The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

25th June 2001 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Thomson rids itself of Marketeye.com

    Shut down

    Marketeye.com, the UK financial information site, has been shut down by parent company Thomson Financial. Marketeye was acquired by Thomson through its purchase last year of Primark, another financial information group. But the web site fit into Thomson's 'core' B2B financial services portfolio, so it got the chop. That's …

    e-Business 25 Jun 2001, 07:45

  • Steve Gibson really is off his rocker

    Sorry y'all....

    My recent column ridiculing security specialist Steve Gibson's claim that raw-socket functionality slated for Windows XP is a major threat attracted more flames than I can hope to post on this page. Briefly, Gibson predicts that the ability of XP's raw sockets to send and forward spoofed packets will result in massive denial of …

    Software 25 Jun 2001, 08:39

  • Action announces Spanish sale – again

    To same company

    Action Computer Supplies today announced that it "has entered an agreement" to sell its Spanish subsidiary Action Computer Supplies SA to Bechtle AG, a Neuer Markt-listed IT distributor. The deal is subject only to Action shareholder approval. In a statement to the Stock Market, Action said the deal was announced on April 12 …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 08:44

  • ATI Radeon 2: more specs leak

    Latest data at odds with other posts

    Some interesting ATI Radeon 2 specs have appeared on the Web, but we're sceptical. According to a posting at French site Puces 3D, the Radeon 2 will be based on a 350MHz core equipped with six rendering pipelines, contain a programmable vertex shader and support DirectX 8.1. The chip will be fabbed at 0.15 micron. Cards based …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 09:46

  • Reg hack in online poll rigging scandal

    McCarthy indulges in some 'creative accounting'

    The Vulture Centre Internal Affairs Department launched an investigation over the weekend after detecting serious anomalies in Kieren McCarthy's Do you want to know who Gharlane of Eddore is? online poll. McCarthy had decided to leave the tricky question as to whether to reveal the true identity of Usenet legend Gharlane to you …

    Bootnotes 25 Jun 2001, 09:48

  • Flaw means virus could disable Norton Anti-Virus

    Symantec is the string vest of Internet security

    A security loophole has been discovered in Norton Anti-Virus (NAV) which could allow the creation of a virus able to shut down the software on a user's machine. In an advisory available here, Peter Kruse of Scandinavian telco Telia argues that a "very obvious and unsafe registry entry that makes it quite simple to disable NAV …

    Malware 25 Jun 2001, 10:00

  • Oracle cosies up to Little Biz Ltd.

    It's an ASP SME IT thing

    Oracle, purveyor of databases to big corporations, reckons it can generate an extra $2 billion a year in sales from the small and medium business sector. And it's going to achieve this by the ASP/software rental model. Tomorrow (Tuesday June 26), the company launches Oracle Small Business Suite. This will enable companies to …

    e-Business 25 Jun 2001, 10:20

  • BT Retail saves £850 million

    Bonfield scores on the rebound

    BT investors have given a cool reception to news that the telco's customer-facing retail division is to cut running costs by a massive £850 million. In an interview with the Times BT Retail's CE, Pierre Danon, said the cuts were three times higher than expected. Danon also said that BT Retail would work hard to improve its …

    Business 25 Jun 2001, 10:39

  • Dell testing AMD Athlon for notebooks?

    So Dell tech support staff tell mysterious emailer

    The claim made last month by Thomas Wiesel Partners analyst Eric Ross that Dell was about to announce a notebook based on AMD's Mobile Athlon 4 processor drew plenty of scepticism - not to mention scorn - from AMD and Dell watchers alike. But it now turns out he may have been on to something after all. AMD Zone on Friday posted …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 11:14

  • 180-day plan to transform Compaq into services behemoth

    Radical simplification

    Compaq intends to focus more on software and services in a restructuring plan that involves the sale of its Alpha processor division. The possible divestiture of Alpha is part of a much wider plan by Compaq to transform its business over the next six months. According to a memo from chief executive Michael Capellas (obtained …

