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19th July 2004 Archive

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  • Europe boosts global PC sales in Q2

    Desktops rebound

    PC sales continued to recover in the second quarter as strong sales in Europe and enterprise demand helped to achieve a 15 per cent rise in shipments. That's according to US-based research firm IDC which said that shipments of PCs worldwide in the April to June period came to 39.7 million units, approximately one-to-two per …

    PCs 19 Jul 2004, 08:12

  • First PocketPC virus found

    Proof of concept

    The first computer virus to infect handheld devices running Microsoft's PocketPC OS was discovered over the weekend. Duts was written by Ratter, of the 29A virus-writing group, as an academic exercise rather than a serious attempt to spread malicious code across handheld computers. The same group created a virus capable of …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 08:16

  • Brits unimpressed by e-Gov

    Cost billions, but totally invisible

    Billions of pounds have been invested, but no one has noticed. That is the stark conclusion drawn from a recent survey of British public awareness of e-Government. It found that 73 per cent of the population was oblivious to any change in government services as a result of the huge investment. The survey, conducted by …

    Policy 19 Jul 2004, 08:20

  • Intel 'delays' Centrino 2 chipset to Q1 2005

    Alviso 'held back'- again

    Intel's 'Centrino 2' chipset, codenamed Alviso', has once again become the subject of schedule-slip allegations. This weekend, Reuters claimed the part will not surface until Q1 2005, citing "a person with knowledge of the delay". The chipset was originally scheduled for an "autumn" launch, according to Intel's mobile products …

    Channel 19 Jul 2004, 08:39

  • AMD ships faster Mobile Athlon 64

    Speedier low-power XP-M, too

    AMD today rolled out a pair of mobile CPUs, one on the 64-bit high ground, the other on rather less elevated, 32-bit territory. The Mobile Athlon 64 3400+ comes in at the top of AMD's 64-bit notebook-oriented line-up. The chip is available immediately, as is the new Low-power Athlon XP-M 2200+, which the chip maker also …

    Channel 19 Jul 2004, 09:07

  • VirginMobile float price may sink

    Rough waters ahead/stormy seas etc...

    The flotation of Virgin Mobile was in question this morning because institutional investors are refusing to back Sir Richard Branson's valuation of the company. The mobile operator was set to float for about £713m but big investors and City analysts are questioning whether Branson is asking too much for the shares. The shares …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 09:27

  • Motorola takes a hit on Freescale IPO price

    Shares to offered at a third off

    Motorola has set the price at which it will offer the public share in its chip business, Freescale. But the price, $13, is two-thirds the price it was originally anticipated to be. The price downgrade follows a cooling of the market toward tech stocks, most notably Merrill Lynch's bearish report on the chip industry issued last …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 09:37

  • Orange 3G is go

    Green light for 3G services

    Orange UK is depending on business users' desire for mobile broadbandIinternet access to fuel early demand for 3G services. France Telecom's mobile subsidiary is launching services for business users now, but is waiting until nearer the end of the year to launch handsets - which will be provided by SonyEricsson and LG. L'Orange …

    Mobile 19 Jul 2004, 09:43

  • Intel debuts speedier low-voltage Centrinos

    Plus assorted Pentium M, Pentium 4 price cuts

    Intel rolled out new low-voltage (LV) and ultra-low voltage (ULV) Pentium M processors and Centrino bundles yesterday, upping the chips' cache to 2MB. The chip giant also introduced a new ULV Celeron M part, and tweaked the pricing of its Mobile Pentium 4 line and its desktop P4 family. Intel introduced three new PMs: the LV …

    Channel 19 Jul 2004, 10:07

  • Next-gen iPod details emerge

    Update Newsweek leak

    Apple is set to announce the fourth generation of its iPod portable music player this week. And in a rare moment of generosity - or perhaps 'spin doctoring' - the company gave its old pal, Newsweek's Steven Levy, a sneak peek and the chance to write about it ahead of the launch. Apparently, the new model is slimmer - by all of …

    Mobile 19 Jul 2004, 10:38

  • Beijing stamps down on Net porn

    'Rampant'

    China is to crack down on XXX Web sites. Officials say the "rampant" increase in online porn is damaging the moral fabric of the nation - and young people, in particular. Xinhuanet quotes one state official who reckons porn "severely damaged social style, polluted the social environment, and harmed the physical and …

    Media 19 Jul 2004, 10:48

  • Nvidia NV43 spied on web

    Even as ATI Radeon X800 GT details are posted

    Nvidia's NV43 graphics chip has made an appearance on the web, courtesy of a Chinese web site which claims to have got the snap off of a local graphics card maker. If undoctored, the shot is of an engineering sample. According to a recent roadmap leak, NV43 will ship this autumn as a PCI Express native successor to the GeForce …

    Channel 19 Jul 2004, 11:11

  • Phoney Net contest 'winner' sued by bank

    $9k shopping spree gone wrong

    An American woman is being sued for fraud by her bank after falling victim to an online scam. Prize money from an Internet contest turned out to have been a bad cheque, and the Cooperative Credit Union wants its money back. Jaclyn Swenson, 26, from Racine, Wisconsin thought she had won $13,000 in the first phase of an Internet- …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 11:27

