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26th June 2001 Archive

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  • E-Shop until you E-Drop

    UK nation of Shopping E-potatoes

    UK Internauts are a nation of window shoppers who like nothing better than indulging in a spot of online retail therapy, according to the latest stats from NetValue. The research outfit reports that, in May, the UK had the highest percentage of home Net users visiting an e-commerce Web site. Some 76 per cent of all UK home …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 07:35

  • Time Computers lays off more staff

    Morale below rock-bottom

    The PC sales downturn still seems to be hitting Time Computers hard. The company is making between 9 and 12 people redundant from its returns department, and Time's manufacturing business VMT is slashing headcount by 15. The workers will leave on Friday. Staff seem particularly upset by this latest move by the troubled …

    Channel 26 Jun 2001, 08:32

  • STMicro confirms it will use 'Kyro III, IV' chips

    PowerVR Series 4, 5 licensed

    STMicroelectronics has confirmed it will license the next two generations of Imagination Technologies' PowerVR graphics acceleration chip designs - and sell products based upon them PowerVR is soon to be extended to Series 4 and, later, Series 5. STM will use both. It already has a licence for PowerVR Series 3, which is the …

    Channel 26 Jun 2001, 10:00

  • The IT industry has never had it so good

    Record levels of investment. And the UK leads the way

    The European IT industry attracted record levels of investment in 2000 - up 68 per cent from the year before to hit 11.5 billion euros (£7 billion), according to an extensive report just published by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The amount of investment is also expected to increase by 32 per cent this year to 15.2 billion euros (£9. …

    Business 26 Jun 2001, 10:24

  • Redstone CEO resigns

    Musical differences

    Redstone Telecom's chief exec, Graham Cove, has resigned from the company citing musical differences with the rest of the band - sorry, differences over the company's future direction. He had been MD/CEO since the company stared in 1995. But good news is that the company has managed to hold off bankruptcy, by selling 90 per …

    Telecoms 26 Jun 2001, 10:26

  • Customer collapse for fibre-optic networking biz

    No one's making any money

    Applied Micro Circuits, which makes chips for fibre-optic networking kit, has slashed its Q1 sales forecasts by 53 per cent. The company now expects to make a loss. Customer's are cancelling orders and not making fresh ones. Sales will be between $40 million and $45 million for the quarter. In April, chief exec David Rickey …

    Data Networking 26 Jun 2001, 10:44

  • Preliminary DDR II spec set

    Standards setters now turn to DDR III

    The next generation of DDR memory took a major step closer to the market yesterday when the semiconductor standards organisation JEDEC released its preliminary spec for the technology. Now that's done, memory makers can begin developing silicon to that specification. No simple process this: samples are not expected until the …

    Channel 26 Jun 2001, 10:51

  • What do you mean we're in Italy? I've only got pesetas!

    Online flight booking cock-up

    The dangers of booking flights online have been revealed thanks to the efforts of Michael Brown (25) and his girlfriend Kate Rogers (23). Having decided to take advantage of Ryanair's dirt-cheap online offer for flights to Europe, Kate booked her and Michael a holiday to Gerona, near Barcelona in the top right of Spain. Sadly, …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 11:00

  • BT wireless adds to its top brass section

    Beancounter appointed

    BT has named David Finch as chief finance officer of BT wireless. Finch is currently the group finance director of logistics group Exel. He will work with David Varney, recently appointed chairman-of BT wireless, and Peter Erskine, chief executive officer, on the planned spin-off of BT wireless from the BT Group later this year …

    Business 26 Jun 2001, 11:01

  • Texan billionaire seeks to oust CA's board

    Don't write him off

    Texas, the spiritual home of the cowboy, used to be known for big hat wearing, baked bean eating, bull riders. Nowadays though there's a new image coming out of this western state. The bulls are still there of course, but this time they don't come in Rodeos, this year they come in bullishness. And this year they aren't taking …

    Software 26 Jun 2001, 11:15

  • DRAM sales to plummet 55.1% in 2001

    Outlook gets worse - but DDR picture is rosy

    IDC has followed fellow market researcher and Doom-sayer Gartner Dataquest and issued a dire prediction for sales of memory chips this year. The numbers company reckons sales of DRAM will contract by 45.7 per cent this year, falling to $15.7 billion from last year's figure of $28.9 billion. IDC's figures are quite as …

    Channel 26 Jun 2001, 11:19

  • Reg hack to face barrage of rotten fruit

    Reader poll consigns McCarthy to the stocks

    The readers have spoken as to whether Kieren McCarthy should spend an afternoon in the stocks as punishment for alleged rigging of his Gharlane of Eddore poll and subsequent result. The results of our own online poll have been collated and the Reg readers have come out unanimously in favour of peine forte et dure: Indifferent …

    Bootnotes 26 Jun 2001, 12:00

  • WebTop ‘no idea where Andy Mitchell is’

    Search engine can't find former boss

    There are growing fears as to the whereabouts of former WebTop boss , Andy Mitchell. In May El Reg reported he was on "gardening leave" after the search engine operation was merged into knowledge management outfit, Smartlogic, with the loss of more than 20 jobs. Another report said Mitchell was in Australia. Now, though, even …

    Bootnotes 26 Jun 2001, 12:04

  • Enter the Tory leadership race online

    Or at least get a feel for it in new online game

    It's looks like man-of-many-chins Ken Clarke is about to enter the Tory leadership election, bringing the number up to five and so this is as good a time as any to plug a new online game built by Floppidog which aims to give you the unique political experience. Called HonourableMember, the aim is to start as a backbencher and …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 12:07

