31st May 2002 Archive
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Europe bans spam
Bless
The European Parliament has voted to ban the sending of unsolicited commercial email. The new European directive should be in place some time next year and would mean that people will have to "opt in" or ask to receive commercial email. The vote also overturned proposals to introduce severe restrictions on the use of cookies …
Music and Media 31 May 2002, 07:10
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MEPs vote for Big Brother
All your data are belong to US
Today is a poor day for privacy on the Internet, after the European Parliament voted in favour of controversial data retention regulations. The vote reverses the Parliament's previous opposition to granting wide ranging surveillance powers to police and security services. And it has been slammed by civil liberties group zas a …
Music and Media 31 May 2002, 07:12
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Amazon and bol to refund delivery charges
OFT strikes blow for e-consumers
Amazon.co.uk has given a frosty reception to a ruling by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) which means that the online book shop will now have to refund delivery charges when people return goods. Until now, punters returning goods have not been able to claim back the original charges made for postage and packing. The OFT …
Music and Media 31 May 2002, 07:13
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Palm numbers suggest dire quarter for handhelds
It's an industry thing
The PDA industry looks set for another quarter of bloody retreat, if an earnings warning by Palm Inc holds true. Santa Clara, California-based Palm warned yesterday that its fourth quarter fiscal figures would fall way short of expectations, but said this was down to an industry downturn in PDA sales, which it insisted …
Personal 31 May 2002, 09:06
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UltraDNS goes low, low.,low with $1 offer
Cheap shot
UltraDNS Corp is to offer small businesses and individuals domain name system hosting for $1 a month, going after a market typically serviced by free and shareware-like offerings, the company revealed yesterday. Marketing VP Ray Stephens said BasicDNS's customers' domains will be hosted on the same eight-POP global …
Hosting 31 May 2002, 09:07
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Memory sticks in Infineon pricing craw
As Hynix hangs on
The returning gloom over the DRAM sector deepened yesterday as Infineon AG chief executive Ulrich Schumacher warned that contract prices will fall if there is no imminent upturn in IT spending. Schumacher said contract prices for 128MB DRAM parts are still higher than $4, but spot prices have already been pushed down to $2 …
Channel 31 May 2002, 09:07
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KPNQwest in looming liquidation scenario
Please buy this company
Time is running out for bankrupt pan-European carrier KPNQwest NV. Yesterday it admitted that it is struggling to find a buyer for the company as a whole, and advised its customers to make contingency plans with other network providers, increasing speculation that it will be forced to shut down its network in the next few …
Business 31 May 2002, 09:08
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Operators squeeze 3G suppliers
Contract! What contract?
Cash-strapped wireless carriers in Europe are now renegotiating 3G equipment contracts and have driven prices down to half the level of two years ago, according to a senior executive of Alcatel SA. The comments by Marc Rouanne, the head of the Paris, France-based company's mobile networks unit, plunged the whole sector …
Mobile 31 May 2002, 09:09
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US Net users happy to pirate software
You naughty people
US internet users have a schizophrenic attitude to software piracy, and while recognizing the principal that developers should be paid for the work are more than happy to download pirated software from the Web. The finding came in a survey released by the business software alliance, covering 1,000 users. Half of …
Channel 31 May 2002, 09:09
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Tele2 UK elbows consumer BB users
Wants to focus on business
Wireless broadband operator - Tele2 UK - is to concentrate on providing high-speed Internet access for business users. Announcing a change in strategy the broadband operator said it had decided to move away from the consumer broadband market and focus instead on serving business customers. The company - owned by Millicom …
Telecoms 31 May 2002, 12:19
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Library Net porn filters shot down
Judges not amused
Three federal judges in Philadelphia have struck a blow against prudery and thrown out a federal law forcing public libraries to filter access to Internet pornography or forfeit federal funds, the Associated Press reports. The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) didn't pass Constitutional muster because it would deny …
Music and Media 31 May 2002, 13:50
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AMD gouges prices
No surprise here
AMD has lopped list prices by between 7 and 52 per cent for Athlon mobile and desktop processors. The deepest cuts are to be found on the mobile line, while the range for desktops is between 11 per cent and 32 per cent. From today, the Athlon XP 2100 is $224, down 32 per cent from $330. The 2000+ is $193, (-32 per cent from $ …
Channel 31 May 2002, 14:18
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Vodafone rings price changes
National rate numbers nixed from free minutes allowance
Vodafone's decision to exclude 0845 and 0800 tariffs from free minutes allowances has upset a number of users. The mobile operator has written to customers about what it described as a "small change for calls to special numbers" saying that from June 1 2002, numbers beginning with 0800, 0500, 0808, 0845 or 0870 will no longer …
Data Networking 31 May 2002, 15:16
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Dan Technology teeters on brink
Limbo Land
Dan Technology, the UK system builder, is talking to insolvency practitioners BDO Stoy Hayward, brought in today at the behest of its bank. But the company has not been placed in administration at time of writing (16.46pm), contrary to industry gossip. We called Dan's Leeds HQ this afternoon, but no-one picked up the phone. …
Channel 31 May 2002, 15:56
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KPNQwest files for bankruptcy
Oh dear
Dutch telecoms outfit KPNQwest filed for bankruptcy this afternoon after failing to find a buyer for parts of its business. Had the sale of none-core assets gone ahead then the cash would have been used to buy a little more time for the company as it seeks a buyer for the major part of its business. However, this now appears …
Business 31 May 2002, 15:58
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Widescreen iMacs set for Q3 – report
New lamps for old
A report from the heartland of American manufacturing (ie Taiwan) suggests that production of 17 inch and 19 inch versions of the new iMac will begin in Q3 this year. Local news service Digitimes reports also reports that the industry-wide LCD shortage continues to constrain the number of IMacs that the manufacturer Quanta can …
Mac Channel 31 May 2002, 16:29
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Klez-H tops virus charts – again
Who will rid us of this pestilent worm?
Variants of the Klez worm were by far the most common viruses circulating on the Internet this month. Again. That's according to monthly statistics from managed services firm MessageLabs, which stopped 524, 507 copies of the virus in May, compared to 422,507 in April. MessageLabs reports that virus infection rates are …
Malware 31 May 2002, 16:33
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Frontside buses vs Backside drug caches
Letters Contains profanity, noise inhibitors
One reader, we think this could be President George W Bush himself, as it's written his trademark style, tells us:- Re: Click here for free World Cup highlight clips Red card for Mac and Linux users on World Cup clips site From: Robert C Richardson To: John Leyden Subject: fooken sooccer Wtf you write a buncha shit about …
Letters 31 May 2002, 18:16
