25th October 2002 Archive

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Alternative browser villains named and shamed

Updated Reg readers have their say on Opera, Mozilla, Konqueror site exclusions

Our stories on how online banks, retailers and utilities make life difficult for Linux users, or just people who prefer alternative browsers (such as Opera) has touched a nerve among many of our readers. Although Opera, Mozilla and KDE's Konqueror allow user agent spoofing, which allows you to change your preferences to …

Music and Media 25 Oct 2002, 09:29
Quest Buys Sitraka for Java Skills

Says a good fit

Database tools vendor Quest Software Inc plans to pay up to $54.7m for Sitraka Inc, a privately held company that offers applications designed to eliminate performance bottlenecks in Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) environments. Quest said that by combining its own database and application performance management software …

Software 25 Oct 2002, 09:59
3m want broadband

Really?

Three million punters - a third of UK Net users - want broadband, according to research from Oftel. This evidence of demand should bring a smile to the faces of those ISPs and telco's who have staked their future prosperity on broadband. What the Oftel research fails to uncover is what exactly is stopping these three million …

Music and Media 25 Oct 2002, 10:01
IBM builds world's smallest circuit

Domino theory

Boffins at IBM have prototyped what is believed to be the world's smallest working computer circuits, using an innovative approach in which individual molecules move across an atomic surface like toppling dominoes. The new "molecule cascade" technique enabled the scientists to make working digital-logic elements about 260,000 …

Channel 25 Oct 2002, 10:04
Mixed VeriSign results, closes unit

Expects decline in domain business to slow

VeriSign Inc yesterday announced it is to close a poorly performing sales division, after a mixed third quarter that saw sequential revenue dips in its domain name and telecoms business, but encouraging highlights including an increased cash pile, writes Kevin Murphy. "It's fair to say our results were mixed with some …

Business 25 Oct 2002, 10:08
E-card slimeware delivers pr0n

Trojan routes surfers to racy sites

It's no coincidence that one of the most recent Trojan horse programs to enter the FBI's bi-weekly rogues gallery of malicious code is named after an Internet porn company. The program, dubbed "Cytron" by the bureau's National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and some anti-virus vendors, is a covert browser plug-in …

Security 25 Oct 2002, 10:11
EMC steps up CIM support, but lauds WideSky

Two horse kind of thing

EMC Corp yesterday continued its attempt to ride two horses at once, stepping up the profile of its support for the CIM storage standard at the same time as promoting its proprietary WideSky middleware, which many see as a direct competitor to CIM, writes Tim Stammers. The company made two announcements, one declaring …

Storage 25 Oct 2002, 10:15
Sun poised to gain WS-I board seat

That's that one sorted out then...

Sun Microsystems Inc has joined an IBM Corp and Microsoft Corp-backed web services body, potentially drawing to a close months of hostility over standards and specifications, writes Gavin Clarke. Santa Clara, California-based Sun said yesterday it has joined the Web Services Interoperability (WS-I) organization, a move …

Music and Media 25 Oct 2002, 10:18
Certifiably certified

Network security certs become meaningless

A recent issue of SC Magazine, one of the information security industry’s cheerleading trade rags, featured a full-page advertisement with the following emblazoned across the top of the page: “How to increase your salary by 21.39% in 7 days or less.” At first glance, I thought it was from the same people sending “Get Your …

Security 25 Oct 2002, 10:29
Closing spyware loopholes

Court decision against AOL sets limits

I have this terrible recurring nightmare. One night, there is a knock on the door and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are there. When I ask why, they reply, "We are here for your kidney. Don't you remember the contract you clicked on when you downloaded the beta version of Internet Explorer? Don't you read those things?" …

Security 25 Oct 2002, 10:51
Fabulous fonts in Linux

Howto It's easier than you think

One of the more common disappointments reported about the Linux GUI is clunky fonts under X. While it's true that they can look pretty rough out of the box, it's also true that sharpening them up is easy and well worth the effort, thanks to MS TrueType fonts and the open-source FreeType project which makes them useable on Linux …

Software 25 Oct 2002, 11:35
Lack of content holding back broadband in US

Users not content

Price and the lack of compelling content is hampering the take-up of broadband in the US, according to the latest research from In-Stat/MDR. Despite this, those behind the research reckon that by the end of the year nearly one in four of online households will subscribe to a broadband service. The research predicts that the …

Music and Media 25 Oct 2002, 12:31
Punters prefer cable says blueyonder

'Limp stunt'

Eight out of ten people prefer cable broadband compared to ADSL. That's the conclusion of independent research commissioned by Telewest's broadband outfit, blueyonder. Its figures are based on those people who live in areas where they have a choice of broadband technology. According to blueyonder, given the option of cable or …

Telecoms 25 Oct 2002, 12:33
Chopped cable knocks dabs.com off the web

'Please tell everybody my site's down'

"Could you please tell everybody my web site is down?" This is not ordinarily the kind of request you get from the boss of a giant online reselling outfit, but it is precisely what dabs.com CEO Dave Atherton just asked us, and we are happy to oblige. He has, after all the HP Halloween Ball to attend tonight (another one of those …

Channel 25 Oct 2002, 14:44
Guerilla marketing tactics spawn viral fears

View a greetings card and spam everyone you know

Users could be induced into spamming all their contacts after a greeting card site decided to apply highly questionable social engineering tricks to its latest marketing campaign. AV vendor Sophos reports receiving several calls from users concerned they have received or sent a virus disguised as a link to a greetings card on …

Malware 25 Oct 2002, 15:29
Amazon sales up a third

Losses fall

Web bookseller, Amazon, claims its decision to lower prices is beginning to pay dividends. "We've lowered prices five times over the last 15 months, and simply put, it's working," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. Bezon was speaking yesterday as Amazon published its Q3 results. The etailer reported that net …

Business 25 Oct 2002, 15:30
MS defiles NYC with with killer-bee adverts

Updated Company apologizes

New Yorkers are complaining about a flood of butterfly advertising decals being pasted to every available surface in town to promote MSN-8, the New York Times reports. The NY decals tie into another ad featuring the silhouette of a ghastly adult male with ludicrous antennae reminiscent of the "Killer Bee" skits from Saturday …

Software 25 Oct 2002, 22:00