24th May 2001 Archive
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WinXP 64-bit beta meets bashful Itanium bride
Large family desired
Microsoft confirmed Wednesday that 64-bit versions of WinXP have been released for beta testing. There are, predictably, two great beta flavors - the 64-bit Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition, and 64-bit WinXP for workstations. Rollout is 'scheduled' for early next year, assuming all goes well. The new OSes will be loaded …
Software 24 May 2001, 04:37
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Win Media Player hole surrenders your machine
Joo own3d, porn lover
The Windows Media Player ASX (Active Stream Redirector) processor contains an unchecked buffer susceptible to an overrun which could enable an attacker to run arbitrary code on a machine with the victim's level of permission, a Microsoft security bulletin warns. Media Player 6.4 and 7.0 are affected; and earlier, currently- …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 06:03
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Apple to release Mac OS X 10.0.5 any day now
Other goodies too
Apple will post its latest Mac OS X release tomorrow, just a couple of days after Microsoft updated the version of Internet Explorer that ships with the operating system. Mac OS X 10.0.5 will go live on 25 May, according to multiple sources cited by Think Secret. The operating system is currently at version 10.0.3. That …
Mac Channel 24 May 2001, 09:35
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Palm cuts developer PDA prices by up to 40%
Unsold stock mountain
Palm is attempting to clear its huge inventory of unsold PDAs by flogging them off at a huge discount to developers, according to an email seen by The Register. Devices are available for up to 40 per cent off their standard price. Of course, the PDA pioneer spins it as a "thank you" for all those applications third-party …
Business 24 May 2001, 10:38
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Intel Itanium to launch next Tuesday – Hewlett-Packard
Confirms 29 May as 'I opener'
Hewlett-Packard has confirmed 29 May - next Tuesday - as the official launch date of Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor. HP will be launching servers based on Itanium on that date, we hear. Why? Because that's the day Intel will release the new chip, an HP representative let slip. To be fair, HP isn't exactly breaking any …
Channel 24 May 2001, 10:40
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Finders to Keepers – Reg readers on speeding up Mac OS X
If you just can't wait...
How can Apple rescue Mac OS X from its sluggish performance trough? And what should Mac developers really write to, Carbon or Cocoa? As ever, Reg readers have offered plenty of suggestions to both questions. In his contribution to the "Fireside Chat" at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in San Jose on Monday, Avie …
Mac Channel 24 May 2001, 11:06
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WAP is still crap
No one's using it, and can you blame them?
Even the foolish people who have bought WAP phones hardly ever use the WAP features, according a Meta Group survey. Apparently, 80 to 90 per cent of WAP phone owners only ever use the phone for voice calls. Why? Because the few services which do exist for WAP phones are difficult to use, taken ages to work through and are …
Data Networking 24 May 2001, 11:40
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Deutsche Telekom takes 40Gbps kit for a spin
Lucent in driving seat
Deutsche Telekom has successfully tested 40Gbps optical networking technology from Lucent Technologies - four times faster than current commercial systems. Lucent's 40Gbps system, which was tested over a distance of 72 miles (116 km), is based on time division multiplexing technology. This can transmit multimedia traffic using …
Data Networking 24 May 2001, 11:40
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Large-format LCD prices to rise claims market watcher
So much for Apple's LCD-only policy...
Mac users hoping that Apple's move to ditch CRT displays from its monitor family in favour of an all-LCD line-up will be matched by falling display prices are set to be disappointed. Prices of large-size Thin-film Transistor (TFT) LCDs - the good ones, in other words - will cease falling in Q3 or Q4 of this year and then rise …
Mac Channel 24 May 2001, 11:43
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Corporate America prefers Compaq to Dell servers
Dell top for desktops though
US business customers are happier with Compaq than Dell servers, a survey released this week states. Compaq regained the number one spot for customer satisfaction with Intel-based servers during the first quarter, according to a survey by Technology Business Research. The Houston-based vendor came out top in the Corporate IT …
Business 24 May 2001, 11:46
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BT goes on rebranding crusade
ET ads to go (hurrah), Cellnet name to change?
