26th July 2002 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Congress blasts Feds on cyber-terror FOIA games

Get your story straight, lads

There was a fabulous explosion Wednesday during an otherwise typical cyberterror dog-and-pony show on the Hill when House Government Reform Subcommittee Ranking Member Jan Schakowsky (Democrat, Illinois) lost her composure during a discussion of new Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) modifications proposed by the GB Junior …

Security 26 Jul 2002, 07:11
VeriSign posts loss after $4.6bn charge

Swimming in the Red Sea

VeriSign Inc yesterday reported a loss for the second quarter to June 30 of $4.8bn, compared to a loss of $11.2bn a year ago, on revenue that was up 37% at $317.4m. The company said the loss was mostly due to a $4.6bn acquisition write-down charge. The company's enterprise and service provider division, which includes its …

Business 26 Jul 2002, 09:35
France Telecom begs for tax-payer bail-out

Will it pass muster with the EU?

France Telecom SA managed 10% revenue growth in the first half and is on course to sustain the expansion rate for the full year. But weighed down with $56bn in debt, the company has confirmed that it is in talks with its largest shareholder, the French government, and the French taxpayer is likely to be forced to bail the …

Business 26 Jul 2002, 09:35
UDDI v.3 coming soon (to a Web service near you)

Rattling through OASIS committee

An IBM and Microsoft Corp-backed project for web services directories takes two potentially massive steps forward next week, Gavin Clarke writes. Computerwire has learned the third version of Universal Description, Discovery Integration (UDDI) will be announced Tuesday, offering richer XML web services descriptions. …

e-Business 26 Jul 2002, 09:35
IBM and Linux our biggest threats – Microsoft

Inspirational

IBM and Linux combined represent a threat and inspiration as Microsoft Corp drives into enterprise computing, top company executives said yesterday. Computing giant IBM wages war against Microsoft in lucrative corporate accounts while Linux, the low-cost threat to Windows, wins supporters in fertile developer communities …

e-Business 26 Jul 2002, 09:36
Telefonica abandons Germany as 3G hopes collapse

Fire Sale?

Telefonica SA has frozen the operations of its mobile subsidiaries in Europe in a move that confirms the collapse of hopes that 3G services will be a huge money-spinner. It is writing off 4.8bn euros ($4.8bn) from the value of assets and associated restructuring operations in what is likely to be a prelude to a fire sale …

Mobile 26 Jul 2002, 09:37
TSMC figures suggest slower silicon recovery

Anaemic

Fears that the chip sector's recovery is still anemic at best were confirmed yesterday when Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd forecast softening demand in the third quarter. The prediction came as the Taiwanese foundry giant released second quarter results which showed sales up 68% to NTD44bn ($1.3bn). …

Channel 26 Jul 2002, 09:37
Today is SysAdmin Day

Site of the Day Happy and SAAD

Today's SOTD is nothing if not topical. For it's the last Friday in July and that means Sysadminday.com,host of the second annual Systems Administrator Appreciation Day. Yes, it's a Happy SAAD day, the one day in the year when it's OK to be nice to your techies. Bribe them with gifts, pretend you understand the jokes in the …

Bootnotes 26 Jul 2002, 09:48
iPAQ is ‘tainted brand’ – Kewney

Save the Jornada!

Compaq's "arrogance" has been attacked, in public, by a body of users. Can HP really carry on with its plan to kill the Jornada name and stick with the tainted iPaq brand? I recently had to go to bat for a user of the iPAQ. He tells me he's spent the last two years trying to get Dixons and Compaq to admit that his model …

Personal 26 Jul 2002, 11:04
Princeton ‘hacks’ Yale admissions site

Deeply insecure

Yale is threatening to sue Princeton after officials at the rival Ivy League college allegedly hacked into Yale's Web site to gain unauthorised access to its admission decisions. According to Yale Daily News, Princeton staff gained unauthorised access to decisions on at least 11 prospective Yale undergraduates in early April …

Security 26 Jul 2002, 12:19
Ethical hacker faces war driving charges

Houston, we have a problem

A Houston computer security analyst has been charged with hacking after demonstrating the insecurity of a county courts wireless LAN. Stefan Puffer, 33, was indicted by a Grand Jury on Wednesday with two counts of fraud for allegedly breaking into Harris County district clerk's wireless computer system. It's believed to be the …

Security 26 Jul 2002, 13:19
NEC splits chips, screens

$6 billion dollar deal

NEC will spin off its semiconductor division in November, the company confirmed yesterday. The chip business, worth some 680 billion Yen ($5.8 billion), will be called "NEC Electronics Corporation". NEC will also spin off its displays division, under the slightly more exciting moniker NEC Electron Devices. In the dim and …

Channel 26 Jul 2002, 14:13
Valenti backs away from P2P hack bill

Not good enough for Hollywood

House Hollywood sock puppet Howard Berman (Democrat, California) may have gone too far in licking the boots of his benevolent patrons. Indeed, he's gone and licked the shine clear off Motion Picture Ass. of America President Jack Valenti's boots, as this article from Reuters indicates. "We're pleased that a bipartisan group of …

Security 26 Jul 2002, 16:14
Economy sneezes, PDA biz catches cold

Sony rises, Handspring bombs

US demand for PDAs fell by 10 per cent in the last quarter, according to IDC. 2.6 million devices shipped stateside in this period. Not surprisingly, following the completion of the SirCam Merger, HP nabbed second spot shipping 485,000 iPaq and Journadas. In Europe the New HP slightly leads the market ahead of Palm. Europe has …

Personal 26 Jul 2002, 16:54
Apple lawyers nix box pix

Ceci n'est pas une PowerMac

Apple's legal department has sent threatening letters to two websites publishing incredibly boring information, purportedly of the company's new professional PowerMac case. Such cease and desist letters from Cupertino have in the past been interpreted as giving rumors the mark of authenticity. This could be an elaborate …

Mac Channel 26 Jul 2002, 16:54
What's wrong with this JPEG picture?

Letters Readers slam "Forgery Networks" patent extortion

JPEGs are not free: Patent holder pursues IP grab JPEG guardians vow to defend free images No more JPEGs - ISO to withdraw image standard We've been here before, but it doesn't get any more fun, does it? It seems there's money-hungry morons out there besides RIAA and MPAA, they'rethe so-called "IP Companies" - law firms that …

Letters 26 Jul 2002, 18:59