5th November 2003 Archive

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Net video and audio to go to trial

More patent madness

Video and audio transmitted over the Internet is set to go to trial following another successful patent challenge in the US courts. Last week, a judge in the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh district court ruled that SightSound was allowed to go ahead with its case against two subsidiaries of media giant Bertelsmann, CDNow and N2K …

Music and Media 5 Nov 2003, 01:09
Bluetooth boom spawns ‘bluejacking’

Rad Fad

With Bluetooth finding its way into an increasing number of devices, a new pastime called 'bluejacking' has popped up. In simple terms, bluejacking is the art of anonymously sending messages to users of other Bluetooth devices who have switched on the technology and made their handset "visible" to potential bluejackers. Since …

Music and Media 5 Nov 2003, 01:26
Why the Friendster bubble 'has peaked – will pop'

Built-in obsolescence

The good times must be returning to the blighted technology industry. Silicon Valley's VCs are doing what they love best, and throwing investments at start-ups which don't know how to make money themselves. This is factored into the Venture Capital firms' own business plans: in the golden years here, they made money by taking …

Music and Media 5 Nov 2003, 02:49
NetApp hoists $300m for Spinnaker

Wind beneath its wings

Network Appliance is looking to add some wind to its sails with the acquisition of Spinnaker Networks for close to $300 million in stock. NetApp hopes to tap into Spinnaker's distributed file system and clustering technology used to group large numbers of NAS (network attached storage) systems. The Spinnaker assets should help …

Storage 5 Nov 2003, 05:48
Small.biz gets teeny tax refund for online returns

You too can claw back £825!

The Inland Revenue yesterday promised that small employers in the UK - all one and a half million of them - can get up to £825 tax-free if they send in their employer end of year tax returns online. The sweetener marks the opening salvo in a battle the taxman will wage over the next three weeks to raise awareness of regulation …

Small Biz 5 Nov 2003, 09:45
How to grab a slice of EU R&D funding pie

Gov.uk offers help

The Government yesterday kicked off a programme to help UK firms get their hands on a share of €17.5 billion earmarked by the European Union has for research and development projects. Dubbed somewhat cryptically FP6UK - Framework Programme 6 UK - the scheme is designed to help UK companies get a share of the EU's currently …

Small Biz 5 Nov 2003, 09:45
Baby alarm snares bungling burglar

Crimefighting, German-style

All parents know a baby alarm can deliver reassurance that their toddler is sleeping safe and sound in its cradle. What they may not, however, be aware of is that this humble piece of electronics is now at the cutting edge of crimefighting technology. Indeed, the good burghers of the German city of Bodum can today thank a mum's …

Bootnotes 5 Nov 2003, 09:54
Sony Playstation Portable pics pop up on web

Slim, smooth - and very sexy

Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi yesterday revealed the company's prototype design for its upcoming Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld gaming console. He also hinted that the device may incorporate mobile phone technology. Speaking at Sony's Transform 60 conference, Kutaragi dubbed the PSP as the "Walkman of the …

Mobile 5 Nov 2003, 10:58
Sony Cell CPU to deliver two teraflops in 64-core config

Scales like crazy, will allow true AI, company claims

'Cell', the massively parallel processing chip currently being designed by Sony and IBM, will scale from single-chip systems through to entire server rooms packed with thousands of them, Sony's executive deputy president Ken Kutaragi told attendees of the company's Transformation 60 conference yesterday. That's always been the …

Channel 5 Nov 2003, 12:11
Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition

Review Powerful but pricey, very pricey

It's not very often that Intel falls behind in the processor technology stakes, but that's exactly what has happened recently. When AMD launched its Athlon 64 range of CPUs it grabbed the accolade of having the most advanced x86 processor, writes Riyad Emeran. Of course Intel will probably argue this point stating that 64-bit …

Reviews 5 Nov 2003, 12:35
UN warns of e-gov ‘white elephants’

Surely not

E-government isn't all it's cracked up to be, according to a United Nations report published yesterday. Ever since the hype of the dotcom boom politicians in both the developing and the developed worlds have looked at how technology can help deliver public services. But according to a report - United Nations World Public …

Music and Media 5 Nov 2003, 12:40
MS puts $250k bounty on virus authors' heads

Updated Bring me the head of Alfredo VXer

Microsoft today announced two $250,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the virus authors behind the infamous Sobig and Blaster worms. The rewards, part of a larger scheme, were announced in joint press conference with the FBI, the US Secret Service, Microsoft and Interpol in Washington today. At …

