20th August 2001 Archive

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• Hacking Hotmail made easy

  Hurry, before they close the hole

  Some bright empiricist from Root-Core has discovered that anyone can log into their Hotmail account and then call messages from any other Hotmail account by crafting a URL with the second account's username and a valid message number. Finding a valid message number is of course total guesswork, but they all follow a consistent …

  Software 20 Aug 2001, 06:51

• Italians win Globalnet tussle

  New Media Spark extinguished

  Globalnet Financial.com, the semi-comatose Web-based finance news operation, has torn up an agreed bid from New Media Spark, and is now selling itself to AISoftware, an Italian technology group. AISoftware last week made a cash offer for Globalnet worth $11.25m approx, trumping New Media Spark's revised cash bid of $9m. The …

  e-Business 20 Aug 2001, 07:51

• Insight sets sights on Action – again

  Deal 'imminent'

  Insight Enterprises, the US direct marketing IT reseller, is poised to buy Action Computer Supplies, UK's biggest mail-order reseller, according to the Financial Mail on Sunday. "The final terms are understood to be all but sealed and Action's board, headed by chief executive David Palk, is expected to announce a deal within …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 08:51

• Infineon out to block all Rambus action against it

  Judge says he'll look into it

  Infineon is seeking protection from future legal action that might be launched by Rambus alleging violation of the memory designer's DDR SDRAM patents. The German memory maker last week heard that it is safe from such action centring on Rambus' single data rate SDRAM patents. US District Judge Robert Payne ruled that Rambus can …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 10:24

• Oftel to slash cost of mobile phone calls

  Speculation, yelps winged watchdog

  Calls made to mobile phones are set to get cheaper, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday. The paper reports that Oftel could be about to impose a one-off 20 per cent cut in the cost of calls made to mobile phones and inflation-busting price cuts in following years. A spokeswoman for Oftel told The Register that the …

  Data Networking 20 Aug 2001, 10:29

• General Semi to close Irish fab

  Move to cull 670 jobs

  US-based General Semiconductor is to close its County Cork, Ireland fab with the loss of 670 jobs. The closure is part of a worldwide cost-cutting programme which is intended to streamline the company's workforce by 23 per cent. The closure of the Irish plant, at Macroom, County Cork, will eliminate 13 per cent of GS' headcount …

  Business 20 Aug 2001, 10:41

• VIA's Q2 profits to fall 30%, analysts predict

  Sales-growing price cuts take their toll

  VIA is looking at a 30 per cent drop in earnings, Taiwanese analysts have forecast. The chipset maker is due to report its Q2 figures tomorrow. Five analysts quizzed by Bloomberg put VIA's second quarter profit at around NT$1.2 billion ($35 million), down nearly a third on the NT$1.7 billion it posted for the same period last …

  Business 20 Aug 2001, 10:58

• More jobs to go at Baltimore

  Restructuring on Wednesday

  Internet security firm Baltimore Technologies is expected to announce the loss of an estimated 250 jobs when it announces it second quarter financial results on Wednesday. The job cuts, a second round of redundancies after it was announced 250 people would lose their jobs in March, will come as part of a restructuring plan …

  Business 20 Aug 2001, 11:11

• Sony launches Bluetooth camcorders

  Transfer digital video without cables... but slowly

  Sony today launched two digital video cameras capable of transferring movies and stills across a Bluetooth wireless link. The two cameras, the DCR-PC120 and the DCR-IP7 - the former a regular DV machine; the latter based on MPEG 2 - can send content direct to any computer with a Bluetooth card, all without cables. It sounds …

  Personal 20 Aug 2001, 11:29

• Earth Lease toys with upping BT local loop bid

  Interesting, very interesting

  Earth Lease is considering upping its £8 billion offer for BT's local loop, according to the FT. Despite being told that BT is not interested in selling its "core asset", Earth Lease has continued to woo city analysts about its plans for the local loop. And last week it told analysts that it might be prepared to increase its …

