5th December 2001 Archive

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Sircam merger will ruin us – Hewlett Jr

Walter goes to war

Walter Hewlett Jr has delivered a devastating 70-page rebuttal to the proposed Sircam merger between HP and Compaq. The Schedule 14 notice was prepared by the San Francisco-based investment advisors Friedman Fleischer and Lowe, and debunks the official line of the HP and Compaq boards with a bombardment of statistics and …

Business 5 Dec 2001, 07:35
Britain avoids LLU crisis

Crisis Summit finds

There is no crisis in the UK concerning the slow progress of local loop unbundling (LLU). Although views were mixed, a majority of those industry figures taking part in the "Crisis Summit" at the Last Mile Europe Conference in London yesterday stopped short of saying that the UK was experiencing a full-blown crisis. The straw …

Telecoms 5 Dec 2001, 07:39
BT chops call costs

Free national nattering from January

BT will offer two new phone packages with free national and local calls on evenings and weekends. 'BT Together with unlimited UK calls' will be available for £18.50 per month including the line rental, while the same package with surf calls will sell for £23.50 and gives unlimited off peak Internet calls (to SurfTime numbers …

Data Networking 5 Dec 2001, 07:41
Motorola says PowerPC G4 Apollo to ship early 2002

On schedule

Motorola has confirmed that the next generation of the PowerPC G4 family, codenamed Apollo, will ship early next year - if the company sticks to its current release schedule. The admission, made by a Motorola spokesman cited by Web site MacCentral, makes the launch of faster Power Mac desktops at Macworld Expo in San Francisco …

Mac Channel 5 Dec 2001, 10:54
McAfee.com launches in the UK

Antivirus protection made simple

McAfee.com, the security ASP subsidiary of Network Associates, this week launched a UK version of its online virus protection service. The VirusScan Online service, available through McAfee.co.uk at £17.95 per year, uses software which is automatically updated at least once a day. This minimises the need to install, configure …

Malware 5 Dec 2001, 11:00
Hynix, Samsung up contract RAM prices by 10-20%

PC sales on the rise?

Korean memory makers Samsung and Hynix today said they are now charging their largest customers - primarily big-name PC makers, consumer electronics companies and the larger memory add-in suppliers - more than they were last month. Samsung said today that December's contract prices will be up ten per cent on November's figures …

Channel 5 Dec 2001, 11:26
Dutch officials seize cadmium-packed PlayStation kit

Sony wonders what fuss is about

Dutch customs officers yesterday impounded 1.3 million PlayStations and 800,000 accessory packs worth over 180 million Euro ($160.25 million) after environmental protection inspectors discovered they were a potential threat to the environment. The PSOne consoles and packs were bundled with cables which the inspectors found to …

Personal 5 Dec 2001, 11:51
AOL Time Warner shuts ebook biz

Harmful to print

AOL Time Warner is shutting down its e-publishing arm, iPublish, from the end of the year because the market "has simply not developed the way we hoped". In the current economic climate, the chairman of Time Warner Trade Publishing Larry Kirshbaum continued, "we can't jeopardize our thriving print business by carrying a money- …

Music and Media 5 Dec 2001, 12:09
Nokia kingmaker in Passport-killer alliance

Updated You've got authentication!

In one of the year's least surprising announcements, AOL has confirmed that it will join the "it's-not-Passport" coalition, the Liberty Alliance. AOL will continue to develop its own "Magic Carpet" authentication services and make both Magic Carpert and the existing AOL client compatible with the Liberty spec. Whatever that …

e-Business 5 Dec 2001, 12:19
Apple finally ready to launch LCD iMac – analysts

Massive flat-panel order is the proof, says Morgan Stanley

Apple will finally announce its long-awaited iMac 2, based around an LCD screen, at Macworld Expo San Francisco next month, according to a Morgan Stanley analyst report. The report claims Apple has ordered 100,000 15in LCDs for January and will receive the same volume each month going forward from that date. The report's …

Mac Channel 5 Dec 2001, 12:21
IM: The real killer app?

Are you being served?

Instant messaging (IM) looks set for a seat at the high table of enterprise technology debates. In November, IDC released its IM report which showed how the technology is likely to experience compound annual growth rates, in the enterprise, of 140 per cent over the next few years. This will give IM technologies almost 180 …

e-Business 5 Dec 2001, 12:43
World Cup plans nicked in FA laptop burglary

Second time in four months

Laptops stolen from the Football Association's London headquarters yesterday could compromise the England football team's security during the World Cup next June. As well as several laptops, thieves also stole hard drives and thousands of disks, believed to include sensitive material such as bank details. The building was also …

Security 5 Dec 2001, 12:50
US give AES the official yes

256-bit encryption standard formally approved

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has at long last received the official stamp of approval which allows it to be used by the US Federal Government. AES represents the fruits of a four-year project by cryptographers to develop a next generation encryption standard, and is expected to replace the Data Encryption Standard …

Security 5 Dec 2001, 13:57
MS holds no fear for Sage

Competition, what competition?

Sage is relaxed about Microsoft muscling into the small business accountancy software market. According to chief exec Paul Walker, Microsoft's Small Business Manager, launched last month through the giant's company's Great Plains Unit, is not a direct threat, but aimed at higher end users. Sage's and close rival Intuit's …

Business 5 Dec 2001, 14:04
Who's console king?

