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29th January 2004 Archive

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  • PalmOne mulls other OS choices – report

    Loves Nokia. True

    Vesey Crichton, PalmOne's European chief, has suggested that the handheld company is open to considering other operating systems - and praised Nokia for "fantastic" work in promoting its phone platforms. Palm OS isn't viewed internally as a religion, Chrichton told Swedish handheld magazine Allt om Handdatorer. He says that …

    Mobile 29 Jan 2004, 05:56

  • Chip makers boost equipment spending

    TSMC alone raising capex to $2bn

    Chip makers' investment in new equipment will hit $43 billion this year - a jump of 41 per cent over 2003's capital spending levels, market research company Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) has forecast. The predication came a day before TSMC, the world's largest chip foundry, announced plans to boost its capex to $2 …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 09:59

  • Dutch police arrest 52 email scammers

    Links to Caribbean drug smuggling

    Dutch police have arrested 52 Nigerian email scammers at 23 locations in Amsterdam in what is believed to be the biggest raid of its kind. Several PCs, mobile phones, false documents and € 50,000 in cash were confiscated. Dutch police believes the criminals sent 100,000 messages to victims in Japan and the USA. More arrests may …

    Music and Media 29 Jan 2004, 10:20

  • Veritas ‘overperforms’ in Q4

    Next Q will be different matter

    Veritas posted fourth quarter financial results that were simply too good, as the company warned it would be hard pressed to meet the results over the next three months. Veritas reported a record $513 million in revenue for the period ended December 31. This marks a 26 percent increase over the $406 million posted in the same …

    Storage 29 Jan 2004, 10:23

  • Warspying San Francisco

    'We kind of look at this as useless, recreational fun'

    Striding through San Francisco's busy financial district after dusk, 20-year-old Jake Appelbaum is an odd sight. His left hand is clutching the handle of a two-foot-long fiberglass pole wrapped in a metal spiral, which he holds high like a lance. The device is a directional antenna: a thin cable hangs between it and what looks …

    Security 29 Jan 2004, 10:41

  • Nvidia, Intel target corporates with multi-screen rigs

    Quadro NVS 280 now, Grantsdale chipset in Q2

    Anticipating growing demand for corporate PCs, Nvidia yesterday announced a multi-monitor display card even as it emerged that Intel's upcoming 'Grantsdale' chipset may support up to four screens simultaneously. Multi-monitor rigs are much loved by members the financial services community and other corporates. Nvidia's Quadro …

    Personal 29 Jan 2004, 10:46

  • Sainsbury's buys back IT outsourcer

    Good housekeeping

    Sainsbury's is stumping up £553 million in cash and debt to buy its IT outsourcing supplier. The supermarket group says the move is "good housekeeping", bringing IT assets back on the balance sheet and saving the firm £25 million a year. The company it is buying is called Swan, a subsidiary of Barclays set up to hold the IT …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2004, 11:12

  • Chips are up at ARM Holdings

    Recovery at last

    RISC chip designer ARM Holdings is finally benefiting from the recovery in the chip sector, producing Q4 revenue at the top end of forecasts. Figures for the year as a whole were weak, and currency problems may continue in 2004, but the company's dominant position in the mobile phone sector looks unlikely to be challenged. ARM …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 11:18

  • Intel ‘likely’ to offer 64-bit Pentium

    Waiting for the OS and the apps

    Intel last night reiterated that it would offer a 64-bit desktop processor. But now it's a question of when the applications and operating system is ready, rather than just a matter of customer demand for more memory. The latest pronouncement on the '64-bit question' came from Intel's President and COO, Paul Otellini, speaking …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 11:24

  • Anti-virus companies: tenacious spammers

    Opinion Bounce backs

    No one can argue that the spam problem is getting better. Despite advances in anti-spam technology and legislation against spam, unwanted junk mail is flowing into our inboxes at an increased rate. Stock tips, enhancement drugs, Nigerian scams, DVD copy software and hundreds of other products or services get shoved in our face …

    Malware 29 Jan 2004, 12:00

  • AMD preps Monday price cuts – analyst

    No we're not - AMD

    Will AMD cut its prices on Monday? Intel is expected to do so the day before, ahead of the introduction of its 'Prescott' processor, and it wouldn't surprise anyone to learn the its arch-rival might be planning such a spoiling tactic. Reuters yesterday claimed AMD would indeed make a number of adjustments to its price list on …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 12:10

