25th July 2002 Archive

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We have lift-off! The solar broadband airplane

Isn't technology great

By 2005, people could be receiving mobile phone services, broadband connections and even digital TV from solar-powered airplanes that fly at 65,000 feet. This week, US company SkyTower, a subsidiary of AeroVironment, said it had successfully performed a series of tests in Hawaii of its new technology, a communications airplane …

Telecoms 25 Jul 2002, 07:39
Xbox breaks US sales records

Blockbuster launch titles

A report indicates that Microsoft has smashed sales records in the US market, thanks to a strong launch line-up. Microsoft’s blockbusting US launch line-up for Xbox has paid dividends across the pond, with the NPD Group reporting that Xbox has posted a sales increase of 131% in the US in the two months following its $100 price …

Personal 25 Jul 2002, 07:48
.Net is curate's egg* – Gates

OK, so we're paraphrasing

Was Bill Gates wrong to bet the business on .NET? No, but things haven't gone smoothly he has admitted. Two-years into the .NET program, Microsoft Corp's chairman and chief executive told a press and analysts briefing yesterday of patchy success. "In some respects we're further ahead today than we expected and in some …

e-Business 25 Jul 2002, 08:27
Ranger drops CA proxy fight, picks up $10m

How nice for all concerned

Ranger Governance Ltd has agreed to drop its proxy challenge for five seats on Computer Associates International Inc's board of directors in exchange for $10m and CA's promise that it will add another outside director to its board. Dallas, Texas-based Ranger was formed in 2001 to launch an unsuccessful attempt to take over …

e-Business 25 Jul 2002, 08:27
ICANN moves against VeriSign retired domain land grab

But is it Ultra Vires?

The Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers may block a controversial proposed service from VeriSign Inc that would allow the company and its partners to offer customers chances to register expiring domain names, Kevin Murphy writes But VeriSign and its allies say that ICANN would be overextending its mandate if it …

Music and Media 25 Jul 2002, 08:31
Level 3 bids for Chapter 11 rival

Bankrupt strategy

Level 3 Communications Inc has begun its self-appointed task of carrying out a wide-ranging consolidation among global carriers by putting in a bid for Williams Communications Group Inc, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since April. According to information leaked to the Wall Street Journal, Level 3 has …

Business 25 Jul 2002, 08:32
i-Mode comes to Spain

Telefionica Moviles joins bandwagon

NTT DoCoMo Inc spread its i-mode tentacles ever further yesterday with the announcement of a tie-up with Telefonica Moviles SA that will see the wireless internet service launched in Spain in the first half of 2003. Tokyo, Japan-based DoCoMo will provide its i-mode patents and technical know-how to the Spanish mobile giant's …

Mobile 25 Jul 2002, 08:36
US hotspot pioneer on the ropes

HereUaren't

HereUare Communications Inc, a pioneer aggregator of public wireless local area network (PWLAN) hotspot services, has put itself up for sale and said it could close down completely if it can't find a buyer within two weeks. The crisis at the company, which as recently as February claimed to offer access to 47% of US …

Mobile 25 Jul 2002, 08:36
Lord Currie crowned Ofcom king

Who He?

Lord Currie, the dean of the Sir John Cass Business School of the City of London, is to be the first chairman of Ofcom, the new media/telecoms regulator, the FT says. So who the hell is he? Well... Lord Currie lives in Islington, which makes him clearly a New Labour insider - with this appointment how could he not be? Currie is …

Data Networking 25 Jul 2002, 10:06
Mad mouse mod entombs LEGO volunteer

Site(s) of The Day Block structure madness

The Silly Season is drawing near, stories - save for the occasional multi-billion dollar telco collapse - are drying up, everyone's thinking of their holidays. So what better time to kick off a new feature - Site of The Day. Every working day, until the end of August, we'll be recommending innocent, unsuspecting web sites with …

Bootnotes 25 Jul 2002, 11:04
BT LookSmart buys UK Plus

Search engine consolidation

BT LookSmart has bought the UK Plus search engine brand for an undisclosed sum from Associated New Media. No details of job losses or transfers have been released either. The sum was probably peanuts - search engines are expensive to run, which is why brands are handing over the technology to the likes of Google, Fast Search, …

e-Business 25 Jul 2002, 11:44
MS' step-by-step intro of new WPA with WinXP SP1

Get it out there without too many people complaining

The Register has received further information regarding Microsoft's redesign of the product activation system, due to be introduced with WinXP Service Pack 1. Our sources say that yes, a slipstreamed install of SP1 will mean you have to get a new key from Microsoft, but confirm that if you just install over the existing …

Software 25 Jul 2002, 11:54
OpenOffice bats for the Mac

X now, Quartz later

The first Mac OS X version cut of the open source office suite, OpenOffice, has emerged blinking into the daylight. It's due to be officially announced at OSDCon later today. This new version, 1.0, is a new branch, with a "boatload" of Mac-specific patches, that adds up to a 147MB download. But it prints and saves, so there's …

Mac Channel 25 Jul 2002, 12:37
MS goes security patch crazy

SQL high, Exchange low sure to keep BOFHs on the go

A plethora of patches from Microsoft wings its way into our in-box this morning. There are bug fixes for Microsoft Metadirectory Services, SQL Server, Exchange 5.5 and a reissued patch for Media Player. To round things up there's also a Cumulative Patch for SQL Server 2000. First up, and most serious, two buffer overflow …

Security 25 Jul 2002, 14:06
Windows.NET RC1 preview offered for free download

But possibly not for a couple of weeks...

