14th September 2004 Archive

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CA upgrades BrightStor line with gusto

An integration paradise

Computer Associates is not messing around with its storage management software line. The company this month will upgrade all 13 versions of the BrightStor family, release a new product aimed at automating some storage management processes and show new pricing models for its code. The scale of the BrightStor Version 11.1 release …

Storage 14 Sep 2004, 00:32
EC waves through HP Synstar deal

Brief Insignificant

The European Commission has approved HP's proposed takeover of Synstar, the UK-owned computer maintenance-to-disaster recovery group. The transaction will not significantly alter HP's share of the IT services market, the EC ruled, noting the "significant number of global viable competitors as well as the large number of local …

Channel Register 14 Sep 2004, 07:18
GPRS prices drop 40%

More bangs per buck but still pricey

The cost of transferring data over a GPRS network has fallen by 40 per cent in Western Europe between May 2003 and August 2004. Strategy Analytics, a consultancy firm, checked the cost of moving 10Mb of data and found that prices are still too expensive for many customers. Phil Taylor, service director at Strategy Analytics, …

Mobile 14 Sep 2004, 08:37
Freedom of Information means grief for small biz

What price freedom?

Changes to UK information laws will cause big problems for small and medium businesses. The Freedom of Information Act comes into force in January 2005, and will give people access to public sector decisions, and also information held by companies which work with such institutions. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is …

Small Biz 14 Sep 2004, 09:06
MS Virtual Server hits the streets

VMWare rival

Microsoft has launched its virtualisation software - Virtual Server 2005 - which lets you run different versions of an operating system on one processor within a server. This should allow better use of server resources and subsequent savings. The software is used to automate software testing and developing, hosting legacy …

Servers 14 Sep 2004, 09:11
Poker-faced BOFH plays jokers wild

Episode 30 Upping the ante

BOFH 2004 Sometimes the offer of a junket from a vendor simply MUST be avoided. Particularly when you just know that the torture you're going to endure is not going to be outweighed by the benefits. Take, for instance, the slimy reptile who's been chasing me for a couple of days to meet him and listen to him talk about how his …

BOFH 14 Sep 2004, 09:18
Apple vs Apple: 'mind boggling' pay-out imminent - report

And that's just the lawyers' fees...

Apple Corp. and Apple Comp. - aka the Beatles and the maker of the Mac - are reported to be on the verge of ending their legal dispute over the latter's right to operate in the music market. According to a Variety magazine report that mentions "word among the legal community", the two Apples are close to reaching an out-of- …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 09:29
Compel trims losses

Sunny outlook

Compel's outlook is better than it has been "for several years. Two acquisitions, Syscap and Sysao have improved the IT services firm's position in short term IT rentals. Sir Michael Bett, chairman, said: "The general decline in our clients' and potential clients' expenditure levels drew to a halt during the period and, in some …

Channel Register 14 Sep 2004, 09:47
Myopic Congress lacks spyware focus

Analysis I (don't) SPY with my little eye

Forget Congress' myopic efforts to outlaw spyware. What we really need is better enforcement of existing computer crime laws, says SecurityFocus columnist Mark D. Rasch. In Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll's Humpty Dumpty tells Alice: "When I use a word, ... it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 09:48
Learn Solaris Systems Programming

Site Offer Save 30% on this thorough reference

Sun Microsystems' Solaris Operating Environment boasts a significant installed base, but the intricacies of programming in this UNIX environment have been unaddressed by any book…….until now. Solaris Systems Programming is a comprehensive text that Solaris practitioners will refer to time and again as they face and overcome the …

Site News 14 Sep 2004, 09:51
Sony unveils Wi-Fi multimedia Clié

Big OLED screen, 802.11b, slick design, long-running battery...

Sony will next week ship its most impressive Clié PDA yet. The PEG-VZ90 multimedia handheld features not only a slick sliding control panel, but Wi-Fi wireless connectivity and a stunning 3.8in 480 x 320 OLED screen. The display provides a contrast ratio of 1000:1, a fast response time and a 180-degree horizontal viewing …

Mobile 14 Sep 2004, 10:04
ABIT debuts holo ID stickers for mobos

Ponders withdrawing support for non-stickered product

Mobo maker ABIT is to stamp credit card-style holographic ID stickers on its products, the company said today, in a bid to end unauthorised, 'grey' imports of its motherboards. And the company is considering a move that will see owners of boards without said stickers no longer bring provided with support. From today, all ABIT …

