11th October 2004 Archive

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Home Office in frame over FBI's London server seizures

Blunkett had final say on legality of request

The US seizure of two Indymedia servers in London last Thursday is likely to have needed the approval of UK Home Secretary David Blunkett, but Blunkett may have acted on tenuous legal grounds, according to a Statewatch analysis. Statewatch considers that the seizure is likely to have been made under a US-UK Mutual Legal …

Music and Media 11 Oct 2004, 06:56
How key Microsoft legal emails 'autodestruct'

Redefining document retention policies...

The latest court documents to be unsealed by Judge Frederick Motz in Burst.com's suit against Microsoft paint a picture of Microsoft document handling procedures which destroyed the very emails that were likely to be most relevant to several antitrust actions, Burst's included. According to Burst's lawyers Microsoft's status as …

Software 11 Oct 2004, 07:23
UK ID cards to be issued with first biometric passports

'Voluntary' nature of first phase now even more debatable

What's left of the 'voluntary' figleaf to the UK's ID scheme will erode in the next few months, when Home Secretary David Blunkett introduces legislation that will allow implementation of the scheme and include provision for a rolling programme to issue ID cards along with passport renewals. The new model passports are closely …

Music and Media 11 Oct 2004, 07:35
Deutsche Telekom returns internet unit to the fold

Share swap a-doo-wap

Deutsche Telekom is buying back its internet unit, spun off as a separate company in 2000. DT is offering shareholders in T-Online €8.99 in cash for each share, valuing the unit at just less than €3bn. Most share holders are expected to exchange T-Online shares for shares in Deutsche Telekom. T-Online floated in April 2000 for € …

Telecoms 11 Oct 2004, 08:18
Best Buy sells Motorola MPx220 smart phone

Launch due later this month, but on sale already

US retail chain Best Buy has begun advertising and selling Motorola's keenly anticipated Windows Mobile 2003 smart phone, the MPx220, to residents of southern California. However, Motorola isn't going to launch the handset formally until 18 October, sources familiar with the company's plans informed The Register. Spotted in …

Mobile 11 Oct 2004, 08:59
Chip biz slowdown to stretch through Q1 '05

Possibly longer, say foundry chiefs

The chip business' current slowdown will last well into Q1 2005 and possibly beyond that, foundry chiefs have warned. However, they believe the industry will pick up again once as customers' inventory correction schemes come to fruition during that period. Certainly, a number of foundry executives interviewed by Silicon …

Financial News 11 Oct 2004, 09:32
Virgin space tourists will blast off to Bowie

Ground Control to Major Tom...

The first customers of Brit entrepreneur Richard Branson's space tourism programme - dubbed Virgin Galactic - will enjoy several minutes of weightlessness to the sound of David Bowie's Space Oddity. The 1969 classic topped a poll of Virgin Radio listeners who were asked to vote on a suitable playlist for the £100,000 jaunts. …

Bootnotes 11 Oct 2004, 09:33
Parents must do more to protect kids online

Remember how much fun we had with a hoop and stick?

Parents must do more to ensure their kids are safe online, the UK internet group ISPA says. Web-savvy parents insist that their kids use the internet in a communal room, nag their children about being safe online, know who their children are talking to online, surf the net with their little treasures and ensure that their PC is …

Music and Media 11 Oct 2004, 09:39
Intel defeats AMD in court

EC anti-trust probe may not see Intel documents

AMD's attempt to persuade the US court to sanction the release of over 60,000 pages of Intel documentation to a European Commission anti-trust enquiry has failed. The documents in question were brought to court during Intel's legal battle with Intergraph. AMD believes they show its arch-rival to be guilty of anti-competitive …

PCs 11 Oct 2004, 10:09
802.11a comes out fighting

Analysis Prospects bright in the Wi-Fi arena

A year ago, many were writing off 802.11a in the home market, claiming that 802.11g had won the battle and that the 5GHz variant would only carve out a market in the enterprise, if at all. However, the ‘a’ strand of Wi-Fi is biting back in the digital home as frustration with interference problems in the overcrowded 2.4GHz band …