  • Hacker charged with US gov attack

    Other half of the Deceptive Duo

    A US man has been charged with hacking into government computers, including Department of Defense machines. Rob Lyttle, 20, was indicted with hacking government computers and defacing government websites in April 2002. The US government estimates the cost of repairing the damage at $70,000. It is alleged that Lyttle got access …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 11:36

  • 419ers morph into Murder Incorporated

    Pay up or die

    It's easy to dismiss Nigerian 419 advance fee fraudsters as a bunch of chancers who prey on the gullible and the greedy and occasionally get lucky. After all, a fool and his money are soon parted, and the victims of these scams have brought financial misfortune on themselves, isn't that right? However, reader BW has just …

    Media 19 Jul 2004, 11:37

  • Parity touts pay-as-you-go training

    No more licenses

    Training specialist Parity will offer more than 1,000 courses over the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. Users can choose the course they want and pay for it by credit card. From next Monday courses will be available in technical IT, desktop IT, business, management and leadership, finance, health and safety and sales. …

    Management 19 Jul 2004, 11:39

  • Blue Coat buys URL filtering firm

    In brief Censorware technology

    Proxy appliance firm Blue Coat is to buy URL filtering firm Cerberian for approximately $17.5m in stock. The acquisition is expected to close within approximately 60 days, subject to various customary closing conditions. The deal, announced today, will see Cerberian's URL filtering and categorisation technology iintregratednto …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 12:18

  • Home Office offers online help for thugs

    Sorry, 'anti-social behaviour practitioners'

    Those suffering the blight of teen ne'er-do-wells racing stolen cars around their housing estate while high on glue and rap music will doubtless welcome the UK Home Office's Together initiative. Here's what it's all about: At its very core TOGETHER puts the community first. TOGETHER is committed to listening to those voices …

    Bootnotes 19 Jul 2004, 12:21

  • ARM Q2 profits swell

    Royalties and licensing revenues up

    ARM saw revenues rise during Q2, growing 5.4 per cent sequentially and a more impressive 17.5 per cent year-on-year to £36.9m. That yielded income before tax of £10.4m (0.7p a share), up almost 60 per cent £6.6m (0.4p a share) in Q2 2003 and from £9.4m in Q1 and, the company said today. During the three months to 30 June 2004 …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 12:53

  • RISC OS rivals reach rapprochement

    RISCOS will work with Castle

    Warring factions battling it out over the future of the RISC OS have agreed to make up and be friendly. The two key combatants, RISCOS and Castle Technology, have agreed to a "new initiative" which will "ensure that RISC OS hardware and software developers can continue with the development and sales" of their products. Over a …

    Operating Systems 19 Jul 2004, 12:55

  • US junk fax war hots up

    Fax.com gets litigious with stroppy faxees

    In a audacious move which is probably best filed under "you must be joking", California junk fax outfit Fax.com has filed a lawsuit against individuals who sued the paper spammers for sending them unsolicited junk faxes, The Orange County Register reports. The suit, filed with the Orange County Superior Court, names 13 …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 13:44

  • Chip fraud quartet jailed for VAT scam

    'Missing traders' get nine years

    Four people have been sentenced to a total of nine years in prison for Missing Trader VAT Fraud. The three men and a woman were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court late last week. They are Paul Andrew Ward from Leighton Buzzard who got six years and six months, Michael Stuart Keech from Northamptonshire sentenced to 12 months, …

    Media 19 Jul 2004, 13:48

  • 'System failure' downs Vodafone network

    500,000 punters hit this morning

    Vodafone suffered a massive system failure this morning leaving around half a million punters across the UK unable to use their phones. One of Vodafone's servers went belly-up at around 9.00am today. As a result, around 500,000 of the mobilephoneco's 8.5m pay-as-you-go punters were unable to make or receive calls. The service …

    Mobile 19 Jul 2004, 13:51

  • Satellites to benefit from exploding eggshells

    No, really

    The European Space Agency (ESA) is reportedly turning to eggshells to help it track orbital debris from spent rocket stages. This debris, otherwise known as space junk, poses a significant threat to other craft in orbit. Because of the high speed of everything in orbit around Earth, a piece of debris just a centimetre across …

    Science 19 Jul 2004, 13:54

  • Wanadoo unveils wireless broadband gizmo

    Box of tricks

    Wanadoo has unveiled a new box of tricks which it claims will eventually become the hub for a whole range of digital entertainment for the home. To begin with, though, Wanadoo's £79.99 "Livebox" - which becomes available from next month - will give the ISP's punters wireless broadband access, enabling people to hook up a number …

    Broadband 19 Jul 2004, 13:58

  • Neonode smart phone to ship minus key features

    Web, email, GPRS to come via software update

    Swedish micro mobile phone maker Neonode has pledged to manufacture 1000 of its credit card-sized N1 handsets this summer in a bid to begin satisfying the 20,000 pre-orders the company claims to have received. Neonode promised today to offer N1 on a first come, first served basis, but co-founder Magnus Goertz admitted that the …

