11th September 2001 Archive

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World's first DeCSS executable prime number

Exclusive Ain't that a kick in the head

Mathematician Phil Carmody, who in March of this year managed to encode the DeCSS source in a prime number, has upped the ante by producing a prime number which represents an executable version of the banned CSS descrambler. Legally this is all a bit squishy, as the DMCA forbids us to make available an access-control …

Security 11 Sep 2001, 03:56
Morse snaps up Spanish dealership

European roll-out

Morse, the mid-range reseller, is expanding into Spain through a 51 per cent stake Integracion de Sistemas Abiertos SA (ISASA). This will cost it £1.76m in cash. Morse also has options to buy the rest of the company over the next two years for another £2m. The Spaniards could also trouser another &#1639.42m, if they hit all …

Channel 11 Sep 2001, 07:21
VIA debuts 866MHz C3

Paving way for 1GHz part

VIA has just introduced its latest C3 x86-compatible processor, an 866MHz follow-up to the 800MHz part codenamed Ezra it shipped a wee while back. The 0.13 micron chip contains a large, 128KB L1 cache, a trait shared by all VIA's CPUs derived from the IDT/Centaur WinChip processor development operation it bought up a year or so …

Channel 11 Sep 2001, 09:25
SiS to slash Pentium 4 chipset prices

SiS' 645 to come in less than half the price of Intel's i845

In a bid to grab hold of the Pentium 4 chipset market, SiS will sell its 645 product for $18-20 - less than half the price of Intel's i845, which launched yesterday, and $11 cheaper than its nearest rival, Acer Labs' $31 Aladdin P4. So claims DigiTimes, without citing sources and contradicting SiS' published price of $35. SiS …

Channel 11 Sep 2001, 11:24
Dell admits MS price gouge is hurting business

Ubu ROI

Here's a story that will dampen hopes that Windows XP, and its associated subscription model, can lift tech spending out of its current slump. Michael Dell yesterday admitted that far from boosting business, Microsoft's aggressive new pricing structure for Windows XP is having the opposite effect, and deterring the traditional …

Software 11 Sep 2001, 11:36
Excite@tHome CFO resigns

Wanted: Miracle Worker

Troubled Internet outfit Excite@Home - is on the hunt for a financial wizard after top money-man, Mark McEachen, threw in the towel yesterday. And let's be honest, anyone replacing the executive VP and CFO will have to be a miracle worker or a magician - or both - to dig Excite out of its financial hole. Last month Excite@Home …

e-Business 11 Sep 2001, 11:39
Captain Cyborg puts on Cassandra act again

Radio 4 gives airtime to preposterous posits

A calm Tuesday morning, the Radio 4 Today programme on the wireless, not much news about. But suddenly our ears pricked up with horror as James Naughtie mentions artificial intelligence. Some scientist has created a robot that teaches itself - it's a kind of robot orang-utan. No, no - it couldn't be. It wasn't. Thank God, Steve …

Bootnotes 11 Sep 2001, 11:45
Randy vicar exposed by emails

"You are a fornicating adulterer," yells cuckolded husband in church

Churchgoers in Bristol were shocked earlier this week when Simon Waddington burst into St Anne's church in Oldland and shouted at the vicar giving the sermon: "You are a fornicating adulterer." Rev Martin Parry, a 57-year-old married cleric, exclaimed "How dare you!" at Simon but he was not to be swayed, and told Rev Parry that …

Media 11 Sep 2001, 11:49
Why Brits pay more for Win XP

Not our fault, screams Microsoft

In true Rip-Off Britain style, Brits will have to dig deeper into their pockets than Americans for Microsoft's Windows XP. According to the software giant, an upgrade to Windows XP Home Edition will cost $99 in the US, with the full copy at $199. In the UK this same software will be priced at £89.99 ($130) and £179.99 ($262 …

Software 11 Sep 2001, 11:52
MS loses Front Page trademark fight

Glasgow web firm keeps name

Glasgow Web designers Front Page Design have defeated Microsoft in a legal battle to register the firm's name as a trademark. After a five-year David vs Goliath-style legal battle, the Scottish firm won its case in a hearing before the Trade Mark Registry in London last Thursday, September 6. Microsoft objected to Front Page …

e-Business 11 Sep 2001, 11:56
Punters change prices on Virgin Interactive site

Games4nowt

Virgin Interactive has said it will not honour orders made on its Web site if consumers have altered the price of games software. The statement comes after a vulture-eyed Reg reader (cheers for the tip Dan) discovered that a simple bit of cutting and pasting could allow punters to change the price of the console games on offer …