Wireless 11 Oct 2004, 10:20
Bloated Wi-Fi market brings out its dead

RIP AirFlow and Bermai

The shake-out in the overcrowded Wi- Fi chip market has been predicted for a year now, and it seems finally to be starting. Chipmaker Bermai has closed its doors, and there are strong reports that AirFlow is also shutting down (as well as switchmaker Legra) Two of the top four WLan chipmakers, Conexant and Atheros, recently …

Wireless 11 Oct 2004, 10:20
Creative, Dell prep iPod Mini rivals

Five colours? Pah! We're going to offer ten!

Creative is preparing a second music player to challenge Apple's iPod Mini, even as Dell is gearing up to launch against it too, reports on the web suggest. Creative's existing iPod Mini rival is the MuVo2, which it recently updated as the 5GB MuVo2 FM - offered in a range of pastel-colour casings. According to a Gizmodo …

Mobile 11 Oct 2004, 10:45
UK hosts anti-spam summit

Best practice

International anti-spam enforcement agencies are meeting in London today to work up a joint plan of action for tackling junk mail. The conference is billed as the "first international meeting of spam enforcers". Hosted by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the talking shop brings …

Spam 11 Oct 2004, 11:07
US gov targets spyware outfit

Spam King Sanford Wallace and his new venture

A company which makes software that infiltrates users' computers and demands $30 to be removed has been targeted by US authorities. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is has asked a federal court to shut down the operations of Seismic Entertainment Productions and SmartBot.Net. The FTC action was initiated after it received …

Enterprise Security 11 Oct 2004, 11:08
SMEs get Data Protection Act guide

Never forget the DPA scamsters

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published a new guide for small businesses (SMEs) concerning their responsibilities under the Data Protection Act (DPA). The guide - Getting it right - is supposed to provide a straightforward explanation of data protection and what businesses need to know to meet the requirements …

Small Biz 11 Oct 2004, 11:11
Market float for reseller consolidator

A little less conversation and a little more action

Maxima Holdings has taken over SAP reseller Azur for £16.7m. The firm intends to fund the takeover by floating on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) later this month. Maxima is a new venture set up by Kelvin Harrison and Geoff Bicknell. The firm is looking for more acquisition targets among UK reseller and service …

Channel Register 11 Oct 2004, 11:13
StorageTek seizes Storability

Lifecycle management capability play

A week or two ago witnessed yet another consolidation in the storage sector when StorageTek bought Storability to further strengthen its information lifecycle management (ILM) offerings. In a transaction for which the financial details were not revealed, StorageTek purchased the assets of Storability Software. StorageTek has …

Storage 11 Oct 2004, 11:15
Man sacked for hunting ET at work

SETI go home

A computer programmer at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services was last week sacked after running Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) software on his bosses' server, wcpo.com reports. Charles E. Smith, 63, claimed that it wasn't a problem since he was only running the SETI programme between 7pm and 7am and …

IT Director 11 Oct 2004, 11:16
Sony: PSP will ship by year's end

Panic ye not

Sony has once again reiterated its plan to ship PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Japan by the end of the year and in Europe and the US during Q1 2005. Sony Computer Entertainment CTO Masa Chatani - interviewed by Japanese gaming site Famitsu, with a translation coming courtesy of GamesIndustry.biz - said last week that the …

Consoles 11 Oct 2004, 11:34
Germans demo working quantum register

Qubits behave themselves impeccably

Physicists at the University of Bonn have successfully demonstrated a five-qubit quantum register, using neutral atoms. Registers are the central memory of a computer, in which information is stored in 1s and 0s. Neutral atoms are considered natural candidates for building a register because they can exist in an abundance of …

Science 11 Oct 2004, 13:29
Cisco offers security certification

Security SMEs get cert

Cisco is offering a new certification for resellers who sell to small and medium businesses. The Cisco Security Virtual Private Network and Firewall Express specialisation is the third programme aimed at the SME market. It is aimed at single site, or limited site, entry level network security projects. Luca Marinelli, managing …

