21st October 2004 Archive

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Maxtor loss balloons on job cuts, falling ASPs

Tough Q3 for HDD maker

Maxtor, like Seagate, saw revenue rise above its expectations during its most recently completed fiscal quarter, its third, but unlike its rival better-than-anticipated sales proved insufficient to lift it out of the red. For the three months to 25 September 2004, Maxtor achieved sales of $927.2m, down 13 per cent on the same …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 08:29
eBay beats expectations

Big Q3, bumper Xmas to follow

eBay easily beat targets for the third quarter ended 30 September bringing in revenue of $805.9m rather than the $770m it expected. Revenue was up 52 per cent compared to the same period last year. Consolidated net income was $182.3m giving earnings of 27 cents per share. Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay, said: "Q3 was a …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 08:36
Swearing makes you impotent: official

We kid you effing not

Those readers who like the spoken language liberally peppered with expletives and barrack-room terminology had better clean up their act, a Russian scientist has warned, because excessive swearing causes women to turn into blokes and blokes to lose wood. The shocking revelation comes courtesy of Gennady Cheurin's team at the …

Bootnotes 21 Oct 2004, 08:44
Man flogs wedding invite on eBay

Updated Evidently not keen to attend nuptials

Let's face it - we've all been invited to functions we'd rather not attend, and weddings can often inspire a special kind of dread. There are three options open to the reluctant guest: bite you lip and turn up with a fixed grin on your face; fake a terrible car accident the week before; or sell your invitation on eBay to the …

Music and Media 21 Oct 2004, 08:45
Transmeta loss widens as revenues miss target

But big licensing deal in the wings

Transmeta yesterday restated its Q2 loss narrowing the extent to which its Q3 losses, also reported yesterday, expanded beyond the previous quarter's figure and the company missed its revenue forecast. In the three months to 24 September 2004, Transmeta lost $27.5m (16 cents a share). Some $5.8m of that were down to charged …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 08:52
Intel follows Centrino price cuts with 2.1GHz Pentium M

Say hello to the 765

Intel has added a 2.1GHz processor to its Pentium M line, the company said today, rolling out the chip as a standalone part and with the usual Centrino bundle. The Pentium M 765 is fabbed at 90nm, contains 2MB of L2 cache and runs over a 400MHz frontside bus. There's no support for Intel's Execute Disable Bit technology, the …

System Builder 21 Oct 2004, 09:17
Intel said to have set 'Sonoma' launch at 17 Jan '05

Despite delay whispers

Intel is sticking to its plan to launch 'Sonoma', the second generation of the Centrino mobile platform, in Q1 2005, despite rumours to the contrary. According to a DigiTimes report, citing sources from among Taiwan's notebook manufacturing community, the chip giant continues to tell customers that Sonoma, comprising the ' …

System Builder 21 Oct 2004, 09:39
Student-designed satellite set for space

Internet collaboration thumbs lift on commercial launch

The ESA (European Space Agency) is currently assembling pieces of a satellite that was designed and built by more than 250 students collaborating over the internet. The SSETI (Student Space Education and Technology Initiative) Express, as it is known, is slated for launch in May next year and is a technology tester for a larger …

Science 21 Oct 2004, 09:59
No Japanese pinball for Adolf Hitler

Authorities block Fuhrer-themed pachinko machine

Japan's patent office has rejected a request by pachinko machine manufacturer Fuji Shoji to grant a trademark for one of its pinball machines carrying an Adolf Hitler theme. Neither will Moses nor Abraham Lincoln brighten up the country's pachinko parlours after they too were dismissed as part of a 35-name list deemed likely to …

Bootnotes 21 Oct 2004, 10:00
Brazil cybercrime bust nets 50

Online accounts pillaged, cuffs duly deployed

Police in Brazil have arrested more than 50 people suspected of ripping off fellow Brazilians for $30m through internet fraud. The group are alleged to have raided online banking accounts after infecting victim's PCs with a "virus able to store details of people's internet bank accounts”, the BBC reports. Brazil was described …

ID 21 Oct 2004, 10:03
Intel puts back 90nm P4EE to Q1 '05 - report

First desktop 7xx part to accompany 6xx series chips

Intel has put back the release of its first 90nm Pentium 4 Extreme Edition chip to Q1 2005, according to claims made by Taiwanese PC vendor sources. The chip, set to debut at 3.73GHz, was until recently roadmapped for a late Q4 2004 arrival after the release of the 3.63GHz P4EE. While the slower part will see the introduction …

