The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

9th January 2003 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Unions call for workplace snooping clarification

    Not to be sniffed at

    The TUC is calling for clear guidelines to halt prevent employers snooping without reason on their staff. Trade unions say new Information Commissioner Richard Thomas must protect workers and publish a long-overdue code of conduct that has been under review for the last couple of years. Union officials claim the information …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2003, 09:39

  • IBM launches supercomputing on demand

    Linux cluster, AIX grid

    IBM Corp's Server Group and Global Services organizations have got together to launch the first true utility computing offering for server customers from Big Blue, writes Timothy Prickett Morgan. The supercomputing on demand offering is the first in what will likely be a flood of similar announcements for just about every kind …

    Servers 9 Jan 2003, 10:21

  • Sun repositions first plank in N1 strategy

    Touching the crossbar

    Sun Microsystems will today detail the first fruit from last year's acquisition of start-up Pirus Networks Inc, in the form of a storage virtualization engine which will represent the first phase of what Sun has grandly called its N1 network initiative. N1 is a marketing label for the storage and server products and …

    Storage 9 Jan 2003, 10:25

  • Microsoft adds security layers to ISA Server

    System wizards

    Microsoft Corp will start to foster use of two-factor user-authentication and application-layer firewall defenses with the Feature Pack 1 upgrade to its Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000 firewall and web-caching server, intended to strengthen security across Microsoft Exchange Server email and Internet …

    Security 9 Jan 2003, 10:27

  • Motorola expects good year for handsets

    But more competition

    Motorola Inc, the world's second largest mobile handset manufacturer, is predicting a turnaround in the fortunes of handset makers in 2003, after two years of misery. In an interview with Reuters, president and COO of the Schaumburg, Illinois-based electronics giant, Mike Zafirovski, said he expects all of Motorola's business …

    Mobile 9 Jan 2003, 10:27

  • Members rally round Liberty Alliance

    Of course we love it

    More than half of Liberty Alliance Group members will implement version 1.1 of the organization's specifications for federated network identity within the next 12 months. That's according to a recent internal poll of Liberty's founder and sponsor-level members. Liberty said 59% either plan to implement the specifications, …

    Hardware 9 Jan 2003, 10:33

  • France Telecom bail-out faces EC probe

    Pukka loan, or state aid?

    The European Commission has been forced to launch a formal investigation into whether the French government's €9bn ($9.3bn) assistance to France Telecom SA breaches regulations that ban state aid. As third-placed French mobile operator Bouygues Telecom SA has made a complaint to regulators, they had little option but to …

    Hardware 9 Jan 2003, 10:35

  • Nvidia targets Mac games users

    The Way It's Meant to Be Played

    Nvidia is muscling its way onto the packaging of a significant number of games for the Mac platform. Unlike the array of PC publishers and developers - who must be wooed individually – the Mac gaming software community is close-knit and means that Nvidia's “The Way It's Meant to Be Played” logo will get a lot of exposure. …

    Mac Channel 9 Jan 2003, 10:46

  • Eclipse cuts broadband costs

    January Sale

    Exeter-based ISP Eclipse Internet has cut the cost of hooking up to broadband. Eclipse is offering a broadband starter pack, including set-up fee, modem and microfilters for £74.99 - a saving of £50. It also reports that the connection fee for the service will be halved from £50 to £25. Oh, and it's also reduced prices for …

    Telecoms 9 Jan 2003, 11:00

  • MS, Intel talk up portable video players

    Reference platform

    Microsoft and Intel have devised a PC-centric reference platform for portable video players. Microsoft is providing the software, of course, an optimised version of Windos CE.Net called Media2Go, and Intel is supplying the hardware reference platform. Called Portable Media Player (PMP), the design is built around an XScale …

    Personal 9 Jan 2003, 11:41

  • UK racks up record games sales

    Far out

    The UK registered a bumper year for the sale of video games and consoles in 2002, according to industry figures published today. UK sales of leisure software and hardware reached a record £2.07bn in 2002 - up eight per cent on 2001. ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) reported that the market …

    Personal 9 Jan 2003, 13:34

  • The return of the celebrity virus

    Avril Lavigne tribute worms up the charts

    A worm written in apparent tribute to Canadian singer/skater chick Avril Lavigne is spreading across the Net today. Avril-A (Lirva) is pretty much your bog standard Windows worm. It spreads mainly as an infectious attachment within emails and takes advantage of a year-old exploit in Outlook that permits its execution without a …

    Malware 9 Jan 2003, 13:35

  • MS bids for lucrative wristwatch, fridge magnet markets

    But actually, we think there's a sneaky network play here...

    Bill Gates yesterday announced the Microsoft watch, possibly causing a certain amount of look and feel inconvenience to one columnist friend of ours. But we're sure Mary-Jo will be filing the suit already, so we'll move on. Microsoft is reinventing numerous wheels with what it has dubbed SPOT, Smart Personal Objects Technology …

    Software 9 Jan 2003, 13:52

  • MoD ‘spams’ firms ahead of Iraq call-up

    Don't Panic!

    If you've received an email from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) concerning the mobilisation of volunteer reserve forces ahead of any possible conflict in Iraq - don't panic. You're not alone. It seems the MoD sent out 100,000 of the blighters after enlisting the help of a company specialising in aggregating email lists. The …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2003, 15:27

  • Wanadoo mum on redundancy fears

    Freeserve in the clear

    Freeserve - one of the UK's leading ISPs - says it has "no plans for any redundancies". The statement comes as AFX reported that French union, SUD-PTT, claims 148 jobs are to be axed at Freeserve's parent, Wanadoo, as part of cost cutting measures. A statement from Freeserve said: "No announcements have been made regarding …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2003, 15:34

  • Vodafone, DT tussle for O2 Netherlands – report

    Game on

    Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom are poring over the accounts of O2 Netherlands, with a view to buying the mobile phone network, according to a Dutch financial newspaper. O2 Nederland, a subsidiary of UK-based mm02 PLC, has annual sales of €320m and is worth c€200m, according to FEM/de Week, by way of Bloomberg. But a bidding …

    Mobile 9 Jan 2003, 16:05

  • MS dumps .NET tag in latest Windows Server name change

    Consistent naming policy. Consistently confusing, that is...

    In a desperate - but, as it happens, successful - attempt to get The Register to write about its latest name change to .NET Server, Microsoft has made it a secret. Until today, anyway. The company has released the information, together with an explanatory backgrounder, to its partners under NDA, thus drawing our attention to an …

    Software 9 Jan 2003, 16:19