19th March 2002 Archive

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Canada mulls blank CDR, MP3 player tax

Not so sweet music

The Canadian government is mulling copyright levy proposals which will see a royalty charge of CAN$1.23 imposed on each blank CDR, and CAN$100 added to each MP3 player sold in the country. Lobbying for the changes is the Canadian Private Copying Collective, a representative of music companies and publishers. It is pressing for …

Personal 19 Mar 2002, 00:47
eBay hacker trashes bail with caps-lock defence

Judge very much not amused

Accused eBay hacker Jerome Heckenkamp is back behind bars tonight, after his first solo court appearance in front of his trial judge took an odd turn. During what was to be a routine proceeding to set future court dates, Heckenkamp challenged the indictment against him on the grounds that it spells his name, Jerome T. …

Security 19 Mar 2002, 05:18
Senator ‘Cheesy Chuck’ Schumer phears the virus

McVeigh resurrected for emphasis

Poor worm, thou art infected! I mean the computer virus, not its target. Its image ripe and diseased with grand fictions, the gravity and nature of the computer virus phenomenon, as far as the public understands it, is now whatever anyone with the microphone says it is. To wit: "A more technologically sophisticated Timothy …

Security 19 Mar 2002, 05:38
Yahoo! pedo! community! busted!

FBI does something right

They took away their bullets and stuck them in front of computers in the office where they can't do too much harm. They thought their careers were over, but posing as thirteen-year-old girls in chatrooms can yield prosecutorial pay dirt once in a while when the moon is right. And sure enough, untrusted FBI Special Agents nailed …

Music and Media 19 Mar 2002, 07:00
Sun saves Clustra from enemy clutches

Low key acquisition

Clustra Systems Inc, a database software vendor which specializes in clustered, high-availability databases that are required by telecoms and service providers, was acquired a few weeks ago by partner and investor Sun Microsystems Inc it has emerged, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. Clustra Systems seems to have run up …

Hardware 19 Mar 2002, 08:48
RealNetworks unveils Pocket PC player

Inks Compaq deal

RealNetworks Inc yesterday released a version of its RealOne Player for Microsoft Corp's Pocket PC operating system, and said Compaq Computer Corp will be the first OEM to ship a device with the software bundled. Ian Freed, general manager of media systems at RealNetworks, said how the software is shipped - preinstalled or …

Personal 19 Mar 2002, 08:49
Hynix creditor claims major progress in Micron talks

Hurry up guys, this is getting dull

The Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), one of the biggest creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc, said yesterday that Micron Technology Inc is close to agreeing the acquisition of Hynix's DRAM business. Recognizing that frequent rumors of imminent agreement have failed to be confirmed in the past, the KEB vp Lee Youn-soo said that " …

Channel 19 Mar 2002, 08:51
Novell supports XML – again

Too little, too late?

Novell Inc has re-emphasized its support for XML-based standards in a belated attempt to steal a slice of the emerging web services market from Microsoft Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and IBM, and revive its moribund fortunes. Provo, Utah-based Novell also extended an alliance with BEA Systems Inc, forged with Cambridge …

Software 19 Mar 2002, 08:52
Aussie cops and Feds use DIRT

The DIRT files Stupid, stupid, stupid

Our recent item Cyber cops & security orgs: DIRTy, stupid and out of control touched on the pathetic federation of fools, patsies and malicious creeps which comprises the international securocracy. In particular, we mentioned that World Systems Resource (WSR), an Australian discount enterprise computing vendor, had sought a non …

Security 19 Mar 2002, 09:11
Microsoft ‘killed Dell Linux’ – States

Carry On Kempin

Microsoft sharpshooter Joachim Kempin, who was convicted of illegally shooting antelope in Montana in 1998, has been turning his guns on a more familiar target: Microsoft's own OEM customers. The States' remedy hearing opened in DC yesterday, and States attorney Steven Kuney produced a devastating memo from Kempin, then in …

Software 19 Mar 2002, 10:35
Affinity revenues and losses up

ISP biz in black in 2002

Shares in Affinity Internet Holdings - the UK telecoms and Internet outfit - slipped in early trading after the company reported increased turnover and widening losses. Publishing its prelims for the year to December 31 Affinity said that turnover for the year was up 366 per cent to £52.8 million. Pre-tax losses increased by £ …

Business 19 Mar 2002, 13:11
SCH saves Metrologie from the knackers

Big in France

Specialist Computer Holdings, Europe's biggest - or is it the second biggest, we can never remember - computer dealership, has snapped up Metrologie France and Metrologie Systems from Europa IT. Terms were undisclosed, but we don't think it was a lot of money as a: SCH specialises in distress purchases b: Europa IT had already …

