12th August 2004 Archive

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419er sells herself into sexual slavery

Help me, get paid - and laid

The 419ers have been a bit quiet recently on the innovative marketing front. In fact, every advance fee fraud email that has popped into the Vulture Central mailbox in the last month has been a tired reworking of one or other of the classic themes - deposed dictator, blah, Democratic Republic of Congo, blah blah, distraught …

Bootnotes 12 Aug 2004, 08:39
Commerce One fights for survival

Costs outstrip sales for troubled software vendor

Commerce One still seems unable to get its costs under any semblance of control. It posted a Q2 net loss of $5.1m, only marginally better than its year-ago net loss of $6.1m. Things look gray, but with some new product launches, increased operating environment and platform choices, and new sales and marketing SVPs the company …

Financial News 12 Aug 2004, 09:04
Leap leaps into fixed-line broadband

Irish unbundle for the business punter

Leap Broadband has signed a deal with Eircom which will allow the firm to offer a fixed-line broadband service using Eircom's network. The deal is the first of 50 such agreements that Leap Broadband will sign with Eircom over the next few years. The agreements will provide Leap with access to Eircom's local loops and will …

Telecoms 12 Aug 2004, 09:16
WinXP SP2: stop moaning and get downloading

Opinion Real progress for Redmond

At long last, Service Pack 2 for XP has arrived. Like many in the security community, I'm excited about this, as it represents real, true progress for Microsoft and their commitment to security. This is not just a Service Pack - it really includes functionality, usability, and core changes in the underlying code extensive enough …

Operating Systems 12 Aug 2004, 09:35
Blaster teen pleads guilty

Script kiddie faces up to 3 years' jail

A Minnesota teenager pleaded guilty yesterday to unleashing a variant of the Blaster worm last August. Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minnesota, admitted "intentionally causing damage to a protected computer" before a federal judge in Seattle yesterday as part of a plea bargaining arrangement. He faces between 18 to 37 …

Anti-Virus 12 Aug 2004, 09:38
Is enhanced voice the new mobile data?

Operators missing a trick?

In all the rush from mobile operators and the rest of the telecoms industry to mobile data services and the mobile Internet, it's possible that a new revenue opportunity has been missed - voice. Ok, you may say it's not that new, but as all good marketing types know, line extension is typically more rewarding than leaping …

Mobile 12 Aug 2004, 09:54
UK scientists roll out Wi-Fi proof wallpaper

Paper over the crackers

British boffins have developed wallpaper that blocks Wi-Fi traffic but still allows other wireless transmissions to pass through in a bid to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data via the WLAN. Developed by UK defence company BAE Systems, the wallpaper uses Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) sheeting, a material more …

Wireless 12 Aug 2004, 10:01
O2 seeks small biz with penchant for Abba

Could you cut it in the 1970s office?

Mobile phone giant O2 is looking for a small business to go back in time to the 70s, while also experiencing the office technology of the future. O2 will build a dual office space in central London this Autumn, and is looking for a small firm to work in both the 70s workplace and the futuristic office. The project is intended …

Small Biz 12 Aug 2004, 10:12
Broadband costs fall in UK

Standing ovation from digital nation

The cost of broadband in the UK is falling, especially with the surge in interest for entry-level products. However, the UK is still a tad more expensive for faster-speed broadband services, especially when compared with Korea or Japan. That's just one of the fascinating observations contained in a new report by regulator, …

Telecoms 12 Aug 2004, 10:15
Small.biz loses rag with late payers

Cough up, or push off

Small businesses are losing patience with late payers, with most prepared to sever ties with tardy customers, new research has found. A survey carried out by the Better Payment Practice Group (BPPG) found that over two thirds of bosses said that they would not deal with a late paying customer in the future. This new research …

Small Biz 12 Aug 2004, 10:40
Apple's second Japan store to open 28 August

Shinsaibashi-bound

Apple will open its second Japanese store in Shinsaibashi, Osaka on 28 August, the company has announced, along with the offer of a free T-shirt for the first 1500 visitors. Apple's first Japanese store opened last December in Tokyo's Ginza district. Like the Ginza store, the Shinsaibashi outlet will provide a range of …