Security 11 Sep 2001, 11:58
Sharp unsheathes Muramasa ultra-slim notebook

Preview Extremely portable - but it took a lot of compromises to get there

Sharp launched its ultra-thin 'Muramasa' PC-UM10 notebook in Europe today following the machine's Japanese debut back in June. Not that the company seems to have learned much in the meantime - the Muramasa has undergone very little change as it has moved from one market to another. And for a notebook designed to offer "the …

Personal 11 Sep 2001, 12:20
BTopenwoe refuses to pass on broadband price cuts

Competitive enough, it says

BTopenworld has defended its decision not to pass on a £5 a month cost savings for its single user broadband service. In July, the former monopoly telco said that from September 1 it would cut the wholesale cost of its single user IPStream 500 service to £30 a month in a bid to help stimulate demand for broadband services. The …

Broadband 11 Sep 2001, 13:37
Yahoo! scores! World! Cup! site! rights!

Result!

Yahoo! has won the exclusive rights to produce, market, and host the Web site for football's World Cup, in a deal that makes it one of 15 official worldwide partners of Fifa, the sport's governing body. The deal includes the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan (May 31 - June 30) and the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. …

Media 11 Sep 2001, 13:38
Eurosport.com scores headline profanity sensation

'F*cks off to Benfica' - Official

Let's imagine that you are a lowly hack reporter for Eurosport.com, consigned to a daily grind of banal football transfer stories. Let's further speculate on what you might do in the unlikely event that a player called Argelico 'Argel' Fucks decided on a controversial move to Benfica. Were a player with such an …

Bootnotes 11 Sep 2001, 13:40
Intel Ireland redundancy plan five-times oversubscribed

Wanted 170 to leave - 900 applied

Intel's attempt to reduce its global headcount through voluntary redundancies and retirements - what human resources folk picturesquely refer to as 'natural wastage' - is proving very successful in the chip giant's Ireland operation. Too successful, in fact. Sources close to the Irish fab tell us that having sought 170 …

Business 11 Sep 2001, 14:35
Microsoft assimilates The Borg

Resistance is futile

Those readers who have always maintained that Microsoft is not simply an enormous software company, but rather an evil galactic empire, appear to be vindicated. According to MS's German site, the company has launched the QuoVadis navigation system in association with Borg Instruments. So, if you ever wondered how the …

Bootnotes 11 Sep 2001, 14:52
AOL has 31 million punters

That's a lot

AOL has recruited seven million new customers over the last 12 months the company said today. It now boasts more than 31 million punters making it by far the biggest ISP in the world. The Company said the massive growth was due to it providing a value service coupled with a vast array of content from AOL Time Warner group. …

Media 11 Sep 2001, 14:54
US record label sued over anti-rip CD technology

Suit alleges company misled consumers

An unnamed Californian woman has sued US country music record label Fahrenheit Entertainment for allegedly misleading its customers by shipping CDs protected with an anti-rip mechanism, Web site Music Target has reported. The suit centres on the album Charley Pride: A Tribute to Jim Reeves because it apparently gives no …

Personal 11 Sep 2001, 15:30
TFT profits to go down the toilet

Spending to continue falling in 2002

Manufacturers of TFT screens are about to see their profits go down the toilet, a report out this week claims. TFT LCD prices are not expected to rise until the fourth quarter of next year, while production has been ramped up due to excessive spending in 2000 and 2001, according to US market research outfit DisplaySearch. "As …

Channel 11 Sep 2001, 16:03
‘Fake’ Sony Clié PEG-N750C appears on Sony Web site

Coming on 22 September

The Sony Clié PEG-N750C, once rumoured to be the company's next Palm-based PDA and then damned as a hoax, has turned up once again - on the company's own Web site. And the device will ship on 22 September. It's a coincidence, of course - at least in part. The device described on Sony's Web site here isn't the same as the the …

Personal 11 Sep 2001, 23:49