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6th April 2004 Archive

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  • VMware tweaks Workstation for Linux and Windows

    Long-term Longhorn strategy

    VMware - the partitioning arm of EMC - has rolled out a new version of its workstation product, building in new tools for the latest versions of Windows and Linux. VMware Workstation 4.5 is truly ahead of its time, as it includes support for builds of Microsoft's delayed and distant "Longhorn" version of Windows. A bit nearer …

    Servers 6 Apr 2004, 00:11

  • New workaround for Apple DRM

    PlayFair undoes FairPlay

    Jon Lech Johansen's code that circumvents iTunes DRM has been given a fresh workout. A project named 'playfair' allows users with an iTunes key to create unencrypted AAC files. Apple uses the AAC format in combination with FairPlay DRM to lock down the music bought from its iTunes Music Store. "The playfair program is quite …

    Media 6 Apr 2004, 04:31

  • Judge OKs Microsoft Lin---s offensive

    Objections dashed

    A Seattle district court judge has dashed Lin---s hopes ofo halting Microsoft's trademark litigation outside the United States. Lin---s, which markets a Linux distribution for consumers, had asked the court to suspend seven Microsoft suits pending the outcome of a US case. In Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg Lin---s has been …

    Applications 6 Apr 2004, 07:58

  • Ireland gov calls for cheaper broadband

    Unlocking potential and all that

    Broadband prices are still too high in Ireland, and must be cut if the country is to make the most of the technology's potential, according to Dermot Ahern, Ireland's communications minister. Speaking yesterday at Knowledge-based Regions in the Information Society, an international conference in Killarney, Ahern said "the …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 08:58

  • Milking the Internet surveillance cash cow

    Wiretap-friendly Web

    Pundits and policy-makers are arguing over the legal implications of the FBI's recent petition to the FCC about how to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. But the Bureau's push to get broadband providers covered under CALEA, which currently applies only to telecom carriers, stands to benefit more …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 09:18

  • Skype to mobilise the PDA

    VoIP on the move

    Skype, the Internet telephony outfit, is going mobile by offering punters the chance to make calls using handheld computers. The company has launched the beta version of PocketSkype, a stripped-down version of its VoIP software that lets punters make Skype voice calls using WiFi-enabled handheld gizmos running Microsoft Windows …

    Mobile 6 Apr 2004, 10:01

  • Security budgets soared in 2003

    No Catch 22 for pure play vendors

    The combined revenues of 22 of the largest publicly listed pure-play IT security vendors grew 14 per cent last year. The heavy hitters of the security market posted combined revenues of $5.33bn last year compared to $4.67bn in 2002, according to a study by analysts Datamonitor published today. "A steady rise in security …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 10:35

  • Telstra services buy could harm Oz services scene

    Kaz for concern

    Aussie giant Telstra has confirmed acquisition talks with services provider Kaz Group in a move that could be bad news for IT-hungry businesses here. Media reports claim Telstra has offered up to AU$400m to buy Kaz, but a company spokesman said Telstra has made no decision as of yet with regard to the transaction. Rumors of the …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2004, 11:11

  • Metronomy delays free-PC giveaway

    Bogus applications lead to theft fears

    London-based Metronomy has postponed plans to hand out free PCs because it's been flooded with bogus applications. The free PCs - which are subsidised by people watching three-minutes of ads an hour - were due to be dished out to punters this month but it now seems that has been delayed until the autumn. However, in an email …

    PCs 6 Apr 2004, 11:19

  • Germans unleash electronic guide dog

    GPS-enabled iPAQ helps blind

    German company Papermeier has introduced an electronic "guide dog" for the blind called Trekker which uses GPS to navigate. Trekker is a PDA with a route map and GPS receiver which calls out its current location: "You are at 6 Leopold-Ahrends-Strasse", for example. The company stresses that the PDA is not a replacement or a …

    Mobile 6 Apr 2004, 11:48

  • Microsoft finds Fibre Channel tool

    Exchange acceptance as well

    Microsoft continues to look more and more like a mature storage player with the release this week of new tools for SANs (storage area networks) and better support for its own Exchange Server 2003 software. Microsoft has already claimed a nice chunk of the NAS (network attached storage) market and has even been a firm backer of …

    Storage 6 Apr 2004, 11:51

  • UK firms must monitor staff IMs

    US rules mean end to cosy workplace chats

    UK firms could be falling foul of corporate accountability regulations by failing to track and archive instant messaging (IM) conversations among workers. Only 22 per cent of medium-to-large UK organisations monitor IM and just nine per cent say they archive IM data, according to a survey of European IT directors commissioned …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 12:59

  • Coming soon: the Wi-Fi PSP and PS2

    Sony backs hotspot gameplay as the way ahead

    Wireless networking is set to form a key part of Sony's grand plan for its next-generation hardware, gi.biz has learned, with the company's vision of the future banking heavily on the proliferation of high-speed wireless hotspots in the home and in public places. It's already well known that the PlayStation Portable will …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 13:03

  • Intel launches Wi-Fi brokering service

    RoamPoint likely to put industry noses out of joint

    Intel, unhappy with the fragmented nature of the wireless Internet market, has brokered the launch of a new company - RoamPoint - which aims to bring GSM-style roaming to Wi-Fi hotspots. The typical notebook user will never see the name RoamPoint, said Andy Greenhalgh, Intel's marketing director for mobile solutions in Europe. …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 13:10

