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2nd June 2004 Archive

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  • SCO makes peace with BayStar

    Investor backs off backing off

    With a little cash, The SCO Group has mollified one of the two major investors who bought into the company's legal strategy last year, only to get cold feet this year. BayStar Capital invested $20m in SCO in the form of Series A stock last fall, and recently acquired the $20m worth of stock acquired by the other major backer, …

    Operating Systems 2 Jun 2004, 03:14

  • RIM makes mobile gains while Palm, Sony and Dell falter

    Think global, warns analyst

    RIM and Fujitsu are amongst the biggest gainers in a mobile device business that is becoming increasingly dominated by regional favorites. Canalys reports that in the first quarter of 2004, smartphone shipments jumped 115 per cent, while traditional PDAs rose just 1 per cent. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa shipments of …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 03:55

  • Nvidia rejigs nForce 3 for AMD's Socket 939

    Computex Ultra MCP supports latest Athlon 64s

    Nvidia has updated its nForce 3 support chip to cope with AMD's new 939-pin Athlon 64 and 64-FX processors. Now dubbed the nForce 3 Ultra Media Communications Processor, the new part works with the North Bridge technology built into the AMD chips to provide South Bridge functionality along with a graphics card bus. The new …

    Channel 2 Jun 2004, 07:10

  • Tyan aims four-way Opteron board at supercomp makers

    Computex Boasts Chinese 640-node cluster win

    Motherboard maker Tyan today unveiled its first board designed to hold four AMD Opteron 800 series processors - making it the company's highest-performance server chipset, Tyan claimed. The mobo, the Thunder K8QS Pro, can take up to 32GB of 400MHz ECC DDR SDRAM in its 16 memory slots. The K8QS Pro's South Bridge functionality …

    Channel 2 Jun 2004, 07:11

  • Intel ships mobile Prescott P4s

    Computex And a Pentium M-based Celeron

    Intel this week launched its first 90nm Mobile Pentium 4 processors and took its 130nm mobile Celeron line into the Centrino era. The new Mobile P4s are numbered 518, 532 and 538, and are clocked at 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2GHz, respectively. All three are based on the 'Prescott' core, offering 1MB of L2 cache, HyperThreading support …

    Channel 2 Jun 2004, 07:15

  • Nvidia touts media access tool for 'living room' notebooks

    Computex No-boot music, movies, photos

    Nvidia has begun offering software to help notebook manufacturers bring their products into the iPod era. The new code, called nStant Media, allows mobile PCs based on Nvidia's chips to play music and movies without needing to boot up a full operating system first. As we reported yesterday the Computex show in Taipei is playing …

    Channel 2 Jun 2004, 07:19

  • Olympic telecoms struggling towards line?

    Europe in Brief Athens infrastructure doubts

    The Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE) vehemently denies reports that its Olympic overhaul of the Greek telecoms infrastructure is badly behind schedule, stressing that all relevant technology is in place, Athens News reports. OTE is contributing landline, mobile phone, Web and data services to the Athens 2004 …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 07:44

  • Sun goes back to the future with Metropolis

    Sun Network W is for Workstation

    Sun Microsystems is determined to put the W back in SUNW with the help of a new Opteron-based workstation. Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz unveiled the company's first Opteron-based workstation today at the Sun Network conference in Shanghai. The box is meant to revive Sun's flagging workstation business by letting the …

    Servers 2 Jun 2004, 08:27

  • Cable & Wireless is not 'down and out'

    Back to paying a divi and everything...

    Cable & Wireless is starting its journey back from the dead. The company is going back to paying a dividend 3.15p a share - six months sooner than expected. Revenue in the UK held up well for the first time in three years. It has successfully withdrawn from the US market and Yemen. But the Caribbean saw increased competition …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 09:10

  • Intel 'Nocona' details emerge on mobo display

    Computex Asus spills the beans

    Intel's 'Nocona' 64-bit Xeon DP chip will launch at 3.6GHz when it is officially unveiled on 27 June. The part - which will be fabbed at 90nm - will finally bring the Pentium 4's 800MHz frontside bus to the two-way server platform. That's been assumed for some time, but it's certainly nice to have it down in black and white, …

