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2nd May 2003 Archive

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  • Citizens Advice refute Welsh hack allegation

    Ambulance-chasing imposters to blame for outrage

    Our article yesterday suggesting that Welsh nationalists had hacked the Citizens Advice Bureau website failed to impress a number of readers. Among them was to Tim Blackwell who suggested we must have been "having a very low quality brain day if you truly imagine that www.citizenadvicebureaux.co.uk is the real Citizen's Advice …

    Music and Media 2 May 2003, 08:45

  • IBM x450: Stuck between Power and a hard place

    Analysis IBM's Itanic struggle

    IBM's release this week of its first Itanium 2 server gave the public a glimpse into the internal schisms affecting a company trying to be a one-stop server shop while still showing its mettle as a vendor with enough engineering expertise to go it alone. On one level, the x450 Itanium-based system is just another server. IBM …

    Servers 2 May 2003, 08:59

  • Scottish Linux centre helps secure boat to Rockall

    Charity appeal update Fantastic response from Reg readers

    There was a tremendous response to our appeal to Register readers for support for The Rockall Times 2003 charity assault on Rockall, wittily entitled Rockall Ho! Our biggest problem at the time was securing transportation to Rockall. We should have known that the power of Vulture Central would come up trumps, for within an hour …

    Bootnotes 2 May 2003, 09:33

  • NTL has 380k 128K ‘broadband’ punters

    Leaked numbers confirm industry estimates

    More than half of NTL's customers use its always on 128K service, The Register can reveal. The UK's largest cableco has been very protective over any breakdown in its "broadband" customer base. However, according to internal figures seen by Vulture Central, NTL has, in total, a shade under 690,000 customers it regards as " …

    Telecoms 2 May 2003, 09:34

  • Microsoft's growing threat to biz app rivals

    End-to-End

    Microsoft is placing increased significance on its Business Solutions division, investing $2 billion and merging the SMB (small to medium businesses) and Business Solutions sales teams. The division's history of seeming semi-independence is over, and the increased level of backing will give specialist mid-market business …

    Small Biz 2 May 2003, 09:54

  • Computer crime sentences are ‘not good enough’

    Get Tough, Police urge

    A senior policeman has called for higher sentences to combat hi-tech crime. Detective Superintendent Mick Deats, second in command of Britain's National High Tech Crime Unit, said that computer crime sentences are "not good enough". "What we're dealing with is hi-tech burglary - and sentences don't reflect that or the full …

    Security 2 May 2003, 10:00

  • Chuck out your handsets, here come the wristphones

    Reg Kit Watch Plus Opteron mobos from Gigabyte and Tyan, and more

    Phones Samsung has said its GPRS wristphone will ship in Europe in time for Christmas. The device, announced earlier this year, is the world's smallest GPRS phone, claims Samsung. The phone operates in the 900MHz and 1800MHz bands, and provides Bluetooth connections for headsets and PDAs. It has a built in speakerphone, and …

    Personal 2 May 2003, 10:33

  • EC waves through 3G UK network share

    T-Mobile, mmO2 strike up the band

    The EC has given the thumbs up for a 3G site-sharing agreement struck between T-Mobile and mmO2 in the UK. It says it expects to approve soon a similar site-share between the two companies in Germany. By teaming up in both countries, the duo can expect to save a few hundred million euro in capital expenditure. The Commission …

    Mobile 2 May 2003, 10:38

  • AOL centralises European ops

    Taxing move

    AOL's UK business - which doesn't pay VAT due to a loophole - is to start paying the tax indirectly via a new centralised European company from July 1. The UK ISP intends to absorb the tax hike and has no plans - at the moment at least - to pass on the charge to its UK customers. The move follows a decision by AOL to set up a …

    Business 2 May 2003, 11:03

  • Will the WiFi Bubble hypesters kill WiFi?

    Dot.com days are here again. They hope

    "Or the arrival of the Web browser, which blew millions of minds, making a mouseclick feel like teleportation." - Wired I was really calling the editor of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson, to check up on which weird and interesting drugs he was taking when he wrote the sentence you see above you. [* answer below] Anderson bet …

    Mobile 2 May 2003, 11:15

  • UK gov's ‘save on MS software’ deal slip-sliding away?

    NAO report contains signs it's not entirely happening

    Is the Office of Government Commerce pushing water uphill when it comes to saving money on UK government software licences? A report published by the National Audit Office this week, Purchasing and Managing Software Licences, contains not a few hints that this might be the case. The OGC has, variously, negotiated memorandums of …

    Software 2 May 2003, 11:37

  • US advises against Taiwan travel

    SARS fears

    The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially recommended that travellers steer clear of Taiwan because of concerns over the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The CDC is now advising "people planning elective or non-essential travel to Taiwan may wish to postpone their trips until …

    Channel 2 May 2003, 12:11

  • Dell ‘looking closely’ at AMD's Opteron – again

    Been here before - so what's changed?

