12th January 2004 Archive
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Virgin and T-Mobile to co-habit after divorce
Thrashing out terms
Virgin Mobile and T-Mobile are days away from agreement over dissolving their joint venture, The Sunday Times reports. And it looks like T-Mobile won't get much or anything in the way of hard cash for its for its 50 per cent stake. Instead, Virgin, a MVNO or mobile virtual network operator as it is known in the trade, will …
Mobile 12 Jan 2004, 10:37
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BT denies ‘sinister’ role in broadband delay
No dirty tricks in West Norfolk
BT has denied that there was anything "sinister" behind its delay to wire up a rival community wireless broadband scheme. The monster telco has already apologised to West Norfolk Community Broadband (WNCB) for delays in delivering their private circuits claiming that "capacity problems" on the network have held up installation …
Telecoms 12 Jan 2004, 10:38
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Business continuity planning: will it save you?
Policy wonks
Every year, security firm Pinkerton publishes a survey of the top threats that businesses believe that they have faced over that particular year writes Fran Howarth of Bloor Research. In six out of the past seven years, workplace violence has topped the list of concerns. However, business continuity interruption or continuity …
Security 12 Jan 2004, 10:46
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What's the score on Dixons stores?
Up to half will shut, says analyst
Dixons, the UK's dominant computer and electronics retailer, is "making little or no money" and is expected to shut up to half of its 329 high street stores. At any rate, that's what retail analyst Tony Shiret of CSFB is telling The Observer. He reckons that the cost to Dixons for its high street presence is up to 15 per cent …
Channel 12 Jan 2004, 11:27
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419ers reduced to Welsh penury
End of the line for the Boys from Lagos?
An email received this morning confirms what we had long suspected: that Nigerian 419ers have finally run out of steam in the creative department. Gone are the entertaining sagas of war-torn Africa, of unclaimed billions in gold bullion, of mysterious safety deposit boxes. Instead we get the same old "relative of Charles …
Bootnotes 12 Jan 2004, 13:09
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Net blamed for massive increase in child porn
Not our fault, ISPs say
The Net is being blamed for a massive rise in child pornography, according to a new report out today. The study - Child pornography, child abuse and the Internet - concludes that the ease of sharing and viewing images online has led to a huge increase in the volume of child porn available. The report argues that making it …
Music and Media 12 Jan 2004, 13:13
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Virgin.net still not accepting new broadband punters
Slippage
Virgin.net is still not accepting new broadband customers, almost a month after it said it would lift a moratorium on new sign-ups. Late last year Virgin.net was plagued by a series of technical problems which led to a severe deterioration in its service. the ISP halted sign-ups for its ADSL service while it carried out …
Telecoms 12 Jan 2004, 13:17
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‘Serial ID thieves’ banned from auction sites
Bonnie and Clyde.com
A US Federal Court last week imposed an order prohibiting two alleged ID fraudsters from taking part in Internet auctions. The duo was also ordered to pay more than $93,000 in compensation to consumers at the end of a civil case brought by US consumer watchdogs. James B. Thompson and Susan B. Germek allegedly used stolen …
Security 12 Jan 2004, 13:19
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Stob: Interview with a bulk emailer
Stob Don’t say the S word
I leave the A12 a few miles after Chelmsford and am instantly deep in rain-soaked countryside. Half an hour of nervous driving on slushy narrow lanes I come upon a vast, newly built mock-Tudor mansion, grandly set up in many acres of sodden lawn. A nameplate screwed to elaborate wrought-iron gates declares: "DunRo@ming". This is …
Bootnotes 12 Jan 2004, 13:25
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Bring me the head of trojan Xombe
Dead and dangerous
The net community has cut off the infection mechanism of a trojan, called Xombe, which poses as a Windows XP security update. Xombe, the latest in a string of backdoor programs designed to compromise Windows PCs, is capable of stealing passwords or turning compromised machines into components of an attack network under the …
Malware 12 Jan 2004, 14:24
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You wrote this from India, right?
