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6th November 2003 Archive

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  • Moto, LG up – Ericssony down

    Worldwide phone sales boom

    Motorola's phone business recovered in the most recent quarter, according to shipment estimates by IDC. Nokia held onto to its dominant position with 35 per cent global share. Although Nokia's shipments were up 11.1 per cent over the preceding quarter, its share of the booming global handset market fell slightly. Shipping 45.5 …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2003, 01:00

  • Sun's services queen ready to take on the Big Bad

    McNealy has Mac attack

    On Oct. 30, as some of us prepped ghoulish costumes and purchased large stores of candy, Pat Sueltz, the head of Sun Services, had the unenviable task of dining with CEO Scott McNealy. It's not that McNealy is such a bad guy. Some people claim he's quite witty (for a hockey player). He is, however, Sueltz's boss and had the …

    Servers 6 Nov 2003, 01:14

  • FCC locks down US TV

    Broadcast flag approved

    As widely expected, the FCC this week approved broadcasters' plan to enable TV transmissions to be copy controlled. Any device capable of receiving digital TV transmissions must have the feature, dubbed the 'broadcast flag' enabled by July 1 2005. Somewhat disingenuously, the FCC added an explanation that claims "the flag does …

    Personal 6 Nov 2003, 02:40

  • Sun and AMD set date for Opteron coming out party

    Exclusive Boxes, boxes and more boxes

    There are whispers in the air emanating from Sun Microsystems, and while faint, the voices speak of massive things - a deal with AMD. For awhile now, we've brought you news of an upcoming Opteron-based workstation from Sun. And it now seems that whatever flirtation Sun had with the x86-64bit chip has turned into infatuation. A …

    Servers 6 Nov 2003, 02:50

  • Reg Bricolage update

    Site News Coming soon

    Enough of you have asked us what has happened to the case study on Bricolage, the open source content management system, we promised a few months ago, for us to tell you how we're doing. Well, the backroom boys have been busy and we are ready - just about - to go live with our Bric implementation. But we have decided to hold …

    Site News 6 Nov 2003, 10:16

  • Mobile apps: certification discussions

    Raising the standard

    Telcos and ISVs are formulating a set of industry-wide standards for mobile applications. The certification of mobile applications could be enforced by different authorities during the next 12 months, according to Borland at a roundtable discussion at its BorCon developers' conference on Tuesday, 4 November. These discussions …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2003, 10:18

  • Telewest reports strong BB growth

    389,000 and counting

    Telewest signed up 38,000 new broadband punters during the last quarter, the company announced today. At the end of September, the cableco had 367,000 broadband users. As of yesterday, that number had swelled to 389,000. What's more, Telewest insists growth remains strong, with 32,000 signed up to Telewest's 1Mb service and 7, …

    Broadband 6 Nov 2003, 10:20

  • Chip biz hikes annual sales forecast

    Up $8bn

    The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), flushed with positive feelings induced by its latest sales figures has upped its annual market growth forecast. The organisation now believes 2003's total sales will be 15.8 per cent above 2002's figure of $140.8 billion. That will see the industry garner $163 billion in chip sales …

    Channel 6 Nov 2003, 10:36

  • AMD Opteron 250 to ship early 2004

    Whatever it's called, it runs at 2.4GHz

    The AMD Opteron 250 should ship early next year, if a Canadian high performance computing specialist's next major launch is anything to go by. Little-known - to us, at any rate - British Columbia-based hardware company OctigaBay will ship its recently announced OctigaBay 12K 12-CPU machine "commercially... early in 2004", it …

    Channel 6 Nov 2003, 11:17

  • Intel Alderwood chipset details emerge

    Dual-channel DDR 2 for Prescott

    Intel has fleshed out what little was known about its upcoming high-end desktop chipset 'Alderwood' with more information in a recent roadmap update. Alderwood, designed for the next generation of Pentium processor, 'Prescott', first appeared on roadmaps last summer, but as little more than a name and a release date: Q3 2004. …

    Channel 6 Nov 2003, 11:21

  • Intel takes Celeron to 2.8GHz

    Now officially targeting notebooks

    Intel yesterday extended the Celeron desktop processor line to 2.8GHz. Actually, we say 'desktop', but we note that Intel is now describing the part as being aimed at "desktop and mobile PCs", further blurring the lines between desktop and notebooks offerings. Whatever systems the new part ends up in, it will be fabbed at …

