5th August 2004 Archive

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Intel cool on 802.20

But makes room for Bluetooth

Intel could be closing the door on the emerging 802.20 mobile broadband wireless access standard after the company admitted to uncertainty surrounding the working group's ability to put aside self-interest. But the chip giant has finally accepted the rise of the Bluetooth short-range wireless technology, which will shortly be …

Wireless 5 Aug 2004, 07:55
Hynix creditors to vote on China DRAM fab plan

Green light expected for STMicro JV

Hynix will today get the green light from its creditors for its scheme to build a $1.75bn DRAM fab in China. The fab will be co-funded by European chip maker STMicroelectronics, and has been the subject of talks that have taken place between the two firms for most of the year. It's this co-operation that appears to have …

Financial News 5 Aug 2004, 09:24
Lastminute.com axes 350 jobs

Was it planned or a last minute decision?

Lastminute.com is to cull 350 jobs and close ten of its 25 offices in a bid to slash overheads and "streamline" its operation. The cutbacks will be carried out during the 2005 financial year. The exact details of who is for the chop haven't been release although the Internet travel and gift outfit said it would release further …

Financial News 5 Aug 2004, 09:25
SEC sends Wells notice to Business Objects

News not a big hit with investors

Business Objects, the French software company, admitted yesterday that it had received a Wells notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), recommending that charges be brought against the company for allegedly failing to disclose its order backlog. The irony, of course, is that Business Objects is a maker of …

Financial News 5 Aug 2004, 09:26
AOL buys Mailblocks to fight spam

In brief Challenge response

AOL yesterday announced the acquisition of privately held anti-spam firm Mailblocks for an undisclosed amount. Mailblocks, which launched its first commercial service in March 2003, is best known for its development of 'challenge/response' technology to fight unwanted junk email and authenticate legitimate email senders. AOL …

Spam 5 Aug 2004, 09:30
Dell offers 64-bit Pentium 4 workstations

Prescott gets EM64T

Dell this week rolled out 64-bit Pentium 4-based workstations alongside its more heavily-publicised 64-bit Xeon servers. The PC maker's Precision 370 family of single-processor workstations is now on sale with 3.2GHz, 3.4GHz and 3.6GHz P4s offered as CPU options. Crucially, each P4 is described as supporting EM64T, Intel's …

Business 5 Aug 2004, 10:24
IBM promises no patent assault on Linux

Unless forced to defend itself

IBM has promised it will not use its stockpile of patents against Linux unless it is "forced to defend itself". The company made its announcement at LinuxWorld, where it laid down the gauntlet to other software companies, challenging them to follow its lead. In a speech at the conference, Nick Donofrio, senior vice president …

Operating Systems 5 Aug 2004, 10:33
Digital print booths: Kodak addresses your concerns

Happy snappers

We're obliged to Kodak for getting back to us to answer the questions raised by one reader's recent field test of the Kodak digital print booth as now enjoyed by Boots' customers across the UK. First, there's the matter of payment. Our man on the streets Simon Prentagast noted that you print out your snaps first, then flash the …

Bootnotes 5 Aug 2004, 10:34
Gigabyte alleges Asus is mobo speed 'cheat'

Updated Asus reveals its 'covert' graphics overclocking mode in response

Gigabyte has accused rival motherboard maker Asus of rigging recent benchmark tests. It alleges that Asus "clandestinely" enabled a hidden overclocking mode in its BIOS that made certain Asus mobos appear to run faster than they do in the real world. Asus quickly responded to the claim by formally launching the hidden mode as " …

Channel 5 Aug 2004, 10:55
FCC approves taps on broadband and VoIP

Spooks a step closer to Internet snooping

US regulators yesterday ruled tentatively in favor of an FBI and Justice Department proposal that would compel Internet broadband and VoIP providers to open their networks up to easy surveillance by law enforcement agencies. At issue is the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a federal law that …

Music and Media 5 Aug 2004, 10:59
BT and CPW in £1,000 challenge showdown

Gloves off, cash at stake

The Carphone Warehouse's (CPW) pledge that if it ain't cheaper than BT it'll cough up £1,000 could be about to be tested following BT's claim that it is now cheaper than CPW. BT says that Carphone has raised some bill-paying charges to £3.50 a month, while the monster telco insists it only charges people who don't pay by direct …

