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19th November 2001 Archive

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  • US lands huge bootleg MS haul

    Disrupts major counterfeiter

    American law officials have impounded $60m worth of bootlegged Microsoft goods - the biggest seizure of counterfeit software in the US. The seizure interrupted a "major counterfeit software distribution pipeline", Microsoft said in a press release. The counterfeiters shipped the bootleg software (very good fakes, MS says) from …

    Software 19 Nov 2001, 09:52

  • VAT net closes in on AOL Europe

    UK seeks level playing field

    HM Customs and Excise has signalled that it is keen to create a "level playing field" on tax matters for ISPs operating in the UK. The comments come as the row over a tax loophole that allows non-EU based ISPs to operate without paying VAT (Value Added Tax) took a new twist this week when Freeserve threatened to sue the British …

    e-Business 19 Nov 2001, 09:58

  • HMV flogs digital downloads

    Tornado-powered

    HMV the High Street music and games retailer, is to sell digital downloads from its Web site hmv.co.uk. The company has selected UK supplier Tornado Group to provide the platform for downloading games and music from its site, and will offer the service in "the early part of 2002". Tornado has developed a digital rights …

    Music and Media 19 Nov 2001, 10:29

  • PlayStation emulator developer Bleem folds

    Updated Game over

    Bleem, the company behind the PC and Dreamcast-based PlayStation emulator of the same name, has closed down. At this stage, details are sketchy - the company's Web site simply displays a somewhat self-pitying graphic of Sonic the Hedgehog weeping over Bleem's grave. Bleem's life: April 1999 to November 2001. And a terse email …

    Software 19 Nov 2001, 10:59

  • Zeus throttles app-level DoS attacks

    BT trials

    Zeus Technology is upgrading its Web server technology to guard against application level denial of service (DoS) attacks. Exploiting concern about the security of Microsoft's IIS Web server, Zeus will today announce the addition of anti-denial of service extensions to Zeus Web Server version 4. According to Andrew Parker, …

    Security 19 Nov 2001, 11:47

  • West LB ‘cans bid’ for BT phone network

    Earthlease on its tod

    German investment bank West LB has decided not to proceed with the £18 billion bid for BT's landline phone network. According to the Times, those working on the bid have been "stood down" and shunted to another team working on a multi-billion pound bid for failed UK rail infrastructure outfit Railtrack. West LB's decision …

    Business 19 Nov 2001, 11:50

  • GameCube launches (in US)

    GC on shelves, Xbox cut open

    Nintendo's GameCube hit US retail shelves yesterday (officially, anyway), just three days after the debut of Microsoft's Xbox console. Some gamers have been thumbing the controller to Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2 and Luigi's Mansion a little earlier though, as various stores leaked consoles before the due date. The arrival …

    Personal 19 Nov 2001, 12:12

  • BMG to replace anti-rip Natalie Imbruglia CDs

    New stock, free replacements

    Bertelsmann Music Group has had to back down on plans to force anti-rip technologies on British CD buyers. BMG released its first copy-protected CD, Natalie Imbruglia's new album White Lilies Island, earlier this month. However, a posting on the Natalie Imbruglia Web site this weekend, revealed the company's plan to issue …

    Software 19 Nov 2001, 12:45

  • Korea gets Xbox – in Oct 2002

    Nearly a year after US

    Korean gamers won't get their hands on Microsoft's Xbox until the second half of next year, sources close to the software giant's Korean operation claim. Xbox launched in the US last week. Having initially promised to ship the console globally on day one, Microsoft more recently delayed the Japanese launch to February 2002. …

    Personal 19 Nov 2001, 12:45

  • Scoot grinds through re-org

    Huge losses

    Scoot.com, the accident-prone online directory-cum-infomediary, has survived another quarter. And what a quarter. It's sold Loot UK and Ireland, the classified ads paper business, to the Daily Mail General Trust for £45m (admittedly a day after its Q3 books closed on September 30). This represents a huge loss - it paid £178m …

    e-Business 19 Nov 2001, 13:07

  • Mobile phone sales fall

    GPRS wanted

    Worldwide mobile phone shipments declined ten per cent year on year for the third quarter. A total of 94.4 million units were shipped for the quarter, down from Q3 2000's 104 million. Gartner Dataquest says the industry has been buffeted by continued delays in GPRS (General Packet Radio Service - an interim technology on the …

