29th June 2004 Archive

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Konfabulator author slams Apple 'theft'

Lightening strikes twice for konfounded Mac developer

Lightning has struck twice for Mac developer Arlo Rose, who has again seen his plans thwarted by Cupertino. At the World Wide Developer Conference today Apple introduced a widget API, ripping the market from underneath Rose's Konfabulator product. Both products allow developers to create simple applets, a little like the …

Mac Channel 29 Jun 2004, 00:42
Vodafone lets Sun wear the trousers

Co-author! Live! 3G! Java! specification!

Sun has inked a deal to write the Java specifications for the 3G version of Vodafone's Live! service. It's the third similar deal for Sun in a week, after Orange and T-Mobile agreed to allow Sun to OK Java specifications for their services. Often cited as the poster child for mobile data, the Live! service now has over 7 million …

Business 29 Jun 2004, 00:43
Nvidia migrates Quadro line to PCI Express

Ready for 64-bit Xeon workstations

Nvidia hopped on the back of Intel's 'Nocona' 64-bit Xeon launch yesterday by unveiling its latest workstation-oriented graphics board, the Quadro FX 3400, the pinnacle of four PCI Express cards ready for Nocona's new E7525 chipset. Joining the 3400 are the Quadro FX 1300, FX 330 and NVS 280, the latter pitched at corporates …

Channel 29 Jun 2004, 08:52
MS squares Arizona with rebate

Vouchers all round...

Microsoft's legal love-in continued yesterday when it settled a class action suit brought by the State of Arizona at a cost of $105m. The case was brought on behalf of Arizona residents overcharged by Microsoft. Consumers and businesses in the state who bought software between 1996 and 2002 are entitled to vouchers. Anyone who …

Operating Systems 29 Jun 2004, 08:54
CoolWebSearch is winning Trojan war

Programmer bows out

Merijn Bellekom has abandoned developing software that removes one of the nastiest browser hijackers on the planet: CoolWebSearch, a trojan that converts your PC into a source of revenue for fly-by-night porn sites not capable of generating legitimate Web traffic. The trojan installs dozens of bookmarks to foul porn sites on …

Malware 29 Jun 2004, 09:05
Tyan readies 64-bit Xeon mobo

Thunder for Nocona

Motherboard maker Tyan has begun sampling its first board for Intel's new 64-bit Xeon DP processor, Nocona. The Thunder i7525 uses Intel's E7525 chipset, which brings PCI Express, ECC DDR 2 SDRAM support and an 800MHz frontside bus to the chip giant's workstation and server chips. The i7525 also provides Serial ATA RAID, with …

Servers 29 Jun 2004, 09:07
Operators beg Sweden for 3G mercy

Lower targets and lower signal strength, please

TeliaSonera, Tele2, 3 and Vodafone are calling on Sweden to relax rules for building their 3G networks. The mobile operators are asking the Swedish government to approve a reduction in pilot signal strength. They say this would have no effect on service but would allow them to use much fewer mobile phone masts. Fewer phone …

Mobile 29 Jun 2004, 09:13
Gates offers Asia slimmer Windows

Anti-piracy and counter open source

Microsoft is to hold talks with Asian governments with a view to shipping cut down versions of Windows for sale under government sponsored technology drives. Speaking at a news conference in Malaysia yesterday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates would not elaborate on which countries he had in mind. But he said that his company …

Operating Systems 29 Jun 2004, 09:20
BT's DSL market share carries on falling

That's why price has to fall

BT's share of the UK's broadband market is being eroded because its packages are too expensive compared to other ISPs. While BT Wholesale's overall share of the broadband market continues to do well against cable, the same can't be said for BT Retail which offers packages (such as BT Broadband Basic and BT Yahoo! Broadband) …

Telecoms 29 Jun 2004, 09:24
Elpida boosts DRAM to SRAM speeds

Fast random data access

Elpida has introduced a pair of performance promoting techniques designed to reduce the time it takes DRAM chips to provide data requested by the host desktop, notebook, server or other devices. Technique one essentially extends the bus headroom in Elpida's 1Gb chips and allows them to operate as both DDR 1 and DDR 2 parts, …

Channel 29 Jun 2004, 09:26
Oracle trial won't call PeopleSoft boss

Lawson boss testifies, previous merger talks revealed

Oracle will not call PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway as a witness in the antitrust trial brought by the US Department of Justice. The DoJ is concerned that a merger between Oracle and PeopleSoft would lessen competion in the market and lead to higher charges for businesses. PeopleSoft has rejected Oracle's offers. Attorneys for …

Applications 29 Jun 2004, 09:51
Anti-phishing group backs email authentication

Still rising

A group attempting to stop the new scourge of phishing fraud on the Web says email authentication technology could do the job, a concept backed by Microsoft. The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), which includes Internet service providers (ISPs), banks and on-line retailers, said that 95 per cent of phishing attacks in May …

ID 29 Jun 2004, 09:57
Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A1630 Athlon 64 notebook

Review Seriously punchy?

