The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

10th February 2003 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Western Digital to launch S-ATA drives

    Drivezilla maker seeks to stomp on SCSI

    Western Digital is due to announce its first Serial-ATA hard drives today (10 Feb), positioning them against SCSI in the enterprise server and RAID market. The drives are expected to feature 8MB caches and spin at 10,000RPM, thanks to ball-less fluid dynamic bearings. "Serial-ATA is too young for the desktop market - it can't …

    Storage 10 Feb 2003, 08:34

  • Ashcroft proposes vast new surveillance powers

    Sweeping new US anti-terrorism bill

    A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S. A draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 dated January 9th was …

    Security 10 Feb 2003, 08:38

  • Nintendo readies GameCube budget range for Europe

    €30 budget range

    A range of discounted titles called Player's Choice is to be launched by Nintendo in Europe at the beginning of April, mirroring Sony's PS2 Platinum range by offering popular GameCube titles at a new RRP of around €30 (£19.99). The first games in the range will include Luigi's Mansion, Super Smash Bros. Melee and Pikmin, all …

    Personal 10 Feb 2003, 08:49

  • AMD claims desktop CPU crown

    Is it right?

    AMD today starts shipping the AMD Athlon XP 3000+, modestly tagged the "world's highest performing desktop PC processor". According to the company the 3000+ outperforms competing desktop PC processors by "up to 17 percent" on sundry benchmarks. The 3000+ uses the new Barton core -i.e. loads more cache memory. The 3000+ for …

    Channel 10 Feb 2003, 10:02

  • PCCW won't bid for C&W

    Off-on dalliance is off

    The will-they-won't-PCCW take-over telecoms outfit Cable & Wireless saga appears to be over. Leading Hong Kong telco PCCW has ruled out a possible bid for C&W despite increased speculation surrounding an offer. In a statement PCCW said that it has decided that it will "not make any further approach to C&W and will not make any …

    Business 10 Feb 2003, 10:10

  • Morse buys AS400 house

    Dipping toes into iSeries water

    Morse, the big Sun reseller, has scooped up a small IBM iSeries dealer house for £3.1m cash. Its new business is called Grant Sutch Associates Ltd (GSA). The iSeries is still probably better known as the AS400, the veteran workhorse server for the masses. GSA has 20 staffer and for the year to 31 August 2002, generated £400k …

    Channel 10 Feb 2003, 10:21

  • Industry split over Web services platform

    Through tainted specs

    Control of the potentially lucrative Web services market is still up for grabs with vendors and businesses appearing to be split between the two main specifications. Recent surveys from a leading research firm have indicated that opinion is divided on whether to plump for Microsoft's .Net products or those based on Java 2 …

    Hardware 10 Feb 2003, 11:20

  • Demon racks up 20k BB users

    Growth

    Demon has almost doubled the number of broadband punters over the last six months to more than 20,000 users. The ISP of telecoms outfit, Thus, said the growth had come "despite strong competition in the SME market". Indeed, if a survey published last week is anything to go by, then Thus is likely to find that the SME market …

    Telecoms 10 Feb 2003, 11:49

  • Sacked sysadmin arrested on hacking charges

    ViewSonic data destroyed

    A former employee of display maker ViewSonic has been arrested for hacking into the company's computer network. Andy Garcia, 39, of Montebello, California, is held in custody charged with unauthorized access to computer systems and unlawful possession of a firearm, following his arrest last Thursday, Reuters reports. …

    Security 10 Feb 2003, 11:58

  • French police seize guns disguised as mobile phones

    Careful when you answer...

    Rouen police have seized two 'mobile phone' guns in a drugs-related raid in Elbeuf, Seine-Maritime, reports Agence-France Presse. The devices, which can fire four .22 bullets in the approximate direction of a victim, appear to be the ones of mysterious Eastern European origin which turn up every now and again. These are just …

    Mobile 10 Feb 2003, 12:31

  • Europe threatens to invade ICANN

    Internet teetering on brink of war

    The Internet is teetering on the brink of war. European forces amassed under the executive chairman of UK registry Nominet, Dr Willie Black, are poised ready to strike at the very heart of the Net and liberate its inhabitants following years of non-cooperation by the ICANN regime. In a letter sent to the Assistant Secretary for …

    Music and Media 10 Feb 2003, 12:42

  • NTL seeks to clarify 1GB/day broadband cap

    Rocked by consumer onslaught

    NTL has been stunned by the outcry from its broadband customers over the cableco's decision to cap usage of its broadband service to 1 gigabyte a day. The announcement was sneaked out on Friday but caused such an uproar that senior execs have been forced to step in and clarify the cableco's position. A protest site set up on …

    Telecoms 10 Feb 2003, 12:46

  • Black Box Voting Author replies

    My articles say what they say. No more, no less.

