26th May 2004 Archive

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HP and Microsoft put Exchange on your NAS

Hardware halving

Microsoft Exchange users have a new way to cut their hardware load in half with the help of HP storage systems. HP this week announced support for a new Exchange Server 2003 feature pack that allows administrators to store Exchange databases and log files right on a NAS (network attached storage) system. Customers have …

Storage 26 May 2004, 00:09
BOFH: One double espresso from meltdown

Episode 16 Total Component Fatigue

BOFH 2004 A man could go mad in this business. One minute you’re hanging off the front of a mainframe shouting about how you’re king of the world - the wave of technology heralding an install which would make even the most hardened geek weep just from the ingenuity, the next moment you’ve got a SCSI card in your hand, not able …

BOFH 26 May 2004, 09:02
French deploy optical url reader

Europe in Brief From page to Net

Software developer Wiziway of Lyons, France has unveiled a novel way to bridge the gap between printed media and the Internet: a simple click of a mouse-shaped device, or clicker, is enough to take the user directly from a printed document to a web page. Wiziway's software solution is based on the reading of a tiny tag ( …

PCs 26 May 2004, 09:16
Accenture boss appointed UK e-envoy

New e-gov supremo

Ian Watmore, UK MD of Accenture, has been made new head of e-government for the UK. He will be responsible for making savings and improving the electronic delivery of government services and replaces Andrew Pinder as the UK's e-envoy. The e-envoy's responsiblity was mainly to get British citizens online, and get government …

Public Sector 26 May 2004, 09:21
Softbank mulls Japan Telecom acquisition

Broadband expansion plan

Broadband provider Softbank is in talks to buy Japan Telecom. The broadband group is prepared to pay a premium on top of the price US investment group Ripplewood paid for the telco in August last year. Ripplewood shelled out $2.2bn, but is concerned that profitability has fallen. Japan Telecom has been stuck in third place in …

Financial News 26 May 2004, 09:27
RM posts record profit

Top of the class

Schools provider RM, previously Research Machines, has posted a record profit for the first six months ended 31 March 2004. RM made a profit before tax and amortisation of £2.7m, reversing a £0.8m loss for the same period last year. The company turned over £108.9m, up 28 per cent on last year. But the company warned that the …

Financial News 26 May 2004, 09:29
Games too complex, Nintendo chief warns

Especially for the three-year-olds it's targeting...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has warned that games are becoming too complex and the industry risks alienating consumers. It's a line the company has trotted out before. Right around the time Sony was announcing its PlayStation 2, former president and now chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi made much the same complaint. Iwata's …

Consoles 26 May 2004, 09:39
Motorola brings push-to-talk to Wi-Fi

System enables PTT roaming, too

Motorola has extended its push-to-talk (PTT) enabling technology to Wi-Fi wireless networks. The system, Cross-Technology Push-to-Talk over Cellular (CTPoC), is pitched at wireless carriers and is geared to allow PTT interoperability across GPRS and CDMA 2000 networks. That means applying CTPoC will allow carriers to support …

Wireless 26 May 2004, 10:05
Web-only retailers move into the black

Costs down, profits up

Web-only retailers are beginning to turn a profit, thanks to stronger uptake and trimmed-down costs, a new survey has revealed. Online sales in the Unites States jumped to $114bn last year, a doubling of year-before sales of $75.7bn, according to the Forrester Research and Shop.org, the online arm of the US National Retail …

Financial News 26 May 2004, 10:31
Hardcore Web porn banned down under

It was five years ago today... 26 May 1999

From time to time we dredge up a bit of Reg archive which puts us in mind of legendary historical characters. In this case, it's King Canute: Hardcore Web porn banned down under By Tim Richardson Published Wednesday 26th May 1999 11:00 GMT Asia-Pacific could be the focus of a tsunami of moral righteousness in the wake of …

Music and Media 26 May 2004, 10:32
Boffins baffled by suburban quasars

Early universe more like Bournemouth than Bronx

Astronomers may have to rethink their explanations of how quasars work, thanks to new images produced by the Gemini telescope. Quasars are very distant, but very strong sources of radio signals. Not much is known about how they were formed, or exactly what they are. The working theory is that they are located in the central …

