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12th September 2003 Archive

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  • Sharp to ship 3D notebook

    Wants to encourage content development

    Sharp plans to release a notebook next month with a 15in display capable of showing stereoscopic 3D images. The 2.8GHz Pentium 4-based Mebius PC-RD3D release follows demand from content creators for a machine capable of displaying true 3D content rather than a 2D rendition of a 3D scene, the way almost all 3D imagery is handled …

    Personal 12 Sep 2003, 08:59

  • Jury dismisses AMD religious prejudice claim

    Plaintiff's career not harmed by 'I'm a Muslim' revelation

    A US jury has sided with AMD against a former employee of the chip maker. The ex-staffer, Walid Maghribi, had alleged that obstacles were placed on his career path at the company after he admitted he was a Muslim - and not a Christian - to AMD chairman Jerry Sanders after the 11 September 2001 World Trade Centre attack. As …

    Channel 12 Sep 2003, 09:20

  • Mobo makers ready Athlon 64 boards

    Socket 754 and 940 parts coming soon

    Gigabyte is preparing three motherboards to support AMD's upcoming Athlon 64, two based on Nvidia chipsets, the other on VIA technology. Details of Chaintech's Athlon 64 offering have also emerged. The VIA-based product, the GA-K8VNXP, uses the VIA K8T800 chipset and will support Socket 754 Athlon 64s. The board will support …

    Personal 12 Sep 2003, 09:55

  • Hands-on: Nokia's N-Gage

    Review Warts 'n' all

    The road to being a platform holder in the games industry is never an easy one. Altogether too many times in the past, consumer electronics companies have entered this industry with plans of dominance, and then run off with their tail between their legs - Matsushita's M2 never saw the light of day, Philips' CD-I decks were an …

    Mobile 12 Sep 2003, 10:35

  • Mobile phone rage rock Nigeria, the Turf

    United we stand

    Here's a curious one. What's the link between hacked off Nigerian consumers and mutinous jockeys from the UK? Give up? Okay, it's mobile phones. You see, Nigerian pressure group, The Consumer Rights Project, has called on punters to boycott their mobile phones on 19 September. They reckon running a mobile phone in Nigeria is …

    Mobile 12 Sep 2003, 10:38

  • E-mail fraudsters target Barclays

    Gone 'phishing'

    Scam emails which attempts to fool Barclays Bank customers into handing over sensitive account information has been sent to thousands of Web users this week. The fake emails, which appear to have been spammed at users at random, purport to be part of a security check. Barclays customers receiving the emails are been encouraged …

    Security 12 Sep 2003, 11:34

  • MPs to investigate ‘Broadband Britain’

    What is the state of the e-nation?

    A group of MPs is to hold an inquiry into the state of "Broadband Britain". The Trade and Industry Committee, chaired by Labour MP Martin O'Neill, has set itself a broad remit for its investigation, which kicks off later in the autumn. Specific details are still sketchy, but among the issues to be discussed is the roll-out of …

    Telecoms 12 Sep 2003, 11:39

  • SCO vs Linux – the arrows fly

    Combat by open letter

    Two open letters have been circulating in the email in respect of the dispute between SCO and the Open Source community, writes Robin Bloor of Bloor Research. They are worth printing in their entirety: The first is from Darl McBride of SCO The most controversial issue in the information technology industry today is the ongoing …

    Software 12 Sep 2003, 11:45

  • Law seeks ‘deposit’ of web sites with UK libraries

    'Hopeless mess'

    For almost a century, publishers have been legally required to deposit books with the British Library. But a draft law will be debated in the House of Lords tomorrow that, perhaps bizarrely, seeks to extend this obligation to web site operators. Chris Mole, Labour MP for Ipswich, has laudable intentions for the Legal Deposit …

    Music and Media 12 Sep 2003, 12:00

  • Beatles' label sues Apple – again

    Three strikes and out?

    It had to happen. The Beatles - or rather their record label - are once again suing Apple Computer, in the London High Court. As we've reported before, at the launch of the online iTunes Music Store, back in the early 1980s, Apple Corp. sued Apple Comp. for trading on its name. The case was settled out of court, with Apple Comp …

    Mac Channel 12 Sep 2003, 12:08

  • Nokia handset supports DIY cover designs

    Bring your own pics

    Tired of spending 20 quid a time for phone covers? Well, Nokia has the answer: make your own. Its new handset, the 3200, provides room to insert your own pictures between the phone's innards and its transparent covers. Each handset will come with three cut-out designs - just snip them out and stick them underneath the covers. Or …