  Data Networking 20 Aug 2001, 11:32

• NEC joins 3G forces with Matsushita

  More partnerships, more partnerships

  NEC and Matsushita are to work together in developing 3G software. The software will concentrate on getting video to the handsets - something that will remain a main selling point when the networks and handsets are finally available. The link-up was first reported by Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, which said a formal …

  Data Networking 20 Aug 2001, 11:39

• Fujitsu to chop 16,000 jobs worldwide

  Pink slips fly at Japanese PC giant

  Fujitsu is to chop 16,400 jobs worldwide by March 2002. The Japanese chip and computer giant today said it planned to make 11,400 workers redundant overseas, and 5,000 in Japan. The total job cuts, which Fujitsu warned about last month, will reduce the company's headcount by around ten per cent. The company employs around 10, …

  Business 20 Aug 2001, 11:47

• Epson Stylus Photo 895

  Review Colour inkjet printer

  As digital cameras are replacing their film counterparts, photographers are being forced to use PCs to view and print their images. Epson has come up with a solution enabling PC-phobes to output images without ever touching a computer. The Epson Stylus 895's integrated adapter means you can take the memory card from any …

  Personal 20 Aug 2001, 12:12

• Queen goes tea-towel e-commerce crazy

  Liz 2 knows a good thing when she sees it

  The Queen has got over the shock of losing money once in a dotcom venture and got into e-commerce on her new Balmoral site. Balmoral Castle, if you don't know, is Liz 2's residence way up in Scotland - and one of the most beautiful places in the UK it is too. She spends plenty a lot of time up there and most holidays. However, …

  Music and Media 20 Aug 2001, 12:40

• Eidos in clear over Columbine

  Out of Firing Line

  In April, families of the victims of the 1999 Columbine high school massacre launched a legal assault on a number of entertainment companies, accusing violent games of being behind the shootings. Rather than, say, lax gun controls, rampant bullying and persecution of anyone considered "different". Unlike high school bullies …

  Games Industry 20 Aug 2001, 12:41

• NTL trials wireless broadband

  Curiouser and curiouser

  NTL is trialling wireless broadband services in London in a move that could extend the reach hi-speed Net access outside of its cable franchise areas. It is looking to recruit punters in Gunnersbury, Wandsworth, Guy's hospital, Shooter's Hill and Croydon to take part in the trial, which is due to run until 15 November. Once …

  Telecoms 20 Aug 2001, 12:43

• MS firewall is holier than the Pope

  Updated Easy DoS it for hackers

  Microsoft's much vaunted first security product has become the subject of three separate security problems. Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) server 2000, which was positioned by Microsoft as a credible alternative to corporate firewalls, has become the subject of two denial of service and one cross site scripting flaws …

  Security 20 Aug 2001, 12:51

• Computer gamers have under-developed brains

  It's all to do with the frontal lobe...

  Kids who play computer games are more likely to grow up violent and anti-social. That's according to the latest findings from a study in Japan - but this has nothing to do with the aggressive nature of certain games, as previously thought. Instead, it's connected to the thought processes needed to play computer games - which …

  Games Industry 20 Aug 2001, 12:56

• AMD launches ‘Morgan’ Duron ahead of ‘Palomino’ Athlon

  Mobile Athlon 4, Duron upgraded too

  AMD today launched a 1.1GHz mobile Athlon 4 and a 900MHz mobile Duron to go with it. It also presaged next month's launch of the desktop equivalent of the Athlon 4, with the released of a 1GHz desktop Duron based on the same core design. Today's launches mark the first update to mobile Athlon 4 - based on the Palomino core - …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 13:16

• MicronPC cuts back on AMD – in public

  Update Business as Usual?

