The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

16th August 2001 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • New and used computers wanted for Africa

    UK charity appeal

    A charity which moves drugs and medical aid around Africa has launched an appeal for computers. The UK organisation is called Riders For Health, and it needs around 100 computers to expand its operations over the next two years. The charity provides motorbikes and other vehicles to pick up drugs when they are sent to Africa by …

    Personal 16 Aug 2001, 09:07

  • Intel readying Xeons with on-die L3

    Been on the roadmap for ages

    Intel's demonstration of a 2GHz Xeon processor at SIGGRAPH this week seems to have surprised a number of observers. It shouldn't have done. The 2GHz Xeon, codenamed Foster, has been on Intel's server roadmap for a Q3 release since late last year. Its launch follows the arrival of 1.4, 1.5 and 1.7GHz Xeons last quarter, all …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 10:10

  • Lastminute.com crawls towards profit

    Prefer watching snails race

    Lastminute.com is convinced it has enough spare cash to see its business report a profit without having to go cap-in-hand to its investors. Announcing a jump in turnover and widening pre-tax losses, co-founder and one-time dotcom darling, Martha Lane-Fox, insisted that things were on the up. Lane-Fox told newswire AFX News: " …

    e-Business 16 Aug 2001, 10:10

  • WinXP WPA switch signals RTM is imminent

    On track for next week?

    One of the surest signs that Windows XP is close to RTM (Release to Manufacture) is that Microsoft has rejigged the Windows Product Activation (WPA) in the most recent beta build, 2542. The company is widely expected to sign off the final code within the next week, and in the run-up to this it makes sense (at least from …

    Software 16 Aug 2001, 10:42

  • Taiwanese firms' output value fell 13% during 1H

    Recession-induced price erosion takes its toll

    Taiwanese manufacturers, source of many of the world's CD and DVD drives, CRT and LCD monitors, mobos, digital cameras, scanners, notebook PCs and the like, saw the sale value of their products fall 13 per cent year-on-year during the first six months of 2001, the island's Market Information Centre, part of the Institute for …

    Business 16 Aug 2001, 10:49

  • Samsung bags exclusive Nokia DRAM deal

    Nice sideline from slow computer market

    Samsung has scored an exclusive DRAM supply deal with Nokia which should help it out during the tough times in the computer memory market. Nokia is going to buy all its 64Mb DRAMs from Samsung. The chips will go in Nokia's Net access Communicator style phones. Bloomberg reports that Samsung is also in talks to supply Motorola …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 10:54

  • IIS über-patch claims to wipe out all old Web server flaws

    And five fresh bugs too

    Microsoft has released an über-patch that aims to address all the previously announced vulnerabilities in its IIS Web server software, and a few more besides. The cumulative patch includes the functionality of all security patches released to date for IIS 5.0, and all patches released for IIS 4.0 since Windows NT 4.0 Service …

    Security 16 Aug 2001, 11:25

  • Marconi boardroom genocide on cards

    Institutional investors want blood

    A boardroom purge is coming to Marconi as institutional investors make their anger known, claims The Guardian. Apparently the company's chairman Sir Roger Hurn told its big investors in a private meeting that it had sped up its search for a new chief executive and a new chairman. Sir Roger should have retired last month, …

    Business 16 Aug 2001, 11:30

  • Intel's Mobile Roadmap

    Updated Coming soon

    Intel's attention may be focused on the 26 August launch of the desktop 2GHz Pentium 4 - along with a 1.9GHz part and price cuts across the rest of the family - but it hasn't taken its eye off the mobile sector. The next date circled on Intel's mobile-processor calendar is 16 September. As we've reported before, we're expecting …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 11:32

  • Forget the rumours – Wireplay still up for sale

    Chinny rub

    Wireplay is still up for sale despite speculation that it has been bought by two former directors of Gameplay Plc. Industry insiders said former Gameplay directors, Tim Gummer and Bruce Heck, had bought the multi-player games service for £150,000 as part of a management buy-out (MBO). "Yeah, we've heard that rumour too," Heck …

    e-Business 16 Aug 2001, 11:35

  • Dell skimps on spec to hit PC price points

    Underweight hard drives

    Dell is being a little skimpy with its PC specs in order to hit certain price points. Today it's been advertising a 1.3GHz P4 Dimension for £799 inc VAT and delivery. We saw it in the Sun but its probably being plugged elsewhere. The machine comes with 128MB RDRAM, 32MB Nvidia GeForce 2, but a 15in monitor. But where the specs …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 11:37

