17th March 2004 Archive

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Why Microsoft ‘Shared Source’ can never be trusted

Trojan wars and Cold Wars

Yesterday we recounted the tale of how at the height of the Cold War Soviet infrastructure had been penetrated by software containing Trojans. Retired spook and nuclear scientist Thomas Reed claims that the United States provided compromised software to the USSR which detonated the Trans-Siberian gas pipeline. The Cold War's …

Software 17 Mar 2004, 03:30
3Com launches desktop IP phone

KitWatch Hear a PIN drop

3Com has launched a desktop IP phone which promises much better acoustic quality than conventional circuit switched phones. The 3Com 3102 Business Phone supports the emerging wideband audio standard, which significantly enhances speech transmission compared to conventional public switch telephone network (PSTN). A typical PSTN …

Data Networking 17 Mar 2004, 08:52
Net hermit to ditch DotComGuy moniker

'Life-changing decision'

DotComGuy - the man who spent an entire year in a house living off entirely what he could find on the Net - is to change his name back to plain old Mitch Maddox. After four years of being DotComGuy, he's decided legally to change it back again. Keen to cash in, this stunt man is flogging the registered trademark - DotComGuy - …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 09:33
Ballmer presses Monti for compromise

Please, please, please...

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's dancing chief exec, parachuted into Europe yesterday to ask Competition Commissioner Mario Monti to take a merciful view of the software giant. The four-hour meeting did not end in agreement. The European Commission will officially announce its decision next week, but it is widely believed to want to …

Software 17 Mar 2004, 09:36
Ebookers chief defends offshoring

Get with the global programme..

Dinesh Dhamija, chief executive of online travel agent ebookers, has defended 'offshoring' - the practice of exporting business support services to cheaper, usually developing countries. Dhamija said his company would not have survived without moving some operations to India. After the attacks on the World Trade Centre ebookers …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 09:47
Voda slapped for ‘Best Network’ claim

Tut

Vodafone has been ticked off for suggesting that it's the best mobile phone network in the UK. Rival operator Orange got the hump after Voda ran an ad asking: "The UK's best Network? Here's the strongest signal yet." The small print cited a survey conducted by now defunct telecoms regulator, Oftel, which showed that Voda had " …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 10:27
Groupe Bull feels cold steel of EU probe

French gob bailout under the microscope

The French government has agreed to put its rescue plan for Bull on hold while the EC investigates the deal. As part of the surreal deal, the French government agreed not to pay any more money to Bull until the company pays back part of the assistance it was given in 2001 and 2002. This should have been repaid in June 2003. …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 10:27
Nokia goes it alone on push-to-talk

Technical standards punch-up looming

An interoperability battle is looming within the mobile phone industry over technical standards for walkie-talkie-like technology. The dispute over push-to-talk (PTT) technology has emerged in the run up to the CeBIT 2004. Ericsson, Motorola, and Siemens have all announced the first joint interoperability tests for push-to-talk …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 10:34
Business optimism and investment jitters

Good cheer does not translate into IT spend

US publication Optimise Magazine recently produce some interesting conclusions concerning the correlation between business outlook and technology investment for 2004, writes Bloor Research analyst Bob McDowall. The magazine's analysis is based on a survey of business/technology executives from the financial services sector in an …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 10:37
Progressive CIOs deliver real IT value

Challenging conventional wisdom

Talk regularly with chief information officers as we do, and it quickly becomes evident that there are two prevailing views among them and their C-level technology colleagues on how to assess IT value. There also seem to be some very different habits over how they engage IT to solve operational problems, strengthen competitive …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 10:51
Medion brings best-selling GPS PDA to UK

Reg Kit Watch Make your way to Halfords

Germany's Medion last year took 7.9 per cent of the European PDA market making it the territory's third largest vendor, behind PalmOne and HP, and ahead of Sony and Dell. Unlike many of its rivals, it started out with no market share at all. Impressive as these statistics are - they come courtesy of market watcher IDC - they …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 10:55
Intel plots 4MB L2, 64-bit desktop CPU

Conroe to bring Pentium M family to the desktop

Intel is preparing a multi-core, desktop incarnation of its Pentium M processor with a whopping 4MB of on-die L2 cache and 64-bit x86 extensions. So claims usually accurate Japanese website PC Watch. The chip, codename 'Conroe' (a name as yet unconfirmed, the report says), is being developed by the Israeli team behind the …

Channel 17 Mar 2004, 10:57
Taking the fight to the hackers

Site offer 30% off security titles, and more

Q. How does software break? Q. How do attackers...attack? Q. Why do security systems not protect us? Q. How can we improve security? Q. What tools are used to break software? A. This week at The Register bookstore we've got 'All the books' with 'ALL the answers!' Exploiting Software RRP £37.99 - Reg price - £26.59 - …

Site News 17 Mar 2004, 10:57
East Germany warms to Internet

Europe in Brief More online for longer

The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to outsource its entire corporate information system infrastructure services under a single prime contractor, the organisation announced earlier this week. The contract will be for a maximum of seven years with a total value exceeding €100m. Until now, all the Agency's information systems …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 11:13
Atheros updates Wi-Fi speed booster tech

