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6th February 2004 Archive

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  • Pentagon cans Internet voting system

    Just in time

    The Pentagon has abandoned an Internet voting system that was planned for deployment this year. Accenture's live SERVE prototype was designed to allow US citizens overseas the chance to vote electronically in primary and general elections, with 100,000 members of the military serving oversees the first to trial the system. But …

    Media 6 Feb 2004, 01:50

  • Apple family values – Pepsi TV row rumbles on

    Letters Enter our unscientific poll

    Like flies buzzing around a corpse, an angry swarm of Apple die-hards headed towards The Register this week in defense of Pepsi's iTunes Superbowl advertisement. It's even spawned a parody by student film-maker James Saldana. (Thanks James) After it was shown during an intermission during Sunday's game, Apple users wrote in …

    Letters 6 Feb 2004, 01:51

  • BT favoured for big NI broadband deal

    Beats 26 contenders

    British Telecom looks set to win the contract to ensure that every household and business in Northern Ireland has the option of broadband by 2005. Twenty-seven companies and consortia responded to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's tender, which was issued in July 2003. The DETI has indicated that BT had been …

    Broadband 6 Feb 2004, 09:56

  • Microsoft to preview Whidbey toolset

    Next-gen Visual Studio.NET

    Microsoft plans to offer developers a pre-release version of its next Visual Studio .Net platform, codenamed Whidbey, next month, planning to drum up interest in its next generation Longhorn operating system, due in 2006. Whidbey will show off a new runtime model and various new application programming interfaces (APIs) that …

    Site News 6 Feb 2004, 10:22

  • Missing teen's Net meeting

    Updated Police following lead with caution

    A teenage girl who went missing South West on Saturday night may have gone to meet a man she met on the Net, according to police. According to the girl’s mother, Deborah Cameron, Carmen left her home in South West London to go to an under eighteen’s disco on Saturday night. However, she told a friend she was travelling to …

    Media 6 Feb 2004, 10:25

  • Motorola phone launch makes play for high end and low

    Pushes cameras, MP3 ringtone support

    Motorola launched four handsets for the European market today in a bid to tap into massive consumer demand for cameraphones and to show it can do handset design as well as Nokia and Siemens. Take the V80 Communicator, Motorola's latest swivel-phone. This "convention defying" tri-band handset sports not only a shiny black …

    Mobile 6 Feb 2004, 10:41

  • Adobe brings grid to the mass market

    For the little people

    Adobe has allied with GridIron Software to deliver the first mass market grid product. This is a version of Adobe After Effects that can be bought through retail channels and is designed to enable smaller businesses to use grid techniques, where processes are run over a pool of low cost networked servers. The new version of …

    Software 6 Feb 2004, 10:42

  • Phone makers to make major launches at CeBIT

    But Peeping Toms could be fined or jailed

    Next month's CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany will see the launch of a raft of new digital camera mobile phones, according to German press reports. Service provider Vodafone will introduce a mobile phone with an integrated CCD 240 x 320 resolution camera: the GX30 tri-band, developed by Japanese manufacturer Sharp. Philips will …

    Mobile 6 Feb 2004, 11:16

  • Music industry raids Kazaa's Australia HQ

    Telcos, Net firms, universities targeted too

    Australian music industry investigators yesterday raided the premises of Kazaa's parent company, Sharman Networks, and four other Internet businesses, including the offices of Telstra, the nation's chief telco. Music Industry Privacy Investigations (MIPI) also targeted the University of Queensland, the University of New South …

    Media 6 Feb 2004, 11:44

  • Tiny transforms into e-business

    Tiny.com to go live on 20 Feb.

    Tiny Computers has relaunched itself as Tiny.com, the UK PC maker said today. And the new, web-based operation has set itself the goal of winning over ten per cent of the UK home PC market by this time year. In a move that harks back to the dotcom fever of the late 1990s, when businesses of all kinds dashed to append their …

    Channel 6 Feb 2004, 12:11

  • Unholy trio of RealOne Player holes unearthed

    Patching time again

    RealOne Player users tricked into running maliciously constructed media files could surrender control of their machine to crackers because of three security vulnerabilities revealed this week. Real Networks has acknowledged the problems and issued fixes - which users strongly urged to apply. The first exploit involves a …

    Security 6 Feb 2004, 12:15

  • What are Boffins? And other important questions

    Letters More from The Reg's bulging postbag

    Right – another round of letters from the lovely Register readership. Let’s kick off with a short one. Dear theRegister, What are boffins? Who are punters? Thank you, Mike G. Mike, at El Reg we are always happy to help. Both ‘Boffins’ and ‘Punters’ are rare and sometimes fatally-poisonous species of mushroom. Hope that …

    Letters 6 Feb 2004, 12:19

  • Contact The Register

    Masthead

    Sales Contact a member of the team : Tel: +44 (0)20 3189 4632 Email: sales@theregister.co.uk Sales Director Paul Hylden UK Editorial The Communications Building 3rd Floor 48 Leicester Square London WC2H 7LT Tel: +44 (0)20 3189 4620 Press releases and news tips Reg Newsroom Editorial director John Lettice Group …

    The Company

  • Clueless office workers help spread computer viruses

    Don't know, don't care

    Busy or apathetic employees are accelerating the spread of viruses and potentially costing UK businesses millions in clean-up charges, according to a survey out today. Two-thirds of the 1,000 people quizzed by market researchers TNS in January admit they are not aware of even the most basic virus prevention measures. Meanwhile …

