5th February 2004 Archive

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Good Spam: Bad Spam

Report from the OECD workshop floor

The world+dog is ganging up against spam with the US and UK governments and the European Commission this week all urging multinational co-operation and action in the fight against spam. Prompting this flurry of press release activity was a workshop convened in Brussels by the OECD to discuss ways of halting the spam tsunami. …

Security 5 Feb 2004, 10:44
Major chip, mobile firms join processor standards team

Intel, Motorola get MIPI directorships, too

Intel has joined the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) initiative, and been immediately promoted to the organisation's board of directors. So has Motorola. The two companies' membership - and high-level appointment - was announced yesterday. Some 33 other firms pledged allegiance to MIPI and its goal of defining a …

Mobile 5 Feb 2004, 10:57
TeliaSonera expands Euro hotspot roaming range

Deals with UK, Spanish, Austrian, Estonian WISPs

Nordic telco TeliaSonera's Finnish wing has struck a series of agreements to provide its HomeRun broadband customers with Wi-Fi access across Europe. The deals bring hotspots owned by the UK's BT Openzone, Austria's Metronet - now owned by T-Mobile - Spain's Kubi Wireless and Estonia's Elion. The roaming tie-ins follow a …

Wireless 5 Feb 2004, 11:54
AMD sponsors Ducati racing team

On yer bike

AMD has sponsored the Ducati motorcycle racing team. Brrrrm, brrrrm. It's the second motorsport the chip maker has put its corporate hand into its purse for - and the second one known for its bright red team livery. The other is Ferrari. Interestingly, both teams are also sponsored by tobacco purveyor Marlboro. Cough, cough …

Channel 5 Feb 2004, 12:11
Safer Internet Day

Let's be careful out there

More should be done to protect children online, according to the organisers of tomorrow's European "Safer Internet Day". Sixteen European countries (Australia's taking part too) are taking part in the day of action as part of a coordinated campaign to defend "children's right to a safer Internet". Described as a "celebration …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 12:46
Net fuelled killer's necrophiliac lust

Victim's mother calls for porn site ban

The family of murdered school teacher Jane Longhurst (31)is calling for tighter regulation of online pornography following the sentencing of her murderer Graham Coutts yesterday in Lewes Crown Court. Coutts (35), a voracious consumer of web sites devoted to snuff movies and necrophilia, was sentenced to life imprisonment, with …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 12:59
Auvi SA-100 MP3 Player

Reg Review Very cheap - but what's the catch?

There's no doubt that Auvi's Flash-based MP3 player looks good. It's cheap too. But in the era of the iPod, are these qualities enough? Unfortunately, they aren't, and the US-based start-up's first product fails at the first hurdle as a result. The SA-100 follows the established USB Flash drive-cum-music player rules. It …

Reviews 5 Feb 2004, 13:04
NetScreen takes on the mid-market

Happy Medium

Security appliance firm NetScreen Technologies is looking to expand sales in medium-sized enterprises by releasing a range of new firewall/VPN appliances backed by a multi-million dollar marketing programme. NetScreen is best known for sales of high-end hardware-based security appliances to enterprises and telcos. Now it hopes …

Security 5 Feb 2004, 13:16
BT backs wireless BB for ADSL have-nots

Partnerships across the airwaves

BT is to use fixed wireless technology - and not just ADSL over its existing copper phone network - to bring broadband to rural areas. Following successful trials of the technology in Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the UK's dominant telco is now prepared to roll-out similar services to other parts of the …

Small Biz 5 Feb 2004, 13:18
Roxio wins napster.co.uk from the Crown

'Abusive registration'

Roxio, the company behind the newly-legitimised Napster music service, has won a battle for napster.co.uk. The UK's domain name registry ruled that a registration of the name by the Treasury Solicitor was "abusive" and ordered that it be transferred to Roxio. Shawn Fanning launched Napster.com, the original peer-to-peer music …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 13:29
Key US retailer drops N-Gage from 450 stores

N-Gage 2 for E3?

Major US retailer GameStop has announced that it is to stop selling Nokia's N-Gage game deck 450 of its stores, representing almost a third of its retail outlets, with the remaining inventory being moved to other stores. Although GameStop is relocating the inventory rather than ditching the product entirely, the news still …

Mobile 5 Feb 2004, 13:43
Revealed: Britain's least trusted individuals

Short, ginger and driving a sports car? Oh dear...

If you're a London-based estate agent in the habit of wedging your diminutive frame, ginger hair and green eyes into a sports car while wearing Lacoste polo and slacks then we have some very, very bad news, viz. nobody likes or trusts you and it's time to buy a proper car, put on a suit and specs and become a doctor. That, at …

Bootnotes 5 Feb 2004, 14:07
Microsoft confirms ‘crystal’ Xbox

Transparent limited edition

Plans to launch a new "crystal" limited edition version of the Xbox console in Europe in the next few months have been confirmed by Microsoft, which has also announced that a new Xbox Live bundle will be available later this month. As reported last week, the new limited edition pack - which is the second of its type to be …

Personal 5 Feb 2004, 14:07
Good spreads sync goodness to Pocket PC

Why can't everyone do wireless email like this?

While Research in Motion has been landing some major licensing wins for its software, Good Technology pulled in Microsoft to boost its upgraded GoodLink 3.0 software yesterday. To add to its Palm offering, GoodLink now supports Pocket PC platforms, and integrates tightly with the Today view. Version 3.0 also offers …

Mobile 5 Feb 2004, 14:07
No prizes for playing games with Bluetooth?

