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20th July 2004 Archive

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  • Virgin Mobile slashes share prices

    Get yer knock-down telco stock 'ere

    Sir Richard Branson has been forced to cut the guide price for shares in Virgin Mobile after a poor reception for the company's roadshow - management presentations to institutional investors. Virgin shares were expected to be offered in the range 235p to 285p but that has now been cut to 200p to 220p per share. The company …

    Telecoms 20 Jul 2004, 08:35

  • Sony/BMG merger gets the nod

    Regulators let it lie

    The European Commission has approved the merger of Sony and BMG's respective music units. Competition Commissioner Mario Monti gave the deal the nod despite complaints from other labels and smaller independents that a merger would reduce competition and lead to higher prices for consumers. There are no conditions attached to EC …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 08:37

  • EDS wins $1.1bn gig with BoA

    Big bucks for junk status services outfit

    Services giant EDS has signed up the Bank of America for a $1.1bn contract - despite being downgraded to junk status by credit agency Moody's late last week. EDS objected strongly to Moody's decision. The eight-and-a-half year deal covers the integration of recently-acquired FleetBoston Financial's network into Bank of America …

    Financial News 20 Jul 2004, 08:44

  • Dolby adds High-Efficiency AAC to MPEG 4 patent pool

    Tech easier, cheaper to license

    Dolby's licensing division is to make it easier for manufacturers to licence the more advanced form of the Apple iPod-friendly audio format, AAC. Via Licensing yesterday said it had partnered with the MPEG 4 Audio Licensing Committee to simplify access to key intellectual property behind High-Efficiency AAC - aka AAC Plus. HE …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 08:53

  • AT&T goes live on 3G

    Four cities

    AT&T Wireless is expected to announce its first 3G services in four US cities. The service will be available in Detroit, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. AT&T Wireless is in the process of being bought by Cingular for $41bn but had a legal obligation to offer next generation services. AT&T had to offer 3G services in four …

    Mobile 20 Jul 2004, 10:08

  • E-voting terminals: gambling with data?

    Opinion Playing the slots with votes

    Making electronic voting terminals more like slot machines won't keep elections secure from tampering. Neither will using ATMs as a model improve the prospects for data integrity. There is a children's day care facility in my area called "The Pied Piper". Apparently, many people around here don't have a problem with that. …

    Public Sector 20 Jul 2004, 10:10

  • Get up to speed with MS Windows Server 2003

    Site Offer Delta guide at 30% off

    Why should a new versions of mission-critical technologies mean starting from scratch? If you already know how to use Microsoft Windows Server 2000 or NT, leverage those skills to quickly become an expert on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Delta Guide skips the basics and moves straight to the …

    Site News 20 Jul 2004, 10:21

  • Infineon cops unexpected loss

    Anti-trust provision eats into profits

    Europe's second-largest chipmaker, Infineon, has posted an unexpected loss after making provisions for a US anti-trust lawsuit that targets memory chip makers. The Munich-based company said that in its fiscal third quarter, its net loss came to €56m, or €0.08 a share, compared to €116m, or €0.16 a share, in the same period a …

    Financial News 20 Jul 2004, 10:27

  • Host Europe morphs into Pipex

    That's Pipex Communications Hosting Ltd. Catchy

    Host Europe PLC - which was acquired in April by Pipex Communications for £31m - has changed its name to Pipex Communications Hosting Ltd. Host Europe PLC, which provides webhost services, has now been delisted from the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange. As part of the name change, Host will also undergo a corporate …

    Telecoms 20 Jul 2004, 10:35

  • Ireland is never Netherlands for McAfee

    Taxtastic

    Anti-virus firm McAfee is move its European headquarters from The Netherlands to the Republic of Ireland. Lower corporate tax rates - 12 per in Ireland compared to 34 per cent in Netherlands - inspired the exodus, which could take place as early as Q1 2005. Symantec, McAfee's chief competitor, moved its technical support team …

    IT Director 20 Jul 2004, 10:42

  • BT blocks 230k attempts to access child porn

    'Taken aback by scale of problem'

