The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

11th August 2003 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • 802.11bofh

    Episode 16 The golden age of wireless

    BOFH 2003: Episode 16 It's a dull week at Mission Control with no one adding a lot of value to the place, so the PFY and I give ourselves a quick challenge of writing the ultimate application for the new 802.11b cards that we've picked up for our personnel disorganisers. A few furry toothed days of programming later, the PFY …

    BOFH 11 Aug 2003, 08:34

  • Security spending to hit $13.5bn by 2006

    Intrusion protection tools in demand

    Global revenues in enterprise security technology are predicted to reach $13.5 billion by 2006, up from $7.1 billion in 2002 last year. Intrusion protection, vulnerability assessment technology and security management tools are tipped to be key revenue generators in a new report by market watcher Datamonitor called Enterprise …

    Security 11 Aug 2003, 08:43

  • UMC to pay up to $130m for Infineon fab JV share

    Cost of switching to IBM

    UMC will pay Infineon $100-130 million to buy the memory maker's 30 per cent stake in their Singapore-based 300m wafer fab joint venture. So says an unnamed UMC source, cited by Dow Jones. The payment follows Infineon's decision, announced last week, to quit the JV. At the same time, the company said it would be working with …

    Channel 11 Aug 2003, 09:26

  • Chip biz to see ‘lacklustre’ 2003 growth

    Researcher gives 2004 the thumbs-up, though

    Semiconductor industry watcher Semico has reiterated its prognosis that the global chip business will see on "lacklustre" growth this year. However, 2004 is set to become something of a boom time, as growing PC and cellphone sales lift demand for new chips, the researcher added. Semico bases its forecast in its Inflection …

    Channel 11 Aug 2003, 09:30

  • IBM backs HyperTransport

    Other big names join Consortium too

    IBM, National Semiconductor, Texas Instruments and EMC have joined the HyperTransport Technology Consortium, the organisation said today. IBM, at least, was keen to point out that that the move is not a rejection of Rapid IO, the other next-generation chip-to-chip bus the company has been backing. "HyperTransport is one of …

    Channel 11 Aug 2003, 09:57

  • Confusion reigns ahead of 192 switch-off

    No it doesn't. Yes it does. No it doesn't, etc, etc

    BT - which corners around 70 per cent of the £300 million directory enquiries (DQ) market in the UK - is warning of consumer confusion arising from the 192 switch-off later this month. On 24 August, the plug will be pulled on DQ's old number, 192, and exclusively granted to a mob of operators, including BT, providing new …

    Small Biz 11 Aug 2003, 10:04

  • NSA proposes backdoor detection centre

    Will mend holes in software applications

    Declaring hidden malware to be "a growing threat", the National Security Agency's cybersecurity chief is calling on the US Congress to fund a new National Software Assurance Center dedicated to developing advanced techniques for detecting backdoors and logic bombs in large software applications. In prepared testimony before the …

    Security 11 Aug 2003, 10:17

  • Habeas cans spammer

    Peotic justice

    Habeas, the company that fights spam with Japanese-style poetry, finally won a first lawsuit against a spammer. Rather than identifying which email is spam, Habeas helps users determine which email is not spam by including a haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, in the headers of outgoing email. This haiku is trademarked and …

    Business 11 Aug 2003, 10:32

  • MS takes mouse wheel into second dimension

    Enables grenade-dodging side-stepping

    Microsoft is planning to add 'tilt-wheel technology' (TWT) to its popular range of computer mice, the company has announced, in a move which is sure to have significant connotations for hardcore PC gamers. TWT adds another axis of scrolling to the ubiquitous mouse wheel, allowing users to move left and right by tilting the …

    Personal 11 Aug 2003, 10:42

  • High Court bans alleged data protection profiteer

    Interim injunction ahead of trial judgement

    The High Court last week granted an interim injunction against Christopher Yewdall preventing him from profiting from allegedly misleadingly advertised data protection notification services. The interim injunction was granted on Thursday (7 August) as a temporary measure pending a judgement in a lawsuit brought against Yewdall …

    Small Biz 11 Aug 2003, 10:54

  • Pre-pay plans to boost i-mode in Europe

    KPN changes tactics

    Dutch telecom operator KPN Telecom finally introduced DoCoMo's i-mode to pre-pay users in the Netherlands last week in a move intended to boost its subscriber base. The same service will be offered through KPN's subsidiaries E-plus and BASE in Germany and Belgium later this year. So far, i-mode users had to subscribe to a …

