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30th April 2003 Archive

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  • ‘We know who you are’ – RIAA spams IM users

    Psyops

    Rattled by last week's Grokster ruling, the RIAA has stepped up its psyops by spamming IM users with warning messages. The messages are sprayed around the file sharing networks using the built-in chat function. One ominous message is intended to give the impression that the Pigopolists' Police are watching your every move:- [ …

    Music and Media 30 Apr 2003, 00:47

  • Spitzer the Blitzer unseals more Bubble Era memos

    Punishment enough?

    How successful has Eliot Spitzer been at achieving his goal of greater transparency in capital formation? Over Christmas, a lot of you had your doubts. You wondered how effective the reforms sought by the pugilist NY State Attorney General, who has been exposing the dot.com era corruption, could really be. With the next bubble …

    Music and Media 30 Apr 2003, 05:51

  • Verbatim extends Digital Vinyl LP-lookalike CD-R line

    Reg Kit Watch Spin the black circle

    Media "Rock'n'roll will never die. It is, however, being reborn." So says Apple's new music service, and what better way to burn all those classic albums you've downloaded - we won't say where (ahem) - by burning them onto CD-Rs that look the part. Yes, Verbatim has just extended its Digital Vinyl series - CDs overprinted with …

    Personal 30 Apr 2003, 08:33

  • Exclusive: IBM's Itanic 2 server

    Welcome aboard, red-headed stepchild

    IBM has finally invited the red-headed stepchild in its server line to join the rest of the family, we can exclusively reveal. For months, the x450 - IBM's first Itanium 2 server - has been relegated to a minor role in IBM's marketing masterplan, but sources have now disclosed full details. Even though IBM announced its plans …

    Hardware 30 Apr 2003, 08:51

  • 64-bit Itanic gets 32-bit tune-up

    To run like an old Xeon

    Intel has changed course with regard to 32-bit software support on the Itanium processor, saying it now plans to help speed up the code in future versions of the chip. When Itanic first appeared the support for 32-bit applications was, shall we say, minimal. Intel's 64-bit behemoth had been primarily designed to run 64-bit code …

    Servers 30 Apr 2003, 08:51

  • HP Superdome runs like the clappers on Itanium 2

    Performance boost

    HP and Microsoft have posted what they claim as a single system online transaction processing performance record. A HP Superdome server with 64 Itanium 2 (Madison) processors running Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) achieved 658,277 transactions per minute at a cost of $9.80 …

    Hardware 30 Apr 2003, 08:51

  • Server market swells in Q1

    Ray of hope

    There are signs of life in the hardware market, as server makers saw a ten percent rise in shipments during the first quarter. Customers remain reluctant to make big system purchases, but research firm Gartner said there were enough low end sales to produce the year-on-year growth in the server business. Total worldwide …

    Hardware 30 Apr 2003, 08:51

  • Siebel customers are satisfied. True

    Survey nicer than internal docs

    Siebel's release of new survey data comes shortly after the revelation that it is calling in the authorities to investigate the leaking of confidential documents questioning customer satisfaction. The company is particularly sensitive to such criticisms at the moment, as it struggles to turn around its falling sales revenue. …

    Hardware 30 Apr 2003, 08:54

  • Apple seeking coder to port iTunes to Windows

    Marching to a different DRM

    Apple has indirectly confirmed it is developing a version of its iTunes music jukebox software for Windows. According to the Mac maker's employment opportunities site, the company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer. His or her key responsibility: "Design and build Apple's newest Consumer Application, iTunes for Windows." …

    Mac Channel 30 Apr 2003, 09:00

  • MS mulls external testing for security patches

    Who fixes the fixes?

    Microsoft is considering an external testing programme to improve the quality of its security patches. Difficulty in applying patches and instances where fixes fail to work properly - or cause unfortunate side effects - have long been an issue in Microsoft shops. Craig Fiebig, general manager of the Secure Business Unit at …

    Security 30 Apr 2003, 09:14

  • Linux is 'big part of Opera's future'

    CEO speaks

    Opera Software CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner says the ratio of Windows to Linux Opera downloads is eight to one. This either means Linux is on 12.5% of computer desktops (unlikely) or that Linux users are far more likely than Windows users to download Opera. Note that in absolute numbers Windows is still more important than Linux …

    Software 30 Apr 2003, 09:19

  • UK cable industry has 1M broadband punters

    Has it? Has it really?

    The UK's cable companies, NTL and Telewest, are boasting today that they now have one million broadband cable customers. Piffle. The broadband figures for the cable industry (Telewest has around 300,000, with the rest coming from NTL) also include punters of NTL's much debated 128k product. NTL never discloses how many …

    Telecoms 30 Apr 2003, 09:22

  • Researcher revises 2003 chip sales growth downward

    But only because it underestimated last year's sales

    Despite underestimating the size of the world chip market last year, market researcher In-Stat/MDR is maintaining its forecast for 2003. Last October, the company said it expected the chip market to be worth $139.04 billion, and that 2003 would see 18.1 per cent growth to $164.2 billion. In the event, 2002's chip sales …

    Channel 30 Apr 2003, 09:34

  • Wi-Fi Alliance drives improved WLAN security

    First WPA-certified products announced

    The Wi-Fi Alliance, guardian of 802.11 wireless networking interoperability, has announced the first set of products that meet its Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security specification. WPA, a subset of the 801.11i WLAN security specification, is set to replace the creaky Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) scheme used by wireless …

