28th March 2003 Archive

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Intel Tanglewood's first voyage

Analysis Sailed off only to find IBM, Sun already landed

The appearance this week of Intel's Tanglewood processor has added yet another high-end multicore chip onto the grand 64-bit roadmap and complicated the battle between Chipzilla, IBM and Sun. We now know Intel will introduce its first attempt at a dual-core chip, called Montecito, in 2005 and then follow that with the more …

Channel 28 Mar 2003, 03:29
OpenGoose suite speaks in tongues

Beta drop

A new beta version of the OpenOffice suite was delivered earlier this week. The open source project is the foundation of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice. Kind of an 'OpenGoose', to StarGoose, if you like. The language support in Version 1.1 will be particularly welcomed. The new beta features support for "Complex Text Layout and …

Software 28 Mar 2003, 03:32
Infineon turns to Chinese fab

More memory

Infineon has turned to China's SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.) to help boost production for its DRAM chips. Under the terms of the deal, Infineon will assist SMIC with the construction of a 300mm wafer fab. In exchange, SMIC has agreed to make products based on the technology exclusively for Infineon. …

Channel 28 Mar 2003, 05:22
Acer preps cut-price PocketPC

Reg Kit Watch Sub-$300 n10

PDA Acer yesterday extended its PocketPC PDA range at the low end with the n10, a budget machine set to cost under $300 when it ships next month. Betting both ways, Acer also offers the s series of Palm OS-based handhelds. The n10 is more curvaceous - ie. consumer-friendly - than its higher-end siblings. It's based on a …

Personal 28 Mar 2003, 09:48
NTL 128K price hike confirmed

Cough up

NTL has confirmed that the price of its 128Kbps 'broadband' service will increase to £17.99 a month from May 1. However, as if to sweeten the pill, the cableco has said that the speed of the service will increase to 150Kbps. Whoopy-doo. Earlier this month NTL dismissed as "speculation" rumours that it planned to increase the …

Telecoms 28 Mar 2003, 10:52
Sega Europe to publish all its own games

Maybe others' too

Sega Europe is to form is own publishing operation, the games development company announced today. From April, all future Sega titles will be published by Sega itself. Its first title - Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 and 2, for Xbox - will be released in May, with two further titles - Sonic Adventure DX: The Director's Cut on …

Software 28 Mar 2003, 11:20
Winchester chosen for BB Powerline trial

Socket to 'em

Winchester has been selected for full-scale commercial trials in the summer of a broadband service provided directly over electricity power lines. Earlier this month Scottish Hydro-Electric (SH-E) named Stonehaven in Scotland as one location taking part in the trials. Another town in Hampshire was also earmarked for the trial …

Telecoms 28 Mar 2003, 11:39
AMD ‘evaluating’ 400MHz FSB for Athlon XP

But will it ship the thing?

AMD has said it is at least thinking about upping the Athlon XP's front side bus speed to 400MHz. An Athlon XP with a 400MHz FSB appeared on an AMD roadmap described by Japanese web site PC Watch last week. The site claimed AMD will launch an Athlon XP based on the Barton core, with 512KB of L2 cache and a 400MHz FSB late April …

Channel 28 Mar 2003, 11:40
Lucent will pay $315m to settle class action

Line drawn under the affair

Lucent Technologies announced yesterday that it reached an agreement to settle all pending shareowner and related litigation against the company, its current and former officers and directors, and certain other defendants. The networking manufacturer did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, worth up to $315 …

Data Networking 28 Mar 2003, 11:44
Fujitsu preps Linux-based robot

From our Robo-tux correspondent

Fujitsu has launched a humanoid robot - based on a real-time version of the Linux operating system. The HOAP-2 is driven by an Intel Pentium III running at 700MHz. It is half a metre high and weights 7kg, and is scheduled to ship to Japanese consumers in July (Fujitsu will begin taking orders next month). We're not entirely sure …

Personal 28 Mar 2003, 12:15
Unlocks all round! Orange frees SPV developers

And what do we have here? A developer programme...

Several months after creating a storm by - effectively - locking developers out of its SPV smartphone, Orange has relented, and is offering an unlock procedure. Orange had muffed the SPV developement issue quite heroically by deciding that all applications running on the beast needed to be signed, without first figuring out a …

Mobile 28 Mar 2003, 12:58
BT plays BB price guessing game

Grow up

What exactly is BT playing at? The telco seems to be gaining some perverse pleasure from leading people up the garden path concerning whether or not it plans cut the price of its broadband service. Hints were dropped about a price review earlier this week when BT Wholesale met with ISPs to sketch out its plans for the next …

Telecoms 28 Mar 2003, 12:59
Opening Sun's Pandora's Box

Fangs for the memory

Staffed with so many clever people, Sun Microsystems always has research wonders that can enthrall and amaze. In the most unexpected ways. This is why it's fun to hang out with Sun people. And look: the two even rhyme. Sun and fun. But perhaps the most terrifying secret weapon in Sun's R&D arsenal - take note, competitors - …

Bootnotes 28 Mar 2003, 13:04
Palm faces WLAN gaming patent infringement suit

Multi-player gaming via wireless 'invented' in 1995, apparently

Palm has been hit with a law suit claiming that the ability of its PDAs to network wirelessly with other such devices on an ad hoc basis, in turn allowing users to compete in multi-player games, infringes the intellectual property of one Peer-to-Peer Systems. Peer-to-Peer Systems maintains a US patent, number 5,618,045, filed …

Mobile 28 Mar 2003, 13:14
New build of WinXP SP2 leaks out

Maybe looks a bit finished, but there's the legal matter...

Service Pack 2 for Windows XP has leaked again, Neowin.net reports, and while The Reg has observed in the past that Microsoft code leaking is scarcely news, the site's suggestion that it looks pretty close to beta stage is maybe significant. This build is missing most of the meat - Media Player 9, Windows Messenger 5/MSN …

Software 28 Mar 2003, 14:21
ID theft: a $1bn a year crime

Consumers and banks suffer the pain

Identity theft, reportedly America's fastest rising crime, cost US lenders at least $1 billion last year. That's according to an estimate by analysts TowerGroup, which published a report on the problem, titled Identify Theft: Lenders Are Victims, Too, earlier this week. Precise figures on the exact loss due to identity theft …

Security 28 Mar 2003, 14:25
Websense wants to ban online gaming

Killjoy or corporate bandwidth guardian?

Uncontrolled online gaming is putting organisations at risk from legal problems from illicit software and robbing corporates of valuable bandwidth. That's the view of employee management software outfit Websense whose latest software, naturally enough, helps companies manage the issue (read: ban online gaming). Websense is …

Data Networking 28 Mar 2003, 15:46
Use a firewall, go to jail, and send Bill Gates too

DMCA enhancements pose tough decision for free-thinkers

The (DMCA) Digital Millennium Copyright Act clearly isn't enough for some people. Massachusetts and Texas are - in curious formation - considering bills that will extend it to make firewalls (among other things) illegal. The strange synchronicity is illustrated by a quick look at the draft of the Texas bill then comparing it …

Music and Media 28 Mar 2003, 16:49
Windows on Itanic

Limited edition drops 'limited' tag

What's the world's oldest port? [*] In the computer world, Microsoft's version of Windows for Intel's IA-64 architecture might qualify. Today Microsoft announced that 'Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003' - if we permit ourselves to revel in its full name - had been released to manufacturing. "Microsoft and Intel Corp. …

Servers 28 Mar 2003, 22:46