24th September 2004 Archive

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Autumn offers at the Reg Mobile Shop

Site offer Including the Nokia 6310i and HP iPAQ h5550

from the Reg Mobile Store This month's featured dozen from the Reg Mobile Shop is led by the Nokia 6310i (pictured) which we can offer readers at the discounted autumn price of 242.03 inc VAT. And if a new mobe doesn't tickle your fancy, there's plenty more where that came from. Read on: Nokia 6310i (Silver) Tri-Band + …

Site News 24 Sep 2004, 08:54
Thus shares nosedive over gloomy forecast

Tough trading conditions, predatory pricing blamed

Shares in Thus nosedived 30 per cent in early trading this morning after warning that profits will be down on last year. The alternative telco behind the Demon internet brand blamed tough trading conditions and predatory pricing from rivals for the gloomy forecast. Revenue growth for the first half (H1) of the year was strong …

Financial News 24 Sep 2004, 09:39
IT bosses are storage addicts who can't stop themselves

Storage buyers need help, not capacity

Hardware suppliers are taking advantage of overworked customers to sell them storage they may not actually need, says a study published by CSF, the UK technology services outfit. The research found that 80 per cent of IT directors admit to buying more storage as a quick fix, to avoid the pain of trying to get more from their …

Storage 24 Sep 2004, 09:40
EU software patents directive delayed - again

Less action, more talk

The debate on European patent law has been rekindled, but the pendulum may be swinging against those groups who favour Union-wide adoption of software patents, says electricnew.net's Ciaran Buckley. The Greens/EFA Group of the European Parliament has announced that the EU's Competitiveness Council, which was to work on the …

Developer 24 Sep 2004, 10:26
Busy month for JBoss

Application server frenzy

September has been a busy month for JBoss with three significant announcements. JBoss describes itself as the professional open source company and its core product is JBoss Application Server. Open source is initially attractive because it is free to download and deploy. However the cost of the software is normally only a small …

Developer 24 Sep 2004, 10:47
Ofcom intervenes in telephone 'slamming' row

BT customer migration punch-up continues

Ofcom has been forced to intervene in an industry row concerning the transfer of customers between telcos. Phone providers such as Centrica want to make it easier for people to ditch BT and take up their rival services. BT wants to ensure that customers who leave the telco are not the victims of mis-selling or "slamming". …

Telecoms 24 Sep 2004, 10:48
Iomega waves goodbye to 145 staff

Son of Clik costs dear

Iomega is waving goodbye to 145 staffers and temps - a quarter of its workforce. The cuts will cost it $5m-$7m in severance payments and property get-outs. But it expects to save $30m-$35m a year from the move. Most of the axed jobs comes from Iomega's recently-abandoned digital capture technology (DCT) development programme. …

Storage 24 Sep 2004, 11:27
Yachties get all-in-one DSL- wi-fi service

Ahoy there

Square Mile International - a global wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) which serves the yachting community by running hotspots in marinas - has teamed up with Pipex and BT to offer broadband...well...just about everywhere. Through a single bill and subscription, punters can get broadband in ther homes, on board their …

Wireless 24 Sep 2004, 11:30
Invasion of the identity snatchers

They're coming. Don't fall asleep

Last year I was the victim of identity theft, a sobering reality in today's world. An unscrupulous criminal managed to social engineer his way past the formidable security checks and balances provided by my credit card company, my bank, and one of my investment accounts. He methodically researched my background and personal …

ID 24 Sep 2004, 11:32
MS fires armour-piercing suit at 'bullet-proof' spam host

We're comin' at ya!

Microsoft has fired off nine new lawsuits against spammers including an action against a web hosting firm that allegedly offered so-called "bullet proof" hosting to junk mailers. National Online Sales and its owner Levon Gillespie are jointly accused of offering a "safe haven" for purveyors of get-rich-quick schemes and penis …

Spam 24 Sep 2004, 11:47
Readers love mobiles in church; hate mobiles on planes

Letters More from the Reg postbag

Mobile phone etiquette dominates the letters bag today; from Mexican churches that have moved to jam phone signals, to a company that wants to enable mobile phone use on planes. Neither idea is particularly popular with readers of El Reg: Nice idea - until passers-by can't get a signal because the jamming spills out of the …

Letters 24 Sep 2004, 11:51
BOFH: What to do when the Boss gets touchy-feely

Episode 32 Inappropriate behaviour

BOFH 2004 "I'M NOT A SIMPLEMINDED BLOODY IDIOT YOU KNOW!" the Boss shouts. "MMmmmff," the PFY responds, getting a mouthful of the book I'm holding before he can say something he'll regret. Well, something that the Boss will regret. Actually, something the Boss won't understand, ask for clarification for, get annoyed about, do …

BOFH 24 Sep 2004, 11:58
Missing galaxies puzzle scientists

Where'd all the plasma come from?

