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25th March 2003 Archive

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  • Sprint to meet WiFi halfway

    All your base stations will belong to them

    There was a time when the cellular networks fought tooth and nail to keep every packet of data running through their masts. But now there are just too many pipes to choose from. With the take-up of WiFi hotspots and no less importantly, the first PMG phone from Siemens, the carriers must make way. The combination of wireless …

    Mobile 25 Mar 2003, 01:36

  • Telewest to trial 2Mb home service

    Need for speed

    Telewest is to trial a 2Mb broadband cable service aimed at home users. The cableco is looking to recruit around 1,500 customers of its existing 1Mb broadband service and upgrade them to the 2Mb service. If the trial proves successful, then the 2Mb service could be made available for people in Telewest franchise areas later …

    Broadband 25 Mar 2003, 08:08

  • UK workers succumb to email paranoia

    DON'T PANIC!

    UK workers are becoming increasingly paranoid about who exactly is reading their e-mail and also accidentally forwarding personal mails. Findings from a survey of office workers by Yahoo! Mail showed that close to half believe that their colleagues are sifting through their in-boxes for scandalous details, while nearly a third …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 08:49

  • 2003 Big Brother Awards: The Winners

    Blair is Lifetime Menace

    Privacy International today announced the winners of the 2003 Big Brother Awards. One of the judges, estimable Dr Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), writes: "It was alternatively amusing and depressing to be one of the judges for these awards. RIP and data retention played a large part in our …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 08:49

  • EDS: new top execs get warm welcome

    Predator becomes Prey

    While Michael Jordan begins his career at EDS in the top role, the freshly reinstated position of president and COO is to be taken by a former occupant, Jeffrey Heller. Speculation is rife over whether EDS is likely to be acquired, as its low share price may make it tempting to some of the industry's larger players. Investors …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 08:49

  • EC clears Azlan takeover

    No serious competition concerns

    The European Commission has approved Tech Data's acquisition of data networking distributor Azlan. In a press release yesterday, the EC said "the operation does not raise any serious competition concerns on these product markets regardless of whether the market is national or European". Tech Data is the biggest IT products …

    Channel 25 Mar 2003, 08:55

  • War on Warez

    UK law targets software piracy sites

    Managers of websites offering illegal business software could face criminal proceedings under new laws due to come into effect from the end of this month, the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) warned yesterday. The new law, precipitated by the EU's Information Society Directive, makes it an offence to "communicate to the …

    Software 25 Mar 2003, 09:37

  • Affinity Wireless goes tits up

    Calls in the adminstrators

    Affinity Internet Holdings plc has called in administrators for its Affinity Wireless Ltd telecoms business. Today's announcement follows yesterday's suspension of the outfit's shares. In a statement this morning the company said: "Affinity Internet Holdings plc has in recent weeks been negotiating with its creditors and due …

    Business 25 Mar 2003, 09:38

  • Smartphones sales climb in EMEA

    Overtake PDAs

    Who wants a Smartphone? Answer, Europeans and others shoe-horned into the EMEA regional category, who will buy 3.3 million units in 2003, according to Canalys, the UK research firm. This will see Smartphone sales comfortably overtake those of PDAs - Canalys forecasts sales of 2.8 million units for the latter in EMEA in 2003. Is …

    Mobile 25 Mar 2003, 10:03

  • Micron intros 512Mb DDR400 part

    JEDEC compliant

    Memory maker Micron has launched its 0.11 micron high density 512Mb 400MHz DDR SDRAM chip, the company said yesterday. The chip is fully compliant with JEDEC's DDR 400 specification, said Micron. DDR 400 has yet to become an approved JEDEC standard, however. "We expect to validate this component and module by mid-2003," said …

    Channel 25 Mar 2003, 10:23

  • Samsung to spend $963m on latest LCD plant

    Investing in competition-beating economies of scale

    Samsung is to spend a total of 1.29 trillion won ($963 million) on its latest LCD production facility, Line 6, the company said today. Last December it said it would spend 66.1 billion won on Line 6, which is currently under construction. Samsung expects the plant to be operational by the end of the year. The new line will be …

    Personal 25 Mar 2003, 10:50

  • Adam Osborne 1939-2003

    Obituary Portable Computing Pioneer

    Adam Osborne, pioneer of portable computing, has died after a long illness. He was 64. Osborne achieved fame as the founder of Osborne Computer in the early 1980s, which launched the first ever portable computer, the $1795 Osborne 1, in April 1981. Designed by Osborne but made to work by his Osborne Computer co-founder, …

    Vintage 25 Mar 2003, 11:41

  • Reg Kit Watch

    Updated From our robotics correspondent...