    BT has blocked almost 250,000 attempts to access websites containing images of child abuse in just three weeks. On 21 June, the UK's incumbent telco turned on Cleanfeed, a censorsware system which blocks access to several thousand websites on a blacklist compiled by UK Internet trade body, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 10:45

  • Big Blue sails Atlantic (in Rational manner)

    Tooling up

    IBM has supplied a sneak peek of Atlantic, the next version of the Rational software development platform. The company previewed the new set up at the annual Rational Software Development User conference in Grapevine, Texas. Atlantic will include several new tools for the Workplace product family, designed to simplify the …

    Developer 20 Jul 2004, 11:05

  • Nigeria - the land where phone numbers can kill

    Dial 419 for Murder?

    Thanks very much to the scores of readers who emailed to alert us to the extraordinary story of Nigerian "killer phone numbers". The BBC reports that panic is sweeping through Lagos because the highly superstitious population has got it into their heads that if you answer a call from certain numbers, you will simply drop dead …

    Bootnotes 20 Jul 2004, 11:08

  • Developers play air guitar to Megadeth

    A very silly survey indeed

    The latest research by "accelerated learning" outfit The Training Camp may be very silly, but at least it doesn't accuse piratical punters from downloading movies illegally from the Internet. Nope, the Training Camp has uncovered some much more exciting facts regarding the musical preferences of those working in the wonderful …

    Developer 20 Jul 2004, 11:34

  • Wi-Fi Alliance acts on dodgy wireless kit

    Universal connection, or else

    The Wi-Fi Alliance is going to work harder to ensure that wireless devices work properly with each other. The action is a belated response to a row late last year between Atheros and Broadcom. Broadcom complained that some Atheros kit interferred with its own equipment causing data rates to slow even on networks operating on a …

    Wireless 20 Jul 2004, 12:11

  • Hacking, downloading and bad Web design

    Letters Very 21st century offences

    Last Friday, we reported that two Oxford University students at face suspension over a little hacking project they undertook to expose, they said, security flaws in the University's IT system. The pair could be rusticated (a great word, no? It means 'banned from college grounds') and fined £500. Hi John, These two oxford ' …

    Letters 20 Jul 2004, 12:17

  • Filipino phone phreakers foiled

    Hanging on the telephone

    A gang of eight suspected of ripping off the Philippines' main phone company and its customers of millions over the last six years have been arrested by local authorities. The Manila-based syndicate allegedly exploited security loopholes to obtain free access to telephone calls at the expense of customers of the Philippine Long …

    Enterprise Security 20 Jul 2004, 13:43

  • Cisco hunts for small.biz

    Dealers wanted

    Cisco is fighting the perception that it only sells kit for large enterprises and telcos with a new set of products aimed at smaller businesses and a channel programme to make it easier for resellers to sell to smaller companies. The Small and Medium-sized Business(SMB) is defined as between 20 and 249 employees. The programme …

    Channel 20 Jul 2004, 13:48

  • HP feared MS open source patent offensive

    Are we covered?

    A senior executive at Hewlett Packard two years ago expressed fears that Microsoft would use its patent portfolio to close down the company's open source efforts. The concerns were expressed in a June 2002 memo by Gary Campbell, and HP confirmed their authenticity to Newsforge's Joe Barr. "Basically Microsoft is going to use …

    Operating Systems 20 Jul 2004, 13:54

  • C&W boss urged to help free jailed Net users in Maldives

    'All-out hell for cyber-dissidents'

    The chief exec of Cable & Wireless (C&W), Francesco Caio, has been asked personally to lobby authorities in the Maldives to help free jailed Internet users. In an open letter, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the French-based press freedom organisation, called on Caio to "put pressure on the Maldives authorities to end abusive …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 14:02

  • Five years ago: BBC shrugs off Web float rumours

    20 July 1999

    There was a time when suggesting that the BBC privatise part of its operation was akin to mooting the idea that the British monarchy be sold off to the Americans. Some Beeb services have, of course, been "outsourced" to private companies - all in the name of efficiency and economy - but when it comes to the online stuff, well, …

