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13th August 2004 Archive

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  • 419ers break into the oil business

    Discounted black gold

    It appears that decent 419 scam emails are like buses - you wait ages for one and then eight turn up at once. Only yesterday we were lamenting the recent lack of imaginative material from the Lads from Lagos, but not only are they now offering themselves into sexual servitude, they're also breaking into the oil business. Good …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2004, 08:02

  • European sofas brace for HDTV

    Couch potato heaven

    Momentum for HDTV is now building. Broadcasters have announced definite deployment plans and the consumer electronics industry is a-buzz over this new market. Some observers said that HDTV would never come to the European market, but this year it has arrived and James Healey, Datamonitor's senior media and broadcasting …

    Personal 13 Aug 2004, 08:20

  • US Emergency Alert System open to hack attack

    Security and encryption 'not primary design criteria'

    The US Emergency Alert System (EAS) that lets officials instantly interrupt radio and TV broadcasts to provide emergency information in a crisis suffers from security holes that leave it vulnerable to denial of service attacks, and could even permit hackers to issue their own false regional alerts, federal regulators …

    Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2004, 08:31

  • Cardholders clueless on chip and pin

    Chaotic Xmas in prospect for retailers

    Retailers will be bracing themselves for what could be a chaotic festive season following the news that more than half of British cardholders know little or nothing about the new chip and pin card system. Up to 120 million new chip and pin cards will be winging there way to Christmas shoppers in time for the 1 January 2005 …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2004, 08:46

  • AMD sells first 90nm CPUs - analyst

    Revenue shipments this week, volume output next month

    AMD has begun revenue shipments of its 90nm processors and will begin larger scale output next month, a Goldman Sachs analyst has claimed. That's within the broad schedule the chipmaker has discussed in public: revenue shipments by the end of Q3, with wide availability sometime during H2 2004. AMD has already said that it has …

    Channel 13 Aug 2004, 09:27

  • Corporates can delay XP SP2 auto-update

    Give me security - later

    Microsoft is to allow organisations to defer the adoption of Windows XP SP2 ahead of its widespread availability though Automatic Update and Windows Update starting next Monday (16 August). The approach allows corporates to delay the installation of XP SP2 while still allowing them to obtain other security updates automatically …

    Operating Systems 13 Aug 2004, 10:19

  • BBC Tech staff reject Siemens sell-off - again

    So that's a 'no' then?

    Tech staff at the Beeb have voted overwhelmingly to reject plans to sell off BBC Technology to Siemens. In the latest ballot more than 92 per cent of union staff said they want the sale of the broadcaster's technology division to be scrapped. Workers also rejected the latest revised offer on the table by 53.2 per cent. Despite …

    IT Director 13 Aug 2004, 10:22

  • How to make hard cash from old IT

    EU recycling directive may not lighten your wallet

    Small businesses do not need to worry about the cost of complying with new EU rules for disposal of old hardware after all. According to one recovery firm, companies may actually end up making a profit from the WEEE Directive. The WEEE directive (WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) makes manufacturers …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2004, 10:35

  • 419ers make guest appearance in Doom 3

    Updated Alive and well in 2145

    Nigerian 419ers certainly like to travel. Since kicking off their careers as international scamsters back in the old mother country, they've popped up in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Iraq, China and even a low-earth orbit. What they have not, however, managed is to journey into the future - or so we thought. In what …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2004, 10:36

  • Hush ATX silent PC

    Review A work of art?

    Hush ATX If you want a PC that's truly silent, you need it to be completely passive, and that means that you can't go for your run of the mill, mix and match PC build - you're going to have to go to a specialist and one such specialist is Hush Technologies, writes Riyad Emeran. The Hush ATX system is a full PC built using …

    Reviews 13 Aug 2004, 10:42

  • BOFH: How dangerous are your users?

    BOFH Userometer Click here to find out

    - an online sysadmins resource Sure, your users may look about as likely to rebel as the pack of mindless sheep that they are - but can they be trusted? Are your users reading forbidden literature? Are they trying to climb the technical greasy pole behind your back? How will you know? Can the cattle prod be trusted to solicit …

    BOFH 13 Aug 2004, 11:15

  • Clockwork radio pioneer to float company

    Cash for aspiring inventors

    The man behind the clockwork radio - Trevor Baylis - is to float his incubator company in a bid to generate more cash to help fund the work of aspiring inventors. Trevor Baylis Brands was set up in September 2003 to help inventors get their ideas to market. During that time Baylis Brands has scrutinised more than 200 ideas and …

    Science 13 Aug 2004, 11:35

  • Credit card crime squad celebrates success

    36,000 cards recovered, 171 felons cuffed

    A UK police squad dedicated to fighting out credit card fraud has recovered 36,000 cards and card details in its first two years of operation. The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) estimates it work has prevented £65m in fraudulent losses during its two year pilot. The DCPCU was set up to in April 2002 to target …

    Security 13 Aug 2004, 11:49

  • Reg readers warm to BSA antipiracy weasel

    Letters Awwww, ain't he cute?

    It being Friday, we thought Letters could do with a lighthearted tone, for a change. And what, dear readers, could be more lighthearted than a story involving children and animals? And software piracy. Oh, wait, that spoiled it... Yes, we are talking about the competition the Business Software Alliance has launched in the US to …

    Letters 13 Aug 2004, 11:57

  • Digital print booths: more reader snapshots

    Letters Say cheese

    Thanks to all those readers who have kept stoking the fire of the digital print booth debate. We kick off this round-up of new input with Scott Holland, who's got some first-hand experience of the Kodak flavour of kiosk: I have been a photo lab technician in the US for five years. Working with these machines the whole time. I …

    Letters 13 Aug 2004, 12:32

  • CBI wishes for the ID scheme we're not getting

    It could be a good thing, but it isn't, apparently...