    Robotics Sony will next month introduce a second humanoid alternative to its popular Aibo 'entertainment' robot. The SDR-4X II improves on the previous model, introduced last year, by offering better movement, safety and conversational capabilities. So it is better able to recover from motion that might or already has upset its …

    Personal 25 Mar 2003, 11:43

  • Hotmail caps email

    Anti-spam apparently

    Microsoft is capping the amount of email punters can send using their Hotmail accounts in a bid to crack down on spam. In a statement, the company said: "In an effort to prevent spammers from using MSN Hotmail to spread spam, MSN Hotmail recently began further limiting the number of outgoing messages a user can send each day …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 11:49

  • Portable computer pioneer Adam Osborne dies

    A star before Gates or Compaq

    Adam Osborne, the real inventor of the portable computer and - possibly - corporate immolation via preannouncement, has died aged 64, after a long illness. Osborne's star blazed briefly bright with his 1981 introduction of the Osborne 1; by today's standards it looks somewhat counter-intuitive, but it caught the mood. Huge, …

    Personal 25 Mar 2003, 12:13

  • UK ID cards being mooted first for Scotland?

    The tartan tag

    Despite the UK Government apparently taking a step back from ID cards earlier this year, moves are afoot to introduce the scheme in Scotland. From a brief BBC Scotland report it would appear that the Labour Party's apparatchiks north of the border haven't heard the news. Or possibly, the country that was used to pioneer some of …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 12:54

  • Red Hat offers paid subscribers early ISOs for 9.0

    Carrots at the ready...

    Paid subscribers to the Red Hat Network are being offered early access, from 31st March, to ISOs for the forthcoming Red Hat Linux 9. The new version is scheduled to be available in stores and via FTP from 7th April, so Red Hat is killing two birds with one stone by giving it to subscribers early. Subscribers' estimation of RHN …

    Software 25 Mar 2003, 13:25

  • Dell launches own-brand printers

    One day my prints will come

    Dell's entry into the printer market with own-brand products kicked off today with the launch of four models. The Dell Personal All-in-One A940 puts colour printing, scanning and copying into a single $139 unit. It prints at 4800x1200dpi, but scans at 600x2400dpi. Colour printing averages at 12ppm; monochrome at 17ppm. The …

    Small Biz 25 Mar 2003, 14:04

  • Malicious impostors sow seeds of disinformation

    Tales of propaganda, cracking and domain name spoofs

    Security testing outfit NTA Monitor has warned of the increased likelihood of attacks against news sites and corporate Web sites during the current war in Iraq. News sites are especially at risk, because attackers could use weaknesses in sites or domain registration tricks to 'rewrite' breaking news to try to create confusion …

    Security 25 Mar 2003, 14:54

  • UAVs, drones of death, what can you get for $300k?

    A Register price check

    When we saw the price of one of the US military's latest UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), we just couldn't resist a comparison-shop. The Desert Hawk, aka Force Protection Airborne Surveillance System, is at $300,000 for a sixpack, base station and spares quite cheap as these things go, but it still looks a stiff price for a …

    Bootnotes 25 Mar 2003, 15:23

  • C&W escapes escrow fiasco

    Squares UK tax bill, set free £1.5bn

    C&W today wrote a cheque for £380m made payable to the Inland Revenue, to settle obligations arising from the sale of Mercury One2One to T-Mobil, the Deutsch Telekom sub. This means that the hard-press UK telco can now set free the £1.5bn in escrow set aside to cover the potential tax liability arising from the sale. C&W always …

    Business 25 Mar 2003, 15:53

  • BT to trial 1Mbps ADSL

    Pilots 256k service, expands range of DSL etc.

    BT is to trial a new home-based 1Mbps ADSL service in the autumn which, if successful, could be rolled-out as a full commercial service before the end of the year. News of BT's decision to provide a 1Mbps service comes on the same day that Telewest said it plans to trial a 2Mbps service for its consumers ahead of a full launch …

    Broadband 25 Mar 2003, 15:58

  • RSPCA in censorship crusade against humour site

    Bonsai Kitten must die (not literally, of course)

    The RSPCA is rallying support for a campaign to have the Bonsai Kitten Web site shut down, even though it knows the site is a hoax. Bonsaikitten.com, a site "dedicated to preserving the long lost art of body modification in housepets", has raised the ire of members of the RSPCA, which campaigns against cruelty to animals. More …

    Media 25 Mar 2003, 17:12

  • ‘Iraq war’ virus suspect detained

    Viking Vxer held in worm probe

    Investigators in Sweden have questioned an unnamed person on suspicion of writing the Ganda worm, according to local reports. The worm, which posed as a screensaver offering spy satellite photographs of Iraq, caused concern when it began to spread, albeit modestly, last week. Swedish paper Tidningen Angermanland reports that …

    Security 25 Mar 2003, 20:47

  • MS recalls ‘extinct hackers’ ad

    Claim can't stand up for systems falling down

    Microsoft has been censured by a South African advertising watchdog for claiming that its "secure software" will make hackers extinct. The advertisement, that ran in the trade press and Time last November, juxtaposed three extinct animals with an image of a "hacker". The copy reads:- "Microsoft software is carefully designed …

    Bootnotes 25 Mar 2003, 22:09