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13th September 2002 Archive

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  • Top scientist and Itanic critic ‘leaves’ NEC

    Fear The Fist

    Who will now dare criticize Intel's Itanium processor? Even some of the most distinguished engineers in the industry might now have second thoughts before speaking freely on the subject. NEC's chief technologist poked fun at the IA-64 instruction set at an industry conference in July, and has now paid the price with his job. …

    Channel 13 Sep 2002, 00:15

  • PDA sales carry on slumping in Q2

    IDC surveys wreckage

    The worldwide market for personal digital assistants (PDAs) continues on its precipitous slide, falling 9.3% in the second quarter of 2002, according to market research house International Data Corp (IDC). IDC's figures are far worse than those published in early August by rival market research house Gartner Inc's …

    Personal 13 Sep 2002, 07:40

  • Intel plans two path development for mobile chips

    Overlaps, underlays

    Intel Corp will continue to incorporate its desktop processor technology, including the successor to Pentium 4, into its mobile product line well after the launch of the mobile only Banias architecture next year. The vendor had previously said that the Pentium 4M line, introduced earlier this year, would overlap with …

    Channel 13 Sep 2002, 07:41

  • BEA and Borland partnership: separate and equal?

    IBM enemies flock together

    A deal between Borland Software Corp and BEA Systems Inc is a relationship of equals that lock steps certain platform and developer products against a common enemy - IBM. It's not a precursor to acquisition, Gavin Clarke writes. That's according to BEA and Santa Clara, California-based Borland who this month will launch, …

    e-Business 13 Sep 2002, 07:41

  • Microsoft wins Legend Tablet PC deal

    China joins the pack

    Microsoft Corp hopes its up-coming Tablet PC will make a splash in China, having signed a deal with dominant manufacturer the Legend Group Ltd. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is reported to have signed a deal with Beijing, China-based Legend Group, which Microsoft called China's number-one PC manufacturer. Legend …

    Personal 13 Sep 2002, 07:42

  • Patent fees weigh down 3G uptake

    Patently obvious

    The cracks keep on appearing in the third-generation mobile market, but the news is not another European operator abandoning its 3G license, instead it is the market realization that technology licensing costs could torpedo the market for 3G before it even takes off. The 3G standard controlled by US technology company …

    Mobile 13 Sep 2002, 07:43

  • Register.com v. Domain Registry of Canada

    More slamming charges

    Register.com Inc is suing a competitor for allegedly using deceptive tactics to lure away its domain name registration customers. But defendant Domain Registry of Canada Inc seems to think Register.com is using very similar tactics itself, Kevin Murphy writes. Register.com sued DROC in its native New York this week, …

    Music and Media 13 Sep 2002, 07:43

  • First ever smiley found, preserved for posterity

    MS researcher and CMU staff find backup tape

    The original smiley, or emoticon, invented in 1982 by Scott Fahlman but subsequently lost, has been retrieved through the efforts of Microsoft researcher Mike Jones and facilities staff at Carnegie Mellon University. And isn't it a blessing to find Microsoft Research staff keeping themselves profitably occupied like this, when …

    Music and Media 13 Sep 2002, 09:35

  • AMD delays Clawhammer, Barton

    New roadmaps

    AMD yesterday published revised its processor roadmaps, showing later than expected launches for 64-bit Clawhammers and 32-bit Bartons. Clawhammer chips are now, in AMD's phrase expected to "ship for revenue" Q1, 2003 - previously they were slated for shipping in Q4 this year. This means that Hammer-enabled systems should be …

    Channel 13 Sep 2002, 09:38

  • Porno firm wants Napster

    Brand extension

    Nasdaq-listed pornography firm Private Media Group has made a bid for Napster, extending the drawn-out demise of the music file-swapping service. Private Media said that it had offered to acquire the Napster trademark and the Napster.com Internet address for one million shares of Private Media stock, currently valued at USD2.4 …

    Music and Media 13 Sep 2002, 10:35

  • Orange moves out of the red (kinda)

    Rosy figures disguise parent's problems

    Orange has hit profitability for the first time since its flotation in 1991. Kinda. The headline figure it wants you to remember is the EBS (Earnings Before Bad Stuff). After Bad Stuff, in this case a hefty investment writedown, and the mobile telco is still swimming in the Red Ink Sea. For the first six months of this year, …

    Business 13 Sep 2002, 11:29

  • Ouch! Fujitsu to replace 300,000 faulty HDDs

    What does this do to the MTBF?

