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7th November 2001 Archive

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  • SirCam merger gets personal: Valley aristos send Compaq paq-ing

    Analysis Eat my grits

    We're not sure if Carly Fiorina is familiar with the great Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, but right now there probably isn't a better motivational video for those members of HP's corporate team who are determined to see the unpopular merger with Compaq through to completion. In the movie, a disinherited bastard of the …

    Business 7 Nov 2001, 00:28

  • Linux breaks 100-Petabyte ceiling

    Updated But not the first?

    We almost forgot to mention this, but Linux recently became the first desktop OS to support enormously large file sizes. How large? 144 Petabytes, or 144,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. A Petabyte is roughly a thousand Terabytes, with a Terabyte being roughly a thousand Gigabytes, of course. This came up in conversation when we …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 01:29

  • Compendium of *nix lpd vulnerabilities

    Yeah, your system's affected....

    So many vulnerabilities affecting the lpd (line printer daemon) have come to light in recent months that CERT/CC has issued a compendium advisory urging all users and admins to review their system configurations and patch status. "All of these vulnerabilities can be exploited remotely. In most cases, they allow an intruder to …

    Security 7 Nov 2001, 07:25

  • WHSmith and Powergen to push unmetered Net access

    Gives Affinity a buoyant outlook

    Affinity Internet remains upbeat about the future, posting increased revenues and widening losses for the nine months to September. The telecoms and ISP business said its Internet Division had experienced an increase in take-up of its wholesale unmetered FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination) Net access products …

    Music and Media 7 Nov 2001, 10:47

  • ICANN scraps conference agenda, goes big on security

    Major issues sidelined until March 2002

    ICANN has ditched plans to discuss several controversial issues surrounding the Internet at its next conference, and is devoting the agenda to security matters. The conference is to be held from 12 to 15 November in the organisation's hometown of Los Angeles. ICANN's changed agenda, a result of the 11 September disaster, makes …

    Music and Media 7 Nov 2001, 11:10

  • Irish Net users to strike next week

    Enough is enough

    Irish Net users are hoping for nationwide support next week when it protests against the lack of unmetered dial-up and broadband Net access and the impact it's having on the economy. The "IrelandOffline Blackout" is scheduled to take place on Friday, November 16. The organisers hope that consumers and businesses alike will make …

    Music and Media 7 Nov 2001, 11:45

  • Pogo: better than WAP or just as cwap?

    Maybe, just maybe

    You may have heard of it, the Pogo - it's a mobile phone with email, messaging, content, diary, music and Internet browsing capabilities and it works over your bog-standard GSM network. Its catchline: "Why wait for 3G?" That's what it has claimed for the last year anyway. So, seeing as it has just signed a distribution deal …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 12:13

  • Sticking it to Pogo

    Reg Review People show us gadgets - then we tell you all about 'em

    A couple of weeks or so ago, the BBC Web site ran an ebullient little piece on Pogo, an upcoming mobile Internet device. We received several emails asking what we knew about the machine. Apart from a series of glowing 'is this the next big thing?' articles in the mainstream media, each of them extending the device's launch date …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 12:13

  • Porn publisher to refund $30m for free sex pic scam

    Oldest Net con trick in the book

    An online porno publisher has to refund more than $30 million to punters fleeced after making site visits for free sex pics. Eager sex surfers gave their credit card details to Websites run by Crescent Publishing Group as proof that they were over 18. They were then stung with a unexpected charges - between $20 and $90 a month …

    Music and Media 7 Nov 2001, 12:17

  • Burning CPUs, crispy ATI issues

    HWRoundup The fun continues

    ATI's All-in-Wonder 8500DV graphics card is delayed due to complications surrounding its earlier Radeon 8500 product, which provides the core for the new card. ATI is now promising pre-Christmas delivery. Anandtech met ATI to find out what's going on with the product which welds TV tuning, video capture, Firewire support and …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 13:29

