5th August 2002 Archive

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PC-compatible MacOS comes at a price

A CompUSA special

Exciting news from the world of Apple. Eighteen years after the launch of the Macintosh, Apple has made a PC-compatible version of MacOS. But it comes at a steep price. Apple chose to break this extraordinary news at the unlikely venue of CompUSA's web store, as this picture [click to enlarge] illustrates. The CompUSA …

Mac Channel 5 Aug 2002, 09:50
AOL probe centres on PurchasePro deal

SEC check-out

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the particulars of dealings between AOL Time Warner Inc and PurchasePro.com Inc, according to reports Friday. The Wall Street Journal quoted sources saying the SEC has contacted Las Vegas-based PurchasePro for documents as part of a wider probe of AOL's accounting …

Business 5 Aug 2002, 09:57
Sun makes midframe servers more resilient

Feature upsell

Sun Microsystems Inc has taken some of the high-end resiliency features it created for its "Starfire" Enterprise 10000 servers and improved upon in its "StarCat" Sun Fire 15000 and "StarKitty" Sun Fire 12000 servers and rolled them into its Sun Fire midrange line, which it often refers to as its midframe line because they …

Servers 5 Aug 2002, 09:58
Anonymizer preps Private Surfing 2.0

Takes shot in privacy arms race

Anonymizer Inc will tomorrow introduce version 2.0 of its popular anonymous web surfing service, Private Surfing, containing more features aimed at advancing its position in what CEO Bill Unrue calls the "privacy arms race", Kevin Murphy writes. It's a war zone out there. Not only do internet users have to contend with hackers …

Security 5 Aug 2002, 09:59
Oracle J2EE 1.3 Compliance, at last

Don't all rush out at once

After losing the race for Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.3 application server certification to BEA Systems Inc, Oracle Corp has finally reached the finishing line, Gavin Clarke writes. Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle's 9i Application Server (9iAS) 2.0 is expected to announce J2EE 1.3 certification this week, …

Hardware 5 Aug 2002, 09:59
Sugar buys the company formerly known as Viglen

Amshold acquires Learning Technology

Sir Alan Sugar, chairman of Learning Technology Plc, a network integrator and PC retailer to the UK education market, has decided to bring the company back under his control for a bargain-basement price after seeing its share price plummet to record lows in July. Expressing disgust at the meltdown in technology stocks, the …

Channel 5 Aug 2002, 09:59
Yahoo! returns! to! the! auction! biz!

Bids up with QXL Ricardo

Only months after shutting down five European auction sites, Yahoo! said it will develop co-branded auction sites in Scandinavia with QXL Ricardo. The deal with QXL Ricardo to establish the sites in Norway, Sweden and Denmark follows Yahoo!'s decision in May shut down its auction sites in the UK and Ireland, Germany, France, …

e-Business 5 Aug 2002, 10:09
Notebooks jump, desktops slump

Sales tales

The mobile PC is rapidly moving up the must-have list of organisations across the US, according to the latest study from Gartner. The firm pumped out its latest assessment of the PC marketplace and discovered that mobile PCs experienced comparatively exceptional growth. The mobile PC market, during the second quarter of 2002, …

e-Business 5 Aug 2002, 10:10
Bidders flee Global Crossing UK

Administrators poised

The UK arm of Global Crossing, the financially stricken US carrier, is to file for administration, following the collapse of an auction for the company, the Sunday Telegraph says. The two lead contenders were Apax Partners and Scottish and Southern Energy, but Apax pulled out of the race, following its failed attempt to buy …

Business 5 Aug 2002, 10:50
Vivendi to sell Scoot.com

So what's that BT buys Scoot news all about?

Vivendi Universal is preparing to sell off Scoot.com, or rather the bit that it owns, according to Les Echos. Vivendi has made a lot of disastrous investments in its time, but Scoot takes the cake. Mostly, Vivendi bought good assets for absurd prices. Scoot was different - a deadly dull Internet directory service that: Raced …

Business 5 Aug 2002, 11:48
Football. Culture. Everything in between

Site(s) of The Day Goaaaaaal!

With the kick-off of the football season North of the border last weekend, and the beginning of the Nationwide season next it's high time Site of the Day took a look at the world of football Web sites. Barely a month after the end of the World Cup, what better place to start that Osaka, Japan-based Website Soccerphile.com. A …

Bootnotes 5 Aug 2002, 11:50
Windows comes to Bhutan

Unification

A localised version of Microsoft Windows is in the offing for the people of Bhutan. Launching in 2003, This is expected to replace seven incompatible Dzongkha (the Bhutanese language) computer systems, ensuring that the Tibetan script fonts are displayed the same way for the first time. But what has motivated Microsoft to offer …

Software 5 Aug 2002, 14:11
Sun claims ECperf 4way server best

Benchmarketing (Part 94)

Sun Microsystems has fired a fresh salvo at the Wintel camp in the ongoing benchmarketing wars with the release of performance figures for its four-way Sun Fire V480 server. Using its own ECperf benchmark, three Sun Fire(TM) V480 servers with 900 MHz UltraSPARC III processors running the Oracle9I Application Server Release 2 …

Servers 5 Aug 2002, 14:29
Register to launch UK ISP service on 19 August

Vulture Capitalist ISP.net

On 19 August the mighty Reg is launching its very own UK virtual ISP, the fetchingly-titled Vulture Capitalist ISP, or vcisp.net for short. The service is an affiliate deal between Situation Publishing and Affinity Internet and will offer UK Reg fans top-quality internet access products at competetive prices including, …

Site News 5 Aug 2002, 14:32
Silicon France goes titsup.fr

Cessation de paiement

Silicon Media Group announced Friday that it was selling its UK assets to CNET. We wondered what would happen to the IT news service's newer, smaller operations in France and Germany. We now have the answer for France, courtesy of 01net.com. On 26 July, Silicon.fr went titsup.fr, or, in French parlance, filed for "cessation de …

Business 5 Aug 2002, 15:28
Captain Cyborg takes the pee on Radio 5 Live

Mystery of why BT landlines play up in summer solved

Captain Cyborg, aka Kevin Warwick, has being talking urine during his latest promotional outing. By this we're not referring to the contents of his latest tome, I Cyborg, but hitherto little publicised details of his early career. The subject of urine came out when our favourite self-promoting robotics expert told listeners of …

Bootnotes 5 Aug 2002, 16:47
The Bastard School of Recruitment

Episode 17 Slave Traders have their uses

BOFH 2002: Episode 17 "Well you do seem to have a bit of a Manager exit epidemic on your hands," The Slave Trader agrees as he looks over his spreadsheet. for the past year or so. "I myself have placed four of your managers - and I'm assuming that we're not the only recruiting agency that you've looked to." "No," the The Head of …

BOFH 5 Aug 2002, 17:44
Cash'n'Carrion sinks claws into Nigerian 419 scam

You read the email, you sent the cash, now wear the shirt

The Summer apparel offensive continues at our Cash'n'Carrion Reg shop with the release of two exciting new products. If you're tired of receiving unsolicited emails from Nigerian 419 scammers posing as the widows of high-ranking army officers with access to cash beyond the wildest dreams of avarice, look no further than …

Site News 5 Aug 2002, 17:52
Chevin acquires Jyra Research. Or does it?

Confusion Inc.

Network management firm Chevin has swooped to acquire the UK assets of Jyra Research from liquidators, but questions remain about the ownership and development of Jyra's performance management technology. Although Luton-based Chevin said it had acquired the "core operating" business of Jyra Research Inc (technology, personnel …

Data Networking 5 Aug 2002, 21:38