19th October 2001 Archive

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Intel announces Cloak Of Invulnerability™

MPF Roundup It's an off-the-roadmap

Code morphing start-up Transitive has been touting the x86 potential of their Dynamite dynamic binary translation. We goofed in an earlier draft of this article: Transitive doesn't make or license any chip hardware,it's all done in software. Sorry, folks. Dynamite has many of the run-time optimization tricks you'll be familiar …

Channel 19 Oct 2001, 00:26
Harvesting passwords from DSL routers

Hackers raid Cayman for 'disposable' dial-up accounts

Hackers have developed a trick for pilfering DSL account names and passwords right from subscriber's routers, a technique that provides hackers with untraceable Internet access, and potentially exposes subscriber email to interception. The method targets Cayman Systems' popular 3220-H DSL router, a combination modem, router …

Security 19 Oct 2001, 09:09
MS digital rights management scheme cracked

Let's hear it for the boy

An anonymous coder named 'Beale Screamer' claims to have broken the Version-2 Microsoft digital rights management (DRM) scheme, and has produced the source code and a DOS utility to un-protect .WMA audio files. The author's zipped file, originally discovered on sci.crypt by Sam Simpson and posted by Cryptome's John Young, …

Software 19 Oct 2001, 09:20
Transmeta Q3 revenue plummets 52% on Q2

Downward spiral accelerates

Transmeta's chairman and CEO, Murray Goldman, last night declared himself "pleased" with the direction his company is pursuing. The comment rings hollow following as it does the effective dismissal of former CEO Mark Allen, the admission that Transmeta is having problems getting its TM5800 chip out of the door and an …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 10:01
Microsoft's telco write-offs reduce net income by 42 per cent

But things don't look bad in general

Microsoft's has announced a 42 per cent fall in net income this quarter, thanks entirely to a hefty $1.24 billion write-off over its cable and telco investments. One can perhaps sense the ghost of former CFO Greg Maffei moaning and clanking his chains through the portfolio. Greg it was who, around two years ago, circled the …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 10:12
Sun has biggest ever quarterly loss

Just as expected

Sun Microsystems made a Q1 loss, as expected, of $180 million. The biggest quarterly loss in its history. The company had made a profit of $456 million a year earlier. Sales for the period, ended 30 September, dropped to $2.86 billion, which was at the high end of the company's lowered targets, but 43 per cent down on the …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 10:16
My Net shed nightmare, by Net shed nightmare man

Shed man tells of his ordeal

Steve Riley - the Blackburn man locked in a shed and rescued only after his SOS was picked up on the Net - has spoken to The Register about his ordeal. It happened last week, explained Steve, who is grateful to the US Net user called "Dennoginator" who picked up on Steve's cry for help and contacted police in the UK. It all …

Music and Media 19 Oct 2001, 10:28
Hynix Q3 loss balloons to $1.3 billion

How long will its creditors hang on in there?

Much-troubled memory maker Hynix had more bad news for its creditors and investors this morning: its Q3 loss totalled 1.6 trillion won ($1.3 billion) - larger than the company had forecast and well below the 66 million won profit it made this time last year. In the year-ago quarter, Hynix recorded sales of 2.4 trillion won. …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 10:34
Fibernet to offer unbundled services

Revenue and profits up

Fibernet is on the verge of offering unbundled telecoms services, the high-speed data communications outfit confirmed yesterday. One of the few companies to remain in the local loop unbundling process, it is set to announce at the end of the month that it is ready to offer SDSL (Synchronous Digital Subscriber Line) services …

Music and Media 19 Oct 2001, 10:35
Nokia sees across-board drop but shares jump 5 per cent

Beats expectations, says future looks rosy

Nokia has seen across-the-board drops in its third quarter results but beaten expectations and been awarded with a five per cent share price increase this morning. Sales were down nearly seven per cent to £4.42 billion; pre-tax profit down 21.8 per cent to £670 million; net profit down 17.7 per cent to £477 million; and …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 11:44
Ebay revenues up

Which is nice

Ebay is in chipper mood today after reporting improved revenues at the online auction house. Third quarter net revenues for the three months ended September 30 leapt 70 per cent from $113.4 million in Q3 2000 to $194.4 million. Consolidated net income for the quarter was $18.8 million, or $0.07 per diluted share. And eBay's …

e-Business 19 Oct 2001, 11:45
STMicro back in the black

Sales slide, though - and won't improve any time soon, company claims

STMicroelectronics saw its sales slide 11.8 per cent last last quarter from the previous three-month period and 31 per cent down on the same period last year, the company reported yesterday. However, ST forecast that its Q4 sales will show little or no decline over Q3 suggesting that it at least thinks the downturn has bottomed …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 11:50
VIA chipper about mobo market moves

ABN Amro not so keen though

There's plenty of room in the market for our motherboards, VIA representatives told us yesterday. But that belief hasn't stopped the Hong Kong branch of broker ABM Amro from downgrading the Tainwanese venture's stock to Reduce. ABN Amro's reasoning, according to a DigiTimes report, is that SiS' SiS645 chipset - designed, like …

