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5th September 2001 Archive

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  • Gaping hole in NAI's Gauntlet firewall

    Another false sense of security gone

    Experts are calling it a security manager's nightmare. For the second time in as many years, a hole has been discovered in Network Associate's Gauntlet firewall software that makes it possible for intruders to turn the security system against the very networks it was designed to protect, SecurityFocus has learned. On Tuesday …

    Software 5 Sep 2001, 02:17

  • Micron demos DDR333 chips

    And a chipset to support it

    Micron yesterday unveiled its own chipset designed to support the DDR333 SDRAM, part of a plan to kick-start the adoption of the memory specification. Not, you understand, that Micron plans to sell the product - it's simply been created to show how easy it is to support DDR333. Not that the world's major chipset manufacturers …

    Channel 5 Sep 2001, 09:57

  • Merged HP will send 16,000 staff Paqing

    As Wall Street wipes out Don's bonus

    At a news conference yesterday HP CEO Carly Fiorina said ten per cent of the combined workforce of HP and Compaq would be shed if the proposed merger clears the usual statutory and shareholder hurdles. That adds up to between 15,000 and 16,000 staff who'll be sent Paq-ing. But it may be slightly less, as the real head count at …

    Business 5 Sep 2001, 10:41

  • PC slowdown hits Dixons sales

    Down 1% year on year

    The slowdown in desktop PC and mobile phone business caused sales in Dixons Group stores to fall by one per cent for the 18 weeks ended 1 September, compared with the period a year earlier. Total sales for the period were up four per cent, thanks to video games, big screen TVs, and digital imaging. Chairman Sir Stanley Kalms …

    Channel 5 Sep 2001, 10:46

  • Bertelsmann CD maker licenses anti-rip system

    Same company will produce Xbox discs

    Midbar, the Israeli company behind controversial anti-ripping CD technology Cactus Data Shield, has licensed its copyright protection system to Bertelsmann. Cactus will be used by Bertelsmann's CD production subsidiary, Sonopress. Sonopress produces discs for a variety of companies, not just Bertelsmann's music subsidiary, BMG …

    Personal 5 Sep 2001, 10:56

  • Verizon Wireless site gives up customer data

    Shabby by design

    A poor scheme for logging in to the Verizon Wireless customer support Web site using a simple session ID number makes it easy for a malicious party to hijack another user's session and examine his wireless phone records. An example URL shows how simple it would be to manipulate the session ID: https://www.app.airtouch.com/ …

    Security 5 Sep 2001, 11:16

  • Profits jump 75% at Landis

    But job losses imminent

    Pan-European distributor Landis saw profits rise 75 per cent for the first half of the year. Net profit at the company grew to 12.5 million euros ($11.1 million) from 7.1 million euros in the first six months of 2000. Sales grew 54 per cent to 389 million euros. The Netherlands-based company said it did not expect the sector …

    Channel 5 Sep 2001, 11:21

  • Trend gets security patent for Java code defence

    Updated Next gen virus blocking or marketing ploy?

    Trend Micro has secured the patent for a technique to detect malicious code in Java or Active X applets. According to Reuters, Trend believes patent will help put it ahead of its competitors in protecting mobile devices and phones for the next wave of computer viruses. The agency reports it is in talks with an unspecified …

    Security 5 Sep 2001, 11:40

  • WH Smith jumps on ebook bandwagon

    Momentum - she build

    WH Smith will launch an eBookstore next month with Overdrive, featuring thousands of titles if the press release is to be believed. Overdrive - which has some experience in these matters - will provide the hosting, copyright protection, inventory and just about everything else. WHSmith will pay for it all and throw its brand …

    e-Business 5 Sep 2001, 11:53

  • Revealed! The secret memos that ignited the HP/Compaq merger

    Lunch? Sure!

    We can exclusively bring you the email correspondence that sparked the merger talks between Hewlett Packard and Compaq. Analysts have been puzzling how this unlikely pairing took place. Now we can explain how the two industry giants embarked on their discussions, amidst great secrecy, earlier this summer:- It began with an …

    Bootnotes 5 Sep 2001, 11:58

  • British Navy embraces Web for war games

    Updated [With military chit-chat] We always said they were the finest

    The British Navy is taking the Internet to its heart in its new three-month military manoeuvres in the Gulf starting next month. The commanders of the biggest deployment of ships since the Falklands war will use a secure Net chatroom to discuss tactics and problems. There will be over 40 commands in the exercises - called …

    Security 5 Sep 2001, 12:04

  • Novell: In front or also-ran?

    Interview with Dr Carl Ledbetter, Novell CTO

    With Netware 6.0 about to hit the streets, IT-Analysis.com spoke to Dr Carl Ledbetter, Novell's CTO and senior VP, about the company's prospects. Ledbetter was bullish too, promising a return to former glory and hinting at further acquisitions on the horizon. Can you tell me what sort of company Novell is nowadays? Novell is a …

    Software 5 Sep 2001, 12:18

  • Pentium 4 won't outsell PIII until October – Intel

    Leaked sales projections

    Intel's projected processor shipments for the next couple of months have leaked and they make interesting reading. For a start, the first Celeron processor fabbed at 0.13 micron isn't projected to rack up sales until October. That suggests the 1.2GHz part won't ship until that month. But that's the least of it. The figures, …

    Channel 5 Sep 2001, 12:33

  • Creditors agree to 1500bn won Hynix rescue plan

    This just in...