System Builder 14 Sep 2004, 11:11
Pace wows with pay TV PVR

Subscribe, record, enjoy at leisure

One of the most exciting developments at the International Broadcasting Conference in Amsterdam at the weekend must have been UK set-top box maker Pace, bringing out what it believed was the world’s first handheld personal video recorder for pay TV. Pace Micro Technology is one of the few UK companies that is making headway in …

Personal 14 Sep 2004, 11:14
Speech recognition 'on a chip' in three years

Talk to the handheld

The US National Science Foundation has awarded a $1m grant to researchers in the US who want to put speech recognition on a chip, a move the project's proponents claim will revolutionise the way we communicate. Rob Rutenbar, Jatras professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science at Carnegie Mellon …

Science 14 Sep 2004, 11:15
Virus writers add network sniffer to worm

Hybrid risks from potent malware

Virus writers have grafted a network sniffer into the latest variant of the SDBot worm series. So far there are no reports of SDBot-UH in the wild but the inclusion of selective network sniffing along with keystroke logging features and other backdoor capabilities has security researchers worried. Sniffers are designed to …

Anti-Virus 14 Sep 2004, 11:18
MFI gets caught in SAP trap

Inventory woes lead to profit warning

Furniture retailer MFI has ditched two board members after serious problems with its SAP inventory system forced it to make a profit warning . The £50m system was supposed to turn things round for the troubled retailer but it is now facing an additional £30m bill to sort out problems with customer orders and fix the system. MFI …

Applications 14 Sep 2004, 11:19
Germans broadcast news in Klingon

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'

Those readers thinking of making their way to this year's Munich Oktoberfest to enjoy a bit a light stein-sucking are warned that the 2004 beer beano may a livelier affair than usual. Indeed, expect much guzzling of blood wine and spontaneous combat with the aD'k Tagh after German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle decided to …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 11:20
Sony Vaio music, photo player to ship next month

European debut announced

Sony will ship its Vaio-branded portable music player in Europe next month, three months after the unit's Japanese debut, the consumer electronics giant said today. The Vaio Pocket VGF-AP1's arrival comes a month after Sony has began shipping in the UK its other would-be 'iPod Killer', the hard drive-equipped Network Walkman, …

Mobile 14 Sep 2004, 11:20
Stalling net must dump TCP/IP and overlords

Action needed, report concludes

A report that looks at why adoption of the internet is stalling worldwide has concluded that major changes are needed. New governance and new protocols must be introduced, or else the net's best days will be behind it. Although it shouldn't be, today's internet is expensive and cumbersome, excluding most of the world's …

Data Networking 14 Sep 2004, 11:22
Tiscali chops off Swiss arm

Subsidiary offload continues

ISP Tiscali is selling its Swiss subsidiary to Smart Telecom SA, a Swiss internet service provider. The deal should close within seven days and Smart Telecom is paying €5.3m for the company. The sale is part of Tiscali's stated intention to get out of "non-core" markets. The ISP has already disposed of businesses in Austria, …

Telecoms 14 Sep 2004, 11:43
Sony revamps Vaio notebooks

New S2, T1, B1, A200 series

Sony today revamped its entire Vaio notebook line-up with a range of models aimed at consumer and businesses, highly mobile users and those looking for desktop replacements. The A200 series is pitched at professionals and consumers who want DVD recording facilities. All the models in the line-up feature dual-layer DVD+RW/DVD-RW …

System Builder 14 Sep 2004, 12:05
Nokia overcomes SD Card phobia

Vows to support format

Nokia will shun Secure Digital (SD) cards no longer, the company said today. It's joining the SD manufacturers' association and has vowed to support the flash media format in future products. The phone giant has preferred the MMC (MultiMediaCard) format and along with Hewlett Packard, founded the MMC initiative in 1998. …

Mobile 14 Sep 2004, 12:17
ATI syncs audio, video with Theater 550 chip

'PVR on a chip'

ATI today unveiled its latest video processing chip, the Theater 550 Pro, touting the part as a 'PVR on a chip'. However, the company's recently announced All-in-Wonder X800 XT will not leverage the new chip. The 550 Pro provides audio and video decoding on the same silicon - a first for the Theater family - which ensures …

System Builder 14 Sep 2004, 13:12
Novell reaffirms open source strategy

BrainShare Europe roundup

Novell is putting open source and identity management centre stage at its European user conference this week. The networking firm announced that Novell Open Enterprise Server (OES), which includes Novell's NetWare and SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 operating systems, as well as integrated management tools, will be available from …

