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30th November 2001 Archive

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  • Apple pulls OS X guidelines after developer protest

    Ten Commandments face rewrite

    Apple yesterday withdrew its latest OS X development guidelines after the document raised a storm of protest. Published four days ago, Apple posted Technical Information Note TN2034 containing advice on good programming practice for Mac OS X. Traffic on the list - usually confined to discussion of arcane programming tips - …

    Mac Channel 30 Nov 2001, 07:06

  • Sun smacks POWER4 with Java benchmark

    Can't scale, nah

    Sun doesn't like TPC-C benchmarks, but that doesn't stop it bragging about doing well in application-specific metrics. And as you might imagine, it holds great store by its Java performance. Today it claims to have bested IBM's much-lauded POWER4-based Regatta server with its own almost-ancient E10000 Starfire, notching 169,794 …

    Hardware 30 Nov 2001, 07:08

  • EB (US) moves into Sweden

    Infill

    Electronics Boutique of America is buying an 11-strong games retail chain in Sweden for an unspecified amount of cash. Tradition Svenska will infill nicely with EB US's existing ops in Denmark and Norway. The business has an ecommerce operation through two Websites, www.tradition.se and www.tradition.nu. EB (US) also has …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 07:58

  • IR35 defence strategies – keeping the Inland Revenue off your back

    Contract killers

    David Smith is the founding director of Accountax, a specialist accountancy firm, and author of Tolleys IR35 Defence Strategies, From Contractors to Commisioners - a book that seeks to explain a multitude of IR35 defence strategies for contractors and the self-employed. He has a great deal of experience in the area of IR35, …

    Business 30 Nov 2001, 08:25

  • 4m in the US face broadband blackout

    All hinges on judge's decision

    More than four million broadband cable users in the US face being cut off unless a dispute between Excite@Home and cable companies is resolved. A US judge is due to rule on the matter later today after creditors of Excite@Home - which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September - called for the service to be shut …

    Telecoms 30 Nov 2001, 11:06

  • Micron merger hints boost Hynix shares

    But everyone's talking to everyone

    Investors began sniffing around Hynix yesterday after a Korean newspaper claimed the chip maker's creditor-led management team has been talking to Micron CEO Steve Appleton about merging the two companies' operations. Hynix's shares rose 7.1 per cent on the report before closing 4.6 per cent up at 2145 won ($1.704). That's the …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 11:13

  • Fujitsu to close Oregon Flash plant

    AMD dismisses investment offer

    Fujitsu's Gresham, Oregon memory plant is to close, with the loss of 670 jobs, early next year, the chip maker announced yesterday as it began notifying workers that their services would no longer be required. Production will cease at the end of January 2002 and the plant will close shortly afterward. Fujitsu hopes to sell it …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 11:41

  • UMC wins Xbox chip supply contract

    Updated TSMC can't make enough of 'em

    UMC looks likely to sneak Nvidia's Xbox chip production contract - or a good portion of it, at least - from under the nose of its arch-rival, TSMC, sources close to the foundry have claimed. The company recently completed the process of implementing the production of the Xbox GPU graphics chip and getting it qualified for full- …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 12:06

  • C&W buys Exodus biz

    Asset rich, cash rich

    Cable & Wireless, the cash-rich UK telco, is buying most of the assets of Exodus, the exceedingly cash-poor US managed web hosting firm in Chapter 11, for $850m cash. The deal could be stymied if another bidder emerges, but very few telcos today could outgun C&W. C&W is taking on 30 of Exodus' 44 hosting centres - 24 in the …

    Business 30 Nov 2001, 12:44

  • Losses widen at Novell

    Mind the gap

    Novell has reported widening losses as restructuring charges led to it recording a net loss of $94.5 million for its fourth quarter. The network software and services firm yesterday reported Q4 revenues of $308 million. Restructuring and other charges taken this quarter totalled $114 million, pushing Novell firmly into the red …

    Business 30 Nov 2001, 12:48

  • Cypherpunks RIP

    List 'dead and buried' founder says

    The Cypherpunks list, an online forum that in many ways defined Internet activism, was booted unceremoniously from its original home, toad.com, earlier this week. In an open posting to several mailing lists, Cypherpunks veteran John Gilmore all but dismissed the computer-security and privacy forum he co-founded in the early …

    Security 30 Nov 2001, 13:27

  • Nvidia joins
    S&P 500

    Shares step in as Enron's fall out

    Nvidia is to replace ailing energy corporation Enron in Standard & Poor's index of top 500 companies, the financial information company said last night. Nvidia's shares closed at $53.61 yesterday after 38.3 million shares changed hands - four times as many Nvidia shares as are normally traded in a day - almost certainly on the …

    Business 30 Nov 2001, 13:43

  • Industry chip technology roadmap reveals TSMC fab issues

    Analysis Where does that leave Nvidia, Transmeta and co.?