  • UK knighthoods for foreigners – what it takes to get one

    And how to dress up afterwards

    Last weekend the story of Bill Gates' honorary knighthood broke, and the Telegraph happily told us that we could "blame it on Gordon". Well, there's just the teensiest of problems here, in addition to all of the more obvious ones associated with Gates getting a knighthood. According to our friends at the Palace: "Foreign …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2004, 12:16

  • E-mentoring service launched for South East small firms

    Pairing up

    A “unique” new e-mentoring service has been launched for small businesses in South East England, following the success of similar schemes in the USA and Australia. The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) announced that the service will operate by pairing budding entrepreneurs with experienced mentors to help boost new …

    Small Biz 29 Jan 2004, 12:22

  • Linux laptop – a prince among young frogs

    Tadpole goes Intel, hits on Sun for software

    After kissing a few frogs with some heavyweight laptops that didn't quite transform into princely sales, Tadpole is hoping for more success with its latest product family, Talin, writes Bloor Research analyst Rob Bamforth. Tadpole has taken its longstanding relationship with Sun technologies a step further, as this family of …

    Servers 29 Jan 2004, 12:38

  • PeopleSoft switches from Informatica to Ascential

    Don't customers have enough on their plate, already?

    Until last week, PeopleSoft had a five-year agreement during which it shipped Informatica's low-end PowerMart ETL (extract, transform and load) technology as a part of a number of its products, most notably Enterprise Performance Management (EPM),writes Bloor Research analyst Philip Howard. Coincidentally, Informatica had a …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2004, 12:38

  • MPAA seeks P2P Enforcer for antipiracy ops

    Mid to senior level post

    Enforcer wanted! The Motion Picture Association of America is seeking California-based Internet Enforcement Manager, a "mid to senior" level post at a salary of $60-75,000. The manager's responsibilities will include "overseeing all outside vendor development & usage... examining new piracy methods & protocols, overseeing …

    Music and Media 29 Jan 2004, 12:52

  • Samsung licenses PowerVR MBX

    Imagination's deal with ARM pays off

    UK system-on-a-chip developer Imagination Technologies will see its PowerVR MBX 3D graphics core used in ARM-based mobile phone and PDA processors made by Samsung. The company today said that ARM had sub-licensed the technology to the South Korean giant. Imagination has already licensed the technology to ARM chip makers Intel …

    Mobile 29 Jan 2004, 12:56

  • Insight UK hits back at ‘jobs on the rocks’ claim

    'Committed to Sheffield' says MD

    Insight UK - part of the giant US-based IT reseller Insight Enterprises, Inc - has hit back at a report that a Government-backed deal to bring more than 1,700 new jobs to Sheffield is "heading for the rocks". Earlier this week, a Sheffield newspaper, The Star, reported that Insight UK was "not meeting its job creation targets …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 13:02

  • Virginia Tech swaps out G5 desktops for Xserve racks

    World's third most powerful supercomputer gets smaller

    Virginia Tech has officially announced that it will replace the 1100 PowerMac G5 desktops that currently comprise its supercomputing cluster, System X, with Apple's recently announced Xserve G5 1U rackmount servers. The move had been the subject of rumours running around the web since the middle of the month, not long after …

    Mac Channel 29 Jan 2004, 13:12

  • Google to the Alps

    R&D in Switzerland

    Search giant Google will open a R&D centre in Zurich, Switzerland to tap into European know-how, company vice-president of engineering Urs Hölzle told Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Wednesday (Jan 28). It is going to be Google's second R&D base outside the US. Another R&D centre has opened in the southern Indian city of …

    Software 29 Jan 2004, 13:21

  • Ireland orders line rental competition

    Public outcry against Eircom rate hike

    Ireland is to introduce competition to the line rental market by March, following the public outcry against Eircom's latest rate hike. Dermot Ahern, the minister for communications, marine and natural resources has instructed the communications regulator (ComReg) to introduce a wholesale line rental product for voice and data …

