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15th October 2003 Archive

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  • Prosecutors admit error in whistleblower conviction

    A bit late, perhaps?

    Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles will ask a court to set aside the conviction of a man who served 16 months in federal prison for blowing the whistle on an ex-employer's cybersecurity holes, officials said Tuesday. Without providing details, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles confirmed that the office's …

    Security 15 Oct 2003, 00:00

  • Monoculture or Mass Hysteria?

    Opinion A metaphor too far

    From the attention the subject is attracting at the moment, one might assume that our so-called software “monoculture” is about to spawn a plague of biblical proportions, writes Stephen O'Grady of tech analyst firm RedMonk. Gartner’s new study, discussed here, recommends that user organizations deliberately deploy other …

    Software 15 Oct 2003, 07:24

  • Bull: government subsidies undermine EU dream

    Anachronism

    One of the strongest arguments in favor of the formation of the European Union was that it would give European companies a competitive advantage long enjoyed by those based in the US. Unfortunately, as the EU prepares for further expansion, the ideal of a single market continues to be undermined by national self-interest. …

    Servers 15 Oct 2003, 07:24

  • Microsoft and Vodafone: mobile web service standardisation

    Revolving door

    Microsoft and Vodafone are to develop XML-based specifications for mobile web services standards. Microsoft has selected telecoms operator Vodafone to help lead development of XML-based specifications for convergence of fixed and mobile applications. Microsoft and Vodafone are to work closely to create web services standards …

    Hardware 15 Oct 2003, 07:29

  • Bill Gates: ‘Longhorn is going to be late’

    Interview Driven by progress, not release date

    Bill Gates yesterday confirmed that there is no official release date yet for the next version of Windows, named Longhorn. "Longhorn could be 2005 or 2006," Gates told a small group of journalists yesterday at the TechNet/MSDN seminar in The Hague. "This release is going to be driven by technology, not by a release date. Which …

    Software 15 Oct 2003, 07:36

  • Transmeta plots Efficeon roadmap to 2GHz

    Launches CPU with Nvidia chipset

    Transmeta yesterday revealed what few details it hadn't already announced about its upcoming Efficeon TM8000 processor - including clock speed and the name of the Nvidia South Bridge chip that will support the CPU - but left out one key fact: when it will be made available. The processor will initially operate at 1.1GHz, and …

    Channel 15 Oct 2003, 08:57

  • Nvidia extends nForce 3 Go family to ultra portables

    Efficeon Inside

    Nvidia yesterday rolled out its latest chipset, the South Bridge-only nForce 3 Go 120, a low-end version of the nForce 3 Go 150 chipset launched last month. And just as the 150 is targeted at a specific processor family - AMD's Mobile Athlon 64 - so the 120 is pitched at Transmeta's Efficeon chip, also formally launched …

    Channel 15 Oct 2003, 09:13

  • Intel to shrink Celeron to 90nm

    'Most of the value line' in that timeframe

    Intel may have pushed back the ramp of its 90nm desktop chip, 'Prescott', back by a quarter, but it appears to have brought forward its plan to offer Celeron chips based on the new process. Speaking during a conference call after announcing the chip giant's Q3 results, CFO Andy Bryant said the company will shift "most of the …

    Channel 15 Oct 2003, 09:40

  • Intel admits it ‘changed’ Prescott thermal target

    Still won't put a figure to it

    Intel's 90nm Pentium processor, codenamed 'Prescott', may be "sound", according to company President Paul Otellini, but the chip giant has had to change the chip's thermal target, he admitted yesterday. Speaking during a conference call after the announcement of Intel's Q3 financial results, Otellini said: "We ended up changing …

    Channel 15 Oct 2003, 09:58

  • Internet Exchange shuts dozen stores

    Financial restructuring

    Internet Exchange, chain of Internet cafés which has no, er, cafés, has closed more than 12 of its High Street stores as part of a financial restructuring programme. At this stage it's too early to say whether there will be any redundancies among the 160-odd staff who currently work at the business. Execs said that they hope …

    Small Biz 15 Oct 2003, 10:19

  • Dismal first week for N-Gage, say games retailers

    Tomb Raider tops handheld's software chart

    Figures from videogame retailers around the UK are showing an extremely low sell-through of Nokia's new N-Gage game deck in its launch week, with fewer than 500 units sold by the 6000 game stores polled by Chart-Track. Although these figures don't include sales from mobile phone stores, which might well be expected to shift a …

    Personal 15 Oct 2003, 11:23

  • NTL turns back on Linux users

    'Sorry, but we've no option'

    NTL has cut off Linux users from its Freedom dial-up ISP service after imposing new dialler software that only runs on Windows and the Mac OS. The move has angered users of the service, who claim that the've been deserted by the cableco. One hacked off punter told The Register: "As a long-standing customer of NTL, I am rather …

    Music and Media 15 Oct 2003, 11:27

  • Swisscom, TeliaSonera ink roaming deal

    All roads lead to roam

    Swedish telco TeliaSonera yesterday shook hands with its opposite number in Switzerland, Swisscom, to allow each company's Wi-Fi users to roam across the others' hotspot network. Swisscom's two hotspot ventures, Swisscom Eurospot and Swisscom Mobile, bring 700 venues in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK …

    Wireless 15 Oct 2003, 11:43

  • Net paedo jail sentence increased

    Consecutive terms

    A British paedophile who sexually abused two 13 year-old girls he groomed using Internet chatrooms has had his jail sentence extended 18 months by the Court of Appeal. Michael Wheeler, 36, an electronics engineer from Cambridgeshire, was sentenced in June to three years for unlawful sex and indecent assault on the two girls. …

    Music and Media 15 Oct 2003, 13:00

  • Microsoft UK kicks off IT financing

    Living on the never never

    Microsoft Business Solutions has started flogging finance deals to UK businesses that cover complete systems including software, reseller services, ISV products and hardware. Dubbed Total Solution Financing from Microsoft Capital Corporation, the finance is to be funnelled through qualified MS dealers only. The scheme centres …

    Small Biz 15 Oct 2003, 14:08

  • Dell launches Axim X3 PDA trio

    Update One wireless, two not

    Dell today made official the details of its latest PDA line, the Axim X3, as revealed last month by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) web site. The X3 is offered in three versions: one, the X3i, with integrated 802.11b wireless networking, and two without. All three models are based on Intel's XScale PDA255 processor …

    Mobile 15 Oct 2003, 14:09

  • HP and Alcatel seek telcos for SMB services plan

    Suite spot

    Alcatel and HP are to jointly develop the Ready Office Program for SMBs, a suite of IT and communication products to small and medium businesses. The firms will partner with global telco service providers to tout managed "pay as you go" service offerings including network access, voice, data, multimedia services, together with …

    Small Biz 15 Oct 2003, 14:10

  • UK to crackdown on Net scams

    Teams up with ANZ, Canada

    The UK has forged closer ties with Canada, Australia and New Zealand in a crackdown on Internet scams. In the past UK consumers have been suckered into such cons as Canadian lottery scams (in which people are told they've hit the jackpot but need to hand over taxes or a handling fee) and other "dubious e-mail approaches urging …

    Music and Media 15 Oct 2003, 14:17

  • Raritan takes on CCC Network's KVM baggage

    IP buy

    Raritan Computer has scooped up the assets of one-time KVM switch high-flyer CCC Network Systems. Raritan has purchased the intellectual property and remaining inventory of CCC's FreeVision product line for an undisclosed sum. CCC's high-end KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) and remote access products sit in some of the world's …

    Data Networking 15 Oct 2003, 16:34

  • Microsoft gets 64-bit OS beta happy

    AMD and Intel supported

    Microsoft gave AMD top billing in a Wednesday statement announcing beta versions of 64-bit Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Right atop Microsoft's brief marketing blurb is news that AMD's 64-bit chips will be supported with both Standard and Enterprise editions of Windows Server 2003. The beta software has arrived for …

    Servers 15 Oct 2003, 19:26

  • Jury mulls verdict in UK teen hacking case

    Trojan claim

    The jury in the trial of a UK teen accused of an electronic attack on a major US port retired today to consider its verdict. Aaron Caffrey, 19, of Shaftesbury, Dorset, allegedly hampered the operations of the Port of Houston by initiating an attack that crippled its Web-based systems for hours in the early hours of September 21 …

    Security 15 Oct 2003, 20:20

  • Sun greases Java roll-outs for telcos

    One umbrella

    Despite taking so many steps backwards and sideways for the platform, Sun Microsystems continues to be bullish about opportunities for Java on mobile phones. To coincide with the ITU summit in Geneva, Sun has introduced new programs and software for telcos that it says will ease deployment of Java-based software and services. …

    Mobile 15 Oct 2003, 20:26

  • Sony Ericsson records first profit

    Christmas comes early

    Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson has reported a third quarter profit after almost two years of continual losses. The number five phone maker, a joint venture between Japan's Sony and Sweden's Ericsson, posted a €39 million pre-tax profit during its third quarter, beating market forecasts of a loss of around €17.5 million. Net …

    Mobile 15 Oct 2003, 20:37

  • UK ‘snoopers charter’ claimed to break EU law

    Commission's retention of data framework itself is unlawful, says legal opinion

    The data retention regimes in operation or preparation in at least ten European states are unlawful, and breach the European Convention on Human Rights, according to a legal opinion released today. According to the opinion, comissioned by Privacy International from law firm Covington & Burling, the European Commission's …

    Music and Media 15 Oct 2003, 22:02

  • Apple stores are in the black

    G5s, PowerBooks boost slim profit

    Apple posted its highest quarterly income for three years in its September earnings results announced today. Excluding two bonus windfalls, the company turned a profit for the quarter of $29 million on sales of $1.72 billion. Without the charges, it would have recorded $44 million net income. CFO Fred Anderson said that while …

    Mac Channel 15 Oct 2003, 22:30

  • IBM up and optimistic in Q3

    Hardware cuts mean services, software gains

    IBM's showed a modest revenue increase for the third quarter, but results were good enough for the vendor to say that the IT market has stabilized and even to say it will add 10,000 workers next year. IBM posted revenue of $21.5 billion for the period, which marks a 9 per cent increase over the $19.8 billion posted in the same …

    Servers 15 Oct 2003, 22:50