Telecoms 5 Aug 2004, 11:08
FBI publishes computer crime and security stats

Hack attacks down, viruses up

Every year for the past nine years, the Computer Security Institute and the FBI undertake a computer crime and security survey among companies and institutions in the US. These surveys provide interesting insights into the level of computer crime being experienced by companies, as well as how they are responding to security …

Enterprise Security 5 Aug 2004, 11:26
BT launches fixed-line SMS

Gr8

BT has launched a range of phones that will allow people to send a receive text messages on their fixed telephone lines. The service will send texts to and from mobile phones and between fixed line phones. For those without SMS enabled handsets, BT will convert the text to speech. So far, Vodafone, T-Mobile BT Mobile and 3 have …

Telecoms 5 Aug 2004, 11:54
UK.biz hit for £250m in phone bill blunders

'SMEs get worse deal'

Billing blunders and the misuse of company phones by employees are costing UK businesses an extra £250m a year, according to alternative telco Energis. Its study found that three quarters of business phone bills are wrong and that seven in ten businesses are paying over the odds for their calls. Bolt on all those "personal" …

Small Biz 5 Aug 2004, 11:56
Sony SDM-HS73P 17in X-Black monitor

Review Lovely LCD, lousy product?

Sony SDM-HS73P I've been a fan of Sony's X-Black (aka X-Brite) screen technology ever since it was introduced on Vaio notebooks, and I've always asked myself why Sony didn't produce desktop monitors using the same process. Well now I can stop asking that question, because sitting in front of me right now is the SDM-HS73P, …

Reviews 5 Aug 2004, 13:22
Oz teen's crime spree financed mobile phone addiction

Steal-as-you-go

An Australian judge has warned of the possible arrival of a disturbing new trend of teenagers stealing goods to finance their addiction to mobile phones. The warning came as the judge sentenced a 17-year-old thief to two years and three months on probation for a series of robberies. Brisbane District Court heard the youth, …

Mobile 5 Aug 2004, 13:46
FCC awards small win to TiVo sharers, MPAA slips safety catch

Let slip the dogs of law...

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided Wednesday that small clusters of TiVo subscribers may exchange content files over the Internet without causing the total collapse of the entertainment pigopoly, Reuters reports. According to the wire service, the FCC has certified a proposed DRM scheme for TiVoToGo, which …

Music and Media 5 Aug 2004, 14:00
Bosses finger workers for virus attacks

Staff 'misuse' to blame

Workers are to blame for many of the security breaches that wreck firms' computers networks, according to research by the Institute of Directors (IoD). Of the 1,240 UK small and medium sized businesses (SMB's) quizzed in its survey, half said they had suffered a virus attack as a result of "misuse" by staff. Six in ten of the …

Small Biz 5 Aug 2004, 14:02
Apple coughs up for iTunes Music Store patent

Licenses Freeny

Apple has agreed to pay undisclosed royalties to a company that challenged the core concept behind the iTunes Music Store. E-Date Corp. owns European and US patents that describe a "system and method of distributing [commercial] digital content over electronic and wireless networks". The company claimed that ITMS was just such …

Mac Channel 5 Aug 2004, 14:02
Google must buy back buddy stock

Tell Sid: he can't keep those shares

Google was lauded for bypassing institutional cronyism when it opted for an auction process for its initial public stock offering. But a different kind of cronyism has landed it in breach of financial regulations. Google has been obliged to buy back $28.8m worth of stock and options offered to employees, contractors and buddies …

Music and Media 5 Aug 2004, 14:11
Trojan horse stalks PocketPC

Brador-A

Russian virus hunters Kaspersky Labs have detected a Trojan horse programme capable of infecting PDAs running Microsoft's PocketPC operating system. Although a very small number of PocketPC viruses have been located, Brador-A is said to be the first backdoor program capable of infecting handhelds running PocketPC. Previous …

Malware 5 Aug 2004, 14:11
Fox bravely shops 9/11 source to Feds

A journalist's first duty is to dis sources

White House gazette Fox News has betrayed to the Feds a high-profile source who exposed intelligence blunders by the National Security Agency (NSA) in dealing with terrorist communications, the Washington Post reports. According to the story, US Senator Richard Shelby (Republican, Alabama), former Chairman of the Senate Select …