    Business 25 Jun 2001, 11:37

  • BT extends DSL reach

    Two cheers

    BT Wholesale is to roll out rate adaptive DSL (RADSL) in a bid to extend the reach of its copper wire-based broadband service. A pilot service begins today but BT reckons the service will be available across the country by July 18 making it available to a further two million homes in the UK. The first service to be upgraded is …

    Telecoms 25 Jun 2001, 11:39

  • The Easy way to crush dissenting voices

    Updated 'Friendly' company stamps on Web sites

    One group's attempt to protect itself against corporate Internet bullying has failed with the loss of the EasyProtest.com Web site. The protest site was set up in November and offered to give advice to anyone who owned a domain name starting with "easy". This was to prevent the Easy Group - run by billionaire Stelios Haji- …

    e-Business 25 Jun 2001, 11:42

  • If you want Office 2000, buy it now

    Last chance to see

    If you, your company, or department, have standardised on Office 2000, and you're not keen on buying copies of Office XP for any new machines, then you'd better stock up on packs of Office 2000 now. Microsoft stopped selling volume licence copies of Office 2000 at the end of May. Single licence copies will be removed from …

    Software 25 Jun 2001, 11:50

  • Transmeta unveils 0.13 micron Crusoes

    But top-end TM5800 only makes it to 800MHz, not 1gig

    Transmeta launched the latest additions to its Crusoe processor family today, as expected, CTO Dave Ditzel having spilled the beans at various points over the last couple of weeks. The new chips, the TM5500 and the TM5800, are fabbed at 0.13 micron by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. That process and a new …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 12:13

  • Google preps $250m IPO

    Probably before end of year

    Top search engine Google is planning to take on the wobbly money markets with a $250 million flotation this year, Sunday Business reports. "The odds are that we will go public," founder Serbey Brin told the newspaper. And before the end of the year. Apparently the big boys have already been in touch with the company to offer …

    e-Business 25 Jun 2001, 12:32

  • IBM preps 210GHz chip technology

    But not for PCs

    IBM has created a new transistor capable of operating at clock speeds in excess of 200GHz. Chips based on the transistor are at least two years off, and even then you're looking at 100GHz parts. They will also be aimed at embedded applications, specifically communications roles, such as wireless and optical networking. It will …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 12:39

  • Intel takes Alpha from Compaq's hands

    Compaq will consolidate on IA-64 by 2004

    Compaq today confirmed that it will transfer its Alpha microprocessor division to Intel and consolidate its entire 64-bit server family on Intel's IA-64 architecture by 2004. The two firms have issued a statement, confirming a report in The Inquirer this weekend that "Compaq is transferring significant Alpha microprocessor and …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 13:15

  • Web sites! Banish those WinXP, IE6 smart tag blues!

    Just tag all your pages. Doh...

    Microsoft's smart tag technology can be shut off by web sites with a simple one line meta tag - which is the good news. The bad news is that it appears the tag will have to be added to everything you've already published, so it's a case of updating templates and crunching through the back catalogue. The tag is: <meta name=" …

    Software 25 Jun 2001, 13:19

  • Reader Poll: the Gharlane results

    See how you voted

    Well, it's Monday morning, so we've stopped the voting and received the results from techmaster Simon. To recap, we were undecided on whether to reveal the true identity of Usenet legend Gharlane of Eddore thanks to the number of emails arguing both sides. Gharlane - a sci-fi boffin - died recently, prompting a search for his …

    Music and Media 25 Jun 2001, 13:47

  • Tesco and Safeway in US e-alliance

    Profitable business is a dotcom rarity

    Britain's biggest supermarket chain and the world's biggest e-grocer, Tesco, is exporting its online know-how to the US as part of a £15.7 million ($22 million) investment in home shopping. Tesco PLC has taken a 35 per cent stake in GroceryWorks - Safeway's on-line grocery e-tailer - as part of the deal. The food retailer will …

    e-Business 25 Jun 2001, 13:51

  • Nortel culls 330 Northern Irish staff

    Part of 10,000 jobs massacre

    Nortel is slashing 330 jobs from the R&D operation responsible for its optical network business. The jobs are going from the Monkstown plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which employs 1,600. Last week Nortel said it was to cull 10,000 jobs by the end of September. These massive job cuts are on top of the 20,000 losses …