BT is to embark on a rebranding which will see it ditch Steven Spielberg's ET creation in favour of Ridley Scott's Gladiator for its adverts, and its market-leading mobile company BT Cellnet taken on a new "international" name. A BT spokesman wouldn't give us the name of any branding company, so it looks as though it's all …
Business 24 May 2001, 11:48
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Bulldog calls for BT execution
Extreme
The continued problems surrounding Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) are so bad it's time for Oftel to point a gun at BT's head and fire, according to the CEO of wholesale DSL outfit Bulldog Communications. Speaking to The Register Richard Greco said that enough was enough. "We've been talking about LLU for a year", he said. "What …
Telecoms 24 May 2001, 11:53
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Redbus losses narrow
See what happens when the sun shines?
Internet hosting outfit Redbus Interhouse said today that Q1 revenues were up and losses have narrowed and predicts it will be EBITDA positive within the financial year. Turnover for Q1 to 31 March was up 32 per cent on the previous quarter to £2.26 million. Loss before tax was £362,000 compared with £1,06 million in Q4 last …
e-Business 24 May 2001, 11:55
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Ex-Boo staff offer services to Hollywood
Midas Touch bar hosts dotcom reunion
Having Boo.com on your CV is not the kiss of death. That's according to a group of former workers of the failed sportswear e-tailer, who were found chatting in London's West End last week at a reunion to mark the first anniversary of Boo's collapse. The Guardian, which got one of its reporters to infiltrate the group's meeting …
e-Business 24 May 2001, 11:57
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Microsoft Xbox has lost the console war already – Sony exec
It's 'finished', claims Ken Kutaragi
Microsoft's Xbox console is "finished before it even got started". So says Sony's PlayStation supremo, Ken Kutaragi, in an interview with the Financial Times today. Not that he's biased in any way, you understand. Our Ken's simply telling it like it is. Yeah, right. We've always said that the early 21st Century's big battle …
Games Industry 24 May 2001, 12:44
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Microsoft wraps around Office XP channel plans
Paperchase
Microsoft UK is turning to the newsstands to support the May 31 launch of Office XP. The company is giving away a full-functioning time-limited Office XP CD with every copy of the Sunday Times. The CD also features content from U2, the Irish rock group, and television personality Jonathan Ross. Free CDs will also be distributed …
Channel 24 May 2001, 13:22
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Reg gets flighty with MS bag
Competition UK Reseller? Need to overnight your laptop? Then read on...
If you're a UK Reseller with a desperate need to overnight your laptop, then this competition's for you. We have teamed up with Microsoft to celebrate the launch of Office XP in offering one lucky chap or chapette the chance to own a deluxe black leatherette 'laptop overnighter'. What, you may ask, is this thing they call an …
Channel 24 May 2001, 13:23
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18th Century warfare to fight Internet crackers
Electronic Citadel
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) calls for a fresh approach to protect credit card details from Internet crackers. According to the SIIA, many businesses today implement an 'eggshell' security model: hard on the outside and soft in the centre. The problem is that there is often little or nothing to prevent …
Security 24 May 2001, 13:37
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Codebreaker II One day and counting
Last chance to earn the respect of your peers
Our would-be Alan Turings now have one day only to crack our fiendish Codebreaker II competition. Naturally, given the high intellectual calibre of the Reg readership, we've already had some correct solutions. Shamefully, however, the emails begging for assistance continue to flood in. The competition closes at 5.00pm BST …
Bootnotes 24 May 2001, 13:38
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The great AOL word cybersquatting saga
Plenty more for the chop
We support AOL's decision to take Aimster to an arbitrator for its unauthorised use of the giant's trademark "AIM" or "America Online Instant Messenger". We also applaud NAF's ability to override the rules in this very important matter and ignore the fact that "aim" is also a verb and noun to rule in AOL's favour. AOL quite …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 13:41
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Gates loses the broadband plot
Reading too many fairytales
Bill Gates reckons the cost of broadband is holding back the development of home digital entertainment services but predicts good things for broadband Britain. Speaking yesterday at the Fifth Annual Microsoft CEO Summit in Redmond, Gates said: "There is no hardware limitation that will hold this (digital home entertainment) …