  • Telewest spanner causes small fire

    No one hurt

    A tiny blaze engulfed a small room at Telewest's offices in Edinburgh cutting off 70,000 phone customers. According to edinburghnews.com an engineer created sparks after dropping a spanner on some batteries. What followed was a small fire. No one was hurt in the incident. Elsewhere, Thomas S Muirhead of Hardwicke in …

    Music and Media 16 Aug 2001, 11:40

  • Canon Digital Ixus V

    Review Digital camera

    Canon continues to build on the success of its ultra-compact Digital Ixus camera with the introduction of the Ixus V. This version sports a lower price tag, but its key selling points remain the same: its tiny size (at 190g it is easily the most portable camera we've seen) and gorgeous styling. It retains the brushed metal …

    Personal 16 Aug 2001, 11:43

  • IBM aims for Summit with dual 32-bit, 64-bit chipset

    Big Blue hopes to mount McKinley

    Intel has selected chipset technology from IBM to test upcoming multi-processor versions of its Xeon server chip and the next-generation Itanium processor, McKinley. IBM's Summit is the first chipset that can be used with both 32-bit and 64-bit processors, and it hopes that Intel's validation work will allow it to be one of the …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 11:47

  • AOL invites Lotus into the IM fold

    See, look how nice we are (now we control the market)

    AOL has invited Lotus into its instant messaging Bedouin tent with the announcement of an "interoperability trial". The trial will see the companies using the SIMPLE protocol to get AOL's AIM system working with Lotus' Sametime. SIMPLE stands for Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging (where' …

    Music and Media 16 Aug 2001, 11:56

  • Sierra On-Line sacks 148 more staff

    Vivendi Universal follows-up closure of Dynamix

    A week after Vivendi Universal closed down its Dynamix games development studio it has emerged that the damage was far more severe than previously suspected. The closure of Dynamix and the resulting 97 lay-offs was just part of a major reorganisation at Sierra On-Line, which saw another 148 people being sacked at Bellevue and a …

    Games Industry 16 Aug 2001, 11:58

  • Titus Interactive to take over Interplay

    Another games company falls to the French

    France continued its dastardly plot to dominate the global computer games industry today, as Titus Interactive announced that it had taken control of troubled American publisher Interplay. Earlier takeover talks, thought to be with a Japanese group, were blocked by Titus, which has owned a sizeable chunk of Interplay for some …

    Games Industry 16 Aug 2001, 11:58

  • Welsh dad kills 12-year-old daughter after email hoax

    Staff at rival firm charged with forgery

    Three members of staff at a Welsh computer company have been charged with forgery after allegedly sending hoax emails to an exec at a rival company who later killed his 12-year-old daughter. The trio are accused of sending marketing manager Philip Hall emails that resulted in him going to India on what he believed was a …

    Music and Media 16 Aug 2001, 12:03

  • Intel admits 2GHz Pentium 4 will launch on 27 August

    It's official

    Intel has confirmed it will indeed announce the 2GHz Pentium 4 in just under two weeks' time - just ahead of massive price cuts throughout the rest of the desktop P4 line. Company vice-president of microprocessor marketing Anand Chandrasekher admitted the arrival of the 2GHz part in a piece over at CNET promoting Intel's …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 13:51

  • EMH – ‘ability to continue is materially impaired’

    Distie close to biting the dustie

    European Micro Holdings, the broker of top brand computer hardware, has announced it is unlikely to be able to continue trading as a going concern. This is because major shareholder John P Gallagher wants the $659,139 he loaned EMH back. And if he wants his money back, then so does John B Gallagher, co-chairman and major …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 14:08

  • UK kids suffer because of slow DSL roll-out

    Shame

    Britain's kids could become the thickies of the world unless the UK gets wired up for broadband. Research published yesterday in the US reveals that more and more students are turning to broadband access in the home to assist their educational studies. Apparently, audio, video and 3-D graphics really help US kids learn more …

    Telecoms 16 Aug 2001, 14:20

  • Jungle.com founder sings like a canary

    Dotcom karaoke

    Serial e-entrepreneur Steve Bennett has launched his latest project - a karaoke Web site. For a £5.99 monthly subscription, surfers can browse through around 2,000 tunes - including old favourites like Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive and Abba's Dancing Queen. The Singtotheworld site also offers a CD-burning facility at £3 per …

    e-Business 16 Aug 2001, 14:36

  • Beenz is dead: official

    Farewell brave crusader

    Beenz, the company attempting to build a purely online currency, has finally announced its own impending death. On 26 August it will be no more. Consumers will stop earning beenz and traders will stop redeeming them. It has passed on, it is no more, it has ceased to be, it's expired and gone to meet it's maker. This is an ex- …

    e-Business 16 Aug 2001, 14:43

  • Lotus and IBM pull products together

    Lotus Eater

    IBM is planning to integrate a number of the Lotus products with its core software offerings. This could be further evidence that Lotus’ life as a standalone company is drawing to a close. It couldn’t come at a better time. Speaking at the annual IBM Developer conference yesterday, IBM execs revealed that its latest version of …