Will no longer degrade nearby WLANs

Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros this week has updated its 'standards plus' WLAN speed-boosting technology, Super G, to make devices based on its 802.11g chipsets better network neighbours. Super G extends 802.11g's maximum throughput of 54Mbps to 108Mbps. Data compression and burst transmission together form one part of the story, the …

Wireless 17 Mar 2004, 11:25
HP deploys Linux desktops in Asia

Turbolinux goes down a bundle

HP announced yesterday that it would the first top tier manufacturer to offer desktop PCs loaded with Linux across the world's biggest and most populous continent. The company will bundle the Turbolinux operating system on HP Compaq business desktop PCs for sale in 12 Asian countries. The new agreement adds 11 new countries - …

Software 17 Mar 2004, 11:31
UK gov backs £1m blueprint for open source switchers

Local government seizes the initiative

The UK government has announced funding for a 'third force' open source migration project. A group of local authorities led by Rossendale has won £502,500 of matched funding (i.e. the project is worth double that) for an examination of "the issues associated with migration to Open Source," involving a justification of and …

Software 17 Mar 2004, 12:29
AOL future uncertain – report

Could be flogged, floated or 'restructured'

The future of AOL is once again in the spotlight following a report that the Internet outfit could be sold off. Citing unnamed sources, the New York Post Online reports that Time Warner's banker, Goldman Sachs, is working on a series of proposals concerning the future of AOL. Options include flogging the business, floating it …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 12:29
UK Net paedo crackdown bags 600

Operation Ore progress report

More than 600 UK sex offenders have been convicted as a result of an ongoing probe into Internet child porn. UK police have - as part of Operation Ore - investigated 6,500 British people suspected of using a paedophile portal in the US. The operation has so far led to more than 1,200 prosecutions and 655 convictions, Home …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 12:45
Opera 7 for Mac OS X goes live

'Unfinished and unsupported beta-quality' preview

After a period of silence, Opera is bouncing back into the Mac market with a preview of Opera 7.50 for Mac OS X. The software - "unfinished and unsupported beta-quality" - requires 10.1 or later, and brings Opera's Mac edition into line with the Windows and Linux versions. And some. It includes Opera Mail, which has been …

Software 17 Mar 2004, 13:06
Philips faces legal challenge over fluid lens technology

War among the electrowetters...

As we suggested might be about to happen, Varioptic is going legal over Philips' announcement of a low-cost, mass-manufactured fluid lens system. Varioptic has been developing such systems for some years now, and in an announcement today stated its intention to "actively enforce the patents it holds on the use of electrowetting …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 13:21
DiData wipes slate clean with Proxicom disposal

Channel round-up And boy, is it a big slate

DiData sells Proxicom Dimension Data has sold Proxicom, the US consultancy it outbid Compaq for in 2001. The networking reseller paid $448m in the heyday of the Internet bubble. It sold the company on for so little that it will have no impact on the bottom line so the figure can stay secret. Chief executive Brett Dawson told …

Channel 17 Mar 2004, 13:41
MS seeks enforcer & revenue generator for trademarks

'At the cutting edge of legal developments'

Have you got what it takes to make the grade as a Senior Trademark Attorney for Microsoft? If you think you have, then check out this help wanted notice at the International Trademark Association. But you may have to practice keeping your face straight if you make it to the interview. Microsoft "has an immediate opening for a …

Bootnotes 17 Mar 2004, 13:43
Siemens launches ‘rugged’ multimedia mobile

Cased in rubber and metal

Siemens today unveiled a pair of media-oriented handsets, the ruggedised M65 and the more traditionally cased C65. The splash, dirt and shock resistant M65 sports a 2.1in 132 x 176, 16-bit colour display, backed by a 640 x 480 digicam for video and still photography. Stills can be edited using on-board software, with special …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 13:59
HP top (channel) dog for PCs

Don't call them a printer company...

HP is still top vendor for PCs sold through business resellers across Europe. In the seven major countries in Europe, HP accounted for 40 per cent of all PC sales in 2003. Fujitsu Siemens Computers was in second place with 12 per cent of sales, up from 10.5 per cent last year. IBM came third with 9.3 per cent market share, up …

Business 17 Mar 2004, 14:13
Siemens unwraps 1.3 megapixel camera phone

32MB memory, Bluetooth to attract business buyers

Siemens followed up its launch of a pair of mass-market handsets today with the release of a more business-oriented phone, the S65. The German handset maker touted the phone's 1.3 megapixel digicam, but we'd say the 32MB of memory, tri-band GSM/GPRS support and Bluetooth integration are more likely to appeal to the average …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 14:18
Data Protection – getting it right

With a little help from the information commissioner

The information commissioner (IC) Richard Thomas has warned organisations not to use the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) as an excuse for poor practice. Speaking following recent criticism of the DPA by the police and British Gas, the IC said he was concerned that the advantages of the DPA were being undermined by officials who …