    The findings of the 2001 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) may explain why the world's largest chip foundry, TSMC, is causing some of its key customers, including Nvidia and Transmeta, to complain about its ability to punch out sufficient volumes of 0.15 micron and 0.13 micron chips. The ITRS is the …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 15:43

  • Greece mulls cybercafe gambling tax

    Slot machine

    The Greek Government is having second thoughts about imposing a gaming tax on cybercafes in a move that would class them alongside amusement arcades filed with slot machines. On Wednesday, the Finance Ministry announced that anyone who operates a PC for commercial use in public areas - such as cybercafes, hotels, and clubs - …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2001, 15:50

  • Boong-Ga Boong-Ga: this has to be seen to believed

    Weird Japanese arcade game

    If you ever doubted the Internet was making the world a smaller place, look no further than Boong-Ga Boong-Ga (translated: Smack 'Em), a new arcade game that has taken off in Japan and found its way onto the Internet. The game could only ever have been made in Japan. It consists of the usual gun-on-lead of many shoot-em-ups but …

    Bootnotes 30 Nov 2001, 16:18

  • BTopenworld – download beats, beat up on gamers

    Subscription channels

    BTopenworld will take its next charge at the holy grail of profitable online content in January with music and gaming subscription offers. First out of the gates is a classical music service, in partnership with music provider Classical.com. Users can listen online to a catalogue of 5,000 tracks, search through its Amazon-like …

    e-Business 30 Nov 2001, 16:32

  • AMD uses ads to explain QuantiSpeed

    A New Kind of Fast

    AMD is kicking off a European marketing campaign, 'A New Kind Of Fast' to promote the brand, help users understand its QuantiSpeed branding and convince them that Megahertz don't matter. This is its biggest advertising splash in Europe, covering print and broadcast media in 17 key markets through 2002, although it doesn't say …

    Channel 30 Nov 2001, 16:37

  • UK's broadband future revealed Monday

    Can't wait? Here's an outline

    The industry group set up to help drive the Government's broadband strategy is due to publish its final report on Monday. In September, the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) submitted its draft findings to e-commerce Minister Douglas Alexander arguing that services need to be subsidised to stimulate take-up. The report claimed …

    Telecoms 30 Nov 2001, 16:39

  • KaZaA claims it can't stop users sharing music

    Doesn't know who's using its software

    Music sharing operation KaZaA has responded to a Dutch court's order to cease infringing copyright by stating that it is impossible for it to do so. The company was yesterday given two weeks to prevent users of its software from sharing material they have no right to distribute to others. Today, KaZaA said it simply can't do …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2001, 16:58

  • Dreamcast game spreads virus

    Hardware trashing bundled with CD-ROM

    A Japanese-language version of a Sega Dreamcast role-playing game has become infected with a computer virus. The game, Atelier Marie, includes a screensaver which is infected with the highly damaging Kriz virus. Although the Dreamcast itself is left unscathed by this, anyone loading the screensaver onto their PC from the game' …

    Malware 30 Nov 2001, 19:08

  • Software Imports – A Grey Area?

    Your letters

    I'm no fan of Microsoft, and I'm also no lawyer, but I agree with some of the commentators - the Tesco/Levi case doesn't bear on Microsoft at all. I honestly think you're spinning your wheels, if that means what I think it means. The Tesco lawsuit was about European law on importation of trademarked goods from outside Europe, …

    Letters 30 Nov 2001, 19:18

  • Texan grits, True Brits and Seattle disowns Redmond

    Letters In plain old ASCII, too

    Christmas is coming - the mailbag's getting fat. Topic of the week here, it seems is last week's ruling about grey imports. Read all about that here. There's a good bellyache about developing for the Mac too but it'll have to wait until next week. Now onto the trivia. The Ziff-Davis Guide To Britishers (and other foreigners …

    Letters 30 Nov 2001, 19:18