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8th July 2003 Archive

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  • Avoid RSI and find God – simultaneously

    The Lord is my ErgoShepherd™

    It's a sobering thought that one in six computers users will develop some form of repetitive strain injury during their lifetime. It's also a damning indictment on the quality of US preachers that the average US Christian spends less than four minutes a week reflecting on God. So, what's the solution? How can the Christian …

    Bootnotes 8 Jul 2003, 07:15

  • CipherTrust Secure Mail Gateway

    Coming to Europe

    As Chairman of the Anti-Spam Research Group of the IETF, Paul Judge's role of CTO at CipherTrust could leave him more than a little open to criticism, since it is he who is responsible for the product that CipherTrust deliver, writes John McIntosh, of Bloor Research. Judge joined the Company co-founded by Jay Chaudhry (latterly …

    Security 8 Jul 2003, 07:19

  • EC drafts m-payments blueprint

    Good start

    The European Commission has recently published, as a discussion document, a draft blueprint for mobile payments, writes John MacGowan of Bloor Research. The purpose is to "accelerate the deployment of mobile payments throughout the Union" and is aimed at consolidating the views and recommendations of the financial institutions …

    Mobile 8 Jul 2003, 07:21

  • Volantis: new interest from publishers

    'Difficulty controlling content'

    Mobile services specialist Volantis Systems is finding a ready market for its content creation and management tools among content publishing companies, according to a senior company executive. The market is a change from Volantis' typical clients, which are largely in the mobile telecoms sector, but there could be some growth …

    Hardware 8 Jul 2003, 07:21

  • Windows Voyager smartphone ready for Xmas

    T-Mobile climbs back on board

    We're a day away from the launch of Orange's new updated "Tanager" version of the SPV - but right on cue to spoil the party, someone has leaked the news of the much nicer one that will be out in a few months - the Voyager. With Bluetooth. The crucial feature of the new phone is bluetooth, meaning that you can connect it to a …

    Mobile 8 Jul 2003, 07:29

  • ZoneAlarm quiets bells

    Freeware patch

    A vulnerability in ZoneLab's freeware version of ZoneAlarm firewall will be patched within "the next two weeks". In its initial post to the BugTraq mailing list, ZoneLabs declined to address the vulnerability claiming it was as a result of a flaw in Windows (and not a combination of that flaw and one of its own). Within days, …

    Security 8 Jul 2003, 07:33

  • Judge waves through Worldcom $750m settlement

    Activists cry foul

    The disgraced company formerly known as Worldcom has received court approval for the revised proposed settlement over SEC penalties for the biggest accounting fraud in history. The US Securities and Exchange Commission had imposed a civil penalty of $2.25bn on MCI/Worldcom, but accepted first a $500m cash settlement and, when …

    Business 8 Jul 2003, 07:51

  • Dell reaches $50 million settlement with Tulip

    Patent infringement case sorted out of court

    Dutch PC maker Tulip has withdrawn its patent infringement law suit against Dell following an out-of-court settlement from which the Texan hardware giant emerges as the de facto winner. The two companies last week agreed to a deal under which Tulip will receive $49.5 million - significantly less than the $17 billion in actual …

    Personal 8 Jul 2003, 08:39

  • 'Y'all bought too much Oracle'

    Opinion Database must not dictate your IT strategy

    The recent article on The Register, entitled Oracle; spend less, know more, was a fascinating insight into the vision that Oracle proposes for its customers, and I feel compelled to write a response. What is being proposed by Oracle is possibly a CIO's dream, but definitely an operational nightmare. As a leading influencer of …

    Hardware 8 Jul 2003, 09:08

  • Microsoft to face patent violation claims today

    Eolas' ActiveX challenge comes to court

    Microsoft will find itself in dock (again) today when the patent infringement case brought against it by little-known, privately-owned technology developer Eolas comes to the US District Court for Eastern Illinois. At the heart of the case is a patent granted to the University of California but administered by Eolas, a firm set …

    Software 8 Jul 2003, 09:27

  • EMC to buy Legato

    All stock deal

    EMC is beefing up its open storage software portfolio with the $1.3bn all stock purchase of Legato Systems. This is approximately six times Legato's 2002 turnover, so it's difficult to see that there will be too much opposition from Legato shareholders to the deal. Sounds expensive, but EMC reckons that the Legato transaction …

    Storage 8 Jul 2003, 10:04

  • VIA launches mobile C3 processor

    Antaur on tour

    VIA launched itself against Intel's Centrino mobile platform today when it unveiled Antaur, a mobile version of its C3 desktop processor. We say 'mobile version' but we're really just talking about little more than a rebranded C3. The C3, particularly in its latest incarnations, based on the Nehemiah core, has been targeted at …

    Channel 8 Jul 2003, 10:07

  • VIA ships ‘legal’ Pentium 4 chipset

    Hello, PT800

    VIA has launched is first 'legitimate' Pentium 4 chipset - its first part to be offered with Intel's tacit blessing following the settlement of the two companies' long-running legal dispute. The PT800, as anticipated, provides a single-channel 400MHz DDR memory bus in order to pitch the part under Intel's dual-channel P4 …

    Channel 8 Jul 2003, 10:23

  • Vodafone Live Shopping goes live

    In UK

    Vodafone has launched Vodafone Live Shopping, a virtual shopping centre where UK subscribers can buy items over the phone using their credit card. The British mobile operator has formed alliances with HMV, Thorntons, Oddbins, Gagetshop and Firebox, and said it is looking to bring more retailers onboard. On Vodafone Live …

    Mobile 8 Jul 2003, 10:26

  • AMD Athlon 64 launch party set for 22 Sept.