  MicronPC is to stop selling AMD-powered machines to small and medium businesses and to government. The company - America's third biggest direct sales PC maker - says the decision to sell Intel-only into these sectors will "streamline our product line, simplifying our customers' buying decisions and reducing our engineering and …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 14:13

• Click here for the real news

  Reg does its bit for the wider world

  Inspired, or rather, ashamed by an article today in the Guardian's media section, we've decided to do a links story on some people who use the Internet in its most revolutionary aspect - bypassing the rich and powerful on the planet to get their own message across. The Register was created in order to get the information that …

  Music and Media 20 Aug 2001, 14:22

• BTopenworld shuts Coventry call centre

  100 jobs to go

  More than 100 jobs have been lost at BTopenworld's call centre in Coventry as part of the broadband operation's bid to rationalise its support network. Staff at the Order Management Desk in Coventry - which handles orders for BT's broadband services - were told on Friday that they would be out of work by Christmas. The centre …

  Telecoms 20 Aug 2001, 14:27

• LogoWatch The future's bright – the future's purple

  Updated Manchester Business School completely loses the plot

  You'd think that business schools had plenty to be getting on with, what with training people in how to order someone else to work out how to use the photocopier, etc., etc. Regretably, though, Manchester Business School seems to have found enough spare time to indulge in that curse of the dotcom economy - corporate …

  Bootnotes 20 Aug 2001, 15:11

• MS engineers receive free whoopee cushions

  You can never escape its marketing boys

  Qualified Microsoft engineers have been sent free whoopee cushions from the Beast of Redmond to encourage them to take Windows 2000 certification. Proof, were it needed, that the MS marketing department knows no boundaries ("If it breathes, send it a Microsoft-branded bauble"). In fact, it wasn't just qualified engineers ( …

  Bootnotes 20 Aug 2001, 15:17

• 33 million people use Net in UK

  Really?

  Two out of three people in the UK have access to the Net in one form or another, according to the latest ponderings from Jupiter MMXI. Analysts claim that more than 33 million people used the Net between April and June with 35 to 49-year-olds making up a quarter of those online. The report, from Online Market Landscape, found …

  Music and Media 20 Aug 2001, 15:45

• Handspring slices PDA prices by up to 25%

  No sign of new models, though

  Handspring doesn't appear to have launched any new PDAs today - at least, not yet; it's early in the day as we write this - as the troubled Palm-licensee is expected to, but it has cut the prices of its current line-up. So, the basic Visor drops from $149 to $129, a fall 13 per cent; the Deluxe version falls from $199 to $169 ( …

  Personal 20 Aug 2001, 15:53

• Football clubs score with highlights over the Net

  Premier Web content

  Weekend reports suggest that Premiership football clubs are lining up to charge fans to watch highlights of games on the Internet. Top clubs are expected to cash in to changes in the Premiership's TV deal, which gives clubs delayed transmission rights that allow them to show clips or highlights from their games on club TV …

  Music and Media 20 Aug 2001, 15:57

• Online DIY couple divorce thanks to Net

  Modern equivalent to shagging the builder

  A couple that managed to renovate their home by broadcasting their DIY antics over the Web are to divorce, thanks to the Internet. Louise and Paul Jones bought a run-down house near Poole in Dorset in 1997 with the aim of doing it up. In November 1998, they decided to try an online experiment in which they would broadcast their …

  Music and Media 20 Aug 2001, 15:59

• Xbidit suspends operations

  'The only thing against us was timing,' says MD

  Xbidit, the UK channel auction site that sprung up towards the end of the dotcom boom, has suspended operations. Xbidit founder and MD Alistair Handyside said the directors decided on the move last week after four months of unsuccessfully trying to get the outfit a second round of funding. But they will not close down the …

  e-Business 20 Aug 2001, 16:15

• Top-tier PC makers demand VIA Pentium 4 chipset

  Tell leading mobo makers to get a move on

  At least three of the world's top ten PC makers have told Taiwan's mobo makers they must have product based on VIA's controversial Pentium 4 chipset, the P4X266. So says today's DigiTimes without naming names. Could be Compaq, could be IBM, could be... well, you choose one. Actually, we reckon one's Apple, just trying to stir …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 16:34

• Korean Rambus exports slump claims local paper

  And Samsung is scaling back RDRAM production

  Samsung is cutting Rambus RDRAM production as demand for the memory technology slumps - a trend mirrored in South Korea's export statistics which show a fall in the number of RDRAM chips leaving the country. So claims Korea's Chosun newspaper, at any rate. It doesn't provide much in the way of hard figures. The paper does cite …

  Channel 20 Aug 2001, 17:16

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