    Creditors of troubled memory maker Hynix have agreed to lend the company a further 1.5 trillion won ($1.17 billion) to finance the company's attempts to restructure and rid itself of its massive debt, we have just heard. Full details of the bail-out package are vague, so we don't yet known what terms and conditions have been …

    Business 5 Sep 2001, 13:24

  • Winners and losers from the HP/Compaq merger

    Industry scorecard

    Resellers hope Hewlett-Packard's positive attitude to the channel will pervade a future combined Compaq-HP while competitors hope to steal a march of the mega outfit while its energies are focused on completing a difficult merger. That's the reaction from those industry players willing to comment on yesterday's announcement of …

    Business 5 Sep 2001, 13:46

  • Cyborg metaphysics

    A little light reading ;-)

    A recent article of mine ridiculing popular-science oracle Stephen Hawking's preposterous suggestion that we muck about with human DNA to keep abreast of advances in artificial intelligence drew a vast number of fascinating e-mails from readers interested in the topic. The pitfalls of dealing lightly with metaphysics in a 700- …

    Media 5 Sep 2001, 14:06

  • Peer-to-peer USB 2.0 spec. washed in public

    Supporters eye 1394's hold on consumer electronics industry

    The USB Implementers Forum, the consortium of developers behind the Universal Serial Bus, has just issued the first public version of a specification designed to allow the bus to offer IEEE 1394-style peer-to-peer connectivity. Extending USB to circumstances where there isn't a host PC to manage the bus is a pretty radical move …

    Personal 5 Sep 2001, 14:23

  • WIPO tries to place itself above the law

    Will someone please put an end to this madness

    ICANN-approved domain dispute registrar WIPO has got ideas above its station (again) with its review of the current system of resolution. It has come up with some recommendations for the future "misuse of certain names and identifiers in the Internet domain name system". These recommendations ride roughshod over international …

    Media 5 Sep 2001, 14:45

  • Kyro III delayed, Kyro II ‘Ultra’ delayed too

    STMicroelectronics happy with Kyro II, apparently

    STMicroelectronics' successor to its well-regarded Kyro II chip appears to have been delayed. Not much, mind - instead of an anticipated late 2001 release, we should expect it to surface early 2002. So say unnamed "STMicroelectronics officials", cited by Xbit Labs. They also noted that the company has put back the release, …

    Channel 5 Sep 2001, 15:22

  • The world needs YOU! Stand up and be counted

    Net essay competition marks the little man's fight back

    Here is a great opportunity for you, as citizens of the world, to make a difference by putting your brains to good use and making a stand for the kind of world you'd like to see your kids raised up in. And what is this? The WIPOUT essay competition. Tired of multi-national corporations' increasing control over our lives, a …

    Media 5 Sep 2001, 15:49

  • Apple sets 26 Sept. for Quicksilver dual-G4 server launch

    AppleStore drops Graphite models, resellers spill beans

    Will Steve Jobs announce new multi-processor Power Mac servers at AppleExpo Paris on 26 September? It certainly looks that way. The UK version of Apple's online store is currentlty offering only 533MHz single-processor machines fitted out in the old Graphite Power Mac shell - the dual-CPU boxes have gone. The US AppleStore …

    Mac Channel 5 Sep 2001, 16:03

  • Ring peace broken, world record set

    Dedication's what you need

    Virgin Mobile today managed to net its world record for getting the most mobile phones to ring in unison. Despite the rain, 254 people took a break from their lunchtime activities to stand in Leicester Square and download the Pearl & Dean tune onto their phones. With the help of TV presenter Mariella Frostrup, they all blasted …

    Data Networking 5 Sep 2001, 16:17

  • Sportal's Euro ops up for grabs

    But not the brand name or URLs

    Troubled sports dotcom Sportal Limited is up for sale -but potential buyers need not bother trying to get their mits on the Sportal brand name or any of its URLs. According to the dotcom's administrators Ernst & Young, the following is available: The operations of the Websites in Europe - including joint sites with sports …

    e-Business 5 Sep 2001, 16:55

  • A plague on all our networks

    Virus Roundup Hardware trashing time

    The Internet is alive with virus infections and vendors of antivirus products have wasted no time in informing the world about them. This is the conclusion we draw from a raft of security alerts, notices and the like which dropped into our in-box or have been phoned through to us this week. To avoid general virus fatigue we've …

    Security 5 Sep 2001, 17:10

  • Code Red busting code gets cool reception

    Fight fire with fire

    The use of virus-like code that is geared to patching security holes on vulnerable systems has received the thumbs down by members of the security community. In the wake of the widespread (though at times exaggerated) impact of the Code Red worm and its variants, white hat hackers have posted programs on the net which repairs …

    Security 5 Sep 2001, 17:26