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24th September 2002 Archive

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  • Readers scorn ‘Lawsuits in Motion’ keyboard claim

    Letters And a bonus Brief History of Patents

    Handspring told us that it had no public comment to make on the Research in Motion's patent infringement lawsuit. But you have plenty to say about this claim, based on a patent for a very small keyboard on a wireless device. Yet another blow for any sort of interface standardization on hand-held devices, I suppose. Imagine if …

    Personal 24 Sep 2002, 06:24

  • Nortel builds security framework

    Pads out products

    Nortel Networks Corp yesterday released two enhancements to products in its range of security devices and published a catchall Unified Security Architecture how-to guide for companies planning to comprehensively secure their networks. Nortel became the second major firewall vendor to announce support for SSL-based …

    Security 24 Sep 2002, 06:55

  • Microsoft reveals Business Apps roadmap

    SME push

    Microsoft Corp is starting to open up regarding the scope of its business software ambitions with the revelation at its partner conference in Minneapolis last week that it plans to launch five application sets over the next 12 months in a bid to provide end-to-end software support for SME business activities. Three of the …

    Software 24 Sep 2002, 06:55

  • Unisys debuts CMP-based ClearPath mainframes

    Running MCP

    The Burroughs half of the Unisys mainframe business gets its first CMP-based mainframe which uses CMOS mainframe engines with the launch of the ClearPath Plus Libra 180, writes Timothy Prickett Morgan. Until now, the ClearPath Plus line has supported the MCP virtual machine (MCPvm) variant of the MCP operating system as an …

    Servers 24 Sep 2002, 06:55

  • ICANN says ISOC for .org

    Despite criticisms

    The Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers yesterday said it still thinks the Internet Society and Afilias Ltd is the best choice to run the .org top-level internet domain, when VeriSign Inc's contract expires December 31. The recommendation, which is still subject to board approval, comes after a period of public …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 06:55

  • Fujitsu and Toshiba chip merger unlikely

    Back-pedalling

    There was confusion yesterday over how far Toshiba Corp and Fujitsu Ltd plan to push the chip alliance the two Japanese electronics giants announced in June. Far Eastern reports yesterday suggested that contrary to original expectations the two companies will not be exploring an eventual merger of their chip operations. …

    Channel 24 Sep 2002, 06:56

  • Qwest deletes $950m of hollow swaps

    Improperly booked revenue

    Qwest Communications International Inc will delete $950m of revenue it recorded from optical-capacity swaps from its 2000 and 2001 accounts, after deciding they were incorrectly booked. The Denver, Colorado-based carrier blamed the error on its former auditor Arthur Andersen LLP, and warned that its historical financial …

    Business 24 Sep 2002, 06:59

  • AMD cranks up mobile Athlon XP speeds

    Two new numbers

    AMD has launched two top-of-the range mobile processors, the Athlon XP 2000+ and the 1900+. It's exhausting these days to find the actual clock speeds of AMD CPUs (AMD publishes them and promptly buries them deep on the web site). But suffice it to say both processors run less fast than 2GHz and 1.9GHz respectively. But as AMD …

    Channel 24 Sep 2002, 08:30

  • Palm'sTungsten and MIMS target RIM's LIMs

    Sosumi

    No sooner was the ink dry on the previews of Palm's new wireless plans, than the company delivered details of branding and the server software part of the puzzle today. Palm will divide its PDA lines into business and consumer offerings, Tungsten and Zire, the former complementing the new Tungsten server-side software you can …

    Personal 24 Sep 2002, 09:25

  • GeForce FAQ returns from the dead

    New home at the Technology Vault

    A popular unofficial Nvidia technical resource which disappeared when cybersquatters pounced on its URL is back from the dead. The GeForce FAQ has a new home at UK tech community website the Technology Vault. GeForce FAQ author Christopher Hill selected the site after a beauty parade (several Nvidia fan sites also offered to …

    Personal 24 Sep 2002, 09:36

  • UK car site ripped off by Chinese

    Flattery or forgery?

