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18th November 2003 Archive

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  • AT&T patents anti-spam circumvention technique

    Method in the madness?

    Giant US telco AT&T has patented a technique for bypassing a certain kind of spam filter. Patent 6,643,686, granted on November 4 2003 and filed four years ago, details a "system and method for counteracting message filtering", which covers: A system and method for circumventing schemes that use duplication detection to detect …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 04:58

  • Huawei-3Com tie-up approved

    All systems go

    3Com and Huawei Technologies today announced that they had secured the remaining Chinese government approvals needed for their Joint Venture to begin operations. Rather like nursing a prospective partner through a difficult separation, 3Com stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Huawei when Cisco sued the Chinese manufacturer for …

    Data Networking 18 Nov 2003, 06:07

  • PalmSource launches online wireless store

    Cuddles up to Sprint

    Newly independent PalmSource has launched an online store that allows smartphone users to download PalmOS applications to their devices. Only 40 of the 20,000 applications are initially certified and ready for OTA (over the air) purchase and download but the software vendor expects many more to follow. David Limp, senior VP of …

    Mobile 18 Nov 2003, 06:13

  • Microsoft brings locked music downloads to US

    MSN apes iTMS

    Back in August, Microsoft announced a DRM music store in Europe, in partnership with OD2. Today Redmond confirmed that it would introduce a similar model in the United States through its MSN service next year. Following the introduction of Apple's iTunes music store in April, a number of competitors have followed with me-too …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 06:13

  • Aussies blown away by Poms rugby style

    The online poll never lies

    Don't believe everything you see in the press. For those that have been following the Rugby World Cup in Australia, one of the most intriguing off-the-pitch events has been the hostility directed at the England team. The Australian ran a full page picture of star England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson with the headline "Is that all …

    Bootnotes 18 Nov 2003, 08:17

  • Shredded Stasi documents could be pieced together in five years

    Jigsaw puzzle

    The last secrets of the East German State Security Service (Stasi), torn into shreds and stored in 16,000 brown sacks, may soon be pieced together by a software program developed by the Fraunhofer Institute. On Monday, the Institute said it would take five years to solve the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle electronically. If done …

    Storage 18 Nov 2003, 08:26

  • And now some words from our game sponsor

    Analysis Tail wagging the dog

    The first several generations of electronic game playing were hit and miss affairs, based primarily on powerful arcade consoles, low resolution PC graphics and specialist games consoles that simply didn’t do enough. Today’s electronic games business is worth in excess of $20 billion of predictable annual global revenues, with …

    Personal 18 Nov 2003, 08:51

  • New music deal for European Internet radio buffs

    Streaming along

    There was a lot of press ballyhoo last week about a new licensing paradigm for the music industry on the Internet. The deal, hammered out by the International Federation of Phonographic Industry and the major record labels, is a simplification of how Europe in particular, deals with licensing music to be streamed from the …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 08:51

  • 118 services not up to scratch – Oftel

    Want a number? It's a lottery

    Four in ten calls to recently deregulated directory enquiries (DQ) operators end in the wrong information being dished out. That's according to research from telecoms regulator Oftel and premium-rate watchdog ICSTIS, which are to meet the DQ industry soon in a bid to improve service levels. This insight into the 118 XXX …

    Telecoms 18 Nov 2003, 08:52

  • HP details Athlon 64 desktop support

    But gamer-oriented systems are Intel

    HP finally unveiled its long-awaited Athlon 64-based desktop at Comdex yesterday. But in something of a disappointment for AMD, it chose to base the first of a new line of gamer-oriented machines on an Intel CPU. The Compaq Presario 8000Z is equipped with an Athlon 64 3200+, 256MB of 400MHz DDR SDRAM, 80GB of hard drive storage …

    Personal 18 Nov 2003, 09:50

  • Music labels monitor P2P nets to list most popular songs

    Chart attack

    Major record labels have been snooping onto the world's peer-to-peer song-sharing networks in a bid to measure which artists are proving popular among file-sharers. Media tracking company BigChampagne has been monitoring P2P services since 2000, and has sold the data it collates to some of the industry's biggest names, the …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 10:15