    The Confederation of British Industry, the public prints told us this morning, has backed the government's "flawed" ID card scheme, from which one might conclude that the UK business umbrella body thinks ID cards a good thing in principle, but that the scheme as currently presented needs a fair bit of work. This however is not …

    Music and Media 13 Aug 2004, 13:45

  • Office phones filthier than toilet seat

    And as for your PC...

    Filthy phones and germ-infested keyboards mean that anyone eating their lunch while at their desk could be biting off more than they can chew. In fact, a recent report by the University of Arizona found that the typical office desk harbours around 400-times more disease-causing bacteria than a toilet seat. The muckiest spots …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2004, 13:48

  • Small.biz unprepared for disaster

    Planning? We've heard of it...

    Businesses remain largely apathetic about disaster recovery even after they have seen the effects of catastrophic communications failures first hand, according to a survey out this week. A poll of more than 1,000 firms in and around Manchester taken shortly after a serious fire in a BT hub in the city last March reveals …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2004, 13:53

  • Euro filing reveals Apple 'handheld computer'

    More wireless tablet than PDA, we'd say

    Apple has filed for a European design trademark which may provide a tantalising glimpse of the company's long-awaited tablet computer. The filing, made in May this year but only published this week, covers a "handheld computer" and contains sketches of what look like an iBook screen minus the body of the computer. The …

    Mobile 13 Aug 2004, 13:57

  • El Reg pledges to name BSA antipiracy weasel

    Competition Get those suggestions in

    The Business Software Alliance's plans to name their weasel mascot by holding a competition for school children has obviously moved you, our beloved readers. Such a quantity of emails flooded into Vulture Central that we felt it our duty to respond with immediate action. Accordingly, we have decided that we will hold a little …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2004, 14:18

  • Ashlee Vance: the readers have spoken

    Poll results Bright news for resident Reg ladyboy

    Well, the polls have closed, the votes have been counted and now it's time to reveal just what readers think of our stateside correspondent Ashlee Vance, legendary champion of the all-American Segway. Around 10,000 readers took the time to chip in their two bits' worth on the issue, so let's see if Ashlee is to be crowned with …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2004, 14:56

  • Buffy the Censor Slayer

    Letters Readers drive stake through parents' group

    The news that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently rejected a complaint from the Parents Television Council (PTC) that an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer contained illicit nookie caused quite a stir with readers. To recap, Buffy was apparently getting down and dirty with Spike. Cue outrage from concerned …

    Letters 13 Aug 2004, 15:07

  • UK police issue 'vicious' Trojan alert

    Keystroke-logging 'Swiss army knife'

    Britain's top cybercrime fighters have joined up with the banking industry today in warning of the latest attempt to defraud online banking customers. The attacks, in the form of 'Trojan horse' emails, have been spammed out to a number of email account holders randomly across the country. The emails contain links to malicious …

    ID 13 Aug 2004, 15:17

  • Cheat on me and the sex vid goes live

    Revenge is a dish best served online

    It seems that one of the most dangerous things you can do in a relationship is make a video of yourself and your loved one getting jiggy with it. It will almost certainly come back to haunt you; a fact which one Clara Whitehouse has learned the hard way, the Sun reports. Her ex, Paul Clarke, clearly enraged that she had ditched …

    Music and Media 13 Aug 2004, 15:25

  • SEC to examine Playboy for boobs

    Larry, Sergey grace the glossy

    The Securities and Exchange Commission will be examining the September issue of Playboy even more closely than normal. The reason? The appearance of a pair of boobs at a particularly sensitive time. The boobs in question are Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who have punctuated the company's mandatory pre-IPO …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2004, 15:29

  • Why aren't more women in ICT?

    Equal Opportunities Commission wants to know

    The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is carrying out a "major investigation" to discover why there are so few women working in the ICT sector. It wants to hear from employers and workers as part of an initiative to understand what makes the industry "tick" and why so many women are put-off getting into ICT. The …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2004, 15:34

  • Outsourcing Human Resources: cause for celebration?

    Sadly not

    The rise in importance of the Human Resources (HR) department within the company structure has gone on unchecked for decades. There was a day when it was simply called payroll, but now its influence stretches right to the top, and it busies itself evaluating employee performance, and generally bewildering all with bureaucracy …

    IT Director 13 Aug 2004, 15:44

  • Nanotech aids green hydrogen production

    British company splits water

    A UK company has developed a nano-crystalline material that will dramatically improve the production of hydrogen by using solar energy to split water more efficiently into its elemental parts. Hydrogen Solar says its efficiency rate is now at eight per cent - just two per cent shy of the 10 per cent benchmark accepted for …

    Science 13 Aug 2004, 16:28

  • HP: The Adaptive Enterprise that can't adapt

    Opinion SAP hardly to blame

    For quite some time now, HP has been hawking its Adaptive Enterprise idea to anyone that would listen. The basic concept being that companies need to use technology as a tool for making quick, fluid changes in their businesses. But after HP blamed a disastrous SAP roll-out for its third quarter failings, you have to wonder …

    Servers 13 Aug 2004, 19:35