The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

13th June 2002 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Telewest phone network vandalised

    700 people hit

    Telewest has launched an investigation after two of its street cabinets in North London were vandalised cutting off phone lines to 700 customers. The incident took place Monday night/Tuesday morning when the covers were ripped off and the wires stripped out. The cableco has apologised to customers for the problem and said it …

    Data Networking 13 Jun 2002, 08:26

  • It's pow-wow time at IT-minds.com

    We take tomahawk to pre-release Apache titles

    Time to light up a peace pipe and find a place around the fire as Reg associate IT-minds.com announce this week's deal on new Apache books and some other big chiefs. The line-up includes: Maximum Apache Security A complete guide to securing the world's most popular Web server, written by the original Maximum Security author. …

    Site News 13 Jun 2002, 08:28

  • UK ‘cheap’ for broadband, says Oftel

    Ha!

    Oftel reckons prices for broadband have fallen so much that the UK has is just as cheap as France, Germany or the USA. It's latest research found that prices for DSL have fallen by almost 40 per cent since the beginning of the year. It also claims user numbers are up by 50 per cent. The telecoms watchdog reported that the UK …

    Telecoms 13 Jun 2002, 08:30

  • Reg shunned from Itanic2 briefings

    "One of our tormenters is missing…"

    Intel is having a marathon briefing session for Silicon Valley journalists on Friday, but curiously, the Register hasn't been invited to the seven-hour reading of The Itanic Verses. It's the first time we can ever remember being uninvited by the guys at Satan Clara. We hope it's a temporary faux pas. Even the Department of …

    Bootnotes 13 Jun 2002, 08:32

  • Confidence returns to TMT sector

    Careful now

    Confidence among companies in the TMT sector is increasing, according to a survey by business advisors Ernst & Young. In a recent survey it found that telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) sector companies were focused on growing revenue, increasing profitability and raising the capital needed to fund this growth. The …

    Business 13 Jun 2002, 08:32

  • JD Edwards talks up strategy

    'Major activity'

    Enterprise applications vendor JD Edwards & Co is gearing up for a fresh onslaught on the market on the back of the multi-component Web Services-capable JD Edwards 5.0 release and an increased focus on vertical markets. Having announced its intention last month to brand all its offerings under the JD Edwards name, the …

    e-Business 13 Jun 2002, 08:40

  • VeriSign lays plans for foreign domains

    RealNames? What RealNames!

    VeriSign Inc is on the verge of launching the next phase in the prolonged roll-out of so-called "internationalized domain names", addresses written in languages, such as Chinese, than use non-ASCII characters. In about eleven days, the company will start marketing a free plug-in for Internet Explorer and Outlook that …

    Music and Media 13 Jun 2002, 08:56

  • Caldera backs away from 64-bit Open Unix

    Remains committed

    Caldera International Inc has maintained its commitment to the Unix operating systems it acquired from Santa Cruz Operation Inc, despite admitting that it currently has no plans to port Open Unix to Intel Corp's 64-bit Itanium processor, Matthew Aslett writes. With development of the company's Linux distribution more or …

    Servers 13 Jun 2002, 08:56

  • Lineo sells real-time OS to MBO team

    In bed with Embedix

    Embedded Linux vendor Lineo, which is now operating as a division of Embedix Inc, has sold its RTXC and RTXC Quadros real-time operating system product lines to Quadros Systems Inc, a new company set up by former Lineo employees. Still operating under the Lineo name, the Lindon, Utah-based company quietly became Embedix …

    Software 13 Jun 2002, 08:57

  • Henry Raddick: man of letters – Amazon star

    Exclusive A peep behind the pug fancier's net curtains

    For the past eighteen months Amazon.com browsers have been informed and delighted by the contributions of one Henry Raddick. He's one of very few amateur reviewers to attain celebrity status - he's officially ranked as the 122nd most valuable contributor - and it's not hard to see why. Whether he's reviewing self-help tomes, …

    Bootnotes 13 Jun 2002, 08:58

  • It's bloody hard to host a newsgroup (in Norway)

    Tele 2 fined for child porn

    The district court of Oslo has ruled that Scandinavian ISP and telco Tele2 is legally liable for distributing pictures containing child porn and other indecent images in its newsgroups. Tele2 was fined a hefty NOK 500,000 ($63,500) by the Norwegian court, reported Scandinavian Web site Digi.no. Markus Takte, Tele2's CEO in …

    Music and Media 13 Jun 2002, 09:20

  • Microsoft to go 3G?

    .Net unfurls

    All the time spent in the court room seems to have given Microsoft plenty of time to contemplate life the universe and everything. Never one to lie on its laurels the company is always keen to look for new markets to move into. We saw recently that the troubled telecom operator WorldCom may be on the shopping list and now there …

    Mobile 13 Jun 2002, 09:20

  • ATI buys set-top chipset biz

    Preaches integration

    ATI is fleshing out its set-top portfolio with the $20m cash purchase of niche chipset designer NxTWave Communications. The acquisition will help ATI build "highly integrated chipsets to set-top customers providing lower cost and greater functionality". To be specific NxTWave will provide the demodulation technology in the …

    Channel 13 Jun 2002, 10:16

  • BT raises growth targets

    Can it see that far?