  • FSF eases Microsoft schema patent fears

    XML schemers

    "We will have to patent our schema," advised Bill Gates in an internal email in June 1998, "and some of our key objects like people / schedules". Whether an XML schema can be a patentable invention is an interesting question, but only fairly recently the Microsoft chairman was attracted the idea that he not only could, but …

    Software 18 Nov 2003, 11:15

  • SCO admits: Linux jihad is destroying our business

    Death or inglory

    By law, companies must provide apocalyptic forward-looking scenarios in their SEC filings. They need to show they've thought of everything, to fend off potential class action suits just in case the sky really does fall in. But in a filing yesterday the SCO Group gave a strong hint that while it anticipates riches from IP …

    Software 18 Nov 2003, 11:16

  • BT poaches top Telewest exec

    Disappears into the BT blueyonder

    BT has poached one of Telewest's top execs from under the cableco's nose. Gavin Patterson (36), MD of Telewest's consumer division and responsible for the £950 million a year business, is to join BT as group MD of its consumer and ventures division. Mind you, he'll have a job on his hands. Somehow, he'll have to try and defend …

    Business 18 Nov 2003, 11:21

  • Electronic Voting Debacle

    Opinion American democracy at stake, no less

    Grave concerns over the security of electronic voting machines in the United States means the heart of American democracy is at risk, writes SecurityFocus columnist Scott Granneman. My grandmother, Ruth Scott, was passionately interested in politics her entire life. She never missed an election (an attitude she instilled in her …

    Security 18 Nov 2003, 12:10

  • New worm scams PayPal punters

    Mimail-J

    Stop us if you've heard this before. There's a new viral menace on the Net which attempts to con PayPal users into handing over credit card details. Mimail-J, the latest in a series of security-threatening worms, has spread quickly since its first appearance yesterday. Mimail-J typically arrives in an email with a subject line …

    Malware 18 Nov 2003, 12:14

  • BT! and! Yahoo! in! dial-up! makeover!

    BT knockers target blanket BB goal

    BT and Yahoo! are to start selling dial-up services together. The duo already jointly flog ADSL under the BT Yahoo! Broadband brand. From today, BT Openworld's narrowband services are now succinctly called "BT Yahoo! Anytime" (its unmetered service) and "BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-go" (its pay-as-you-go service, obviously). Anyhow, …

    Telecoms 18 Nov 2003, 12:18

  • Proposed: a Bounty for Bugs

    Big Bucks for Big Bugs

    Instead of paying hard cash to punish computer criminals, vendors should reward grey hat hackers for responsibly finding and reporting the security holes that make cyber attacks possible, argues SecurityFocus columnist Mark Rasch. Microsoft recently announced a $500,000 bounty for the arrest and prosecution of those responsible …

    Security 18 Nov 2003, 12:24

  • Santa comes early with big Hacker savings

    Cash'n'Carrion 25 per cent off - for one week only

    Fans of the legendary Hacker kit have just one week to take advantage of our pre-Xmas sale which offers 25 per cent off the entire range. That's right - an immediate 25 per cent off polos, caps, mugs and rubberwear. So, you can now grab a Hacker polo in black, green or white for just £15.74 (£18.49 inc VAT), the cap for £6.37 …

    Site News 18 Nov 2003, 15:03

  • Cisco combats network worms

    Lock down or lock in?

    Cisco Systems is to combat the spread of computer worms across internal networks. Cisco's Network Admission Control program is designed to minimise the threat posed when mobile or guest users connect infected PCs to internal company networks. Infections from worms such as Blaster and Nimda are frequently traced back to mobile …

    Malware 18 Nov 2003, 15:13

  • Open source: Brazil shies away from Redmond

    President shuns Windows

    Open source got an unlikely supporter with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has publicly shunned Microsoft's Windows operating system in favor of Linux. Many governments, in both Western and developing markets, view open source software as a way to challenge Microsoft's monopoly. Earlier this year President da …