Mac Channel 12 Aug 2004, 10:56
Name that antipiracy weasel, BSA asks kids

Blackbeard the Ferret? Maybe not

US schoolchildren, already enrolled into classes on the evils of copyright violation next term, are to be invited to name the Business Software Alliance's new mascot. The BSA explains: "Elementary school students heading back to school in September will be invited to name the 'Play It Safe in Cyber Space' mascot, a 'copyright- …

Bootnotes 12 Aug 2004, 11:23
Blu-ray movie disc format unveiled

BD-ROM to challenge HD-DVD

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has approved the first full version of its read-only disc specification. The move paves the way for the format's adoption as a content distribution system to rival the next generation of the DVD format, HD-DVD. BD-ROM players are set to ship late next year, with content coming through around …

Storage 12 Aug 2004, 12:14
Packard Bell preps iPod Mini clone

5GB capacity, credit-card size

UK PC maker Packard Bell will next month extend its line of Flash-based MP3 players with its hard drive unit, a 5GB it hopes will be snapped up by all those folk who can't get hold of an iPod Mini. The Pocket M@estro will play MP3 and WMA files and incorporate an FM radio. Shows can be recorded as MP3 files, and the device can …

Mobile 12 Aug 2004, 12:14
Charity forces closure of 'bully' website

Police investigate forum abuse

An Internet message board has been pulled amid allegations it was used by bullies to harass and victimise school children. The site - which claims to be the "largest online teen community" in North London and Hertfordshire - also contained death threats and racist comments, according to anti-bullying charity, Bullying Online. …

Music and Media 12 Aug 2004, 12:48
Munich OSS switch to go ahead, patents or no patents

Merely paused for thought, says mayor

Patent fears will not derail Munich's move to Linux, city mayor Christian Ude has told a press conference. Earlier this month the city put the brakes on its Windows to open source migration while the implications of pending EU patent legislation could be examined, but Ude has now said that the project will go ahead, and that the …

Operating Systems 12 Aug 2004, 13:11
Aussie telco moots payphone Wi-Fi hotzones

Blanket coverage

Australian telco Telstra wants to offer blanket Wi-Fi coverage in the nation's business zones by installing WLAN kit in its 33,000 public payphones. This month, the company will test out the technology and the public's demand for wireless Internet access by adding Wi-Fi base-stations to 15 payphones, Tibor Schwartz, head of the …

Wireless 12 Aug 2004, 13:45
How to boost your Business IQ

Tackling information overload and content chaos

Businesses are struggling to cope with growing volumes of data and increasingly stringent corporate legislation. The problem is particularly acute in small business. With volumes of corporate information rising at breakneck speed, market research firm MORI found that one in six of 1,000 workers surveyed currently experiences …

Small Biz 12 Aug 2004, 14:12
BT cuts cost of calling mobiles

Ta very much

BT is to cut the cost of calling mobiles from its landlines by up to 36 per cent from 1 September following an earlier ruling by regulator Ofcom. Residential punters could see the cost of calling mobiles from land lines fall by up to 36 per cent, while businesses could see some calls to mobiles capped at 30p per hour. Today's …

Telecoms 12 Aug 2004, 14:16
Nvidia revs GeForce 6600, 6600 GT

But won't do much for Doom 3 until late September

Nvidia today launched its much-anticipated mid-range graphics chips, the GeForce 6600 series, just in time to tempt punters whose existing graphics cards aren't up to snuff for Doom 3. The 6600 and 6600 GT are based on the GeForce 6800 but provide just eight pixel processing pipelines. Both support up to 128MB of memory across …

Channel 12 Aug 2004, 14:17
Firms tout 'universal' tech for 802.11n

540Mbps (almost) everwhere, without royalty fees

Wi-Fi chip designers Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Conexant, STMicro, Airgo and Bermai have formally told the IEEE what technology they think it should include in the 802.11n standard. The group has come up with what it believes is a working technology foundation for the putative standard that also manages to fit within the …