    Data Networking 25 Jun 2001, 14:36

  • Microsoft to delist ListBot in August

    But it's got an alternative you can pay for

    Microsoft has announced plans to pull the plug on the popular free email newsletter service ListBot in order to encourage small businesses to use its paid service, List Builder. In an email to users, Microsoft said the ListBot service would shut down in August. A FAQ on the subject, which can be seenhere, states: " effective …

    Music and Media 25 Jun 2001, 14:56

  • Powergen supplies staff with home PCs

    PeoplePC wins contract

    Powergen, the multi-utility, is to offer PCs at home for 5,000 UK staff. Workers will pay "a modest monthly fee", subsidised by their employer, for a computer/software/service/Internet access bundle. This is supplied by PeoplePC, a US firm which specialises in fulfilling corporate PC dole-out schemes. ® Related stories …

    Business 25 Jun 2001, 15:01

  • Dane-Elec reveals post Alan Stanley management

    Out with the old

    DRAM distributor Dane-Elec has said the business will now be run by Gerry Crampin, formerly new business manager at JustRAMS, who has been appointed operations manager. Crampin will handle the operation alongside Brian Jones who takes the position of commercial manager. The job announcements follow the departure of Dane-Elec …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 15:17

  • ‘British Wimbledon hope’ launches Web site

    You can't hear monotone on the Web

    Tim Henman - this year's "British hope" for Wimbledon - has launched his own Web site on the first day of the tennis tournament. Visit TimHenman.org to find out how Tim's doing (gone through to round two by winning 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 this morning). Get his great tips on how to play better. Or just have a chat with Tim. It's all …

    Music and Media 25 Jun 2001, 15:21

  • Open source terror stalks Microsoft's lawyers

    Paranoid? Bet they wish they were...

    When Bill Gates last week urged businesses to have their lawyers read the GPL before using open source software, it turns out he was speaking from a position of knowledge. Knowledge of having lots of lawyers, anyway, because Microsoft's legal team have clearly given themselves the most awful fright by reading the blessed thing …

    Software 25 Jun 2001, 15:51

  • Farewell then, Alpha – Hello, Compaq the Box Shifter

    Analysis End of an Era

    Digital Equipment Corporation may have officially ceased to be in 1997, when it was taken over by Compaq, but Ken Olsen's great dream really died today. Compaq's decision to divest itself of the world's fastest chip, and to standardise its enterprise servers on Intel's Itanium marks the end of forty years in which its destiny …

    Business 25 Jun 2001, 15:58

  • BT slur goes unchallenged

    Pah!

    BT Retail boss, Pierre Danon, is keen to take a pop at the competition given half a chance. In an interview in the Times today he acknowledged that BT's customer satisfaction wasn't up to scratch - and then said it was no better or worse than rivals including NTL, Telewest and Energis. "Today we deliver customer satisfaction, …

    Bootnotes 25 Jun 2001, 16:00

  • Internet killed the short wave BBC Radio Star

    Pulls plug on US, Canada, Oz

    The Internet is only partly to blame for the BBC's decision to axe short-wave World Service transmissions to North America, Australia and New Zealand from 1 July. World Service spokesman Mike Gardner told us today that the number of listeners in North America who received short wave transmissions had dwindled to 300,000 per …

    Music and Media 25 Jun 2001, 16:22

  • Itanic looks healthier with Alpha transfusion

    Big Q + Intel against the (Unix) World

    IT systems are becoming so complex that firms will fail to be competitive if they try to do everything themselves, according to Compaq's head honcho. Michael Capellas, Compaq's chief executive, made the comments at a press conference held today in New York to spin off the Alpha development part of its business to Intel, the …

    Channel 25 Jun 2001, 17:13

  • Invite the Queen round your gaff using the Web

    All to do with Liz II's jubilee

    If you fancy having a chat with Queen Liz II at your street party next year, you need to get to GoldenJubilee.gov.uk as soon as possible. If you didn't know, it's the Queen's Golden Jubilee next year and so, in celebration, she going to tour the country and visit her subjects. Which is nice. What's a "golden jubilee" mean? It …

    Music and Media 25 Jun 2001, 17:26