    Mobile 12 Sep 2003, 13:22

  • Wi-Fi whistle blower faces criminal charges

    Cracked a network to show how easy it was

    A North Carolina man faces criminal charges after his attempt to expose the insecurity of his local medical facility's wireless network landed him in hot water with the authorities. Clayton Taylor Dillard, 29, an information security consultant, is accused of breaking into Wake Internal Medicine Consultants' computer system and …

    Security 12 Sep 2003, 13:27

  • Oracle profits jump, new licence sales fall

    Cash machine

    The Oracle cash machine churned out a good first quarter, wringing an extra 28 per cent in net income to $440m on sales up just 2 per cent to $2.1bn, compared with last year's Q1. But the revenue bag was mixed with new software license sales falling seven per cent to $525m, while the post-sales business, software updates and …

    Hardware 12 Sep 2003, 13:39

  • ‘I Married an Extropian’ – reader

    Letters DARPA's brains trust unravelled

    Admiral Poindexter reappeared to defend the Pentagon's Terror Casino (PAM) this week. Our coverage provoked a few letters, and some corrections. Extropians aren't rich. A small footnote to history - the more famous of the two founders of Extropianism is from Britain; he is a friend of mine from university, and we tend to have a …

    Letters 12 Sep 2003, 13:44

  • Telewest upgrades Birmingham

    Someone has to...

    Telewest is to bring broadband and digital TV services to punters in Birmingham, the cableco announced today. The upgrading of its existing analogue network in Birmingham is to begin next month and continue through to April next year. It will be done on a "street by street basis" with areas including Bourneville and Kings …

    Telecoms 12 Sep 2003, 13:50

  • Show me the Terrorists

    Letter Insurance Scam?

    "As reported by Startups.co.uk, preparing for disasters is becoming increasingly important for small firms, who have had to deal with rising business vandalism and theft, various floods and the threat of terrorism over the past few years. " Disasters proving to be terminal for many small firms From Daren Nestor Now, I would …

    Small Biz 12 Sep 2003, 14:17

  • Free IT training bonanza targets London SMEs

    Grab it while you can

    The London Development Agency and the European Social Fund have promised to cough up an undisclosed amount of funding to give free IT certification training to all London businesses with fewer than 250 employees. A representative of London Development Agency (LDA) - the Mayor's agency for business and jobs - told The Register …

    Small Biz 12 Sep 2003, 14:23

  • Want 50Mb per second? Forget fibre

    Ethernet To The Home

    Think fibre to the home is the future? Think again. Finnish company Teleste, a European supplier of network kit for cable operators, has signed a co-operation agreement with the second biggest Dutch cable operator Essent Kabelcom to develop and deploy a fast IP-based data access technology called Ethernet to the Home (ETTH). …

    Data Networking 12 Sep 2003, 14:45

  • WorldCom ‘not guilty’ on Oklahoma charges

    The saga grinds on

    MCI, WorldCom - call it what you will - has pleaded not guilty to 15 charges brought against it last month by Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Last month Oklahoma alleged the company and six named employees "executed a scheme to artificially inflate the value of WorldCom stock and bonds by intentionally falsifying …

    Business 12 Sep 2003, 15:22

  • Linux on desktop not cost-effective for most, says Gartner

    Next week: analysts do it in harmony...

    The second of this week's 'Windows cheaper than Linux' studies comes from Gartner, which tells us that "Linux on the desktop is not a cost-effective alternative for most enterprises looking for savings." That, however, is what the accompanying press release says - the Gartner research Macnugget the release is publicising doesn't …

    Software 12 Sep 2003, 15:27

  • TRAMS changes hands

    MBO

    TRAMS, the business computer dealership, has been sold to its management team for "easily a seven figure sum". Founders Hugo Kirby and Wendy Howland-Jackson are the leaving the company to make way for new co-owners and directors Warren Peel and Alex Page. The MBO team were advised by Kingswood Corporate Finance, which also …

    Channel 12 Sep 2003, 15:47

  • Cabinet stalls on ID cards, Blunkett says he'll win anyway

    And he's right - ignoring this one just feeds it

    UK Home Secretary David Blunkett is pushing ahead with ID cards anyway, despite his failure to win the support of the cabinet, and despite having his plans spiked by Tony Blair in July. Reporting to the home affairs committee yesterday his faith both in the cards and in ultimate triumph ("I shall rely on me to persuade them in …

    Music and Media 12 Sep 2003, 16:57

  • Streaming audio using water (and other radio hacks)

    N5M And that Linux kernel broadcast in full

    Filesharing by FM radio, and the viability of Wi-Fi for streaming broadcasts were hot topics on the first day of the Next 5 Minutes Festival of Tactical Media in Amsterdam. N5M brings together hundreds of artists, activists and critics from around the globe and it's knowingly over-programmed. Frustratingly so: the sheer …

    Music and Media 12 Sep 2003, 17:46