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9th September 2002 Archive

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  • Macromedia joins J2EE big league

    Profusion of Coldfusion

    Macromedia Inc joins the Java big league today, with the expected launch of its runtime environment and scripting language for IBM's WebSphere and Sun ONE Application Server. San Francisco, California-based Macromedia will launch ColdFusion MX, optimized to IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc's Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) …

    e-Business 9 Sep 2002, 08:31

  • D-Day arrives for Klez.E

    Fight it on the beaches...

    Klez.E, one of the variations of the nasty Klez family of computer worms, is set to detonate on Friday, but security experts are mixed on damage predictions. Klez.E is designed to deliver its payload on the sixth day of March, May, September and November, and if activated the bug has the ability to erase as many as 14 different …

    Security 9 Sep 2002, 08:32

  • Vodafone pushes ahead with Japanese 3G launch

    Go 3G, Go!

    With European operators including giant Vodafone Group Plc continuing to hesitantly push back the commercial launch date for third-generation networks in Europe, it comes as some surprise that Vodafone seems to be committing to a launch date this year for 3G services in Japan. Through its local subsidiary J-Phone Co, the …

    Security 9 Sep 2002, 08:33

  • IBM WebSphere gets integration facelift

    Portal play

    IBM Corp has announced several new integration features for its WebSphere Portal, the technological core of IBM's new 'Dynamic Workplaces' initiative. These enhancements include: new portal templates for several vertical sectors; integration of IBM's Content Manager product into WebSphere Portal; and a framework for …

    e-Business 9 Sep 2002, 08:33

  • 4-year PC upgrade cycle – ‘well entrenched’

    Modest IT spending growth

    Corporate IT spending will increase this year, a survey by SG Cowen has predicted, but PC vendors banking on pent-up demand and a long-delayed upgrade cycle to push growth rates back to 1990s levels will be disappointed. The survey of corporate spending plans suggested that IT spending growth will pickup this year, "only …

    Business 9 Sep 2002, 08:35

  • Check Point upgrades SmartCenter

    Goes for scale

    Check Point Software Technologies Ltd will tomorrow unveil an upgrade to its firewall/VPN management software designed to greatly simplify policy administration in large deployments. The aptly named Large Scale Manager is an extension to Check Point's SmartCenter Pro security gateway console that allows up to 1,000 …

    Security 9 Sep 2002, 08:36

  • Google gains mindshare with InfoSpace deal

    Sponsored listing

    Google Inc is now powering the web search of more top web sites than any of its rivals. The company inked a deal last week with InfoSpace Inc that will see its web search integrated into InfoSpace's family of web portals. As part of the deal, InfoSpace is taking Google's sponsored listings service, which provides paid-for links …

    Media 9 Sep 2002, 08:37

  • IBM dominates network consultancy market

    EDS, HP, Alcatel prop up the table

    IBM Global Services has reasserted itself as the number one player in the services industry this week, courtesy of some good old fashioned bean counting at IDC. The analyst has completed its assessment of the Network Consulting and Integration Services vendors and IBM's ever growing, shrinking teams of consultants has taken the …

    Data Networking 9 Sep 2002, 08:58

  • GPRS access for Windows laptops

    Review Sierra Wireless Aircard 750

    The Sierra Wireless Aircard 750 is a PC Card which gives a Windows laptop computer GPRS access. It is not alone. There are a number of competing cards—a flip through the advertisements in What Mobile will reveal four cards. So for £299 plus VAT it's up against the Globetrotter from Option International, the D211 from Nokia, …

    Mobile 9 Sep 2002, 09:13

  • WinXP SP1 out now, and new corp version leaked?

    Code with integrated SP1 hits web

    Service Pack 1 for Windows XP will be officially released to the general public today, but you can already get hold of it from Microsoft on a decent speed connection. ActiveWin.com, which has been doing quite well on SP1 leaks recently, spotted this one, and as this is presumably where you'll get it when the wraps actually do …

    Software 9 Sep 2002, 09:51

  • PC sales to disappoint (even more) in 2002

    IDC scales back estimates

    IDC has cut its growth projections for PC sales in 2002 from 4.7 percent down to 1.1 percent, reflecting a continuing slump in hardware spending. IDC's latest PC survey projects shipments of 135.5 million personal computers in 2002, compared with shipments of 134.1 million in 2001. The US-based technology research firm …

    Personal 9 Sep 2002, 10:28

  • UK bottom of yet another broadband league table

    Sack the manager

    Take-up of broadband in the UK lags pitifully behind other countries in Europe, according to the latest stats from Nielsen/NetRatings. It found that only one in ten people in the UK access the Net via a broadband connection, compared to four in ten in Germany and a third of home Net users in Sweden. Said Tom Ewing, Internet …

    Broadband 9 Sep 2002, 10:29

  • MS seeks ‘game hacker’ to beef up Xbox security

    So it'll get tougher with Xbox 2...

