12th February 2004 Archive
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Sun shelves UltraSPARC VI in favor of The Rock
Call it what you will
Sun Microsystems has excised the UltraSPARC VI processor from its roadmap, deciding to go instead with the "Rock." Sun is looking for the freshly announced "Rock" family of chips to combine the best features of its standard UltraSPARC processor line and its low-end multicore processor line. The Rock processors will be stacked …
Servers 12 Feb 2004, 01:53
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PalmSource looks beyond the phone to tablets, players and tools
Memory extender
PalmSource is looking to pitch its new OS at some pretty radical new device categories beyond the traditional PDA and the smartphone, while positioning its phone wares as the choice of the independent OEM anxious to stay beyond the clutches of Nokia and Microsoft. Thanks to Nokia's formal takeover of Symbian this week, …
Mobile 12 Feb 2004, 09:26
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Software bug contributed to blackout
No, nothing to do with Blaster, or Microsoft
A previously-unknown software flaw in a widely-deployed General Electric energy management system contributed to the devastating scope of the August 14th northeastern U.S. blackout, industry officials revealed this week. The bug in GE Energy's XA/21 system was discovered in an intensive code audit conducted by GE and a …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 09:38
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On Microsoft and CRM
One step at a time
Microsoft seems to run up against criticism no matter what it does. Recent articles in the press have questioned whether it can deliver on its CRM promise, writes Bloor Research analyst Fran Howarth. Commentators have pointed out that Microsoft's CRM application lacks functionality in such areas as marketing automation and …
Small Biz 12 Feb 2004, 09:46
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The lawyers are coming
IT security negligence
Following the first virus epidemics (I Love You, Melissa, Nimda, etc.) insurance companies in the US began to remove the computer damages cover from their commercial insurance plans, writes Bloor Research analyst Robin Bloor. At the same time the US was on a legislative security spree, which was another reason for the insurance …
Security 12 Feb 2004, 09:55
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Intel sued for Pentium patent infringement
PC makers targeted too
Another punch was thrown yesterday in the intellectual property scrap between Intel and Patriot Scientific when Patriot said it has countersued the chip giant in response to Intel's own legal action, filed earlier this month. The countersuit escalated tensions by alleging that Intel's Pentium family of processors violate a key …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 10:22
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Broadband helps lift BT
Pre-tax profit up
The increasingly rapid uptake of broadband and other "new wave" technologies has helped BT increase pre-tax profit for Q3, the UK's dominant fixed line telco announced today. Although total turnover for the three months to the end of December was down 2.6 per cent to £4.58 million, pre-tax profit for the quarter was up 1 per …
Telecoms 12 Feb 2004, 10:36
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Broadcom bags Cirrus storage patents
One less avenue for sueing
Broadcom is stumping up $18m cash for a clutch of magnetic and optical storage patents held by Cirrus Logic. The comms chip maker now owns intellectual property over certain read channel and other hard disk controller technologies. And err, that's about it, except for a canned quote, which you can read here. Cirrus, the niche …
Storage 12 Feb 2004, 10:37
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Long product cycle times to impact Nvidia Q4 earnings
Analyst forecast
Nvidia's Q4 results, due later today, will reveal reduced margins - and a lower income as a result - thanks to long product cycle times at its main foundry partner, TSMC. So claims a report from US investment house Pacific Crest Securities (PCS). "Nvidia's low gross margin over the past two quarters (27 to 28 per cent versus a …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 10:43
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MyDoom dies today
Ding dong the wicked worm is dead
MyDoom-A is programmed to stop spreading today, marking the end of arguably the worst email-borne viral epidemic to date. MessageLabs, the email filtering firm, blocked the virus 43,979,281 times in the two weeks since its first appearance in late January. At the height of the epidemic, one in 12 emails the firm scanned were …
Malware 12 Feb 2004, 10:45
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Bhs signs up again with CSC
Shovels £80m supplier's way
CSC has secured a seven-year extension for its outsourcing gig with Bhs. The deal is worth £80m-ish and will see CSC continue to look after computer hardware for the retail chain. Approx. 100 CSC staffers maintain 850 desktops and 68 servers, as well as the servers and EPOS terminals in 165 stores. So it's not exactly massive, …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 11:07
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AMD to offer Opteron DDR 2 support ‘later this year’
Next-gen memory volumes to ramp up in Q3, says Intel
AMD will build support for DDR 2 into its Opteron chip's on-board memory controller later this year. So claim sources familiar with the chip maker's plans, cited by Xbit Labs. AMD's public roadmap list three new Opteron families due during the second half of the year: 'Venus', 'Troy' and 'Athens', corresponding to the current …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 11:18