Wireless 12 Aug 2004, 14:56
Chinese sales staff sent to beg in streets

You need to toughen up, sunshine

Staff at a Chinese Internet company are being sent out onto the streets of Changchun city to beg as part of their training, according to a report by the China News Service by way of Ananova. Although the "begging course" is not compulsory, bosses claim this hard-hearted training technique toughens up sales staff teaching them …

Small Biz 12 Aug 2004, 14:56
HP shares tumble on weak Q3

Hardware execs shown the door

Shares of HP took a nose dive this morning after the company reported disappointing third quarter results and announced it would shake up its server and storage management positions due to poor performance. HP reported a modest 9 percent revenue rise in the third quarter to $18.9bn with a profit of $657m. This overall gain, …

Financial News 12 Aug 2004, 15:28
OECD unveils Spam Task Force

Lock and load

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) has set up a task force to tackle spam. The group will look at a host of issues to tackle this global problem including co-ordinating international responses to fight spam and encourage "best practices" in industry and business. It will also promote technical …

Spam 12 Aug 2004, 15:36
Los Alamos and the missing discs that never were

Headless chickens chase phantom secrets

The hunt for a missing pair of computer discs said to contain classified information at a key US nuclear weapons research lab has turned into a near farce this week after it emerged the discs may never have existed. The discs' supposed disappearance resulted in an unprecedented shut-down of classified work at Los Alamos …

Security 12 Aug 2004, 16:14
AOL, Inc in cheap PC offer

Pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap

America Online is to flog affordable PCs in the US in a bid to sign up new punters to its Internet service. The "AOL Optimized PC" will cost $299.99 (£165) with punters committed to spend a further $23.90 (£13) a month for 12 months for AOL's Net service. The package is to be made available shortly. With AOL losing punters, it …

Telecoms 12 Aug 2004, 16:16
Sharp's 3D LCD: how's that work, then?

LCD sandwiches and parallax barriers

Human beings, with few exceptions, view the world from two places at once: our eyes. Our eyes are separated by approximately 2.5 inches and each retina can only generate a two-dimensional image. But we live in a three-dimensional world so our brains have evolved to combine the two-dimensional images from each eye into a crisp …

Science 12 Aug 2004, 16:19
DVD Jon cracks Airport music streaming

JustePort a new headache for Apple's DRM team

Norwegian programmer Jon Lech Johansen has decrypted and published the key that Apple's wireless hi-fi bridge, Airport Express, uses to protect music streams. He's also released the source code to a small Windows command-line tool he calls JustePort. In essence his crack opens the door for other applications to broadcast music …

Music and Media 12 Aug 2004, 17:04
IBM shows HP how it's done with hiring binge

19,000 and counting

Just as HP was alarming investors with a poor third quarter, IBM announced that it has bright prospects for the rest of 2004 and plans to hire 19,000 workers by year end. Earlier in the year, IBM said it looked to add 15,000 staffers but has now upped that total to 18,800. It cited growth in consulting, grid computing and Linux …

IT Director 12 Aug 2004, 19:20
HP cans Blackmore in hardware biz shakeup

Saving face

HP's smooth-talking hardware chief Peter Blackmore has been axed along with two other senior staffers, as the company tries to deal with a poor third quarter. Blackmore had served as HP's EVP in charge of the Customer Solutions Group - a unit meant to manage direct sales to enterprise customers. The executive came to HP in the …

Servers 12 Aug 2004, 20:00
Dell dances past the IT sector with strong Q2

Texas two-step

While numerous rivals flounder around it, Dell continues to produce solid results with its most recent success coming in the second quarter. Dell today reported $11.7bn in revenue - a company record for the second quarter and a total 20 percent higher than that posted in the same quarter last year. Dell's net income came in at …

Financial News 12 Aug 2004, 22:44