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11th June 2004 Archive

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  • All change for XIOtech in Europe

    Mea culpa, mea Magnitudinally culpa

    Two years after it first offered its enterprise SAN systems in Europe, XIOtech has acknowledged the failure of those US-based attempts to reach the European market. The company has now opened offices in the UK, France and Germany to support sales of its newer Magnitude 3D modular storage systems here. The earlier episode showed …

    Storage 11 Jun 2004, 08:21

  • German hate mail spam attack stuns experts

    Virus spreads racist propaganda

    Mailboxes in Germany and the Netherlands were flooded yesterday with spam containing German right-wing propaganda. Spammers used the Sober.G virus - a mass mailing worm that sends itself to email addresses harvested from infected computers - to spread their messages as widely as possible. Analysts think the spammers may have …

    Malware 11 Jun 2004, 08:31

  • Code-theft suspects nabbed, claims Half-Life 2 team

    But who? When? Where?

    Law enforcement agencies have arrested a number of people in connection with the alleged theft last year of the source code to the long-anticipated first-person shooter, Half-Life 2, it has emerged. Details remain scarce. The game's developer, Valve Software, last night issued a press release simply announcing the arrests and …

    Enterprise Security 11 Jun 2004, 09:20

  • Sun sparks server tie up with Fujitsu

    Hands across the water

    Last week Sun Microsystems released details of more than 30 technology innovations at its Network Computer 04 event in Shanghai. These included a second release of the Sun Java Desktop System, and a preview of the new Solaris 10 Operating System. In addition, the company announced details of new storage software, systems and …

    Servers 11 Jun 2004, 09:30

  • Nintendo plots next-gen console 'Revolution'

    Will codename prove hard to live up to?

    Nintendo's next console release has been codenamed 'Revolution', the company's president, Satoru Iwata, revealed this week. That said, he was very circumspect about what it is that will make the console, previously known as 'N5', warrant its codename. Like the Nintendo DS handheld console, with its touch-sensitive screen …

    Consoles 11 Jun 2004, 09:45

  • Computer intrusion losses waning

    Once more unto the breach

    Computer intrusions are on the decline for the third year in a row, at least among respondents to an annual survey conducted by the Computer Security Institute (CSI) and the FBI's computer crime squad. Nearly 500 computer security professionals in US corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical …

    Enterprise Security 11 Jun 2004, 09:58

  • Muggers refuse to nick crap mobile phone

    'Don't take cheap stuff'

    Muggers in South Africa handed back an Alcatel mobile phone while robbing two terrified women - because they refused to thieve "cheap stuff". Two men with knives accosted the women while they were out walking in Port Elizabeth. They threatened them with the knives and demanded they hand over their jewellery and mobile phones. …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2004, 09:59

  • MS sues 200 for spamming

    Trawling for names

    Microsoft has filed eight lawsuits in the US against nearly 200 accused spammers, saying that the defendants had used false information to conceal themselves, and had deceived consumers. Each of the lawsuits "names" at least 20 unidentified defendants, as well as one John Hites, identified by anti-spam campaigners at Spamhaus as …

    Spam 11 Jun 2004, 10:10

  • Webmaster cleared of promoting terrorism

    First Amendment defence wins through

    A US jury yesterday cleared a Saudi graduate student of running websites that allegedly fostered terrorism. Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, 34, a computer science student at the University of Idaho, was accused of running websites used to recruit terrorists, raise money and spread inflammatory rhetoric. The Islamic Assembly of North …

    Music and Media 11 Jun 2004, 10:20

  • Paris Metro firm to run Wi-Fi buses

    First trains, now trolleys

    Wireless Internet access will soon move beyond railways and onto the roads if RATP, the company which runs the Paris Metro and the capital's bus services, has its way. The organisation will next week show off a Wi-Fi enabled bus at the Paris-hosted Public Transport Exhibition 2004. It will also launch a public trial of the …

    Wireless 11 Jun 2004, 10:21

  • iRiver to ship third 'video iPod' in July

    Reg Kit Watch This one runs Linux

    iRiver is set to ship the second of its three 'video iPod' player families in July - the Linux-based Personal Multimedia Player (PMP). The company will ship two models: the PMP-120 and PMP-140. Both offer the same 3.5in, 16-bit LCD display, but the first will contain a 20GB hard drive while the latter has a 40GB unit installed …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2004, 11:08

  • Punters kill healthy hard drives - Seagate

    Ignorance is not bliss

    One in three hard drives returned to Seagate for repair is "actually in perfect working order", says Guy Weavers, director of EMEA field applications engineering at Seagate. So customers are wrongly blaming the drive when their PC breaks down. This means that they lose data, time and maybe money, by sending it back to the …

    Storage 11 Jun 2004, 11:24

  • XML Tower of Babel - bring on UBL

    First-rate draft

    XML is taking over the world for all sorts of good reasons. But just as we thought that it would solve all our problems and let us build a tower up to the gods, babble intervenes. XML has allowed messages to be passed from one system to another in such a way that they can be parsed, dissected, queried and rebuilt, but it only …

    Developer 11 Jun 2004, 11:53

  • Music biz 'satanism' revealed

    Letters: Along with an amazonian porn fetish

    The music industry was delighted this week, when the latest round of figures seemed to show that file sharing may have slipped into decline. If that sounds a little conditional, it should. Not everyone agrees, and there are more than a few alternative explanations offered in this mail round up: Subject: Global P2P jihad claims …

    Letters 11 Jun 2004, 12:05

  • Third Voice slammed for defacing websites

    It was five years ago today... 11 June 1999

    For those readers who enjoy collecting "bright ideas that never caught on", here's a really, really popular innovation from long-gone, completely unlamented Third Voice: Third Voice slammed for defacing Web sites By Tony Smith Published Friday 11th June 1999 16:03 GMT US software developer Third Voice has provoked the ire of …