    Mobile 19 Jul 2004, 15:14

  • Half of credit card problems are Web related

    It was five years ago today... 19 July 1999

    Statistics, eh? The recent rumpus with the MPAA's findings on illegal Internet movie downloads got us thinking whether there had ever been a happier, simpler age where the facts were presented straight, and without obfuscation. The answer was no: Half of credit card problems are Web related By Lucy Sherriff Published Monday …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 15:20

  • Intel joins Liberty Alliance

    Liberté, Securité, Interoperabilité

    Intel and Oracle are among six companies and organisations which have decided to join the Liberty Alliance - an open standards body with 157 active organisation members. The Alliance sets specifications and certifies standards to allow for secure and safe online identification to improve security and interoperability. It was …

    Security 19 Jul 2004, 15:22

  • BOFH gets an RFID he can't refuse

    Episode 23 Playing tag in Mission Control

    BOFH 2004 "It's.... a new ID card!?" the PFY says, looking at the item proffered to him by the Boss. "Yes, and here’s yours," the Boss responds, handing me a duplicate of my current ID card. "If you two could just give me your old ones back - to.. stop them getting um.. mislaid, or into the wrong hands." "Sure," I respond, …

    BOFH 19 Jul 2004, 15:24

  • Microsoft developer hoax backfires

    Boa constricted

    A hoax perpetrated by senior Microsoft technical staff has backfired, after Microsoft Watch's Mary Jo Foley rumbled the prank. Staff led by middleware guru Don Box "invented" a new business process language called BML that was part of a project called Boa. Microsoft has unleashed over 1,400 bloggers, hoping that their emergent …

    Bootnotes 19 Jul 2004, 15:32

  • More universities agree to RIAA/Napster 'protection'

    Baby Face Sherman shows his guns

    The RIAA and its business front Napster signed up six more universities today to their music rental service - a program that could force parents to shell out even more money for higher education costs. Cornell University, the George Washington University, Middlebury College, University of Miami, the University of Southern …

    Media 19 Jul 2004, 17:10

  • Mission to map the Aurorae launches 26 July

    Sino-European co-operative

    The final piece of a six-satellite constellation will blast into space on 26 July. Taking off from Taiyuan spaceport, west of Beijing, on a Chinese Long March 2C rocket, the Tan Ce 2 satellite will join Tan Ce 1, and the four Cluster satellites in an investigation of our magnetosphere. Tan Ce 2 (Explorer 2) is the second craft …

    Science 19 Jul 2004, 18:03

  • Ariane 5 powers satellite into orbit

    All goes well at fourth lift off attempt

    Ariane 5 is go, at the fourth time of asking. Just 28 minutes after lift off, the rocket released its payload, a huge satellite, which will provide broadband coverage for remote areas across much of the North American continent. By this time, the craft was travelling at 8650 metres per second, and had reached an altitude of …

    Science 19 Jul 2004, 18:10

  • ICANN crunch meeting begins

    Budget battle to define future of Net body

    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has completed the first day of its crunch meeting in Kuala Lumpur that will decide the overseeing organisation's fate. ICANN head Dr Paul Twomey confessed to feeling a little tired in a conference call at 6pm local time but otherwise sounded quietly confident …

    Media 19 Jul 2004, 18:12

  • Microsoft settles L-----s dispute

    Linux upstart pockets $20m

    Microsoft has made peace with Michael Robertson's Linspire Linux company, paying $20m to settle all outstanding trademark issues surrounding the Lin---s distribution. Linspire promises never to use the Lin---ws word ever again in its branding. Linspire also appears to have eked out another compromise from Redmond, with a four- …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 19:24

  • BT signs up VoIP with Yahoo!

    ...and Live Meeting with Microsoft

    UK incumbent carrier British Telecom has signed two major initiatives with US companies this week; a deal with Yahoo! to offer a merged VoIP-Messenger service, and one with Microsoft to offer a merged voice and Live Meeting conferencing service. Both services will be available overseas, although only the conferencing deal is …

    Broadband 19 Jul 2004, 20:37

  • Macrovision and SunnComm court Apple for a seachange in CDs

    Where does it leave the others?

    The two big US copy protection specialists, Macrovision and SunnComm are both touting the idea that they need to become Apple iPod compliant and they might need the help of the big record labels to twist Apple’s arm into helping them. Macrovision CEO Bill Krepnick when interviewed by Faultline two weeks ago hinted heavily at …

    Financial News 19 Jul 2004, 20:49

  • Novell and its $600m war chest

    Who's it gonna buy next?

    Novell's latest debt offering was oversubscribed, and it was able to rake in a hefty $600m. But what will Novell do with all of this money? There are some intriguing options that Novell has as it takes Linux deeper into the data center and out onto desktops... Novell said in the initial offering that it planned to use $125m of …

    Operating Systems 19 Jul 2004, 21:02