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12th June 2003 Archive

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  • And in America, Boingo gets Minneapolis airport

    Pulling a fast one

    The Register's Wireless LAN Channel Airports are today's obvious "high price" wireless Internet target; American WISP Boingo Wireless may not be at Munich airport, but it has got the franchise for WiFi service at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. "This extends the largest aggregated hot spot network to almost 90,000 …

    Broadband 12 Jun 2003, 07:41

  • Big Bother for Big Brother firms

    Sneak peeks tweaked

    Firms which monitor their staff’s communications without consent could face court action, under new government guidelines. The new rules aim to clamp down on snooping bosses by forcing them to inform employees if they are monitoring phone calls, emails and internet use. 'Big Brother' businesses which fail to comply with the …

    Small Biz 12 Jun 2003, 08:21

  • EC reviews infosecurity regime

    Raising the Standard

    A set of recommendations for better information security standards in Europe will be debated at an open meeting to be held this Friday (June 13) in Brussels. The recommendations have been produced by the Network and Information Security (NIS) Focus Group. The group includes technical experts appointed by the two European …

    Security 12 Jun 2003, 08:56

  • AMD and Intel scientists outline future chip tech

    Tri-gate, fully depleted SOI, metal gates and strained silicon lead the way

    AMD's boffins continue to explore ways to create ever more powerful processors, and the company this week outlined a couple of the avenues its research is taking. So did its arch-rival, Intel. Both firms' work is focused on the transistor the key CPU building block. AMD has long touted the benefit of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) …

    Channel 12 Jun 2003, 09:43

  • Micron samples first GDDR 3 chips

    Fast, low-power DDR for graphics

    Memory maker Micron has begun sampling what it claims is the world's first third-generation DDR SDRAM chips developed specifically for graphics applications. The memory, dubbed GDDR 3, is roughly one-and-a-half times the speed of the previous generation, GDDR 2, yet consumes half the power, just 2W, said Micron. That comes from …

    Channel 12 Jun 2003, 09:59

  • Direct marketing – new legal dangers

    Opt In Out

    In the context of this article, direct marketing means marketing contact that has not been requested by the target, write lawyers Mike Pettit and Tim Cook. The legal background on direct marketing is set to change. The European Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications ("Directive") focuses on marketing by email, SMS, …

    Small Biz 12 Jun 2003, 10:31

  • BT blows out in new patent challenge

    Got the wind up 'em

    BT has begun legal action in the US concerning patents for blowing fibre optic cables down bores and conduits. The action was filed in Delaware earlier this month, reports Light Reading, against Broadwing Inc., Level 3 Communications Inc., Qwest Communications International Inc., SBC Communications Inc., Touch America Holdings …

    Data Networking 12 Jun 2003, 10:35

  • Al-Jazeera cracker charged

    'Patriot' missiled

    A US Web designer has been charged with breaking into DNS servers and rerouting surfers visiting the Web site of Al-Jazeera to a "Let Freedom Ring" patriotic Web site he created, John William Racine II, of Norco, California, is also accused of intercepting Web email sent to the Arab satellite TV network, AP reports. The 24 …

    Security 12 Jun 2003, 10:48

  • N-Gage boss slams GBA

    On the offensive

    Nokia's head of entertainment and media, Ilkka Raiskinen, has attacked Nintendo's GBA in today's Dow Jones, accusing the system of failing to appeal to adult demographics, and has revealed some details of the development business model for N-Gage. "GameBoy is for 10-year-olds," Raiskinen is quoted as saying. "If you're 20 or …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2003, 10:53

  • When in Roam, do as the Roamans do

    Vodafone intros flat rates for Ireland

    Vodafone Ireland has greatly simplified roaming prices by launching flat-rate call charges for Europe and the UK. The company, Ireland's biggest mobile operator, said on Wednesday that Irish Vodafone customers visiting the UK will now pay €0.59 per minute for any call to Ireland or within the UK. For Europe, in markets where …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2003, 11:04

  • Nokia Observation: camera phone or CCTV?

    Data Protection rears head

    Buyers of Nokia's new Observation camera run the risk of infringing the UK's Data Protection Act, it has emerged. The Observation is a digicam with a built-in cellphone. Nokia is offering the device as a home and office security tool. The camera contains a heat-scanning motion detector. If it detects movement within its field …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2003, 11:07

  • MS Windows Server 2003 download leak?

    Only the eval though...

