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8th June 2001 Archive

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  • 3Com abandons consumer DSL, cable modems

    Revises estimates downwards

    3Com, the increasingly harassed networking equipment vendor, is scrapping production of DSL and cable modems for the consumer market. "There is an industry-wide glut of consumer cable and DSL modems that has driven down prices and margins", according to the company which says the decision conforms to its previously stated …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 06:51

  • Compaq waves white flag in PC price war

    Can one side only declare a truce?

    Here is an example where determination to deliver short-term shareholder value could harm long-term company success. Compaq CEO Michael Capellas is reported to be pulling his company out of the PC price war. According to CW360.com, Capellas told analysts at Merrill Lynch last week that there were no more price cut plans, and …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 07:25

  • Smart Tags due in Win-XP browser

    Welcome to the Microsoft Web

    Microsoft will be able to subvert the content of any Web page with Smart Tags, which will act much like hyperlinks to Web content which Redmond either recommends, or is paid to recommend, if the company integrates the technology with its Windows-XP browser, as predicted in an article from Thursday's Wall Street Journal. Smart …

    Software 8 Jun 2001, 07:55

  • Intel defies analysts and maintains Q2 targets

    Still on course to make $6.2-6.8 billion revenues

    Intel stuck with its sales forecasts when it released mid-quarter financial guidance yesterday. The company's shares gained five per cent, reaching $32.61, on the news. During the day, it rose four per cent. The chip giant dismissed analysts' claims that it would be forced to cut its $6.2-6.8 billion revenue estimate for Q2 …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 08:39

  • Handspring halves Q4 sales expectations

    Price war, demand decline to blame

    PDA maker Handspring halved its quarterly sales forecast yesterday, a sign that Palm's woes are not entirely of its own making. Handspring said it now expects to make between $60 million and $65 million for the quarter, the fourth of the company's current fiscal year. That's significantly down on Q3's $123.8 million and the $ …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 09:18

  • IBM boffins stretch silicon to speed chips 35%

    This is the age of the strain

    IBM has figured out how to boost processor speeds by up to 35 per cent for a given transistor size and clock speed. That said, we'll have to wait until 2003 to see it in commercially available chips. The new technique, which will be detailed in a paper to be presented at the Symposium on VLSI technology, held in Kyoto next …

    Channel 8 Jun 2001, 10:00

  • NetZero and Juno to merge

    $70 million deal creates US' second biggest ISP

    Two of the US' leading ISPs are to merge to create North America's second largest service provider in a deal worth $70 million. NetZero and Juno - which have seven million active customers between them - will be second to AOL but ahead of MSN, EarthLink, and AT&T Worldnet. The new merged ISP will be renamed United Online. …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 10:03

  • UK won't follow Aussie broadband usage cap

    For now at least

    The UK's three major broadband suppliers have told The Register they have no plans to introduce any usage limits for customers. Neither BT, or cable companies ntl and Telewest currently impose quotas, all three told El Reg today. And none of them have any plans to impose any usage restrictions - although none was prepared to …

    Media 8 Jun 2001, 10:06

  • Electronics Boutique gobbles up Gameplay

    In Spain, at least...

    There was a glimmer of good news for failed dotcom Gameplay today, with news that it has successfully sold its Spanish boxed games division to high street chain Electronics Boutique for £3.4 million. This is somewhat higher than the £1 that the UK boxed games division raised in a management buy-out that must have been paid for …

    Games Industry 8 Jun 2001, 10:21

  • Sega Europe appoints new head

    Yoshio Sakai starts next week

    As of June 11, Yoshio Sakai will be President and Chief Operating Officer of Sega Europe, the company announced today. Sakai will shortly be moving to London to take up the post at Sega's West London HQ. His predecessor, Kazutoshi Miyake, intends to move elsewhere in the industry, but will remain at Sega Europe as an advisory …

    Games Industry 8 Jun 2001, 10:21

  • Review Handspring Visor Edge

    Handspring made its name by coming up with a Palm clone that went one better - offering improved expansion options in the shape of Springboard modules, plus a USB connection at a lower price. However, with the Visor Edge, it looks more like the innovator has turned imitator. The VisorEdge looks uncannily similar to the Palm V, …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 10:39

  • Bishops told to get Net literate

    And cut down on parties, get rid of chauffeurs

    The Church of England has told its bishops to get with the real world, learn about computers, office management and cut down on their lavish spending. A report, commissioned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, has taken two years to compile and considered why some clergy were living on the poverty line while some £16 …

    Media 8 Jun 2001, 10:43

  • AMD guns for 10% of low-end server market

    At least

    AMD is chasing double-digit marketshare in the low-end server and workstation market, according to the chip company's VP for workstation and server marketing, Ed Ellett. AMD's thinking on this one is interesting. According to Ellett's comments, reported by DigiTimes, IBM and Sun will dither over whether they should stick with …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 11:18

  • VIA looks again to NYSE share listing

    Out to raise $300-500m when chip market picks up

    VIA is going to issue $300-500 million worth of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the culimination of a scheme it announced some time ago but got cold feet thanks to the dotcom crash and the decline in the semiconductor market. The chipset maker has revived its plan on the back of expectations that the global chip biz will …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 11:24

  • DDR won't dominate until 2003 – Infineon

    Needs Pentium 4 support to become mainstream

    Infineon has declared that 2003 will be the year of DDR SDRAM. Two years down the line, DDR will have taken 50 per cent of the memory market and displaced single-rate SDRAM as the leading memory product, the company says, according to DigiTimes. At the same time, Infineon will be reducing its focus on memory products from …

