13th November 2001 Archive

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Huge Windows XP sales save the world

XP fibs off the shelves...

We've told you this before, but it's pertinent. A few years back The Reg ran into our old friend Mich Mathews in the Microsoft press office at Comdex. She was, she happily told us, busy writing the keynote Bill had made the previous evening. And here we go again - Mich is surely too grand these days to be doing this stuff, but …

Software 13 Nov 2001, 09:25
Marconi loses £5bn on grim trading

Debt reductions

Troubled telecoms equipment manufacturer Marconi has reaffirmed its intentions to reduce its debt mountain to between £2.7 billion and £3.2 billion by the end of March 2002. Publishing its interim results today there was little good news to cheer the hearts of investors who've seen Marconi's share price fall more than 90 per …

Business 13 Nov 2001, 09:56
Cloud Nine handbags PlusNet

ISPs exchange blows in FRIACO row

A row has broken out between two ISPs after Basingstoke-based Cloud Nine branded the UK's wholesale unmetered Net access service, FRIACO, a "national disgrace". On Friday, Cloud Nine called for an explanation from BT as to why one in five of its users were experiencing problems with the service. However, in a statement, …

Music and Media 13 Nov 2001, 10:00
AMD buys 200mm wafers for Hammer

What does that say about chip volumes?

AMD has ordered shedloads of 200mm silicon-on-insulator wafers on which it's to produce 0.13 micron 64-bit Hammer processors (next year). The "multi million-dollar" deal was announced by wafer supplier Soitec. The press release is tedious enough, but does it give any insight into how many Hammers AMD will bash out? AMD …

Channel 13 Nov 2001, 11:36
Nvidia, ATI intro latest mobile graphics chips

But there's a lot of previously announced technology in 'em

ATI and Nvidia both launched mobile graphics chips yesterday, the first aimed at retaining ATI's leadership of this market segment, while the Nvidia part is designed to wrest the crown. ATI's part is the Mobility FireGL 7800, a high-end mobile workstation-oriented chip (hence the FireGL branding) which supports up to 64MB of …

Channel 13 Nov 2001, 11:55
Nokia touts Sony alliance, licenses phone apps

Deals on wheels

Nokia announced a joint development agreement with archrival Sony yesterday to produce wireless middleware, and also said that it will license the source code for its key handset applications to all comers. Both announcements cover similar ground, and are pretty significant. The Sony agreement covers future software, while the …

Data Networking 13 Nov 2001, 11:58
Infineon loss widens on DRAM slump

Costcutter

Infineon's loss grew to 523 million euros ($466 million) during its Q4, 41 per cent worse than the previous three-month period. This time last year, the memory maker posted a profit of 581 million euros. For 2000 as a whole, Infineon earned 1.3 billion euros. This time round, it reported an operating loss of 931 million euros. …

Business 13 Nov 2001, 12:26
SMS pumps up Vodafone sales

It's good to talk, text, etc

Shares in Vodafone were up in morning trading after the world's biggest mobile phone operation posted improved intermim turnover and operating profits. For the six months to September 30 turnover increased by 27 per cent to £8.9 bn, up from £7 bn in the corresponding period last year. Operating profit jumped to £3.4bn 40 per …

Business 13 Nov 2001, 12:32
Unlock to overclock

HWRoundup Dr Tom gets down and dirty with Athlon 4

Feel the need for speed? Tom's Hardware Guide (THG) has an in-depth article describing how to unlock an AMD processor for overclocking purposes. AMD's newer chips are a lot tougher to tinker with than before, but certainly not impossible for determined speed freaks. The site posts benchmarks and says performance is comparable …

Personal 13 Nov 2001, 12:49
HP pumps out DVD+RW PC

Giving format full backing

Hewlett-Packard is claiming bragging rights as the first major brand to hit PC retail with a DVD+RW machine. The HP Pavilion 9995 goes on sale on 18 November in the US, priced at $1,999. It will arrive in the UK at the same time, called the HP Pavillion 7975, and be priced at £1,599 inc VAT. Alongside HP's dvd100i DVD+RW drive …

Personal 13 Nov 2001, 12:58
Open Source alive and well at O'Reilly P2P conference

Report from the floor

The second annual O'Reilly P2P Conference, once delayed because of the 11 September terrorist attacks, went off this week in Washington DC, as a smaller affair but with keynotes from a congressman urging attendees to lobby for their fair-use rights and several companies showing off their Open Source visions for peer-to-peer. …

Software 13 Nov 2001, 12:58
The skinny on super slim Compaq PC

Silver and Black

Compaq is to start 2002 by shipping a super slim desktop PC - the system unit is 12-inches square and 2.72 inches thick. The slick silver and black Evo D500 weighs 11 pounds and Compaq has got the mufflers out, reducing its internal noises to a 28 dB sound level, which is more than 50 per cent quieter than the company's …

