25th June 2004 Archive

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Storage users love the press and a good brand

Style over substance, price and quality

Storage customers will apparently do as they are told, favoring media and analyst recommendations and branding over price and performance when evaluating gear, according to a recent study. The SNIA (Storage Network Industry Association) Europe trade group conducted a survey of storage users in the UK, France and Germany and …

Storage 25 Jun 2004, 00:46
World warms to municipal Wi-Fi

From Taipei to New York, it's wireless a-go-go

The birthplace of municipal Wi-Fi was possibly the London Borough of Westminster, and it appears that the idea of the wireless is catching on in cities worldwide. Indeed, some are looking at wireless Mesh technology with Taipei, Los Angeles, and New York among the more prominent. According to Computerworld's Bob Brewin, the New …

Wireless 25 Jun 2004, 08:49
Cybercafe domain war a storm in a coffee cup

It was five years ago today... 25 June 1999

Easy empire supremo Stelios Haji-Ioannou has in the past been described as "colourful". How you choose to interpret this description depends on your view of his operating style: Cybercafe domain war all a storm in a coffee cup By Tim Richardson Published Friday 25th June 1999 11:13 GMT An uneasy truce has broken out in the …

Music and Media 25 Jun 2004, 08:49
Student digs get wired for broadband

So much illegal P2P action, so little time

Thousands of students will be able to hook up broadband from this September for £5 a week following a deal between accommodation outfit The Unite Group and BT. The new service will be made available to 15,000 students from the Autumn. Called 'uBroadband', it will replace the dial-up service currently wired into Unite's student …

Telecoms 25 Jun 2004, 08:51
AMD to assemble low-power CPU taskforce

Taking Athlon 64 into Centrino territory

AMD is assembling a team to develop Athlon 64 processors for sub-notebooks and thin'n'light laptops. The team will comprise 15 to 20 engineers and will be based in AMD's Japan Engineering Lab. The Japanese market is particularly keen on small form-factor and thin notebooks, so AMD's choice of location is a sound one. That said …

Channel 25 Jun 2004, 08:55
Jan Baan the software man

Tasty Cordys releases in prospect

Jan Baan is a fascinating personality. When Baan ERP software was at its height he was on a paper a multi-billionaire and when he sold his share - someway off the top - he became very, very rich. He appears to be a very happy man: he has used the money to look after his family, give to charity, indulge in his passion for 17th …

Applications 25 Jun 2004, 09:13
Toshiba touts pump-free fuel cell for MP3 players

Fuel is not sold in a forest, nor fish in a lake

Toshiba has produced a fuel cell with no moving parts. Instead of pumps, the tiny 5.6 x 2.2 x 0.5-0.9cm power pack uses a "concentration gradient" to feed fuel and oxygen to the catalyst-covered electrode where they react to generate electricity. The company claims the unit, unveiled as a prototype yesterday, is the world's …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 09:34
Mobile video must get with the programme

And as for video conferencing...

As yet another mobile phone vendor produces a 3G mobile phone with a camera able only to point away from the user, is it time to forget about making mobile video calls? This time it was Nokia, with the latest Symbian OS-based phone, so why have a camera if it doesn't point at the user? Even in Japan, where camera phones are …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 09:38
NHS data security shambles

Letters And why blowing up Basildon is a good thing

It is not often that we at El Reg find the reality of a situation to be worse than we had guessed. In the case of NHS patient records' security, we think it might be. This week we heard the NHS IT supremo, Richard Granger, neatly sidestep the issue at the Government Computing conference in London. From the correspondence we've …

Letters 25 Jun 2004, 09:53
Credit card-sized smart phone ships... sort of

Peeks round curtain, ducks back when spotted

Swedish smart phone developer Neonode may have begun shipping its credit card-sized N1 handset, reports on the Web suggest. The highly-anticipated N1 was launched way back in December 2002. The company originally said its phone would ship in May 2004. However, come that date and Neonode was forced to admit that the handset was …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 10:15
Watch out! Incoming mass hack attack

We're all doomed! Doomed!