    Mobile 11 Aug 2003, 10:57

  • SAS gets tough with rivals

    Takes off gloves, cracks knuckles

    Despite the fact that SAS is by a long way the largest business intelligence vendor in the market, it has regularly faced claims from Business Objects and Cognos that these are the leading suppliers in the BI space, writes Phil Howard of Bloor Research. The reason for this is that Business Objects and Cognos have largely had …

    Data Center 11 Aug 2003, 12:20

  • Rio reveals 20GB Ogg Vorbis network music player

    Reg Kit Watch Plus: Creative launches MuVo NX Flash player in UK

    MP3 Players Rio has announced its first raft of MP3-based portable music players since it was acquired by consumer electronics company D&M Holdings in April following the collapse of Sonic Blue. Today, the company unveiled seven players under five brands, including its first hard disk/Flash combo unit, the Rio Nitrus. Said …

    Personal 11 Aug 2003, 12:27

  • Industry mulls £5-a-minute phone calls

    Premium rate

    Phone users in the UK could be paying up to £5 a minute for premium rate phone calls if new tariffs get the go-ahead from industry regulator ICSTIS. At the moment, tariffs for premium-rate services such as weather information and TV show voting are capped at £1.50 a minute, a charge introduced way back in 1994. Now ICSTIS is …

    Business 11 Aug 2003, 12:32

  • GPL goes to court

    IBM's SCO counter suit breaks cover

    When I'm asked to describe the difference between the foreign country I live in (the US) and the country I was born and raised in (the UK), I usually first mention the parks. Parks are public spaces, but they're signposted very differently in each country. Here in California, a park (if you can find one) is in pristine …

    Software 11 Aug 2003, 12:38

  • Vodafone snaps up Singlepoint

    Wants to turn 1.1m network users into customers

    Vodafone has announced it will buy Singlepoint, the mobile services provider, for £405 million ($649.62 million) in cash. Singlepoint is a subsidiary of the Caudwell Group and it provides billing and customer care services to more than 1.3 million mobile phone subscribers, most of whom are consumers rather than business …

    Mobile 11 Aug 2003, 12:58

  • Wired not wireless to dominate home LAN market

    Early adopters prefer security, speed of cables

    The home network market may be set to triple in size this year, driven by increased interest in wireless networking, but only a fraction of European households will have installed a LAN - wired or wireless - by the end of the year, market watcher IDC warned today. Come 1 January 2004, and a mere 2.2 per cent of Western Europe's …

    Broadband 11 Aug 2003, 15:16

  • 500,000 kids to get mobile phones

    'You'll have to speak up, I'm on my skateboard'

    Half a million kids in the UK under the age of ten will have a mobile phone by the end of next year, according to research published by market intelligence outfit mobileYouth. Today, one in nine (400,000) children aged between five and nine has a mobile phone. In 2000, the number was less than 80,000. The increase in mobile …

    Mobile 11 Aug 2003, 15:26

  • EU regulations to control web cookies

    But will e-businesses follow the rules?

    European laws due to come into force by the end of October will shake up the way businesses are allowed to use cookies on their Web sites. The UK government has just finished its consultation period but already questions are being raised over the extent to which companies will comply with the new rules. Under the privacy- …

    Media 11 Aug 2003, 15:33

  • Church group asks FCC to vet MCI

    Acquisition of WorldCom's comms licences should not be a given

    One-time WorldCom scourge, the United Church of Christ (UCC) has officially asked the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the transfer of the collapsed telecoms giant's operating licences to its new incarnation, MCI. The UCC also wants the FCC to force a hearing on whether or not MCI is "fit" to be a FCC …

    Media 11 Aug 2003, 16:13

  • Nominet in paperless revolution

    Almost

    Nominet UK - the national Registry for all domain names ending .uk - is to cease issuing paper certificates for domain owners. Instead, all .uk domain names registered or renewed from August will be sent a letter (OK, so paper hasn't been given the chop completely) with a Web address and unique security code. By accessing the …

    Media 11 Aug 2003, 16:15

  • Man charged in Acxiom cracking case

    Consumer database giant fingers FTP server in attack

    A 24-year-old man appeared in court last Friday charged with cracking the systems of one of the world's largest consumer database companies. Daniel J Baas, from Milford, Ohio, is alleged to have illegally accessed and copied information stored at consumer database giant Acxiom last December while working for its partner, …

    Security 11 Aug 2003, 16:21