    Servers 2 Jun 2004, 09:14

  • Intel slices up to 34% off server chip prices

    Computex Xeon DP pruning ahead of Nocona launch

    Intel has quietly cut the prices of a range of Xeon DP processors ahead of the launch later this month of 'Nocona', its first 64-bit x86 server processor. The chip maker reduced prices across almost the enture full line-up of 130nm parts, leaving only the top-end 3.2GHz, 2MB cache version and the bottom-of-the-line 2GHz chips …

    Servers 2 Jun 2004, 09:14

  • Dialogue demos 'total wireless' sub-notebook

    Computex Flybook even works as a tablet

    We're big fans of sub-notebooks at El Reg, lauding their compact size and - crucially - low weight over more macho specifications like CPU clock speed, graphics chip fill rates and hard drive capacity. Wandering the seemingly endless stands at Computex Taipei this week, we were struck by a rather impressive model from local …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 09:20

  • Eircom profits up but turnover down

    Better margins

    The Irish incumbent telco Eircom posted results for the year ended 31 March 2004 which showed a big jump in profits despite lower turnover. Eircom made an operating profit of €118m and increase of 39 per cent on last year. Turnover was down three per cent to €1.63bn compared to €1.68bn last year. Turnover fell because of the …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 09:22

  • 3G roll-out to boost semiconductor market

    Spending will continue to rise

    3G telecoms will be the shot in the arm the wireless semiconductor industry needs, according to IDC. After several years of lower spending, the research company estimates that the market for base station semiconductors will be worth $1.9bn this year, reaching $2.4bn by 2008. Sean Lavey, program manager at IDC said that there …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 09:31

  • DB2 'Stinger' to pack powerful punch

    Float like a butterfly...

    I have no idea of whether IBM had Cassius Clay (or even Mohammed Ali) in mind when it nicknamed the forthcoming release of DB2 UDB "Stinger", but the product certainly looks likely to pack a punch when it is released later this year. Given that this is will be the first major release of DB2 UDB for 18 months, it is hardly …

    Applications 2 Jun 2004, 09:40

  • NEC goes all out for China 3G market

    270m potential subscribers

    NEC is setting up a new company in China with the primary goal of developing the Chinese 3G mobile market. The company, facing declining sales in Japan, believes China will be a vital new growth area particularly in 3G. It is already participating in field trials of 3G technology in China with a variety of vendor and operator …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 09:43

  • Tele2 slips 3G into Sweden

    Offers free stuff to tempt punters

    Tele2 AB - the pan-European telecoms outfit - has launched its 3G service in Sweden. As a sweetener, it's offering punters free mobile Internet and WAP for the rest of the year. The service enables customers to do stuff with pictures and games with better graphics and video streaming. And it allows users to make voice phone …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 09:52

  • Revenge of the Zombie Bloodsucker PCs

    It was five years ago today... 2 June 1999

    We at El Reg like to flatter ourselves that we are at the cutting edge of linguitic development. Long before the term "zombie PC" emerged blinking into the lexicographical light - at least in the sense of "slave drone to dark virus master's evil will" - we were already deploying the phrase to full effect: Revenge of the Zombie …

    Bootnotes 2 Jun 2004, 10:11

  • Wi-Fi hotspots simply too expensive

    No return on investment, German study shows

    Wi-Fi hotspots will only meet the needs of small customer groups and for the majority of hotspots there will be little or no return of investment. So says the Scientific Institute for Communication Services or WIK, Germany’s leading research and advisory institute for communication services. The institute expects a …

    Wireless 2 Jun 2004, 10:32

  • Calling time on the £1 USB memory watch

    Cash'n'Carrion Last batch - ever

    A couple of months back we said that we were down to the last few bundles on our MeMIX USB2.0 Memory Watch buy-one-get-one-almost-free offer. And so we were, until disappointed customers unleashed a tsunami of begging emails asking, nay begging, for another chance to secure a bargain. Accordingly, we have managed to get hold of …

    Site News 2 Jun 2004, 10:54

  • NI outfit promos 2GB email service

    Tolkien site rings up email service too

    Northern Ireland-based Aventure Media has launched a free 2GB email service. According to the blurb, Aventure Mail.com is ad free. Neither does it display any third party advertisements on the Webmail website or through users' outgoing email. "Our Company websites may be displayed online, but not third parties," said the …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 11:00