    Telecoms 29 Jan 2004, 13:28

  • To Infinium and beyond: Kevin Bachus talks Phantom

    Interview E3 outing - official

    Following his surprise appointment as the president of Infinium Labs, Kevin Bachus spoke candidly with GamesIndustry.biz in this exclusive interview about the controversial company and its plans for the Phantom game service. Launching a videogame console into the market for the first time is a fraught process for any company, …

    Personal 29 Jan 2004, 14:09

  • European retailers have the hots for RFID

    Supply chain economics

    Four in ten big European retailers are planning RFID pilots this year. In a survey, more than a third of 125 European retailers say that RFID technology is ideal for tracking goods and reducing the number of products lost in transit. The survey, conducted by market researcher Vanson Bourne and commissioned by industrial …

    Hardware 29 Jan 2004, 14:58

  • IBM ThinkPad T41p

    Review The world's best notebook?

    A little while ago I reviewed the IBM ThinkPad T41 and I have to say that I really liked it. I liked it so much in fact that I chose it as my companion when I travelled to Las Vegas for CES. There it did its duty admirably as I had to write up everything I saw at the show as well as edit and upload copy sent from back home, …

    Reviews 29 Jan 2004, 15:00

  • Rip-off Net directory biz wound up

    Good-bye OBI

    A company that ripped off UK companies by charging sky-high fees to be listed in an Internet business directory has been wound up following an investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). Online Business Index Limited (OBI) contacted thousands of businesses in London and Manchester inviting them to register in …

    Small Biz 29 Jan 2004, 15:01

  • IBM unites server, storage and chip divisions

    Can't we all just get along

    IBM has combined its underperforming chip business with the more successful systems group that accounts for server and storage systems in the hopes of creating tighter links between the businesses. The new unit will be dubbed the Systems and Technology Group. Chip business head John Kelly will run the division with system group …

    Servers 29 Jan 2004, 15:55

  • Crooked Microsoft worker jailed for 21 months

    Go straight to Jail. Pay MS $4m

    A former Microsoft worker was yesterday jailed 21 months for mail fraud offences involving the sale of stolen software. Wilson Delancy, 36, of Maple Valley in Washington, was also ordered to pay $4 million in compensation to Microsoft. He was convicted of acting as a middleman in the sale of stolen SQL Server packages obtained …

    Channel 29 Jan 2004, 15:57

  • Servers fly in Q4

    IBM and Sun surge

    The worldwide server market grew by the largest margin in three years during the fourth quarter, according to early data from Gartner. Total shipments surged 24 percent in the fourth quarter with 1.6 million units leaving the loading docks. This is the highest year-on-year gain since the fourth quarter of 2000 when sales jumped …

    Servers 29 Jan 2004, 17:36

  • Apple offers free fix for visually impaired iBooks

    Unknown problems become known

    At long last, Apple is prepared to help owners of dead iBooks return their kit to the land of the living. Apple yesterday kicked off an iBook logic board repair program after a flood of complaints hit the Web. Apple will fix the ailing iBooks - manufactured between May 2002 and April 2003 - at no cost. This fix will no doubt …

    Mac Channel 29 Jan 2004, 18:07

  • Ctrl-Alt-Del inventor makes final reboot

    David Bradley, we salute you

    David Bradley, one of the 'dirty dozen' engineers who created the original IBM PC at Boca Raton, Florida, is to retire this week after 29 years with the company. Bradley's accomplishments are numerous - he wrote the BIOS code for the original PC and rose to become architecture manager at the PC group. But David's claim to fame …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2004, 19:56

  • HP staff told not to open Fiorina-A virus

    See no evil. Hear no evil

    A nasty virus has found its way onto HP's corporate servers, and employees have been warned that the payload is far too damaging for their fragile eyes. The virus, you see, is really a document chock full of criticisms for HP's CEO Carly Fiorina. The Fiorina-A bug arrives in an innocent package. It's a file with the tag " …

    Bootnotes 29 Jan 2004, 20:20

  • Cyber alerts are phishing magnet, says Senator

    "Put that light out!"

    Senator Chuck Schumer has described the Department of Homeland Security's new 'cyber alerts' as a magnet for phishing expeditions and virus writers. On Wednesday the Department sprang into action and issued its first Cyber Alert - warning users of the "SCObig" virus that had been causing havoc with email systems since Sunday …

    Security 29 Jan 2004, 22:12