3rd September 2004 Archive
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IBM recalls 500,000 melting notebook adapters
Fire in the hole
More than 500,000 notebook power adapters sold by IBM are being recalled to offset the threat of melting plastic and even fire. IBM and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall, saying at least six consumers have reported incidents with the power adapters. The adapters were produced by Delta Electronics …
PCs 3 Sep 2004, 08:28
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Global chip sales slow on inventory build-up
No reason to panic, says trade body
World chip sales reached $18bn in July, up on both June's figure and July 2003's $13bn total, chip trade body the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said yesterday. June's sales totalled $17.82bn, yielding a sequential growth rate of fractionally over one percentage point. That's a slower rate than SIA had anticipated, …
Financial News 3 Sep 2004, 08:57
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HP builds inkjet R&D centre in Ireland
€21m investment
Hewlett-Packard is to invest €21.4min a technology development centre in Leixlip, to develop new inkjet printer technologies. IDA Ireland, a government agency, will provide support for the project, which will develop a new generation of integrated circuits incorporated on each inkjet cartridge. The new centre is expected to …
Peripherals 3 Sep 2004, 08:58
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On the skive? Then visit eBay
Join the crowd
Taking a sneaky mooch around the web while the boss ain't looking is becoming increasingly popular. and eBay is the most popular destination for UK office workers on the skive. Four in ten admit that trawling through eBay is the most popular site of all for a bit of time-killing while at work, followed by those visiting sites …
IT Director 3 Sep 2004, 09:28
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Customs gets new IT head
Not grey and boring shock
Customs and Excise is getting a new IT chief fresh from industry. Steve Lamey, former head of IT at BG, will take up the reins at the soon-to-be-formed HM Revenue and Customs department. David Varney, executive chairman of HMRC, said : "IT will play a critical role in our ability to build an efficient new department and improve …
Public Sector 3 Sep 2004, 09:29
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Lucent in line for giant tax rebate
Brown envelope contains good news, for once
Lucent Technologies could be getting a $816m tax refund from the US government. The payment relates to the operating loss posted by the company in 2001. Under US tax rules losses can be offset as much five years into the past. The Internal Revenue Service is still deciding on the claim which would also have to be approved by …
Financial News 3 Sep 2004, 09:32
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Aussie boffins probe lesbian cows
Cattle worriers to explain bovine girl-on-girl
An intrepid team from the the University of Queensland will shortly make its way to Malaysia's central highlands to answer a question which has baffled science for centuries: is bovine lesbianism in domesticated cattle a stress reaction caused by environmental pressures? Yes indeed, hot on the heels of the British revelations …
Science 3 Sep 2004, 09:35
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Nortel delays filing accounts (again)
Figuring it all out
Nortel is again delaying posting its accounts. Results for 2003 were due to be released by mid-August - they will not now be ready until October. Figures for the first two quarters of this year will be published at the same time. The Canadian-based networking equipment vendor blamed the complexity of the number crunching and …
Financial News 3 Sep 2004, 09:52
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RAF sergeant bought stripes on eBay
NCOs without insignia due to cost-cutting bungle
Newly-promoted RAF sergeants are being forced to buy their stripes on eBay after a cost-cutting "bungle" left the proud NCOs without a proper supply of the essential badge of rank, the Sun reports. One chap from RAF Valley in Anglesey apparently shelled out £4.99 to a private seller because there were no stripes available in …
Bootnotes 3 Sep 2004, 10:21
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National Savings jobs to India to cost UK £25m, says union
'Squandering taxpayers' money'
Plans to send 250 government jobs to India will cost the UK taxpayer £25m, according to the Public & Commercial Services (PCS) union. Stepping up its campaign to prevent jobs from the National Savings Agency in Blackpool, Durham and Glasgow being shunted to India, the union claims that government coffers will lose out on £25m …
IT Director 3 Sep 2004, 10:25
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LAPD nabs pirates, 12,000 counterfeit DVDs
Suspect spotted in routine traffic stop
A warning to DVD pirates: make sure your vehicle and driver registration details are up to date and accurate. The Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA) and the Los Angeles police this week busted a major counterfeiting operation after traffic cops were given false driver ID information. LAPD officers pulled over a motorist …
Music and Media 3 Sep 2004, 10:32
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Acclaim files for bankruptcy
Games up for sale
Games publisher Acclaim has filed for bankruptcy after failing for find new funding. Acclaim was responsible for Mortal Kombat and Turok and the Worms series of games. The company said in an SEC filing that negotiations with its primary lender GMAC Commercial Finance had ended and it had failed to find another lender. Its …
Financial News 3 Sep 2004, 10:39
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Socitm pushes softer skills for e-gov
Strategy before technology
Local authorities should focus on softer management skills rather than technical competence if they are to deliver e-government successfully. In its report, Delivering Local e-Government, the Society of IT Management (Socitm) identifies two key e-government roles within local authorities: the e-champion and the head of ICT. In …
Public Sector 3 Sep 2004, 10:51
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Wi-Fi overseer to debut QoS standard 8 Sept
Ten products to sport Wi-Fi Multimedia brand next week
