16th July 2001 Archive

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RDRAM sales to grow over 400% this month

So says Kingston Technology

Demand for Rambus Direct DRAM is exploding, memory supplier Kingston Technology has claimed. It reckons it will ship 4-5 times as many RIMMs this month as it did in June, and Q3's RDRAM sales will amount to 9-10 times more than Q2's sales. The reason? According to Kingston, it's all down to Intel's Pentium 4 price cuts, which …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 09:37
DRAM market to get worse before it gets better – analyst

Much worse...

Don't expect the DRAM market to improve any time soon. The much anticipated recovery isn't going to happen before Q2 next year, analysts at Korean market watcher Meritz Securities have warned. And the market will get a lot worse before it gets better, the company said, cited by the Korea Herald. The major manufacturers are in …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 10:09
Korean cops clobber counterfeit-DRAM gang

Glued 128MB Samsung modules together and sold them as 256MB parts, allegedly

Korean police arrested officials from two manufacturers and five resellers this weekend for allegedly flogging fake Samsung 256MB SDRAM modules. We say 'fakes', but the 256MB modules were essentially genuine Samsung 128MB modules bonded together. However, the crime of the folk arrested on Saturday was to print the Samsung logo …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 10:33
Intel knocks up to 37% off Mobile Pentium III prices

Other cuts made too

Intel yesterday cut the prices of selected Pentium III processors, undoubtedly in preparation for the coming official launch of the mobile and desktop versions of its 0.13 micron PIII die-shrink codenamed Tualatin. The 933MHz PIII makes its final appearance in Intel's desktop roadmap in late Q2/early Q3, before disappearing off …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 10:36
Baltimore denies it's in takeover talks with CA

Vultures circle struggling security firm

Baltimore Technologies, which last week lost its chief executive Fran Rooney, has been forced to deny it is talking to potential suitors for the second time in just four days. Reports in the Sunday Times suggested that Baltimore was in advanced talks with Computer Associates, which ironically is in the process of defending …

Business 16 Jul 2001, 11:00
NTL move on ITV Digital denied

ITV Digital talking to 'virtually everyone in the industry'

Carlton Communications and Granada have denied that NTL has put in an offer to buy their stake in ITV Digital. According to reports today, NTL is believed to have launched an all-share offer for the digital TV operator, which is jointly owned by the two companies. The deal is said to involve Carlton and Granada giving up their …

Business 16 Jul 2001, 11:09
Desktop Tualatin goes on sale in Japan

1.13A GHz and 1.2GHz arrive

Desktop-oriented versions of Intel's 1.13GHz and 1.2GHz 0.13 micron Pentium III processors - better known by their codename, Tualatin - have begun to appear in Japanese retail outlets, a sure sign that the chips' formal introduction is imminent. The boxed Tualatins can be distinguished by an 'A' after the clock speed, ie. …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 11:43
Agere ditches USB 2.0 chip development

It's not looking too popular

Agere is ditching the USB 2.0 chip market and intends to ramp up production of 1394b chip products. The move means the communications chip maker is ending production of the USS-2000 host controller and USS2X1 transceiver chips. Jack Keller, general manager of the computer unit of Agere Systems, said: "This 1394 product …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 12:52
Samsung revs 64-bit ARM, licenses Java

Promises 800MHz on a 0.13 micron process

Samsung has expanded its agreement with British chip designer ARM and licensed three more cores. It's a significant win for ARM's Jazelle Java accelerator, in the form of the ARM926-EJ-S core, but the eye catching part of the deal sees Samsung promise to invest in the next-generation 64-bit ARM10. In today's announcement the …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 13:29
WinXP ship date threatened by govt trial move?

Preliminary injunctions, anyone?

The prospect of an injunction delaying the October launch of Windows XP drew closer on Friday, with a government request to the appeals court to send the case back to the district court early. The current status as regards Microsoft's little legal issue is that the appeals court intends to send it back to the district court …

Software 16 Jul 2001, 13:35
New MS-Conxion leak allows WinXP RC1 free download

Security? How exactly do you spell that?

Less than two weeks ago details of how you could download the Windows XP RC1 preview program code without paying Microsoft any money leaked onto the web, and large numbers of people must have grabbed it in the couple of days that passed before Microsoft and its partner Conxion plugged the hole. But they didn't do it very well …

Software 16 Jul 2001, 14:08
ATI unwraps DirectX 8.1-based Smartshader

No comment on what chip it will be used in though - or when it will appear

Well, Nvidia helped Microsoft develop DirectX 8.0, and it appears the software giant needed a hand taking its games-oriented API to version 8.1 too. Certainly that's what ATI suggested today when it unveiled its Smartshader technology. ATI's spiel is full of the usual 'making computer graphics look like movies' guff, and …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 14:39
Packetstorm rides again

Defcon09: So what if there's no money in it

One of the most valuable security resources on the Web has returned in force following its second near-death experience. Packetstorm, we're pleased to say, is back up on a new domain from which it will be operated on a not-for-profit basis. The site contains a broad variety of security tools, bulletins and other resources, and …

Security 16 Jul 2001, 15:08
UMC cans 266 ‘slackers’

Scapegoats for sales downturn?

Chip manufacturer United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) has canned 266 workers, claiming they weren't working hard enough. Chairman Robert Tsao explained the move in a letter published on Sunday by the Chinese-language Commercial Times. Associated Press reports he said the company was entering a "combat state" and it had to " …

Channel 16 Jul 2001, 15:11
MAPS to start charging for anti-spam list

And people get annoyed with arch-rival(s) ORBS

Anti-spam organisation MAPS (mail abuse prevention system) is to start charging a subscription fee to its blacklist, according to a notice posted on its Web site. The new system will take effect from the end of this month. Presumably, since the demise of arch-rival ORBS earlier this year, the organisation feels it can impose …

Music and Media 16 Jul 2001, 15:35
WinXP is now 'best OS for MP3 users,' says MS

Doesn't stink after all. But it - yikes - costs...

For some time now Microsoft has been pushing its own WMA digital audio format over MP3, and decrying the latter as having lower quality and bigger files. But today Microsoft tells us we can "discover the ultimate MP3 experience: learn about the new features that will make Windows XP the best OS for MP3 users." You couldn't make …

Software 16 Jul 2001, 16:06
Microsoft racing to patch Outlook flaw

Nasty bug has more bite than we first suspected

The scope and simplicity of the Microsoft Outlook bug we reported last week is far more serious than we first suspected. On Friday we reported that veteran bug hunter Georgi Guninski had discovered a loophole with Office XP which might allow an attacker to view a victim's email, delete or manipulate his or her data. This is …

Security 16 Jul 2001, 16:31
Dotcom goldrush causes VeriSign to restrict registrar bandwidth

The two-year itch

The explosion in available dotcoms recently has forced VeriSign to restrict the bandwidth available to registrars for its Shared Registration Service (SRS). In a sense, we have hit the two-year birthday of the Internet's great success - when the world+dog registered any domain that came into their heads in the hope of making …

Music and Media 16 Jul 2001, 16:41
Nokia xDSL modems are shocking – official

'A small risk of electrocution'

Nokia has urged customers to return some of its xDSL modems after discovering they could give users an electric shock. The company aims to take back between 50,000 and 100,000 of its M/MW 11xx/51xx series xDSL modems. Less than one per cent of these are believed to be faulty. "When the power cable is disconnected from the …

Personal 16 Jul 2001, 17:00