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28th January 2004 Archive

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  • SCO posts $250,000 worm bounty

    Bring me the head of the MyWorm author. But Linus Torvalds will do

    The SCO Group has posted a $250,000 bounty for information leading to the conviction of the author of the MyDoom worm currently sweeping the Internet. The worm has been nicknamed "SCObig" because it harbors a payload that will create a Denial of Service attack against SCO's company website next month. SCO advises anyone who has …

    Security 28 Jan 2004, 03:29

  • Infineon to pay €100m for ADSL chip maker

    Acquires Taiwan's ADMtek

    Infineon today announced a plan to buy Taiwanese fabless comms chip maker ADMtek for up to €100 million - €80 million now and a further €20 million if the acquisition meets two-year performance targets set by its buyer. ADMtek focuses on Ethernet chipsets, but Infineon is more interested in its WLAN and home broadband gateway …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 10:28

  • ARM buys fabless SoC maker

    Triscend acquired

    ARM has acquired customisable microcontroller and SoC developer Triscend for up to $15 million in cash - $13.2 million now and up to $1.8 million more in the next 12 months if the Californian company meets a number of performance targets. Triscend has a number of ARM connections already. Its president and CEO, Reynette Au, …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 10:31

  • ARM's 2003 revenues dip, despite rising royalties

    'Year of operational stability'

    Rising sales during the last three months of ARM's financial year failed to lift the chip designer's full-year figures, the company reported yesterday. While Q4 2003 yielded revenues totalling £34 million ($62 million), up seven per cent from Q3's £31.7 million, the year as a whole generated revenues of £128.1 million ($230 …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 10:57

  • Analysis Chairman Bill's ‘magic spam cure’ – a revenue opportunity?

    Spam is a modern tragedy of the commons: as few as two hundred spammers pollute inboxes of hundreds of millions of Internet users, and will fairly soon account for half of all email volume. Fixing spam is simple if we permit ourselves to make slight changes to the Internet protocols. These protocols are supposed to be our …

    Security 28 Jan 2004, 11:01

  • Crypto booster tech for mobile phones

    Quicker security checks

    Discretix, the Israeli embedded-security specialist, yesterday launched an upgraded version of Cryptocell, its encryption technology for mobile phones. The technology includes a co-processor, security software and device drivers designed to optimise the delivery of encryption onto resource-constrained mobile phones. Discretix …

    Mobile 28 Jan 2004, 11:09

  • Consumer demand drives record LCD spending

    Panel makers investing heavily

    LCD panel makers will spend a record $9.42 billion on equipment this year - 43 per cent more than they forked out last year, market watcher DisplaySearch has forecast. That significant increase in equipment spending - 41 per cent higher than the LCD business’ last record year, says DisplaySearch - underpins growing consumer …

    Personal 28 Jan 2004, 11:19

  • Amazon profits climb, forecast raised

    Tibetan yak cheese, pomegranate molasses and zero carb cheese straws

    Online superstore Amazon.com ended its first full year of profitability and upped its sales guidance for the upcoming year. The company said that low prices and year-round free shipping deals are what have driven its success. "Our commitment to year-round free shipping and lower prices continues to be a win-win for our …

    Business 28 Jan 2004, 11:25

  • Thus passes cash flow positive ‘milestone’

    'Steady trajectory' towards operating profit

    Thus - the Glasgow-based alternative telco that's behind the Demon ISP - has turned cash flow positive, three months ahead of market expectations. Describing it as an "important milestone in the development of the business", Thus has confirmed it will be cash flow positive for the second half of the current financial year. " …

    Business 28 Jan 2004, 11:27

  • Intel delays next Xeon DP but one – report

    Jayhawk flaps wings, settles back on tree

    What could be Intel's first dual-core Xeon DP processor, 'Jayhawk', has had its release pushed back to the middle of next year. That, at least, is what Xbit Labs is saying, having presumably seen a recent internal roadmap. Jayhawk's existence was made official last September at Intel Developer Forum, and was given a broad …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 11:46

  • Intel's 90nm Celerons fall back to Q2

    Not to be released this quarter after all

    Intel CFO Andy Bryant's pledge to shift "most of the value line" of processors to 90nm during Q1 2004 appears to have gone off the rails. According to DigiTimes, citing Taiwanese motherboard makers, the first three 90nm Celeron processors will now arrive during Q2. The report suggests the three chips will be clocked to 2.53, 2 …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 12:04

  • Nvidia NV40 to ‘ship next quarter as FX 6000’

    CeBit launch?

