6th May 2004 Archive

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Tech bubble banker down by law

Contempt for SEC sank Frank Quattrone

At least one Google shareholder may be watching the search engine's forthcoming IPO from behind bars. Frank Quattrone, The dotcom era's most successful banker and one of Silicon Valley's wealthiest denizens, was found guilty of obstruction of justice this week. For Quattrone, it was the cover-up, and not the crime that sealed …

Financial News 6 May 2004, 09:02
Rambus sues for $1bn

California lawyers are smiling...

Rambus is claiming $1bn in damages from four big chip makers: Infineon, Hynix, Micron Technologies and Siemens AG. The civil anti-trust case accuses the four of working together against Rambus. Rambus' general counsel said: "We believe that these memory manufacturers colluded illegally, thereby limiting consumer choice and …

Financial News 6 May 2004, 09:03
California preps e-voting ban bill

Democracy threatened by machines - Senator

"Democracy is too important to turn over completely to a machine," according to a Californian state senator who will introduce a bill that would ban electronic voting machines in the November elections. Last week the state's election commissioner decertified $100m worth of machinery, and ordered counties with e-voting terminals …

Public Sector 6 May 2004, 09:06
Dixons signs Napster promo exclusive

Multi-year deal

UK electronics retailer Dixons Group has signed an exclusive deal to promote Napster's British launch later this year with Napster-branded software and hardware, the companies announced today. The terms of the multi-year deal, which emerged earlier this week, were not disclosed. Nor, it seems, did Napster's press release …

Music and Media 6 May 2004, 09:08
New boss of tif calls for software that works

Whatever next?

The new chairman of tif, the UK body for enterprise IT users, is calling on the software industry to pull its socks up and improve quality. Denise Plumpton was previously UK IT director for TNT and is soon to start a new job as IT chief for handset maker Sendo. She will continue tif's campaign to encourage software vendors to …

Applications 6 May 2004, 09:11
Mobile spam complaints rocket

ASA clamps down on invasive marketing tactics

Complaints about text message ads have grown by a factor of six in the UK over the last 12 months. The surge in complaints about mobile spam has prompted the introduction of new guidelines from advertising watchdogs. The volume of complaints about text ads grew to the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) grew from 65 in …

Spam 6 May 2004, 09:34
PCCW launches UK wireless broadband

£18-a-month service

UK Broadband - the wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong telecoms giant PCCW - has finally launched its wireless broadband service in the UK. The Netvigator service is to be made available in the Thames Valley first, in Aldershot, Maidenhead, Reading, Slough, Windsor and Wokingham. UK Broadband is to announce plans to roll out …

Telecoms 6 May 2004, 09:37
BT and HP's outsourcing strategy

$1.5bn strategic alliance

Hewlett-Packard and BT have announced a $1.5bn strategic alliance to address the integrated information and communications technology (ICT) market. BT has already shown much success in winning large outsourcing deals and HP should be able to use the alliance to improve its own position BT will manage HP's voice and data …

Telecoms 6 May 2004, 10:09
Get ready for Google-footing

Gmail to create new cottage industry

There are various anecdotes about how you know when you've made it. Being given drugs, restaurant tables, first-person newspaper mentions or your own dressing room are just a few. But perhaps the surest way to measure a tangible impact on society is when your name becomes part of current parlance. Google has managed it three …

Spam 6 May 2004, 10:14
Tulip to revive CBM 64 as games console

Blast from the past

Dutch PC maker Tulip has quietly revived a system dead for more than a decade: the Commodore 64. However, the upcoming C64 Direct-to-TV - which Tulip considers a "powerful" name, apparently - will no home computer but a "mini game console". Due to ship in Europe and the US for a mere €30 ($37) during the second half of the …

Consoles 6 May 2004, 10:40
Resellers question Linux on the desktop

Is the channel ready, is Linux ready?

Resellers are enthusiastic about recent moves by Novell and Red Hat to move Linux onto the desktop but warn that fear of the unknown and missing applications are holding progress back. Asked if he thought Linux was ready to grace the desktops of the average business Philip Burgess, sales manager at Sire Technology, said: " …

Applications 6 May 2004, 10:56
Intel preps power-based 775-pin CPU codes

Match chip to mobo

When it launches 775-pin boxed Pentium and Celeron processors next quarter, Intel will mark each one's box with a code to indicate its power draw. Sources cited by Xbit Labs claim that the boxes in which the chips ship will be stamped with the code 'PCG 04A' or 'PCG 04B' to signify whether they have a power consumption rating …

Channel 6 May 2004, 10:58
Parents worried about 3G phones

Children need protecting, says kids' charity

Parents are concerned that 3G mobile phones - with built-in cameras and Net access - are a threat to kids' safety. So says children's charity NCH, which found that that more than three-quarters of parents are worried about the technology. According to an NOP poll, that half of all parents "strongly agree" that the phones are a …

Mobile 6 May 2004, 11:01
Researchers build nano 'trees'

Technology branches out

Swedish researchers have managed to grow leaves on nano trees. These branching networks of nanoscale wires have huge potential in solar cells, low energy lighting and sensors, the researchers say. It might even be possible to make the trees mimick photosynthesis. This announcement follows a similar breakthrough in the US: …

Science 6 May 2004, 11:04
Ex-Tiny directors face boardroom ban

Pair disqualified for four and five years...

