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3rd February 2004 Archive

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  • Oracle's 10g database ready for download

    Price cut expected

    The Oracle 10g wait is over, at least if you are a preferred customer of Sun Microsystems or HP. Oracle let a pair of downloads for its new database slip onto the Web just ahead of a Tuesday conference call to discuss the product. As of this moment, Solaris (64-bit/SPARC) and HP-UX developers are taken care of with build 10.1.0 …

    Data Center 3 Feb 2004, 00:06

  • Notebook makers gear up for May Dothan debut

    Fingers crossed...

    Intel has put back the release of 'Dothan', the 90nm version of its Pentium M mobile processor, to late April or early May. And Taiwanese notebook manufacturers are pretty annoyed about it, a DigiTimes report detailing the delay claims today. Last month, Chipzilla's COO and President, Paul Otellini, admitted that the chip's …

    Channel 3 Feb 2004, 09:49

  • Desktop Prescotts to ship in notebooks ahead of Mobile version

    Big and hot boxes

    Notebook vendors are expected to continue the trend of crammed desktop processors into mobile computers, this time using the 'Prescott' Pentium 4 chips launched yesterday. Desktop-replacement notebooks based on the 90nm chip should arrive later this quarter, ahead of Q2's introduction of Mobile P4s based on the new technology …

    Channel 3 Feb 2004, 10:00

  • eBay hacker pleads guilty

    Wasn't framed, after all

    Jerome Heckenkamp pleaded guilty Thursday to defacing the online auction house eBay and penetrating systems at the San Diego-based telecommunication equipment maker Qualcomm, ending years of pre-trial court wrangling and casting considerable doubt on his public claims of innocence. Under the terms of his plea deal with …

    Security 3 Feb 2004, 10:42

  • NEC launches credit card sized handset

    Tech to be used for PDAs, too

    NEC today launched a cameraphone the size of a credit card, dubbing it "the world's smallest and slimmest mobile phone". It's a little thicker than your average Mastercard, obviously, but at 0.7cm thick, it's not exactly chunky. Face on, the dimensions are a neat 8.5 x 5.4cm. The handset weights 70g (2.5oz). Built into the …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2004, 11:13

  • US aims to plug global spam holes

    Shutting open relays

    The US Federal Trade Commission has announced an international initiative to fight spam, which will focus on closing off the unsecured servers used by spammers. The FTC is to work with 36 different agencies in 26 countries on its new programme, entitled Operation Secure Your Server. The initiative is designed to coordinate an …

    Security 3 Feb 2004, 11:14

  • UK IT sector shows signs of renewed life

    Steady

    There's yet more evidence that the UK's IT sector could be on the mend. The latest bulletin from UK industry group "e-skills" suggests that there is growing optimism among employers, something that is supported by an increased demand for skilled IT staff. Here's a quotation from the report: "The state of the ICT sector remains …

    Channel 3 Feb 2004, 11:31

  • Carphone Warehouse offers Nokia 7600 3G ‘exclusive’

    Update No access to Three's premium content

    Nokia's first 3G handset, the 7600, will go on sale in the UK this month - but not, it seems, with the blessing of 3G service provider Three. Instead, the handsets come courtesy of retailer The Carphone Warehouse, which claims to be the phone's exclusive UK supplier. In fact, you can also get one through the Reg Mobile Store, …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2004, 11:37

  • ‘The clueless users who refuse to upgrade’

    Opinion Faith no more

    Microsoft can end the scourge of e-mail viruses by ending its support for old software, and the clueless users who refuse to upgrade, writes SecurityFocus columnist Tim Mullen. Well here we go again. We are suffering through yet another email-borne virus (this one called Novarg) whose infection has reportedly trumped out all …

    Security 3 Feb 2004, 11:45

  • Laks preps MP3 wristwatch

    Reg Kit Watch While away the hours to music

    Austrian watch seller Laks has announced an update to its USB Flash drive timepiece. The new model, due to ship next month, features a built-in MP3 player. Like our own Cash'n'Carrion Memory Watch, the Laks watch features up to 256MB of Flash strorage space. The USB connector neatly locks into the watch's black plastic strap. …

    Personal 3 Feb 2004, 11:47

  • US parents give birth to software upgrade

    Proud couple download Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0

    In the proud tradition of naming one's offspring after entire football teams, or a favourite brand of supercar, one US dad has decided to name his son after a software upgrade. Jon Blake Cusack and wife Jamie, of Holland, Michigan, will certainly be spending many a sleepless night debugging little Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 2004, 12:26

  • Retired Pentium PCs wanted for developing world (not landfill)

    Bid to save 25,000 PCs from early graves

    Computer Aid international has launched a new appeal for companies and individuals to send it defunct PCs to be reconditioned and distributed to schools and community groups in the developing world. Last year, the British charity refurbished and shipped 1,000 old PCs every month – a figure it believes it can double in 2004 with …

    Channel 3 Feb 2004, 12:26

  • Sony unveils Wi-Fi PDA pair

    Reg Kit Watch Selling Cliés to Japan

    Sony has launched a pair of Wi-Fi-enabled PDAs in its home market, the Japanese giant said yesterday. Both machines - the Clié TH55 and the Clié TJ37 - run Palm OS 5.2. But while the more consumer-focused TJ37 is based on Motorola's ARM-based i.MXL processor, clocked at 200MHz, its high-end companion is based on Sony's own …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2004, 12:36

  • MS plugs IE phishing bug

    Breaks monthly cycle

    Microsoft has broken its monthly release cycle to issue a cumulative patch designed to address three potentially serious security vulnerabilities. The company has dropped support for a common Web authentication method to fix a flaw which made it easier to lure IE users to malicious constructed or fraudulent sites. Support is …

    Security 3 Feb 2004, 12:36

  • Freeserve gears up for major broadband push

    'We're going for it', says Wanadoo UK

    Freeserve is set to make a big push for broadband this year, according to a senior spokesman at the French-owned ISP. Up until now Freeserve has focused on selling broadband to its existing punters rather than chuck money at marketing the service to the wider market. Now, it seems that the UK division of French ISP Wanadoo is …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2004, 13:24

  • 2003 was record year for mobile phone shipments

    Out of the doldrums?

