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12th August 2002 Archive

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  • SSL defeated in IE and Konqueror

    You have no security; get over it

    A colossal stuff-up in Microsoft's and KDE's implementation of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate handling makes it possible for anyone with a valid VeriSign SSL site certificate to forge any other VeriSign SSL site certificate, and abuse hapless Konqueror and Internet Explorer users with impunity. In more detail, we have a …

    Software 12 Aug 2002, 06:38

  • Bell Labs simplifies single sign-on

    Secure Store

    Scientists at Bell Labs working on authentication systems have developed what they see as a simplified approach to single sign-on which lets users submit all their user name, password, certificate and encryption keys to one so-called Secure Store program, from where they can log into all their network-based services and …

    Security 12 Aug 2002, 07:38

  • IBM, MS, BEA combine rival web service specs

    Peace in our time

    Software giants BEA systems Inc, IBM Corp and Microsoft Corp have teamed up on yet another web services standards initiative, announcing the launch of three new specifications to address transacted communications of web services and a new language to describe business processes. The move is the latest in a series of …

    e-Business 12 Aug 2002, 07:39

  • Shadow Robot Co. builds Helping Hand

    Robotic Arm

    The Shadow Robot Company, based in London, has received £75,000 from the UK government to build a robotic arm to help people with physical impairments, Matthew Clarke writes. Shadow's goal is to produce a multi-functional robot that can be guided, trained and programmed to carry out useful tasks for people with disabilities. …

    Personal 12 Aug 2002, 07:47

  • IBM bags 10 new Linux customers

    Gearing up for LinuxWorld

    IBM Corp has released details of 10 new Linux customers ahead of the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco next week, looking to steal the limelight from server rival Sun Microsystems Inc, which will unveil its first general-purpose Linux servers at the event. The announcement of 10 corporate and government …

    Servers 12 Aug 2002, 07:47

  • .NET cloud on the Eclipse horizon

    New Improve plug-in

    The prospect that a vital element of Microsoft's .NET will debut in a Java IDE has come a step closer. A plug-in that connects Microsoft's Corp's C Sharp programming language with the Eclipse Framework has been built by Puteaux, France-based Improve SA. Eclipse is built in Java's Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT). Improve is …

    Software 12 Aug 2002, 07:48

  • Alcatel owns US employee's thoughts

    What's on your mind?

    A US man says he will appeal a court's decision which ruled that an idea that existed only in his mind belonged to his employer. Evan Brown has been working on an idea to convert old computer code so that it can be run on modern machine since 1975. When Brown mentioned the idea to his employers while he worked for DSC …

    Business 12 Aug 2002, 11:32

  • BOL UK to become online book club

    Turns over new leaf

    BOL.com - the Bertelsmann ecommerce venture created to rival the mighty Amazon - is to enter a new chapter of etailing in the UK. From September, BOL in the UK will cease being an etailer and instead become a book club. At the moment UK.BOL.com gives its punters access to around 1.5 million books, CDs, DVDs, videos, games and …

    Media 12 Aug 2002, 11:33

  • Sun revives Solaris for Intel

    8.0 next month, 9.0 next year

    Sun is to revive the Intel version of Solaris, which it effectively mothballed late last year. From September, Sun will offer Solaris x86 8.0, alongside Linux on its new 'Big Bear' Intel hardware that it will announce this morning in San Francisco. And from early next year, Solaris 9.0 for Intel will be an option, too. "We …

    Software 12 Aug 2002, 13:00

  • The hacker's worst enemy? Another hacker

    DNSCON 5 Community? What Community!