    Wireless 30 Apr 2003, 10:04

  • Fluffi Bunni nabbed at InfoSec

    Scotland Yard arrest legendary hacker

    Über hacker Fluffi Bunni was arrested by the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday, while attending InfoSecurity 2003, in London. Or rather the police collared Lynn Htun, 24, alleged head of the group of hackers using the collective moniker Fluffi Bunni, on outstanding fraud charges. AP has a full report here Fluffi Bunni's most …

    Security 30 Apr 2003, 10:09

  • Electronic piracy must be stamped out -EC

    So tell us how

    The European Commission is calling on all Member States to implement and enforce laws giving paid-for content providers protection from electronic piracy. In the EC's book, electronic pay-services are provided by TV, radio and internet, but it is clear that the big sums being lost to piracy are leeching out of pay-TV. In a …

    Music and Media 30 Apr 2003, 10:51

  • Morpheus 3.0 out tomorrow

    "Sleek"

    Morpheus, the P2P file-trading network, gets a makeover tomorrow with Version 3.0. This incorporates a "sleek interface that is easy to navigate and intuitive to use". The upgrade also features an integrated media player and media library that helps users "find and manage their media without leaving the application". Streamcast …

    Music and Media 30 Apr 2003, 12:02

  • Oftel redefines broadband

    So speed is important

    Oftel has a new definition for broadband - and about time too. After recent ditherings in which it regarded services operating at speeds of 128kbit/s as both broadband and narrowband, the telecoms regulator has come off the fence. According to a broadband market review published this week, Oftel proposes to redefine broadband …

    Telecoms 30 Apr 2003, 12:07

  • Two more telcos run to Oftel over BT BB ‘margin squeeze’

    Anyone else not happy?

    Two more companies have lodged formal complaints against planned price cuts for one of BT's wholesale ADSL products. Telecoms outfits mediaWays.uk Ltd and Your Communications have joined the chorus of complaints from Energis, Thus and Tiscali alleging that planned price cuts to BT's IPStream product will lead to a margin …

    Telecoms 30 Apr 2003, 12:27

  • Fujitsu Siemens eyes Sun's spot

    You want Finance? You got Finance!

    With Fujitsu Siemens' server sales up nearly 30 per cent in the first quarter, the company says it is maturing and expects to capture more market share. In the most recent Gartner server market survey Fujitsu Siemens took the number five position, showing the best growth in shipments of the leading five server makers, up almost …

    Servers 30 Apr 2003, 12:50

  • Symbian looks to enterprise to drive smartphone biz

    On the floor at Exposium '03

    A greater focus on enterprise customers and a stronger commitment to the establishment of the smartphone as a platform are today the two main forces driving mobile phone makers. Certainly they are the key trends emerging from this year's Symbian developers' bash, Exposium '03. The event also saw Symbian unveil version 7.0S - 'S …

    Mobile 30 Apr 2003, 13:04

  • VIA Q1 sales slide 28% as UMC's rise 47%

    Latest results from Taiwan

    VIA sold NT$5.7 billion worth of products during Q1 2003, the company announced today. That marks a 16.5 per cent decline on the previous quarter's NT$6.64 billion. It also marks a decline of 28 per cent on the same period last year, when VIA recorded revenues of NT$7.3 billion. That fall is in marked contrast to the chip …

    Channel 30 Apr 2003, 13:29

  • 3DLabs ships 256MB Wildcat VP880 Pro

    Card's graphics processor based on 208 Risc-ish cores

    3DLabs has released its Wildcat VP880 Pro workstation graphics card with 256MB DDR SDRAM across a 256-bit bus. The card is capable of generating 188 million vertices per second and 35 billion anti-aliasing samples per second, the company said. The card operates in a single AGP 4x or 8x slot - unlike other 256MB solutions, which …

    Personal 30 Apr 2003, 14:08

  • Britannia to issue WiFi PDAs to cabin crew

    Chicken Licken, the sky is falling down

    We have a choice, here; either Britannia is utterly reckless with the lives of its employees and its passengers, or the dangers of WiFi have been assessed to be trivial on board a plane. Sources have told NewsWireless net that all Britannia "Cabin Crew" = in-cabin catering staff - have just been issued with Cassiopeia PDA's for …

    Wireless 30 Apr 2003, 14:55

  • Telewest email halted under massive spam attack

    Getting back to normal

    Telewest has been hit by a massive spam attack that has resulted in as many as 200,000 of its punters being without email for a couple of days at the beginning of the week. Normal service was resumed last night although the cableco is still ploughing through a backlog of 1.2 million emails it quarantined immediately after the …

    Security 30 Apr 2003, 14:55

  • IBM to sleep with the enemy, preps new storage line

    Sneak Peak: Virtually here

    IBM is starting to look a lot more like its rivals. The company has prepped a new line of storage virtualization products that should help it go up against the likes of Sun Microsystems and EMC and also help its users manage hardware made by different vendors. The IBM TotalStorage Virtualization Family will include various …

    Storage 30 Apr 2003, 17:52

  • Host Europe in Boardroom bust-up

    The knives are out

    There's a major boardroom bust-up at Web hosting outfit, Host Europe, that has led to some extraordinary revelations being made public about the internal "goings-on" of the company. Directors published a statement on the Stock Exchange declaring that chief exec Abby Hardoon Adulayavichit, has "displayed a lack of leadership …

    Music and Media 30 Apr 2003, 18:00