Security experts have expressed serious concern about recently-discovered flaws in Internet Explorer that seem to be the focus of an insidious attack. Many popular websites, including search engines and shopping sites, have been secretly hacked and have had mysterious code placed on their Web servers. When a user running …

Enterprise Security 25 Jun 2004, 10:26
Saturn's Phoebe 'most like Pluto'

Origins of rocky moon revealed

The latest data sent back from the Cassini spacecraft, along with previously-gathered results, have confirmed that the mysterious moon, Phoebe, is a remnant from the early days of our solar system. Astronomers suspected Phoebe was a captured moon, and now they have the proof: composition data sent back by Cassini shows that of …

Science 25 Jun 2004, 10:28
PC maker confirms 775-pin Celeron D

Even as Socket 478 versions launch

Even as world+dog is today reporting on the arrival of Intel's 90nm Socket 478 Celeron D processors - we covered it three days ago, natch, after spotting the then as-yet-unannounced chips on Intel's price list - it has emerged that the chip giant is preparing Socket T versions of the new CPUs. Confirmation of the 775-pin …

Channel 25 Jun 2004, 10:44
IBM settles 'poisoned' workers' cancer claims

Not talking numbers

IBM has settled a lawsuit brought by former employees, who say they developed cancer from working in the company's disk drive plant in San Jose. The terms of the settlement have not been made public. According to the suit, exposure to toxic chemicals caused the workers to develop various cancers. The settlement follows a …

IT Director 25 Jun 2004, 11:51
National Grid bids for 3,500 phone masts

Acquisition of Crown Castle kit imminent

National Grid Transco (NGT) - which owns and operates gas and electricity networks in the UK - has confirmed it is in discussions to buy 3,500 mobile phone and broadcasting masts from US outfit Crown Castle. NGT already has a network of some 1,400 masts. Customers include O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and 3. According to the …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 11:55
Next-gen PalmOne Treo details show up on Web

PDA maker ready to serve an Ace?

Details of PalmOne's next Treo smart phone, said to be codenamed 'Ace', have emerged courtesy of a crafty photo of a company presentation slide. The next-generation device will provide Treo users with their most-requested feature, Bluetooth. It also ups the screen resolution from today's 160 x 160 to 320 x 320, the standard on …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 12:12
Amazon axes 20 UK jobs, claim insiders

In brief Sealed lips

Amazon.co.uk is axeing its Web development team in the UK with loss of some 20 jobs. According to insiders, the redundancies will be compulsory. A couple of those facing the chop have been offered jobs in the US. At this stage, it's not known if the job losses are isolated or part of some wider scale restructuring. Amazon.co. …

IT Director 25 Jun 2004, 12:35
PalmSource narrows Q4 loss

Slight revenue gain

PalmSource saw its loss narrow a little during its fourth fiscal quarter on the back on a comparably small rise in quarterly revenues. The Palm OS developer reported Q4 2004 revenues of $17.7m, up from $17.3m in the year-ago quarter when it was still part of Palm. It lost $2.9m (23 cents a share) during the quarter, down from …

Financial News 25 Jun 2004, 12:38
Man charged over Google blackmail attempt

Cost per click scam

A California man who claimed to have software which automatically clicked on Google cost-per-click ads has been charged with extortion and wiretap fraud. Michael Bradley of Oak Park, California is accused of threatening Google that he would to sell the software to spammers unless the search engine firm paid him $150,000. He was …

Music and Media 25 Jun 2004, 12:46
ATI breaks revenue record

But Q4 gains slight

ATI yesterday said its third quarter had yielded record quarterly revenues, with sales up 38.2 per cent on the Q3 2003 but a less impressive six per cent on Q2 2004. Revenues for the three months to 31 May 2004 totalled $491.5m. That yielded net income of $48.6m (19 cents a share), up just two per cent from Q2's $47.6m but 224 …

Channel 25 Jun 2004, 13:09
DoCoMo launches tiny Premini phone

World's smallest handset?

