5th April 2004 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
-
Aussie firms fight to take biggest loss for music downloads
Cheapest tunes but at what cost
A price war between online Australian music sellers has pushed per track download costs to record lows. Aussie ISP Teltstra last week slashed the price of songs downloaded from its BigPond Music service to 99 cents (US$0.75) each from A$1.49 for subscribers and A$1.89 for the rest of the plebs. Rival Destra, which proudly bills …
Financial News 5 Apr 2004, 00:08
-
Sun's Java prince refuses Redmond relocation
Exclusive Greener pastures
The first major fallout from Sun's capitulation to Microsoft has occurred with vice president and Java defender Rich Green quitting Sun in "disgust," The Register has confirmed. Green, Sun's vice president of developer platforms and the major public voice for Java, left the company on the same day that Sun announced it had …
Software 5 Apr 2004, 01:32
-
‘Segway of the sea’ starts shipping Down Under
Lazy divers rejoice
Fans of the Segway scooter now have a way to look just as silly traveling underwater as they do on land thanks to the efforts of an inventive Australian company. The fine folks at ScubaDoo World in Queensland have developed a sea scooter capable of reaching a stunning 2.5 knots. The Scuba-Doo gives divers the freedom to sit on …
Bootnotes 5 Apr 2004, 03:45
-
Microsoft's Gates dethroned as world's richest person by cheap furniture magnate
IKEA bests the Beast
All hail Ingvar Kamprad! The Swedish founder of the IKEA furniture chain has passed Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates as the world's richest person, according to reports out of Sweden. Business weekly Veckans Affarer is set to report that Kamprad holds a fortune of 400 billion crowns or $53 billion. This would put him $6 billion …
Bootnotes 5 Apr 2004, 04:26
-
Google and Yahoo! ban gambling ads
Free speech be damned
Internet giants Google and Yahoo! will stop carrying adverts for online casinos, blaming a "lack of clarity" in US regulations. US prosecutors last month warned companies that running ads for offshore online casinos was equivalent to "aiding and abetting". It is illegal to run an online gambling site from within the US. Google …
Financial News 5 Apr 2004, 08:40
-
Microsoft hopes Sun deal will dazzle EC
Look, even Scott McNealy is being reasonable...
Microsoft is hoping its deal with Sun will lead to a wider outbreak of peace. Last week's settlement of its long running legal action with Sun will help Microsoft overturn the judgement from the European Commission, according to senior Microsoft executives quoted in the Financial Times. The Commission imposed a $603m fine on …
Software 5 Apr 2004, 08:41
-
Japan fires shot at Chinese chip tax
Wants in on WTO talks
The Japanese government has added its voice to that of the European Union in damning China's chip sales tax rebates for local semiconductor makers. "China is in violation of WTO rules and what we are seeking is a right that is given us under those rules," said Shoichi Nakagawa, Japan's economy and trade minister, in a Financial …
Channel 5 Apr 2004, 09:28
-
Welsh bang up 419er for 20 months
No welcome in the valleys for you, boyo
A 33-year-old Nigerian has the dubious honour of being the first advance fee fraudster to be jailed in north Wales for the offence of "going equipped to cheat". Caernarfon Crown Court handed Peter Okoeguale a 20-month sentence for scammming various individuals - including a Scot who he took for £20,000 and a retired US …
Music and Media 5 Apr 2004, 09:38
-
US bill would free VoIP from regulation
Boost for new services
US Senator John Sununu (Rep. NH) is introducing legislation this week which would exempt VoIP from state laws and most regulation covering traditional voice calls. The bill defines VoIP as an information service which should be regulated like other Internet services. The bill will also exempt VoIP providers from wiretapping. …
Data Networking 5 Apr 2004, 09:43
-
Intel asks China to drop local WLAN spec
1 June deadline
Intel is still hoping to persuade China to block a move to mandate a local wireless LAN standard on 1 June and allow it to continue selling its Centrino platform there after that date. Speaking to reporters in Taipei today, Intel CEO Craig Barrett said: "We haven't changed our basic position. We will sell our Centrino mobile …
