3rd June 2004 Archive

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Promiscuous BluePod file swapping - coming to a PDA near you

Exclusive Reg inspires Pocket Napster

A tiny European software company has done what the giants of the consumer electronics industry daren't do - and put a potential Napster in every pocket. Simeda, based in Bucharest, has ported Rendezvous to the Pocket PC platform and bundled it with a web server. The software automatically discovers other devices on a WiFi …

Mobile 3 Jun 2004, 00:09
Sun gets liquored up on own code

Sun Network Slosh the squeaky wheel

Buzzed. Intoxicated. Blotto. Straight pissed on code. That's the feeling sweeping through Sun Microsystems' software engineering ranks, as the workers attempt to correct a three-year enthusiasm-deadening lull in Sun's business. Yes, Solaris has been wounded by Linux. Yes, Sun's enterprise software business has made but modest …

Servers 3 Jun 2004, 06:27
Self-destructing MP3s don't satisfy Korean RIAA

Court case looms

Korea's version of the RIAA - the Korean Association of Phonogram Producers - says it is going to sue the carrier LG Telecom for distributing MP3-capable handsets. The network operator has sold 80,000 of the devices in two months. In a compromise reached in April, LG agreed to limit the capabilities of the phones: the MP3s would …

Mobile 3 Jun 2004, 06:56
Seagate axes thousands

Slipped disk

Seagate's board has given the go ahead for a seven per cent workforce reduction designed to improve the company's bottom line. Seagate expects to chop about 3,000 jobs, which should cut annual operating costs by close to $150m. Seagate will take a $50m charge in its current quarter for the move. The hard-disk drive maker has …

Storage 3 Jun 2004, 07:43
Police slap cuffs on Punk SMSer

Clash lyrics intercepted, collar felt

A tech worker was arrested yesterday after a text message he sent was intercepted and traced back to his phone. In a scene reminiscent of Neo's first escape from Agent Smith, Special Branch officers slapped the cuffs on Mike Devine at his office in Bristol yesterday, and took him away for questioning. Devine, who plays in a …

Bootnotes 3 Jun 2004, 08:38
UK air traffic control computer fails

Back up now, but expect delays

Passengers at British airports face long delays today after the computer system running air traffic control failed early this morning. Flights leaving the UK were grounded so controllers could concentrate on safely landing incoming planes. Heathrow, Gatwick and some regional airports were affected. National Air Traffic Services …

Applications 3 Jun 2004, 08:40
DirecTV's anti-SLAPP slap to litigant

Court rules against former anti-piracy enforcer

A Los Angeles court last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former enforcer in DirecTV's anti-piracy campaign who claimed he resigned rather than continue to prosecute the company's controversial war against buyers of hacker-friendly smart card equipment. John Fisher, a former police officer, alleged that he joined DirecTV as …

Music and Media 3 Jun 2004, 09:03
Mobile apps will drive Taiwan silicon

Dr Morris Chang speaks

Dr Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has predicted 10-12 per cent economic growth for silicon over the next ten years. He said that the growth of convergence and third generation wireless "will transform most people's lives". - and the Taiwan silicon industry will have to adapt. Key change in …

Channel 3 Jun 2004, 09:20
Carphone Warehouse cashes in on 3G

Profits solid, outlook promising

Carphone Warehouse made a pre-tax profit of £76m, up 33.8 per cent, on turnover of £1.85bn for the year ended 27 March 2004. It is increasing dividend payments by 30 per cent. The company connected 5.35m customers in the year and of these 2.4m were subscriptions, an increase of 26.4 per cent. Average cash profit per connection …

Mobile 3 Jun 2004, 09:25
Greek 3G 'ready for Olympics'

Even if the stadium isn't

Greek mobile operator Cosmote says its 3G network and services will be ready in time for the Olympics. This will be the first launch of video streaming into the local market, and Cosmote has deals with several content providers including Antenna TV and Databank. Cosmote's 3G network currently covers 30 per cent of the …

Mobile 3 Jun 2004, 09:28
Famous American launches 4G - but this time, is anyone listening?