Operating Systems 14 Sep 2004, 13:46
Oz mod-chip seller to take Sony to High Court

Appealing against the appeal

Australian PlayStation 2 mod-chip supplier Eddy Stevens is taking Sony to court in a bid to reverse an appeal court decision made last year which backs the consumer electronics giant's claim that such chips infringe copyright law. Stevens was originally sued by Sony in 2002, essentially for facilitating games piracy, but the …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 13:50
Reg readers sabotage their Windows boxes

And we made them do it

We now know first-hand why, say, an electric hand mixer needs a warning label advising users to switch it off before licking icing from the beaters. We recently ran a detailed article describing the default insecurity of a Windows XP Pro box with SP2 installed, and produced a long list of Windows features, components, and …

Operating Systems 14 Sep 2004, 14:13
Yahoo! snaps up Musicmatch

$160m cash purchase to propel digital music market entry

Yahoo! is to buy digital music company Musicmatch for $160m in cash, the two companies said today, to springboard the portal's own entry into the emerging online music business. Musicmatch launched in the late 1990s as a subscription service, but opened an a la carte download store last year largely in response to Apple's …

Financial News 14 Sep 2004, 14:26
UK IT heads have the outsourcing blues

Dissatisfied with results, but bravely persevere

A survey of British chief information officers reveals that 40 per cent are dissatisfied with their outsourcing projects and 11 per cent were "completely disillusioned" with their projects. Despite the dissatisfaction 49 per cent of those questioned said they were looking to outsource more projects to India in the coming year. …

IT Director 14 Sep 2004, 14:47
UK gov seeks safer web for kids

Won't somebody think of the children?

Home Office minister Paul Goggins said today that he wants to make Britain the safest place for kids to be, online and offline, and announced a new campaign to promote online child safety. Speaking at the Promoting Mobile and Internet Safety Conference, Goggins said that although technology offered many valuable services, it …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 14:51
Utah grounds low-flying Santa

No Xmas cheer for Salt Lake City

Xmas 2004 looks like being a grim affair for Salt Lake City's kids after the city's airport board decided to revoke an exemption which allows Santa Claus to fly below 2,000 feet over the city on Christmas Eve, Reuters reports. Until now, the rotund aviator was allowed to make low-level prezzie-delivery passes over Salt Lake …

Bootnotes 14 Sep 2004, 15:44
Sun downsizes revenue results

Solaris concerns and Java lawsuit loom

Sun Microsystems' latest regulatory filing revealed a wealth of information, including a revenue reduction, concerns about open-sourcing Solaris and an update on its court case with Kodak over Java. Sun has lowered its fiscal fourth quarter income by $12m from the previously reported total of $795m. Most of that gain came …

Servers 14 Sep 2004, 16:58
German MS counterfeiters sent to jail

Father and son

A German software pirate has been handed a three-year jail sentence for copyright infringement and selling counterfeit MS software after a trial lasting 18 weeks. The new jail time, handed down by the Stuttgart criminal court, is in addition to 10 months the defendant Dieter Rimmele has spent inside since his arrest. His …

Channel Register 14 Sep 2004, 17:52
Symantec labels China censor-busting software as Trojan

AV - or censorware?

Symantec has labelled a program that enables Chinese surfers to view blocked websites as a Trojan Horse. Upshot? Users of Norton Anti-Virus cannot access Freegate, a popular program which circumvents government blocks, the FT reports. Freegate has 200,000 users, Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), its developer, estimates. It …

Music and Media 14 Sep 2004, 18:10
IBM and LG endure post South Korea scandal breakup

Go your own way

IBM and LG Electronics are going their separate ways in South Korea, dissolving an eight-year pact around PC manufacturing and sales. LG IBM PC Ltd. had operated as a joint venture of the two firms with IBM holding 51 percent of the company and LG picking up the other 49 percent. By the end of this year, both firms plan to …

Financial News 14 Sep 2004, 18:28
Storage vendors capitalize on their own software hype

Q2 SRM sales surge

Storage vendors have spent years trying to convince customers about the merits of storage resource management (SRM) software. And now it looks like the brainwashing is finally starting to product some dividends. Research firm IDC noted a 17 percent rise in storage software revenue during the second quarter with vendors pulling …

Storage 14 Sep 2004, 20:04