Wireless 5 Apr 2004, 09:47
-
Window's NT Infernal File System
Cash'n'Carrion Here be dragons, courtesy of O'Really
O'Really fans will be delighted to learnt that - as of today - we have taken delivery of an all-new offering from the must-have geek range in the form of Window's NT's Infernal File System. Yes indeed: with luck you might be able to find that file again. You're a sysadmin; surely it's not that hard? Or perhaps you're a deep …
Site News 5 Apr 2004, 10:02
-
February chip sales edge up
Big year-on-year gains
Chip sales reached $15.58bn around the world in February, up 30.8 per cent on February 2002's total, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said late last week. Sequentially, the figure was rather less impressive, amounting to a 0.2 per cent increase over January 2004's figure. February is rarely as strong month for chip …
Channel 5 Apr 2004, 10:04
-
Big Pharma puts squeeze on Canadian Net pharmacies
'Brink of collapse'
The Canadian International Pharmacy Association says Canadian Internet pharmacies are being driven to "the brink of collapse" by sales restrictions imposed by major US drug manufacturers. AstraZeneca is the latest company to take protective measures that effectively block wholesalers from selling its products to online …
Financial News 5 Apr 2004, 10:07
-
UK IT directors are unproductive workaholics
I have work-life balance... they're both crap
British IT directors are unproductive workaholics, according to research by IT outfit Mercury. It reckons IT directors are burning-out after succumbing to the UK's long-hours culture. Quizzing some of the UK's top IT directors, Mercury found that a third worked between 48 and 60 hours a week, while one in ten said they worked …
Business 5 Apr 2004, 10:11
-
Intel to ship 1.8GHz Centrino as Pentium M 545
A feast of model numbers
Intel hasn't been backward in coming forward about its upcoming 32-bit microprocessor naming scheme, but it's kept mum about the finer details. Yes, desktop Pentium 4s will ship as 500-series chips, but how will a specific chip - the 3.2GHz model, say - be labelled? According to DigiTimes, that chip will be the P4 530, citing …
Channel 5 Apr 2004, 10:28
-
Intel trims mobile, server chip prices
FYI
Intel tweaked a few mobile and server processor prices yesterday, cutting what it asks for certain CPUs by up to 27 per cent. So, the 2GHz Xeon MP fell from $1177 to $856 in batches of 1000 chips, a fall of 27 per cent. The 1.3GHz, 512KB L2 Celeron M now costs $107, down 20 per cent from $134. The 800MHz Ultra-low Voltage …
Channel 5 Apr 2004, 10:50
-
Asia-Pacific govts sign Linux promo pact
Want to reduce region's reliance on Windows
The Japanese, Chinese and South Korean governments have agreed to co-develop a Linux-based alternative to Windows. According to Japan's Nihon Shimbun Kizon and Yomiuri Shimbun newspapers yesterday, the agreement was struck on Beijing this past Saturday. Development work will be carried out in the private sector with state …
Software 5 Apr 2004, 11:03
-
Manchester given all-clear after BT fire
Telco mulls compensation
Homes and businesses in the North West have had their voice and data services restored a week after a catastrophic fire wiped out more than 130,000 phone lines. BT engineers have worked round the clock to repair or replace the cables damaged deep underground by the fire, which is thought to have been caused by an electrical …
Data Networking 5 Apr 2004, 11:06
-
Indian call centres ‘pose security risk’
A year's wages for customer details...
Members of the European Parliament are calling for better protection for consumer data sent overseas as a result of offshoring agreements. A group of British MEPs, backed by British union Amicus which campaigns against offshoring, is taking its concerns to the Employment and Social Affairs committee of the European Commission …
Applications 5 Apr 2004, 11:09
-
Scambusters target 419 online ‘banks’
Fingers pointed, bandwidth busted
"Enjoy these ugly websites as long as they're online - they are as good as dead." So claims a new website - Artists against 419 - that has identified 53 fake banks and financial agencies, presumed to be Nigerian in origin. Most of these sites, with names such as Apextrustbank or Bondplc.com, are used in 419 advanced fee frauds …
Security 5 Apr 2004, 11:11
-
Sun job losses: Scotland spared
Up to 330 jobs could be at risk...