    Nvidia's long awaited NV40 graphics processor will ship as the GeForce FX 6000 series next April or May following a March unveiling, German web site 3DCenter claims. The 130nm chip will actually use an AGP 8x interface. For video memory, DDR, GDDR 2 and GDDR 3 will all be supported. The GPU itself will contain 175 million …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 12:35

  • Online banking condemned by small businesses

    Lloyds TSB, BoS are especially pants

    The small business online offerings of Britain’s leading banks are not good enough. Despite spending millions of pounds trying to attract business customers and convince them to complete their transactions over the internet, the leading banks are failing to produce a satisfactory service. In a poll of 500 small businesses, …

    Small Biz 28 Jan 2004, 12:36

  • A visit from the FBI

    We come in Peace

    Well, it finally happened. Right before Christmas, I had a little visit from the FBI, writes SecurityFocus columnist Scott Granneman. That's right: an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation came to see me. He had some things he wanted to talk about. He stayed a couple of hours, and then went on his way. Hopefully he got …

    Security 28 Jan 2004, 13:05

  • Vodafone tops 130m customers

    Beats expectations

    Vodafone signed up more than 4.3 million new punters in the run-up to Christmas, taking its total customer base to more than 130 million users. Recording its best quarter in three years for increased customer numbers, the world's biggest mobile operator said the figures were better than expected. In Germany the company added …

    Mobile 28 Jan 2004, 13:05

  • MyDoom is the worst virus ever

    Switch off your auto-responder. Now!

    The prolific MyDoom worm has outpaced Sobig-F to become the fastest spreading virus ever, according to email filtering outfit MessageLabs. MessageLabs blocked 1.2 million copies of MyDoom (AKA Novarg) in the 24 hours after it first appeared on Monday. At its peak the virus accounted for one in 12 emails. In comparison, last …

    Security 28 Jan 2004, 13:11

  • O'Really unleashes Word Macro Viruses

    Cash'n'Carrion New t-shirt sprung on unsuspecting world

    It's been a while, but our associates at O'Really are back with a bang this week with the release of their lovely Writing Word Macro Viruses shirt. Magnificently presented on a 100 per cent black cotton ground, the two-colour artwork is an absolute must for all those who dabble in the black arts. After all, it's good to be bad …

    Site News 28 Jan 2004, 13:14

  • Europe in Brief Yahoo! shuts Scandinavian office

    Web portal giant Yahoo! is shutting down its Scandinavian operation, Norway's Aftenposten reports. The company claims Scandinavian users, fluent in English, prefer the portal's US-based home page. There are about 5.4 million Yahoo! users in Scandinavia. However, 77 per cent prefer to use the American portal. The Scandinavian …

    Media 28 Jan 2004, 14:16

  • Woman's breasts swell online charity coffers

    Topless Somerset lass raises £1,000

    The West Country girl who got her top off for charity at VixPix - Tits out for Muliple Sclerosis in aid of Colchester-based Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre has raised over a grand for this worthy cause. Her assets had swollen to a modest £70 when Tim Richardson wrote his original story earlier this month, but she has now …

    Bootnotes 28 Jan 2004, 14:19

  • US nukes: readers reach critical mass

    Letters Will Homer Simpson really decimate Texas?

    Our chilling report earlier this week into safety at the US Energy Department's Pantex plant in Texas provoked a veritable inbox meltdown as some readers' ire reached critical mass. Adam Bridge writes: Although I'm sure it was fun to write, I was dismayed by the hyperbole invoked in your article "Homer Simpson let loose on US …

    Letters 28 Jan 2004, 14:29

  • BT scores £40k win over The Number

    Charity to get £10k

    Directory enquiries (DQ) outfit - The Number - is to cough up £40,000 in an out of court settlement after being accused of ripping off a BT ad last year. The BT ad - in the form of a "Public Notice" - told readers that the telco was changing its 192 DQ number to 118 500. The next day, The Number - which was busy plugging its …

    Business 28 Jan 2004, 14:30

  • IBM slices 300 workers from Systems group

    Trimming the fat

    IBM this week sent 300 workers packing, making the cuts in the Systems group that accounts for server and storage products. Most of the staffers have been excised from IBM's San Jose, California operation. Both systems development and finance employees saw the majority of the cuts. The layoffs are surely a shock to the Systems …