Personal 13 Nov 2001, 13:47
Travan roadmap stretches to 40GB

Seagate and Imation keep flogging

Seagate Removable Storage Solutions (RSS) and Imation are to extend the life of Travan tape technology with new drives and cartridges offering up to 40GB compressed storage. The Travan 40 drive will have a native capacity of 20GB with a 2MB per second transfer rate and is backwardly compatible with existing Travan technology. …

Hardware 13 Nov 2001, 13:54
Get Walter! Hewlett Jr. smeared to save Compaq merger

Class War

If ever there was a moment when Silicon Valley's new money sought to bury the old, it came yesterday, with a classic assassination piece about Walter Hewlett, HP board member and the son of co-founder. Both the Hewlett and the Packard families last week came out in opposition to the proposed merger with Compaq. David Packard …

Business 13 Nov 2001, 14:28
Energis axes 350 jobs

More telco gloom

Energis is axeing up to 350 jobs to cut around £20 million a year in overheads. More than 250 of the jobs will be lost in the UK with the rest coming from at the business telco's European operations. At the moment it's not known where the axe will fall and indications of the cuts won't be known until the company begins its …

Business 13 Nov 2001, 14:28
Apple extends AirPort

New software, base-station

Apple has updated its AirPort wireless networking system, with new software and a modified base-station to improve network security and accessibility. Version 2.0 adds 128-bit encryption to protect data transmitted across the network. AirPort, which is based on the standard IEEE 802.11b specification, used in Wired Equivalent …

Mac Channel 13 Nov 2001, 15:39
Four in five corporate emails are junk

Spread the gossip

A service which helps employers to assess how their email policies comply with business needs and legal requirements is launched today. The operator of the Email Auditing Programme (EAP), security consultancy Peapod, reckons that up to four in five corporate emails are junk. In trials of the new service, Peapod found one firm …

Music and Media 13 Nov 2001, 15:51
DRAM bounces back (maybe)

Sellers exercise more control

DRAM spot prices have surged unexpectedly in the last five days. The upswing accelerated today, showing a 128MB 133MHz SDRAM chip closing in on a $1.75 average spot price. Accoridng to DRAMeXchange, major DRAM producers began controlling shipments last week, pushing prices up. It says that prices should start to stabilise as …

Channel 13 Nov 2001, 17:54
ISPA backs anti-terrorism laws

Devil is in the detail

The Government has published its anti-terrorism Bill designed to tighten up security in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the US. In a series of far reaching measures, the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill intends to cut-off terrorists' access to funds and prevent them from abusing immigration and asylum laws. It …

Music and Media 13 Nov 2001, 17:56
Intel sparks low voltage servers

Per watt per cubic foot

Intel today announced a new line of servers which chomp minimal power and floor space, targeted at ISPs and data centres. The products will include Ultra Low Voltage 700MHz PIII chips, which run at what Chipzilla claims is a "server-industry-low of 1.1 volts". This enables the chip giant to quote an esoteric marketing metric to …

Hardware 13 Nov 2001, 17:59
Jungle junks pre Xmas site relaunch

Order backlog monkey business

A software rollout fiasco has forced Jungle.com to re-launch its website in the New Year - straight after the Christmas sales retail sweet spot. The new-look store was due to launch in late October but it has now got an 8 January kick-off date. It will be business as usual between now and then. The site revamp is delayed …

e-Business 13 Nov 2001, 18:00
For Palmed-Off BeOS fans, hope springs eternal

BeUnited

Be Inc shareholders have formally approved the transfer of key assets to Palm Inc. The deal was voted through yesterday and, realistically, only a board coup stands in the way of the transfer taking place. But over at BeUnited, campaigners are hopeful that they can catch the great BeOS operating system should it be dropped in …

Software 13 Nov 2001, 18:07
To be or not to 802.11b

802.11a is coming standard

Wireless networking is a key theme at Comdex, with a clutch of vendors touting next gen kit based on the 802.11a standard. Intel yesterday announced a suite of 54Mbps 802.11a products which allow connection rates up to five times faster than 11Mbps 802.11b kit. The Intel PRO/Wireless 5000 LAN Access Point, LAN CardBus Adapter …

Data Networking 13 Nov 2001, 18:15
Sony, AOL in broadband romance

Partnership with Tyrell Corp for compliant, android viewers next?

Sony has announced an "open broadband alliance", conspicuously uncapitalised, with AOL-Time Warner. The two giants will collaborate on a new browser and enhanced home networking for consumer devices, Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei said at Comdex. The announcement is long on good intentions and short on details, but the overall thrust …

Telecoms 13 Nov 2001, 18:21