    Fujitsu may have to replace up to 300,000 faulty hard disk drives, made between September 2000 and 2001. They can be found in NEC and IBM PCs, as well as Fujitsu Siemens home-grown PCs, according to Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai, which estimates that replacement programme will cost Fujitsu 10 billion yen (approx $US 83m). The …

    Personal 13 Sep 2002, 11:32

  • Crash! Dud Fujitsu HDDs all over UK

    Compaq, RM, Viglen, Hugh Symons etc

    Our story today on Fujitsu's HDD-recall has prompted an immediate response from punters and system builders. In the UK, the bad Fujis have been spotted in Compaq, RM, Viglen and Hugh Symons PCs. We are publishing some of the letters sent to us within the first hour of publication of the original article. It looks like Fujitsu …

    Personal 13 Sep 2002, 12:06

  • Rambus euro patent ruling is Curate's Egg

    Good, bad and ugly

    Rambus yesterday announced a mixed bag of results from the European Patent Office (EPO), related to Rambus' patent 0 525 068. Crucially, the EPO "affirmed the novelty and inventiveness of the patent, rejecting numerous 'prior art' arguments raised by three major semiconductor manufacturers", Rambus writes. This is a victory for …

    Channel 13 Sep 2002, 12:49

  • Jeeves Systems buys UK IBM Var

    Cotec

    Jeeves Systems, a Belgian-owned IBM VAR, has added the UK to its coverage, through the acquisition of Cotec Computing Systems. Terms are undisclosed. Cotec brings £15m worth of annual turnover to the table, taking Jeeves' group sales to £50m. Jeeves operates throughout Benelux and in France. ®

    Channel 13 Sep 2002, 13:14

  • Word 97 feature spawns no-brainer pilfering exploit

    Document Collaboration Spyware

    Microsoft is investigating a security vulnerability with Word 97 which allows attackers to filch documents from victim's PCs using a craft social engineering attack. If an attacker can persuade a target to open, modify and then return a document to him he can snaffle sensitive files on a user's PC. The files will be silently …

    Software 13 Sep 2002, 13:20

  • Unusual phone from mysterious Chinese company

    Review Amoisonic A8

    The Amoisonic A8 is an unusual phone from a mysterious Chinese company. No price has been set for the European launch, but going on far eastern prices (they claim it is the best selling phone in China) around £300 without a contract is a good guess. Amoisonic quotes a standby time of 60 to 120 hours and a talktime of three to …

    Mobile 13 Sep 2002, 14:14

  • BOFH: PFY's Sulk

    Episode 19 That's it, I'm Leaving!

    BOFH 2002: Episode 19 IT WOULD APPEAR that the Boss has said something to upset The PFY. And me, the heartless android bastard that I am, didn't notice this and intervene on his behalf as a good supervisor would... Sigh. So now The PFY's in one of those moods that REEEEAAALLLLY puts a strain on the old office sanity situation …

    BOFH 13 Sep 2002, 15:51

  • Apple audio backchat, outsourcing, dead certs

    Letters Vexed

    Unravelling the outsourcing hairball How to get out of Outsourcing One of the problems IBM Warwick (UK) is always complaining about, is that customers either do not let go of the management of their contracts, or do not prevent their own IT staff from continuing to interfeer after the management of the contract _should_ have …

    Letters 13 Sep 2002, 16:02

  • Imagining a mobile phone P2P network

    Ringtone swapping parties

    Can mobile phones acts as nodes in vast peer-to-peer networks? A French start-up called Apeera reckons the answer is yes and aims to supply mobiles subscribers with a network-based personal repository for content such as ring-tones, music, logos, clipart, photos, games and other applications. Apeera's technology lets users …

    Mobile 13 Sep 2002, 19:48