    Financial News 11 Jun 2004, 12:06

  • Dabs.com threatens legal action over its own pricing cock-up

    Irish IT firm refuses to be 'bullied'

    Dabs.com is threatening legal action against an Irish IT firm after it bought a stack of mispriced goods from the computer etailer. Point to Point IT Ltd - based in Buncrana, Co. Donegal - bought almost 30 items from the "Clearance Corner" on the Dabs.com site. Adam Porter, of Point to Point told us: "We found a number of …

    Financial News 11 Jun 2004, 12:09

  • Seattle ferries to offer Wi-Fi

    Surf'n'ship

    Washington State Ferries (WSF) has pledged to equip vessels on four of its routes with public Wi-Fi access. And yesterday, it switched on the first wireless-enabled ferry, the Klickitat, to test the technology. The Klickitat plies the waves between Port Townsend and Keystone, across the Admiralty Inlet north of Seattle. …

    Wireless 11 Jun 2004, 12:32

  • Sony Vaio VGN-X505VP

    Review The world's most desirable notebook?

    Let's get the obvious out of the way first. This latest Vaio from Sony is, without a shadow of a doubt, the coolest notebook computer ever. It's that simple. This is the kind of product that just stops people in their tracks when they see it. Pull this out of your bag in an aiport departure lounge, and your fellow passengers …

    Reviews 11 Jun 2004, 14:37

  • Microsoft delivers 'the Facts' about Linux

    UK roadshow

    Microsoft kicked off the first of its seminars "to help customers better understand the debate surrounding Microsoft and Open Source software" with an all-day conference in London yesterday. The latest strand in Microsoft's "Get the Facts" counter-offensive against Linux will tour Britain this summer. Analyst Philip Dawson from …

    Operating Systems 11 Jun 2004, 15:11

  • Alzheimer's patients to trial MS labs life-blog gadget

    Aide memoire

    SenseCam, a hardware research project developed at Microsoft's Cambridge labs, may find a use in the treatment patient suffering from short-term memory loss. This summer, the Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge, is planning to test the device as a complement to exsiting therapies for patients with short term memory problems, …

    Science 11 Jun 2004, 15:14

  • Orange punters face more mobile misery

    Number's up

    UK mobile operator Orange has bungled again after failing to register a new batch of phone numbers. As a result, a number of customers are only able to receive calls made from BT landlines and other Orange customers. One punter who has been hit by the problem told us: "I received my pay as you go phone eight days ago. To date I …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2004, 15:16

  • EMC squares up for on-target year

    Holding steady

    US storage giant EMC has reiterated its guidance for the year, disappointing investors slightly. The company is expecting profits of about $850m on revenue of around $8.1bn in 2004, in line with analysts' average expectations. This would represent year-on-year revenue growth of approximately 30 per cent. At an analyst day in …

    Storage 11 Jun 2004, 15:35

  • Oracle e-biz suite needs patching

    Get to it, sharpish

    Users of Oracle e-business suite applications must patch systems following the discovery of multiple vulnerabilities. Unpatched Oracle E-Business Suite 11i and Oracle Applications 11.0 packages are subject to Multiple SQL injection flaws that could be used to manipulate database entries, Oracle warns. In the hands of …

    Enterprise Security 11 Jun 2004, 15:38

  • HP maps growth path

    And here's how

    Hewlett-Packard hosted its annual securities analyst meeting in San Jose this week, and the company's top brass laid out its plan to grow revenues consistently at a rate in the high single digits (twice the rate of global GDP growth) and to grow profits by more than 20 per cent a year. This ambitious goal is similar to that of …

    Servers 11 Jun 2004, 16:31

  • NTL builds bigger worm trap

    Port blocking plan

    Cable telco NTL is blocking more Internet ports to stop worms from spreading across its network. Last month it blocked port 135. Now it is blocking (inbound only): 137 (UDP), 138 (UDP), 139 (TCP), 445 (UDP & TCP), 593 (TCP), 1433 (TCP), 1434 (UDP) and 27374 (TCP). "This 'port-blocking' should have little or no effect on your …

    Malware 11 Jun 2004, 16:36

  • GlassHouse bids for Euro storage business

    Says it's the end of the line for the storage boutique

    US outfit GlassHouse Technologies has bought itself a slice of the $8bn European storage services market by acquiring two UK companies in the same field. Sagitta Performance Systems and Source Consulting had already agreed to merge with each other, and have now become GlassHouse's UK arm. GlassHouse supremo Mark Shirman says …

    Storage 11 Jun 2004, 16:56

  • HP gets vague about Opteron and Itanium blades

    On the agenda

    HP is doing the expected, announcing plans to roll out Opteron- and Itanium-based blade servers. In the second half of this year, HP will start shipping an Opteron-based blade aimed at handling enterprise software workloads and scientific computing tasks, the company announced yesterday. HP is also set on selling an Itanium- …

    Servers 11 Jun 2004, 17:07

  • IT still matters - just not how it used to

    It's what you do with IT

    Nicholas Carr, author of the now infamous Harvard Business Review article "IT Doesn't Matter" in May 2003, is set to stir up the hornet's nest once more with a book on the same subject, "Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage"... Carr was absolutely right in his assertion that what he …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2004, 17:56

  • Biometric DRM is 'empowering' says iVue maker

    Finger on the future

    How do you understand a man who wants us to use biometrically generated keys before we can listen to our music? Gary Brant's company VeriTouch will soon be marketing a media player called iVue, which will ensure that no music is ever shared again. The iVue uses your fingerprint to generate a unique key when you buy music online …

    Music and Media 11 Jun 2004, 20:26