    Software 18 Nov 2003, 15:14

  • Choice is king in the promised land of 64-bit computing

    Analysis The option explosion

    In case you haven't noticed, the world of 64-bit computing became a lot more interesting in the last week. When the tech economy imploded a couple years back, a lot of the industry focus on high-end computing was directed to the possible effect Intel's Itanium processor would have on the businesses of Sun Microsystems, IBM, HP …

    Servers 18 Nov 2003, 15:19

  • SCO is prepared to stump Novell's SuSE deal

    More cash for the cronies

    SCO's CEO Darl "Mr. Clean" McBride is threatening legal action against Novell should its buy of SuSE be completed. The SCO chief laid down the law, so to speak, in a revealing interview with IDG News Service. The SCO Group is charging that Novell's purchase of SuSE would put it in violation of a non-compete agreement signed …

    Servers 18 Nov 2003, 16:10

  • Businessman banned after Internet agency scam

    Rip-off

    A man has been banned from running an employment agency for ten years after he ripped off job hunters who used his Internet-based operation. Adrian Michael Farmer ran three Internet-based recruitment agencies - Overseas Recruitment Services Bureau, Recruitment Services International and Amtrak International Services) - from …

    Small Biz 18 Nov 2003, 16:10

  • Apple ships 20in iMac

    Reg Kit Watch Adds 1.8GHz dualie to Power Mac G5 line too

    Desktops Apple today expanded its iMac line with a 20in display model, and filled out its Power Mac G5 family with a 1.8GHz dualie. The 20in iMac is based on the same 1.25GHz G4-class processor as the current 17in model. The two new machines also share the same memory, graphics and storage specs.: 256MB of 333MHz DDR SDRAM, …

    Mac Channel 18 Nov 2003, 16:21

  • Sun to acquire identity broker

    Is your baby safe?

    Sun Microsystems is not shy about its ambitious identity tracking plans, announcing today an agreement to buy Waveset Technologies based in Austin. Waveset makes a variety of identity management software, including the Lighthouse Provisioning Manager, Lighthouse Password Manager, Lighthouse Identity Broker and Directory Master …

    Servers 18 Nov 2003, 19:06

  • Plug pulled on London Webcams, as Bush sweeps into town

    'Operational reasons'

    President George W Bush is about to pay the UK a visit and thousands of anti-war demonstrators are planning to take to the streets in protest. With London bracing itself for the mother of all security operations, it should come as little surprise that some strategically-place Webcams have gone on the blink. Transport for …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 19:21

  • ‘Police abduction warning’ email is a hoax

    That joke isn't funny anymore

    An email purporting to be from Warwickshire Police warning women of the threat of abduction is really a hoax. The hoax email is being circulated to women in particular, and has led to calls from worried members of the public to the central England police force from as far afield as Thames Valley and Scotland. In a statement …

    Security 18 Nov 2003, 19:23

  • CA revives free AV software offer

    Microsoft supplies 'kiss of life'

    Computer Associates today revived a free AV software offer to consumers months 18 months after canning a similar service as no longer viable. In conjunction with Microsoft, CA is offering "qualified Windows home computer users" with a no-charge, one-year subscription to CA's eTrust EZ Armor antivirus and firewall desktop …

    Malware 18 Nov 2003, 20:59

  • The economics of spam

    Only 50 replies in a million will do

    Spammers can make lucrative living even though only 50 in every million people respond to unsolicited commercial email. While spamming cost are negligible the potential payoffs are "huge and very profitable", according to a paper by Andrew Leung of Canadian telco firm Telus. Many of the themes of Leung's paper (e.g. the …

    Security 18 Nov 2003, 21:02

  • GoDaddy sorry for anonymity snafu

    Webcaster Alliance website back on the air

    Leading domain registrar GoDaddy Inc. says that it's "learned a lesson" after an internal mistake removed a trade website from the web for a month. The Webcaster Alliance, which represents Internet broadcasters, lost its website a month ago - the last thing it needed as it was preparing an antitrust action against the mighty …

    Music and Media 18 Nov 2003, 23:30