    Channel 6 Nov 2003, 11:44

  • Microsoft forgets to renew hotmail.co.uk domain

    Exclusive Kindly soul, El Reg to the rescue

    Microsoft was busy covering up an almighty cock-up last night after forgetting to renew its hotmail.co.uk domain name. Despite being warned that the domain for its popular Web mail service was up for renewal, it seems Microsoft - or whoever had the task of managing its hotmail.co.uk domain - overlooked this vital piece of …

    Media 6 Nov 2003, 11:49

  • PC sales are getting better, better all the time

    IDC on Germany and UK markets

    The UK PC market has experienced its highest rate of growth -17.4 per cent year on year - since the third quarter of 2000, according to market researcher IDC. The key drivers of growth remain consumer spending and the increased preference for mobility. Sales of notebooks soared 39.6 per cent, while desktops have grown 9 per cent …

    Channel 6 Nov 2003, 12:12

  • Cisco posts solid results

    Steady recovery

    Cisco yesterday posted first quarter earnings ahead of earlier market estimates, amid signs that the networking market is finally picking up. For the quarter ending October 25 (Q1 2004), Cisco reported net sales of $5.1 billion compared with $4.8 billion in Q1 2003 and $4.7 billion in its previous quarter. Cisco's net income …

    Business 6 Nov 2003, 12:15

  • Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy back on the wireless

    It's impossible... But it's happening

    The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is set to return to the medium from which it was first launched, the BBC confirmed this morning. Radio dramatisations of creator Douglas Adams' last three Hitch-hikers novels are now in production, with the first of the trio, Life, the Universe and Everything, due to be broadcast next …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2003, 12:16

  • Nokia pleased with N-Gage, but there's ‘a lot to do’

    Sticks to 6m units for 2004

    Almost exactly a month after Nokia's N-Gage launched worldwide, a senior company staffer has stated that it is "pretty pleased" with customer reaction to the device, but that there's much to be done if it's to meet expectations. Speaking at a conference in New York, Nokia's general manager for entertainment and media in North …

    Personal 6 Nov 2003, 12:26

  • IBM toying with Tablet plans for 2003

    Testing the water

    The Tablet PC market has thus far failed to impress the company that invented the first PC - but it looks like that will change next year, when sources predict an IBM Tablet to be released around May. The first IBM Tablet won't be a genuine IBM product, but a badged 'slate'-style product, to test customer reaction. But in …

    Data Center 6 Nov 2003, 12:32

  • Which? slams 118 services

    Shocking

    The UK's recently deregulated directory enquiries (DQ) service has received yet another mauling after a report found that three in four 118 services were unable to answer simple enquiries correctly. An investigation by consumer champion Which? found that in many cases punters are paying over the odds for a substandard service …

    Small Biz 6 Nov 2003, 12:39

  • Red Hat's Fedora released – the upgrade path for the rest of us?

    What if we have a cuckoo in the nest here?

    The first edition of Red Hat's other hat, Fedora Core 1, is now available, giving the world a chance to suck and see what you might term 'Red Hat Linux like it used to be.' Red Hat terminated the Red Hat Linux distribution earlier this week, directing businesses to the paid-for Enterprise packages and enthusiasts to Fedora - and …

    Software 6 Nov 2003, 12:45

  • So WIPO, why did you scrap the Open Source meeting?

    Yielding to US pressure, maybe?

    The World Intellectual Property (WIPO) is based in Geneva, Switzerland. WIPO is one of the 16 specialised agencies of the United Nations system of organisations, writes Bob McDowall of Bloor Research. It administers 23 international treaties dealing with different aspects of intellectual property protection. The Organisation …

    Software 6 Nov 2003, 13:23

  • Nortel meshes with BT and MIT

    For hotspot cost savings

    Infrastructure. The boring part of networking. Boring but expensive to do right. The hidden pieces that make a network operate have to quietly provide consistent service in the face of increasing demands and the occasional fault, Rob Bamforth of Bloor Research. The traditional 'star' or hierarchical network structures …

    Broadband 6 Nov 2003, 13:38

  • UK ID card plan – intro voluntary, morph to compulsory

    Two most obvious first targets compulsory-voluntary?

