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17th May 2004 Archive

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  • Oracle slashes PeopleSoft offer

    20 per cent off...

    Oracle cut its bid for PeopleSoft by 20 per cent on Friday, reducing its offer from $26 to $21 per share. The new offer values PeopleSoft at $7.7bn rather than $9.4bn Peoplesoft's board said it considered the previous offer was too low and that continued anti-trust action in Europe and the US meant the deal was unlikely to go …

    Financial News 17 May 2004, 09:08

  • BT and Voda to 'tie mobile knot'

    Musical beds

    BT is to dump its mobile phone partners and hook up with one-time rival Vodafone instead, according to The Daily Telegraph. The tie-up would enable BT to offer its punters fixed and mobile services charged all on the same bill. An announcement is expected this week. A spokeswoman for BT declined to comment, except to say that …

    Mobile 17 May 2004, 09:27

  • Start-up touts x86, Wi-Fi as mobile gaming future

    All about Eve

    Mobile gaming specialist Ministry of Mobile Affairs (Moma) last week launched its bid for a place alongside Sony's PlayStation Portable and Nintendo's DS with a stylish x86-based handheld that plays old PC games. Dubbed 'Eve', the unit looks like one of those old 1980s-era single-game devices redesigned by Apple for the 21st …

    Consoles 17 May 2004, 09:30

  • FBI arrest 65 in P2P child porn raids

    Feds hit file sharing paedophiles

    The FBI arrested 65 people for using peer-to-peer networks to exchange child pornography on Friday (14 May). The FBI went undercover in Operation Peer Pressure and conducted 166 sessions targeting P2P networks. They found 106 individuals with multiple images of child pornography. This led to 103 searches, seven arrests and nine …

    Music and Media 17 May 2004, 09:33

  • BT loses 150,000 customers a month - report

    It's good to walk

    Punters are queuing up to leave BT, according to internal documents seen by the Sunday Times. More than 150,000 punters are leaving the UK's dominant fixed line telco each month and this number could accelerate as competition hots up, it reports. Many customers are lured away to rival providers such as Tesco, The Carphone …

    Telecoms 17 May 2004, 09:42

  • Sasser suspect fanclub launches appeal

    Wallets opened

    The German teenager fingered as the author of the Sasser and NetSky worms may not be popular among IT professionals, but fans of the accused miscreant have already sprung to his defense and, apparently, opened their wallets. On Wednesday an anonymous post to the Full Disclosure security mailing list announced a new website …

    Malware 17 May 2004, 09:44

  • Up-skirt law to destroy mobile phone biz?

    Black picture

    How can you sell a 3G phone without mentioning its video-phone capabilities? And can you sell a 3G phone without a video camera? Well, if you sell phones, you may have to. It's always been something of an in joke with those who know the Japanese market for miniature cameras. You know that they are described as "up-skirt" …

    Mobile 17 May 2004, 10:10

  • IBM gets hot and spicy

    Introducing DB2 'Masala'

    The next release of DB2 Information Integrator has the code name Masala. Quite what this has to do with Chicken Tikka I do not know. I also don't know when the product will be launched or even when it will enter its public beta trials (private beta has been ongoing for some time). However, the latter is likely to be relatively …

    Applications 17 May 2004, 10:12

  • Avaya settles Y2K case

    Millennium Bug still feeding lawyers

    Lucent spin-off Avaya has settled a class action suit for damages related to the year 2000. The case relates to the ability of some Avaya products to deal with date functions after 1 January 2000. Members of the class suit who bought certain telecom products between 1990 and 1999 are eligible for credits of up to $110m, or cash …

    Financial News 17 May 2004, 10:14

  • Intel renames power tech for desktop world

    Leverages Intel SpeedStep not AMD's Cool'n'Quiet

    Listen to the AMD fanboys, and you'd think Intel's plan to introduce power-conservation technology to future desktop, workstation and server chips is yet another instance of the chip giant nicking technology developed by its smaller rival. AMD introduced the Athlon 64 FX gaming-oriented CPU then Intel launched the Pentium 4 …

    Channel 17 May 2004, 10:16

  • Nintendo DS to ship 29 November for $200?

