11th December 2003 Archive

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Intellect thumbs up for Browns R&D tax breaks

But more definition, please

Intellect, the hi-tech industries’ trade association, has welcomed the Government’s proposals to improve the R&D tax credits system, in its response to Chancellor Gordon Brown's Pre-Budget report. Tom Wills-Sandford, Intellect campaigns director said: “The steps announced today will provide increased incentives to multi- …

Small Biz 11 Dec 2003, 09:43
Microsoft running on Microsoft again

Linux? What Linux?

After spending a few months relying on Linux for protection, Microsoft appears to have made its way back to homegrown code. Since August, requests to microsoft.com had the look and feel of being served up by open source code. Microsoft enlisted hosting provider Akamai's Linux server army to fend off a disheartening number of …

Bootnotes 11 Dec 2003, 09:44
IE phishing scam exploit unearthed

Master of disguise

Security researchers have discovered a way for scam artists to disguise more effectively the location of bogus Web sites. A flaw in IE displays URLs in the address bar takes the old trick of fooling users into visiting dodgy sites to the next level. The true destination of scam email is commonly disguised by fraudsters using …

Security 11 Dec 2003, 10:04
Cisco beefs up high-end routers

Bigger, better etc. etc.

Cisco Systems has refreshed its carrier-class 12000 series routers by doubling core network capacity to 40 Gbps and adding revamped supporting products, including line cards, software, and hardware modules. Among the most prominent product additions are the 40 (Gbps) per slot Cisco 12800 router and accompanying higher density …

Data Networking 11 Dec 2003, 10:21
Perestroika by PowerPoint

Go easy with the tax breaks

Promoting Russia's technical expertise - rather then tax breaks - is needed to develop the country's IT sector. Natalya Kaspersky, chief exec at AV firm Kaspersky Labs, said the high level of technical education in Russia made for good software developers, but not necessarily expertise in marketing. Russia's government could …

Business 11 Dec 2003, 10:43
Inland Revenue sacks EDS

CGEY wins

The Inland Revenue confirmed today that it has sacked EDS. The ASPIRE contract to manage the UK's tax and national insurance systems, worth an estimated £4bn-£5bn over 10 years, is to be run by the Cap Gemini Ernst and Young consortium, comprising CGEY, Fujitsu and BT. More than 2,000 EDS staff, based mostly in Telford, …

Hardware 11 Dec 2003, 11:06
Axe falls on net pin-up's 36D assets

Back to radio for CH4's Zora Suleman

She may be about to lose her job at CH4's lamentable RI:SE, but sultry Latin beauty Zora Suleman can at least take comfort from the fact that she has become a bit of an Internet celebrity. The breakfast TV newsreader and her near-legendary assets will most likely return to radio after bosses decided to stick the big needle into …

Bootnotes 11 Dec 2003, 11:13
Europe in Brief Berlin fences off domain hijacker

Now that his cabinet approved the Information Society Germany 2006 action plan, which calls for 75 per cent of Germans over the age of 14 to become Internet users within the next three years, chancellor Gerhard Schröder won back the domain name kanzlerschroeder.de (chancellorshroeder.de). Until recently, the name belonged to …

Music and Media 11 Dec 2003, 11:37
Spanish cyberkiosks claim second victim

Middle-aged woman in harrowing terror ordeal

A 45-year-old Spanish woman has become the second victim within a week of the murderous cyberkiosks which now threaten to reduce the leafy boulevards of Madrid to a smouldering post-apocalyptic wateland. Just five days after one teenager spent two-and-a-half hours with her finger stuck in a phone box's anti-theft mechanism, …

Rise of the Machines 11 Dec 2003, 11:38
Sacked-by-text staff win compensation

Gr8

Workers at the Accident Group, the no win, no fee personal injury claims outfit that went titsup with debts of more than £30 million earlier this year, have won a compensation claim after they were sacked by text message. There was outrage in May when some 3,000 staff received text messages telling them that they had been given …

Small Biz 11 Dec 2003, 11:41
SanDisk blames PalmSource, PDA vendors for Wi-Fi card delays

Are they really as different as all that?

SanDisk has revealed why it has failed to meet a number of release dates put in place for the Palm OS version of its Wi-Fi SD IO card. The cause of the delay, it claims, is not only PalmSource, owner of the operating system, but the various companies behind the PDA hardware. That the card is not made by SanDisk emerged this …

Mobile 11 Dec 2003, 11:42
Yahoo! fixes Web mail vuln

Flawed script

Yahoo! has closed a potentially devastating security loophole in its popular Web-based email service. The script execution vulnerability in the service could have allowed crackers to launch a worm or mobile code attacks using maliciously-constructed email messages. Yahoo's active content filter is supposed to block the …

Security 11 Dec 2003, 11:50
Intel folds Xscale business into comms group

Wireless chief quits

Intel will merge its communications and wireless computing wings into a single business unit, the chip giant said yesterday. Essentially, the Wireless Communications and Computing Group (WCCG) will be incorporated into the existing Intel Communications Group (ICG), currently run by Intel Executive VP Sean Maloney, who will …

Channel 11 Dec 2003, 11:50
Microsoft takes Lindows fight to Sweden

Wins restraining order

Microsoft has opened another European front in its war to get Lindows.com to change its name. The company has won a temporary restraining order which prohibits Lindows.com from use of the marks "Lindows", "Lindows.com", and "LindowsOS" in Sweden, pending a later decision on alleged trademark infringement. The judgment in effect …

