The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

10th September 2001 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Intel apologises for Bluetooth gaffe

    Grasping at nettles

    Intel has apologised for saying that the Bluetooth wireless protocol is dead. It isn't, and this is all a terrible misunderstanding, it seems. Last month Sean Maloney, executive VP (the 'executive VP' handle puts him in a class above other VPs, we're guessing, as the implication is that he actually does some work) of Chipzilla' …

    Data Networking 10 Sep 2001, 08:41

  • VIA sues Intel, claims ownership of Pentium 4 patents

    All your P4s are belong to us...

    We were sure it would happen when we read on Saturday that Intel had finally set its legal dogs on VIA (see Intel sues VIA over chipset upset) over the chipset maker's use of Pentium 4 bus technology. Sure enough, VIA this morning announced it's suing Intel back. As you might expect, the VIA action, launched this morning in …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 09:47

  • Dell pre-announces Palm m125

    Turns up in Solutions Catolog - official launch next week

    Dell appears to have announced Palm's upcoming m125 PDA before Palm itself has had a chance to do so. PDA-oriented Web site HandAble has what it claims is a pic of a page from the latest Dell Business Solutions Catalog. It shows the m125, confirms its use of a SD card slot and notes the price: $249 Our Far Eastern sources, …

    Personal 10 Sep 2001, 10:36

  • Remember the Alamo!

    Lone Star state piles in to Netscape dialogue

    Register believes MS worships devil (name deleted's) comments on the Netscape vs. IE punch-up have riled Bruce A. Standlee. And he's from Texas: In reading his comments it became apparent that the gentleman simply needs some attention, with a boot. Navigator started as a much better product than the early, unreliable versions …

    Letters 10 Sep 2001, 10:41

  • Register believes MS worships devil

    Well, if you say so...

    Time for a touch of that Friday feeling. You know the sort of thing - you write an erudite and well-reasoned piece and then you get blasted by some nutter. Well, that's the sort of day Thomas C.Greene is having. His recent musings under the headline IE won the browser war because Navigator sucks got short shrift from (name …

    Letters 10 Sep 2001, 10:44

  • Intel Pentium III to die on 7 December

    No more orders taken after that

    The desktop Pentium III will officially cease to be on 7 December. That's the last date on which Intel will accept orders for chip. And all orders placed after 12 October can't be cancelled. So the chip giant told its customers last week. It also said it would be pulling the plug on the 800MHz and 850MHz desktop Celerons over …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 10:57

  • Nildram cuts cost of business-based broadband

    That's it really

    There are further signs that the broadband marketplace is becoming more competitive following Nildram's decision to cut the cost of its ethernet-based 'S' series range of broadband products. The business class S500/R Service is reduced from £110 a month to £99. Its S1000/R product is cut from £170 to £130 a month and S2000/R is …

    Telecoms 10 Sep 2001, 10:58

  • Intel's Mobile Roadmap

    Updated Mobile P4s to be rolled-out through 2002

    January 2002 ·1.26GHz Pentium III-M - 0.13 micron Tualatin, 512KB L2, 133MHz FSB ·933MHz Mobile Celeron - 0.18 micron Coppermine-T, 133MHz FSB February 2002 ·1.5, 1.6GHz Mobile Pentium 4 - 0.13 micron Northwood, 512KB L2 ·Chipset: i845MP Q1 2002 ·850MHz Low Voltage Pentium III-M: 0.13 micron Tualatin, 512KB L2, 100MHz FSB …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 11:00

  • Micron to donate $120m shareholding to charity

    Will appear as a loss on company's Q4 balance sheet

    Memory maker Micron Technology will take a $120 million hit when it reports its fourth quarter results thanks to a share donation it's making to its non-profit making subsidiary, the Micron Technology Foundation. Micron completed its fourth quarter on 31 August and has yet to report the results of its business during that three …

    Business 10 Sep 2001, 11:51

  • Psion WaveFinder saved by software that works?

    Yes, we know it's too late as well, but still...

    Psion's WaveFinder digital radio system, launched almost a year ago, is a good idea in theory. Plug the weird blue combination box and antenna into a USB port and you get a cheap route into DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) that allows you to listen and record as you sit by your PC. Except that you'll probably get to do a lot more …

    Software 10 Sep 2001, 11:56

  • ICANN: Performance and cocktails

    ICANN meeting Will it let it help itself?

