16th December 2002 Archive

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SIA calls on China to dismantle chip VAT rules

Barrier Harrier

The Semiconductor Industry Association has called on Beijing to scrap a VAT rebate system it claims favors Chinese chip makers. The SIA, in annual comments for the 2003 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, said that Beijing applied a 17% value added tax on sales of imported and domestically produce …

Channel 16 Dec 2002, 10:44
ITC finds evidence of Korean DRAM subsidies

Surprise, surprise

Micron Technology Inc won another victory in its efforts to prove that Korean DRAM vendors have received unfair support from their government when the US International Trade Commission delivered its preliminary ruling on the case last Friday. In a statement, the ITC said it had determined that "there is a reasonable …

Channel 16 Dec 2002, 10:44
IDC predicts strong security app sales

Intrusion Extrusion

Market forecasts made by researchers with International Data Corp suggest that integrated hardware appliances will next year become the primary purchase target for enterprises buying security software. The firewall/virtual private network (VPN) security appliance market maintained a healthy growth rate of 34% from 2000 to …

Security 16 Dec 2002, 10:44
Sun says Big Iron still matters as it pushes N1

Virtual Blades

When the companies that sell and support low-end servers and operating system platforms that really only scale well on commercial workloads to four or eight processors (the latter if you are lucky) talk about the future, they talk about clustering, Timothy Prickett Morgan writes. All of the major server and OS vendors have …

Servers 16 Dec 2002, 10:45
The balloon goes up on 300km Wi-Fi

Full of hot air

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) believes it has broken the record for successful broadband wireless data transfer. Using equipment supplied by Tel-Aviv, Israel-based Alvarion Ltd, the SSC, a state-owned, commercial company with about 300 employees in Solna and Kiruna, created the link between a stratospheric balloon …

Mobile 16 Dec 2002, 10:58
Vodafone Sweden stops wriggling on 3G hook

Takes it on the chin

Vodafone will not appeal the ruling of the Swedish telco regulator, the PTS, that it must stick to the December 2003 deadline of rolling out 3G coverage across the country, newswires report. Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile network operator, had applied for a two year extension to December 2005, complaining of difficulty in …

Mobile 16 Dec 2002, 11:50
New Netscape kills pop-ups

Populist movie

AOL Time Warner has released a new version of Netscape that allows users to suppress pop-up ads, one of the most hated ad formats. The fact that Internet users will now be able to configure their Netscape 7.01 browsers to prevent the appearance of pop-up ads on their screens means that the advertising format's current …

Media 16 Dec 2002, 12:34
Still time to win a shirt from Register ISP

All new sign-ups in Yuletide prize draw giveaway

There's still plenty of time to win a Reg t-shirt with VCISP.NET, the Register's very own ISP. All new sign-ups before 31 December will be entered into a prize draw and the first ten Vulture Capitalists out of the hat on 1 January will be able to choose either a Reg minilogo or a "Register London" t-shirt, details of which can …

Site News 16 Dec 2002, 12:35
Grid computing from Sun

Open Source and proud of it

Sun's open source Grid Engine software currently runs over 7000 grids with an average of 47 CPUs per grid, and a steadily increasing percentage of the grids it powers run Linux, according to John Tollefsrud, Sun's Grid marketing manager. This is not a Sun software product that gets as much press or visibility as Java, and the …

Data Center 16 Dec 2002, 12:56
Apple sues PowerMac Web leaker

Taste of own medicine?

Apple can't take its own medicine Monday 16th December 2002 by Two It seems that a commercially challenged individual got caught posting some of Apple's secrets on the web and now the company is suing. Surely there's no surprise in that and we wouldn't really care if it wasn't for the fact that Apple does have a history of …

Mac Channel 16 Dec 2002, 13:03
Home user insecurity spurs email virus growth in 2002

One in 200 emails now viral

The ratio of viruses to legitimate emails has increased over the course of this year. According to a review of 2002 by managed services firm MessageLabs, the ratio of viruses to clean emails is now one in 202, compared to one every 380 emails last year. During 2000, only one in every 790 emails were viral. According to …

Security 16 Dec 2002, 14:29
LINX traffic tops 20Gbps

The LINX effect makes Europe only one hop away

Britain is now more connected to Europe than ever - when it comes Internet connectivity. according to figures released last week by The London Internet Exchange (LINX), which handles up to 96 per cent of the UK's Internet traffic, show that Europe now has more Internet routes connected into the UK than the USA. More than 14,600 …

Data Networking 16 Dec 2002, 14:40
Jury scrutinises DMCA in ElcomSoft case

eBook'em, Dano

The jury are continuing their deliberations today in the closely watched criminal prosecution of Russian software firm ElcomSoft for offences against the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The jury retired on Thursday following six days in a San Jose federal court during which they heard testimony from Dmitry …

Media 16 Dec 2002, 19:00
Missing RIAA figures shoot down “piracy” canard

This duck won't quack on Hilary's farm no more

Research by George Zieman gives the true reason for falling CD sales: the major labels have slashed production by 25 per cent in the past two years, he argues. After keeping the figure rather quiet for two years, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says the industry released around 27,000 titles in 2001, down …

Media 16 Dec 2002, 20:22
Crusoe blade strikes 1Ghz, fries Banias?

Still the low power champ

It's plowing a lonely furrow, but Texas-based blade pioneer RLXcontinues to champion ultra high density boxes that put rivals to shame in the power stakes. Today RLX announced a blade based on the 1Ghz Crusoe processor from Transmeta. It fits the 24 blades in the original 3U box form factor that RLX launched in May last year. …

Servers 16 Dec 2002, 21:41