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7th May 2003 Archive

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  • HP turns to Darwin for help

    Helping BOFHs evolve

    Don't be afraid, dear readers, should your servers begin to sprout ears or feet. Even if you can't see it, your data center is evolving and Hewlett-Packard wants to help. HP paraded most of its top executives on stage at a Tuesday event to roll out what it calls the Darwin reference architecture. It's unclear exactly what …

    Hardware 7 May 2003, 03:52

  • PeopleSoft loves Linux

    and IBM

    PeopleSoft says it will port its 170-strong portfolio to Linux by the end of the year. Executives took the opportunity to indulge in some colorful barbs at Microsoft, too. "It's not that we're anti-Microsoft. We're pro-choice," CEO Craig Conway told customers at a PeopleSoft show this week. As CRN noted this was a backtrack …

    Software 7 May 2003, 04:23

  • Governments continue to go barmy over .com namesakes

    South Africa back in the ring, New Zealand ready for more mistakes

    It seems there will be no let-up in governments going barmy and wasting huge sums of taxpayers money on purchasing their countries' global domain names. According to various South African news sources, the government is either agreeing to or has agreed a price for SouthAfrica.com from Virtual Countries - the company that sold …

    Music and Media 7 May 2003, 08:22

  • Palm licenses RIM, spawns games console

    All to play for

    Palm announced that it will work closely with RIM its PalmSource Developer Seminar in San Mateo today. Despite a deal with RIM's bitter rival, Good Technologies, Palm sees itself as a neutral platform company, and the choice will be down to enterprise customers or the big system integrators. The consumer side received a boost …

    Mobile 7 May 2003, 08:24

  • IBM fleshes out Competition on Demand

    One for the Utilitarians

    IBM has highlighted what it sees as its central role in 'eBusiness On Demand', with companies paying for IT requirements as a variable cost that falls and rises with use. But the outlook seems to suggest that a vast number of information utilities will evolve, and rivals such as Sun are likely to give IBM a run for its money. …

    Hardware 7 May 2003, 08:31

  • Sony to combine PlayStation and group chip operations

    First up: PS2-on-a-chip

    Sony is to unify its diverse chip development and production operations into a single business in a bid to turn the company into a semiconductor powerhouse. The new business' first offering will be a combination of the PlayStation 2's Emotion Engine CPU and the console's graphics processor on a single 53.5 million transistor …

    Channel 7 May 2003, 10:10

  • Intel to offer Bayesian computer learning code

    Boosting demand for faster chips

    Intel is planning to give away a library of software designed to improve a computer's ability to learn, NewScientist.com reports. It will also, of course, make it more desirable that that computer has a more powerful processors. The code uses so called Bayesian networks, a combination of statistical principles, including Bayes …

    Channel 7 May 2003, 10:13

  • Rural areas face widening BB digital divide

    Have nots face being left behind

    The lack of broadband in rural areas is creating a digital divide between town and country, according to a new report out today. Overall, two thirds of the UK population has access to affordable broadband services. But the Countryside Agency's fifth annual State of the Countryside report found that this drops to a quarter in …

    Telecoms 7 May 2003, 10:53

  • Tapwave opts for ATI Imageon

    Other partners named too

    Having yesterday said it has licensed Palm OS 5 for its upcoming handheld entertainment console, Tapwave today said it will be using ATI's Imageon graphics chip in the device. Or rather ATI announced it on Tapwave's behalf. According to Tapwave co-founder Bryan Connell, the company chose Imageon after "intensive research", …

    Personal 7 May 2003, 11:18

  • AOL UK denies being ‘copyright snatcher’

    Misunderstanding

    AOL UK has been dubbed "copyright snatchers" by some of its punters after the ISP published new Conditions of Service (CoS). Members of AOL UK's Writers' Group are up in arms that new CoS, due to be introduced from July 1, could give AOL UK the right to pinch their work. One AOL UK punter told us: "I belong to the AOL UK …

    Music and Media 7 May 2003, 11:53

  • Kerberos Redux?

    Definitely maybe

    With the arrival of Windows Server 2003 we might be forgiven if we think that Kerberos, a "secure method for authenticating a request for a service in a computer network", is on its way out. After all, Microsoft have been seen as the principal torch bearer. What is clear in Server 2003 is that Microsoft are starting to push PKI …

    Security 7 May 2003, 11:55

  • MySQL moves forward

    But what about XML?