Substituting micro-moments of boredom

What makes someone spend money playing a game on a mobile phone, when a PC or home game console brings a more intense audiovisual experience, asks Bloor Research analyst Rob Bamforth. Probably, they are similar reasons to spend money on any type of mobile applications. Here are the six reasons I consider: Utility - Does it …

Mobile 5 Feb 2004, 14:07
Grokster, Morpheus face MPAA in appeals court

Want P2Pers to filter out copyright material

Are P2P companies responsible for the law-breaking actions of their users? That's the question lawyers from the content industry and file-sharing software suppliers Grokster and Morpheus went to court yesterday to argue. Less than a year ago, the two services prevailed in a lawsuit brought against them by the Recording Industry …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 14:16
Orange launches own-brand wireless PDA

Not unlike O2's XDA II

Mobile phone network Orange has branched into the wireless PDA arena. The latest model in its SPV line of own-brand devices, the M1000, is a PocketPC with an integrated tri-band GPRS radio. The M1000 is remarkably similar to O2's XDA II device, but lacks the latter's Wi-Fi option. Both devices are based on a 400MHz Intel XScale …

Mobile 5 Feb 2004, 15:33
Lastminute.com culls IT jobs

Don't cry for me, IT's Argentina

Lastminute.com has axed around a dozen IT jobs after deciding to export tech jobs to Argentina. Staff at the dotcom outfit were stunned when they were told of the move. One insider told us: "They've made their tech ops department redundant and sold their jobs to Argentina." There are also fears that other IT jobs could be at …

Business 5 Feb 2004, 15:43
PayPal virus writing scammer scumbag pleads guilty

Combined phishing and key logging scam

A Minnesota man who tried to defraud PayPal customers through a phishing scam has pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Alec Scott Papierniak, 20, of Mankato in Minnesota, also admitted using viral code to further his fraudulent activities at an appearance in a federal court in San Jose on Tuesday. Papierniak was able to siphon money …

Security 5 Feb 2004, 15:45
Microsoft doles out grants to UK charities

Campaign to eliminate technology illiteracy

Microsoft has awarded grants totalling £177,500 to Age Concern and Citizens Online as part of its Unlimited Potential (UP) programme, an initiative designed to provide technologically disadvantaged groups with access to the skills and resources to get online. On top of the cash, the charities will receive software and …

Business 5 Feb 2004, 15:49
IP VPN migration ‘inevitable’

Resistance is futile

The rise and rise of IP Virtual Private Network services is set to continue apace, with the technology clocking up a whopping 20 per cent compound annual growth rate over the next four years. According to the latest research from to In-Stat/MDR, IP VPNs will hoover up additional market share as corporates jump ship from more …

Data Networking 5 Feb 2004, 15:53
Fedora, Jolt award nominees and Valentine's Day special

Site Offer Books discounted by up to 40%

This week at the Reg bookstore, we've got.......Red Hat Linux Fedora, six Jolt award nominees PLUS our usual mix of computing and other interest titles. Don't forget to check out our 'red hot' online dating Valentine's special. We've also expanded your bookshop and added three new shelves: You can now take advantage of two …

Site News 5 Feb 2004, 18:04
University of Rochester opens online music store

Friends of the RIAA unite

The relationship between the music industry and universities just gets cozier and cozier. The University of Rochester is the second school to sign up as a Napster customer, following the ground-breaking move earlier this year by Penn State University. All 3,700 students living in Rochester dorm rooms will have free access to …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 18:09
CNT wants to ease your storage networking pain

inVSN to save the day

It might seem impossible, but CNT has found a way to dig even deeper into a data center. CNT's claim to fame comes from its work linking multiple site storage networks over both short and long distances. It's not a pretty business to be in with customers demanding that mainframes, Unix boxes, storage server, switches and …

Storage 5 Feb 2004, 20:44
Bulldog employee ‘sorry’ for ‘rude’ postings

'Conflict of interest'

British broadband ISP Bulldog has refused to say if it plans to take any action an employee who was forced to apologise to readers of the much-respected broadband Web site ADSLGuide. The employee, known as "JamesX", caused concern after posting material on the independent ADSLGuide Website that some Bulldog customers found …

Bootnotes 5 Feb 2004, 21:30
Google revives discredited Microsoft privacy policy for Friendster clone

Do no evil. Rrrright

Can you trust Google's Friendster clone Orkut? The search engine behemoth certainly has ambitious plans for your innocent musings. And be careful about any business ideas you express there. The privacy policy, which fades beautifully into view, looks innocent enough. But Orkut's terms of service harbor a nasty payload - "By …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 21:42
Seven years jail, $150,000 fine if you don’t tell the world your email and home address

WHOIS the mad lawmaker?

If you don’t tell the world your email, home address and telephone number you could face a seven-year jail sentence and a $150,000 fine under new legislation that the US Congress is trying to push past today. Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas - chairman of the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 22:14
Cable modem hackers conquer the co-ax

Uncap in hand

A small and diverse band of hobbyists steeped in the obscure languages of embedded systems has released its own custom firmware for a popular brand of cable modem, along with a technique for loading it -- a development that's already made life easier for uncappers and service squatters, and threatens to topple long-held …

Security 5 Feb 2004, 22:33
Real makes MLB.com a free agent

Foul play

The national pastime's future on the Internet is in limbo after negotiations between Real Networks and MLB (Major League Baseball) Advanced Media broke down. For the last three years, Real provided a top-notch service to Internet-savvy baseball fans, allowing them to listen to live games or stream them after the fact. The …

Music and Media 5 Feb 2004, 23:27