Updated GameCube great, Xbox greater

Console wars: Market research firm NPD Group reports that Microsoft's Xbox had the best-selling video game console launch on record after two weeks of sales. That's not all, gamers are apparently snapping up an average of 2.4 games per box, the highest game attach rate ever recorded, beating Sony's PS2 1.9 average. According to …

Personal 5 Dec 2001, 14:40
WinXP Pro edition for £37? Educate yourself…

There is no checking in MS UK education licence sales

When Microsoft launched Windows XP it also switched the way it sold software to students. Previously, if you bought software at savage discounts under the Student and Teacher License you had to provide some proof that you qualified, and then Microsoft would send you the software. This process has now been "simplified and …

Software 5 Dec 2001, 15:30
NTL to charge for free ISP

Subscription is new vogue

NTL's unmetered dial-up ISP, ntlworld, will no longer be free from the beginning of next year, the cableco has confirmed. From February the service will cost existing users £5 a month for 24/7 unmetered net access, although this is extended until May for former Cable & Wireless customers. New customers will have to pay £10 a …

Music and Media 5 Dec 2001, 16:15
Levin retires from AOL Time Warner

Leaves in May

Jerry Levin, the CEO of AOL Time Warner, is to retire in May next year. The move is part of a decision to streamline the giant media company's management structure. Richard Parsons, currently co-COO with Robert Pittman, will replace Mr Levin as CEO. Mr Pitman will become the sole COO at the company. Steve Case will continue …

Business 5 Dec 2001, 16:17
802.11a rocks, Palm crypto, graphics goods

HWRoundup Mobo muttering & more

WLAN: Extreme Technology got its hands on some 802.11a networking kit from Proxim and Atheros to compare its performance with older 802.11b WLAN kit. At first looks, performance is decent, transferring data up to five times quicker (at short distances). It will take some time for this to become mainstream and there are some …

Personal 5 Dec 2001, 16:20
Internet anonymity for Windows power users

An advanced tutorial

Our previous article, "Do-it-yourself Internet anonymity" was targeted towards average Windows users. It generated a startling number of e-mail requests for some advanced tactics, which I'm happy to supply. However, power user or not, I'd recommend at least skimming the earlier article if you haven't read it, just to ensure that …

Security 5 Dec 2001, 16:57
Get your filthy hands off my CDs

Interview Marc Tokayer, the man behind SafeAudio

By the middle of next year, the music industry will have put the controversy of BMG's bungled attempt to prevent Natalie Imbruglia's While Lilies Island CD from being copied behind it and will have thoroughly embraced copy-protection technology. Major labels and independents alike will embrace products like Macrovision's …

Software 5 Dec 2001, 17:02
Marc Tokayer interview – part two

Interview Marc Tokayer, the man behind SafeAudio

Back to page 1 Up to scratch? But it's not just the freedom to make personal copies that worries CD buyers. Since SafeAudio intentionally corrupts the music data stored on an encrypted CD, surely that reduces the lifespan of the disc? CD players incorporate sophisticated error correction algorithms to eliminate the noise …

Business 5 Dec 2001, 17:02
Madonna Webcast company hits the wall

Receivers called in

(Update: MediaWave not dead after all The company behind the much-hyped Webcast of a Madonna London gig (the "biggest ever global Net event"), MediaWave, has gone into receivership. An announcement on the company's Web site today says: "MediaWave today announced it had brought in receivers PWC to assist in its current …

Business 5 Dec 2001, 18:53
Ballmer takes charge of MS Phone biz

Hear the klaxon and tremble

Not all Microsoft reshuffles merit a press release, but the latest game of musical chairs at Redmond has one very newsworthy result. Steve Ballmer has taken personal charge of Microsoft's troubled phone and handheld efforts. The chief executive klaxon will now look after the Microsoft wireless and mobile computing division, …

Data Networking 5 Dec 2001, 19:01
mmO2 delays 3G to 2003

Handset availability issue

The start of live trials of a 3G network in the Isle of Man has been overshadowed by the admission that commercial services won't be available until 2003 - six months later than expected. Manx Telecom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of mmO2, switched on the Isle of Man network today so allowing the development of mobile data …

Data Networking 5 Dec 2001, 19:01
Bluetooth alive and kicking

Massive

Bluetooth chipset shipments are on track to hit 13 million this year, despite adverse market conditions, and are expected to hit 780 million units by 2005. Shipments this year will double those of 802.11b chipsets, with activity picking up in mobile phones, notebooks and adapters, according to research from Cahners In-Stat …

Data Networking 5 Dec 2001, 19:04
PC warranties stymie lucrative support biz

Good news for punters

Standard three-year PC warranties are stifling the easy money market of third party support according to market analysts Dataquest. It's conducted a survey that shows that only 28 per cent of installed PCs produce any revenue for external support providers, and sees this as a big fat opportunity: its report on the market is …

Personal 5 Dec 2001, 19:11
Steve Wozniak's smartphone adventure

From Blue Box to Hiptop

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has joined the board of Danger Inc, the startup founded by a number of ex-Apple luminaries and backed by carriers Deutsche Telekom and Orange. Danger's Hiptop communicator was unveiled in October: it's a tablet-based device that runs Java apps. Danger also provides back end services and software …

Personal 5 Dec 2001, 20:39