  • New improved BT washes whiter than white

    BT gets its metaphors in a muddle

    BTopenworld is undergoing a "radical revamp" of its products and services as part of a "radical restructuring" of the telco's customer facing Internet business. In its first year of operation its workforce has been cut by a third and it's reduced its losses by £100 million. Speaking at the launch of BT Retail's new TV ad, Andy …

    Telecoms 26 Jun 2001, 13:34

  • Nintendo's GameCube to outsell MS Xbox by 2005

    Bloody close though

    Do you want to know who's going to be king of the next generation games consoles? Well, no big surprise but Sony's PS2 will top sales in Europe, the US and Japan by 2005, but Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox aren't going to fair too badly. According to a report (or spot of crystal ball gazing) by ELSPA, the European …

    Games Industry 26 Jun 2001, 13:35

  • We're not stamping on Web dissenters, says Easy Group

    All to do with intellectual property infringement

    The director of corporate affairs for the Easy Group, James Rothnie, has been on the blower, taking issue with our story yesterday The Easy way to crush dissenting voices in which we reported the corporation has made legal threats against the owner of Easyprotest.com. Richard Lowden, also owner of Easycar.com, set up …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 13:38

  • Napster signs indy labels

    Subscription service's artist roster grows

    Napster does have some friends in the music industry: the UK-based Association of Independent Music and the Independent Music Companies Association, AIM's European opposite number. Both have licensed songs from artists whose labels are affiliated to either organisation to Napster for inclusion in the controversial MP3 sharing …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 13:54

  • MP3 owners get stroppy with open source coders

    Even as MP3 Pro racks up 600,000 downloads in two weeks

    MP3 Pro is proving just as popular as its predecessor - the MP3 digital audio format. Pro has only been available for just under two weeks, and the software has already been downloaded above 600,000 times. So says co-developer Thomson Multimedia, which posted demo software on 14 June. The demo release is limited to 64Kbps …

    Software 26 Jun 2001, 14:47

  • BT HQ tarnished by porn

    It's all about image

    BT's pulling out all the stops to spruce up its image and make out it's a new and dynamic forward-thinking, progressive company - a leader in the communications revolution. Well, not quite. The special effects and metaphorical references in its new 90-second ad may impress some but it was nothing more than puff. For just a few …

    Bootnotes 26 Jun 2001, 14:53

  • Why the heck can't I download drivers?

    Learning to live with Mac OS X Plus: why Finder needs Carbon, and synching Palms

    Epson went down in my estimation this past weekend for not posting OS X printer drivers on its Web site. They're all there on the Mac OS X 10.0.0. CD for you, warbles the cheery Read Me page, to make installation easier for you. Oh no it doesn't. The OS X 10.0.0 CD won't let you install the printer drivers without also …

    Mac Channel 26 Jun 2001, 15:35

  • Compaq Itanic strategy replacing ‘Porsche with a Yugo’ say users

    Letters More Alphacide grief

    Digital has so far been relatively unsuccessful in establishing the Alpha as any kind of a serious Risc standard, but is nevertheless refusing to admit defeat, sees it as its major strategic line of business, and is selling off other, more profitable operations in order to dig itself out of its current crisis. - The Register ( …

    Letters 26 Jun 2001, 16:17

  • Bloke in knickers and bra hoax fools The Sun

    Dotcom viral marketing scam

    A London-based dotcom has admitted it was behind a hoax involving a revenge-seeking woman and a stack of pictures of her cheating boyfriend in red knickers and bra. UCP UK, which owns the text and photo messaging service uboot, concocted the idea of a cheated lover who took revenge on her ex by putting photos of him in girls' …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 16:51

  • Radiohead bassist slams Cubase software

    Updated Crashes too much

    Radiohead's bassist Colin Greenwood has kicked loose with his hardware and software preferences during an interview with UK site Culturelab. Colin says all the band have Powerbooks, which you might have guessed, and he's also got an Atari ST. On the Powerbooks the band run eMagic's Logic music production software "because it …

    Software 26 Jun 2001, 16:57

  • Verisign denies .biz crucifixion plan

    But then that won't come as much of a surprise

    Following our suggestion that VeriSign - owner of the .com, .net and currently .org domains and part-owner of the new .info domain - may be trying to screw up the .biz registration, we received this email today from Cheryl Regan of corporate marketing. Believe it or not, she denies any such plot. Here it is: "If you had taken …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 17:11

  • Caldera drops license bombshell

    Breaks taboo with MS-style pricing

    Caldera has confirmed that it is to enforce Microsoft-style, per-seat licensing for its new Workstation product released today. "The suggested price for single licenses to Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation with Support is $99, and licenses to Caldera's OpenLinux Workstation are $59 each. Both product lines include a 60-day …

    Software 26 Jun 2001, 17:58

  • US Supremes defy online Media giants

    Freelancers must be paid for Net editions

    We all know that the Titans of media and entertainment have waged a successful PR campaign inspiring the US Congress and courts to defend the holy sacrament of copyright; but we'll bet they never expected to be quite this successful: The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled 7/2 that Internet editions of works in print are separate …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 18:40

  • Napster blown out of appeals circuit

    Onward to the Supreme Court?

    The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to review the February decision of a three-judge panel which upheld District Judge Marilyn Patel's injunction requiring Napster to remove copyrighted works from its network. Napster had hoped to argue its case before the full appeals court, which would be composed of an eleven- …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 18:40

  • Napster signs up UK indie labels

    Teenage Dirtbags rejoice

    Good news at last for Napster, the once-loved, always hounded P2P music download operation. The Bertelsmann-backed site is to offer - legally - thousands of tracks from European indie bands, from record labels represented by The UK Association of Independent Music (AIM) and the Independent Music Companies Association. Napster …

    Music and Media 26 Jun 2001, 22:11