21st May 2002 Archive
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MS goes for control, Disneyesque experience for Xbox Live
Do kids want wholesome? The Beast blunders...
Microsoft habitually announces billion dollar bets that aren't really, but Xbox Live really is one. That's not to say the stated billions are correct of course, but if this one flops it'll still cost Redmond a pretty penny. In the event of failure Microsoft would be left clutching four datacentres, a sophisticated broadband …
Software 21 May 2002, 09:19
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IDC takes a second pass at supercomputer rankings
The Balanced Rating
Last November, the supercomputer analysts at International Data Corp developed a new way to rank the performance for HPC machines that, it reckoned, was superior to the Linpack Fortran benchmarks that have been used to rank supercomputers for the past several decades, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. The new rankings were …
Hardware 21 May 2002, 09:45
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DRAM price dip may be just a blip
Demand grows
ICIS-LOR, the commodities price monitoring service, last week detected more weakness in the only recently recovered price of 128Mb DRAM parts. Volume prices for some parts dipped below $4, a far cry from the sub-$2 mark that hammered chip makers last year, but still a worrying indicator that the DRAM sector's ability to …
Channel 21 May 2002, 09:46
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RealNames shutdown outcry grows in Asia
'Cheated and shortchanged'
The closure of RealNames Corp a week ago has started to cause a backlash among members of the Asian internet community, who are forecasting a major disruption in how speakers of Asian languages access the internet, Kevin Murphy writes. RealNames shut its doors last week, after Microsoft declined to renew an agreement that …
Music and Media 21 May 2002, 09:47
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Market sceptical on BT bid for Colt
Premature
Excitement entered the moribund sector of Europe's new carriers yesterday with rumors that BT Group Plc is plotting a bid for Colt Telecom Group Plc, a move that supposedly had the backing of Colt's major shareholder New York investment bank Fidelity. Newspaper reports suggested that BT would bid around 1bn ($1.46bn) for …
Business 21 May 2002, 09:49
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Tosh preps curved LCD screen
Your flexible friend
Toshiba is claiming a world first - a large, flexible liquid crystal display which "opens the way to the display on curved screens". The display can be flexed in all directions and bent to form a curve with a radius of curvature of less than 20cm, Tosh says. The new flexible LCD is a full colour active-matrix TFT-LCD, and it …
Personal 21 May 2002, 11:44
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Dell cuts 150 jobs in Ireland
Looking for volunteers
Dell is cutting 150 admin jobs in Limerick, Ireland. The PC giant is looking for volunteers and is offering generous redundo terms - six weeks pay for every year of service. Manufacturing is unaffected. And, err, that's it, really. The very fine Irish IT websiteENN dots the i's and crosses the t's. ®
Channel 21 May 2002, 12:40
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Sons of Ulster join e-commerce revolution
The future's bright, the future's orange
If, as a true Son of Ulster, you've ever spent fruitless days wandering around the province's shops trying to source Protestant holy water, Drumcree games for your Xbox or an oversized goat skin for that lambeg drum, there's some good news today in the shape of www.prodshopping.com. This one-stop orange shop offers the …
Bootnotes 21 May 2002, 13:34
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Systemax UK reins in Misco ops
Restructuring continues
Systemax UK is closing the Wellingborough, Northants warehouse of its Misco reseller sub, transferring all logistics, except for Systemax-branded PCs, to its main warehouse Globaldirect Greenock, Scotland. Too small for its needs, it says. At the same time, the company is transferring the Uxbridge sales operations of …
Channel 21 May 2002, 14:22
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CPU spot market quiet, waiting for P4 price cuts
Channel check
Trading volumes on the CPU spot market are low, as system builders wait for their new Intel price lists, according to the channel checkers at Boston investment bank Fechtor Detwiler. Expect price cuts on Friday and in the order of 10-20 per cent on 1.7 P4s and above, they say. Intel’s last big round of desktop P4 price cuts was …
Channel 21 May 2002, 15:14
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Poll on cards for Tiny warranty holders left in the lurch
Will it work?
Owners of Tiny PCs who bought their computers by credit card will be asked to waive their section 75 rights, laid out in the Consumer Credit Act 1974, through a poll conducted by the administrators of the bust company. This could pave the way for the credit card firms to pay for continued warranty support on Tiny PCs, according …
Channel 21 May 2002, 16:08
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Friends Reunited user in libel payout
Ex-Teacher dismisses award as 'peanuts'
A retired teacher has won damages for defamatory comments posted on the Friends Reunited Web site. Jim Murray, 68, took former pupil Jonathan Spencer to Lincoln County Court over his remarks, where Spencer was ordered to pay £1,250 damages and £150 costs. The assessment follows Murray's victory in the case, which is rare …
Music and Media 21 May 2002, 20:22
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All the World Cup news that's not fit to print
Where's the IT angle?
The teams are putting their final preparations in place with only 10 days until the world's greatest sports competition kicks off. No, not footballers but marketers and spin doctors of the IT industry who are looking for that extra yard to keep their brands in touch while most of the world's eyes fix on the playing fields of …
Bootnotes 21 May 2002, 20:45
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C++, SQL, Unix and C are key skills – still
Java ain't where it's at in UK job market
Fewer IT jobs were advertised last quarter than a year ago but programmers with key software skills are still very much in demand. That's the conclusion of a study of the UK IT recruitment market by CWJobs, The Register's recruitment partner. CWJobs compiled a very big list of all the software skills asked for in job ads, …
Software 21 May 2002, 20:57