The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) will formally unveil its Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) certification next week, and with it the first ten products that can carry the WMM brand. Just as the organisation's Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security specification pre-dated the ratification of the IEEE 802.11i standard from which it was derived, so …
Wireless 3 Sep 2004, 11:16
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Old PCs are goldmine for data thieves
Don't forget to wipe
Organisations are risking seeing sensitive information ending up in the wrong hands, because they are failing to ensure that their unwanted PCs are properly datawiped. Data is erased from less than a quarter of discarded PCs, according to UK PC recycling firm Remploy e-cycle. Seventy five per cent of 350 firms it quizzed sold …
Enterprise Security 3 Sep 2004, 11:51
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Oxfam releases download album for Darfur
REM, Faithless and David Gray give it up for charity
A big round of applause today for charity Oxfam which has released a "Songs for Sudan" compilation album in support of aid efforts in that country's devastated Darfur region. The pressing - which is available by download only and exclusively from Oxfam's bignoisemusic.com - features 18 tracks from the likes of Ash, REM, Badly …
Financial News 3 Sep 2004, 11:54
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IBM pays up for NY pollution
Homeowners get compensation
IBM is offering nearly 500 homeowners $10,000, or eight per cent of the value of their property, to compensate them for property damage resulting from polluted groundwater. Residents in Endicott, New York State, are eligible for the payment. IBM has installed ventilation systems into some homes to clear toxic fumes rising from …
Business 3 Sep 2004, 12:04
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Wi-Fi Alliance moots security set-up standard
Laying down the law on WPA Wizards
The Wi-Fi Alliance is considering imposing formal certification of WLAN security set-up schemes in a bid to make it easier for non-technical users to protect their data. In an interview with The Register, Alliance CEO Frank Hanzlik revealed that the organisation has formed a new test group to explore the possibility of imposing …
Wireless 3 Sep 2004, 12:43
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Porn dialler fraudsters find lucrative loophole
Legal side-step fleeces punters
German site Dialerschutz (Dialler Protection) is warning internet users about a new scam from Spain that is likely to spread to other European countries. In the past dialler vendors would secretly install trojans on users' PCs that dialled out to expensive (foreign) numbers and racked up punters' phone bills. In Germany and …
Music and Media 3 Sep 2004, 13:25
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Brits to demo world's largest computing grid
Equivalent to 100,000 boy racer PCs
Particle physicists in the UK will demonstrate the world's largest working computer grid this week, at the e-Science All Hands meeting in Nottingham. The Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (LCG) is made up of over 6000 computers around the world, with the The UK's own particle physics Grid project, GridPP, contributing 1000 …
Science 3 Sep 2004, 13:29
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BT examines broadband price cuts
Small ISPs' wholesale misery relieved?
BT is looking at ways to reduce the cost of some of its broadband products after being forced to increase prices by regulator Ofcom. On Wednesday, BT upped the cost of some of its wholesale broadband products by as much as 30 per cent in a bid to comply with new "margin squeeze" regulations set by Ofcom. However, the telco is …
Telecoms 3 Sep 2004, 13:41
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Dixons seeks 1,000 new recruits
Hooks up with Jobcentres to plug gap
Dixons Group has hooked up with the Government's Jobcentre Plus outfit to help the high street electrical retailer fill more than 1,000 new positions each year. As part of the deal, Dixons Group - which includes Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link - will consider applications from jobseekers via the Government agency. This …
IT Director 3 Sep 2004, 14:48
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Spammers embrace email authentication
Junk mail tsunami continues unabated
Spammers have adopted a new standard for email authentication much faster than legitimate emailers, according to a study from security appliance firm CipherTrust published this week More spam than legitimate email is currently sent using Sender Policy Framework, a recently introduced email authentication protocol. According to …
Spam 3 Sep 2004, 14:51
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Dial-a-Phone hitches ride on Comet
High Street mobe supply deal
Dial-a-Phone has won a deal with Comet to supply the High Street chain with mobile phones. The deal is likely to raise some hackles among phone retailers and distributors. Comet customers will be able to order phones from 250 stores but not take them away - credit checks and delivery will be handled by Dial-a-Phone, according …
Channel 3 Sep 2004, 14:56
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Dell, prisoner of the Beast of Redmond
Linspire chief lashes out
Dell has a long history - regularly documented in these pages - of not quite getting behind Linux on the desktop. Dell Linux machines do pop up every now and again, but what desktop efforts there are find themselves first consigned to obscure corners of the operation, then disappeared, no doubt because of lack of demand. Why is …
Business 3 Sep 2004, 15:29
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Does SP2 cause bovine lesbianism?
Letters And El Reg consoles cuckolded husband
One thing that is becoming increasingly apparent is that the discussion surrounding SP2 very clearly has several million miles still left in in it. And we're not expecting a resolution of the various points of view any time soon. Oh no. This is a debate that could make Northern Ireland's "Troubles" seem short-lived. Hi, I've …
Letters 3 Sep 2004, 15:44
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Prevx releases free intrusion prevention software
Update Closing the window of exposure
Security developer Prevx today released a free version of its host-based intrusion prevention software. It aims to offer consumers protection from new, unknown or zero-day threats. Prevx Home is designed to close the security gap that exists between when a fast spreading internet worm is released and when updated signatures from …
Malware 3 Sep 2004, 16:00