McCaw is back

On the day that Japan's NTT DoCoMo trumpeted its latest 4G trials, the storied US entrepreneur Craig "Sign 'em quick, close 'em slow" McCaw announced his latest move into the same market, to surprisingly little fanfare. In popular folklore on this side of the pond, McCaw is credited with creating the US cable and cellular …

Mobile 3 Jun 2004, 09:44
OEM software scams on the rise

Piracy market thriving

Among the ever-increasing payload of spam landing each day in users' inboxes, there is certainly a burgeoning market for missives promoting OEM software - programmes originally distributed with system hardware. "DONT BE SILLY TO PAY HUNDRED FOR SOFTWARES" is typical. "Take discount on Microsoft, Corel, Adobe stuff from Cortes's …

Applications 3 Jun 2004, 09:59
BT punts another broadband promo

'Sign of a competitive marketplace' apparently

BT has released details of yet another promo offer to tempt people to sign up to its broadband service. As well as its recently announced free flight offer and the £80-off offer for its Broadband basic product, BT is now chucking up to £40 to punters who sign up for its broadband service. A spokesman for the UK's dominant fixed …

Telecoms 3 Jun 2004, 10:02
UK legal downloads hit half a million

Music biz not dead then

Half a million songs have been legally downloaded so far this year in the UK, according to figures come from the Official UK Chart Company (OCC) - a joint venture between the British Association of Record Dealers and the BPI (British Phonographic Industry). Top seller was Coldplay's 2,000 miles and at number two OutKast's Hey …

Music and Media 3 Jun 2004, 10:07
SpaceShipOne readied for 21 June launch

X-Prize awaits at 62 miles

Later this month, Paul 'Microsoft' Allen's SpaceShipOne will blast off for space. The launch is scheduled for 21 June, and if everything goes well, Allen will snag a place in history as the man behind the first private space craft ever to leave the atmosphere. Michael Nank, a spokesman for Allen's investment company, Vulcan, …

Science 3 Jun 2004, 10:20
No news is bad news for Nortel

Accounts still in a mess

Nortel does not have its accounts ready and doesn't know when they will be ready. The company is still reviewing the books for 2003 and is unlikely to have a better idea what is going when its second quarter results are due in late July. At the end of April it was only able to provide a cash balance. The networking company …

Financial News 3 Jun 2004, 10:21
Too much communication is bad for you

It was five years ago today... 3 June 1999

Here's a little mathematical test - read the following and compare how your current day is measuring up in the communications overload stakes: Too much communication is bad for you By Tim Richardson Published Thursday 3rd June 1999 11:08 GMT Another turgid report out today says UK office workers are inundated with 171 …

Bootnotes 3 Jun 2004, 11:03
Korgo raises zombie PC army

Russian Hangup Team fingered in release

Anti-virus firms have raised the peril index of the Korgo worm up a notch following the spread of several new variants this week. Korgo (aka Padobot) exploits the Microsoft Windows Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS) vulnerability to spread across vulnerable machines. The same flaw was infamously exploited by the …

Anti-Virus 3 Jun 2004, 11:05
I Know You Surf for Porn

Cash'n'Carrion Lovely leaving present for disgraced Irish bankers

We thought that the outsouced IT staff who last week found porn on the PC of Bank of Ireland supremo Michael Soden might like to have a whip-round and get him a nice leaving present. Accordingly, we have expanded the magnificent ITMugs range to include an "I Know You Surf for Porn" variant on the already popular "I Know You …

Site News 3 Jun 2004, 11:40
BT launches wholesale sat broadband service

Cheap? Nope

BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) - the broadcast and media bit of BT - has announced the commercial launch of its wholesale two-way satellite broadband service. According to the PR guff, the service will "help make 100 per cent UK broadband coverage a reality by offering businesses high-speed Internet services in areas that cannot …

Telecoms 3 Jun 2004, 11:48
NotCon: golden age of the geekesque

Conference examines the prawn sandwich, and much more

If you find yourself at a bit of a loose end this Sunday (6 June), you might fancy strolling down to the NotCon conference in South Kensington in London. Billed as "some sort of answer to those cutting-edge technological get-togethers they're always having in the USA", NotCon is a one day conference looking at the things …