    Financial News 20 Jul 2004, 14:23

  • Businesses warm to converged networks

    55 per cent already on the case

    Two thirds of businesses are planning to move applications onto converged networks within the next five years and just over half - 55 per cent - of businesses have already started implementing projects in parts of their operations. A survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Nortel Networks, talked to 103 execs …

    Data Networking 20 Jul 2004, 15:32

  • Welsh small.biz urged to get wired

    The band is broad - jump in, says e-minister

    E-minister Andrew Davies says more small and medium businesses in Wales need to take advantage of broadband Internet access. Wales will have 96 per cent broadband coverage by 2005 but take-up among smaller businesses is disappointing. Davies said that only six per cent of Welsh SMEs have broadband connections, compared to 10.4 …

    Small Biz 20 Jul 2004, 15:37

  • OGC streamlines purchasing portals

    Less is more

    The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) today launched a single online purchasing portal it says will make purchasing simpler for public sector organisations. OGCbuying.solutions had operated several buying sites where public sector organisations could buy pre-tendered and pre-approved products, but elected to streamline its …

    Public Sector 20 Jul 2004, 15:39

  • Booze blamed for MS staff's 'foggy' blogging hoax

    More titters from the Redmond common room

    Alcohol was to blame for senior Microsoft developers setting a blog-born trap for a journalist, according to the company's most-prominent weblog evangelist, Robert Scoble. The blokey bloggers (yes, they're all men) hoped that journalist Mary Jo Foley would fall for some fictional middleware acronyms they'd invented: BML, Boa …

    Bootnotes 20 Jul 2004, 15:44

  • $242m 419 scam trial collapses

    Nigerian judge claims 'no jurisdiction to hear it'

    The trial of three 419ers accused of taking an employee of a Brazilian bank for $242m of his employers' cash has collapsed after the judge in the Nigerian capital Abuja said he had "no jurisdiction to hear it". Emmanuel Nwude, Mrs. Amaka Anajemba and Nzeribe Okoli were arrested on more than 86 counts and charged with " …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 15:47

  • Software carries EMC to bumper Q2

    Acquisitions show their stuff

    EMC enjoyed one of the best quarters in recent memory for a hardware vendor, posting a 33 percent jump in revenue in its second quarter. EMC churned out $1.97bn in revenue, which compares to $1.48bn reported in the same quarter a year ago. EMC's income also surged, rising 136 per cent to $193m on 8 cents in earnings per share. …

    Storage 20 Jul 2004, 16:27

  • Sloppy banks open the door to phishermen

    Bogus content

    A new vulnerability makes it easier for fraudsters to pass off content from bogus websites as the real thing. Using a variant of well-known cross site scripting attacks, British Web developer and security researcher Sam Greenhalgh was able to inject JavaScript from his own website into pages generated by NatWest, Mastercard and …

    Enterprise Security 20 Jul 2004, 16:29

  • Tag, track, watch, analyse- UK goes mad on crime and terror IT

    Here comes the tech Gotterdammerung...

    Tech-happy UK Home Secretary David Blunkett was in his element announcing the Home Office's Strategic Plan yesterday. At multiple levels, starting with satellite tracking of repeat- and minor offenders and moving swiftly on through DNA databases and sundry terror- and immigrant-detection equipment, the plan proposes to harness …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 17:54

  • Duke develops iPod-equipped download army

    Napster bested

    Duke University has returned a bit of dignity to the college music downloading scene by purchasing 1,650 iPod music players for its students. Duke nobly plans to use the expensive Apple gear in the pursuit of academic excellence. Students will tap into the iPod's beefy hard drive to store course information, language lessons, …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2004, 21:54

  • Sun salutes Microsoft for delivering Q4 profit

    Red ink without Redmond

    Sun Microsystems today disappointed investors with lower than expected fourth quarter earnings but showed some positive signs with units shipped increasing and a large check from Microsoft being deposited in its bank. Sun reported revenue of $3.1bn in its fourth quarter - a 4.3 percent rise over the $3.0bn posted in the same …

    Financial News 20 Jul 2004, 23:11