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5th March 2003 Archive

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  • Sun's stealth mode P2P gets modular

    Software needs wetware

    Sun released its Jxta Peer-to-Peer technology two years ago, just at the moment, that the P2P hype was imploding in on itself. But it's survived in stealth mode, and today Sun claimed it had reached a milestone of a million downloads for Jxta, which is available under an open source BSD-style license. But more interestingly, a …

    Hardware 5 Mar 2003, 02:59

  • VIA chipsets to sport WLAN, 3D audio tech

    Gears up to compete with Centrino

    VIA is moving to beef up the technology integrated into its chipsets. The Taiwanese manufacturer yesterday revealed it has licensed Sensaura's 3D Positional Audio (3DPA) technology for future sound controller chips. Today, it announced it has bought the wireless applications design center it founded with Swedish research …

    Channel 5 Mar 2003, 10:06

  • Dell extends top-end of Inspiron line

    8500 intended to supplant desktops

    Dell will extend its Insprion notebook line today at the top-end, having beefed up the low-end and mid-range on Monday. The latest addition to the line is the Inspiron 8500, based on Intel Mobile Pentium 4-M processors clocked at 2GHz. Designed as a desktop replacement, the base 8500 configuration includes a 40GB hard drive, …

    Personal 5 Mar 2003, 10:26

  • Nildram in 2Mbps BB trial

    UPDATED: 150GB a month cap

    Bucks-based Nildram has launched a trial for higher speed broadband services which it claims should prove popular with speed-hungry ADSL users. Nildram dslXtra1000 and Nildram dslXtra2000 both share the same 256k upload speed and 50:1 maximum contention ratio, but boast 1Mbps and 2Mbps download speeds. The 1Mbps dslXtra1000 …

    Telecoms 5 Mar 2003, 10:32

  • Wireless Net startup plots 30K-ish UK hot spots in 2003

    Kewney gets the scoop

    Next Monday, a thunderbolt will hit the British wireless Internet world, as Inspired Broadcast launches a "pubs and clubs" chain of WiFi hotspots in three thousand different locations, with the possibility of seeing this rise to 30,000 locations before the end of the year. The network grew out of the gaming machine business, …

    Wireless 5 Mar 2003, 10:36

  • ASA clamps down on spam

    But will it stop the deluge?

    Britain's ad Watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has established tough new rules governing the use of email and text messages for marketing purposes. Under revised codes of practice, introduced yesterday, "explicit consent" of consumers is required before marketing via email or text messages. Marketers may …

    Music and Media 5 Mar 2003, 10:38

  • Open Source puts down roots in Finland

    And The Register finds a techie monk...

    Some 400 IT managers and other decision-makers from throughout Northern Europe explored the business climate, for GNU/Linux specifically and Open Source generally, in Helsinki last week. Government ministers as well as IT people from academia, large and small businesses and even a monk listened and debated with some of the …

    Software 5 Mar 2003, 10:50

  • Telewest trials wireless BB for the home

    Wanted: 500 volunteers

    Telewest has brought forward trials of a new self-installation wireless connection that gives its punters the freedom to get broadband anywhere in their home. Around 500 existing Telewest digital TV punters in the North West region are being recruited to take part in the pilot. The kit behind the trial lets punters access …

    Music and Media 5 Mar 2003, 10:54

  • Flame Carly!

    Exclusive Customers diss outsourced support

    A quarterly report on emails sent to HP chief exec Carly Fiorina reveals growing dissatisfaction among users about the company's outsourced support services. Fiorina makes herself available for email feedback from customers through a Web form on HP's site. Although customers aren't guaranteed a reply to every message, a report …

    Personal 5 Mar 2003, 11:09

  • EU waves through French 2G rural roll-out subsidy

    Let them eat mobile phones

    Europe's Competition Commissioner has given the go-ahead for member states to invest millions in high-speed Internet and mobile networks in disadvantaged areas. According to reports, Competition Commissioner Mario Monti recently sent a letter to France's junior minister for town and country planning, Jean-Paul Delevoye, stating …

    Mobile 5 Mar 2003, 11:37

  • Toshiba boffins prep laptop fuel cell

    (Just) small enough to be useful

    Toshiba has figured out how to power a portable computer using fuel cell technology without the need for a power unit larger than the PC itself. Toshiba's small form factor direct methanol fuel cell (aka DMFC) can operate for five hours, generating between 12W and 20W of power and is electrically compatible with existing …

    Personal 5 Mar 2003, 11:56

  • MP ‘takes up cudgel’ in NTL broadband cap row

    Order, order...