Two ex-directors of Tiny Computers have been banned from holding directorships for four and five years. Jonathan Harris, of Ashtead, Surrey and Garo Molozian of Lower Sunbury, Middlesex were found guilty of taking "unwarranted risks" with creditors' money. An Insolvency Service report revealed that the two were using payments …

Channel 6 May 2004, 11:07
MS Trusted Computing back to drawing board

Longhorn loses another feature

Microsoft's extravagent silver-bullet to cure piracy, rid the Internet of worms and viruses, and possibly bring about world peace won't now appear in Longhorn, the next version of Windows. Despite their apparently contradictory headlines, both eWeek and CRN corroborate that Microsoft's promised software support for the Trusted …

Developer 6 May 2004, 11:15
MS seeks to merge Flash, HDD storage

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Here's a question hard drive makers are often asked: when will your products be replaced by Flash storage? So far, Flash has failed to match the price:capacity ratio delivered by the HDD guys, but the question still gets asked. However, if Microsoft has its way, come the arrival of 'Longhorn' - the next major Windows release - …

Storage 6 May 2004, 11:29
PalmOne Zire 72

Reg Review The ideal consumer PDA?

PalmOne Zire 72 When I reviewed the PalmOne's previous consumer-oriented multimedia PDA, the Zire 71, last October, little did I realise that the company would replace it in six months' time. But that's what it has done, dropping the 71 in favour of a new model, the 72. The 71 was a nice machine, and it's good to report that …

Reviews 6 May 2004, 11:42
Symbian doubles sales

Big in Japan

Symbian licensees shipped 2.4m phones in the first three months of this year, double what it managed in the first quarter of 2003. There are now 18 licensed Symbian handsets available. The company signed three new licensees with Arima, a leading Taiwan manufacturer, LG Electronics and Lenovo, formerly known as Legend Group, the …

Mobile 6 May 2004, 11:44
China shuts 8,600 cybercafes

'Mental health of teenagers' at risk

China has shut down more than 8,600 cybercafes over the last couple of months because of fears that the Net could corrupt the minds of youngsters. This latest crackdown on unlicensed Internet cafes began in February after authorities warned that cybercafes can affect the "mental health of teenagers" while spreading "unhealthy …

Music and Media 6 May 2004, 11:59
Napster parent Q4, FY loss widens

But will sell $30-40m worth of songs this year

Napster parent Roxio saw quarterly and annual losses bloom on declining sales but was able to claim it had beaten its own expectations. For the three months to 31 March, Roxio lost $6.6m (20 cents a share), almost three times the year-ago quarter's $2.3m (12 cents a share) loss. Revenues for the quarter - Roxio's fourth - …

Financial News 6 May 2004, 12:56
Music biz fears play Apple a compliment

Analysis Industry can't see wood for trees

Apple has won an unusual vote of confidence from the European music industry. The major labels are so convinced that the Mac maker's iTunes Music Service will successfully dominate the online music market over here, they are allegedly playing hard to get in Apple's content licensing negotiations. According to a report in the …

Music and Media 6 May 2004, 12:57
Intel to debut Dothan on Monday

The 90nm Pentium M ready for launch at last

Intel will launch its 90nm Pentium M processor, codenamed 'Dothan' next Monday, 10 May, sources close to the company have confirmed. As yet there's no confirmation of the launch's details. However, Intel is still expected to unveil three 90nm Pentium Ms, clocked at 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz and 2GHz. The chips will carry the model numbers …

Channel 6 May 2004, 13:28
Sasser boosts AV share prices

Opinion Epidemic = profit

Shares in leading AV firms have risen strongly on the back of the chaos caused by the Sasser worm this week. Symantec shares stood at $49.04 last night up from $45.00 at close of business on Friday. Network Associates shares closed at $17.00 yesterday up from just under $16 at the start of the week. Like the major worms before …

Anti-Virus 6 May 2004, 13:55
CA 2003 results delayed

35-day months take their toll

Computer Associates is delaying posting its year end results because of the strain on its finance department which last month had to repost results for 2000 and 2001. CA will post final results a week or two after the expected date of 12 May. Preliminary results for the fourth quarter have been totted up by the weary …

