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22nd October 2001 Archive

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  • Blue Monday for NewMonday.com

    Activities 'discontinued'

    Newmonday.com, the online jobs board jointly-owned by VNU and Randstad Holding, the Dutch temp staff agency, is to "discontinue activities". The companies say that revenues have failed to meet expectations - "due to considerably changed conditions in the recruitment market". And they see "insufficient prospects" for carrying on …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 08:43

  • PowerPC G5 ‘blazingly fast’, claims Motorola mole

    But it may be longer than Apple would like to squash the bugs

    Motorola sources have confirmed what Apple insiders tell us: that the next generation of PowerPC processor, the PPC 8500 - aka G5 - is now consistently coming off the production line at 1.6GHz, and that it is a very fast chip. However, the source - who claims to be an engineer with Motorola's PowerPC Architecture Development …

    Mac Channel 22 Oct 2001, 09:42

  • MS issues bum security patch, contradicts self

    Why full disclosure is good

    Recently-issued patches for an exploitable RDP (Remote Data Protocol) bug in Win-NT and 2K have given users trouble enough for MS to yank one of them (details below). The timing is unfortunate. Only last week Microsoft Security Manager Scott Culp called on outside security researchers to follow Redmond's no-tell bug reporting …

    Software 22 Oct 2001, 10:00

  • Cracks appear in Nutshell service

    Update Legal talks with C&W

    Unmetered ISP, Nutshell, has confirmed it is trying to resolve the problems that left it unable to provide Net access over the weekend. The ISP is currently locked in legal talks with Cable & Wireless and was not prepared to discuss the matter until this had been resolved. Confirming that the service had been suspended, Jason …

    Music and Media 22 Oct 2001, 10:49

  • Samsung won't chop DRAM production

    In spite of 75% profit slide

    Samsung has been hit with a 75 per cent Q3 profit slump thanks to memory prices sliding down the toilet. But it's not going to cut production to try and jack up prices, preferring, like Micron, to try and force weaker rivals like Hynix out of the market. The outlook according to analyst firm Gartner is that the DRAM market …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 10:50

  • Coach blames Linux for team's defeat

    Wacky Americans

    Sports fans have heard all manner of strange excuses for a team's underperformance but Baltimore Ravens' coach Brian Billick has distinguished himself by "blaming the Linux operating system". In a preview to Sunday's visit to Cleveland (where they lost 24-14), the Washington Post reports that Billick blamed the previous week's …

    Bootnotes 22 Oct 2001, 11:16

  • Apple looks to future – post-Motorola? – PowerPC world

    Analysis Don't call in the divorce lawyers just yet

    Apple is becoming increasingly irritated with its prime PowerPC provider, Motorola, to the extent that it talking to fellow PowerPC partner, IBM, about how the platform can continue to evolve without the chips-to-cellphones giant's participation, sources close to the Mac maker have claimed. We can't say we're entirely surprised …

    Mac Channel 22 Oct 2001, 11:46

  • EU anti-spam legislation up again this evening

    A long, winding and confused road

    Anti-spam legislation is about to go through another round of voting tonight in Strasbourg as the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs tries to adopt a new report with amendments. We don't want to get into the whole involved mess but basically what you need to know is that the Telecoms Data …

    Music and Media 22 Oct 2001, 11:49

  • Sony mid-range PDA draws bead on Handspring

    Market conquest continues

    Having achieved considerable success at the high end of the PDA market, Sony has set its sights on the middle-ground, launching a new machine, the Clié PEG-T415, against the likes of Palm's m125 and Handspring's Visor Pro. Sony claims the device is the slimmest PDA on the market. Indeed, at 0.39in (1.025cm) it's thinner than …

    Personal 22 Oct 2001, 12:05

  • Win-XP as terrorist tool story contradicted

    Vulture victim bites back in the best way

    Computer forensics specialist Michael Anderson, who we suspected of exaggerating the threat of Win-XP's secure file-wipe feature for personal gain, contacted us to contradict our reading of his position. Briefly, the forensics outfit (New Technologies) president had gone on record denouncing the secure file-wipe feature in Win- …

    Security 22 Oct 2001, 12:24

  • PC sales down 12% in Western Europe

    Only Dell growing market share

    PC sales for Western Europe dropped 12 per cent in the third quarter, with the spread of the economic slowdown into continental Europe being blamed. Zooming out a little, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region as a whole decline 9.5 per cent. Back in August, the Reg reported on Western Europe witnessing its first …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 12:28

  • BT faces probe into cut-price ADSL installs

    Bulldog growls at winged watchdog

    BT's decision to halve the cost of DSL installation from £150 to £75 is being investigated by telecoms regulator, Oftel. According to the Times Bulldog Communications - one of the remaining telcos to be involved in local loop unbundling - is unhappy at the promotional price cut claiming it makes it even harder for other …

    Telecoms 22 Oct 2001, 12:30

  • IBM doubles secure transaction performance with Zzzseries

    Pumps up Linux support too

    IBM has announced that it has doubled the ability of its mainframe platform to handle secure transaction, with the latest edition to its Zzzz series boxes. The eServer z900, with use of a PCI Cryptographic Accelerator Card, can process up to 3,850 SSL transactions per second, and features a number of software enhancements in …