  • BT makes ISDN to DSL upgrade easy

    But has no plans to market the upgrade path

    BT's commitment to broadband has been questioned following the reports about its plans to upgrade ISDN customers to its DSL family of products. According to a BTopenworld PR there are no plans to market or advertise the upgrade path other than respond to those current ISDN users who wish, or who have expressed an interest, to …

    Telecoms 7 Nov 2001, 13:57

  • Oftel tries to look brave criticising mobile companies

    Winged watchdog's bark worse than its bite

    The winged watchdog Oftel has put out a press release this morning lambasting UK mobile operators for charging more than double other European operators in roaming charges. So what's it going to do about it? Big fines? New legislation? Extra restrictions? No, nothing. It has instead produced a little pamphlet for UK users …

    Data Networking 7 Nov 2001, 14:03

  • Packard family naysays Compaq merger

    Deal looking rocky

    This is getting serious: a leading member of the Packard family is "likely" to vote against the proposed Hewlett-Packard takeover of Compaq, adding another 1.3 per cent to the "No" camp. Yesterday, the Hewlett family, holders of 5 per cent of HP, announced its intention to vote against the takeover. David W. Packard, son of co …

    Business 7 Nov 2001, 15:24

  • NTL recruits 79,000 broadband cable customers

    Will top 100,000 by year end

    NTL claims it has 79,000 broadband cable users and anticipates that it will exceed its target of 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year. Publishing its third quarter results for the three months to September 30 the company said broadband subscriber number had jumped a whopping 73 per cent quarter on quarter. The rise …

    Telecoms 7 Nov 2001, 16:24

  • Home Office extends online snooping laws

    About-face on civil liberty assurances

    The Home Office is to perform an about-face on what the authorities are entitled to do with electronic communications data captured through the RIP Act. It is looking increasingly likely that The Home Office will award itself the power to gather: Your email addresses The Web sites you visit Details of people you email …

    Music and Media 7 Nov 2001, 17:06

  • IBM monsters hard drives

    120GB for desktops, 60GB for notebooks

    IBM is beefing up its Deskstar and Travelstar hard drive ranges, as well as bringing in enhanced availability models. The 120GXP Deskstar family, aimed at desktop computers, comes in a 3.5-inch form factor and spins at 7,200RPM with a standard ATA-100 interface. It's available in 40, 80 and 120GB capacities and is designed on …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 17:15

  • How to sue IBM in three easy steps

    A class action hard drive special

    UK-based users suffering problems with IBM's 75GXP range of hard drives can join in on the class action suit against the company. As long as they are not involved in filing a similar suit in the UK, there is no reason why they can't join the existing suit filed by American Michael Granito against IBM for defects in products, …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 17:30

  • Nvidia nForce gets first PC gig

    MicronPC gives it a go

    MicronPC, a US system builder, has built the first PC line using Nvidia's nForce integrated chipset. MicronPC's sample configuration of its Millennia XP+ system twins the nForce with AMD's Athlon XP 1900+ at a price of $1997. For the money you also get 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM, 100GB ATA-100 hard drive, a DVD-R/CDRW combo drive …

    Personal 7 Nov 2001, 17:35

  • DoJ brown-noses MS further in revised settlement

    The large print giveth and the small print taketh away

    Proposed settlement terms for the largest anti-trust defendant since Ma Bell have been tightened up a bit since a draft came out last week, but important exceptions remain. Showy pro-consumer language now flows around the numerous exceptions, as if written not by the DoJ, but by the MS marketing department. No more …

    Software 7 Nov 2001, 21:40

  • Linux security self-censorship ominous

    Alan Cox - traitor, or Felten understudy?

    October was a bad month for proponents of full disclosure. First, Microsoft's Scott Culp argued in an essay that security researchers shouldn't reveal the nature of security holes in software. Then Culp may have found an unexpected ally in his war against full disclosure: Linux's second-in-command, Alan Cox. Cox's decision to …

    Software 7 Nov 2001, 22:13