    BT is to increase the growth target of its customer facing Retail division from 3 per cent to 5 per cent, the company said today. The monster telco said underlying revenue targets remained unchanged, however the shorter plan period and new trading models with BT Ignite and BTopenworld increase growth. Combined with its ongoing …

    Business 13 Jun 2002, 10:20

  • Livermore: dirty bombs begin at home

    Letters Toasted

    Re: Billion dollar bungle 'loses' US tech lab Was there a point to this article? Usually, I enjoy reading The Reg, because you guys tell it like it is. Other times, I just have to sit back and shake my head. You really think a budget error is the equivalent to killing 5000 people? Jason Bennett "Remind us again. Who are …

    Letters 13 Jun 2002, 10:25

  • FoTW: The British Bendover

    Letters Gay traitors: that's us, apparently

    From: Sam Samuels Subject: Idiot To: Andrew Orlowski Or is it "asshole"? Mind your business, British fag. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/25685.html How many fags like you have been Commie moles? Go to a public school, did you? Do the British bendover, then. [All Flames of the Week are unedited.] More Livermore …

    Letters 13 Jun 2002, 10:40

  • World+dog join mobile standards army

    Too many, too soon?

    The Open Mobile Alliance kicked off yesterday with 200 members drawn from the great, the good and the occasional evil empire. The OMA is intended to harmonise a barrage of mobile industry standards for 3G, hitherto a barrier to creating a seamless mobile Internet, and it replaces the work earlier bodies such as The Open Mobile …

    Mobile 13 Jun 2002, 11:02

  • Lastminute.com buys travel firm

    Buy-buy

    Lastminute.com - remember them? - has bought online travel outfit The Destination Holdings Group Limited (DGL) for £12 million in cash and shares. The one-time dotcom darling reckons the acquisition is good for business and will have an immediate positive contribution to operating cashflow. DGL has been going for 16 years with …

    Music and Media 13 Jun 2002, 11:03

  • Amazon's unfeasibly high handling charges

    Update That will be £20m to you, sir

    Amazon UK's computer pricing went riot yesterday (and the US too - see below), judging from several email confirmation orders we've seen: Here's one for two books, totalling £14.58. Subtotal:14.58 GBP Delivery Charge: 3.34 GBP Total: 3,286,640.44 GBP Our informant, Mark Ewart writes: When I phoned they said there was a ' …

    Bootnotes 13 Jun 2002, 12:16

  • Intel cranks up Celeron to 1.8GHz

    Value line

    Intel today released a 1.8Ghz version of the Celeron, the fast clock speed to date in its cheapo desktop processor line. It costs $103 in OEM quantities etc and it's built using 0.18 micron manufacturing technology and it incorporates a 400MHz system bus. And err, that's it. You can check out the press release, but you won't …

    Channel 13 Jun 2002, 13:07

  • European Digital Rights launches

    Civil rights campaign for the Net

    Ten European Net privacy and freedom groups have banded together to form an international civil rights group. Called European Digital Rights (EDRi), the new organisation will be based in Brussels, where it will "focus its activities towards developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe". This is necessary, …

    Music and Media 13 Jun 2002, 14:14

  • Nildram cans Net Sat trial

    'Number of issues'

    Bucks-based ISP, Nildram, has pulled out of trial for a new high-speed Internet satellite service in the UK. Two weeks ago Nildram was among five ISPs named by BT to take part in the six-month trial. The ISP was contacted by more than 300 people in two days who were interested in the service which is designed to appeal to …

    Telecoms 13 Jun 2002, 14:15

  • British Airways flies high with broadband

    Mile high surfing

    British Airways is to provide mid-flight email and Net access for its customers as part of three-month pilot into the technology. BA is installing Connexion - a broadband technology from Boeing - in its First, Club World and World Traveller Plus cabins, which will enable passengers to plug-in their laptops and do stuff online …

    Mobile 13 Jun 2002, 14:22

  • PC makers on recovery path

    Refresh phase - IDC

    The PC market is expected to recover somewhat this year and return to double figure growth in 2003, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), Andrew McLindon writes. The market research firm is expected on Thursday to increase its estimate for worldwide PC unit shipments in 2002 to a 4.7 percent gain. Previously, IDC …

    Personal 13 Jun 2002, 15:35

  • Ten ways to kill your laptop

    Need some insurance?

    This list of 10 top laptop deaths is compiled by Complete Computer Cover, which modestly describes itself as the UK's leading laptop insurer. The company analysed its claims data over the last five years, after staff ran up an unofficial league table of the weirdest or most interesting causes of laptop destruction. Here are the …

    Personal 13 Jun 2002, 16:46

  • UK gets Telecoms Ombudsman

    Dispute resolution

    Elizabeth France - the Information Commissioner currently responsible for data protection in the UK - is to take up the newly created post of Telecoms Ombudsman from October. The Telecoms Ombudsman will begin handling complaints from users against telecoms providers including ISPs in 2003. The role of Telecoms Ombudsman should …

    Data Networking 13 Jun 2002, 16:48

  • MS security hole extravaganza

    IIS, SQL, MSM, Gopher hole widens....

    We've got a treat here; it seems MS has been sitting on a number of security holes which it's decided to dump on us all at once. So, what do you want to patch today? The first, and probably the worst due to the number of systems affected, is a little gremlin in IIS 4 and 5 (Internet Information Server aka 'Inherently Insecure …

    Software 13 Jun 2002, 17:58

  • Fujitsu Siemens upgrades to Solaris 9

    Boxing Big

    Fujitsu Siemens is introducing Solaris 9, the latest version of the Sun Microsystems Unix OS, to the PRIMEPOWER server line. The company is touting Solaris 9 OE (operating environment) as the best Unix OS for big databases and mission critical environments. The latest version, introduced by Sun last month brings scalability , …

    Servers 13 Jun 2002, 20:53