    In the fourth part of our exclusive diary from the ICANN meeting in Uruguay, Andy Duff - the director of policy and marketing at New.net - recovers from a heady mix of cocktails and politics to take a step back and review where ICANN is going and who ought to take it there. Two groups are looking at how ICANN can better …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 12:02

  • ICANN: It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

    ICANN meeting So it's goodbye from him

    This is the fifth and final instalment of our exclusive diary from New.net's director of policy and marketing Andy Duff on the ICANN meeting in Uruguay. Having met up with all the combatants, sorry constituencies, and told of trouble brewing; demonstrated just one aspect of ICANN's bureaucratic and self-serving processes; and …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 12:02

  • Mobo makers' shipments shot up 20% last month

    September expected to be even better

    August has been a good month for Taiwan's mobo makers if no one else in the PC business. On average, they report last month's sales were up 20 per cent on July's figures. The boost appears to have come from Intel's i845 chipset, though boards based on its predecessor, the Rambus-based i850, seem to have done quite well too, …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 12:06

  • Click here to calculate how much Win XP will cost you

    Online test works out costs v. benefits

    With a month to go until Windows XP springs to life, many IT users are still unsure if the benefits are worth the expense of upgrading. So before handing over shed-loads of cash to Microsoft for its latest operating system (upgrades will cost £89.99 for XP Home Edition and £169.99 for XP Professional), it could be worth …

    Software 10 Sep 2001, 12:13

  • Code Blue targets Red China

    Running worm lackey of capitalism

    Stand by for Code Blue, a cunning new worm which seeks out systems infected by Code Red and reprogrammes them to launch against targets based in mainland China. Code Blue exploits a Web traversal vulnerability in Microsoft's IIS Web server first discovered in October 2000, and has infected several systems in China, according to …

    Malware 10 Sep 2001, 12:19

  • Has Ken Kesey infiltrated BBC News online?

    Confusion over Auntie's acid-inspired features

    Eyebrows were raised when ancient Scottish waves swept inland. The revelation that mosquitoes like sweaty people raised a few mumbles. When a bloke decided to put a clock on top of his own mountain, it seemed rather far out. But it came to a head when a million kids apparently jumped in the air at the same time, a scientist said …

    Bootnotes 10 Sep 2001, 12:23

  • Compuserve not for the chop – AOL UK

    Jobs cuts sparks speculation

    AOL UK has denied it is to close CompuServe following last week's news that the Internet company is set to axe 50 jobs. The Internet company last week said that it planned to wind down its subscription-free ISP Netscape Online, while insisting that CompuServe would continue to operate. However, insiders told The Register that …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 12:34

  • Netcraft Web Survey: August 2001

    Stats'n'facts from around the Web

    Top Developers Developer July 2001 % August 2001 % Change Apache 18382308 58.73 17874757 58.08 -0.65 Microsoft 8099757 25.88 8146372 26.47 0.59 iPlanet 1345566 4.30 1321544 4.29 -0.01 Zeus 793587 2.54 811406 2.64 0.10 Active Sites Developer July 2001 % August 2001 % Change …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 12:51

  • Rock Agenda Si

    Review Budget Notebook

    Rock is best known for offering speedy performance at a competitive price. The Agenda Si breaks with this tradition, but with this expensive price tag comes a top-notch specification, and it's well worth a look as a serious desktop replacement. While the 1GHz Pentium III processor is only average, the 384MB of RAM isn't. The Si …

    Personal 10 Sep 2001, 13:04

  • War breaks out over Afilias cock-up resignation

    Nasty. Plus why is there now a new Afilias company?

    War has broken out following the surprise resignation of board member Robert Connelly from Afilias - the registrar in charge of the .info top-level domain. Mr Connelly pulled out, quoting the company's cock-up with dealing with new .info domains and its failure to rectify the situation as his reason. He also announced that his …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 13:09

  • MS tries to spin up a deal with DoJ

    Would it be enough if we promised not to destroy Netscape again?

    Just days after the DoJ said it wasn't going to continue asking for Microsoft to be split, the spinning has recommenced in earnest. It started on the wires over the weekend, and according to a story in today's Wall Street Journal the company is preparing a settlement proposal for submission to the government, but is so far …

    Software 10 Sep 2001, 13:24

  • Expensive PCs curb Net growth

    Apparently

    The high cost of PCs is still a major barrier to the widespread take-up of the Internet in Europe, according to research from Jupiter MMXI. Its quarterly survey - Online Market Landscape - found that two thirds of Net users in Britain and around a half of users in France and Germany access the Net from home. However, a …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 13:45

  • Stealth encoding bypasses IDS protection

    Attack technique gets in under the wire

    Cisco's Intrusion Detection System (IDS)is not the only technology that fails to protect IIS Web servers against stealth unicode attacks. An advisory by eEye Digital Security, reports that network and server sensors from ISS, Dragon Sensor 4.x, Snort (prior to version 1.8.1) and components of Cisco Secure IDS are affected by …

    Security 10 Sep 2001, 14:02

  • ‘Killer DMCA’ to mandate digital-rights compliant hardware

    Senate lap-dogs Hollings, Stevens urinate freely on public's leg

    The bad news couldn't be clearer: "It is unlawful to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified [DRM] security technologies." So begins the draft of a bill obediently proposed by US Senators Fritz Hollings (Democrat, South …

    Personal 10 Sep 2001, 14:04

  • Federal Trade Commission probes Rambus, Sun

    Investigates allegations of fraudulent behaviour

    The US Federal Trade Commission is sniffing around Rambus and Sun to see if it can find any evidence that both companies failed to disclose relevant patents pending and those already held while working with industry organisations to set standards. Essentially it wants to find out if they used their participation in the …