Science 26 May 2004, 10:38
Wi-Fi group intros standards support stamp

From 'try mode' to tri-mode

The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) has introduced a colour-coded logo for WLAN products - the better, it claims, to help punters distinguish between different Wi-Fi technologies. The logo makes it clear which of the three Wi-Fi 'modes' - 802.11a, 802.11b or 802.11g - a given access point or adaptor supports. Products carrying the logo …

Wireless 26 May 2004, 10:42
Voda, T-Mobile have a spring-clean

Buyouts in Japan and US

Vodafone has fulfilled its promise to buy out its Japanese units. It is spending £2.6bn on taking back full control of two companies: Vodafone Holdings KK and Vodafone KK. A Vodafone spokesman told The Deal that the Japanese units, with 18 per cent market share, were not gaining new customers fast enough, he said the …

Mobile 26 May 2004, 11:02
Nokia ships N-Gage QD

Better luck second time round

Nokia has begun shipping the N-Gage QD - its attempt to address the failings of its original game deck-cum-phone. Crucially, the QD is more compact than its predecessor, and its more curvaceous casing makes the unit more easy to operate as a mobile phone. The unit's gamecard slot is now hot-swappable, and is located in the …

Mobile 26 May 2004, 11:10
Kingston Comms cops £111m loss

Network write down blamed

Kingston Communications - the telco which operates in Hull - racked up losses of more than £100m last year after the company reassessed the value of its network. The telco decided to write down the value of its network by a whopping £97.6m. According to a statement yesterday Kingston made the decision "in light of the current …

Telecoms 26 May 2004, 11:16
Akamai software glitch provokes Web brownouts

Wibbly Wobbly Web

A glitch involving Akamai's content distribution network caused performance problems for a swathe of high profile websites on Monday. Problems with Akamai's network affected access to AV updates from Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro, streaming content from Apple and the performance of websites run by General Motors, Coca Cola …

Enterprise Security 26 May 2004, 11:22
AOL UK slaps punter with £2k bill

ISP coughs to billing error

AOL UK has apologised after an admin cock-up landed one of its customers with a bill for more than £2,000. Chris Cook, from Pontypool, had signed up to AOL UK's unmetered broadband service but was staggered when he was slapped with the hefty bills. When he contacted AOL UK they admitted that they had made an error. Instead of …

Telecoms 26 May 2004, 11:43
UMC techies boost SOI chip speed by 30%

Use unwanted quantum tunnelling effects

Boffins at UMC, the world's second largest chip foundry, have figured out how to use quantum tunnelling to improve the performance of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors. UMC dubs the new technique Direct Tunneling Floating-Body Potential (DTFBP) and claimed today it gives PMOS transistors a 30 per cent higher drive current …

Channel 26 May 2004, 11:51
Scientist seeks alien cloud-dwelling bug

Life on Venus?

Its surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead, and it rains sulphuric acid, but US scientists think there might yet be life on Venus, floating in its sulphurous clouds. The existence of life on Venus depends on what the planet was like billions of years ago. The current theory is that when the solar system was young, Venus …

Science 26 May 2004, 13:22
Oxfam enters music download biz

Charity site favours world's poor as well as label execs

Oxfam's charity music download service went online today, appealing to listeners' better natures with the pledge that ten per cent of what they spend will go to fight poverty. The service, Big Noise, won plaudits from conscientious rock stars such a Coldplay's Chris Martin. Despite having a daughter named Apple, Martin doesn't …

Music and Media 26 May 2004, 13:25
Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook E8010

Review Intel's 'Dothan' hits the UK

With the recent launch of Intel's new 'Dothan' Pentium M processor, every laptop manufacturer is rushing out new models and the Lifebook E8010 is Fujitsu-Siemens' attempt to show off the new CPU. We managed to secure the first pre-production sample in the UK, writes Lars-Gîran Nilsson. Apart from the 1.8GHz Pentium M 745 …

Channel 26 May 2004, 13:47
Singapore to make spammers pay - literally

Cunning plan

Singapore yesterday floated plans to fine spammers a small amount for each item of junk mail they send. Officials in the tightly controlled city state reckon fine of between ten cents and one Singapore Dollar ($0.06 to $0.58) for each spam email would deter marketing transgressions. ISPs would be able to sue bulk mailers if they …

Spam 26 May 2004, 13:52
My job went to India...