Telecoms 24 May 2001, 14:16
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Lastminute.com resorts to porn
Penthouse subs to rebuild shareholder value, apparently
Cash-strapped online purveyor of cheap air tickets Lastminute.com has turned - like Yahoo! etc. - to porn to make ends meet (as it were). Not that it's selling smutty pictures itself, you understand, but we were surprised to see the e-commerce travel pioneer offering a six-month subscriptions to jazz mags. And we're not …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 14:33
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Low-income users biggest UK Net group
Bloody students
A quarter of all Internet users in the UK earn less than £600 per month making low income users the largest group online, according to the latest stats from Internet monitoring outfit, NetValue. However, dig underneath this headline information and it's revealed that just under half of this group is made up of students - a …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 15:28
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Text messaging could damage your kidneys
British doctors issue warning
British doctors have warned that text messaging could damage people's kidneys. The British Medical Association (BMA) today raised concerns that radio waves from phones could affect internal organs, especially in children. Concerns about speaking into mobile phone handsets have been well documented - the possibility of …
Data Networking 24 May 2001, 15:31
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Plastic tubes to deliver Gigabit to the desktop
The Reg meets Nobel prize winning Über-boffin
Plastic tubes could replace twisted pair cabling to become a way of delivering high bandwidth Internet access to the desktop. That's the view of boffins at Lucent Bell Labs who are developing plastic technologies as a more flexible and cheaper transmission medium to fibre optic connections over short links. Horst Stormer, a …
Data Networking 24 May 2001, 15:41
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IT contractors to take out IR35 insurance
Get the feeling this has all gone a bit far?
IT contractors are to be offered an insurance policy to cover the risk that the government will decide they fit in with IR35 criteria on a particular contract. This all stems from the High Court decision that the IR35 legislation wasn't illegal but required some extensive work by the government regarding its implementation. …
Business 24 May 2001, 16:20
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FBI cracks down on pyramid scam cybervillains
Charges 88 in nationwide swoop
The FBI has charged 88 people with Internet fraud after a nation-wide swoop. Those charged allegedly defrauded a total of 56,000 surfers out of more than $117 million. Schemes targetted were pyramid scams, online auction fraud, systematic non-delivery of goods bought over the Net, credit card fraud, bank fraud and multi-level …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 16:30
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Imagination Tech profits fall on death of Sega Dreamcast
Revenue up over last 12 months, but what about this year?
UK-based Imagination Technology, the company behind the PowerVR chip that powers - sorry, powered - the Sega Dreamcast's 3D graphics and STMicroelectronics' Kyro chip hasn't exactly had a great year. While its revenues for the year to 31 March showed a modest rise of a fraction over five per cent, its profits fell a rather more …
Business 24 May 2001, 16:48
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CERT under DDoS attack
Flood of bogus data requests
The Web site of an organisation that provides alerts to the latest computer security issues has itself come under attack by hackers. For the last two days staff at the CERT co-ordination Centre have been dealing with a flood of bogus data requests, which is affecting the availability of the site for some users. The distributed …
Security 24 May 2001, 16:56
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There's a virus in my WinXP system, part two
WinXP diaries Outlook 2002 - great program, massive health hazard
Yesterday's Office XP virus has now been successfully captured and identified, thanks to Menache Eliazer of Finjan Software's Malicious Code Research Center, who also came up with some useful information for those of you worried about the block settings of Outlook 2002 interfering with your distribution of attachments. The …
Software 24 May 2001, 17:48
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Euro Parliament calls ECHELON a paper tiger
And therefore worth duplicating
Mainstream press reports have wildly exaggerated the potency of the US National Security Agency's (NSA's) famous ECHELON satellite spook network, the Euro Parliament's Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System says in a 4 May working document which will form the basis of a final report. The 92-page document by …
Music and Media 24 May 2001, 19:48