    Business 10 Sep 2001, 14:42

  • Intel launches i845 Pentium 4 PC133 chipset

    Up to 35% more expensive that DDR parts

    Intel formally launched its Pentium 4-oriented, PC133-based i845 chipset - aka Brookdale - today, as world+dog has been expecting since it began shipping several weeks ago (see Intel to launch i845 'Brookdale' on Monday). The i845 comprises the 82845 north-bridge, which hooks the P4's 400MHz frontside bus up to the PC133 SDRAM …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 14:42

  • di Caprio touts gorilla-friendly mobile phones

    Updated Coltan, Prince of Darkness

    Movie star Leonardo di Caprio is to be the face of a new campaign for "gorilla-friendly" mobile phones. What the hell does that mean? Phones with larger buttons for gorillas to use? Nope, it's all to do with coltan. Coltan is a black mineral. It is a contraction of colombo tantalite and just happens to be an excellent conductor …

    Data Networking 10 Sep 2001, 14:57

  • Worldwide PC sales fall in 2001 – IDC

    Make room for more gloom

    Analysts have warned that PC sales for 2001 are likely to be far lower than feared, thanks to weak demand in the US and Japan. IDC has chopped its forecast for total worldwide shipments for the year to 129.6 million units - 1.6 per cent less than the 131.7 million sold in 2000. It said flagging consumer PC shipments in the US …

    Personal 10 Sep 2001, 15:01

  • Vendors beat up on Grey Market

    'Joint education and joint outrage'

    Compaq and Hewlett-Packard are putting their weight behind an organisation aimed at discouraging consumers from buying grey market products. The Anti-Gray Market Alliance (AGMA) says it will analyse the structure of the IT grey market, monitor the impact of grey market trading, and improve channel relationships. It also wants …

    Channel 10 Sep 2001, 16:36

  • Spam puts PayHound in the privacy doghouse

    Discloses thousands of email addresses

    Web payment firm PayHound sent out a promotional email last Friday (Sept 7) that revealed the addresses of thousands of recipients to its mailing list. The message does not specifically infringe any of the terms of the UK start-up's privacy policy, but it flies in the face of accepted Internet standards - particularly for a …

    Security 10 Sep 2001, 16:46

  • For hire: Compaq's iPaq engineering team

    PocketPC division seeks new boss before Carly shows up

    Compaq's iPaq PocketPC development team seems to be so unhappy with the upcoming merger with Hewlett-Packard, they have en masse offered their services to the highest bidder on the online job search site The Vault. Under the headline "iPaq PPC Engineering Team for Hire", the "core iPaq engineering team" says it is "seeking new …

    Hardware 10 Sep 2001, 16:50

  • Reg corporate anthem competition results in full

    We who are about to rock salute you

    When we recently invited Reg readers of a musical bent to pen a Vulture Central corporate anthem, little did we suspect the lyrical talent that lies latent beneath the surface of IT. The challenge was simple: encapsulate in song the wonder that is The Register; set it to a well-known tune; and lay off Microsoft. Sadly, …

    Bootnotes 10 Sep 2001, 16:55

  • Independent film-makers waking up to DivX

    Small beans at the moment, but there is movement

    Independent film-makers are waking up to the possibilities that DivX presents, with a joint announcement between DivX Networks and Strand Releasing threatening to spark an escalation in films available for hire over the Internet. DivX Networks is the company behind the recent DivX 4.01 codec - a "legitimate" form of popular …

    Telecoms 10 Sep 2001, 16:57

  • Judge trumps bureaucrat over workplace surveillance

    Not that it does you any good

    A federal judge has succeeded in shaming a federal bureaucrat into backing away from a scheme whereby court employees' Internet use would be monitored in the name of workplace efficiency. The dispute between Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski and Administrative Office of US Courts Director Leonidas Mecham …

    Music and Media 10 Sep 2001, 16:57

  • UK ecommerce revenues leap like a dachshund

    Two per cent of retail sales nothing to bark at

    E-commerce in the UK accounts for just two per cent of total sales, according to official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). UK businesses totted up sales of £56.6 billion over the Net with firms in London and the South East amassing some £12 billion in online revenue. Furthermore, almost 80 per cent of the …

    e-Business 10 Sep 2001, 17:02

  • It's BOFH Disaster Recovery Time

    Episode 23 Run for the Hills

    It's Thursday, Payday, and The Boss has his bee in a bonnet about something. You can tell, because he's wandering around outside the office rehearsing his lines like a C-grade actor. "Morning, How are we all?" he Lou-Diamond-Phillips' us. "Hello!" The PFY responds graciously, dragging a chair over for The Boss to join our …

    BOFH 10 Sep 2001, 17:21

  • Jeremy Allison sambas out of VA

    NAS not needed

    Jeremy Allison, joint lead of the SAMBA project, is weighing up offers after being made redundant by VA Linux Systems on Friday. The news isn't unexpected after VA's retreat from the hardware business. Allison and fellow Samba lead Tridgell advised VA on network attached storage, and since the company no longer makes NAS, the …

    Software 10 Sep 2001, 20:35