 14 May 2001, 11:50
C2000 parades financial welly in system builder market

Promotes Epstein

Computer 2000 is touting its financial strength in a move to capture more business in the UK system builder market. The Tech Data sub has promoted Rob Epstein, previously in charge of the company's Compaq ops, to run its components division. The company claims that many smaller distributors are struggling to extend sufficient …

Channel 14 May 2001, 12:04
IR35 threatens to blow up into election issue

Tories say they'll abolish it; Labour says all's well

The IR35 legislation that increases the tax paid by IT consultants may become an election issue thanks to its inclusion in the Conservative Party's manifesto. The manifesto reads: "Conservatives will repeal the tax on IT consultants, the notorious IR35, which has driven away from Britain some of our most productive workers. We …

Business 14 May 2001, 12:42
Hacking charge teen commits suicide

Parents blame school suspension for tragic death

The parents of a 13 year-old boy who committed suicide are blaming his suspension from school following allegations of hacking for his death. Shinjan Majumder hung himself in his family home on 4 May, hours after been suspended from Grover Middle School in New Jersey, USA for ten days after allegedly hacking into the school …

Security 14 May 2001, 12:47
Hynix nixes stake sell story

Pleases investors

Memory chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor has denied it's in talks to sell 19.2 percent of the company to US investment fund Newbridge Capital. Bloomberg reports that though the company is looking to sell a stake in its business, owned by affiliate companies to Hyundai, its not had chats with Newbridge. Hynix, which has to pay off …

Business 14 May 2001, 13:18
Nokia calls on Linux coders for set-top box apps

Help compete with Xbox

Nokia has reiterated that it is turning to the Linux community to ensure that its Media Terminal set-top box, due to be launched later this year, has plenty of applications from the word go. In particular, it wants games developers to get coding for MT, based around what Nokia is now calling its Open Source Terminal platform. …

Software 14 May 2001, 13:18
Infineon boss seeks fuller break from Siemens

Looking to Rambus appeal?

Infineon has demanded that its former parent Siemens cut its majority stake in the chip maker and allow it to go its own way. The call came from Infineon CEO Ulrich Schumacher, in an Financial Times interview and sounds suspicously like an attempt to distance the company from its past. Said Schumacher: "We want to go running …

Business 14 May 2001, 13:45
Tesco honours X-Files Web pricing mess-up

Updated Way more than 10 people got lucky. After a fight

Tesco is honouring orders made on its web site following a pricing balls-up. The X-Files DVD box set was advertised for £16.99 on Tesco.com, but should have been sold for £79.99. The price has been corrected, but Tesco is allowing customers who managed to get their orders in before the price was changed to get the goodies for £ …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 14:00
Cyber sex sandwich sizzler

Ireland's first Net libel case features hot bread on butter action

A Irish man has been found guilty of putting a rival sandwich-maker's name and telephone number on a prostitution Web site in the country's first Internet libel case. Associated Press reports that within two days of being listed on the unnamed site as "Exclusive Maureen", Maureen Walker, owner of Exclusive Sandwiches in the …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 14:31
Coronation Street to tackle Net pedo issue

British soap will highlight 'grooming' problem

The number one UK soap Coronation Street is to feature a storyline in which the issue of paedophiles "grooming" kids over the Net will be played out by main character Sarah Louise Platt. Sarah Platt - played by actress Tina O'Brien - is 15 years old and is one of the soap's most popular characters. Sarah had a baby aged just 13 …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 14:33
44 Gameplay staff face the axe

Uncertainty could be over soon

Almost 50 staff have been told their jobs are under threat amid speculation that troubled dotcom, Gameplay, is due to make an announcement about its future. A company meeting had been scheduled to take place this morning but has been postponed until later this afternoon. During the day 44 people have been told that their jobs …

Games Industry 14 May 2001, 15:32
RIP: Douglas Adams

A real and unexpected loss

As you may have heard by now, Douglas Adams, star author of the five-book Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, died suddenly aged 49 on Friday morning in California. He was exercising vigorously and had a heart attack. Since then, tributes have been plastered all over newspapers. But more impressively, hundreds upon …

Music and Media 14 May 2001, 15:36
Intel opens $250m 300mm wafer R&D plant

Working on optical interconnects among other things

Intel today opened a $250 million research facility. Its remit: to develop next-generation chips that will be built on 300mm wafers. The facility is based around a 56,000 sq ft cleanroom and is built next door to Intel's mainstream Fab 20 and development fab D1C. The plant - dubbed RP1, short for Research and Pathfinding - …

Channel 14 May 2001, 15:52
MSN UK fails IE6 privacy standards – apparently

Alternatively, we may just have a highly amusing bugette here...

One of the wondrous innovations in IE6 is its P3P-awareness. This is illustrated by the little warning sign you'll see at the bottom of the page if the site you're visiting doesn't have a privacy statement that is P3P-readable. If you've got IE6, you can check this on The Register front page, because we don't have such a thing …

Software 14 May 2001, 15:55
HWRoundup Athlon 4 review revue

The new Athlon 4 is launched today. Check out our story here... (Why didn’t they keep the name: Palomino? It's far better). First on the reviews block is Anand here. Moving on quickly, we have the verdict from Toms Hardware A summary of more information and rumours can all be found Ace's Hardware. Ace's Hardware today also …

Hardware Roundup 14 May 2001, 16:07
AMD ASPs, 760MP sketch etc.

HW Roundup A mixed bag

This German student puts the slide-rule through AMD average selling prices and publishes twice a week in handy Excel format here. The site has plenty to interest investor types too. The Inquirer has a sketch of the 760MP Bus setup.... I am not going to ask how they got the information down the pub.. have a look here. At …

Hardware Roundup 14 May 2001, 16:09
Two more Apple stores located

Memphis and Birmingham

Apple's long list of retail sites has grown to include two more locations: one Germantown, Memphis and another in Birmingham, Alabama. The Germantown site will be located at the Saddle Creek shopping centre, according to sources, the Memphis Business Journal reports. The site is owned by Poag & Ewen - the company behind Aspen …

Mac Channel 14 May 2001, 16:14
Bill payments blanked out by Barclays online

Updated E-envoy aide rails against site redesign

A leading advocate for e-commerce in the UK feels let down by online banking after Barclays lost some of his account details after a site redesign last week. Simon Moores, chairman the Research Group, and advisor to the e-envoy and government on e-commerce, was left hanging on the telephone after Barclays wiped information …

e-Business 14 May 2001, 16:29
Intel to miss Q2 targets by miles – analyst

Pentium 4 shipments off by 50 per cent

Intel may not meet its earnings forecast of $6.2-6.8 billion. So reckons US merchant bank Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Eric Ross. At the heart of the problem lies the Pentium 4. Ross believes that Intel will ship far fewer P4s than the chip maker hopes it will. Intel's financial expectations are based on it being able to ship …

Business 14 May 2001, 16:48