    Those behind the New Car Net Web site are gobsmacked after they found that a Chinese operation had "completely ripped off" the content and design of the UK new car guide. They've discovered that Chinese Web site Car-Good.net looks suspiciously like their own - and they're not happy. Director Massimo Pini told The Register: " …

    e-Business 24 Sep 2002, 09:37

  • Protest site shut over alleged police ‘intimidation’

    Parking clowns eclipsed by new development

    The Parking Clowns Web site - which ridicules the parking policies of Canterbury City Council and its "over zealous [traffic] wardens" - has been suspended following allegations of police intimidation. Schoolmaster Gareth Thomas, the author of Parking Clowns, claims Kent Police are "watching the site like hawks" and believes it …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 09:57

  • Intel Ireland ‘warms down’ over Christmas

    Q4 cost cuts

    A company spokesperson explained to ElectricNews.Net that most of the company's 3,200 employees will be asked to take leave between 20 December and 6 January, as the firm prepares for sluggish sales following Christmas. The spokesperson explained that employees who have no annual leave remaining for 2002 will be asked to take an …

    Channel 24 Sep 2002, 10:00

  • At least 100 countries building cyber weapons – expert

    Excess of evil...

    Cyberterrorism hyping has reached new heights - according to a report in the Melbourne Herald Sun, at least. The Herald quotes expert Matthew Devost, speaking at a meeting at the US consulate there recently, as claiming the CIA believes at least 100 countries are investigating waging war by computer, or cyberterror. Mr Devost …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 10:09

  • Great Fujitsu hard drive fiasco rumbles on

    It's heating up...

    Questions surrounding the Great Fujitsu Hard Drive Fiasco simply won't go away, however much the Japanese manufacturer hopes that they might. Earlier this month we reported a product recall - sorry replacement - of 300,000 faulty Fujitsu hard drives. The fault, which is supposedly brought on by heat and prolonged usage, lies …

    Channel 24 Sep 2002, 12:04

  • Junk email on the increase

    Firms just beginnning to realise its potential

    There's bad news for anyone who is sick and tired of the increasing amount of commercial email flooding their inboxes - there's going to be more. A survey by email publishing outfit emedia claims that nearly 90 per cent of companies it surveyed aims to increase their spending on email marketing over the next 12 months. Why? …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 12:07

  • Watchdog gets tough on text spam

    Pack it in

    ICSTIS - the premium rate telephone services watchdog - has warned that it will come down hard on any operators misleading phone users with dodgy money-making text messaging scams. Publishing its latest report Director George Kidd said: "The use of text messaging to promote premium rate services has many obvious consumer …

    Mobile 24 Sep 2002, 12:09

  • MS design switch thwarts Xbox mod chips

    Mod vs mod...

    Microsoft has made some modifications to the internal design of Xbox in the name of security, the most immediate upshot being apparently that existing mod chips won't work with the new design. According to a posting last week on the Xboxhacker BBS (reproduced here, the first of the new designs have been spotted in Australia. …

    Software 24 Sep 2002, 14:02

  • Cambridgeshire snuggles up to NTL

    Local govt led broadband

    NTL Business has joined forces with Cambridgeshire County Council to build a broadband network for the county's rural community. The £29m contract should bring broadband to 300 council offices, schools, libraries and community access points across Cambridgeshire by 2004. Ultimately some 700 sites will be connected to the …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 17:11

  • Thus challenges Nominet on ‘whois’ privacy issue

    Bother

    Thus - the alternative telco group that owns the Demon ISP - is looking to challenge plans to introduce changes to Nominet's 'whois' Web site ownership directory. It claims that Nominet's decision to publish the contact addresses of all registrants regarded as "trading" or "businesses" might not be legal. It has already held …

    Music and Media 24 Sep 2002, 17:14

  • Peter Gabriel album preview deployed in MS audio push

    First the Stones, now this. We have nothing to fear...

    Microsoft today announced that Peter Gabriel's new album Up would be the first ever in 5.1 surround sound to be made available via digital download. We at The Register are unable to confirm the truth of this, as religious convictions prohibit us from possessing all of the bits necessary to get the thing, but for the sake of …

    Software 24 Sep 2002, 18:46

  • Itanic: you've seen the movie, now buy the book

    Boiler Room Potboiler

    Another week, another Itanium launch: only this time it's the book of the project. "Itanium Rising" is authored by HP's Jim Carlson and chip designer Jerry Huck, HP's lead architect for IA-64. The 300 page book - that's thirty for every year of the project's life to date - has the obligatory long and hyperbolic subtitle (eg, …

    Channel 24 Sep 2002, 19:41