8th May 2003 Archive

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Hi3G opens stores in Austria, Sweden

Keep on rolling

Hutchison's 3G European roll-out is gathering pace with '3' store openings in Austria and Sweden. In Austria, the mobile network operator is offering the full-on video-calling 3G experience in Greater Vienna, Linz, St. Pölten, Eisenstadt and Graz. More regions come on-stream later this year. Subscribers have national 2G …

Mobile 8 May 2003, 08:24
To patch or not to patch

Get lateral

We know one of the biggest security vulnerabilities is not technology per se but the implementation of technology, writes John McIntosh, Bloor Research. When it comes to security patches, we often find ourselves in a position where risk versus reward is uncertain. Nowhere is this more prominent that with Microsoft's servers, as …

Security 8 May 2003, 09:25
Moores Law retains grip on IT statute books – IBM

Manufacturing advances

"The power of computers has increased by six orders of magnitude in the last 36 years and it will increase by a further six orders of magnitude in the next 36 years", claimed Nick Donofrio, IBM's Senior VP of Technology and Manufacturing to an audience of IT analysts at IBM Pallisades, writes Robin Bloor of Bloor Research. ' …

Channel 8 May 2003, 09:27
Palm OS 6 to be designed for wireless

Release slips to late 2003

Palm OS 6 will ship to licensees by the end of the year, PalmSource says. In an interviewe with CNET, Albert Chu, PalmSource's VP of business development, talks of a 12-18 month OS release schedule, taking day one as the date when hardware based on the previous release ships. Palm OS 5 devices from Palm and Sony appeared last …

Personal 8 May 2003, 09:43
Radio Intel – future or fantasy?

Cost is ultimate challenge

Intel opened the doors on its radio work yesterday, allowing us an early glimpse into what it has promised will be a decade long project. Labs leaders said the culmination of integrating analog and radio into silicon would take that long, or at least - as they assured us several times - that they would have retired or left the …

Personal 8 May 2003, 09:44
Sony ‘very comfortable’ with $199 PS2 price point

Doesn't like bundles though

Responding to mounting speculation of an imminent price cut, SCEA president Kaz Hirai has told news agency Reuters that he is "very comfortable" with the $199 price point, and criticised game bundling moves by competitors. "We are very comfortable at the $199 price point... The numbers are very healthy for the PS2 at the $199 …

Personal 8 May 2003, 10:10
m-Payments for Edinburgh parking meters

Don't flash the cash

Irish company Itsmobile has signed a major new deal to sell its parking meter payments service, mPark, to the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. Itsmobile said the deal marks the first time a wireless parking payments service has been deployed in the UK. Similar to the service launched in Dublin in January, the wireless payments …

Mobile 8 May 2003, 10:17
‘Monopolistic’ BT kicked where it hurts

BB row rumbles on

BT was left with little option but to cut the cost of its Datastream wholesale broadband product - or face regulatory action from Oftel. Confirmation that BT was effectively threatened by the regulator has given heart to rival operators to continue to pursue actions against the dominant telco. In a statement Oftel boss David …

Telecoms 8 May 2003, 10:20
Telewest email hit by spam attack – again

Don't these things usually come in threes?

Telewest has been hit by yet another spam attack leading to delays in its email service. The attack happened at around 8.00am (BST) this morning and means punters could have to wait up to two hours to receive their email. According to Telewest, the attack isn't as bad as one a week or so ago which led to the cableco's …

Security 8 May 2003, 11:02
‘Athens’ – MS defines the next Windows PC standard

Oh, and it's a communications centre as well. Sort of...

OK, reality check. Your PC is fundamentally unreliable and broken. It doesn't switch on immediately and stay on, working, like your stereo, TV, fixed line or mobile phone, granny can't just play music and videos, stay connected to the Internet and collect her emails without regular calls to tech support (i.e., you), and in …

Software 8 May 2003, 11:24
Dell anoints UK boss

Insider appointment

Dell has looked to its own ranks for a UK boss. He's called Bill Rodrigues, he's American, and he replaces Brian McBride, former Northern European veep, who tipped up at T-Mobile in February. Rodrigues gets to run a 1,000-strong business, apparently Dell's second biggest country operation. From the sound of it Rodrigues is an …

Business 8 May 2003, 11:40
Team targets 802.15.3 for wireless video networks

Potentially much faster than 802.11

The latest attempt to get 1394 Firewire operating across a wireless network kicked off last week with the foundation of a working group seeking to tie the connectivity standard to 802.15.3 Personal Area Networks (PANs). The group's work could lead to 100Mbps 10m wireless links capable of maintaining multiple high-quality MPEG-2 …

Wireless 8 May 2003, 12:01
Microsoft is no threat – Sage

Not yet, anyway

Microsoft's assault into the SME business apps market is no threat - yet - to Sage, as the UK accountancy software firm is selling to much smaller businesses than its alleged rival. "The competitive landscape has not changed even though Microsoft entered our market two and a half years ago," Sage chief exec Paul Walker told the …

Small Biz 8 May 2003, 12:30
High Velocity Networks Web host outfit goes titsup

Oh dear

Wiltshire-based Intensive Networks Ltd - which trades as High Velocity Networks and provides Web hosting for small business - has gone tits up. The company is being placed into liquidation and will cease providing a service for its 500 or so business punters from May 9. In a bid to minimise disruption the company is advising …

Small Biz 8 May 2003, 12:32
Severed cables wipe out Telewest service

10,000 homes hit

Some 10,000 households in the South East are without their Telewest TV, phone and Internet services today after workmen severed two major cables The incident happened at around 1pm BST this afternoon. A spokesperson for Telewest Broadband said: "Contractors carrying out road works in the Tilbury area have caused significant …

Music and Media 8 May 2003, 18:51
MSN ditches free photo storage service

Over exposure brought into focus

MSN Photos - currently a free service that allows snappers to store their photos online - is warning punters to download the piccies or face losing them forever. It seems in the race to make money MSN is no longer willing to offer the service for free. Punters must either sign up to MSN 8 or remove the snaps before May 21. A …

Music and Media 8 May 2003, 18:51
IBM's Unix servers ready on demand

New pricing snuffs the fluff

IBM took a nice step this week to back up the marketing fluff behind its "On Demand" computing program with a new processor pricing system for its high end Unix servers. Along with a faster Power4 chip, IBM has extended its pay as you go pricing model for the chips and will even let users test out the new purchasing model for …

Servers 8 May 2003, 19:27
$2 trillion fine for Microsoft security snafu?

Passport passwords passed out

Microsoft's latest security lapse with its Passport information service could trigger a $2.2 trillion fine on the company courtesy of the US government. Microsoft on Thursday admitted that a flaw in the password reset tool of its Passport service could compromise the information stored on all 200 million users. It scampered to …

Security 8 May 2003, 22:22