Windows.NET is nearly, finally, with us, as is evidenced by the appearance of one of those now traditional Customer Preview Program (CPP) Microsoft giveaways for RC1. The Ts & Cs, as far as we can make out, are that you can give them some money to get the CDs sent or download it for the price of filling in the reg form. Then you …

Software 25 Jul 2002, 14:54
VIA flogs P4 mobo, 533MHz FSB support

If the mountain won't come...

VIA today announced a whizzy new Pentium 4 mobo, the first to incorporate its new P4X266E chipset. The VIA P4PB 266E supports the new 533MHz FSB Intel P4 CPUs, six channel audio through the onboard VIA VT1616 audio codec, AGP4X, DDR266, and ATA/133. There's a smart card connector too. But as per, there are no pricing details. …

Channel 25 Jul 2002, 14:59
Govt sidelines Fujitsu in courts IT fiasco

Looks elsewhere for software

The Lord Chancellor' department is cutting back the role of Fujitsu Services in a project to modernise the magistrates court system, following long delays in delivering bespoke software. Fujitsu is ahead of schedule in providing hardware and network infrastructure in courts for the Libra project, which is due to be completed at …

Business 25 Jul 2002, 15:01
Orange closes Photo Message leak

Updated Now open again for business...

Orange has withdrawn publicity for its forthcoming MMS service - to be called "Photo Messaging" - after prematurely publishing details yesterday. The pages in question earlier today returned a 404 Not Found. Now they're back, without the pricing information. According to the publicity material posted yesterday, Orange will …

Mobile 25 Jul 2002, 15:07
1901 Census site update is no update

When our site goes down, it stays down

The 1901 Census site has been down - ooh, getting on for seven months now. This week the Public Records Office issued an update on getting the service back online. Here's the condensed version. QinetiQ the site developer is to complete public testing in August. Testing could throw up more issues which would then need to be …

Music and Media 25 Jul 2002, 15:32
Big software pushes hard for national Gestapo

BSA drooling over Homeland Security pork

I was puzzled last month when industry lobby the Business Software Alliance (BSA) released a cyberterror FUD bomb. Or, rather, a FUD dud -- a laughably meaningless survey of the opinions of so-called "IT pros" all laboring under the delusion that a deadly national catastrophe by electronic means is just around the corner. Was …

Software 25 Jul 2002, 15:50
Opera, IBM team to build browser for shouting at

Coming to a something or other this fall...

IBM and Opera Software are developing a "multimodal browser based on the XHTML+Voice (X+V) specification," it says here, following up with a long-winded and deeply tedious explanation of what a multimodal browser might be. But cut to the chase* friends, it's a browser you can shove onto a handheld device and control via a number …

Music and Media 25 Jul 2002, 15:51
Time revives Colossus PC brand for high street

And intros Platina

Time has dusted down one of its old PC brands, Colossus, for use in its retail chain, The ComputerWorld. The PC maker is also introducing a new retail PC brand, Platina, which will occupy the performance end, while its sister brand, Colossus, targets the budget market. Colossus PCs are knocked out at £399-£599 and are supposed …

Personal 25 Jul 2002, 15:52
Brian Tindle: Internet villain and the new Claire Swire

Watford FC newsgroup plays host to Greek infidelity claims

Brian Tindle has become the latest name to be added to the Internet Hall of Shame, following accusations by his ex-girlfriend of an illicit holiday affair causing her a swift visit to the doctor. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK and abroad have already been emailed the URL of the Watford FC newsgroup postings, where …

Bootnotes 25 Jul 2002, 16:01
BIND 9 upgrade behind BT DNS issues

Webmasters, check your configs

Several domain hosting companies have reported DNS errors coming from BT's doors in recent weeks. After failing to get any explanation from the monster telco, some contacted The Register in frustration. Perhaps BT would be more co-operative with us. Err no. But following our article earlier this week, we think we now have the …

Security 25 Jul 2002, 17:05
You can help reverse the UCITA today

Stop the Open Source killer

A group of lawyers committed to keeping uniformity in state laws is having its annual meeting beginning this week, and the Open Source community wants to deliver this message to them: UCITA will kill Open Source. And they really need your help. Carol Kunze, on behalf of Red Hat, has posted an open letter to the National …

Software 25 Jul 2002, 17:05
ISP Review – down but not out

Update Ambushed by Web host

ISP Review, disappeared off the Web some time on Tuesday. Is it a DNS rub-out? Apparently, not - the web site, a must-read for the UK ISP industry as well as for many users, was ambushed by NetisNet, its hosting company. "Nextra, NetisNet's UK supplier, has unofficially cut the group for either an unpaid bill or abuse. We'd …

Music and Media 25 Jul 2002, 17:35
Feds gunning for WorldCom honchos

Indictments coming soon

The US Department of Justice is preparing to indict WorldCom former CEO Bernard Ebbers on numerous charges stemming from the severe mismanagement of accounts which has led to the company's recent financial melt-down, the Associated Press reports. Apparently the Feds are focusing on Ebbers in hopes that former CFO Scott Sullivan …

Music and Media 25 Jul 2002, 17:46
Boffins create ‘computer processor from chicken feathers’

Hollow, strong shafts

Researchers at the University of Delaware's ACRES program - Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources - have developed a computer processor made from chicken feathers", according to the usually sober Assoicated Press. According to chemical engineering professor Richard Wool(!) chicken features are better materials to work …

Channel 25 Jul 2002, 19:16