  • OFT offers guidelines for online auctions

    Be careful - it's a jungle out there

    As of today, the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) website has a handy guide to the dos-and-don'ts of Internet auctions. The OFT has identified some common complaints about such auctions, namely: Late or non-delivery of items to buyers or non-payment to sellers Goods of lesser value or substantially different from the …

    Media 6 Apr 2004, 13:11

  • IT firms lack 'customer respect'

    Online punters treated like dogs

    The Customer Respect Group, an international research and consulting firm which examines how firms treat their punters online, has studied how the IT industry interacts with consumers. The good news is that most websites examined in the IT sector were easy to navigate and did a "fair job" of explaining their privacy policies " …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2004, 13:51

  • Wi-Fi biz gears up for roaming offensive

    Aims to attract service providers and their customers

    Wi-Fi roaming enabler RoamPoint is set to announce its first mobile phone network and hotspot operator partners next week when its so-called 'global roaming hub' goes live. According to RoamPoint CEO, Leon de Beer, the company will announce partnerships with three major GSM networks and sufficient WISPs to offer roaming across …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 15:25

  • NHS chief mooted as UK's IT 'CIO'

    Actually put somebody in charge? Crikey...

    NHS IT chief Richard Granger is set for a new role as 'IT CIO' for the UK government, according to Computer Weekly. Granger is seen as having been highly successful in dealing with the NHS' IT renewal programme, and has a reputation for talking tough with suppliers. These skills are already being deployed to some extent outside …

    Policy 6 Apr 2004, 15:50

  • UK.biz ignores money laundering rules

    No questions asked

    Two in three of UK businesses are failing to comply with new money laundering regulations. As a result, company directors are leaving themselves open to legal action and a possible two-year jail sentence, a BT-commissioned study warns. The Money Laundering Regulations, which came into effect last month, require UK businesses …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 15:53

  • Tiscali is UK's 'fastest-growing' broadband ISP

    Bulldog in £15.99 ADSL offer

    Tiscali reckons it's the fastest growing broadband operator in the UK. The ISP says it's getting between 30 and 40 per cent of all new sign-ups to ADSL in the UK, beating-off the likes of BT, AOL and Wanadoo UK. Overall, Tiscali has 1.24m broadband punters, the pan-European ISP reported yesterday, Much of Tiscali's success is …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 15:58

  • EMC and Brocade profess their love for standards

    Crow-eating compliance act

    In a sign of changing times, EMC and Brocade rushed on Tuesday to inform customers about their compliance with the storage industry's latest management software standard. For years, leading storage vendors such as EMC, IBM and Hitachi fought to maintain their lock on the storage market, in part, by protecting proprietary …

    Storage 6 Apr 2004, 16:01

  • GNER to roll out ten Wi-Fi locos

    WLAN trains by end of year

    UK train operator GNER today said it will roll-out Wi-Fi across its fleet following the successful trial service the company has been running since December. The programme will see GNER initially provide the service on its Mallard trains - the company's renamed, refitted electric rolling stock that will operate on the UK's East …

    Mobile 6 Apr 2004, 16:19

  • Union Fenosa: broadening horizons

    Spanish satellite broadband

    Union Fenosa has joined Endesa and Iberdrola in entering the rapidly-expanding Spanish broadband market. All three have chosen to target niche customer groupings through alternative platforms in a bid to differentiate themselves from conventional broadband providers. Yet, notable market failures suggest that Union Fenosa will …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2004, 16:32

  • Are fingerprints really infallible, unique ID?

    It seems possible that they're not

    How unique are your fingerprints? It's general held (and as er, The Register confidently stated just yesterday) that your fingerprints being found at the scene of the crime tied you up with it pretty conclusively, but a report published earlier this year by New Scientist claims that there is little scientific basis for the …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 16:53

  • 'What do we stand for now?' ask Sun staff

    Letters What Am I Doing Here?

    Sun Microsystems made peace with Microsoft last week. But if Sun doesn't stand for not being Microsoft, then what does it stand for? "As a nine-year Sun veteran, I need to thank you for putting my thoughts and feelings into words," writes one reader. "Since Thursday I have been wrestling with why this whole thing has my gut in …

    Letters 6 Apr 2004, 17:17

  • The Joe Job DoS attack

    Mail bomb attack brown alert

    A problem with the way that non-delivery notifications are sent by many mail servers could be exploited to launch "mail bomb" denial of service attacks. Incorrectly configured mail servers may respond to mail delivery failure with as many non-delivery reports as there are undeliverable cc: and bcc: addresses contained in the …

    Security 6 Apr 2004, 17:30

  • Nokia warns of handset sales slip

    Profit warning

    Nokia warned that this quarter's results will be less rosy than it hoped, as a result of lower than expected handset sales. The company said today that it hadn't kept pace with the booming mobile phone market, blaming the lack of a successful mid-market offering. Last year Nokia warned that the market was increasingly favoring …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2004, 19:09

  • Dude, you're getting a Dell - Oracle bundle

    Cheap database. Cheap servers.

    Oracle and Dell forged closer ties on Tuesday, courtesy of a bundling agreement that will place Oracle's database on low-end Dell servers. Dell owns a top position among x86 server vendors with Oracle as the two companies combine from time to time with "special" deals. Their latest agreement will have Oracle's Standard Edition …

    Servers 6 Apr 2004, 23:08