    Microsoft seems to be leaking code again - a link at http://download.microsoft.com passed to The Register allows free access to what appears to be an ISO image of Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition. The file, x09-22207.iso, is known to have been accessible since last weekend, and as it was still available this morning we …

    Software 12 Jun 2003, 11:20

  • ABIT adds VIA chipsets to Pentium 4 mobo roadmap

    Plus Athlon 64 from VIA and Nvidia

    Mobo maker ABIT will release boards based on VIA's Pentium 4 chipset, the PT800, during Q3, according to the company's latest roadmap. And the company will support AMD's Athlon 64 in October - a month after the chip's official launch - with two boards, one based on VIA technology the other using Nvidia's 'Crush K8' chipset. …

    Personal 12 Jun 2003, 11:54

  • FrogPad ships one-handed keyboard

    Reg Kit Watch Plus: Western Digital unveils 250GB Serial ATA drive, SiS launches Serial ATA South Bridge

    Keyboard US-based FrogPad has begun shipping its innovative one-hand keyboard, the only device of its kind on the market today, the company claims. The keyboard crams full functionality onto a grid of 15 full-size keys, plus and five more keys integrated into the keyboard's case. According to FrogPad, "the letters are arranged …

    Personal 12 Jun 2003, 11:55

  • SIA halves chip industry growth forecast

    Market realities

    The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) yesterday revised its forecast for growth in the world chip market downward to reflect "the new realities of the semiconductor market". Back in November 2002, the organisation predicted chip sale would increase 19.8 per cent during 2003. Yesterday, when it released its mid-year …

    Channel 12 Jun 2003, 14:11

  • Friday 13th deadline looms for SCO to slash AIX

    SCOry movie

    Darl 'Jason' McBride has reminded IBM that it has until tomorrow, Friday the Thirteenth, to comply with its claim that Big Blue's AIX compromised SCO's UNIX™ IP, or else. Jason, as SCO Group CEO, has notched up the pressure by reminding IBM that SCO could revoke its UNIX™ licence. "If we don't have a resolution by midnight on …

    Software 12 Jun 2003, 14:24

  • Open relay spam is ‘dying out’

    Controversial findings

    Open relay spam is dying out as a problem, according to a survey published today that is likely to raise eyebrows in the spam-fighting community. Only one per cent of corporate UK mail servers tested by security testing firm NTA Monitor last year were poorly configured in a vulnerable way that allowed spam to be distributed by …

    Media 12 Jun 2003, 19:38

  • Letters 4G and alphanumeric soup

    A couple of letters take us to task for yesterday's piece. The first is from analysts Visant, the second, a timely reminder that we omitted to mention a number of ETLAs which are important to the standards process. We read your piece on the question of why is there talk of 4G out there when 3G is still awaiting deployment. As a …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2003, 21:57

  • Oracle reseller pitches to PeopleSoft accounts

    Striking while iron's warming up

    Never let it be said IT salespeople are slow to seize on market uncertainty to bolster their pitch. Following Oracle's unexpected bid for PeopleSoft, UK reseller DSP Global has become one of the first companies to announce a PeopleSoft to Oracle E-Business Suite conversion programme. Oracle mounted a hostile $5.1 billion …

    Software 12 Jun 2003, 22:00

  • Analysts keener on Oracle's PeopleSoft bid than customers

    Lying in the arms of Larry

    PeopleSoft customers are much more wary of Oracle's predatory bid for PeopleSoft than analysts. In a poll of 2,606 PeopleSoft customers by Meta Group, the number of respondents who thought the Oracle bid was a bad thing outnumbered those who thought it was a good thing by almost two to one. 921 compared to 424 thought …

    Business 12 Jun 2003, 22:00

  • PeopleSoft boss asks customers to buy, buy, buy

    MemoWatch Oracle's predatory intentions slammed. Again

    PeopleSoft's CEO Craig Conway has written to its customers urging them not to put off purchases because of the uncertainty created by Oracle's hostile bid for the ERP vendor. The PeopleSoft board has rejected Oracle's bid, Conway writes, principally because it does not believe an Oracle/PeopleSoft combo would withstand antitrust …

    Business 12 Jun 2003, 22:00

  • Wireless not for the likes of us: The Dorchester

    Wired for in-room services

    The Register's Wireless LAN Channel Top London hotel The Dorchester is completing a refurbishment which includes PCs and up to six 100Mbit Ethernet connections in every room, with e-butlers to help guests get connected. But in a move to avoid wandering PC users from lowering the tone of the hotel's public areas, there is no …

    Broadband 12 Jun 2003, 22:35

  • Oracle says 'We're flatter than PeopleSoft'

    Up in Q4

    Oracle's strong fourth quarter results have given rise to another wave of rhetoric from Larry Ellison in pitching the PeopleSoft takeover bid. Oracle saw net income swell to $858 million in the fourth quarter - a 31 percent jump over the $656 million reported in the same period last year. The rise in net income appears to show …

    Data Center 12 Jun 2003, 23:02

  • Sex.com, Sex.com, you're my Sex.com

    Supreme Court rejects ludicrous appeal

    The US Supreme Court has rejected the appeal by Stephen Michael Cohen in the sex.com case. The decision brings to a close two years of pointless legal argument and leaves the way clear for sex.com owner Gary Kremen to concentrate on forcing .com registry VeriSign to admit its guilt in transferring the valuable domain to Mr …

    Media 12 Jun 2003, 23:07