    Business 28 Jan 2004, 15:12

  • DVD Jon to sue prosecuter

    Seeks compensation

    Jon Lech Johansen is demanding compensation from the Norwegian white collar crime unit, following four years of legal hell during which he twice had to establish his innocence of copyright violations charges. Aftenposten reports that Johansen is seeking NOK 150,000 ($20,000) in compensation from his prosecutors. "What we will …

    Media 28 Jan 2004, 15:13

  • Reg Kit Watch SanDisk ships 1GB SD card

    Memory cards SanDisk has begun punching out what it claims is the world's first 1GB SD card. The $500 card - we didn't say it was cheap - uses clever chip-stacking technology co-developed with Sharp to essentially squeeze two 512MB Flash memory chips into a standard 2.1mm-thick SD card, allowing it to be used in all existing SD …

    Personal 28 Jan 2004, 15:50

  • Brighton tops UK Jedi league

    The Force is strong in this town

    Long, long ago, in a news galaxy some considerable distance from reality, we reported on attempts to get Jedi recognised as an official religion in the UK census. After some concerns that anyone entering their religion as Jedi would be thrown down a very deep well, the government eventually - and certainly with a sigh of …

    Bootnotes 28 Jan 2004, 16:21

  • Welsh dragon struck by rebranding madness

    LogoWatch Strategy Boutique fleeces Taffs for 160k

    Anyone visiting Cardiff will note plenty of evidence of a vibrant Welsh economy. Blimey, they've even got Parisian-style pavement cafes serving double-decaf-latte-mocha-chocca at two quid a pop - a sure sign of fiscal buoyancy. An even more certain indicator of affluence is to have enough cash in the bank to hand a London …

    Bootnotes 28 Jan 2004, 16:22

  • IBM muscles up Unix midrange

    Power5 cometh

    IBM has added a bit more muscle to a midrange mainstay in its Unix server line. The p655 server will now ship as an 8 processor box packed with 1.7GHz Power4+ processors. IBM previously only offered the p655 as an 8-way with 1.5GHz Power4+ chips. Overall, customers should see a 20 percent performance improvement with the new …

    Servers 28 Jan 2004, 16:23

  • Intel preps 540MHz XScale chip

    Bulverde to appear in May?

    Intel will offer faster XScale PDA processors in May, according to one contributor on a Brighthand forum who claims to have seen "hardware vendor roadmaps". The author of the posting reckons the PXA263 will be extended from 300MHz and 400MHz to 412MHz and 540MHz. Certainly Intel is expected to launch its next-generation XScale …

    Channel 28 Jan 2004, 16:43

  • Sending jobs overseas could boost UK economy

    Not all bad

    Punting jobs overseas to countries such as India could "significantly boost" the UK's economic growth, according to a report out today. The Impact of Global Sourcing on the UK Economy 2003-10, commissioned by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), an umbrella organisation for IT software and …

    Data Center 28 Jan 2004, 17:06

  • IT giants criticised for running third world ‘sweatshops’

    The OBGYN wants what?!

    IT giants HP, IBM and Dell have been criticised for running third world factories blighted by "dire working conditions". Development agency Cafod says it has obtained proof that IIT workers in Mexico, Thailand and China suffer "harassment, discrimination and intolerable working conditions". Concerns about poor working …

    Business 28 Jan 2004, 20:47

  • MyDoom variant attacks Microsoft.com

    Same author, less damage

    A variant of the prolific MyDoom worm which is programmed to attack both Microsoft.com and SCO's Web site has been unleashed. Like its predecessor, MyDoom-B spreads via email or the KaZaA file-sharing network. The worm made its first appearance this afternoon and is, so far, less common than MyDoom-A, according to Alex Shipp, …

    Security 28 Jan 2004, 20:50

  • DeWitt comes to terms with Cobalt's end

    Interview Some things better left unsaid

    You might think former Cobalt chief Stephen DeWitt would be seeing red after Sun Microsystems put his company out to pasture. Instead, the entrepreneur is seeing blue, or rather azul. Strange as it might seem, DeWitt harbors no resentment against Sun for killing off the popular Cobalt RaQ and Qube server appliances after a two- …

    Servers 28 Jan 2004, 21:51

  • Dean campaign Waves ‘Net guru’ Trippi goodbye

    Chief ousted after conflict-of-interest charges

    On Monday we described the position of Democrat Presidential Candidate Howard Dean's campaign manager Joe Trippi as "on the edge". Now he's gone. Earlier this week an old speech of Dean's resurfaced in which the Candidate advocated lock-down controls on personal computers, favoring a technology that would boost the stock of …

    Media 28 Jan 2004, 23:41