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16th October 2001 Archive

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  • Jakob Nielsen on how Apple blew it, how Linux will blow it, and the Next Big Thing

    And no Dancing Bears

    On life after WAP... Wireless content is still the same kind of gold rush as the web, and people aren't thinking whether it makes sense to sell X [via wireless data] just as it didn't make sense to sell X, such as pet food, on the Web. I still believe in e-commerce, but not for everything. For example banking makes much more …

    Music and Media 16 Oct 2001, 00:13

  • AMD nails Hammer specs

    MPF But no dates or MHz promises yet

    As expected Chimpzilla disclosed new information about its first 64bit CPU Hammer today at the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose. Fred Weber's presentation has just been released too, so avail yourselves of this 440K Acrobat file. Hammer will come in 2-way, 4-way and 8-way configurations, although it's primed as the long-term …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 01:31

  • Compaq UK auctions end of line, refurbs

    Going cheap

    Compaq UK is setting out its stall as the purveyor of secondhand and unwanted new PCs. Its own PCs, mind you - the company is flogging the kit through a new auction site, powered by Fairmarket. Compaq reckons the weekly auctions will attract mostly small businesses and consumers, but as it is offering only up to 30 lots each …

    Personal 16 Oct 2001, 05:37

  • Channel faces cash crisis

    Very tough Q4

    Resellers in Europe and the US are bracing themselves for a very tough Q4, amid signs of a "significant weakening in corporate purchasing plans" on both sides of the Atlantic. The US is particularly hard hit, but the European market could be "decelerating at a pace similar to the deceleration found in the U.S. a year ago". …

    Business 16 Oct 2001, 06:22

  • Concert ends – no applause

    Big Loss

    BT and AT&T today announced the death of Concert, their heavily loss-making joint venture targeting international business. It's a drawn-out demise - customers will be wound back to the constituent companies sometime in the first half of next year. BT will write down the alleged value of Concert et al by £1.2bn, and will take …

    Business 16 Oct 2001, 07:12

  • Big Biz loves e-biz

    Some good news

    Global ecommerce is alive and kicking, and big businesses around the world are continuing to invest in the technology, according to survey from Accenture, the management consultancy firm with the funny name. There a good news IT industry story, for once. Or is it? The major reason cited by board-level execs for spending in …

    e-Business 16 Oct 2001, 09:44

  • IBM debuts 1GHz PowerPC G3

    In Macs next year

    IBM launched a 1GHz G3-class PowerPC processor, the 750FX, yesterday - a couple of days ahead of its scheduled introduction, but who's counting? Not, we hope, when they could be reading the chip's stats: 512KB on-die L2 cache; silicon-on-insulator, low-k dielectric construction; copper interconnects; 0.13 micron fabrication …

    Mac Channel 16 Oct 2001, 09:46

  • Microsoft apologises to Novell but court case continues

    NetWare not 'obsolete', Novell wants damages

    Microsoft has formally apologised to Novell for sending out advertising suggesting the company's operating system NetWare was obsolete and wouldn't be supported in future. It has promised not to repeat the allegations and will send out "corrective" information to the same 3,000 Novell customers it originally targeted. Despite …

    Software 16 Oct 2001, 10:29

  • Will MS cut a deal with Europe over WinXP?

    Uncharacteristically sophisticated conduct alert!

    Is the European Commission investigating Windows XP, or isn't it? Or, is it considering whether to investigate it, or isn't it? Yes and no, according to authoritative EU sources this week. In fairly short order we've had claims of a preliminary enquiry (in a Financial Times story yesterday), an apparent denial, and then …

    Software 16 Oct 2001, 10:40

  • Handspring Treo smartphones give Graffiti the thumbs down

    Blackberry's micro-keyboard more popular

    Handspring has taken the wraps off its Treo smartphone - its first product not only to embrace integrated wireless comunications but to turn its back on the Graffiti character-entry system the company's co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, invented. The Treo actually emerged last month when the US Federal Communications Commission posted …

    Personal 16 Oct 2001, 10:43

  • Recording industry exploits WTC tragedy to hack you

    How low can they go?