Letters The Register stands up for overseas jobs
US tech industry stands up for overseas jobs You wrote this article from India right? No? Well that's where it might come from soon :-D Oh well. "goodbye and thanks for all the fish" "Let's vote these people in a again they are doing such a great job" (not) Regards, Johnny With the recent Bush proposal on immigration …
Letters 12 Jan 2004, 14:49
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Easynet to unbundle 80 exchanges in '04
Predicts strong revenue growth
Easynet is to unbundle another 80 exchanges this year, providing an alternative "last mile" to BT. Easynet is the UK's leader in local loop unbundling (LLU) - it has unbundled 149 exchanges as of the end of 2003. Now though, the ISP intends to carry on the work which it claims will continue to deliver "significant returns on …
Telecoms 12 Jan 2004, 14:52
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Text junkies seek SMS detox
Clinics battle to save mobe-crazed addicts
Are you moody, irritable and even physically ill? Do you suffer from insomnia and eye strain? Are the muscles in your right hand tighter than a gnat's chuff? Our Victorian ancestors would have put it down to excessive masturbation but, thanks to huge advances in medical science, the truth can now be revealed: you're addicted to …
Mobile 12 Jan 2004, 15:59
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Microsoft pushes for a million Xbox Live users
While Sony has new tricks up its sleeve
Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach has announced that Microsoft hopes to have one million Xbox Live users by June this year - but new plans from Sony may give the PS2 an innovative edge in the online gaming arena. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, Bach stated that Xbox Live is the "largest paid content service in the world …
Personal 12 Jan 2004, 16:00
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Cheaper broadband for Ireland
Eircom slashes wholesale and retail prices
Eircom is cutting the price of its wholesale broadband product along with a corresponding cut for its entry-level retail offering. The former state telecoms operator sells wholesale DSL access to other broadband providers. The price which it charges will now be reduced 15 per cent from €27 per month to €23 per month, which …
Telecoms 12 Jan 2004, 16:09
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The world shudders as Win98 gets support reprieve
Not dead yet after all...
Microsoft has issued a stay of execution for Windows 98, 98 SE and Windows ME, extending support for the geriatric trio until the end of June 2006, and tidying up their status a little, while it's about it. Win98 and SE were scheduled to take the drop this Friday, while ME was due to be around to depress us until the end of the …
Software 12 Jan 2004, 17:46
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SGI sees gravy coating midrange Linux on Itanium servers
Altix 350 unveiled
SGI has shown how far Linux running on Intel's Itanium processor can go. Now it wants to show how cheap this combination can get. In the rather small market for Itanium servers, SGI is one of the leaders in large systems with its 64-processor Altix 3000. Now, SGI will start selling a complementary server in the Altix 350 - a 16 …
Servers 12 Jan 2004, 18:17
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Veritas ships Bare Metal boost for Linux, AIX and Windows
Need to go dissimilar?
Next month Veritas will roll out a new version of its server restore software that should give Linux, IBM and Microsoft users a bit of help. Version 4.7 of Veritas Bare Metal Restore will bring the company's server recovery code to some of the latest operating releases from key Veritas partners. The software will run on Red Hat …
Storage 12 Jan 2004, 19:33
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Vivendi spinoff takes MP3.com archive private
Reborn as piped muzak
A spinoff company from Vivendi that includes former executives of MP3.com has acquired the music archive from its parent, and will make it available to its business customers. In addition to the physical archive, the newly independent TruSonic has also acquired rights to the streaming software developed at MP3.com. When in …
Music and Media 12 Jan 2004, 20:43
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UK and Ireland has bumper e-Xmas
Sales up 40 per cent
Etailers in the UK and Ireland had a bumper Christmas notching up increased sales of 40 per cent on the year before. That's according to research from e-outfit Shopcreator, whose study of more than 200 regularly-monitored UK and Irish etailers showed that Christmas 2003 saw "significant growth" in online sales. Although it …
Small Biz 12 Jan 2004, 21:32
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Radio hackers hurl drive by abuse at Burger King customers
'No Whoppers for you, fatty'
Burger King customers visiting a drive-through restaurant had to run a gamut of abuse after pranksters succeeded in hacking into the outlet's wireless intercom system. Investigators believe teenage practical jokers are behind the insults delivered to Burger King customers at an outlet outside Troy, Michigan over the last …
Wireless 12 Jan 2004, 21:35
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Torvalds' employer starts Linux users' defense fund
OSDL sets $10m target
Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), the non-profit Linux consortium, has launched a legal defense fund to meet costs of end users threatened by The SCO Group. OSDL will also look after Linus Torvalds, its most famous employee. Torvalds was subpoenaed by SCO in November. OSDL says the target for the fund is $10 million, but has …
Software 12 Jan 2004, 21:39
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Macrovision patent claims over Intertrust sound like wishful thinking
Peas in the pod
Macrovision issued press statements this week hinting that a new Patent Interference suit might mean it ends up owning half or all of the Intertrust patents. It is unclear which party pointed out the similarity between the two patents this time around, but previously it was clearly Intertrust that asked for the suit. An …
Music and Media 12 Jan 2004, 21:46
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CES plays home to HomePlug at 100 Mbps
Empowerment lobby
The Consumer Electronics show would not be complete without the HomePlug Powerline Alliance making a show of its technology for networking up the home using existing power cables. And HomePlug systems were on show both delivering in the new standard at 14 megabits per second (mbps), and a new advanced version from Intellon, …
Data Networking 12 Jan 2004, 21:46
