4th October 2001 Archive
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Browsers on wheels
War driving taken to a new level?
The car of the future will evolve to become a "browser on wheels" with advanced vehicle entertainment, safety and even driving systems provided by computers. That's the vision of Sun Microsystems, which hopes Jxta (its peer to peer technology) and Java running on embedded processors will position it as a key player in the IT …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 05:30
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Bell Micro makes a loss
Abnormally slow month
Bell Microproducts, storage distie in the Americas and Europe, has issued a profits warning, following an "abnormally slow" September. The company, which trades in the UK as Ideal Hardware, said that sales for Q3, ended September 30, 2001, will be approx. $490m, while operating losses will be $3.3m. It is taking a one-off hit …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 05:52
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Sun shines on News International
$100m contract
We don't, as a habit, cover contract wins, but we'll make an exception for Sun Microsystems' whopping great $100m deal with News International. Unusually, Sun has first right of refusal to sell Unix servers and ancillary products worldwide to the press giant for the next two years. We say "win". But it is entirely possible …
Hardware 4 Oct 2001, 06:10
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Profit warning – Avnet's turn
Cost cuts
Avnet is the latest on the block with a profits warning. The distie giant says its electronics components division has been particularly badly hit with Q1 sales ended September down 44 per cent on the same period last year and 20 per cent sequentially Avnet's applied computing division, which flogs CPUs and other components to …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 06:36
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New anti-terror bill limits life sentence for hackers
Congress narrows Bush's definition of terrorism
Anti-terrorism legislation proposed by leaders of the House Judiciary Committee this week omits a Justice Department plan to make computer hacking a federal terrorism offense, punishable by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. But electronic civil liberties groups continue to warn about the enhanced Internet …
Security 4 Oct 2001, 07:24
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GNOME version 2.0 officially ‘not of use to anyone’
No change there, then
The GNOME team has finally released the first rough cut of version 2.0 of its ideologically-correct desktop environment, a year later than originally promised. It's a major rewrite, first announced at LinuxWorld Expo in August 1999 when it was slated for a September 2000 release. The software is accompanied by a note warning …
Software 4 Oct 2001, 08:56
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Ericssony hangs up on Microsoft?
Wireless joint venture in doubt
Sony and Microsoft have only been competing in the phone business for four days, but the Japanese giant's deep and long-standing antipathy towards The Beast may already have claimed its first casualty. According to Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri, a reliable advanced source of Ericsson leaks in the past, Ericsson is …
Data Networking 4 Oct 2001, 09:16
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Microsoft (finally) tries to make IIS secure
'Lockdown Wizard' enforces safe serving
We used to think it would take an act of Congress, but Microsoft has taken the initiative and released a free tool which will set up IIS with tight settings and crucial patches from day one, shifting the emphasis from come-and-get-me-k11d13z 'functionality' to something approaching decent security. One may download the software …
Software 4 Oct 2001, 09:34
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Losses expected to fall at ebookers
Still making job cuts though
Pan-European online travel agency ebookers.com has said it expects to report narrowing losses when it publishes Q3 results at the end of the month. Despite the massive hit it has taken as sales shrink in the wake of the 11 September terror attacks in the US, ebookers said that the results for the period between July and …
Business 4 Oct 2001, 09:50
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Hynix creditors meet to ponder $759m loan request
May demand joint control in return
Hynix's creditors will meet today to discuss whether to offer the struggling memory maker a further KRW1 trillion ($758.495 million) on credit. Also on the agenda is discussion of a plan to place creditors at Hynix's helm alongside its current management. Hynix's latest debt management plan calls for a loan of KRW500 billion, …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 09:53
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Reg hack to debate InfoSeek founder on air
Brain scanning indeed....
