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30th July 2003 Archive

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  • TI, Nokia, ARM team up for common phone silicon

    It's good, it's open, it's er, ours

    In something of a coup, Texas Instruments has turned a trademarked brand name for its proprietary silicon into an "open" industry alliance. TI's OMAP is already the runaway leading platform for smartphones, leveraging the company's pioneering work in DSPs to an ARM processor core. In December it announced a partnership with ST …

    Mobile 30 Jul 2003, 06:44

  • The Bell Micro tolls for $35m share offer

    For the pot

    Bell Microproducts yesterday announced its intention to raise up to $35m by issuing a new line of equity. The international distie group said it will use the money to "fund the growth of the Company, to pay down debt, to facilitate selective acquisitions, and to fund performance improvement programs that have a rapid return on …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 07:03

  • Bookham junks disruptive technology, disrupts 180 jobs

    Cash Burn Baby

    Bookham Technology, the lossmaking UK fibre optics comms components maker, is axeing 160-180 jobs in a move to reduce cash burn. The job cuts affect R&D, manufacturing and support staff working on the company's ASOC operations. Today the company announced its intention to withdraw from this business and its intention to dispose …

    Data Networking 30 Jul 2003, 08:18

  • Bertelsmann exits Barnes and Noble online JV

    Trousers $164m - a loss

    Barnes and Noble is stumping up $164m to buy Bertelsmann's 36.8 per cent stake in its ecommerce arm, barnesandnoble.com. The German media giant pumped $200m when it teamed up Barnes and Noble and has helped fund the business to an unspecified amount since then. Bertelsmann executed a U-turn last year, junking both its hugely …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 2003, 08:58

  • Tapwave charts Zodiac handheld release

    Not avoiding N-Gagement

    Tapwave's upcoming Palm OS-based handheld gaming console will be branded the Zodiac, the company said yesterday. Formerly codenamed 'Helix', the machine will ship in two versions, one with 32MB of RAM, the other with 128MB. The two Zodiacs will be priced at $299 and $399, respectively. Both with sport 480 x 320 colour screens …

    Mobile 30 Jul 2003, 09:19

  • Intel not guilty of securities fraud

    Court dismisses class action complaint

    The US District Court of San Jose, California has thrown out a class-action lawsuit that alleged Intel executives of securities fraud. The complaint, filed by the Hawaii Reinforcing Iron Workers Pension Trust Fund and others, claimed that the chip giant's senior staffers had knowingly mislead shareholders over the company's …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 09:40

  • Sinn Fein withdraws Sniper at Work t-shirt

    Sniper at Rest

    Sinn Fein has withdrawn the Sniper at Work t-shirt from its new online shop, following huge criticism of the "seditious" design. Oh well, we'll just have to put in an order for the "IRA - Undefeated Army" t-shirt instead. This "tribute to the Irish freedom fighters who continue their struggle against British Imperialism" is …

    Bootnotes 30 Jul 2003, 09:44

  • ‘Cautious optimism’ for UK IT jobs recovery

    Patchy picture

    There's evidence today that any tentative recovery in the UK's IT jobs market is patchy with the number of contract openings on the up while permanent position are on the slide. The number of contract IT vacancies advertised between April and June 2003 climbed by nearly 7 per cent compared to Q1 2003. However, the IT jobs …

    Business 30 Jul 2003, 09:46

  • Hynix ready to mass produce DDR 500

    First ever introduction of 256Mb parts

    Hynix yesterday pledged to put 256Mb 500MHz DDR SDRAM chips into volume production next month - the first of their kind, it claims. The company hopes to ride the wave of users and vendors moving up to high-end DDR, primarily 333MHz and 400MHz versions. Memory module sellers are already offering DDR 500 parts, but these tend to …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 09:53

  • ATI rises on growing mobile market leadership

    Gets Goldman Sachs' thumbs-up

    Securities specialist Goldman Sachs has upgraded ATI stock to its 'outperform' rating on the back of expectations that the company will increase its share of the mobile graphics chip market. GS told customers that ATI's share of that business will grow from 51 per cent to 59 per cent, and it will maintain that lead for the next …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 10:11