    Online retailers begin forecasting

    The Nintendo DS will ship on 29 November and carry a $200 price-tag. So claims EBGames' website, although its provides a caveat: "The ship date and retail price have not been confirmed and therefore are subject to change. "If the retail price is decreased you will receive the lower price." EBGames' Ts&Cs note that if the …

    Consoles 17 May 2004, 10:52

  • Mobile phones are a pain in the neck

    It was five years ago today... 17 May 1999

    It has come as a great surprise to many that, after years of abusing mobile phones, peoples' heads have not simply dropped off and rolled across the floor like microwave-roasted beef footballs. How can this be? Mobile phones are a pain in the neck By Linda Harrison Published Monday 17th May 1999 17:02 GMT Feeling your ears …

    Mobile 17 May 2004, 11:06

  • BT's olive branch to Ofcom

    Prices cut, loops unbundled

    BT has revealed a massive cut in the prices it charges its rivals for using its broadband network, in an effort to avert a possible break-up of its business by Ofcom, the UK telecoms watchdog. The move will result in a short-term dip in revenues, but may well prove profitable in the long run. Last month, Ofcom chief executive …

    Telecoms 17 May 2004, 11:06

  • SEC to fine Lucent $25m

    Civil fraud lawsuit

    Telecoms equipment maker Lucent is expected to be hit with a civil fraud lawsuit for what the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claims was the improper recognition of $1bn in revenue. The move, which was reported in Monday's Wall Street Journal, is said to reflect the new "no holds barred" attitude of SEC regulators, …

    Financial News 17 May 2004, 11:07

  • Transmeta pledges 'no execute' security support

    Efficeon to handle WinXP SP2 security system

    Transmeta today claimed that its Efficeon chip will be the first "energy-efficient" processor to support the oft-touted 'no execute' NX instruction required by Windows XP Service Pack 2's anti-virus sub-system. So it either missed AMD's low-power Athlon 64 launch t'other week, or it doesn't believe that the mobile 64-bit CPUs …

    Channel 17 May 2004, 11:19

  • Cisco probes source code theft

    Networking crown jewels aired in public

    Cisco has launched an investigation following reports that portions of its core networking operating system source code have been stolen and distributed online. According to Russian security portal SecurityLab, a hacker boasting he broke into Cisco's internal network and nicked source code for some versions of Cisco's IOS has …

    Enterprise Security 17 May 2004, 11:20

  • Email survey: punters win prizes

    Reg Reader Studies Lucky five

    Thanks to all those readers who successfully completed our recent email use survey - the online equivalent of pulling yourself up Everest with your teeth. After some positive feeback about that particular ordeal, we've decided to keep these things shorter and sweeter in future. Promise. Talking of promises, we said at the time …

    Tech Panel 17 May 2004, 11:48

  • eAccess buys AOL Japan

    BT bod takes non-exec job at eAccess

    AOL Japan - a wholly owned subsidiary of America Online (AOL) - has been flogged to Japanese wholesale DSL outfit eAccess. The transfer of all business assets and employees is due to take place on 30 June and will cost eAccess 2.1bn yen ($18.33m), according to Reuters. As part of the deal, the AOL brand will continue to operate …

    Telecoms 17 May 2004, 12:01

  • Phatbot suspect released on bail

    Don't leave town

    The suspected author of the Phatbot Trojan was released on bail last Friday after spending a week in custody. German authorities arrested the 21-year-old coder - named only as Alex G in local reports - from Waldshut in southern Germany on 7 May at the same time as the author of the Sasser worm, 18 year-old Sven Jaschan. Police …

    Malware 17 May 2004, 12:03

  • Alien puppet Linus swiped Linux from SCO, says balanced study

    Well, almost...

    The Washington think tank responsible for 'Linux aids terrorism' claims two years ago is at it again. The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution is now casting doubt on Linus Torvalds' authorship of Linux, and implying that it's a knock-off of Unix. ADTI's latest atrocity appears to be following the pattern of the previous, where …

    Software 17 May 2004, 12:14

  • EU software patent debate continues

    Directive faces further scrutiny

    The European Council of Ministers will meet tomorrow afternoon to decide the fate of the EU Directive on software patentability, but instead of merely waving the directive through, there is to be a more thorough discussion of the issue. The directive is the penultimate item on the agenda, which means that at least one member …

