17th December 2003 Archive

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Server vendors unite for the common good

Interface orgy

In a rare showing of unity, all of the major server players have come together to support the creation of a new interface standard for managing hardware. Intel, Dell, HP and IBM stole top billing in an announcement from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), touting the new CIM (Common Information Model) specification …

Servers 17 Dec 2003, 05:59
Sun settles with the Feds on China server sales

Renegade kit

Sun Microsystems will cough up $291,000 to settle charges brought by the U.S. Commerce Department for the sale of rogue servers to China and Egypt. The main system of ill repute is a 14-processor E5000 server shipped off to China in 1997. Sun papers said the box was heading for the Automated Systems Ltd. Warehouse in Hong Kong …

Servers 17 Dec 2003, 06:20
Credit cards: a contactless future

Faster and more secure

The contactless credit cards currently being trialed in the US offer numerous advantages such as speed and security. Despite this, a lack of common standards for the new RFID cards and the current roll out of chip cards under EMV standards means that it will take some years before they become mainstream. The contactless cards …

Security 17 Dec 2003, 09:26
Check Point strengthens perimeter with Zone Labs

We do like a nice bit of perimeter strengthening

Check Point Technologies acquisition of Zone Labs for $205 million will provide it with the means to beef up its offerings in endpoint security and SSL VPNs, areas where its rivals have been making strides recently. It will also give Check Point a sizable consumer business for the first time, with the ZoneAlarm product helping …

Security 17 Dec 2003, 09:33
Police crack down on mobile phone thefts

U R Nicked

Mobile phone thieves are to be targeted in nation-wide scheme to crack down on street crime. Police have the National Mobile Phone Crime Unit (NMPCU) to target thieves and dealers who ship high-value phones overseas. Half of all street crime involves the theft of a mobile phone, and almost one third of these crimes involves …

Mobile 17 Dec 2003, 10:31
SiS ships mobile Athlon XP chipset

Touts WLAN component, too

SiS yesterday unveiled the mobile incarnation of its SiS741 integrated chipset for the AMD Athlon XP. The SiSM741 supports a 333MHz frontside bus and DDR SDRAM clocked at up to 400MHz. The integrated DirectX 7 graphics core - SiS' Real 256E - utilises a portion of the main memory as video RAM, communicating at the memory's own …

Channel 17 Dec 2003, 10:44
Evesham Voyager 64 Athlon 64 notebook

Review Fast as expected?

There's something very special about this notebook from Evesham. Something that makes this particular machine different from any other notebook that has found its way into our offices. But looking at it you wouldn't be able to see what's so special because, in this case at least, it's what's inside that counts, writes Riyad …

Reviews 17 Dec 2003, 10:47
Commission agrees US access to EU citizen personal data

Hails negotiating triumph, somewhat unconvincingly

The European Commission has struck a deal with the US Department of Homeland Security allowing the handing over of data on EU citizens travelling to the US by airlines. The US currently requires access to airlines' Passenger Name Record (PNR) data, while EU privacy law forbids its transfer to the US. After some amendments which …

Music and Media 17 Dec 2003, 11:24
TwinMOS offers USB Wi-Fi adaptor

Future of ad hoc WLANs?

Taiwainese memory specialist TwinMOS is hopping onto the USB Flash Drive/WLAN adaptor combo bandwagon with a curvy, blue entry into the market. It is also offering a version that provides just plug-and-play USB Wi-Fi, without the Flash drive component. The combo unit, dubbed the B241, contains 128MB of Flash storage space …

Wireless 17 Dec 2003, 11:58
Those JenniCam competition results in full

Warning: contains strong language, nudity and violence from the start

We would never have guessed that the vast sunlit lagoon of artistic talent which previously lay undiscovered in the vastness of the Reg readership contained such a rich poetic ecosystem. In fact, so great was the response to our JenniCam poetry competition, that it has taken our highly-educated and erudite panel of experts …

Bootnotes 17 Dec 2003, 12:36
Ofcom broadband review ‘says nothing new’ – Energis

'Jam tomorrow'

Yesterday's news that Ofcom, the new communications regulator, is looking to squeeze BT's wholesale prices for broadband has met a mixed reaction from the industry. AOL UK welcomed moves that could lead to increased competition in the UK's wholesale ADSL market, claiming it was a "significant step forward for broadband in the …

Telecoms 17 Dec 2003, 12:40
So when are you going to launch a mobile Reg?

Site News Quite soon, actually

At long last, The Register has a mobile phone/PDA version for you to play with. It's subscription-only - a whopping £10 a year. The Register Mobile is not just a slimmed-down version of Fat Reg. There's reader customisation and a better search engine, for starters. You can check it out for free. The Register Mobile launches …

Site News 17 Dec 2003, 13:17
Sun and UC Berkeley are about to BOINC

Hunting aliens and beyond

Sun Microsystems and the University of California, Berkeley are ready to take their search for extraterrestrial life to a new level. They're getting ready to BOINC. In keeping with its long-standing commitment to Berkeley, Sun is donating a fleet of servers to power the next generation of the SETI@home project - the Berkeley …

Servers 17 Dec 2003, 16:27
IBM picks up a Green Pasture

Content management buy

IBM has added another small software maker to its arsenal, picking up Green Pasture Software for an undisclosed sum. Based in Oregon, Green Pasture makes document management software that lets user edit and manage files at the same time. The software tracks who has edited a particular document and what changes were made. …

Hardware 17 Dec 2003, 17:15
SCO shies from French Linux invasion

Cancelled before it signed up

The SCO Group has pulled back on its plans for a French Linux invasion. Earlier this week, an alert Reg reader noticed that SCO was listed as an exhibitor at the Linux Solutions conference to be held in Paris from February 3 to 5. On Monday, we checked under the letter T on the exhibitor list, and sure enough The SCO Group …

Bootnotes 17 Dec 2003, 17:48