Channel 19 Mar 2002, 13:14
Window v. Lindows – round one to underdog

Validity of MS trademark under scrutiny

Lindows.com has won the first round in its legal trademark battle against Microsoft. A Seattle court last week denied Microsoft's motion to stop Lindows.com from using this name for its company and LindowsOS for its new operating system. Worse, for Microsoft, the company may have shot itself in the foot by launching the action …

Software 19 Mar 2002, 13:37
UK Govt earmarks £30m spending on broadband

'bout time too

The UK Government has finally said how it intends to spend £30 million in bringing broadband to rural areas - more than a year after it first pledged the cash. Eminister Douglas Alexander today announced a number of schemes designed to take broadband to areas currently not commercially viable for the necessary investment. …

Telecoms 19 Mar 2002, 13:37
Setback for security through obscurity scheme

IETF drops draft on 'responsible disclosure' of bugs

A proposal on the "responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities" has been withdrawn from consideration by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), after criticism that the issue was too political to be decided by the Net's prime technical standards body. Discussions on the IETF's Security Area Advisory Group mailing …

Security 19 Mar 2002, 13:47
MS Stinger smartphones finally poised to ship

Bringing PC software expertise to the phone industry

Mobile phones based on Microsoft's Stinger smartphone platform are finally set to ship, with the UK's Sendo likely to be the first. Yesterday Sendo announced that it would be supplying handsets, starting with its Z100 smartphone, to US carrier Cingular Wireless, while at CeBIT Sendo said the phone would be available in Europe …

Mobile 19 Mar 2002, 15:14
Orange network down again (some of it)

Thousands unable to make or receive calls

Tens of thousands of Orange subscribers are unable to make or receive calls today because of equipment failure on the mobile operator's network. A spokeswoman for Orange said it expected to fix the glitch, the precise cause of which she was unfamiliar with, within the next hour. It is believed the problem is caused by equipment …

Data Networking 19 Mar 2002, 16:01
Foreigners must pay for Times online

Brits get it for free

Foreigners will have to pay to read The Times online, with tariffs levied on 10 separate channels. The newspaper, part of the Murdoch empire, says it can identify overseas visitors with "90 per cent accuracy,". "The free ride is over and the days of free content have gone," Paul Hayes, the general manager of Times Newspapers, …

e-Business 19 Mar 2002, 16:01
Novell in talks to bundle eDirectory on Linux servers

Brainshare - we weren't there

Novell is in talks with IBM and Red Hat about bundling its eDirectory services with Linux servers. The network software and services firm already supports Linux, so the deal - which is still at the discussion stage - would involve expending Novell's commitment to the platform that boosts the availability of directory services …

Software 19 Mar 2002, 16:06
Intel sharpens twin blades

Truly dualie, ultra densie

Intel today launched a twin set of 800MHz Tualatin PIIIs, the first dualie, it says for the low power ulta dense blade server segment. The dual processor delivers 63 per cent better performance than their singleton counterpart, according to benchmarking conducted by Ziff Davis Media sub eTesting Labs. Other features include …

Channel 19 Mar 2002, 16:44
Coming soon: 4,096 mutant versions of Windows

Not counting clones...

In his opening statement in the unsettling States' antitrust action yesterday Microsoft attorney Dan Webb explained the maths of Steve Ballmer's millions of versions of Windows nightmare, and promised much in the way of fireworks to come. The States' opening statement we can pass over unremarked, because we knew what they were …

Software 19 Mar 2002, 19:09
Why Microsoft's EU ‘concession’ is no concession at all

Penguin extinction plan

Microsoft announced an "olive branch" to the EU last week, by offering to document the interfaces to its file and print server protocols. But the offer is less generous than it appears. Eurocrats may not be pleased to discover that these CIFS protocols - which are considered undocumentable by developers who work with them - …

Hardware 19 Mar 2002, 20:48
Pennsylvania orders ISPs to censor the Net

It's finally started

Child-protective mania has given State of Pennsylvania a pretext to indulge in Internet censorship. The legislature has passed a law requiring ISPs to block access to child porn websites. Under the scheme, PA residents will have to be prevented from accessing the sites, which will be identified by the state attorney general's …

Music and Media 19 Mar 2002, 22:54
HP declares victory (and no you can't see the votes)

Life is just one long Zimbabwean polling station

Hewlett-Packard today declared its victory in the proxy battle to takeover Compaq by a small majority. It bases this on a tally of the votes from major institutional shareholders. So all you retail shareholders, your proxy votes are important only insofar as the size of the majority. So it's all over bar the counting? Not quite …

Business 19 Mar 2002, 23:04
Walter cheered, Carly jeered at HP merger vote

Junior's our boy - HP staff

Although HP today offered about as much empirical evidence that it's going to win the Sircam merger vote as you find accompanying a report of an alien abduction, that didn't dent its confidence. The Walter B Hewlett Jr camp thinks there's only one per cent between the respective tallies. Adding up the votes will take several …

Business 19 Mar 2002, 23:34