    Computer ballot outfit perverts Senate race, theorist says Bev Harris, author of Black Box Voting, takes issue with the above article. Or rather, several issues. Here is her rejoinder. As Mark Twain said, "First get your facts straight, then you can distort 'em." You published some boo-boos about "Black Box Voting: Ballot- …

    Letters 10 Feb 2003, 13:43

  • BEA Tuxedo gets Web Services outing

    Money Engine

    BEA is sprucing up its transaction processing engine Tuxedo, by enabling it for Web Services. BEA Tuxedo 8.1, as it is known, also features improved integration with the BEA WebLogic Enterprise Platform. The upshot: customers can now call on their Java developers, as well as the C, C++ and Cobol brigades, to build Tuxedo apps …

    Hardware 10 Feb 2003, 15:44

  • Oftel slaps BT over ‘unfair discounts’

    Two sides square up for fight

    BT has been told to put its house in order following allegations that it used unfair discounts to snatch away a contract from a rival operator. Telecoms watchdog Oftel has issued a provisional order against BT, claiming that it "appears that BT has breached its licence by failing to make transparent and publish information …

    Data Networking 10 Feb 2003, 15:47

  • UK police release TK worm suspects

    Further investigations

    Two Britons suspected of writing a virulent Internet worm have been released on police bail, pending further investigations. On Thursday morning, police arrested a 19 year-old electrician and a 21 year-old unemployed man suspected of membership of a hacking group called the "THr34t-Krew" as part of a joint US/UK investigation. …

    Malware 10 Feb 2003, 15:51

  • Apple refreshes Xserve

    Dual server to duel Intel

    Apple today topped up its Xserve server line with a dual 1.33 GHz PowerPC G4 model. Available from March with up to 2GB of 333MHz DDR memory, a 167MHz system bus and a maximum 720GB of hot-plug storage, the 1U rack server line costs $2,799 for a Basic (one processor) configuration, rising to $3,799 and above for dual processor …

    Mac Channel 10 Feb 2003, 16:16

  • Nominet names electoral candidates

    Seven standing for four posts

    Nominet has just released full details of the people standing for the four vacant positions on its Public Advisory Board. There are seven of them (down from 13 last time), six of which we told you about on Friday. They are: Adam Beaumont, Clive Feather, Peter Gradwell, Angus Hanton, Sebastien Lahtinen, Hazel Pegg and Frank …

    Music and Media 10 Feb 2003, 16:22

  • Text spammer fined £15,000

    Let's be careful out there

    ICSTIS - the premium rate phone services regulator - has slapped a £15,000 fine on an operator for sending a misleading text spam. The watchdog received loads of complaints after Polo Ltd, based in the British Virgin Island, texted the spam telling phone users they had won a "£150 prize". Punters were unhappy because it seemed …

    Mobile 10 Feb 2003, 17:00

  • Europe plans its own NSA to ‘boost cyber-security’

    Co-ordinate security, standards, interoperability

    Europe is to get its own NSA - almost. The European Commission today unveiled plans for a European Network and Information Security Agency, to "serve as a centre of competence where both Member States and EU Institutions can seek advice on matters relating to cyber security." So it's purely an advisory thing, then? Well, up to …

    Security 10 Feb 2003, 17:45

  • Tweaks to service make Hotmail messages look like spam

    Updated Er, so? - Ed

    Changes in the way some Hotmail messages are formatted could make legitimate emails sent using the service harder to distinguish from spam. Hotmail messages composed with alternative fonts or colours no longer feature multipart/alternative headers and are instead sent as pure HTML emails. This recent change is making life more …

    Music and Media 10 Feb 2003, 19:58

  • Spring-cleaning Sun debuts blades, N1

    No more pizza boxes for you

    Although Sun delayed its Blade launch - originally slated for last November - to coincide with a ton of new storage and software announcements, it made clear that the products are the first in an aggressive makeover of its low-end. As exclusively revealed here last year, Sun is backing both SPARC and x86 for its blades, and as …

    Servers 10 Feb 2003, 20:13

  • Dell Dude collared in marijuana bust

    Career goes up in smoke

    Ben Curtis, the 22-year actor who plays Steven, the Dell Guy in the TV ads, was arrested in New York at the weekend for marijuana possession. How long before the Winona Defence is wheeled into gear: I was only researching a part, your honour. The Dell Guy, is unknown to most people in the UK, except for saddo business-types who …

    Bootnotes 10 Feb 2003, 22:37