Channel 11 Dec 2003, 13:05
Wanna complain about spam? You must be joking

'Technical reason' blamed

The Information Commissioner has blamed a "technical reason" for its failure to publish the necessary e-paperwork for people to complain about receiving unwanted spam. A number of readers contacted El Reg to say they'd tried to complain to the Information Commissioner - charged with enforcing the UK's new anti-spam laws which …

Music and Media 11 Dec 2003, 13:38
Elpida ships 1Gb DDR 2 chips

Hot on Micron's heels

Elpida today began shipping 1Gb DDR 2 chips, just days after Micron said it too had begun offering 1Gb parts. Elpida is offering the chips on 2GB registered DIMMs. The company promised to make 4GB DIMMs and 2GB SO-DIMMs based on the 1Gb chip available "soon". The memory maker said the chips were produced at its 300mm …

Channel 11 Dec 2003, 13:40
Cyber Oscar honour for Cambodian data-entry charity

And the winner is... Digital Divide Data

It may have attracted accusations of exploitation, but charitable Cambodian data-entry outfit Digital Divide Data will collect a "Cyber Oscar" tonight at the World Summit on the Information Society in Switzerland. DDD is one of more than 20 organisations so honoured by the Global Knowledge Partnership for outstanding …

Music and Media 11 Dec 2003, 14:00
IBM wins €1bn Michelin gig

Tyre kicking

Michelin has awarded an eight year tech outsourcing deal worth €1bn to IBM. The computer services giant will run the tyre firm's IT infrastructure in North America and Europe. It will manage Michelin's IT production operations and management, user support, technical support, solution industrialization and distribution of …

Hardware 11 Dec 2003, 14:38
Phishmongers target Lloyds TSB customers

Yup, another one

Another day, another email scam with fraudsters trying to extract sensitive information so they can thieve from people's bank accounts. Today it's the turn of Lloyds TSB, with punters and non-punters receiving an email asking for confidential online banking details. The email is a word-for-word copy of another scam email sent …

Security 11 Dec 2003, 15:09
Broadband minnow takes on BT over ‘unacceptable’ behaviour

Sorry, says monster telco

BT has apologised for delays that led to a Berkshire village having its wireless broadband connection cut off for almost a week. Hungerford-based wireless broadband provider, FDM Broadband, claimed BT had failed to repair a dedicated circuit that connects Lambourn, in Berkshire, to the Net. Frustrated at the lack of action …

Telecoms 11 Dec 2003, 15:14
CSR to expand from Bluetooth into Wi-Fi

Tri-mode chipset due next year

Cambridge Silicon Radio, one of the pioneers of Bluetooth chip design and which once supported HiperLAN, the European alternative to 802.11a, plans to move into the Wi-Fi market. The company is telling its customers that it will ship an 802.11a/b/g chipset next year, according to a report at Comms Design. CSR is bullish that …

Mobile 11 Dec 2003, 15:31
Nat Semi touts Bluetooth-beating low-power Wi-Fi chipset

Long on claims, short on details

National Semiconductor has developed a low-power Wi-Fi chipset that, it claims, brings the wireless networking technology into range of applications once considered suitable only for Bluetooth. The chipset has the potential to "significantly" reduce Wi-Fi power consumption, according to Ahmad Bahai, CTO of Nat Semi's wireless …

Mobile 11 Dec 2003, 15:31
Sony and Toshiba close to sampling Cell technology

65nm process to begin trial production in Q1 '04

Trial runs of the advanced semiconductor manufacturing process which will eventually create the much-vaunted Cell microprocessor are set to start at Toshiba's fabrication plant in March next year. According to a statement from Sony and Toshiba issued today, work on the 65nm chip production technology - which is more advanced …

Channel 11 Dec 2003, 16:15
Typosquatter pleads guilty to luring kids to porn sites

Cyber-sex.con

A pervert who tried to lure kids to pornographic Web sites by registering misspellings of Net sites likely to be popular to kids faces a lengthy prison sentence. John Zuccarini, 56, of Hollywood in Florida, pleaded guilty yesterday to 49 charges under a newly enacted federal law that makes it a crime to lure children onto X- …

Music and Media 11 Dec 2003, 21:11
HP taps the taxman to knock IBM and Dell

Stuck in the middle with you

HP seems to be hung up on rivals IBM and Dell of late. Earlier today, HP issued a statement in tandem with partner PlanetGov, saying they will replace "a percentage" of IBM and Dell gear in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data centers. The deal has an estimated value of $50 million and will see HP chip away at the rival gear …

Servers 11 Dec 2003, 21:44
My sysadmin is a special constable

Stop, Hacker!

Parliamentary lobby group EURIM is working with MPs and industry groups to draw a blueprint for the fight against cyber-crime. EURIM and think tank The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) today published a discussion paper which aims to set the agenda for debate on e-crime. This outlines a number of easily-introduced …

Security 11 Dec 2003, 21:44
Penn State President loves Microsoft, Napster, the RIAA and Al Gore (true)

The ultimate groupie

A note issued this week to Penn State University students about the school's music deal with Napster has raised a number of controversial new questions about the finer points of the two groups' relationship and exactly how it began. In the note, Penn State admits it is not actually paying much at all for the Napster service and …

Music and Media 11 Dec 2003, 21:57