Anyone interested in InfoSeek founder Steve Kirsch's proposal to scan the brains of travelers as a means to defeat terrorism might wish to tune in to 'Online Tonight' with David Lawrence Thursday, 4 October at 10:00 pm EST to hear us take the piss out of him live. We recently ridiculed Kirsch's proposal, much to the delight of …
Assault on America 4 Oct 2001, 10:31
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Samsung signs for PocketPC 2002
Will back Palm too
Samsung has said it will base an upcoming line of devices on Microsoft's PocketPC 2002 operating system - despite being on the verge of releasing its first Palm-based PDA in the US. The Korean giant's comment, made during an interview between its worldwide marketing chief, Eric Kim, and Reuters, came a day ahead of today's …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 10:50
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Intel to kill floppy drives, serial ports next year
Intel Technology Roadmap About time too
Intel is finally inciting the death of the floppy drive and is calling on PC manufacturers big and small to stop supplying the once-capacious 1.44MB removable drive in the latter half of 2002. So say confidential Intel documents seen by The Register. The chip giant wants OEMs to phase out the floppy in the second half of 2002. …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 10:56
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ICANN volunteers for Homeland Defence
Washington Roundup While Congress mulls techno National Guard
ICANN President Stuart Lynn actually said that, in view of the atrocities of 11 September, "It would be irresponsible for ICANN not to conduct an in-depth assessment of the robustness and security of the Internet's naming and addressing systems." While we were musing about how best to describe the folly of letting an …
Assault on America 4 Oct 2001, 11:01
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Intel to ship 802.11a wireless LAN kit in 2002
Intel Technology Roadmap 'Jackpot' codename says it all
Intel has aggressive plans to use the 802.11 wireless connectivity specification as the basis for local area networking, with product roll-outs during what's left of 2001 and throughout 2002. Confidential documents seen by The Register show the chip giant plans to offer an 802.11b LAN product, codenamed Trilogy 3, later this …
Hardware 4 Oct 2001, 11:17
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CMGI gets new Euro president
Marcus Bicknell's had enough
Marcus Bicknell, the president of CMGI Europe, is to step down from the company in the next couple of weeks. Apparently, he wants to develop his own business - maybe in satellites or broadband - he told Reuters. Bicknell will be replaced at the head of CMGI Europe by its current MD, Lorraine Eaves. Unfortunately, Ms Eaves …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 11:23
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Reg jealous of my success, claims Captain Cyborg
Amazed at how he manages to bamboozle gullible hacks, more like
In the publicity build-up to Captain Cyborg's latest bionic upgrade, his human alter-ego, Kevin Warwick, professor of cybernetics and Reading University, has been interviewed by The Guardian today. He's surprisingly lucid in comparison to his usual interviews and manages to avoid the trademark doom-mongering and baseless claims …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 11:40
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POWER4 debuts in IBM Regatta
Big Blue's Big Bang eschews SMP numbers game
Despite only a modest name change to IBM's high-end Unix server line, from p680 to p690, IBM's new "Regatta" kit showcases a new generation of Risc chips in the shape of POWER4, and it really is Big Blue's Big Bang. The chip debuts in the new pSeries at 1.1GHz and 1.3GHz, but clock frequencies aren't so relevant here. The …
Hardware 4 Oct 2001, 11:48
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UK campaigners call for anti ‘anti-rip’ CD day of action
Britain's High Street record retailers targeted for Saturday protestes
Campaigners will take to the streets of Britain this Saturday (6 October) in a bid to raise public awareness of the music industry's attempts to prevent listeners from copying CDs or playing discs on PCs. The UK's Campaign for Digital Rights, a loose, Web-based affiliation of computer users and music fans, is calling on anyone …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 13:17
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Mac, PC reseller Mygate shuts up shop
Margins selling PCs too tight to survive
London-based reseller Mygate went into liquidation on Tuesday, though the company's assets have already been sold, to Guildford-based Apple dealer Cancom. Mygate has ceased trading, though at the time of writing its Web site remained active. The company was forced to call in the receivers after accumulating debts of over £1 …
Business 4 Oct 2001, 13:41
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What the hell is UDRP?
Cut-out-and-keep guide
The term UDRP frequently pops up in stories about ICANN, WIPO and domain disputes, so we figured it was time to give a simple rundown on what precisely it is, why it's important and why we dislike it. UDRP stands for Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy and consists of a set of rules which help decide who ought to own a particular …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 13:44
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BT Openworld bounces back email complaints
Technical glitch, says monster ISP
BTopenworld has denied that its customer service outfit has been swamped by complaints which have disabled its email service. Punters trying to contact customer support have had their emails bounced back with the message "mailbox is full". The email address in question - customerservice@btopenworld.com - relates to complaints …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 13:44
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24-7 Freecall wants 1m AOL CDs
And the winner of today's publicity stunt is...