  • Accenture wins $10bn Homeland Security gig

    Biometric database deal for offshore consortium

    An Accenture-led consortium yesterday emerged as winners of a US border security contract worth up to $10bn over the next 10 years. The Accenture-led Smart Border Alliance was selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a system designed to track foreign visitors to the US using biometric information …

    Public Sector 2 Jun 2004, 11:05

  • Global Crossing gets $100m boost

    Big loan, strings attached

    Global Crossing, the formerly-bankrupt fibre provider, has received the first slice of a $100m loan from Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT). The deal was delayed while Global Crossing sorted out yet more accounting problems. The loan was looking doubtful because in April Global Crossing found yet more problems with its …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 11:38

  • EU moves towards spectrum trading

    The radio waves, not the Sinclair

    An influential report written on behalf of the EC has come out in favour of trading in radio spectrum. The report says "benefits from spectrum trading would greatly outweight the costs associated with trading and liberalisation". The researchers believe that trading would be beneficial, would accelerate development of services …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 11:46

  • Germans claim first programmable computer

    Z3 goes head-to-head with Colossus

    The Brits may have beaten the Americans, but it seems we were both pipped by the Germans. No, not football. Computers. Colossus was not, in fact, the world's first programmable computer: that particular distinction belongs to the Z3, built in 1941 by Konrad Zuse, a German civil engineer. When Zuse met with the Colossus team in …

    Science 2 Jun 2004, 12:23

  • Converged networks find increasing favour

    Separate voice and data so last century

    More and more enterprises are merging their voice and data networks together in a bid to slash telephony costs and boost productivity through the introduction of new applications. Enabling new applications - rather than simply saving money - is becoming the main engine of growth in the market, according to a survey of Nortel …

    Data Networking 2 Jun 2004, 12:26

  • UK boasts 4m broadband users

    Abandoning TV for fast Web action

    There were almost four million broadband users in the UK at the end of April, according to the latest stats from communications regulator Ofcom. At the end of April, the UK had notched up 3.99m broadband connections, with numbers growing by 40,000 a week. Of the four million or so broadband connections in the UK, DSL made up 2. …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 13:48

  • Boys love games, girls love ringtones

    But neither gives a hoot for 3G

    Downloads to mobile phones show a sharp division between the sexes with men going for games and women preferring ringtones. Men, or should it be boys, are far more likely to download games: 58 per cent of people who have downloaded a game in the last three months are men. But women make up the majority of ringtones downloaded …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 13:51

  • Nokia deploys 'wave messaging' mobile

    LEDs project SMS to astounded onlookers

    Those readers who believe that they have the phone with every conceivable function known to mankind are in for a nasty shock. As is anyone standing within striking distance of Nokia's forthcoming 3220 - the first mobile to offer aerial SMS displays to astounded onlookers. Nokia has already started the spin surrounding the " …

    Mobile 2 Jun 2004, 15:05

  • AOL UK ticked off for 'exaggerated' ad claim

    Cheetahs

    AOL UK has been ticked off by the advertising watchdog for "exaggerating" the performance of its 1Mb broadband service. A member of the public objected to the ad - which featured a cheetah with running spikes - claiming they didn't believe AOL UK could meet its "1Mb Broadband" claim. Despite presenting the Advertising Standards …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 2004, 15:29

  • Attack of the bandwidth-hogging hackers

    Wi-Fi hotspot peril

    Swiss security researchers have unearthed a flaw in wireless LAN systems that might be used by hackers to drastically increase their share of the available bandwidth at the expense of the other users. The issue should be of particular concern to hotspot operators, according to a team from the computer labs at the Ecole …

    Wireless 2 Jun 2004, 15:31

  • NASA seeks Hubble robot rescue input

    Suggestions on a postcard by 16 July

    NASA has launched a feasibility study into a robotic servicing mission that could save Hubble from falling into a state of total disrepair. The primary goal of such a scheme would be to install a 'de-orbit' module on Hubble, effectively a way to crash it, safely, on Earth. But NASA is hopeful that the robot it sends could …

    Science 2 Jun 2004, 16:09