    A second mis-sent email in as many days

    AMD has leaked a second press release schedule just days after emailing the first one to chip market watchers. The second schedule pegs the launch of the Athlon 64 to 22 September. On that same day, the chip maker will announce the Athlon 64-M mobile processor. Late last week, a similar press release schedule sent out to eager …

    Channel 8 Jul 2003, 10:43

  • EMC and BMC SRM Dance

    Marking cards

    The storage management space is today one of the most dynamic sectors of the IT industry, writes Tony Lock of Bloor Research The area is crowded with vendors, big and small, all jockeying for position in the race to gain market share. It is also worthwhile recognising that the vendors of storage software tools are also locked …

    Storage 8 Jul 2003, 10:53

  • 3 moves into Superdrug

    Nappies, aspirin and a video phone, please

    3 UK is to open 60 store-within-a-store outlets in prime Superdrug locations. The deal with the Boots wannabe takes retail distribution for UK's newest mobile phone network' above 2,000 outlets. Following a very slow start and handicapped by expensive video phones with battery life measured sometimes in minutes, 3's UK business …

    Mobile 8 Jul 2003, 11:41

  • Council IT workers happier to stay put – survey

    Grass isn't greener

    IT recruitment and retention problems in local authorities have eased over the last year, according to the latest salary survey from the Society of IT Management (Socitm). The survey, now in its fourth year, shows the rate of growth of salaries for IT staff in local authorities has increased slightly compared with 2002, while …

    Business 8 Jul 2003, 11:41

  • PDA security slackers, the lot of you

    ID thieves make hay

    Slack security on PDAs is making life easier for would-be fraudsters and hi-tech criminals. A third of employees are leaving business information and access details unprotected on their PDAs, according to a survey commissioned by access control firm Pointsec Mobile Technologies, published today. The PDA Usage Survey 2003 found …

    Mobile 8 Jul 2003, 11:50

  • UK IT hardware sales are weak – DCC

    Profit warning

    DCC, the Irish mini-conglomerate, today issued a profits warning in its AGM statement. It says "the current depressed state of demand in the IT industry" could reduce profit growth rate to a single mid-digit. The company also says that its Sercom Distribution unit is performing close to expectation in Q1, "despite particularly …

    Channel 8 Jul 2003, 12:15

  • Epson, we have a problem

    Dutch urge inkjet boycott

    The Dutch Consumer Association Consumentenbond is telling its 650,000 members not to buy Epson inkjet cartridge printers because of a "deceptive smart chip". The chip doesn't indicate the amount of ink left in the cartridge, the association claims, but stops after a number of print runs, even when there is enough ink available …

    Personal 8 Jul 2003, 12:30

  • Spam and porn lift SurfControl

    Soaraway profits

    Shares in UK-based censorware outfit SurfControl rose sharply with the release of an upbeat profits forecast today. In a trading update ahead of its full-year results on September 9, SurfControl forecasts it will exceed market expectations. Buoyed by strong demand for Net Nanny and spam filtering software, SurfControl predicts …

    Business 8 Jul 2003, 13:25

  • FSB calls for e-fraud ‘liability shift’

    SMEs getting stung, switching off

    The huge rise in Internet fraud is threatening the success of e-commerce, The Federation of Small Business (FSB) warned today. In a letter to E-commerce Minister Stephen Timms, the FSB explained credit card fraud over the Internet or telephone was of particular concern to small firms because the retailer, rather than the …

    Small Biz 8 Jul 2003, 14:23

  • AOL rolls onto NTL broadband

    One way or another, they're gonna get you

    NTL cable customers can sign up to AOL's broadband service from today. The roll-out follows a wholesale agreement between the two companies signed last December. The deal, worth £85m over four years, means that AOL can provide its service to 7.2m broadband-enabled households in the cableco's franchise area in addition to the …

    Telecoms 8 Jul 2003, 14:34

  • SGI's Tezro workstation gone before it arrived

    Specs spill out

    SGI has pulled details on the upcoming Tezro workstation off its Web site, but a diligent Register reader has filled us in on the missing kit. True to SGI form, the Tezro system appears to be one of the most powerful workstations around. It will ship with one, two or four R16000 processors and be available as a 2U high rack …

    Servers 8 Jul 2003, 16:09

  • MS' penalties for selling Linux – not punishment, as such

    It's the process, stupid...

    Massachusetts, pursuing its lonely appeal against the Microsoft antitrust settlement, says it is looking into whether the company has punished a computer maker for promoting Linux, and is thus in breach of the settlement. One might observe that the Microsoft-DoJ deal was so liberal from the company's point of view that it would …

    Software 8 Jul 2003, 16:20

  • Tadpole turns frog into prince with Sparcle

    New laptop good to go

    Say goodbye to the $20,000 SPARC notebook and hello to Sparcle. A few weeks back, Tadpole Computer introduced its cheapest Solaris/SPARC laptop to date, and we've had the pleasure of giving the kit a test spin. With a sharp design and a price-tag starting below $3,000, the Sparcle laptop kicks off a new direction for Tadpole …

    Personal 8 Jul 2003, 20:38

  • Ronald McDonald to save Wi-Fi

    Send in the Clowns

    Help is at hand, Wi-Fi revolutionaries. Afraid that the bubble has burst? Anxious that figures of two users per day per Starbucks suggest that few punters are rich enough, or idle enough, to use expensive Internet access? Worried that 802.11 won't make the earth move for Joe Sixpack in the way it clearly did - and what an orgasm …

    Wireless 8 Jul 2003, 20:39