Channel 6 May 2004, 13:58
3 launches diminutive video handset

Clamshell LG U8110

Video mobile operator 3 today launched its smallest handset to date: the LG U8110. The company clearly hopes it will attract new customers put off by the clunkiness of video handsets, proclaiming that the clamshell phone is small enough to fit in your pocket or handbag. The U8110 is also the first LG video handset on sale in …

Mobile 6 May 2004, 14:08
BBC shortlists tech division buyers

'Accenture, CSC and Siemens... come on down'

The BBC has named three companies shortlisted to buy its technology division, the UK broadcaster announced today. Accenture, CSC and Siemens have all made it through to final round of the bidding process to acquire BBC Technology in a deal worth around £2bn. Whichever outfit finally gets the nod to acquire BBC Technology is …

Financial News 6 May 2004, 14:33
BT wins big airport contract

Touching down at Gatwick, Heathrow and Stanstead

BT has signed a £46.6m deal with BAA to wire up Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted airports. The telco already runs Wi-Fi public access hotspots and payphones at all three sites. BT will provide voice services to 2,000 users, move an existing data network onto an IP infrastructure and set up a helpdesk for BAA staff and airport …

Data Networking 6 May 2004, 14:50
Java: the next mobile cash cow?

Milked for $15.5bn by 2008, pundits predict

Mobile Java applications will generate over $15bn in annual revenue for mobile operators by 2008, according to researchers ARC Group. This figure will account for 12.4 per cent of all data revenues. The sales of handsets running Java tripled in 2003, reaching sales of 95.5m, up from 32m in 2002. Even now, there is money to be …

Mobile 6 May 2004, 15:42
Wi-Fi group to update WLAN spec

Acronyms accrue as 802.11i and 802.11e arrive

The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) is so confident that the IEEE will at long last ratify the 802.11e specification as a standard that it has already come up with a marketing name for the technology. The standard will be branded the Wireless Media Extensions (WME), and the organisation will start certifying WLAN products' ability to …

Wireless 6 May 2004, 16:18
AMD delivers on low-power Athlon 64 pledge

Parts for thin'n'light laptops

AMD has added two low-power Athlon 64 processors to its mobile line-up. The new chips, rated as 2700+ and 2800+, are pitched at thin-and-light notebooks and deliver on AMD's promise, made at the original Athlon 64 launch in September 2003, to deliver 64-bit chips for such systems by the middle of 2004. The two chips have a …

Channel 6 May 2004, 16:21
MS mounts covert anti-piracy op

Belgian retailers targeted

Almost 25 per cent of Belgian PC retail shops encourage users to buy illicit software, according to research by Bare Associates. As part of its ongoing effort to stamp out the use of pirated software, Microsoft paid Bare to send secret investigators or "mystery shoppers" to 400 computer retailers in Belgium. About 17 per cent …

Software 6 May 2004, 16:23
DNA-based nanobot takes a stroll

A great step forward

Asimov would have been so proud: New York scientists have created a walking robot, just 10 nanometres long and made out of DNA. Alright, it needs a path made of DNA to walk along, but this is still amazing stuff. The researchers are taking advantage of DNA chains' propensity to pair up. The legs are made of two strands wrapped …

Science 6 May 2004, 16:32
Everywhere Broadband scrubs UK satellite plan

Permanently, it seems

Everywhere Broadband - which planned to offer high speed Net access to punters who can't get DSL or cable - has ditched plans to roll out a satellite broadband service in the UK. The company - which was to team up with Eutelsat to offer a service with speeds up to 1.5Mbs for £19.95 a month - was due to launch the service at an …

Telecoms 6 May 2004, 16:38
Piecemeal security solutions cost firms dearly

Integrate and save

A piecemeal approach to information security - added to market confusion - is resulting in companies spending too much for incomplete protection. According to security vendor Aladdin, companies are unwittingly purchasing and managing overlapping security solutions, sending their total cost of ownership sky-high. Aladdin reckons …

Anti-Virus 6 May 2004, 16:46
HP rides Hondo to super-sized Itanium servers

Doubling up

HP's Itanium modernization project has neared completion with the company announcing that a new module for doubling the processor count in high-end servers will arrive next month. HP first let the word out on the mx2 module back in 2002 and has delivered on its promise to roll the technology out by mid-2004. The module makes it …

Servers 6 May 2004, 20:47
Prison time for cyber stock swindler

Computer hacking and identity theft

A young investor with more wiles than trading luck was sentenced to 13 months in prison Wednesday for using a Trojan horse program and someone else's online brokerage account to sell thousands of worthless stock options to an unwilling buyer. Van T. Dinh, 20, was the first to be charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission …

ID 6 May 2004, 21:46