    The old 'Dell to offer AMD-based systems' chestnut has been pulled from the roasting tray again following comments made by various senior Dell executives to the effect that the company is taking a very close look at AMD's Opteron chip. So we have Dell COO Kevin Rollins telling a Merrill Lynch conference that the PC giant is …

    Hardware 2 May 2003, 12:13

  • Intel to counter Athlon 3200+ with 3.2GHz P4

    Launches galore

    AMD will launch its anticipated 400MHz frontside bus Athlon XP processor later this month ahead of the official debut of further 800MHz FSB Pentium 4 parts from Intel. The AMD's 400MHz FSB chip is based on the company's Barton core. AMD has yet to announce the part, but as we've reported before, company staffers have alluded to …

    Channel 2 May 2003, 13:07

  • Finns swoop on Commtag

    One stop mobile email shop

    Commtag, the always-op mobile email start-up, is to have a new owner. Step forward, Smartner Information Systems, of Finland, which is to wrap Commtag's Duality Always-On Mail technology into its mobile office suite, Office Extender. Terms are not disclosed, and Commtag's VCs will have to wait a while yet for a clean exit, as …

    Mobile 2 May 2003, 15:13

  • St Albans e-voting trial goes horribly wrong. Almost

    Jury's Out

    It's still too early to say whether evoting helped increase the number of people taking part in last night's local elections in England. The Electoral Commission reports that local authorities trialling all-postal pilot schemes saw turnout rise to an average of 50 per cent compared to an average voter turnout of around 33 per …

    Music and Media 2 May 2003, 15:29

  • Cisco's IP phone eavesdropping kit ready to go

    Surveillance just got smarter

    Cisco is pressing ahead with plans to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to monitor IP telephony calls. The networking equipment giant is "testing surveillance products in its labs and making the service available to customers on request", Cisco spokesman Jim Brady told AP. Although the technology is yet to be …

    Security 2 May 2003, 15:44

  • IT certification scam rumbled

    Racing certs for MS, Cisco success

    Pearson VUE, the electronic testing business of Pearson Education, is trying to track down a rogue outfit offering guaranteed online IT certifications - at a price. An email currently doing the rounds is promising people what it calls the "easiest way to pass IT certification exams". The rogue outfit is offering guaranteed …

    Software 2 May 2003, 15:55

  • NJ couple accused of mass ID theft

    Info used for CC scam

    An office junior at a New Jersey mortgage broker and her boyfriend have been charged with fraud by the FBI following the theft of thousands of credit reports from Weichert Financial Services. Marie Louissaint and Ronald Hyppolyte have been held without bail since their arrest on Wednesday, AP reports. Investigators believe 3, …

    Security 2 May 2003, 16:04

  • What really happened with the NewZealand.com case

    Costs and trademark applications reveal murky world

    Following the saga over the NZ$1 million (£350,000) that it was recently revealed the New Zealand government had paid for NewZealand.com, further parliamentary questions have uncovered more revelations behind the expensive cock-up. MP Rodney Hide, a specialist in finance in auditing, has been unearthing quite what happened and …

    Music and Media 2 May 2003, 17:02

  • HP shuffles hardware execs

    In search of profitability

    Hewlett-Packard today announced a sweeping set of management changes in its enterprise hardware group in a much-needed move to better align the company's overall strategy since it acquired Compaq one year ago. HP has created a new business unit called Enterprise Storage and Servers that will be headed by Senior VP Scott …

    Business 2 May 2003, 18:16

  • RIAA flames Sun

    Networked computers causing trouble

    Sun Microsystems employees have been caught with their hands in the file-trading cookie jar, and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is not happy about it. The RIAA sent a "cease and desist" order to Sun after discovering that some of the server makers' employees had been downloading copyrighted files at work. …

    Music and Media 2 May 2003, 19:12

  • Letters DRMing up support for Steve's music shop

    A frantic surge of email in defense of Apple's online music service appeared yesterday. Here's a selection of letters from the week. I have 1.3 days of music burned into iTunes3; all from my own collection, none "stolen"... but I am thinking twice about using the AAPL service. DRM seems inescapable, but Steve's terms have to …

    Letters 2 May 2003, 20:37

  • CA geeks told What Not to Wear

    BOFHs parted from their T-shirts

    The good old days of strolling to work in a pair of torn jeans, a t-shirt and sandals have passed at Computer Associates. The software maker has instituted a new dress code, allegedly after Chief Sanjay Kumar expressed shock and awe about some of CA's unkempt engineers. CA's human resources department last month sent a memo to …

    Bootnotes 2 May 2003, 22:31

  • Anti-spam packages ‘too unreliable’ to certify

    Testing. Very Testing

    Poor performance of anti-spam packages is frustrating attempts by a leading certification vendor to develop benchmarking standards. ICSA Labs, which runs one of the most important security industry certifications programmes, has recorded disappointing results in its preliminary tests of eight open source and commercial anti- …

    Security 2 May 2003, 22:31

  • Off the starting Grid

    From Academia to Business

    IBM last week highlighted the availability of grid solutions to four new industries; petroleum, electronics, higher education and agricultural chemicals, complementing those already existing in the aerospace, automotive, financial markets, government and life sciences sectors, writes Tony Lock, of Bloor Research. The idea …

    Servers 2 May 2003, 23:18

  • Letters Linux and DRM – succeeding where MS failed?

    Re: Linus Torvalds blesses DRM, and nothing happens "The important thing to remember is that the GPL is a social construct, rather than a legal construct, which has never been tested in court. Its authority derives from consensus, not from the random fancies of a Judge. Throwing the GPL to the legal system now does seem to …

    Letters 2 May 2003, 23:59