    Capitol Hill lobbyists representing the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) tried to attach a self-serving amendment to recent anti-terror legislation which would have made it legal for copyright owners to hack computer networks in search of copyright-infringing material and destroy them, Wired News reports. Panic over …

    Assault on America 16 Oct 2001, 10:52

  • The451.com is dead

    What temperature does VC money burn at?

    Paid-for IT news site The451.com is officially dead. Its majority owner Durlacher announced to the stock market this morning that receivers had been appointed yesterday for the site's company 45Onecom Ltd. The London and San Francisco branches are shut down with immediate effect although we understand desperate attempts are …

    e-Business 16 Oct 2001, 10:56

  • Tiny goes large

    Opening 140 Powerhouse concessions over 18 months

    Tiny Computers has won a Powerhouse concession contract, which will see it open 140 new stores over the coming 18 months. This will almost double its store count from its existing 143 showroom-style stores and create around 450 jobs. Andrew Walwyn, Tiny's MD, predicts this will allow the company to grow its revenue by £100 …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 11:06

  • MS anthrax letter un-confirmed

    Fifty-fifty now

    The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia announced Monday that a letter returned from Malaysia to a Microsoft licensing division office in Reno, Nevada has tested negative for anthrax spores. A preliminary test came back positive; a secondary test came back negative; a tertiary test came back positive again …

    Software 16 Oct 2001, 11:09

  • HPaQ must die – major investor

    Worth more apart, and it's less risky

    Hewlett-Packard and Compaq are being urged to scrap their $19.7 billion merger by a US value-investment fund which owns shares in both businesses. According to the Wall Street Journal, Matrix Asset Advisors sent a letter to the boards of HP and Compaq last week asking them to rethink the deal. The paper quotes Matrix chief …

    Business 16 Oct 2001, 11:18

  • Jungle apologises for crap service

    New computer system adds fortnight to delivery times

    Jungle.com has apologised to customers for its particularly poor service of late, which it admits stems from a new computer system it installed on 24 September. Customers are now faced with a 21-day guaranteed delivery time, as opposed to the 3 to 5-day service the site has offered previously. The online retailer tried to put a …

    e-Business 16 Oct 2001, 12:05

  • BT-spin off offers 400% network performance supercharge

    Content distribution pumped up

    A BT-backed firm aims to tackle network performance problems with a different approach to content distribution. Venation, spun off from BT as an independent company in February this year (with £7m backing from Softbank Europe Ventures), offers a hardware platform which claims to offer up to a 400 per cent improvement in network …

    Data Networking 16 Oct 2001, 12:10

  • Stephen Hawking predicts bio-engineering catastrophe

    Better get that wormhole sorted out fast....

    The synthesized voice of Professor Stephen Hawking has tinnily decreed that the sort of bio-engineering he enthusiastically advocated last month is actually going to doom humanity unless we colonize other worlds, the Telegraph reports. As you may recall, the Davros understudy had recently predicted that humanity's only hope for …

    Music and Media 16 Oct 2001, 12:17

  • IBM kicks EMC where it hurts

    Wal-Mart switch

    Things don't get any easier at EMC. While much of the world's media is speculating, quite stupidly, on its imminent acquisition by IBM, those people that actually use EMC kit are keeping a beady eye on the firm's fortunes. Yesterday those fortunes took yet another turn for the worst as EMC lost it's one-time flagship customer …

    Hardware 16 Oct 2001, 12:25

  • Intel announces 1.5, 2GHz Mobile Pentium 4

    But there's more it didn't say

    Intel yesterday confirmed it will release Mobile Pentium 4 processors next year, at speeds in excess of 1.5GHz during the first half of 2002 and at 2GHz in the latter part of the year. Speaking at Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, Bob Jackson, principal engineer at Intel's Mobile Platforms Group, told the conference audience …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 12:41