    Campaigners working to get NTL to overturn its decision to cap its broadband service have received a boost after winning the support of Geoffrey Robinson. The Labour MP and former Paymaster General has said he will try to make fellow MPs aware of the NTL cap and is also trying to raise the matter in Parliament under an …

    Telecoms 5 Mar 2003, 12:24

  • Sony keen to buy PalmSource

    Or Symbian if Palm won't sell

    Sony's chairman and CEO, Nobuyuki Idei, would buy Palm's system software division given half a chance - or "if they want to sell", according to the man himself in an interview with web site AlwaysOn. And if he can't get PalmSource, Symbian will do: "I really want to own either Symbian or Palm - I want to buy them," he says. To …

    Personal 5 Mar 2003, 13:49

  • Contractors lose out in Concept Telecom collapse

    Risky business

    Several IT contractors have been left high and dry by the collapse into receivership of mobile phone testing and contracting services outfit Concept Telecom. Following on from our story about an ad soliciting buyers for Concept Telecom in last week's FT, a number of contractors in the pay of the company have contacted us to …

    Business 5 Mar 2003, 14:04

  • Windows Longhorn leaks again

    But blockbusters still absent from latest build

    A new build of Longhorn, Microsoft's follow-up to XP, has leaked, and although it's still an alpha, reports of increased stability make it sound almost worth stealing. Build 4008, also labelled Longhorn M4 Build, doesn't implement the new WinFS file system yet, as you'd expect, but has had a lot of cosmetic and semi-cosmetic …

    Software 5 Mar 2003, 14:15

  • T-Mobile signs up RIM in Europe

    Bound to do better than O2

    T-Mobile is to start flogging Blackberry wireless email devices from Research in Motion in Europe. The duo say it is the first Blackberry "prosumer" solution i.e. it's aimed at business people who like buying new toys. Also T-Mobile is pitching the device at "smaller firms". Smaller than what? The franchise kicks off in Germany …

    Mobile 5 Mar 2003, 14:31

  • Linksys PC card to support 802.11 a, b and g

    All roads lead to roam

    Linksys has begun shipping what it claims is the world's first wireless LAN product capable of operating across both 802.11 WLAN standards: a and b, and the as yet un-ratified 802.11g specification. Netgear makes the same claim, for its WAG511 card, so we suspect both companies are OEMing the same unit. If not, they're …

    Data Networking 5 Mar 2003, 15:04

  • Tiscali UK signs MESH pre-install deal

    Closes office

    Tiscali UK has signed a one-year distribution deal with MESH Computers to pre-install dial-up and broadband software on the PC-maker's machines. The ISP claims the move - which is an exclusive deal with MESH - is yet another example of "Tiscali growing its stronghold in the UK market". MESH flogs around 84,000 machines a year …

    Telecoms 5 Mar 2003, 16:31

  • LSD puts Sendmail bug under the microscope

    Proof of concept

    Polish ethical hackers Last Stage of Delirium (LSD) yesterday published proof of concept code for a serious flaw in Sendmail which emerged this week. In a posting to BugTraq yesterday, LSD provides a detailed analysis of the buffer overflow vulnerability for the first time. Previous advisories on the flaw, which has been …

    Security 5 Mar 2003, 16:36

  • Orange in the pink. And the red. And the black

    Sales up in 2002

    Orange made a net profit - a first - of €633m in 2002 and declares Earnings before Bad Stuff of €15.1bn for the year. Of course, there's a lot of Bad Stuff - asset writedowns for Wind and Dutchtone, closure of Sweden etc. contributing to $5.2bn in exceptional costs. Add this to the mix and the France Telecom-owned mobile …

    Mobile 5 Mar 2003, 17:14

  • Ofcom to set sail in December

    Ahoy there

    Oftel - the UK's telecoms regulator - will cease to exist from December 15 2003 [tear slides down face, lip trembles under weight of emotion,..Ed] That's because it will be replaced by new super communications regulator, Ofcom, which takes over from five regulators from this date. The actual timetable for the transfer of …

    Data Networking 5 Mar 2003, 17:16

  • T-Mobile takes axe to data prices

    Catch-up

    T-Mobile aims to stimulate mobile data usage by cutting prices in Europe by between 50-70 per cent. The price cuts, along with simpler tariffs, come into play in April in all European subs where the mobile network operator has majority control. In Germany, T-Mobile's home market, prices will fall from c. €0.19-€0.29 to €0.09 …

    Mobile 5 Mar 2003, 18:07