    Channel 8 Jun 2001, 12:08

  • Europe steps nearer to PC recycling

    Vendors assess costs

    EU ministers yesterday gave their backing to plans to make manufacturers pay to recycle electronic equipment. Ministers met in Luxembourg and approved a draft law for the Waste, Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, today's FT reports. The agreement will make vendors pay to collect and dispose of unwanted …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 13:35

  • Sony, MusicMatch form CD burning alliance

    Sony to bundle MusicMatch software with its CD-R/RW drives

    Sony's peripherals division has followed 'big five' recording company EMI's lead and signed a deal that effectively legitimises copying music onto blank CDs. Sony Electronics today said it has licensed online music company MusicMatch's Jukebox software and will bundle it with internal and external Sony CD-R and CD-RW burners. …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 13:54

  • No more Mr Nice WinXP – the Beast emerges as RC1 looms

    WinXP diaries Built-in cops get switched on

    Earlier this week Microsoft released a 'final' public interim build of Windows XP, prior to producing Release Candidate 1 in about ten days time. One of the more interesting things about this build, 2481, is that at this point Microsoft has decided to freeze the new user interface, so at least theoretically it has the look and …

    Software 8 Jun 2001, 14:07

  • Transmeta wins thumbs up from US environmental agency

    Crusoe saving the world - apparently

    Transmeta has been awared a US Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star gong for services to energy efficiency. The chip maker joins AMD, which won an EPA award earlier this year for its PowerNow! technology and support for DDR SDRAM. It's the processor producer's LongRun technology that has got the EPA all excited, it …

    Channel 8 Jun 2001, 14:27

  • Win2k better than other MS OSes, but worse than Unix – report

    Gosh, what a surprise...

    Employees using Windows 2000 Professional gain around two hours a week in productivity, a report claims. The survey by Giga Information Group/Sunbelt Software found Windows 2000 Professional was up to 83 per cent more reliable than Windows 95, 80 per cent more than Windows 98, and 59 per cent more than NT Workstation 4.0. …

    Software 8 Jun 2001, 14:42

  • ORBS to be reborn? Not bloody likely, says Alan Brown

    The egos take over

    Since the unexpected demise of anti-spam company ORBS, there has been quite some discussion on the news.admin.net-abuse.email and spam-l newsgroups. Several people have thrown themselves and their egos into the mix, vowed to take on the mantle of ORBS and to lead it into the future (only the Doctor changes, the Tardis remains …

    Media 8 Jun 2001, 14:46

  • Reader rebuts MS XP Net instability rebuttal

    Be warned, it's a mini-thesis...

    Microsoft rebuts XP Net instability claims MS may well have rebutted them 'thar Net instability claims, but this is what Kisai has to say on the matter: Having had to service Windows machines of all ages and versions, I can tell you that unless the OEM installs all the service packs before the machine is bought, the user will …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:07

  • PC destroyed by urinating dog

    Howling screensaver provoked territorial claim

    PC parrot drives firemen crazy Screensavers, eh? How much more mischief can they cause? Plenty, according to David Thatcher: Ha! I have a story to tell about screensavers. I was in Alaska, and went to optimize a friend's Packard Bell. I helped them load a screen saver that featured a dog howling at the moon. Well, I get a call …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:07

  • Your Gateway to cheaper PCs

    Or not, as the case may be

    Gateway never knowingly undersold Reader Philip Brown has yet another contribution to the US/UK PC price differential conundrum: Your article on Gateway prices interests me. I wonder if their price promise extends to matching their OWN prices, except those in the US? How does a server with a dual-capable Serverworks …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:07

  • Gun-toting schoolkids – the readers speak

    No pistols drawn, just conclusions

    US boy caged for drawing gun in class Canadian boy runs riot with chicken finger Our recent coverage on US and Canadian clampdowns on foul-mouthed and deranged gun-toting schoolkids provoked Erik Frechette to write from Oldsmar, US. You will recall that this is where an 11-year-old was led cuffed from school for drawing a gun …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:08

  • IBM Nazi ‘links’ are history

    Just don't mention the war

    Gypsies to sue IBM over Nazi 'links' The spirit of litigation is alive and well. IBM's wartime activities are about to be put under renewed scrutiny. 'NoNco' reckons that it's about time that we forgot about the war and moved to the bar: Oh man. More people trying to get more money for something that happened over 50 years ago …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:08

  • Floating voters say nay

    Web advertising initiative given thumbs down

    New web ads target floating readers The possibility of advertisers resorting to 'floating' web ads has found very little favour with Reg readers. As for our own experiment with a mobile Reg logo, it appears that the exercise has been counter-productive. Do Kiun is very, very irritated: I just read an article yesterday on your …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:08

  • LibDem result fudging refuted

    How2vote.co.uk exercise right to reply

    LibDems should win election Find out who to vote for tomorrow Gareth Moore of How2vote.co.uk would like to take Kieren McCarthy to task on his results fudging claims. Not that it matters much now, of course: Sorry to bother you but since your website (theregister.co.uk) currently rather prominently says: "Yesterday, we ran a …

    Letters 8 Jun 2001, 15:08

  • Electric shock game controller on the way

    No pain no game

    A game controller that gives you electric shocks is being developed by Mad Catz in the US. There isn't a press release and the office hasn't woken up yet (that's Californians for you) but the New Scientist has reported it, so it must be true. Following on from the controllers that fight against you while playing (thus making it …

    Business 8 Jun 2001, 15:49

  • US Scientology critic free in Canada

    About time

    Scientology critic Keith Henson has been released from a Canadian jail where he'd been detained since 28 May on suspicion that he gave incomplete information to Immigration when he entered the country. Henson, who's given the CoS a good deal of perfectly legal grief on Usenet, was inexplicably convicted of interfering with a …

    Media 8 Jun 2001, 22:06