NTT DoCoMo has launched its smallest iMode handset, the credit card-sized Premini. The new phone not only beats Orange's SPV C500 for size, but also the as-yet-unreleased Neonode N1, which, thanks to its later-than-anticipated delivery, has now missed its shot at becoming the world's smallest smart phone. Developed by Sony …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 13:56
Satellites get smart

Automated flood detection, for starters

American scientists are working on software that will make satellites smart enough to alert people on the ground to interesting, or potentially dangerous phenomena. The technology could be used to sift through data from Mars, for instance, to identify sites where there are signs of water, or on Earth, to spot flooding in rivers …

Science 25 Jun 2004, 15:35
ICSTIS blames dialler scams for premium rate freeze

Punters need protecting

Plans to increase maximum premium rate tariffs to £5 a minute have been shelved over concerns that higher charges could lead to even more people being ripped off. Premium rate watchdog ICSTIS said it would not proceed with proposals to offer new £2.50 and £5.00 a minute charges until sufficient safeguards are in place to …

Telecoms 25 Jun 2004, 15:40
US army dips into nanotech research

Small Soldiers

The US Army research laboratory is funding research into how nanotech can improve defense systems. Fortunately, or unfortunately for those who like their "sci" with less "fi", this won't mean teeny robots swarming our enemies. Not immediately anyway. The goal of the project, funded for the first year to the tune of $2.4m, is …

Science 25 Jun 2004, 15:45
Russia fines text hack spammer

In brief U iz nikdski

A Russian teenager has been fined 3,000 roubles ($103) after being convicted of spamming 15,000 mobile phones. The university student hacked into a mobile phone network before sending a text message, according to an Interfax news agency report by way of Reuters. As well as being fined, the unnamed student, was also slapped with …

Mobile 25 Jun 2004, 16:07
Outed: Skype project to dial real phone numbers

Ripe for Skype Hype

I just spent nearly ten minutes on the phone to Paris, at a cost of about 10 pence. Using Skype, dialling a Paris landline number, that is. Any Skype user will tell you, you can't do that. You can only dial other Skype users. Well, not any more. OK, so it wasn't that secret: Niklas Zennstrom announced his plans for SkypeOut, …

Data Networking 25 Jun 2004, 16:26
Hitachi and NEC look to network Japan

New venture begins Asian persuasion

Two of Japan's IT heavyweights - Hitachi and NEC - plan to give Cisco a run for its money in Asia, as the companies today announced a joint venture to sell networking gear. The new company will not actually take shape until October at which time it will receive a name and start business with 350 employees and $51.3m in funding …

Data Networking 25 Jun 2004, 16:28
Wi-Fi is big hit for Tae Kwon Do

Martial Law

Boffins at Stanford are taking Wi-Fi to Tae Kwon Do, with a system to measure the force of the blows opponents land on each other. Wireless sensors are implanted in the fighting gear worn by compeititors. According to BBC Online, the sensors work by converting the force from a punch or kick into an electrical signal. This data …

Wireless 25 Jun 2004, 16:38
Sun slams Red Hat

Solaris 'cheaper than Linux', says exec

Sun has launched an all out offensive today against Red Hat Linux, putting Solaris x86 at the tip of its bayonet. "We are a big supporter of the open source movement and have been forever," said Larry Singer, SVP of global market strategies at Sun, in an interview. "We think Linux is a huge movement that is pretty good for the …

Servers 25 Jun 2004, 21:06
Intel recalls faulty Grantsdale chipsets

Only channel affected

Just as Intel gets set to push out the new Xeon Extender, the company is issuing a recall for its Pentium 4 Express 915 and 925 chipsets. Intel's PR staffers issued a notice today saying the company will have "enterprise" news next week. This is a barely coded way of saying Nocona - the x86-64-bit Xeon - will arrive as planned …

Channel 25 Jun 2004, 22:30
Egenera and its amazing technicolor IPO

Made to order vendor

Blade server vendor Egenera, the darling of the financial services community, filed today for an IPO and in so doing revealed some extraordinary financial details. For years, Egenera has been praised by financial services companies as the answer for high performance computing in tight spaces. The company was founded in 2000 by …

Financial News 25 Jun 2004, 23:00