    Security 6 Feb 2004, 13:43

  • EU approves €545m grants for AMD Dresden

    Volume output for 300mm fab in 2006

    The €545 million worth of allowances and grants AMD will receive from the Federal German government and the local administration in Saxony to help it build its 300mm wafer fab in Dresden have been given the green light by the European Union. The chip maker announced its decision to site the plant - called Fab 36 - in Dresden …

    Channel 6 Feb 2004, 13:48

  • Upbeat Ericsson beats forecasts

    Demand stabilises

    Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson has announced fourth quarter results which saw better than expected profits and a cautiously optimistic outlook. Net sales for Q4, 2003 were SEK36.2bn (€3.95bn), down 1 per cent from SEK36.7 bn (€4.01bn) Q4, 2002. Sales were SEK28 bn (€3.06bn) in the third quarter of 2003. Net income …

    Business 6 Feb 2004, 14:47

  • Sony offers limited edition ‘Aqua’ PS2

    Crystal Xbox? Never heard of it...

    Sony will next month ship a limited edition "Aqua" PlayStation 2 console. The console will be made available throughout Europe wherever the PAL TV standard is used. The box will cost £140/€200, and buyers will an eye for the machine's light blue hue will soon afterward be able to snap up matching console stand and 8MB Memory …

    Personal 6 Feb 2004, 14:52

  • Revealed: the perils of automated replies

    Customer services heartened by utter failure

    The email typographical howler award for this Friday goes to US financial software outfit Intuit. The company offers a range of exciting products too extensive to be listed in a family publication such as El Reg, but which includes TurboTax - "packed with powerful features to help you maximize tax-savings, and minimize the time …

    Bootnotes 6 Feb 2004, 16:27

  • What do you get if you cross a 419er with 3000 oxen?

    Answer: confusion of Herculean proportions

    Strange things appear to be going on in the 419 community at present. Within the last hour, one Dr Paul Okoro kindly sent an email advising of yet another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come by a substantial amount of cash. The missive was mostly formula 419, and sent from the near-obligatory Tiscali email address, but one …

    Bootnotes 6 Feb 2004, 16:29

  • BT hides mobile transmitters in street furniture

    Preserving the aesthetics of Cheshire

    BT Wholesale has signed an agreement with Chester City Council and Cheshire County Council that will let it install low-powered mobile phone network transmitters from its Microconnect DA system on lampposts and street signs. Once deployed, the micro-transmitters will mean better coverage for users of existing mobile phone …

    Mobile 6 Feb 2004, 16:33

  • Computer Forensics conference line-up finalised

    Digital Evidence Symposium

    The line-up has been announced for a keenly-awaited international conference on standards for computer forensics due to take place in Edinburgh, Scotland in two months time. The FIDES04 (Forensic Institute Digital Evidence Symposium 2004) has attracted worldwide support with speakers from the USA, India and Norway as well as …

    Security 6 Feb 2004, 16:33

  • IBM tries to clean up South Korean biz with new exec

    Bribe fallout

    IBM has tapped a new executive to head its scandal-ridden Korean operations. Antonio Romero will take on the role of president and chief executive for IBM Korea. Romero has worked at IBM for 23 years, most recently as vice president of business development for global sales and distribution in the US. He replaces Chae Chol Shin …

    Channel 6 Feb 2004, 16:35

  • Europe and US inch towards GPS accord

    Jammin' in the name of the competing power blocs

    Europe and the US are nearing agreement on ensuring that the Galileo satellite navigation system will operate with - and not interfere with - the US Global Positioning System (GPS). But negotiations between the US and Europeans in Washington broke down in late January without an agreement on the type of modulation to be used by …

    Mobile 6 Feb 2004, 17:52

  • Small.biz faces Treasury tax terror

    So you thought IR35 was bad...

    Thousands of family businesses will face "severe financial hardship" if the Chancellor adopts controversial proposals to amend existing small business tax regulations. According to the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) and opposition MPs, the measures outlined in paragraph 5.91 of the Pre-Budget Report - now widely-dubbed as …

    Small Biz 6 Feb 2004, 17:59

  • Sun buys $200 million worth of an N1 vision

    Coding pays

    If you are a sick, tech freak, like some of us at El Reg, you've spent some time wondering how much it costs for a vendor to make a "vision" come out of its marketing cocoon and turn into a technology marvel. Thankfully, Sun Microsystems has done its best to answer this very question. Sun shelled out a total of $224 million …

    Data Center 6 Feb 2004, 18:12

  • 419ers get a taste of Texas Justice

    Urgent proposal for jail time

    Dear Friends, May we humbly request your immediate and urgent attention to tell you the story of a Nigerian e-mail scammer convicted of wire fraud in Houston, Texas? One Ambrose Kizito Agwuibe was found guilty by a federal jury for trying to scam people with a new version of the 419 ruse. Agwuibe would ask people for help …

    Bootnotes 6 Feb 2004, 20:10

  • AT&T Wireless awaits prom call from Vodafone

    Please bid for us

    Investors in AT&T Wireless, which has officially confirmed that it is up for auction, are anxious to see a bidding war develop for the giant US carrier, as the Friday 13 deadline for bids approaches. But so far, Cingular remains the er, singular suitor for the $30 billion carrier. Deutsche Telekom, which operates in the US …

    Mobile 6 Feb 2004, 22:52