Sun Microsystems, which announced 3,300 job losses last week, is making fewer than 50 people redundant in Scotland. The 800 workers at Sun's Linlithgow plant will hear their fate today but Hugh Aitken, Sun's European boss, said he hoped the impact would be "minimal, hopefully below 50", according to The Scotsman. The paper …
Business 5 Apr 2004, 11:22
-
Internet rape fantasy ‘game’ goes horribly wrong
Wrong address
A man enacting a rape fantasy game with a "victim" he met in an Internet chatroom broke into the wrong apartment and assaulted an innocent woman, CNN reports. Michael Todd Howard, 35, admitted burglary in a San Diego court after plea bargaining his way out of an intent to commit rape, false imprisonment and possession of …
Music and Media 5 Apr 2004, 11:28
-
Telcos muscle in on IT
Big boys target new business opportunities
Having toyed with the idea of spinning out their IT and network services operations during the last three years, telecoms operators are starting to realize the potential of these businesses. Telcos now look like they could be in a good position to benefit from the development of next generation networks. AT&T, BT Group and …
Hardware 5 Apr 2004, 11:28
-
Thus wins £3m GWR IP network gig
Radio heads talk protocols
Thus - the alternative telco best known for its Demon Internet brand - has won a £3m deal to supply UK radio outfit GWR with a new IP network. The five-year contract means that GWR, which owns Classic FM as well as more than 30 local FM stations across the country, becomes the first radio broadcaster in the UK commercially to …
Data Networking 5 Apr 2004, 11:44
-
Girl, 15, on child porn rap after posting sex pics online
Self-abuse
A 15 year-old American girl has been charged with child pornography offences after posting pictures of herself online. The unnamed teenager is accused of sending photos of herself "in various states of undress and performing a variety of sexual acts" to people she met in online chat rooms, AP reports. Police found dozens of …
Music and Media 5 Apr 2004, 12:35
-
Blaster body count '8m or above' - MS
Clean-up squad
The infamous Blaster worm infected far more PCs than previously thought - at least eight million, according to Microsoft. The figure come from the number of times a special Blaster clean-up tool, released by Microsoft in January, has been applied. The tool, available through Windows Update, is cleans up infected machines and …
Malware 5 Apr 2004, 12:42
-
UK fields footballing RoboBeckhams
Aim to compete in Premiership by 2050
It will be a game of two five-minute halves and the lads will certainly give it 110 per cent when Plymouth travel to Warwick for the first match in a new UK robot football championship. Teams from the respective universities will go head-to-head, hoping to win a place in June's European Robot Soccer Championships in Munich. We …
Science 5 Apr 2004, 13:41
-
IXEurope buys Swiss datacentre
Err, that's it
IXEurope - the privately-owned UK-based datacentre outfit - has acquired the entire stock of Telehouse Suisse SA from Telehouse International Corporation of Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of KDDI Corporation of Japan. Financial details were not disclosed. Said IXEurope chief exec Guy Willner: "Having weathered the storm over the …
Telecoms 5 Apr 2004, 13:41
-
A sunny future for European hotspots?
Cash cow - or lamb to the slaughter
An optimistic research forecasts a bright outlook for European wireless hotspots. ON World, a small US-based wireless technology research firm, predicts that European hotspots will generate $1bn (€0.83bn) for operators by 2009. There will be 174,000 hotspots in the region by that time, generating $898m (€741.32m) in revenues, …
Wireless 5 Apr 2004, 13:44
-
ID cards: a guide for technically-challenged PMs
Special Report Save us all billions - don't do it, Tone...
