5th December 2002 Archive

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Total Poindexter Awareness: essential information

Americans bite back against the Panopticon

John Gilmore has picked up a call to give the government's snoopers and window-peepers a taste of their own medicine. His suggestion is at the top of MIT's Blogdex today, so it looks like it's already gaining some traction. To illustrate the potential loss of privacy SF Weekly columnist Matt Smith called Admiral John Poindexter …

Music and Media 5 Dec 2002, 01:09
HP narrows focus for mega services deals

Is it 'transformational'?

Hewlett Packard Co is seeking to strike more $1bn-plus services contracts but has said it is increasingly prepared to walk away from some deals, writes Joe Fay. The company is prepared to pass up on some of the industry's largest transactions even as the number of such mega services contracts begins to shrink, and the …

Business 5 Dec 2002, 09:32
Java community to nail mobile phone spec

It's called JSR 185, for all you Java cellphone aficionados

Java community members are taking another stab at Java for small devices, with plans for a specification designed specifically for ISVs targeting cell phones. Java Community Process (JCP) members are pushing Java Specification Request (JSR) 185, which rounds up a number of existing Java APIs and technologies in an …

Mobile 5 Dec 2002, 09:33
France Telecom to reveal debt-reduction plans

Protected jobs limit options

France Telecom SA will today reveal its plan to reduce its debt burden in a move that will have big implications for carriers across Europe. The company will be shored up short-term by a 9bn euro ($8.9bn) cash injection from the French government. This will be done via an arms-length organization designed to create the …

Mobile 5 Dec 2002, 09:34
Klez tops 2002 virus charts

Plus top 10 virus hoaxes

Klez is the most abundant virus for 2002, according to Sophos, the anti-virus software firm. The second most common virus is the Bugbear worm, which made the number two slot even though it was only detected in October 2002. In third place comes Badtrans, the password-stealing worm which was first detected in November 2001. …

Anti-Virus 5 Dec 2002, 09:48
PS2 trounces console rivals in UK sales rush

All I want for Christmas is my PS2

The PlayStation 2 continues to dominate hardware sales in the UK, with over 90,000 units of the console sold in the last week of November - three times the sales of Xbox and GameCube combined, and well on track to hit Sony's ambitious installed base projections for the end of the year. Xbox benefited significantly from the …

Personal 5 Dec 2002, 10:04
NTL and AOL in cable broadband deal

Spirit of cooperation

NTL customers are to be given the choice of signing up to AOL's broadband service from the spring, following a wholesale agreement between the two companies. The £85m deal over four years means that AOL will be able to provide its service to 7.2m broadband-enabled households in the cableco's franchise area. Today's agreement …

Telecoms 5 Dec 2002, 10:05
MS CFO vows more resources to make Xbox succeed

And these aren't going ot be Redmond billions, either...

Xbox is not going to go away, and Microsoft is ready to pour more resources into the games console, said company CFO John Connors yesterday. Connors, who was apparently being webcast to a closed Credit Suisse First Boston conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, was responding to the question of whether Microsoft had an exit strategy …

Personal 5 Dec 2002, 11:15
Intel Canterwood, Springdale to be easier to overclock?

'Limited overclocking functions' reported

Intel's policy on overclocking is about to change, according to DigiTimes. The company, whose overclocking policy lies somewhere between 'neither support nor condone' and active opposition, is reported to be planning "limited overclocking functions" for its forthcoming Canterwood and Springdale based motherboards, due in Q2 next …

Channel 5 Dec 2002, 12:18
AOL UK in profit

Revenue of £320m

AOL UK is the first standalone AOL service outside of the US to be EBITDA-positive (earnings before interest etc), according to a briefing yesterday about the future for AOL. AOL Europe - made up primarily of the UK, France and Germany - is expected to generate around $1.2bn in revenues this year - almost double what it made …

Music and Media 5 Dec 2002, 12:19
Violent ads given bloody nose

This is gonna hurt

Violence appears to be the common the theme for the latest punishment beatings being dished out by the advertising watchdog. In its latest round of kickings, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received complaints about two easynet ads that appeared in the Evening Standard. One featured a picture of a man being punched …

Music and Media 5 Dec 2002, 15:08