20th January 2003 Archive

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All clear sounded on ITV Digital STBs

Phew!

Around a million or so customers of ITV Digital won't have to cough up £40 to keep their set top boxes (STB) after all, following a deal between the liquidators of the failed digital TV outfit and media giants Carlton and Granada. Six weeks ago liquidators Grant Thornton wanted former customers to buy their STBs - which can be …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 11:56
Armed raiders steal £840,000 in computer kit

Getaway vehicles set on fire after London warehouse blag

Armed robbers made off with approximately £840,000 of computer equipment after a raid on a warehouse on the outskirts of London last Friday morning. Police believe five men (some wearing balaclavas) were involved in the raid on Dimensions Cargo, Isleworth during which one member of staff was threatened with a gun. One of the …

Business 20 Jan 2003, 11:59
SEC investigation of EDS goes formal

Black tie...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is now conducting a formal investigation into practices at Electronic Data Systems Corp, the company said late Friday. The news follows the revelation in early October that an "informal" SEC probe was underway. EDS said in October that the SEC had "requested information regarding …

Business 20 Jan 2003, 12:49
Ex-NTL boss in line for top OFCOM job

Oh well...

Stephen Carter - the former MD and COO of NTL - is in line for a top job at the new monster communications regulator, OFCOM. According to the Mail on Sunday he is due to be named chief exec of OFCOM later this week. If his appointment gets the go-ahead he will join Lord Currie, who was named chairman of the new media/telecoms …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 12:50
Iomega cash pile looks tempting takeover target

Spend it, quick?

Iomega Corp now looks a sitting duck for a takeover as it sits on a $453.9m cash pile while its stock market value is a pitiful $483.4m. After hacking back costs, the San Diego, California-based company is milking increasing sums from its Zip drives but acknowledges that revenue will continue to slide in the coming year. …

Business 20 Jan 2003, 12:53
Sex.com could cost VeriSign $100m, says suit

One of life's bigger bloopers?

Sex.Com, the disputed adult web portal currently owned by Grant Media LLC, said it is a step closer to a ruling on whether it can claim damages from VeriSign Inc for alleged negligence in the transfer of the domain name sex.com to another party. The company said in a statement Thursday that an appeals court in San …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 12:57
MS bids to intercept Unix defectors at LinuxWorld

'Coaxing,' apparently...

Microsoft Corp is journeying deep into the enemy heartland this week, by opening a stand at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in an attempt to snag wavering Unix users, writes Gavin Clarke. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft will deploy 15 staff at the New York-based event in an attempt to spread the Windows mantra. The …

Software 20 Jan 2003, 13:02
NTL suspends employee over ntlhell.co.uk hack

Formal hearing due this week

An NTL employee could lose his job concerning allegations that he was behind a New Year's eve hack of ntlhell.co.uk. The employee, who hasn't been named, has been suspended from work following a three-week internal investigation by NTL into allegations that ntlhell.co.uk was hacked by someone from within the cableco. The …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 13:03
US senate takes aim at spam, spectrum, broadband

And ICANN comes into focus

Returning to the chair of the US Senate Communications Subcommittee, Senator Conrad Burns last week outlined ten policy priorities for the 2003 legislative session. Themes of internet security, broadband adoption, spectrum management and spam are predominant. The three "centerpiece" parts of the agenda are spam, spectrum …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 13:03
MS announces Windows Media 9 DRM tool, music alliances

A step closer to the industry's format of choice...

Microsoft has moved itself a little closer to its goal of becoming the entertainment industry's vendor of choice for Digital Rights Management. Today it announced the release of the Windows Media 9 Data Session Toolkit, together with key customers for the technology. These include CD manufacturer MPO, which supplies several …

Software 20 Jan 2003, 14:15
IBM begins $500m iSeries revamp

POWER4 for the people

IBM today announced a revamp of its iSeries mid-range server line geared to breathing fresh life into the venerable technology through a two-year, $500 million marketing push. The makeover includes the delivery of pre-packaged software, the introduction of the On/Off Capacity Upgrade on Demand by the day program, and price/ …

Servers 20 Jan 2003, 14:16
ABIT puts security on the motherboard

Taking on NITROX

ABIT today launched server motherboards featuring integrated security processors, with a promise to slash the cost of building security appliances. The Taiwanese manufacturer's SI-1N Pentium 4 processor-based server motherboard comes with Cavium Network's NITROX Security Macro Processor, designed to gear their deployment …

Servers 20 Jan 2003, 16:44
Freeserve blames ‘human error’ for mailshot login bungle

'Lots of people'/ 'small proportion' - depends, apparently...

Freeserve has blamed "human error" for bungling a mailshot to new customers which contained the log-in details of other people. The "Welcome Packs" were sent to new customers of Freeserve's Anytime service last week. However, the name and address on the front of the mailshot did not match the account details listed inside the …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2003, 16:47
Five years jail for mobile phone VAT fraudster

£3.5m scam gets knocked by Customs

A fraudster was jailed for five years on Friday after been found guilty of involvement in a multi-million pound mobile phone VAT fraud scam. Craig Jones, 32, of Hanley, Stoke-on Trent, attempted to defraud Customs of £3.5 million in duties from the sale of mobile phones worth an estimated £19 million, the Daily Mirror reports …

Mobile 20 Jan 2003, 18:12