    Data Networking 19 Nov 2001, 13:10

  • Gates preaches to the NHS converted

    OK, we'll throw in the chairman and the comfy chair

    During negotiations over a massive software licensing contract with the National Health Service (NHS), Microsoft "offered the NHS the opportunity to be addressed by (Bill) Gates," according to Computer Weekly, citing no sources. The bargaining counter appears to have done the trick: in October, Microsoft won the day, (although …

    Software 19 Nov 2001, 14:03

  • Quanta laptop dances in pole position

    No.1 notebook maker

    Taiwan has kept its crown as the world's number one notebook manufacturer - the country exported between 12.63m and 14.3m units this year. The figures come from a trade source speaking to the Taipei Times, who also reveals that Quanta exported 4.3 million notebooks, overtaking Toshiba to become the world's number one producer …

    Personal 19 Nov 2001, 14:21

  • ATI A3 Athlon XP chipset revealed

    Comdex show-off

    Mobo maker First International gave ATI's A3 chipset its first public outing at Comdex last week. And, as we've reported before, the chipset will support AMD's Athlon XP processor. ATI has held open the prospect of a PC chipset for some time - ever since it was granted a Pentium 4 bus licence by Intel. That deal, plus ATI's …

    Channel 19 Nov 2001, 14:29

  • Govt fails the UK SME broadband test

    Ditch the targets

    The UK Government should use legislation to reduce the cost of broadband and speed-up its roll-out across the country, according to a hard-hitting report from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). It warns that continuing problems concerning cost and the lack of availability of high speed Internet access is "inhibiting the …

    Telecoms 19 Nov 2001, 14:35

  • Intel's Desktop Roadmap

    Updated P4 price cuts coming 27 January 2002

    Intel will cut the prices of its desktop Pentium 4 line on 27 January 2002 by up to 18 per cent, we hear. By then, Intel's 0.13 micron P4 die-shrink, codenamed Northwood, will have been less than a month on the market, but that's Intel and pricing for you. The biggest cut is being made to the 1.6GHz P4, which will fall to $133 …

    Channel 19 Nov 2001, 15:13

  • Ceci n'est pas une Xbox

    X plus box for sale

    René Magritte, Belgium's most famous Surrealist artist, painted a picture of a pipe with the caption: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" -translation: This is not a pipe. Quite correct, it's not a pipe. It's a picture of a pipe. In the same noble tradition, a picture of a box with an X pasted onto the top was put up for sale last week …

    Bootnotes 19 Nov 2001, 17:45

  • Dell touts budget server

    Mobile workstations too

    Dell is shipping the 1500SC, the latest addition to its budget range of PowerEdge servers. Prices start at £999 (without an operating system). The dual-processor capable unit, powered by a 1.13GHz PIII chip in its base configuration, also features Intel's PRO/1000 XT network connection on its motherboard, enabling up to 1Gb per …

    Hardware 19 Nov 2001, 17:49

  • Dell begs for mercy after ditching desktop Linux

    The dog ate my kernel...

    Dell has published an open letter to its Linux customers 'clarifying' its position as regards the insurgent OS. Actually, the letter is headed "Clarifying Dell and Linux", but either of these would be a massive task, and we think we know what they meant to say. In any event, the letter reads like it's an apologia from a company …

    Software 19 Nov 2001, 18:59

  • VIA in talks with Intel to settle P4 chipset fight

    Signs up disties meantime

    VIA is close to settling its legal battle with Intel over the Taiwanese firm's P4 chipsets, according to the Commercial Times of Taipei. In the meantime it is signing a number of distribution deals to handle the P4 chipset- in spite of the legal threats from Intel. Both stories come courtesy of EBNonline. It reports that big …

    Channel 19 Nov 2001, 19:03

  • Nvidia Xbox win lands staff with insider trading suits

    11 employees charged

    Eleven Nvidia staffers and four associates stand accused of making $1.7m through insider trading, after the company told employees it had won the contract to supply Microsoft's Xbox games console with graphics chips. Five staff face charges of criminal insider trading as well as civil fraud. The employees, mostly engineers, …

    Business 19 Nov 2001, 23:02