  • Apple ships PPC7440-based 667MHz PowerBook G4

    Old version upped to 550MHz, both get slot-load CD-RW drives

    Apple has just introduced upgraded Titanium PowerBook G4s, as we predicted. Two models are on offer, running at 550MHz and 667MHz, respectively. Apple's tech specs aren't exactly forthcoming with precise chip data, but we can say the first machine has a 100MHz system bus, while the 667MHz model's bus runs at 133MHz. Both have …

    Mac Channel 16 Oct 2001, 13:17

  • Apple upgrades iBook to 600MHz

    More RAM, bigger HDD too

    Apple has confirmed last week's reports from resellers than an updated iBook was on the way: it has announced a 600MHz version of the consumer notebook. The new model also features 128MB of memory and a faster, 100MHz system bus. It's available in two incarnations, one with a 15GB hard drive and DVD-ROM unit, the other with a …

    Mac Channel 16 Oct 2001, 13:26

  • Dual 800MHz Power Mac G4 Server shows at last

    One month late

    Apple has shipped the long-awaited dual 800MHz Power Mac G4 Server it had been expected to launch at Apple Expo Paris (until that show was cancelled after the 11 September terrorist attacks). The machine isn't much to get excited about - essentially it's a version of the dual-CPU desktop Quicksilver Power Mac with Mac OS X …

    Mac Channel 16 Oct 2001, 13:46

  • Tiny sums don't add up – Time

    Powerhouse won't deliver the numbers

    Tiny has overestimated the market on its Powerhouse announcement earlier today and will "have to work very hard to hit its turnover target of nearly £720,000 per store". Or so says Time Computers CEO Tahir Mohsan, who notes the figure is a revenue target that Time was never able to hit during its five years in the concession …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 14:53

  • Bonfield acknowledges his Concert failure

    Forgot you have to pay for infrastructure outside the UK

    Sir Peter Bonfield has acknowledged his failure as chief exec of BT to bring the money-burning monster that was Concert under control. "What we did not anticipate was the huge reduction in pricing as a huge amount of capital went into international traffic," Bonfield said on a conference call today discussing the final break-up …

    Business 16 Oct 2001, 15:00

  • What went wrong with Jungle's new computer system

    And why it was sadly unavoidable

    Jungle.com has got back to us to explain exactly what went wrong with its new management computer system and why customers have faced significant delays in getting their orders in the past few weeks. Marketing director Andy Singleton was at pains to point out that Jungle is sorry about what has happened and that the company …

    e-Business 16 Oct 2001, 15:30

  • Compaq on speed with 1GHz 64-bit Alpha boxen

    Just prior to chip's extinction

    Compaq has introduced a server geared to ecommerce, telecoms and supercomputing environments which it reckons is the industry's most powerful mid-range bit of tin. The AlphaServer ES45 system includes up to four 1GHz 64-bit Alpha processors, and is available with the Tru64 UNIX with TruCluster Servers, OpenVMS or Linux …

    Hardware 16 Oct 2001, 15:36

  • UK govt to turn Hastings into ‘e-city’

    Huge waste of money (£100m) on horizon, one in the eye for Harold

    The UK government is considering spending £100 million to turn East Sussex coast town Hastings into an "e-city". What's an e-city? Well, presumably a town kitted out with the latest digital technology and broadband Internet access so that companies working over the Internet (and hot-desking employees) will move there and …

    Music and Media 16 Oct 2001, 16:20

  • SirCam blitz is damp squib

    Sloppy programming saves the day

    SirCam, the bandwidth-munching, privacy-invading, mass-mailing virus, has failed to wipe the hard disks of infected users today, thanks to a bug in the worm's code. Antivirus firms have confirmed that nothing has happened, even though a routine in the worm's code means it is supposed to activate on 16 October and delete …