    Microsoft is clearly serious about stopping people messing around with Xbox, whether via mod chips, bios replacements or unauthorised insertions of alternative operating systems. The company is currently running a help-wanted ad for some kind of crypto gumshoe for the Xbox design team. This individual, who will be known only by …

    Software 9 Sep 2002, 10:30

  • Todmorden triggers ADSL checker first

    Hits BT target

    Todmorden in West Yorkshire has become the first area in the UK to reach its trigger level to be converted to broadband. According to ADSLGuide it hit the magic 200 mark at around 10.15am this morning. Today's milestone comes despite Todmorden having a clutch of registrations deleted from its total after it was found that …

    Broadband 9 Sep 2002, 11:17

  • Amazon.com sues Expedia for late payments

    Take a hike

    Amazon.com is sueing online travel outfit Expedia for allegedly failing to cough up $3.66m as part of a contractual agreement between the two companies. In September 2001 Amazon.com opened the Amazon.com Travel store featuring travel booking services from Expedia. According to documents seen by Reuters Expedia was due to pay …

    Media 9 Sep 2002, 12:44

  • Orange pre-pay top ups through hole-in-the-wall

    Abbey National deal

    Abbey National customers throughout the UK will be able to top up their Orange mobile phones using the bank's cashpoints from today. The service, which will be available from all the banks 3,000 ATMs, is available only to Abbey National customers who also use Orange's prepaid mobile phone. However the bank is in talks with …

    e-Business 9 Sep 2002, 12:48

  • HP makes teeny molecular memory chip

    Dramatic breakthrough etc.

    HP's boffins have built a tiny 64-bit memory chip using molecular devices as active switches. This is described as a breakthrough in molecular electronics. For instance the chip is the first to combine both memory and logic on the same nanonscale molecular circuits. And it's very, very tiny, fitting inside a square micron. To …

    Channel 9 Sep 2002, 13:47

  • Cisco expels Dell from reseller fold

    Get your Routers off my Lawn

    Dell's increased interest in the networking market has prompted Cisco Systems to strike it from its list of accredited resellers. Cisco will "deauthorise" Dell from September 25, according to CRN US, which broke the news Dell told CRN that it will continue to sell networking kit from Enterasys Networks, Extreme Networks, and …

    Data Networking 9 Sep 2002, 13:51

  • HP fires ‘Microsoft-baiting’ Perens

    'Amicable' departure

    HP has fired Bruce Perens - the leading Open Source evangelist and former Debian project lead - for Microsoft-baiting, he says. "It came after a long, long warning," Perens told the New York Times. "The thing that I did that was most hazardous for HP is the Microsoft-baiting I tend to do." Perens joined HP as Open Source …

    Software 9 Sep 2002, 14:52

  • UK call centres knackered by BT fault

    One out, all Out

    Part of BT's phone service was knocked out earlier today causing disruption for some of the UK's biggest companies. Details are still sketchy but it is understood that the problem has hit a number of BT's major corporate customers that run call centres to communicate with their punters. The fault lies with BT's Intelligent …

    Business 9 Sep 2002, 14:54

  • Judge rules PayPal unfair

    One for consumer power

    Disgruntled customers of PayPal have won an important battle after a US judge ruled its arbitration policy rigid and unfair. The decision means that punters who use the online payment service and who maintain they've been treated horrendously (check out NoPayPal.com and PayPalWarning.com to hear some real horror stories) could …

    Media 9 Sep 2002, 16:54

  • I have seen the future, and it's yesterday

    Stupidly Late Review Psion netBook finally and belatedly becomes unspeakably wonderful

    A long time ago* (in computer years, at least) Psion launched the netBook, which was (and still is, in its own small way) a useful subnotebook variant of the Series 5, but with a decent-sized keyboard and a reasonable, backlit, colour screen. I instantly pounced on Psion demanding an eval unit, not merely because I was a …

    Personal 9 Sep 2002, 18:23

  • Bill Gates sells MSFT, takes Prozac

    In sickness and in wealth

    Bill Gates has sold almost half a billion dollar's worth of Microsoft stock this year, and begun to invest heavily in big pharma. In the second half of this year he bought 2.5 million shares in Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Prozac, and also made major investments in Merck and Pfizer, notes Information Week. The 9 million shares …

    Business 9 Sep 2002, 19:48

  • SGI raises the Itanic

    Linux NUMA benchmark breakthrough

    Earlier this summer, SGI launched a tour to reassure customers that its heart and soul remained with MIPS and Irix. Today it touted impressive memory benchmarks for its Itanium2 hardware, due to be launched next year, and it's running Linux. SGI clocked over 120GB per second on the STREAM benchmark with a 64-CPU configuration. …

    Data Center 9 Sep 2002, 19:49

  • Spam killing Haikus come to Europe

    Poetic justice in the Netherlands

    Habeas, a start-up which embeds haikus in email headers to certify messages are from opt-in lists and not spam, has clinched its first deal in Europe. Netherlands-based ISP Villa Hosting has adopted the Habeas Sender Warranted Email service to improve its ability to distinguish between genuine email and spam. John Caspers, …

    Media 9 Sep 2002, 23:30

  • IBM Killed the Video Store

    Lights, camera, bandwidth

    IBM is supplying the technology for an upcoming online movie rental service backed by five major Hollywood studios. Movielink, a joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros, will offer films for download to broadband users in the US. IBM is to …

    Media 9 Sep 2002, 23:39