    Growing demand for handsets in Asia and Eastern Europe propelled the once stagnant mobile phone market to strong double-digit growth last year, market watcher IDC said today. Some 533.4 million handsets shipped in 2003, up 23.3 per cent on the 432.7 million that shipped in 2002. Fellow researcher Strategy Analytics put the …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2004, 13:54

  • Revealed: chilling numerical proof of life on Mars

    1+9 = advanced robot civilisation

    Vulture Central recently predicted that conspiracy theorists would soon be scanning Mars rover snaps for evidence of extra-terrestrial life such as mountains in the form of Kylie Minogue's buttocks and rockfaces carved into iconic representations of Sir Bill Gates of Seattle. The truth has turned out to be almost as terrifying …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 2004, 14:35

  • Xbox 2 to sport three 64-bit IBM chips, ATI R500

    Specs. leaked

    Microsoft's Xbox 2 console - aka Xbox Next - will be powered by three IBM PowerPC G5-class 64-bit processors, with graphics driven by ATI's next generation of accelerator chip. So claims a San Jose Mercury News story, with further details published at TeamXbox. The next-gen Xbox will boast three PowerPC 976 chips, each based …

    Personal 3 Feb 2004, 14:35

  • 510m mobiles shipped last year

    Diddle eee, diddle eee, etc

    More than 510 million mobile phone handsets were shipped last year in what is being described by analysts as a "phenomenal year" for the industry. Early estimates from Gartner, based on industry figures, suggest that sales of handsets exceeded expectations around the world. Mature markets, including the US, Europe and Japan, …

    Business 3 Feb 2004, 15:08

  • SCO sidesteps MyDoom attacks

    But why didn’t it move before it got hit?

    SCO has moved its Internet operations to the domain www.thescogroup.com in response to the denial of service attack generated by the MyDoom worm against its regular base of operations, www.sco.com. The alternate Web site is expected to serve as an interim site for SCO until 12 February, when the DDoS attack generated by the …

    Security 3 Feb 2004, 15:35

  • VIA backs LoGHIQ to win Robot Race

    Take that, Matilda

    Chip maker VIA is to sponsor a team in the controversial million dollar DARPA Grand Challenge robot race. Team LoGHIQ plans to build a robot that will navigate an obstacle course using a combination of stereovision and dead-reckoning GPS. The race has attracted a fair amount of controversy after organisers apparently changed …

    Personal 3 Feb 2004, 15:38

  • UK workers prefer beach to office

    Shock finding of BT teleworking survey

    A BT survey has concluded what every office-bound computer slave already knows: that the majority of staff would prefer to choose where they did their work. The most popular alternative to the office was - amazingly - the beach. Mountain tops and park benches polled 18 and 17 per cent, respectively, although a lamentable four …

    Small Biz 3 Feb 2004, 15:41

  • Got a ticket? Get a record. EU-US data handover deal leaks

    Everything they want on you. Except they want much, much more...

    Statewatch has obtained a copy of the draft agreement on the transfer of EU airlines' passenger records to the US Department of Homeland Security. The text gives full details of the deal struck between the European Commission and the DHS, and leaves the strong impression that the Commission, rather than protecting (the …

    Media 3 Feb 2004, 16:19

  • Universal mobile phone DRM tech ready for prime time

    Industry alliance ships crucial update

    The major mobile phone companies, along with some of the biggest names in computer technology and content provision, this week launched the latest version of their jointly developed copy protection system for mobile phones. Offered under the aegis of the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), OMA DRM 2.0 allows music, movie and games …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2004, 16:25

  • Oracle does the deed with 10g price cut

    Free RAC too

    In a bid to reach small and medium-sized companies, Oracle has revamped the pricing models for its new low-end and midrange 10g database products, the company announced Tuesday. Oracle confirmed that the rumors traveling news sites are true - it will sell the Standard Edition One 10g database for $4,995 a pop, which is a $1,000 …

    Data Center 3 Feb 2004, 16:38

  • Business Serve floats on AIM

    Shopping for customers

    UK ISP Business Serve floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) listing today, valuing the company at £17.5 million. The business-focused ISP, based in the North West of England, raised around £4.5 million as part of the listing. This will give it a bigger war chest to acquire "established customer bases and ISP …

    Business 3 Feb 2004, 17:37

  • Anti-fraud scheme saves retailers £2m

    Early Warning

    An online scheme designed to forewarn UK retailers about patterns of fraudulent activity has saved its members more than £2 million in loses after less than 18 months in operation. Early Warning, which commenced operation in September 2002, is focused on sharing information to prevent CNP (cardholder not present) fraud. The …

    Channel 3 Feb 2004, 17:58