Channel Register 11 Oct 2004, 13:55
NTL disconnects 2,000 Dubliners

'Safety issue' cuts phone lines

NTL is blaming a "safety issue" for suspending 2,000 phone lines in Dublin. Punters have already been warned of the issue and had their services unplugged. Instead, they've told to find another company to provide their telco services. In a statement the cableco said: "NTL Ireland has taken the decision to suspend its domestic …

Telecoms 11 Oct 2004, 14:01
The IT security vuln league table of fear

Top 20 threats to humanity

A list of the worst 20 security vulnerabilities bedevilling Windows and *Nix systems was unveiled last Friday by the SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute. The list, now in its fifth year, is designed to help admins to prioritise their efforts so that they can close the most dangerous security holes first. It …

Enterprise Security 11 Oct 2004, 14:04
MP3 music service draws industry fire

Update Slammed for touting unavailable but unlicensed content

A fledgling online music service targeting dance music fans this week attempted to convince the music industry that it is legitimate following complaints from a number of independent labels that the site was offering unlicensed music content. JetGroove was launched on 5 October as the "first legal service for MP3 downloads …

Music and Media 11 Oct 2004, 14:10
Nvidia pushes GeForce 6200 at value end

Doom 3 for low-end PCs

Nvidia today released its latest GeForce 6-class graphics chip, the low-end - or "mainstream", as Nvidia puts it - GeForce 6200. Like the mid-range 6600 and high-end 6800, the 6200 provides PCI Express connectivity and full support for DirectX 9, including Shader Model 3.0. Like the 6600, it uses a 128-bit memory bus, but lacks …

System Builder 11 Oct 2004, 14:30
3G must embrace TV

Television and video key to revenue

The broadcasting of television and video clips to mobile phones may be the key to 3G's success, a report claims. Research outfit Analysys has said that mobile operators offering television programming or video services over 3G may be able to generate significantly more revenues than peers that offer only voice and high-speed …

Mobile 11 Oct 2004, 14:37
Atheros unveils 'world first' 802.11a/b/g chip

Three WLAN specs, one silicon die

Wi-Fi chip maker Atheros has begun sampling what it claims is the world's first single-chip 802.11a, b and g part, the company announced today. The AR5006X combines 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio, baseband processor and MAC on a single slab of silicon. The device also provides full support for the 802.11i hardware-accelerated wireless …

Wireless 11 Oct 2004, 15:01
NASA field tests ISS robosurgeon

Remote-controlled sawbones

Four astronauts will assist in a landmark surgical procedure tomorrow which will lay the groundwork for remote surgery on astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). The operation will take place in an undersea theatre in the US, with the aid of a robot, while the surgeon will be 2000 miles away in Canada. For the …

Science 11 Oct 2004, 16:08
Wi-Fi group says 'no' to pre-standard 802.11n kit

Unlikely to trouble too many WLAN vendors

The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) today formally avowed its aversion to so-called 'pre-standard' wireless products by pledging not to certify kit featuring 802.11n technologies until the standard has been ratified by the IEEE. That's not expected to take place until November 2006, but if past versions of Wi-Fi are anything to go by, a …

Wireless 11 Oct 2004, 16:34
Phishing websites breed like rabbits

Population explosion

Websense Security Labs has issued figures showing a massive increase in phishing websites. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), the number of phishing scam websites is rising by roughly 50 per cent month on month. Phishing sites trick people into revealing confidential information such as social security numbers …

ID 11 Oct 2004, 16:34
ID thieves target enterprises

Grifters Inc.

ID thieves are going corporate. Assuming the identity of consumers to obtain loans and credit cards under assumed names has become the US's fastest growing crime. Now fraudsters are applying similar tricks against potential enterprise victims. Here's how it works. Crooks set up websites under the names of legitimate companies …

ID 11 Oct 2004, 16:47