The CEO of Birmingham-based ISP 24-7 Freecall wants to collect one million AOL CDs in a bid to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. "If there's one thing more certain in life than a Man United fan living in Portsmouth, it's that every person in the UK will, at some point, receive an AOL sign-up CD," said Sal Abdin. "As …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 13:45
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Pentium 4 and DVD shortages
Many system builders allocations cut
So it's the worst slump in the IT market for maybe a decade and still there are shortages. Pentium 4 chips and DVD drives are in short supply, UK system builders and disties are reporting. Evesham, a top-10 UK PC maker, confirmed a cut in allocations and a general shortage in both Pentium 4 chips and DVD drives, while the MD …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 14:02
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Lastminute's ‘inspiring’ .Net experience
Ommmmmmmmmm
Lastminute.com and Microsoft are to get cosy thanks to a strategic alliance over MS'.NET Web platform. The pair reckon they'll benefit from joint marketing initiatives and the move will enable lastminute.com to expand its reach and exposure in the UK, now that the online bucket shop has become an "early adopter". Which all …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 14:40
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Quantum counter-sues Imation
Tom Clancy Novel
Quantum has taken up legal cudgels against Imation in response to its rival's anti-trust suit. The storage vendor filed a court order yesterday intended to stop the Imation from selling unqualified tape media for use in DLTtape drives. The suit charges Imation with "extreme and pervasive" misappropriation of trade secrets, …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 14:48
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AMD confirms QuantiSpeed marchitecture slogan
'Peed in Squat'
We can confirm AMD's attempt to prevent punters from assuming that its chips are much slower than Intel's because its Athlon XP clock speeds are rather lower than Pentium 4 megahertz ratings will indeed be called QuantiSpeed. Don't take our word for it, take's AMD's. The company has registered QuantiSpeed as trademark, and …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 15:07
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AMD Athlon XP speeds, pricing seep onto Web
Updated Worried 'you know who' may find out...
Athlon XPs are beginning to emerge on the Web and the world's PC markets ahead of the official launch next Tuesday (9 October). Web site OC Workbench has piccies of the Athlon XP 1500+ (ie. 1.33GHz) having spotted the part on sale in Taipei for NT$4800 ($135). And Japanese Web site PC Watch has a snap of the Athlon XP 1500+ …
Channel 4 Oct 2001, 15:16
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Dell readies M40 Mobile Workstation
Exclusive Nvidia Quadro 2 Go takes Dell into new notebook market
Dell is moving into the mobile workstation market - such as it is - with a notebook based on Nvidia's Quadro 2 Go graphics chip, The Register has learned. The machine, to be called the Mobile Precision Workstation M40 - a name intended to play off Dell's workstation line rather than its portable line-up - is essentially a …
Hardware 4 Oct 2001, 16:04
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NatWest declares war on Internet
Well, the parts not owned by Microsoft
NatWest has cut off users of Netscape Navigator 4.76, 4.77 and 6 and Mozilla from its online banking service today after it was advised the browsers could be a security risk. Visit with the latest version of Navigator and you'll get an alert stating: "We are currently our Web site with the Netscape 6 browser. At this stage, we …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 16:26
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UK plc shuns m-commerce
Don't even think about it
The joys of m-commerce - buying things over your phone - are being categorically ignored by UK business with just two per cent of them having a "strategy" for the dubious pastime. And 78 per cent haven't even thought about it. That's according to Benchmark Research - which was paid by Intel to speak to 400 companies in Europe …
Data Networking 4 Oct 2001, 16:31
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BT Cellnet to unwrap PocketPC smartphone tonight
As we predicted...
mmO2, the bizarrely named company formerly known as BT Cellnet, will shortly unveil its entry into the smartphone/PDA market, sources close to the company have told The Register. The device is expected to be unveiled a few hours from now at Microsoft's official launch of PocketPC 2002. The cellular network provider will tell …
Personal 4 Oct 2001, 16:47
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IBM risks billion dollar Linux strategy with W3C RAND demands
Exclusive HP points the finger
Sources familiar with the W3C's patent policy have confirmed that demands for the standards body to adopt RAND licensing were initiated by IBM. Last week IBM officially stated that it preferred working with RAND licenses, which permit a patent-holder to collect a royalty, rather than on the traditional royalty-free basis, which …
Music and Media 4 Oct 2001, 18:16