The latest Ultra Deep Field images from Hubble, pictures of ancient, star -forming galaxies, have left scientists with a bit of a problem. There aren't nearly as many galaxies as theories predict there should be. The analysis of Hubble's data was carried out by a team of UK researchers led by Dr Andrew Bunker at the University …

Science 24 Sep 2004, 13:46
Centrica buys Telco Global for £43m

Gains 250k punters

Centrica, the giant outfit behind the One.Tel and British Gas Communications telecoms brands,has forked out £43m to acquire Telco Holdings Ltd. Operating under the Telco Global brand, Enfield-based Telco Holdings has 238,000 residential fixed lines customers, 11,000 business customer and around 10,000 mobile business users. …

Telecoms 24 Sep 2004, 13:59
Now we are 8 (and this token proves it)

False sense of security for sprouts

VeriSign announced a new USB token that verifies the ages and sexes of children using a computer, and claimed that this will make it easier for innocent sprouts to avoid online predators, Reuters reports. "Chatroom lurkers who can't prove their age will stick out like sore thumbs as more kids adopt the tokens," the wire service …

ID 24 Sep 2004, 14:02
MS tweaks volume licensing

Some changes, and a new website

Microsoft has made some changes to the terms of its volume licensing agreements, a move it says will give customers more flexibility and choice. The Enterprise Step-up promotion is to become a permanent feature of the company's licensing offering. Step-up allows some of Microsoft's enterprise customers to move from Standard …

Applications 24 Sep 2004, 15:05
Boffin hits it big with breast-enlarging ringtone

Dial M for mammaries

Long-term readers will certainly recall the heartwarming tale of mammarily-challenged student Michel, the US lass who launched an online appeal to raise cash for surgery to transform her "itty-bitty boobies to big tatas!" Well, she needn't have bothered, because a Japanese man has developed a breast-augmenting ringtone which …

Bootnotes 24 Sep 2004, 15:06
EU to approve Oracle takeover - reports

Nothing decided yet, says EU

The European Union is set to approve Oracle's hostile $7.7bn takeover of enterprise apps vendor PeopleSoft, according to Reuters and the Financial Times, both of which cite unnamed sources. According to FT, European Union competition commissioner Mario Monti is expected to give the deal the green light before he steps down from …

Applications 24 Sep 2004, 15:35
Jowell waves through BBC Technology sale

'No legitimate reason' to block deal

The sale of BBC Technology to Siemens is to go ahead after Culture Minister Tessa Jowell said she had "no legitimate reason" to block the sale. A letter approving the privatisation of BBC Technology and the transfer of 1,400 staff has been sent to the BBC. Siemens is expected to take over ownership on October 1. Gerry …

IT Director 24 Sep 2004, 16:21
Galaxies rent asunder in huge cosmic collision

There goes the no-claims bonus

An international team of astronomers has observed the perfect cosmic storm: the most powerful collision of two galactic clusters ever recorded. The scientists who discovered the collision likened it to two high-pressure weather fronts colliding to create hurricane-like conditions. Only in this case, whole galaxies can be thrown …

Science 24 Sep 2004, 16:23
JPEG exploit toolkit spotted online

DIY buffer overflow assault

A toolkit designed to exploit a recently-disclosed Microsoft JPEG vulnerability has been released onto the net. The toolkit (screen shot from AV firm F-Secure here) makes it trivially easy for maliciously-minded attackers, however unskilled they might be, to exploit unpatched Windows systems and run malicious code. The attack …

Security 24 Sep 2004, 16:32
Fiorina: HP's SAP disaster under control

All's well that ends

HP Chief Carly Fiorina has assured financial analysts that last quarter's server and storage ordering system fiasco is truly a thing of the past. Fiorina, addressing yesterday a Banc of America Securities conference in San Francisco, promised that HP has made its way through a stunning order backlog and that all squeaky wheels …

Servers 24 Sep 2004, 16:56
So what is it about Win2k security MS won't enhance?

Expect clarification soonest

If you want the 'security enhancements' of Windows XP SP2 but you're running an earlier version of Windows, then you're going to have to upgrade, Microsoft has been confirming to the public prints this week. Despite this being highly significant for the many companies still running Windows 2000, Microsoft has been confirming it …

Operating Systems 24 Sep 2004, 16:59
HP knifes Itanium, cans IA-64 workstations

The boat that refuses to float loses star passenger

Intel has lost the biggest customer for its ailing Itanium chip: Hewlett Packard's workstation division. HP is instead opting for total commitment to the 64-bit x86 chip market. "In working with and listening to our high-performance workstation partners and customers, we have become aware that the focus in this arena is being …

Servers 24 Sep 2004, 19:22
Red Hat opens losing propaganda offensive against Sun

Opinion Tiemann's diaper must be changed

Heaven help us all - there's a blog battle being waged between Red Hat's chief cheerleader Michael Tiemann and Sun Microsystems' President Jonathan Schwartz. It appears that Sun's recent rampage against Red Hat - most vociferously delivered via Schwartz's blog - has Tiemann's undies creeping toward an uncomfortable place. This …

Software 24 Sep 2004, 21:39