    Business 16 Aug 2001, 14:45

  • Barry Fox promotes virus abuse on radio

    Lawbreaking antics live on air

    Barry Fox, veteran electronics journalist and media pundit, lost his marbles live on London radio last night when he advocated sending viruses to people who annoy you. Speaking on the Clive Bull show on LBC, regular guest Barry appeared to forget both his years of IT experience and the law relating the misuse of computers when …

    Malware 16 Aug 2001, 15:45

  • Fry's eats scrambled Egghead

    Titsup.com Part 94

    Californian e-tailer Egghead.com is to sell up after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The dotcom, which flogged IT-related products, issued a statement yesterday saying it would sell its Web site and other assets to the US retail chain Fry's Electronics. It has laid off 185 employees as a result of the move. This leaves it …

    Channel 16 Aug 2001, 15:49

  • Freeserve shamed by peeping Toms

    Tsk.

    Bosses at Le Freeserve are no doubt fuming today after a newspaper gossip column revealed that some of their staff are peeping Toms and squinting Sarahs. It seems the ISP's offices are opposite the house of TV celeb and one-time newspaper editor, Janet Street-Porter. And in the privacy of her own she can't help but walk around …

    Bootnotes 16 Aug 2001, 15:52

  • Palm buys Be

    Updated Staff, technology snapped up for $11m

    Be has been sold - as we predicted a week or so back (see Be takeover imminent) - to Palm. The alternative-OS company today admitted its assets and technology have been sold to Palm for $11 million worth of the PDA maker's stock. Once the sale has been made - Be's directors have approved the move, but they'll need the backing …

    Software 16 Aug 2001, 16:03

  • Lotus and IBM pull products together

    Lotus Eater

    IBM is planning to integrate a number of the Lotus products with its core software offerings. This could be further evidence that Lotus’ life as a standalone company is drawing to a close. It couldn’t come at a better time. Speaking at the annual IBM Developer conference yesterday, IBM execs revealed that its latest version of …

    Software 16 Aug 2001, 16:11

  • World's fastest supercomputer goes down a bomb

    Nuclear boffins crank up ASCI White

    The US government has activated ASCI White, the world's fastest supercomputer. This IBM machine costs $110m and simulates the effects of nuclear detonations. Shouldn't taxpayers be concerned: surely it's cheaper to blow up the occasional Pacific atoll? What with global warming, and rising sea levels, they're all doomed, anyhow …

    Hardware 16 Aug 2001, 16:18

  • BOFH: Cardiac Arrest or Cancer?

    Episode 22 The choice is yours

    "The Boss is looking a bit pale," The PFY comments as The Boss rolls into work at a very sedate pace. "Yep," I respond, knowing the full details. "Funeral yesterday. Another one of his PDP-11 mates has gone to the great archive in the sky." "Heart Attack?" The PFY asks, naming the number one killer of IT managers. "Yep, …

    BOFH 16 Aug 2001, 16:41

  • Old PCs cause birth defects

    Parents! Move away from Landfill sites

    Research due to be released tomorrow suggests that babies born near landfill sites are more likely to suffer birth defects. The Government-funded study, carried out by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), found that women were one per cent more likely to have a baby with a congenital defect if they lived within two km …

    Personal 16 Aug 2001, 17:32

  • Euro con-artists named and shamed on Net

    Naughty people

    German shops and business that use the introduction of the euro as an excuse to raise prices are to be named and shamed on the Internet. The plan has been announced by Barbel Hohn, the consumer protection minister for Germany's largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia. She is angry that despite promises to the contrary, German …

    Business 16 Aug 2001, 17:37

  • Intel backed video encryption standard is ‘fatally flawed’

    But DMCA prevents researcher explaining why

    A well-respected cryptographer claims he has discovered a way to break an Intel-backed format for encoding video transmissions - but is prevented by US law on speaking on the issue. Niels Ferguson believes he could be prosecuted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) so he has held off publishing his findings which …

    Security 16 Aug 2001, 17:50

  • Felten spills the SDMI beans

    USENIX 10 No arrests, yet....

    It came off without a hitch. Princeton University Professor Edward Felten, who led the team of researchers which successfully cracked the SDMI challenge, delivered his group's findings at the tenth annual USENIX conference in Washington Wednesday, and was not arrested. The SDMI watermarking technologies his team examined were …

    Security 16 Aug 2001, 18:15