    Developer 17 May 2004, 12:23

  • Nvidia rolls out mobile graphics add-in card format

    MXM to make notebooks as easy to upgrade as desktops

    Nvidia today rolled out its Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM) specification, a move it hopes will one day see notebook users swapping out old graphics chips for new ones as easily as desktops users do today. MXM details three module formats, each designed to meet the demands and operating envelopes of the key notebook market …

    PCs 17 May 2004, 13:34

  • Resellers shun smart phones

    We'll stick to PDAs, thanks

    Resellers across Europe are sticking to traditional PDAs when sorting out mobile data products for their customers. Research carried out in March found 43 per cent of dealers recommended stand-alone PDAs to their customers. Twenty per cent were installing PDAs with a separate mobile phone and 21.4 per cent chose an integrated …

    Mobile 17 May 2004, 13:40

  • Softbank customers sue over data leak

    Compensation offer inadequate

    Japanese outfit Softbank Corp faces being sued after confidential information regarding 4.6m of its punters leaked out in March, according to the Mainichi Daily News. Softbank - which together with Yahoo! operates broadband outfit "Yahoo! BB" in Japan - was the victim of a massive scam to extort billions of Yen from the company …

    Security 17 May 2004, 14:23

  • Mandrake 'charges' $13k for $132 membership

    Software glitch x 100

    Fans and supporters of Mandrake got a shock over the weekend when some people buying, or contributing to, the open source company found their credit cards had been overcharged by a factor of 100. Mandrake asked customers to use PayPal while it sorted the problem out. One open source fan and Register reader claims that a silver …

    Software 17 May 2004, 14:39

  • ESA commissions super spacesuit

    PCB, LCD, ECG, GPS and machine washable

    The European Space Agency (ESA) today launched a project which it hopes will generate ideas for the next generation of spacesuits. The ultimate goal is to develop a suit that will allow a human being to explore the surface of Mars, while providing real-time monitoring of vital signs and location. The second StarTiger project ( …

    Science 17 May 2004, 14:46

  • How to make your PC quiet

    Run silent, run deep

    PCs are becoming noisier. As components have become faster, the heat they generate has increased. Since that heat is traditionally dissipated using a variety of fans inside the case, the number and size of these fans has grown too, to the extend that they have become the major source of noise within a PC. They are not the …

    Channel 17 May 2004, 14:52

  • A380 Airbus suffers Virgin knock-back

    Carrier delays delivery

    Virgin Airlines has said that it will not take delivery of its first Airbus A380 superjumbo until 2007 - a year later than planned. The company says that delays in airports - particularly that of Los Angeles (LAX) - preparing to receive the enormous aircraft are partly behind the decision, as are difficulties in getting kit to …

    Science 17 May 2004, 15:30

  • Opera festival tunes into Wi-Fi

    802.11b-flat

    UK-based WISP The Cloud is to equip the Glyndebourne opera festival with "flexible and discreet" wireless Internet access. The posh person's answer to Glastonbury, Reading or the Monsters of Rock festivals opens on Thursday with a rendition of Mozart's Die Zauberflote. It's hard to imagine anyone sneaking off mid-performance …

    Wireless 17 May 2004, 15:37

  • DARPA doubles cash payout for second robot race

    Grander Challenge

    Fresh off the failure of the first Grand Challenge robot race, DARPA has decided to double the prize money for a second event to be held next year. DARPA quietly slipped word of the now $2m prize on the Grand Challenge web site. At present, the cash award is the only definite detail for the second running of the robots. DARPA …

    Science 17 May 2004, 19:04

  • CommVault codes its way onto Dell storage

    Ride the GalaxyExpress

    Storage software maker CommVault has received a large vote of confidence from Dell with the two companies announcing a tight product partnership. Dell customers will now find a low-end version of CommVault's Galaxy software available for their IP and Fibre Channel storage systems. The software, called GalaxyExpress, lets …

    Storage 17 May 2004, 21:32

  • Google's Ethics Committee revealed

    There are men behind the machines - shock!

    While it carries the imprimatur of objectivity, science doesn't operate in an ethical vacuum. As the late Stephen Jay Gould often pointed out, scientists make value judgments all the time, and science is a reflection of wider social values [*]. At Google, the gatekeeper to a trove of digital information, as everywhere else, it's …

    Music and Media 17 May 2004, 23:24