Security 5 Nov 2003, 12:46
Campaign calls for safe e-voting

Audit trail

A coalition of technical, legal and political experts yesterday launched the free e-democracy project to ensure that electronic voting can be trusted by voters and politicians across Europe. Voters and candidates must be able to feel certain that voting intentions are accurately recorded. If any doubts arise then all interested …

Music and Media 5 Nov 2003, 14:02
ADSL snag catches Virgin.net

Compensation offered

Virgin.net said it will consider compensating punters who've suffered a spluttering broadband service in the last four weeks. The problem has since been identified as dud routers. Last month, the ISP announced it was aware of a "performance-related issue" affecting its broadband customers and explained that it was carrying out …

Telecoms 5 Nov 2003, 14:03
Microsoft vs Massachusetts

Appellates mull states' last stand

Attorneys for the state of Massachusetts' today argued that the antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the Department of Justice is completely inadequate. Tom Reilly, Massachusetts Attorney General, accused Microsoft of failing to take responsibility for its action. "Are they going to be held accountable ?" he asked the …

Software 5 Nov 2003, 14:06
Intel claims high-k material will slash chip power hunger

But not in time for Prescott...

Intel today outlined its plan to build the millions of transistors that make up its microprocessors using high-k dielectric materials. The move won't take place until 2007, when the chip colossus shifts down to a 45nm fabrication process, but when it does, it will reduce the amount of current leaking out of each transistor by a …

Channel 5 Nov 2003, 14:25
Sony to offer $60 iPod? Not likely

Apples and oranges

Sony will take Apple head on next year with the launch of new portable music players that pitch directly against the Mac maker's iPod. So much the consumer electronics giant admitted at its Transformation 60 conference yesterday. But early reports that it will do so with a $60 device seem highly unlikely, unless Sony has …

Personal 5 Nov 2003, 14:51
Virgin Mobile claims record Q3

loadsapunters

Virgin Mobile is reporting a record Q3, signing up 270,000 new punters for the three months to September end. This takes the customer base for the mobile network operator to more than three million. Turnover for the first nine months of the year skipped in a £309 million alongside an operating profit of £59 million, the company …

Mobile 5 Nov 2003, 14:57
WorldPay fights 'massive, orchestrated' attack

DDoS assault day two

WorldPay, the Royal Bank of Scotland's Internet payment transaction outfit, is continuing to fight a sustained Internet attack which has left its services mostly unavailable for a second day. Since yesterday morning, WorldPay's online payment and administration system has been reduced to a crawl due to a malicious DDoS attack …

Security 5 Nov 2003, 16:33
Dell is looking for a few good men

Making PCs PaYS

Prison industrial complex. Military industrial complex. It makes no difference to Dell. The company knows exactly where to look for a few able-bodies to drive its manufacturing lines. Dell has joined the U.S. Army's PaYS (Partnership for Youth Success) program. It's one of the first hi-tech vendors to team with the military for …

Channel 5 Nov 2003, 17:21
Lara Croft to hit the catwalk

"Miss Digital World" seeks electronic ideal of beauty

Next week sees the launch of the so-called "Miss Digital World" competition - a chance for designers and programmers to win a virtual beauty contest by sending their computer-generated e-Babes down the online catwalk. Franz Cerami is the man with the plan and the artistic vision: "Every age has its ideal of beauty, and every …

Bootnotes 5 Nov 2003, 18:46
Italian charged in porn dialler virus scam

All we need is a Linux guru and RIAA angle for the perfect headline

A 39-year-old Italian man accused of running a porn dialler scam has been charged with fraud and virus distribution. Italian police say the unnamed suspect stood to net €104,000 from a scam which tricked users into running a virus, called Marq-A, which altered the Internet dial-up number used by victims to a premium rate line, …

Malware 5 Nov 2003, 21:45
Veritas drills into disk with new NetBackup

Supporting cast full of protection

Veritas is getting down and dirty with data management, rolling out a new version of NetBackup and a host of complementary products that can scan deep into a customer's data stockpiles. The centerpiece of Veritas' latest product dump is NetBackup 5.0. The most immediate gain customers will see over the 4.5 product is a 50 …

Storage 5 Nov 2003, 21:45