This is a double first for Fujitsu-Siemens. Not only is it the first widescreen notebook that the company has sent us, but it's also the first Athlon 64-based machine. The Amilo A1630 is a notebook that should appeal to power users. With a mobile Athlon 64 3400+ processor, 512MB of PC2700 DDR SDRAM and a 128MB ATI Mobility …

Reviews 29 Jun 2004, 10:16
Playboy 'hacker' jailed for two years

Extortion, blackmail, porridge

A supermarket shelf stacker who claimed he hacked into Playboy's network in an attempt to blackmail the company was jailed for two years yesterday. Simon Jones, 25, conned porn site bosses into believing he had access to private customer accounts. But his ruse backfired when US secret service agents and officers from the UK's …

Enterprise Security 29 Jun 2004, 10:46
T-Mobile preps music download service

Mobile Jukebox limited to song clips - and not many of 'em

T-Mobile is to provide customers will the ability to download music to their mobile phones. But Apple needn't fear for its iPod just yet: T-Mobile's new 'Ear Phone' handsets can hold just three songs at once. And each song is limited to a 90-120s clip - as much for GPRS-based download duration reasons as handset storage …

Financial News 29 Jun 2004, 10:51
Linux VM guide at 30% off

Site Offer Plus big discounts on 4000 titles

A programmer who wants to understand the workings of the Linux Virtual Memory Manager has no choice but to study the kernel source code line-by-line - many would agree an excruciatingly difficult, laborious and time-consuming task. Now, however, you can go through the pain and still have time and money left over for a few pints …

Site News 29 Jun 2004, 11:09
Cassini runs rings round Saturn

Dropping into orbit this week

At 01:12 on Thursday morning, the Cassini spacecraft will begin its orbital insertion around Saturn, after its six and a half year journey from Earth. (By the time this signal reaches Earth, it will be 02:36) It will go into a highly elliptical orbit from which it will tour the rings and moons of the gas giant for the next four …

Science 29 Jun 2004, 11:20
419ers score football lottery winner

World Cup 2010 - gooooooal!

As demoralised England fans look towards the 2006 World Cup in consolation after their exit from Euro 2004 last week 419ers are looking even further ahead. The Boys from Lagos have cooked up a footballing variant of the familiar lottery ruse in preparation for World Cup 2010, in South Africa. Not even the beautiful game is safe …

Bootnotes 29 Jun 2004, 11:27
ITNet in Cabinet contract blow

Shares crash as £83m deal cancelled

ITNet shares fell sharply today on news that the Cabinet Office has cancelled an £83m Web hosting datacentre contract with the company. The contract, due to last five years, was signed last July but the Cabinet Office said it had cancelled because the company had failed to meet a series of deadlines. ITNet warned that the loss …

Hardware 29 Jun 2004, 11:52
Intel's new Xeon undergoes reconstructive nomenclature

Letters STALON? STOLON? XEOPTERON?

Quite some time ago, we called on our dear readers to help name Intel's new 64-bit Xeon processor. Suggestions for an improvement on Xeon EM64T poured in, but we shamefully ignored our own deadline for posting the results. Now we make amends. Before the naming convention kicks off, let's bring everyone up to speed. El Reg has …

Letters 29 Jun 2004, 17:00
Sun nabs AIB desktop contract

MS left out in the cold

Sun has managed to oust Microsoft from its position as provider of desktop software to Allied Irish Bank (AIB), and has secured the deal to supply its Java Desktop System (JDS) to the bank's 7,500 desktop users. Sun is, as always, particularly pleased to have nabbed a bit of business from its rival. Curtis Sasaki, vice president …

Operating Systems 29 Jun 2004, 18:09
Sun launches IGRTN program

Monkeys - to your typewriters!

Culturally, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft don't have too much in common. But right now they find themselves in similar positions. It will be two years before the fruits of their investments can be judged in the marketplace. With Microsoft, it's Longhorn, with a new search engine and a new graphics engine. With Sun, it's new …

Music and Media 29 Jun 2004, 21:35
Oracle secures Collaxa purchase

Bringing home the BPEL

A couple weeks back, we brought word that Oracle planned to make a JavaOne splash by acquiring Collaxa and that is exactly what the company has done today. Oracle has secured Collaxa's business process management software for an undisclosed sum. The deal has seen Collaxa's BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) Server …

Financial News 29 Jun 2004, 21:37