Think about it - it wouldn't be compulsory if you had a choice, would it? David Blunkett's national ID card scheme has had more spikings than Dracula, yet each time has plucked the stake from its heart and continued its purposeful stride towards the statute book. In early November the British Cabinet opted for voluntary …
ID 5 Apr 2004, 13:55
-
Biostar iDEQ 200N small form-factor PC case
Review The ideal living room system?
The problem with having an ordinary PC in the home is that it looks ugly and spoils whichever room you happen to put it in. Well, that has traditionally been the opinion of the PC as a consumer product, and it's something that Apple has capitalised on with its iMac. Apple's jibes at the PC being a boring beige box may have …
Reviews 5 Apr 2004, 14:25
-
Caped crusading sysadmin rumbles 419er
Dublin cybercafe mayhem
We've just been forwarded a link to a posting on www.linux.ie telling the tremendous tale of a peripatetic Dublin sysadmin who was instrumental in trapping a Nigerian 419er in one of that fair city's Internet cafes. As you might expect given the source, Steffen Higel's account is jam-packed with technical detail of how he …
Bootnotes 5 Apr 2004, 14:54
-
Extortionists take out UK gambling site
DoS attack on Sporting Options
A UK-based online gambling exchange, Sporting Options, was hit by a denial of service attack at the weekend in the latest online extortionist assault against online bookies. The company's site was rendered inaccessible for 40 hours in an attack timed to coincide with Britain's biggest betting race - the Grand National - and the …
Enterprise Security 5 Apr 2004, 14:58
-
Sybase results disappoint
But buys XcelleNet...
Sybase says its first quarter results will be worse than expected because several large deals with telecoms companies have failed to come through. It expects these deals to go through next quarter and so hasn't changed its guidance on full year turnover and profits. The database company expects turnover for the quarter ended 31 …
Applications 5 Apr 2004, 15:01
-
Ofcom urges gov to act on digital TV switchover
C'mon now, don't be shy
The Government must stop procrastinating over plans for the UK to be a nation of digital TV viewers and should set a date for ditching analogue transmission. In its first report into the subject, communications regulator Ofcom, said there should be "greater certainty" to the timing of the digital switchover. "An announcement …
Telecoms 5 Apr 2004, 15:09
-
Banc of America lowers Intel earnings
Notebook inventory troubles in 2004, 2005
Intel's gross margins over the next few years will suffer at the hands of notebook inventory issues, US investment house Banc of America said today, before knocking back its earnings forecast for the chip giant. BoA now believes Intel will yield earnings of $1.19 per share in 2004 and $1.46 in 2005, down from its previous …
Channel 5 Apr 2004, 16:06
-
Glastonbury blames BT for ticket sale fiasco
Skinny back-end
An apology from organisers for the woefully mishandled sale of tickets for the Glastonbury festival has failed to placate angry fans. Music fans are seething at the delays they experienced trying to buy tickets either online or over the phone. Tickets for the eagerly anticipated event sold out around 8pm on Friday, around 24 …
Financial News 5 Apr 2004, 16:39
-
About the website
What's this thing running?
We’re proud that The Register uses valid HTML 4 and CSS on its pages (give or take the odd hiccough involving over-enthusiastic advertisers or eager-to-get-a-scoop journalists — if you spot any problems please let our webmaster know.) The site is built using a custom content management system which is written …
-
EMC taps FalconStor for tape emulation
Disk-to-disk virtualisation software
EMC is the latest company to decide that disk-to-disk is the future for backup. The company has announced Clariion Disk Library which uses ATA hard disk with in-band data compression to emulate tape libraries from ADIC, Quantum and StorageTek. The device uses software from storage virtualisation specialist FalconStor to do the …
Storage 5 Apr 2004, 21:29
-
Site Map
Find your way around…
Homepages The Register Channel Register Register Hardware Tools/Services Site search Research / Whitepapers The Register Mobile Newsletter Tech Panel Top Twenty Archive Feeds Content Services Advertising Contact Us Shops Bookshop Hardware Misc Events and training Privacy Policy Contact Us About …