Bootnotes 3 Jun 2004, 11:51
Security cert body gives lesson in insecurity

(ISC)2 contact database left wide open

Security certification and training body (ISC)2 has apologised for a serious security breach which saw the personal details of thousands of respondents to a survey posted onto an insecure server. Phone numbers, email and contact addresses for many of the estimated 20,000 respondents to (ISC)2 Constituent Survey were easily …

Enterprise Security 3 Jun 2004, 12:55
NTL Ireland to splash €100m on network

Broadband upgrade

NTL is to blow €100m (£66.6m) to upgrade its cable network in Ireland so that its punters can hook up to broadband. By the end of the year NTL Ireland will be able to deliver broadband to more than 100,000 homes with the rest of the network coming on-stream by the end of 2006. The cableco - which operates in Dublin, Waterford …

Telecoms 3 Jun 2004, 13:46
Euro printer sales on the up-and-up

Channel Roundup And Azlan appoints biz development director

The market for printers in Europe is continuing to grow. Sales increased 17 per cent for the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. Context's SalesWatch tracks indirect sales for business and consumer buyers. All-in-one inkjets grew fastest with sales up 97 per cent compared to a year ago. HP kept the …

Channel 3 Jun 2004, 13:52
French music biz staff revolt over downloads

Majors blame Net for threatened staff cull

Around 300 record company workers in France went on strike yesterday and rallied near the culture ministry in downtown Paris to express anger at new layoffs, AFP reports. The music majors, including BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner, could fire up to 1,000 jobs from the 5,000-strong workforce in the country. The companies …

Music and Media 3 Jun 2004, 14:06
Mutant son of MyDoom plans three-pronged attack

Multiple vulns exploited, end of world nigh

Virus writers have used code from the infamous Mydoom worm to create a potentially dangerous new Internet worm which uses multiple methods to spread. Plexus-A spreads using three different methods: infected email attachments, file-sharing networks and Windows vulnerabilities (the LSASS vulnerability used by Sasser and the RPC …

Anti-Virus 3 Jun 2004, 14:27
Reed says yes to science on the Web

Publisher dips toe into open access

Academic publisher Reed Elsevier says it will allow scientists to post copies of their articles on the web, a u-turn from its previous position. The move means as many as 200,000 articles could now be made available online, The Guardian reports, albeit under very strict Ts&Cs. The publishing conditions allow authors to put a …

Science 3 Jun 2004, 14:50
London council clamps down on Sony and BMG

Flyposting music biz gets file-sharing treatment

Camden Council has taken out Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (Asbo) against a number of people at Sony and BMG in an attempt to stop music companies illegally flyposting in the London borough. The named individuals, presumably marketing bods, are deemed responsible for organising the flyposting. Asbos are more usually placed on …

Bootnotes 3 Jun 2004, 15:23
US groups lobby over VoIP regulation

Please don't get all telephonic on us

An Internet telephony trade group has urged US authorities not to tie up the fledgling VoIP industry in red tape. The Voice on the Net (VON) coalition - which includes AT&T, Intel, MCI, Microsoft and Skype among others - has called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to apply traditional telephone regulations to …

Data Networking 3 Jun 2004, 15:36
GPS research money up for grabs

GALILEO project readies readies

The GALILEO project, Europe's satellite radio navigation programme, launched its second call for research proposals yesterday (Wednesday). In this round of proposals, the European Commission says the Joint Undertaking is looking for ideas for applications in what it describes as "traditional" fields, such as location based …

Science 3 Jun 2004, 15:49
Opera snips phishing lines

Fake address flaw nipped in the bud

Opera has updated its browser to prevent its software been manipulated by would-be fraudsters to display a fake address to surfers. A flaw in the "Shortcut Icon" feature of versions of Opera prior to version 7.51 made it possible for phishers to fool users into believing that they are in a domain they trust (their bank, web- …

Security 3 Jun 2004, 15:50