    In case you missed it, MySQL held its first user conference just before Easter, writes Phil Howard, of Bloor Research. MySQL is, of course, the developer of the eponymous Open Source relational database. How significant is MySQL? Well, it depends how you read the figures. According to the company, 29,000 copies of the database …

    Hardware 7 May 2003, 11:55

  • Microsoft plans Xbox Live overhaul

    Digital media centre thang

    A major overhaul of the Xbox Live platform is in the works, with the console set to get new online functionality including the ability to talk to friends outside of games and use streaming video and audio services. Microsoft is expected to announce the new features at E3 next week, although the company hasn't confirmed …

    Personal 7 May 2003, 11:56

  • Ebookers breaks into profit

    A European first

    The on-line travel agency Ebookers said it recorded its first ever pre-tax profit during the first quarter, despite reduced revenues following the Iraq war. The company admitted that the war had cut its first quarter profit by as much as £4 million, and it said that the SARS virus also impacted sales. But it said its cost …

    Business 7 May 2003, 12:07

  • Open Source ‘representative’ calls for software patents

    Wrong tree. Wrong bark

    A false or misled "open source representative" has signed an industry resolution calling for the EU to allow software patenting, which has been sent to members of the European Parliament. Copies of the resolution are here and here. The European Legal Affairs Committee holds a plenary vote on software patenting this Wednesday, …

    Software 7 May 2003, 12:29

  • Earthlink brings down the Buffalo Spammer

    Takes NY spamring to court

    Earthlink, the US ISP, was today awarded $16.4 million damages and permanent relief against a notorious spammer. The company accused Howard Carmack - aka The Buffalo Spammer - of sending more than 825 million illegal emails since March 2002. Also, it alleged that Carmack and accomplices "used stolen credit cards, identity …

    Security 7 May 2003, 13:06

  • Latest eMacs sound death knell for original iMac

    Gone but not forgotten

    Apple's release of not only faster, 1GHz G4-based eMacs yesterday but a cut-price low-end model has proved a mortal blow for the original G3-based model. In March, the G3 iMac, launched in 1998 and widely credited with reversing what many observers viewed as Apple's terminal decline, was pulled from the list of computers Apple …

    Mac Channel 7 May 2003, 13:30

  • Interland climbs into embed with PayPal

    Buttons

    Interland, the US web hosting biz, is to incorporate PayPal payment options into new ecommerce storefronts. The fruit of its labour is called E-Store Builder, a shop-building tool pitched at small and home-based businesses. Presumably the PayPal button will be an attractive option for businesses which are unable to get credit …

    Small Biz 7 May 2003, 14:04

  • Govt names Easynet as BB supplier

    'Over the moon'

    Easynet Group has been named as one of six companies given the clearance to provide broadband services to the public sector. OGCbuying.solutions - an agency of the Office of Government Commerce - has said that the pan-European broadband provider can offer broadband services to the public sector under a new framework agreement …

    Telecoms 7 May 2003, 14:04

  • Infogrames re-christens itself Atari

    Transatlantic transformation

    Infogrames is to change its name to Atari when NASDAQ opens for trading tomorrow. It will trade as ATAR. A quick visit to the Infogrames web site this morning found us being redirected to www.atari.com, and now a story from Reuters confirms that the French publisher has adopted the name it acquired back in 2001. Infogrames …

    Software 7 May 2003, 14:43

  • VIA NET.WORKS to axe third of UK workforce

    Confirmation due next week

    VIA NET.WORKS - which provides managed Internet services for businesses - is cutting up to a third of its 180-strong workforce in the UK. Employees at the company - which has a datacentre in Warrington and offices in Staines - were told yesterday that the company could lose around 60 staff following the threat of job losses. A …

    Business 7 May 2003, 15:06

  • Intel maintains Q2 forecast

    Reveals cost of treating stock options as an expense

    Intel is sticking by its earlier forecasts that its Q2 revenue will fall somewhere between $6.4 billion and $7 billion, according to the chip maker's latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing. During Q1, Intel received revenues totalling $6.75 billion and posted a net income of $915 million. That figure would have come …

    Channel 7 May 2003, 15:28

  • Intel releases AHCI 0.95 to advance Serial ATA

    Products by year end

    Intel has released the latest version of the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) specification, a move the company hopes will drive the development of more advanced Serial ATA device controllers. The specification, version 0.95, puts in place the details discrete host controller designers need to ship AHCI Serial ATA …

    Hardware 7 May 2003, 15:52

  • BT backtracks on broadband pricing cuts

    Not enough, says Tiscali

    BT has cut the cost of its wholesale Datastream product following complaints from rival operators that the dominant telco was acting uncompetitively. Last month five telcos (Energis, mediaWays.uk Ltd, Thus, Tiscali and Your Communications) complained to Oftel about price cuts for BT's wholesale IPStream ADSL product - the …

    Telecoms 7 May 2003, 20:15

  • International child porn ring smashed

    International Day of Action

    Two UK men, both alleged members of The Brotherhood, a worldwide child porn ring, were arrested today in an "International Day of Action". The UK men were among 21 "board owners, senior administrators and administrators of a complex Internet paedophile network have had premises under their control searched in five different …

    Music and Media 7 May 2003, 20:54