    Hardware 22 Oct 2001, 12:33

  • VIA set for gloomy Q3 – analysts

    Income to fall 63%, apparently

    VIA will announce its third-quarter results on Wednesday and if the five analysts Bloomberg quizzed are correct, it will post a significant slump in profitability. The reason: thanks to Intel's legal action against the company, no one its buying VIA's Pentium 4 chipsets, the analysts claim. Oh, and the PC market's a bit tough …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 12:39

  • Data Protection Act kicks in on Wednesday

    Massive implications for UK business

    The first transitional period for the Data Protection Act (1998) ends on Tuesday and the second starts Wednesday morning - with huge implications for all UK businesses. From Wednesday 24 October, any company in the UK will basically have to hand over whatever personal data they possess on someone - whether electronically or on …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 14:18

  • Kevin Mitnick plays CIA lackey in TV role

    Poacher turned gamekeeper

    Kevin Mitnick, who spent five years is prison for alleged computer crime offences, is to play a CIA computer expert in an episode of an American TV series to be aired next Sunday. Bringing a touch of credibility into the TV Haxploitation genre, Mitnick will plays the agent in an episode of new ABC series Alias called " …

    Security 22 Oct 2001, 14:39

  • Dell to sell EMC's mid-range storage

    Clinging to each other for dear life

    Dell has inked a deal with EMC to resell its CLARiiON line of enterprise storage kit. The range will now form Dell's standard offering for SAN (Storage Area Networks) and NAS (Network Attached Storage). The alliance extends over five years and is obviously intended to boost both players standing in the market, by giving Dell a …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 15:11

  • Colt revenues up, losses widen

    Shares fall

    Shares in Colt Telecom dipped 19p (15.8 per cent) in mid afternoon trading following the publication of widening Q3 losses. The voice and data carrier reported that its operating loss increased from £26 million in Q3 2000 to £52.3 million in Q3 2001. Revenues jumped 39 per cent to £231.4 million Despite the slowdown in …

    Business 22 Oct 2001, 15:13

  • Intel confirms 845 supplies are ‘very tight’

    So buy some more Socket 423 parts...

    Intel has admitted that its 845 chipset is in short supply, for the immediate future, at least. Speaking to reporters in Taipei today, Jason Chen, Intel's Asia-Pacific general manager said: "Overall for the whole quarter we believe we will be able to supply the market demand, but we believe we will see some short-term tightness …

    Channel 22 Oct 2001, 15:54

  • Is Wednesday the end for Web bugs and dodgy cookies?

    Quite possibly, yes

    This Wednesday (24 October), the second transitional period of the Data Protection Act takes effect in the UK, meaning that companies are required by law to provide all the personal data they store on anyone, if that person requests it. This has far-reaching implications for all UK businesses but more significantly (from our …

    Music and Media 22 Oct 2001, 16:58

  • Vultures circle DRAM producers

    Who's it gonna be?

    Another week passes and the nail biting continues as the world (well, the DRAM world anyway) waits to see who going to be the first to fall. Adding to the pressure, EBN reported Friday that Samsung was the latest company to take the industry to task, with what is usually a Steve Appleton (Micron's chairman) type assault. As the …

    Channel 22 Oct 2001, 17:03

  • Business should ‘embrace anthrax’ and Internet

    You couldn't make this up

    Companies should use the fear if receiving Anthrax by post as a fillip to adopt new IT-based business processes. Louis Halpem, CEO of edesigns.co.uk believes the threat of anthrax gives businesses a "new opportunity to rethink the value of the Internet". In a press release circulated today Mr Halpem said: "Businesses should go …

    Bootnotes 22 Oct 2001, 17:05

  • Nortel helping China to overhaul state surveillance architecture

    Human rights activists cry foul

    Human rights activists have launched an attack on Nortel Networks, accusing it of contributing to human rights violations in China by helping the country overhaul its ageing surveillance technologies. The "Great Firewall of China", which controls content entering the country, is failing, largely due to the increased volume of …

    Security 22 Oct 2001, 17:09

  • Doom for .NET? InterTrust opens up on the MS lawsuit

    And says why patents are sometimes good for you...

    InterTrust is a tricky one for your average freedom fighter. On the one hand, you'd like to see Microsoft's OS monopoly broken, in which case InterTrust's lawsuit against the company is probably A Good Thing. But on the other, you're against companies who're patented up to the gunwhales using them to bludgeon rivals into …

    Software 22 Oct 2001, 17:11

  • The451.com is back from the dead

    Management buys up assets

    Subscription-only tech news site The451.com is back, after chief exec Martin McCarthy led a management buy- up of the company's name and other assets from the receivers. The new The451.com has kept the offices in New York and San Francisco, but has no plans to re-open its London digs. All the US staff are back on board in full- …

    e-Business 22 Oct 2001, 17:11

  • Brocade flips 2Gbps FC switch

    Intelligent fabric

    Brocade has announced the first in a range of products designed for 2Gbps Fibre Channel storage area networks. The 16-port SilkWorm 3800 Enterprise Fabric Switch is the first implementation of the Brocade Intelligent Fabric Services Architecture, which is designed to enhance the manageability, availability, and security of …

    Hardware 22 Oct 2001, 20:25