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TFT LCD prices to fall despite growing demand
Supply will outstrip demand - just, says analyst
The gap between demand for TFT LCDs and how well manufacturers can supply them will narrow during 2004 to just two per cent in Q4, market watcher DisplaySearch said today. Supply will exceed demand throughout 2004, despite growing interest in notebook PCs, LCD panels for desktop monitors and LCD TVs. Head of DisplaySearch's …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 11:35
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IT failure costs SMEs £6k a year
*$&!ing computers
Small businesses are losing up to £6,000 a year in lost productivity because their IT systems aren't up to scratch. So says research by PC World Business, the catalogue arm of Dixons Group, which found that regular IT failures among small businesses can lead to a loss of productivity, undermine morale among hacked-off workers …
Small Biz 12 Feb 2004, 11:57
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Sony debuts low-end PDA alongside Wi-Fi models
Reg Kit Watch TJ27 launched at last
Sony this week unveiled a new low-end PDA, the Clié PEG-TJ27, set to ship alongside the high-end TH55 and mid-range TJ37 devices it announced earlier this month. The device had been expected, but caused some surprise when it did not form part of last week's Japanese launch. However, the TJ27 finally arrived yesterday when all …
Mobile 12 Feb 2004, 12:06
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Nachi variant wipes MyDoom from PCs
Virus War gets really confusing
A new variant of the Nachi worm which attempts to cleanse computers infected by MyDoom and download Microsoft security patches to unprotected computers has careened onto the Net this morning. Nachi-B (AKA Welchi) uses the same security vulnerability exploited by the Blaster worm to spread. Once it infects target machines the …
Malware 12 Feb 2004, 12:37
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Charities bet on British mobile lottery habit
We'll be spending £240m by 2007
Mobile gambling is really taking off in the UK according to research house Juniper. By 2007, Brits will blow £240 million* on mobile lottery entries, with more than eight million of us taking part on our mobile phones. The report forecasts that the total world market for mobile gambling will be worth €16bn (£10.8bn), with …
Mobile 12 Feb 2004, 12:42
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Broadband helps Tiscali narrow loss
'Marked improvement'
Italy-based ISP Tiscali reported today that continued demand for broadband has helped generate higher revenues for the pan-European outfit. Publishing year-end figures, the company reported total revenues of €902.7 million for 2003. Although the company made an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) loss of €215.8 million, …
Business 12 Feb 2004, 12:46
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Asus adds Wi-Fi to MyPal PDA family
Reg Kit Watch Bluetooth in there, too
Asus has launched its first Wi-Fi PDA, the MyPal A716. The device also offers Bluetooth wireless connectivity to provide Internet access via a compatible mobile phone when you're out of range of a hotspot. The A716 is powered by an Intel XScale PXA255 processor clocked at 400MHz and runs Windows Mobile 2003. It contains 64MB of …
Mobile 12 Feb 2004, 12:48
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Microsoft sues UK dealer for piracy
Accused hang out in Loughborough Uni student's union
Microsoft UK has filed a civil suit against two people trading as NiKByte Computers for flogging counterfeit software. The duo, Andrew Rowe and Nicola Holbrook-Hench, operated from leased premises in Loughborough University's Student Union. Neither the union or the University were involved in Nikbyte, Microsoft says. But …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 12:54
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iPod designer voted UK's most influential cultural icon
Out-polls J K Rowling, Ricky Gervais
Jonathan Ive, designer of the original iMac and the iPod, and now head of Apple's industrial design facility, has been named the most influential person in British culture. Ive beat better-known names likes Harry Potter author J K Rowling, and The Office star and Golden Globe winner Ricky Gervais to the top of a list of UK …
Mac Channel 12 Feb 2004, 13:00
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Site Offer Stuff for sale from The Reg Mobile etc. Store
The Register's Mobile, Wireless and PDA Store has a bumper treat in store for readers this month with a range of discounts available on a mixed bag of wireless kit. Remember, these are exclusive offers too, available only through The Reg's very own shop. All prices are VAT inclusive. 1. Sony Ericsson R520m - The first Bluetooth …
Site News 12 Feb 2004, 13:16
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Sun subscriptions become model for growth
More predictable revenue flow
Following the current trend among IT providers, Sun is hoping to develop a more predictable revenue flow. The company is adopting subscription-based pricing for Grid computing, along with Solaris, to grow the percentage of income it derives from recurring revenue. Systems company Sun is changing its pricing model and extending …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 14:41
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DDoS attacks go through the roof
Don’t gamble with protection – Top Layer