Small Biz 17 Mar 2004, 14:26
Nokia introduces ‘megapixel’ mobile

Well, just under a meg, actually

Nokia introduced its first megapixel camera phone today which also features the company's latest in a long line of bizarre keypad layouts. Indeed, the 7610 "imaging device", looks rather like a 7600 that's been stretched. Unlike the older, 3G model, the 7610's 176 x 208, 16-bit colour screen sits above the keypad rather than …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 14:43
Kazaa coder sues Sharman Networks

It's my code and I want $25m

Sharman Networks, owner of the controversial P2P utility Kazaa, today found itself facing yet another legal fight centring on copyright ownership. But this time the tussle is not with its old sparring partners in the music or movie industries, but a Romanian programmer who claims he wrote the code Kazaa is distributing. And …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 15:06
Carrera picks bones of Multivision

Company gone but some jobs may be saved

Midlands PC builder Multivision has gone into liquidation and its stock has been sold off. Its assets have been picked up for an undisclosed amount by Firecrest Solutions, a subsidiary of Carrera SSC. Liquidators Griffin and King told tThe Register that Firecrest had bought the business assets of MultiVision but would not keep …

Channel 17 Mar 2004, 15:07
Police offer ‘stolen’ mobe insurance fraud amnesty

Investigating bogus reports costs UK forces millions

Punters who cheated on their insurance to get a new mobile are been offered an opportunity to come clean without getting nicked. South Yorkshire Police has established a month-long amnesty for people who falsely reported mobile phone thefts to 'fess up and thereby clear up non-existent crimes. The police force reckons it …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 15:11
Sony music download service to launch in June

Will only support own-brand music player

Sony today confirmed that it will launch its European digital music download service, Sony Connect, in June. Connect will be made available to music buyers in the UK, France and Germany, who will have the pick of over 300,000 songs. The catalogue includes bands signed to independent labels as well as Sony's own roster of …

Music and Media 17 Mar 2004, 15:28
Gershon retires from the Office of Government Commerce

Successor picked from inside

John Oughton is to replace Sir Peter Gershon as chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). The OGC is the government office in charge of revamping government procurement policy. It's the department in charge of the open source trials with IBM and Sun. Chancellor Gordon Brown said Oughton is a "worthy successor …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 15:56
DoJ goes after Oracle's hidden secrets

Wants discount papers to block PeopleSoft takeover

Oracle has agreed to hand over to the Department of Justice secret internal documents relating to discount arrangments made between sales staff and customers. The DoJ is seeking evidence to help it stop Oracle's attempted takeover of PeopleSoft, according to the newswires. The DoJ filed to block the takeover on 27 February and …

Hardware 17 Mar 2004, 16:00
Budget sells IT industry short – Intellect

UK will not attract investment

The chancellor has not done enough to provide real R&D incentives in today's Budget, according to the IT Industry trade association, Intellect. In the run up to today's budget, the body had called for the ceiling on R&D tax credits to be raised to 10 per cent. However, Tom Wills-Sandford, Intellect's director of campaigns, said …

Business 17 Mar 2004, 16:22
Jobs: Apple will not meet 100m song download goal

Analysis Poor results from the Pepsi promotion

Apple has admitted that it will fall rather short of its first-year iTunes Music Store 100 million song sales target. "We're not going to make that number," CEO Steve Jobs told The Wall Street Journal this week. "At the rate we're at right now we'll probably have sold 70-75 million songs by the end of April." The forecast was …

Mac Channel 17 Mar 2004, 16:25
Delivering the 12kb Bomb

Total system compromise, some assembly required

The average size of email-bourne viruses so far this year has been well under 20 kilobytes. A young virus writer, sitting in his underwear in his parent's dark basement, takes a hex editor and modifies a few bytes of the latest Netsky.M (16.5kb), Beagle.J (12kb) or Mydoom.G (20kb) mutation, spawns a new virus variant, and then …

Security 17 Mar 2004, 17:19
Carphone Warehouse SMS spam ruling reversed

Interpretation of 'explicit consent'

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has taken the unusual step of overturning its own previous decision which criticised Carphone Warehouse for unsolicited text messaging. It has now decided that the retailer's use of a marketing list was fair. The problem, it seems, is in the meaning of "explicit consent". Today's …

Mobile 17 Mar 2004, 17:20
VoIP set to generate megabucks

Broadband operators brace for cash tsunami

VoIP is set to become a massive source of income for broadband operators as more and more punters use their PC to make voice calls. Industry analyst Juniper Research, reckons that by VoIP (Voice over IP) will generate $47bn a year by 2009, as flat-rate IP-based voice tariffs gradually replace traditional services. That's on …

Telecoms 17 Mar 2004, 17:22
Online extortionists target Cheltenham

Bookies attacked, cash demanded

Extortionists have launched a series of withering attacks against online bookies in the run up the tomorrow’s Cheltenham Gold Cup. Denial of service attacks on William Hill - Britain's second-biggest betting chain - were swiftly followed by email demands for $10,000. Other bookies, including BetDaq and Totalbet, have been …

Security 17 Mar 2004, 17:39