30th April 2002 Archive

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Apple apes rumour sites with 50lb monster Mac

Analysis Worth a blag?

Apple paid the Mac rumor sites a backhanded compliment today with the launch of its new eMac. The new machine closely resembles some of the mock-ups of 17inch CRTs created by Mac fans throughout 1999 and 2000, when it was one of the most requested new products. The eMac is the classic iMac shape form factor, with added pituitary …

Mac Channel 30 Apr 2002, 01:43
Netscape blows off new vuln warning

Do not pass Go; do not collect $1000

A recent advisory from GreyMagic Software demonstrates a minor file access vulnerability in Netscape and Mozilla for Windows, very much like the recent one affecting MS Internet Exploder. No doubt it will be patched soon and without great difficulty. The potential for malicious exploitation is modest, and the installed user …

Software 30 Apr 2002, 07:35
FT.com starts charging

Think pink

FT.com is to start charging for content from next month. The pink paper's Web site explained that the latest news plus some comment and analysis will still be free. However, it will start charging for some columnists, most notably the Lex column, plus access to articles spanning the last five years. Subscription charges start …

Music and Media 30 Apr 2002, 09:05
Hynix board snubs Micron bid

All over bar the shouting?

Micron's proposed takeover of struggling rival Hynix has collapsed, following the rejection of the equity-funded bid by the Korean chipmaker's board. This is a surprising reason for the collapse: Micron has negotiated with Hynix for months, and secured the backing of the creditors, mostly Korean banks, which are keeping Hynix …

Channel 30 Apr 2002, 09:18
Bye Ed – Analysts pull the chain on Sun chief

Zander ambushed

To the Nob Hill Ritz Carlton Hotel, why not? Why? Well, Merrill Lynch is hosting a financial analyst conference here all week, deliciously titled "Hardware Heaven". No, it really is called that. We don't know what it means - but we're obliged to pass on the information, anyway. This is the very same Merrill Lynch that was …

Business 30 Apr 2002, 09:43
Multiple Solaris vulns reported

We don't even know where to begin

We've got denials of service, buffer overflows and root compromises, and we're frankly shocked, shocked, to report it. According to eSecurityOnline, your Solaris system is screwed six ways to Sunday, though we'll note that the majority of stuff-ups they cite are not remotely exploitable. Which is something. First up, we have …

Software 30 Apr 2002, 09:56
Telewest in cable broadband promo

Undercuts dial-up access

Telewest is flogging its cable broadband service for less than the price of unmetered dial-up access in a bid to attract new punters. The special promo from the cableco starts on May 1. Monthly subscriptions to the blueyonder broadband service are just £13.48 for the first three months. Telewest's blueyonder broadband service …

Telecoms 30 Apr 2002, 11:02
Preinstalled Windows: AARGH! I can't get it off!

It's illegal, claims Redmond

If a PC shipped with Windows preinstalled, can you remove the OS and install Linux instead? Well, no, according to Microsoft. A somewhat obscure Microsoft site aimed at helping schools deal with donated computers flatly states: "It is a legal requirement that pre-installed operating systems remain with a machine for the life of …

Software 30 Apr 2002, 11:14
Doubts raised over Vizzavi's future

Time to pull le plug?

Vizzavi claims it is "business as usual" despite waking up to press reports which suggest that funding for the Internet operation could be pulled. Today's FT reports that Jean-Marie Messier, chief exec of Vivendi Universal, is considering whether to cut his losses and pull the plug on the multi-platform Internet portal. Mr …

Music and Media 30 Apr 2002, 12:11
Sage adds up threat from Redmond

Double entry bookkeeping

Sage, best known as a supplier of accountancy software, has met analyst expectations in posting six month profits up 10 per cent from £40.8 million to £44.9 million. Sales of services and software to Sage's existing SME client base remained buoyant, and helped compensate for the company's difficulty in attracting new business …

Business 30 Apr 2002, 12:14
Alan Cox attacks the European DMCA

Wake up call

Alan Cox has issued a wake up call to the Linux community amid concerns that the pending European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD) could stymie open source development. The directive, which was approved last year, extends European copyright legislation so that it is even more restrictive than America's controversial Digital …

Software 30 Apr 2002, 15:20
Nominet challenged on personal data changes

www.Dont Publish My Home Address On The Web.co.uk

Opponents to Nominet UK's decision to publish contact details of people who own .uk domain names have set up a Web site to voice their protest. Those behind www.DontPublishMyHomeAddressOnTheWeb.co.uk describe Nominet's decision to publish contact details as "horrendous". They claim that the move is unpopular among domain name …

Music and Media 30 Apr 2002, 15:49
IBM releases iSeries model 890 Regattas

And OS/400 V5R2

As we had heard might happen, IBM Corp moved up the iSeries "Regatta" Power4-based server announcements to yesterday, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. While the high-end Regatta-H servers will make their debut in 16-way, 24-way, and 32-way configurations under an early-release program running OS/400 V5R2, don't expect those …

Hardware 30 Apr 2002, 16:01
EMC pushes ATA into Enterprise

New storage category

EMC Corp has branched off into what, for the company, is new territory, with an ATA-based nearline system for storing fixed-content data objects such as document or medical images, Tim Stammers and Rik Turner writes. This is the first time that Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based EMC has used PC-style ATA drives in its hardware …

Hardware 30 Apr 2002, 16:03
RSA removes patent block to SAML uptake

Sun support

RSA Security Inc yesterday said it will grant royalty-free licenses to any developer that wants to use the Securities Assertions Markup Language (SAML) in their products. The company revealed last month that it has two US patents it believes cover aspects of the XML access control standard. The only caveat RSA is imposing …

Hardware 30 Apr 2002, 16:03
HP hit by class action over DVD+RW claims

Quite a persuasive one, too...

HP has been hit by a class action, claiming it misrepresented the capabilities of its DVD100i drive. The complaint, filed in Clark County Nevada, says that HP "manufactured, marketed and/or sold these drives with the representation that they would be able to write the less expensive DVD+R discs," but that such representations …

Personal 30 Apr 2002, 16:04
World Cup clips to appear on the Net

Football's coming online

Football fans will be able to see highlights of all the games from the forthcoming World Cup over the Internet for the first time in the tournament's history. The video highlights (around four minutes long) will be available two to three hours after the final match of the day, and make up one portion of FIFAworldcup.com's …

Music and Media 30 Apr 2002, 18:46
Klez storms monthly virus charts

Klutzes infected by virus variants

Variants of the Klez worm were by far the most common viruses circulating on the Internet this month. That's according to monthly statistics from managed services firm MessageLabs, which stopped 422,507 viruses in April, way up on the 161,904 it blocked in March, after a mercifully quiet start to the year in terms of virus …

Security 30 Apr 2002, 18:49