The growing prevalence of criminally motivated DDoS attacks calls for a fundamental rethink in how enterprises approach security. Companies typically bolster the security infrastructure only after they are attacked. But this approach is misguided and costly, according to Paul Lawrence, EMEA general manager at security outfit …
Security 12 Feb 2004, 14:58
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Vodafone to launch 3G mobile data service next week
New Mobile Connect card launched
Vodafone begun to offer its 3G mobile data service to big business customers less than a month after commencing commercial trials. On Monday, the mobile phone network will launch what it claims is Europe's first 3G data card for notebooks, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS. The card maintains Internet connections at up to …
Mobile 12 Feb 2004, 15:06
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Intel preps Prescott update
New stepping due in May
Intel will ship updated Prescott Pentium 4s in May, after sampling the parts at the end of this month. The update will take the 2.8GHz (533MHz and 800MHz FSB), 3.0GHz and 3.2GHz Prescotts from the current 'C0' stepping to 'D0'. Their CPU ID will change form 0F33 to 0F34. The update centres on improvements made to the chips' …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 15:29
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IBM 90nm G5 chip to ‘outrun’ Prescott, Athlon 64
Best Desktop Processor award winner
IBM's technically as yet unannounced PowerPC 970FX has won the Microprocessor Report Analysts' Choice Award for Best Desktop Processor. And according to MR editor-in-chief Peter Glaskowsky, Intel and AMD had better watch out. The 970FX is the 90nm die-shrink of the original 130nm PowerPC 970, launched back in October 2002 and …
Mac Channel 12 Feb 2004, 16:03
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BT Yahoo! ate my email
Mighty powerful spam filters
BT reckons that "a couple of thousand" customer have been hit by a snag that has left users of its ISP services without email. The monster telco is currently migrating some 1.8 million users over to its BT Yahoo! platform following a tie-up between the two companies announced last year. The migration began early in January and …
Telecoms 12 Feb 2004, 16:05
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Taxpayers stuck with Criminal Records' IT bill
That'll be £68.2 million, please
The National Audit Office (NAO) will tell Parliament today that the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) IT fiasco of 2002 will result in a bill of £68.2 million for the British taxpayer. The CRB was formed to check the background of people applying to work with children and vulnerable adults, in social and healthcare positions, …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 16:13
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Light dawns at Intel
Care for a little photonic modulation, madam?
Chipzilla's bunny-suited boffins* have managed to build a transistor-like device, called a photonic modulator and capable of encoding data onto a light beam, out of silicon. The breakthrough could lead to cheap, stupidly fast connections between PCs, servers and so on, and eventually inside computers as well. Ethernets are not …
Channel 12 Feb 2004, 17:53
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CSFB service in Singapore
Increased attention to services and outsourcing
CSFB's new operation in Singapore will provide support for the bank's finance operations and information technology development, as well as serving as a global business continuity center. The center is its first in the Asia-Pacific region, but will only be the fourth largest after centers in New York and London. One of the key …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 21:55
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Lastminute narrows loss
Outlook good
Lastminute.com reported narrower losses today and said its outlook is good, bolstering the firm's drooping stock. Though best known for the sale of holidays over the Net, the firm has become a kind of haven for last-minute shoppers in search of all sorts of goods, including lingerie, flowers and opera tickets. In its latest set …
Business 12 Feb 2004, 22:06
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Veritas intros midmarket backup software
Eat your porridge
If Goldilocks sold storage software, she would sell Veritas NetBackup Server 5.0. The new product sits right in the middle of Veritas' back-up software line - with more features than Backup Exec and a lower price than its Enterprise edition product. The NetBackup Sever software is a rebranded and retooled revision of NetBackup …
Storage 12 Feb 2004, 22:27
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Novell offers SCO last drink at System V saloon
Call it quits
The SCO Group's weakening claims to UNIX System V - the lynchpin of its case against IBM and by extension Linux - now look to be put to the test. A large part of SCO's case is based on the obligations of System V licensees. SCO says that derivative works and enhancements belong to SCO. Novell and IBM respectfully disagree. It's …
Hardware 12 Feb 2004, 22:54
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Dell stays strong in Q4
We aim to serve
Dell continued to bound along in its fourth quarter, posting growth rates that far exceed those of rivals. For the period ended January 30, Dell reported $11.5 billion in revenue - an 18 percent hike over the $9.7 billion reported a year ago. Dell also posted net income of $749 million in this year's fourth quarter versus $603 …
Servers 12 Feb 2004, 23:51