    By far the most entertaining - and controversial - speech of this year's DNSCON, the UK hacker conference, was delivered by Scotsman Gus (something of the Irvine Welsh of the UK's h4xOr scene) who lambasted the Hollywood image of hacking. Gus, who doesn't admit to being a hacker himself ('that would be criminal') but clearly …

    Security 12 Aug 2002, 14:01

  • EasyEverything fights music biz over download demands

    BPI wanted £1m from cybercafe chain

    Cybercafe chain EasyEverything is digging in its heels over the music industry's attempt to make it cough up £100,000 for allowing its customers to download music from the Net. EasyEverything - which vigorously defends its brand name and is happy to chase domain owners who include the term "easy" in their URL - said it stopped …

    Media 12 Aug 2002, 14:06

  • Dell's Xmas PDA?

    Meet its maker

    Digitimes suggests that Dell will enter the PocketPC business in time for Christmas with a $299 PDA. Wistron has scooped the contract, although Wistron itself wouldn't say who the customer is. Earlier this year, reports abounded that Dell's rock-bottom, sweatshop price demands had scared away other contract manufacturers, who …

    Personal 12 Aug 2002, 14:44

  • The SPEC CPU 2004 Benchmark search program

    Write a cool CPU benchmark. Win $5,000

    Write a cool CPU benchmark and you could win up to $5,000. And free benchmarking software. And see your efforts incorporated into the SPEC CPU 2004 benchmark suite. The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) produces one of the best-known suite of benchmarks, running the de facto performance standards for computer servers …

    Servers 12 Aug 2002, 16:03

  • Tiscali gets tough with service ‘abusers’

    Tries to flog 'em broadband

    Tiscali UK has threatened to boot off users who abuse its 24/7 unmetered dial-up service. In an email Tiscali warned punters that they have "extremely high usage" on their AnyTime dial-up packages. The ISP claims that this high usage level is "adversely affecting the service we can offer other users" and that unless punters " …

    Media 12 Aug 2002, 16:04

  • Big Biz users mistreat laptops

    Hooligans. All of them

    Physical misuse of laptops is behind the majority of faults with corporate machines, costing UK plc millions of unnecessary equipment repairs. The survey of 100 UK IT managers, conducted last month by Vanson Bourne Research, found that 41 per cent of respondents believe that the most common reason for laptop damage is physical …

    Personal 12 Aug 2002, 16:12

  • The Bunk stops here

    Site of The Day Stop the email rot with purportal

    When it comes to urban legends, get rich quick schemes, stupid chainmail, virus hoaxes, the Internet is the most virulent infectious agent of all. Most of this bunkum is forwarded at some point to The Reg's email inboxes. Most times we reach straight for the delete key; that's what it's there for. But sometimes the email …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2002, 17:41

  • Verity Stob's Edsger Dijkstra tribute

    Letters Recursion started here

    Re: Edsger Dijkstra: RIP Jim Tarvin writes a very kind letter, observing: You are obviously a man who would rather sleep with 10,000 anarchists than one monopoly capitalist. That all depends on personal hygiene, Jim. But 10,000 anarchists at once? He makes a point that EWDs Algol work gave us far more than a language:- …

    Letters 12 Aug 2002, 17:44

  • Unix GUI in heap big security trouble

    CDE ToolTalk bug

    The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) ToolTalk RPC database server contains a vulnerability that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on target systems or cause a denial of service. That's the gist of a warning issued today by security clearing house CERT which lists a variety of *Nix and Linux systems ( …

    Security 12 Aug 2002, 20:24

  • Sun's Big Bear Intel hug

    Who's been sleeping in my bed?

    Sun Microsystems has confirmed the specifications for its first general purpose server to feature Intel chips. The Sun LX50 is designed for networking applications like caching and streaming or for use as entry servers in high performance computing farms, will come in either one or dual processor versions, each featuring 1.4GHz …

    Servers 12 Aug 2002, 20:26

  • Sun library bug affects *Nix and Kerberos

    Potentially deeply unpleasant

    Administrators are urged to review the impact of a potentially serious vulnerability affecting many Linux and Unix distributions. Security clearing house CERT last week warned that integer overflow involving Sun Microsystems XDR library (also used by many other vendors in their own implementations) can lead to a variety of …

    Security 12 Aug 2002, 20:29