Cash'n'Carrion ...and all I got was this lousy mug

Things are bad. Just one month ago you were dispensing invaluable advice on car insurance from a callcentre in Basingstoke; now you're reading the "Situations Vacant" section of the local paper while a college-educated resident of Bangalore does your old job for a tenner a month. Still, look on the bright side, you could always …

Site News 26 May 2004, 13:53
E-minister urged to intervene in Yorkshire broadband spat

Bitter dispute goes public

E-minister Stephen Timms has been asked to intervene in a bitter dispute that threatens to undermine work to roll-out broadband in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The clash has already claimed the jobs of two senior officials and severely dented ambitious plans to roll-out a new high-speed broadband network in the area. At …

Telecoms 26 May 2004, 13:57
TV: coming to a mobile near you

Dutch test telly on-the-go

Dutch digital television (DVB-T) operator Digitenne and Nokia are testing TV signals on mobile handsets, according to a Dutch industry journal. Nokia phones equipped with a TV receiver are currently tested by research institute TNO Telecom, which wouldn't comment on the experiments. Commercial applications are not expected until …

Mobile 26 May 2004, 14:22
IBM's PowerPC 975 - verified or vapour?

Analysis Well, it's working on something...

So is IBM working on a processor called the PowerPC 975. Take a look at the company's web site, and it appears that yes, IBM's first PowerPC processor derived from the Power 5 core will be called the PowerPC 975, company documents confirm. Or do they? We found a reference to the CPU on IBM Taiwan's web site, but closer …

Mac Channel 26 May 2004, 14:25
Mauritius moves to protect local telco

Rivals ordered to match tariffs

Mauritius is banning telecoms from competing on price with the incumbent Mauritius Telecom. Mauritius Telecom, faced with the indignity of rivals offering cheaper international calls, complained to the government. And the government acted - the regulator Information and Communication Technologies Authority ruled that all telcos …

Telecoms 26 May 2004, 14:32
FBI apology for Madrid bomb fingerprint fiasco

'Substandard' digital prints led to Oregon lawyer

Over reliance on digital images of fingerprints led the FBI to wrongly suspect an Oregon lawyer of involvement in Madrid train bombings. Muslim-convert Brandon Mayfield spent 17 days in detention after an FBI Lab wrongly linked him to prints recovered by Spanish police investigating the 11 March terrorist outrage. US …

ID 26 May 2004, 15:44
EMC and Dell get cheap together

SANity check

EMC and Dell today released the long-awaited Clariion that isn't. The Clariion AX100 has arrived, as expected, as a low-end system designed to bring SANs (storage area networks) to small- and medium-sized businesses. But unlike the other Clariion systems sold by both EMC and Dell, the AX100 uses its own management software and …

Storage 26 May 2004, 15:53
Phone digicams see the light

Helimorph piezoelectric actuator aids focus

Canadian Atsana Semiconductor and UK-based 1 have pooled resources to develop a new autofocus function for camera phones. The solution combines Atsana’s J2211 media processor with 1’s Helimorph piezoelectric actuator, and, the companies say, is smaller, lighter and less power hungry than traditional alternatives. The companies …

Mobile 26 May 2004, 16:06
ClearCube puts bells and whistles on blade PC

British back end

Imagine an IT staffer moving from desk to desk, installing a new bit of software to let users connect into the latest and greatest office printer. Picture the grizzled look on her face as minion X whines about flagging application Y or whirring desktop Z. Could this really happen? Well. Yes. It happens every day, of course, but …

PCs 26 May 2004, 19:51
Regulator fines Net sex firm

To dial for

An Internet sex company has been fined £10,000 after more than 370 punters complained that it had installed software on their PCs that connected them to a premium-rate phone line. Punters said the dialler software appeared to download icons and set a premium rate number as the dial-up default without their knowledge or consent …

Music and Media 26 May 2004, 19:59
Server vendors work hard for their money in Q1

Units fly, cash putters

The number of servers shipped in the first quarter surged, but unfortunately for the vendors overall revenue did not move with equal vigor. Close to 1.6 million servers were moved worldwide in the first quarter, according to research firm Gartner. That's a 27 percent leap over the 1.2 million units shipped in the same period …

Servers 26 May 2004, 20:28