  • Single-channel Springdale coming next month

    Intel to pitch i848P at the mainstream

    Intel will start to ship the single-channel DDR version of its i865PE chipset during the middle of next month. So say Taiwanese mobo makers, according to a brief DigiTimes report. The chipset, known as the i848P, supports the Pentium 4 800MHz effective bit rate frontside bus. The report notes a $28-29 price point. Boards based …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 10:20

  • IBM pre- announces AMD Opteron 246

    Pledges Opteron-based workstations too

    IBM's Opteron-based eServer 325 will power the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology's new Linux-based supercomputing cluster - set to be the world's third most powerful supercomputer. The system will comprise 1058 dual-processor 1U rack-mounted eServer 325s. Each server is based on a pair of …

    Hardware 30 Jul 2003, 10:40

  • Japan yens for RFID chips

    Circulation grabber

    As Europe mulls the idea of implanting radio chips into euro notes, Japan has gone a step further with plans to incorporoate the controversial technology in currency that will enter circulation next year. New 10,000 Yen bills (worth about £51) currently entering production are to be implanted with IC chips from Hitachi in a bid …

    Security 30 Jul 2003, 10:41

  • Pentagon pulls Kill-An-Arab futures trading website

    'Not worthy'

    A Pentagon-funded website which invited participants to join a "futures exchange" speculating on the assassination of Middle Eastern heads of state, nuclear attacks on Israel, and similar catastrophes, was abruptly axed yesterday. The scheme was devised with the help of The Economist magazine's "Business Intelligence Unit" - …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 2003, 11:02

  • Save Money and Enjoy Life

    Hanging with the Homies

    Home working is not new but a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Group for AT&T indicates organisations expect much more home working in the future, writes Martin Langham of Bloor Research. As the survey puts it, "Its time has come". A global survey of 237 senior executives showed that a bare majority of employees are …

    Small Biz 30 Jul 2003, 11:24

  • Sony details PlayStation Portable specs.

    Smart CPU, graphics and copy-protection

    Sony has offered more detailed specifications for its upcoming handheld PlayStation console, the PSP. Most notably, the new machine will feature built-in 802.11 wireless networking to enable multi-player gaming, the company said in Japan yesterday. The PSP will be powered by a 90nm processor built from a MIPS 32-bit R4000 …

    Mobile 30 Jul 2003, 11:32

  • Court of Appeal rejects Storage Computer HDS appeal

    Not Patently Obvious

    The Court of Appeal has dismissed Storage Computer's appeal over a ruling last year that the company's uropean Patent (UK) 0,294,287, ("'287") was invalid in an action against Hitachi Data Systems. In a statement today, Storage Computer expressed disappointment with the UK ruling and noted that the 287 patent remains valid in …

    Storage 30 Jul 2003, 11:39

  • Oftel admits Komtel banning order now invalid

    You couldn't make it up

    "Tough-talking" Oftel has admitted that an order it made two weeks ago prohibiting a Welsh company from making 100,000 "nuisance calls" a day has no legal clout whatsoever. In a shock admission, the regulator has conceded that the new UK and EU regulatory framework in the electronics communications sector which came into force …

    Data Networking 30 Jul 2003, 11:57

  • Eidos reverses profit warning

    Despite rumblings from the Core

    Games publisher Eidos has said that the problems it had getting Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness out before the end of its previous financial year won't affect the company's performance after all. This after making such a song and dance over the fact that it would. But then the news does appear to be being used to mask tough …

    Business 30 Jul 2003, 12:10

  • Tiscali seeks resellers to flog broadband

    SME play

    Tiscali has set up a UK channel sales division to flog wholesale broadband services to "data centric/technology resellers who provide IT outsourcing solutions including first line support and billing services to SMEs typically employing less than 500 people". Try saying that in one breath. The ISP estimates that more than 4, …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 12:13

  • UMC toasts much improved Q2

    Sales, income - they're all up

    UMC, the world's second largest chip foundry, today said second quarter saw significant gains over Q1, with revenue rising 21.3 per cent to NT$21.71 billion ($631.66 million) and operating income rises 255.4 per cent to NT$2.48 billion ($72.16 million). The quarter was also up on the same period last year, with revenue up 16.8 …

    Channel 30 Jul 2003, 12:33

  • Nortel in network security product blitz

    'Security in the DNA'

    Nortel Networks is retro-fitting its Alteon Application Security Switch with security features and reinventing the appliance as a security - rather than Web switching - product, much like Blue Coat Systems has done before it. A marketing programme called 'Security in the DNA' ties Nortel's new portfolio of security products ( …

    Security 30 Jul 2003, 12:56

  • Pirate Naked Chef book goes wild on Web

    Lots of pix, some recipes, looks almost real...

