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26th January 2004 Archive

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  • Bill Gates receives knighthood

    Arise Sir Global Philanthropist KBE and Bar

    Britain is to recognise Bill Gates' contribution to UK enterprise and the fight against poverty worldwide with the sort of honour money just can't buy - a knighthood. Bill, who is reported to be "absolutely delighted", will sadly not be Sir Bill of Seattle but, as a US citizen, may henceforth be addressed by the honorary title …

    Business 26 Jan 2004, 10:29

  • Euro PDA biz sees first growth since 2000

    Q4 sales rocket

    European PDA shipments reached a record 958,000 units during the last three months of 2003, market watcher IDC said this past Friday. Q4's shipments were significantly higher than past quarters: up 38 per cent over those recorded in Q3 2002 and more than 47 per cent up on the previous quarter's 504,015 units. During 2003, the …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2004, 10:37

  • AMD makes ‘substantial’ Euro PC share gain

    Good Q3 followed by 'promising' Q4

    Some 16.9 per cent of PCs sold by European resellers during the three months to 30 September contained AMD processors, UK-based market watcher Context has calculated. The figure marks a significantly bigger bite for the terrier nipping at Chipzilla's heels. During Q3 2002, AMD's share of the European PC sales through resellers …

    Channel 26 Jan 2004, 10:47

  • Broadband minnow spawns rural service

    Salmon daze

    Wireless outfit FDM Broadband has managed to wire up a Hampshire village with high-speed Net access without too much aggravation from monster telco BT. At the end of last year FDM kicked up a stink after claiming that BT had failed to repair a dedicated circuit needed to connect one of its wireless communities to the Net. FDM …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2004, 11:28

  • WTO to rule on Hynix import duties

    EU, US tariffs lawful or not?

    The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has put in place the people who will decide if the tariffs imposed separately by the European Union and the US on imports of Hynix DRAM products are lawful, according to wire reports. And now Japan is ready to follow suit with tariffs, following complaints by local manufacturer Elpida. It is …

    Channel 26 Jan 2004, 11:37

  • Vodafone preps monthly phone- style PC rentals

    Cheap notebooks, pricey access

    European PC maker Fujitsu Siemens (FSC) has partnered with Vodafone to offer what it claims is the world's first mobile phone-style monthly notebook contract. Under the Connect2Air package, the computer costs £99 ($180), on top of which the user signs up to a monthly airtime contract of £89 ($162) or more, depending on the …

    Small Biz 26 Jan 2004, 11:40

  • 419 scammers start working the phones

    Hello, I'm the Son of the Late Head of State

    Nigerian scammers increasingly are calling US companies on the phone, using relay phone services. These are normally free calls made by supposedly deaf people using keyboards which go to a phone company operator, who places a phone call and speaks for them. Companies such as AT&T offer these services at no cost. The scams can …

    Media 26 Jan 2004, 11:51

  • AMD Athlon FX-53 appears on web

    Maybe

    AMD's upcoming Athlon FX-53 processor has surfaced on the web. Apparently. GZeasy has a rather blurry, indistinct photo of a chip, which it claims is the 2.4GHz processor. To back-up its claim, the site has posted a series of BIOS and CPU information software screen shots mentioning the Athlon FX-53 by name. Given how easy it …

    Channel 26 Jan 2004, 12:05

  • Sir Bill of Seattle settles with Mike Rowe

    Shiny new Xbox for miscreant teenager

    As predicted last week, Microsoft has settled out of court with teenager Mike Rowe after the young wag established mikerowesoft.com, much to the chagrin of his Imperial Majestyness Sir Bill Gates of all the Microsofts. In return for handing over the offending url, Mike gets expenses, a new site, subscription to MS's Devlopers' …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2004, 12:32

  • 400mph cyclists kill opponents with handlebar-mounted guns

    Police take no action

    It had to happen: a US company has married an indoor cycle training stand to a Playstation2, creating Gamebike. 'Play don't train," says Gamebike about its $139 unit. The device - created by two US doctors - can be linked up to 'chase' games such as Extreme G Racing, where riders can steer and pedal through "25th century towns …

    Personal 26 Jan 2004, 12:56

  • Sony preps PSX update as retailers criticise marketing

    Free upgrade returns functionality lost in Xmas rush

    The first in a series of free software upgrades for the recently launched PSX media centre is set to arrive in Japan at the beginning of February - but retailers in Japan are reported to be highly critical of the system's performance so far. This first update, which restores much of the functionality that was removed from the …

    Personal 26 Jan 2004, 12:58

  • Prior consent does not mean opt-in

    Email marketing

    The UK's so-called anti-spam law, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, came into effect in December 2003. Many have said that this means changing the standard for consumer e-mail marketing in the UK from opt-out to opt-in - but that's not strictly true. Confusion has arisen because legally there is a …

    Small Biz 26 Jan 2004, 13:07

  • PlusNet rebrands 'no man's land' DSL service

    Confusion over broadband definition

    Confusion and misunderstanding has forced Sheffield-based ISP, PlusNet, into a rethink over the branding of its "midband" 150k DSL service. When the ISP announced last month that it was trialling the service, it didn't refer to it as a "broadband" service, but instead positioned it as a "natural stepping-stone from unmetered …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2004, 13:09