Music and Media 5 Aug 2004, 14:16
Easy VoIP wiretaps coming soon

FCC poised to require CALEA compliance

Virtually everything done via TCP/IP, with the (for now) exception of instant messaging, is on its way to becoming wiretap-friendly, thanks to a tentative 5-0 decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday. Thanks to relentless lobbying and fear-mongering by law enforcement outfits and the companies …

Telecoms 5 Aug 2004, 14:21
Bill Gates stalks Nintendo - again

Have cash, will buy unwanted shares

Bill Gates still wants to buy Nintendo, despite being turned down by majority shareholder Hiroshi Yamauchi a few years ago. Speaking to German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche this week, Gates revealed he had maintained his interest in the console maker. And if Yamauchi - a former Nintendo president - gives him a call, "I …

Financial News 5 Aug 2004, 14:23
Pfizer takes big stick to Viagra spammers

Loins girded, resolve stiffened

Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, has declared war on spammers and online pharmacies, illegally peddling pills under the Viagra brand. The company says it will pursue the offending persons and organisations in court. It is taking the action after its market research revealed that a quarter of men think Pfizer is the source of spam …

Spam 5 Aug 2004, 14:31
Gizmondo fishes for game coders with cash fund fly

Handheld console needs titles. Now

Another week, another Gizmondo press release. This time the publicity hungry handheld console developer has said it wants to offer developers money for games. Gizmondo Europe today announced a "game innovation fund". The hoard will be used to "support emerging developers who want to take gaming to the next level by leveraging …

Consoles 5 Aug 2004, 14:58
Rutan bagsies 'shotgun' in SpaceShipOne

Pioneering engineer space-bound?

Burt Rutan, the pioneering aviation engineer behind the SpaceShipOne mission, has hinted that he will be aboard the vehicle when it makes its next flight in a bid to become the first commercially-funded craft to leave the Earth's atmosphere. To qualify for the $10m Ansari X-Prize, the craft must make two trips to an altitude of …

Science 5 Aug 2004, 15:33
Legal threat halts second proposed BBC Tech strike

Beeb blocks walk-out

A second proposed strike by BBC Technology staff later this month has been called off following a threat of legal action by the monster broadcaster. BECTU - the union which represents around a quarter of BBC Technology's 1,400 staff - is opposing the sell-off of the department to Siemens. A two-day strike by BBC techies due to …

IT Director 5 Aug 2004, 15:37
'Stealing songs is wrong' lessons head for UK schools

Download an MP3, flunk citizenship, apparently...

At the beginning of last month the British Government launched a "Music Manifesto" to promote music in schools. But already this typically Blairite bundle of good intentions is being hijacked (with not a little cooperation from the minders in Whitehall) in order to inflict copyright lessons on schoolchildren, from pre-school …

Music and Media 5 Aug 2004, 16:30
Oracle 'sitting on security fixes'

Delay is the deadliest form of denial

Database giant Oracle has been censured by a leading security expert for sitting on fixes to defend against a wide variety of security vulnerabilities affecting its database software. UK-based Next Generation Security Software (NGS Software) has identified 34 security vulnerabilities affecting various versions of Oracle's …

Security 5 Aug 2004, 17:16
IBM sweetens G5 Linux deals

Take some software. Any software

While IBM is offering new incentives for its sales force to sell Linux on its POWER processors, Apple partner Yellow Dog has updated the Linux distribution that runs on G5-based Macs. Big Blue makes the processor that powers its own AIX and OS/400 systems, as well the 970 POWER variant that Apple brands the G5. Amongst the …

PCs 5 Aug 2004, 17:26
Sun forgets about Novell, remembers products

LinuxWorld Linux gets thin and sits on Solaris

After stealing the spotlight on day one of LinuxWorld, Sun Microsystems settled down and managed to make some actual product announcements at the show. Heading up Sun's Linux push was a preview of the Sun Ray Server Software Version 3.0. This thin client software, due out by year's end, has traditionally run only on Sun's …

Servers 5 Aug 2004, 20:20