    A file purporting to be a new cookbook by richly-rewarded-but-still-naked TV chef Jamie Oliver is not all it might appear. The 100-odd page Word document currently doing the rounds is titled "The Naked Chef 2" does contain genuine recipes from the chirpie chef, but they've been cobbled together from various earlier Oliver …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 2003, 13:42

  • IBM whacks lone iSCSI box

    What's an SMB to do?

    IBM has culled another low end system from its storage lineup, eliminating the highly marketed but slow selling 200i iSCSI box. IBM is trimming the fat off its storage hardware on a regular basis. Two weeks ago, it decided to discontinue a pair of Microsoft Windows-based NAS boxes. This week, the TotalStorage IP Storage 200i …

    Storage 30 Jul 2003, 15:54

  • EMC bulks up Symmetrix

    Size matters

    EMC has added the largest Symmetrix system to date to the high end of its storage line. At the same time it is rolling out improved technology for sending data over long distances and native iSCSI support for the new kit. EMC likes to tout software sales as much as possible, but it's the Symmetrix boxes that pay a large chunk …

    Storage 30 Jul 2003, 16:26

  • MCI denies national security ‘compromised’

    Hires law firm for latest inquiry

    Scandal-smeared MCI has insisted that all US government secure calls on MCI networks have been handled properly and denied that national security was compromised at any time. The firm stand follows a fresh round of allegations that the telecoms outfit improperly rerouted long-distance calls in the US and Canada in order to …

    Data Networking 30 Jul 2003, 16:35

  • I'm working for the FBI, claims accused hacker

    Disavowed

    Self-styled grey hat hacker Jesse Tuttle is fighting charges that he broke into his local council's computer network with a claim that he only did it as part of his work with the FBI. Tuttle (AKA Hackah Jak), from Camp Dennison near Cincinnati, Ohio, claims the Feds sanctioned him to prowl the Net for sensitive computers as …

    Security 30 Jul 2003, 16:43

  • Whitehall laptop theft prompts security concerns

    Man charged

    A London man has been charged with stealing a government laptop in a case that prompts renewed concerns about the security of government computers. Laurence Alleyne, 39, of Wood Green, London, was charged with theft of a laptop from Whitehall in an appearance at Bow Street Magistrates court this morning. Alleyne works as an …

    Security 30 Jul 2003, 16:48

  • Deutsche Bank dismisses IT jobs report

    'Speculative'

    Deutsche Bank has issued a statement, denying a Die Welt report that it plans to outsource 5,500 IT jobs worldwide. "Speculative", "no concrete figures", "theoretical figures", "misinterpreted" are some of the terms it uses to describe the article. In other words Die Welt, presumably the unsourced basis for yesterday's FT …

    Business 30 Jul 2003, 17:08

  • What has Sheep Shagger and Bluetooth got in common?

    Quiet day, dodgy news angle

    A survey by TDK Systems published today has revealed some of the more unusual names people give to their mobile devices. TDK Systems conducted a survey of 1,400 delegates who attended the recent Bluetooth World Congress in Amsterdam. Its BlueAlert software 'discovered' 478 Bluetooth-enabled devices over the course of the three- …

    Wireless 30 Jul 2003, 22:08

  • Firms to spend big on mobile e-mail

    The Big Mo

    Currently, only a tiny proportion of people with business mobile phones use their handsets for e-mail, but Analysys says this is about to change. The telecoms consultancy has said that in 2008, 40 percent of the 21 million Western Europeans who own business-centric mobile phones, 8.4 million users, will access their e-mail over …

    Mobile 30 Jul 2003, 22:18

  • Netscreen pilots security support for IPv6

    Pack leader

    Anyone looking to improve the security and scalability of their Internet activities has had IPv6 earmarked for a while, writes John McIntosh of Bloor Research. IPv6, as specified by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is an upgrade to the IPv4 protocol currently used. The reasoning behind IPv6 is that the growing need …

    Security 30 Jul 2003, 22:24