    Malware 16 Oct 2001, 16:40

  • Tiny's home entertainment boxes disappoint

    Hit the market a 'little early'

    Tiny Computers' foray into home entertainment PC centres hasn't been the success the company hoped for. The device was one idea intended to help Tiny stave off the ravages of the skinny-margin retail PC business. The company has sold less than 5,000 of its Takami systems since they were launched at the Ideal Home Exhibition in …

    Personal 16 Oct 2001, 16:43

  • Cisco ADSL adapters can melt through plastic

    Firm recalls 95,000 units

    Cisco is voluntarily recalling approximately 95,000 ADSL router power adapters which could pose a fire risk. Cisco states that adapters used with its 827, 827-4V, 826, SOHO77, SOHO77-50 and 827-EUR (small business and telecommuter) ADSL routers "can overheat and melt a hole through the housing, posing a fire hazard. In addition …

    Data Networking 16 Oct 2001, 16:53

  • Sun peppers low-end with McKinley-killer Jalapeno

    MPF New buses, Gooless SMP debut

    You wait ages for a new bus, then two come along at once. That was one of the surprises as Sun took the wraps off one of the year's most eagerly anticipated new chips, the Jalapeno processor, that we first told you about back in June. Jalapeno or UltraSPARC IIIi, is the SPARC family's Celeron, if you like: a low cost …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 17:56

  • Optical computing ushers in 10GHz chips

    MPF Whizz for lasers

    Optical computing has been talked about ever since we were knee-high to a PDP-8, but former Intel luminary Bill Pohlmann thinks it's now only just around the corner. Pohlmann was given the lead keynote to showcase his pet, optical bandwidth. A couple of years ago he founded Primarion, which has applied for around hundred …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 18:45

  • Gillingham FC fan hires plane to protest Web site ban

    Truth is stranger than fiction

    A fan of Gillingham Football Club, Alan Liptrott, resorted to hiring a plane with the banner "Lift the Ban on Alan" dragged behind it on Saturday after he was refused entry from the team's ground due to his supporters' Web site. Mr Liptrott had been banned by chairman of Gillingham FC and original thinker Paul Scally, after an …

    Music and Media 16 Oct 2001, 18:58

  • How green is your PC (disposal policy)?

    Filthy McNasty Inc.

    Another day, another survey proving how crap companies are in dealing with disposal of unwanted computer hardware. The results are mostly predictable: current disposal of obsolete corporate IT equipment is badly done; many companies are unaware of upcoming legislation targeted at this issue; and few use refurbished goods. The …

    Personal 16 Oct 2001, 19:27

  • SA's finest chopped up for bush meat

    Siltek down, Africam out, Comdex on Ice

    The biggest tech news to come from South Africa (SA) this week was the shock report that Siltek, the holding company for a variety of mostly distribution-focused businesses, has applied for provisional liquidation. In recent years, Siltek conducted an aggressive acquisition drive, snapping up a variety of smaller IT companies …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 19:32

  • HP's two-core Mako chip waves hello, goodbye

    MPF Last stop before Madison

    Not withstanding the outcome of the SirCam merger, HP's own chip designers are pressing on heroically. David Johnson of HP's Fort Collins lab gave a lot of new detail on Mako aka the PA-RISC 8800 at Microprocessor Forum today. Johnson said Mako will appear at 1GHz frequencies, with a performance target of between 900 and 1000 …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 20:52

  • Morse detects no seasonal upturn

    Profitable but downbeat

    Morse, Europe's biggest Sun reseller, had a very tough quarter ended September 31, with sales plummeting to £111m(2000 £151m). So-called infrastructure business - which most people would recognise as Unix boxes and networking kit - was £88m in the Q (2000: £133m). Service sales - the Great White Hope of all corporate resellers …

    Channel 16 Oct 2001, 22:29