    Home secretary David Blunkett's plans for a compulsory ID card for the UK have been spiked, for the present. The cabinet today rejected a compulsory card and recommended instead that voluntary schemes could be used instead in order to "proceed by incremental steps to build a base for a compulsory national ID card scheme.. later …

    Media 6 Nov 2003, 14:54

  • Nokia phone explodes in Finland

    Counterfeit battery to blame

    Nokia has confirmed that one of its 3310 handsets, which exploded and caused minor injuries to a woman in Finland yesterday, was equipped with a rogue battery. The woman was taken to hospital but it's understood that her injuries were not severe, according to reports. The incident is the latest in a worrying line of incidents …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2003, 15:53

  • Snag in next-gen Wi-Fi security unearthed

    Down to weak passwords, again

    Security researchers have identified a potential security problem involving use of the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol, the second generation wireless LAN security standard. Although WPA itself remains cryptographically secure, a method used for making the technology easier for consumers to use is susceptible to attack, …

    Broadband 6 Nov 2003, 15:55

  • Tablet PC takes under 1% of Euro notebook shipments

    Microsoft's OS too expensive, says analyst

    IBM is clearly right to be cautious about releasing a Tablet PC - the latest figures from market watcher Canalys suggests that the platform has not proved a success. And Microsoft only has itself to blame. According to the company's data, fewer than 92,000 Tablet PCs shipped in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) from …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2003, 16:55

  • Ballmer cheers Apple's iPod with Monkey Boy Dance

    Get on your feet!

    It was Steve Jobs who said, "Hell froze over." We didn't take his word for it at the time. Yes, Apple launched iTunes for Windows, but that does not constitute pig flying in our book. So what does? How about Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer with an iPod. An avid Mac fan has taken the infamous Monkey Dance Boy video of Ballmer …

    Mac Channel 6 Nov 2003, 17:13

  • Google trawls chat

    Ask not for whom the bot crawls - it crawls for thee

    Yesterday's satire sometimes turns out to be tomorrow's news. Last year Brian Del Vecchio, a systems engineer, created a stir with a spoof Google site which added an extra tab called "AIMsearch". The spoof explained: "In November of 2001 AOL Time Warner, responding to a subpoena from Attorney General John Ashcroft, made …

    Media 6 Nov 2003, 20:09

  • Sun's AMD and Xeon blades stay tuned for delivery

    Just a few months late

    In the process of unearthing Sun Microsystems' Opteron server plans, El Reg has come across some additional x86 blade server details. Close Sun watchers will recall that the company earlier this year announced an Athlon XP-M blade. In fact, Sun announced this product twice, giving a mid-2003 delivery date. But here we are in …

    Servers 6 Nov 2003, 20:09

  • FTC gets injunction against ‘pop-up spam scam’

    Ads tout software to stop annoying pop-ups

    Acting on a Federal Trade Commission’s request, a US district court has issued a temporary restraining order against an operation that allegedly barraged numerous consumers’ computers with repeated Windows Messenger Service pop up ads. Ironically most of the ads allegedly sent by San Diego-based D Squared advertised software …

    Media 6 Nov 2003, 20:13

  • MoD scraps £120m computer project

    Obsolete before completion

    Britain's Ministry of Defence squandered almost £120 million on a computer system that was axed before ever being used. The Defence Stores Management Solution was designed to modernise the MoD's inventories of equipment. But the £130 million scheme was ditched last year, three years into the project, after it was realised that …

    Servers 6 Nov 2003, 20:22

  • Pseudonymous blogging safe (for now)

    Stalkers' corner

    A right wing columnist and Paul Krugman-obsessive has abandoned his legal threat to unmask a popular pseudonymous weblogger. The threat by author Donald Luskin was pretty explicit, and characterized as a SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) action, the prime purpose of which is to deter criticism. A 'joint …

    Media 6 Nov 2003, 20:29

  • DARPA's indecision threatens integrity of $1 million race

    Grand Challenged

    All is not well with the $1 million Grand Challenge event sponsored by DARPA, as some participants in the contest have dished a healthy amount of outrage at organizers over several last minute rule changes. On Nov 6, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) officials will announce that they have been forced to alter …

    Business 6 Nov 2003, 23:30