Channel 19 Oct 2001, 12:16
Intel culls consumer electronics operation

No more cheap plastic peripherals

Intel is ridding itself of its cheap plastic toy operation, better known as the Connected Products Division. The chip giant yesterday confirmed that it will sell off its existing stock of blue'n'white-hued digital cameras, Web cams, microscopes, keyboard, mouse and MP3 players, but not more of the gadgets will be produced. We …

Personal 19 Oct 2001, 13:09
Losses pile up at Nortel

More depressing than a Leonard Cohen song

Nortel Networks has reported Q3 net loss of $3.47 billion on declining sales as demand for its kit from telecoms carriers continues to remain modest and difficult to predict. The disappointing results came as little surprise - the Candian telecoms equipment manufacturers issued profit warning earlier this month - and show that …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 13:13
Increasing Nvidia orders boost TSMC output

Investors rub hands in anticipation

TSMC is clearly doing very nicely, thank you out of its relationship with Nvidia. The foundry's insitutional investors claim that 80 per cent of its 0.15 micron and 0.18 micron production lines are punching out parts to the graphics chip designer's specifications, according to a report in the Commercial Times. It seems Nividia …

Channel 19 Oct 2001, 13:27
UK govt twists National Audit Office report into 3G licence auction

Funny goings on

The National Audit Office has today released its report into the auction for next-generation 3G mobiles licences, and concluded that the whole thing was well run and will not have a damaging affect on the mobile industry. Or has it? We were surprised to find ourselves disagreeing strongly with parts of the NAO report when …

Data Networking 19 Oct 2001, 13:42
Who'd want to merge with Gateway?

Q3 mostly sucked

Gateway announced its Q3 loss yesterday, a tidy $520 million. Sales dropped to $1.4 billion for the quarter, compared to the $2.5 billion it posted in the same period last year, which made it $132 million in profit. The company tried to balance the news with a message of optimism for the future, swearing to become profitable …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 13:48
US broadband goes mass-market next year

Can't wait

Broadband is on the cusp of becoming a mass-market product in the US, according to research from Jupiter Media Metrix. It claims companies in the broadband sector should begin preparing now for the coming broadband mainstream which it believes will kick in next year. And it predicts that one in four US homes (35 million) will …

Telecoms 19 Oct 2001, 14:47
Freeserve bares all

Cheeky ads reveal ISP's naked ambition

El Reg doesn't often dish out praise. But when we do, you can be sure it's well earned. So let's hear it for Freeserve and its cheeky ad campaign featuring naturists flogging its unmetered dial-up service. The ad - on the TV and in print - features naturists of all shapes and sizes going about their normal business with catchy …

Bootnotes 19 Oct 2001, 14:51
World's biggest luddite strikes again!

Australia's Senator Alston dismisses ADSL

The world's biggest luddite, Senator Richard Alston - who unfortunately is also the minister for Communications, Information Technology and The Arts for the Australian government - has struck again. Not content with outlawing email, gambling and any material ever that is not suitable for children, he has now attacked a plan to …

Music and Media 19 Oct 2001, 14:55
Acer spouts the biggest load of management guff

Mega and Micro bull

Today, New Acer revealed its 'MegaMicro e-Business'. The name, and the move, is a confusing one. Chairman and CEO Stan Shih first outlined the 'New Acer' in a keynote at Taiwan's e-business expo on Tuesday. (Obviously lusting after yet more titles for his business card, Shih has also added Chief Business Architect (CBA) to the …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 15:10
Big fat 5GB PC card for photographers

Camera action

Storage gizmos for mobile devices continue to increase in popularity, with Kingston Technology this week releasing a new version of its DataPak device, which is essentially a 5GB hard drive on a PC card. The previous device from the company was only able to store 2GB of data. Users can slip it into their type II PCMCIA drive ( …

Personal 19 Oct 2001, 15:37
Barclaycard £25m blackmail crypto case cloaked in secrecy

We could tell you about it, but then we'd have to kill you

The veil of secrecy has been thrown over the trial of a former encryption expert at Barclays charged with blackmailing Barclaycard, the credit card issuer. Pre-trial hearings behind closed doors, or in camera, have already taken place in the case of Graham Browne, today's Guardian has reported. But it's unclear what procedures …

Business 19 Oct 2001, 15:48
P4 shortages cause Athlon XP drought

It's hell out there

The serious shortage of Intel P4s has led system builders to chase extra Athlon XPs to keep assembly lines running. Every major UK system builder is saying the situation is very serious - for every other PC manufacturer except themselves. We've heard reports that several companies have been on line stop this week - which means …

Channel 19 Oct 2001, 17:15
Hacker Web site up for sale

But can anyone make money from Hack.co.za?

Security research site Hack.co.za is up for sale after its long term admin decided it was time to hang up his boots and make some money. The site, which we're told gets 900,000 hits per month, has acted as a resource for exploits, "utilities" and security tools along the same lines as Packetstorm, its bigger and more famous …

Security 19 Oct 2001, 17:28