The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

25th January 2002 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Sun J2SE 'twice as fast,' with added Kerberos

    Bites back at MS with MIT standard

    Sun Microsystems Inc has released its latest Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) specification, finally introducing full support for MIT's Kerberos to the Java framework for secure single sign-on to multiple applications and web services, writes Gavin Clarke. Palo Alto, California-based Sun has also introduced architectural …

    Software 25 Jan 2002, 09:04

  • IBM to push cheaper ‘Linux-only’ zSeries, iSeries

    Consolidation the name of the game

    IBM Corp wants to catch the wave of server consolidation for print, file, and Web serving by providing Linux-only configurations for its zSeries mainframes and iSeries midrange servers that carry a lower price tag than plain vanilla zSeries or iSeries machines, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. IBM will today provide a …

    Hardware 25 Jan 2002, 09:18

  • WD scraps money raising scheme

    All quiet on the Western front

    Western Digital, the hard drive maker, has withdrawn plans to raise more money through the issue of new shares, because it thinks it can get by without it. The company points to 'improved fundamentals' in its business; in other words, it is generating enough cash to fund its needs - it's made a profit five quarters in a row now …

    Business 25 Jan 2002, 09:46

  • Net patent tax – W3C publishes new advice

    Updated Merry go RAND

    The W3C has published a revised Patent Policy document which it hopes will help avert a schism over web standards. But it's not a new policy draft. That's under discussion, and recent minutes on the progress of this can be found here Under pressure from IBM, the W3C suggested that royalty-bearing patents should in future be …

    Music and Media 25 Jan 2002, 09:50

  • Gateway wields cost-cutting axe

    2,250 jobs, 19 stores

    Gateway, is to implement deep cost cuts in its US heartland, announcing 2,250 job cuts and the closure of 19 retail stores. The PC maker is taking a charge of $75-$100m and expects to save $100m annually from the cuts, which represent a 16 per cent reduction in headcount. This follows last year's staff reduction of 25 per cent …

    Channel 25 Jan 2002, 10:20

  • Oyster clams up on job cuts

    What a pearler

    London new media agency Oyster Partnership has declined refused to comment on allegations that it is to shed around 20 per cent of its workforce. According to insiders, staff were told of the job cuts - thought to number around 30 staff - earlier today. However, the company, which boasts such high-profile clients as the BBC, …

    Business 25 Jan 2002, 11:07

  • Energis shares freefall after revenue warning

    Hard times ahead

    Energis continued to slide this morning following yesterday's revenue warning that led to a freefall in its share price. In a trading statement issued yesterday afternoon the alternative telco said that its turnover and earnings before interest etc (EBITDA) for the financial year are "unlikely to meet consensus expectations". …

    Business 25 Jan 2002, 11:07

  • Security bug hits 1m Sony Vaios

    Users urged to patch proprietary software flaw

    A hacker's backdoor affects an estimated million Vaio notebook computers, manufacturer Sony warns. The security flaw could let crackers manipulate or delete data on hard disks and is found in proprietary software installed on Vaios sold in Asia, the Middle East and South Africa since May 2001. Vaio models bought in Europe or …

    Security 25 Jan 2002, 11:20

  • How many Itaniums can you fit on the head of a pin?

    HP boffins in molecular computing advance

    Boffins at Hewlett-Packard are working with academics to develop chips so small they could fit on the head of a pin. HP and UCLA yesterday announced they have received a US patent for technology that could make it possible to build very complex logic chips - simply and inexpensively - at the molecular scale. The collaboration …

    Channel 25 Jan 2002, 13:33

  • Pipex invests £2m to get 40,000 DSL users online

    Major play for broadband share

    British ISP Pipex is to invest £2 million in subsidising the installation of ADSL services. Aimed primarily at residential users, the move is designed to kick-start the UK's fledgling broadband market. The money will be used to cover the installation costs for 40,000 new customers who sign up to a DIY self-install ADSL product …

    Music and Media 25 Jan 2002, 13:36

  • Fibernet shares slump amid revenue warning

    Market jitters

    Shares in high-speed network outfit Fibernet collapsed by more than a third this morning after it reported that first half revenues are expected to be down on last year. In a statement the company said that it has "not been immune to the current economic environment and has, in the first quarter, seen sales cycles in its UK …

    Music and Media 25 Jan 2002, 13:38

  • Get the Teletubbies Windows XPerience

    Wallpaper to regress with...

    The Windows XP user interface has been described cruelly, and frequently, as the "Teletubbies" UI, but as with much of the rest of WinXP it has a few rough edges which Microsoft will no doubt polish up a tad in some forthcoming service pack. Why wait, though? ISP and design agency Digital Ink has thoughtfully knocked a groovy …

    Software 25 Jan 2002, 13:57

  • Bosses are biggest help desk bothers, says survey

    Their computers are smarter than they are...

    You get a better class of divot in the helpdesk business, according to an ICM Research survey carried out recently for support specialist outfit Touchpaper. Despite constituting less than 5 per cent of the workforce, board level users apparently chalk up a whole 25 per cent of calls to company help desks concerning mobile …

    Business 25 Jan 2002, 14:26

  • AOL ICQ in hacker risk alert

    Buffer overflow needs to be slayed

    A remotely exploitable buffer overflow glitch poses a risk for AOL ICQ users who have failed to apply a security fix, CERT warned yesterday. It says attackers who are able to exploit the vulnerability may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the victim user. An exploit is known to exist, but it is not …

    Security 25 Jan 2002, 14:27

  • Gun auction site shut down by disk disaster

    Updated EMC fires back

    Online auction site GunBroker.com is recovering after its "worst two days" ever were spent repairing the damage when its EMC disk array, which is supposed to guarantee 100 pe rcent uptime, failed. A message on the site details the travails GunBroker.com went through when its arrays went titsup last weekend. "It took EMC 24 …

    Music and Media 25 Jan 2002, 15:18

  • Telstra rigs Oz ZDnet poll

    Wombats

    Telstra has admitted rigging a poll in which consumers were asked whether the Australian telco charged too much for Internet access. Two hours after ZDNet Australia posted the question "Does Telstra's BigPond Internet service provide value for money?" 25 people said "no" with just one saying "yes". Amazingly, half an hour …

    Music and Media 25 Jan 2002, 15:50

  • That Linux AMD bug in Technicolor detail

    Letters Dirty cache, filthy lucre

    When we first started to learn about SMP systems, our first thought was - gosh, don't they go on about caches a lot? But it isn't just in parallel processing where the hairy business of cache coherency is a problem, as we've seen with the AMD Linux bug blame game. This has affected uniprocessor systems, and I was stumped. But …

    Channel 25 Jan 2002, 21:59

  • Intel's Yamhill – Itanic on ice?

    Skunkworks 64bit x86

    A fine scoop by the San Jose Mercury apparently confirms the existence of Intel's 64bit Plan B, codenamed Yamhill. According the Merc, Yamhill adds 64bit instructions to the existing x86 architecture, and may appear in the Prescott chips, "with an option to turn the features on or off." The emphasis is on 'may', as according to …

    Channel 25 Jan 2002, 22:57