  • Vodafone launches 3G data card trial

    Faster mobile Net access

    Vodafone has begun testing a 3G version of its notebook-oriented Mobile Connect Card, the network said today. The current version of the card provides notebooks with Internet access through dial-up GSM links or always-on GPRS connections. Neither is particularly quick, better for checking email on the move than heavy-duty web …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2004, 13:18

  • Mike Rowe goes soft, hands over PR victory

    The Beast comes out smelling of roses

    Microsoft has done it again - looked for all the world like it is going to get a bloody nose, and come out smelling of roses. The software giant has settled with 17-year-old student Mike Rowe over his domain MikeRoweSoft.com and somehow turned it into a PR opportunity. There was certainly a good degree of naivete from Mike …

    Media 26 Jan 2004, 13:27

  • Nokia introduces visual radio

    FM with pictures

    Nokia Mobile Phones will showcase its Nokia 7700 Media Device during this weeks MIDEM music trade show in Cannes. It is Nokia's first dedicated media phone, a new type of device with a completely new look, and bursting with properties, Finish daily Helsingin Sanomat reports. The Nokia 7700, already announced last year, is the …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2004, 13:33

  • We'll kill spam in two years – Gates

    Charging ahead

    Bill Gates yesterday outlined a three-stage plan to eradicate spam within two years. Microsoft's scheme calls for better filters to weed out spam messages and sender authentication via a form of challenge-response system. Secondly, Microsoft wants to see to a form of tar-pitting so that emails coming from unknown senders are …

    Security 26 Jan 2004, 14:10

  • Chip and PIN hits 8 million cards

    'Steady progress'

    Plans for the UK rollout of a more secure method of authorising credit and debit card payments are progressing steadily, with around eight million next-generation cards issued to date. The Chip and PIN scheme, which began in October 2003, is designed to make credit and debit card purchases more secure by asking the majority of …

    Security 26 Jan 2004, 15:01

  • One in three Americans hate mobile phones

    Tethered

    A third of US adults hate mobile phones. Yet, despite their loathing of this "must have" gadget they also admit that they just can't live without them either. So says the eighth annual Lemelson-MIT Invention Index study, which charts people's attitudes towards gadgets and gizmos. According to the latest study, a quarter of …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2004, 15:55

  • Smartphones outsell PDAs 2:1

    Q4 good for PDA makers, even better for Nokia

    Q4 2003 may have been a boom time for the European PDA market, but it was an even bigger period for smartphones. According to new figures from market researcher Canalys, 2.24 million smartphones shipped in Europe, the Middle East and Africa during the quarter, compared to 1.23 million PDAs. Like IDC before it, Canalys' numbers …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2004, 16:02

  • The voodoo that Dumaru doesn’t do too well…

    The worm turns

    This weekend saw another iteration of email worm Dumaru. Unlike other email worm variants, Dumaru.J spreads itself by way of a zip attachment (rather than the typical executable). Of course, should users open the zipped file, and click the file ‘myphoto.jpg.56 (spaces). exe’ Dumaru does its typically annoying thing. Dumaru is …

    Security 26 Jan 2004, 16:57

  • CA does what Microsoft wants with BrightStor update

    We know how you like it

    Computer Associates has prepped a new version of the BrightStor ARCserve Backup product for Windows, touting tighter links to Microsoft's latest server operating system and a host of performance improvements with the release. Talking to El Reg, David Liff, vice president of storage marketing at CA, proudly described the joint …

    Storage 26 Jan 2004, 16:59

  • BT's dial-up service on the mend

    Getting better

    BT's dial-up service appears to be on the mend. It has been bugged by an intermittent network problem, causing frustration for thousands of customers. The problems hit email and some Web access (including some secure areas such as banking sites) over the last week or so. Updating The Register this afternoon, a BT spokesman …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2004, 17:01

  • Lycos Communities disbanded

    Lycos US calls time on chat service

    Lycos US is closing its chat services and message boards from next month. The portal is pulling the plug on its "Lycos Communities" (including chat, message boards, clubs and image galleries) from February 1. Terra Lycos is retaining chat etc. at its European sites. Users who store any content on the service, such as digital …

    Media 26 Jan 2004, 17:50

  • ‘Fear and Loathing at HP’ – say internal docs

    Exclusive The falling Fortune of Fiorinaville

    Internal documents disclosed to The Register reveal an HP beset by Fear and Loathing; Fear of the sack, and Loathing of what's perceived as Executive Greed. The revelations of internal strife come as a result of HP's exclusion from Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list. HP has tapped a consultant to try and rectify what …

    Business 26 Jan 2004, 20:14

  • HP's Prince of Darkness joins NextIO board

    While Dell pumps in $10m

    The Register's favorite HP executive, CTO Shane Robison, is to take on additional responsibilities as he joins the board of secretive chip start-up NextIO. The former head of Internet strategy AT&T Labs was the instrumental figure in fomenting the HP-Compaq merger. In contrast to the standard Silicon Valley attire of Banana …

    Channel 26 Jan 2004, 21:31