System Builder 21 Oct 2004, 10:19
Samsung X10 Plus slimline notebook

Review Samsung tackles Sony, Toshiba on style

There's something about being able to carry all the computing power you need in your bag that's quite compelling. And although I can fully appreciate the merits of a high-power desktop replacement machine, it tends to be the slim and light notebooks that always catch my eye. Models like the Sony VAIO VGN-S1VP and the Toshiba …

Reviews 21 Oct 2004, 10:42
Introducing the Nitepalm Palm4 LED torch

Cash'n'Carrion Plenty of lumens for your bucks

Today marks a further expansion of our range of torches with the introduction of the delightful Nitepalm Palm4 LED flashlight. The facts are these: The Nitepalm Palm4 uses a super intensity, white LED, which throws a beam of light some 90 feet through a fish eye lens and protective translucent, rubber lens cap. However, this is …

Site News 21 Oct 2004, 10:44
iRiver ships Linux portable media players

PMP series arrive ahead of firm's Microsoft Media Center-based offerings

iRiver has formally introduced its Linux-based Portable Media Player (PMP) family in the UK. The device maker also said this week that it has cut the price of its H series colour digital music players. The PMP-120 and PMP-140, each equipped with a 20GB and a 40GB 1.8in hard drive, respectively, provide MP3, ASF, WMA and WAV …

Mobile 21 Oct 2004, 11:09
Fibre-provider lights up UK network

Geo punts access to British business

Hutchison-Whampoa is backing the launch of Geo which sells access to its fibre optic network to British businesses. Geo claims five customers, including "3", and is offering straight access to the infrastructure, rather than managed services. The firm predicts the UK market for such fibre will be worth £1.3bn by 2008. It …

Telecoms 21 Oct 2004, 11:35
A bumper crop of browser glitches

Patches required for Firefox, Opera, Konqueror and IE

Users of IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Konqueror all need to patch their browsers or implement workarounds this week following the release of a "full house" of internet client bug reports. The most serious risk comes from a brace of IE security bugs which could be exploited to take over victim's systems. One of the vulns, a …

Security 21 Oct 2004, 11:41
US cops taser battling granny

Sparky OAP floored

A South Carolina police officer is under investigation for zapping a 75-year-old granny with a Taser. The stun gun can fire its wire-trailing darts into anyone within 20 feet and delivers an electric shock of up to 50,000 volts to the miscreant. The police officer, a mere stripling of 35, was called to a nursing home where the …

Bootnotes 21 Oct 2004, 11:54
Grand Theft Auto sequel leaked onto web

San Andreas slips out

First Halo 2, now the latest installment of the Grand Theft Auto series has leaked out onto the web, just days before its official launch. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' developer, Rockstar - the company behind the controversial Manhunt - said it would "diligently and aggressively" pursue the source of the leak and warned that …

Consoles 21 Oct 2004, 11:56
Indymedia: the tale of the servers 'nobody' seized

Home Office now also in denial

Nobody seized Indymedia's servers, apparently. On the 7th October hosting company Rackspace 'acted in compliance' with a court order and two servers belonging to Indymedia were removed from Rackspace's premises in London. But the denials of involvement roll in, the latest coming from UK Home Office minister Caroline Flint, …

Music and Media 21 Oct 2004, 13:27
Eclipse approves BIRT

But will it only be good for Actuate?

The Eclipse Foundation has approved the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools project, which goes by the rather prosaic (with apologies to all Alberts out there) acronym of BIRT. This was proposed by Actuate just a month ago and, after a positive response from the open source community to which the Eclipse Foundation caters …

Developer 21 Oct 2004, 13:41
Lucent posts full-year profits

Net income more than tripled

Telecoms equipment maker Lucent has reported its first profitable year since 2000, the firm said yesterday. The US-based firm posted net income of $348m for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, more than tripling its net income figure of $99m from the previous year. Earnings per share for the quarter ending in September were …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 13:42
Sage acquires profits

Aquisitions bring in cash

Accounts specialist Sage is likely to beat expectations for the year ended 30 September, although it won't post full results until 1 December. Sage said profits were now likely to be around £180m against the £177m predicted by analysts, according to Reuters. Group revenues grew by 29 per cent to £688m. Sales grew fastest in the …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 13:45
Avis £30m ERP system crashes and burns

Terminate with extreme prejudice

Car rental firm Avis watched its shares crash ten per cent yesterday on news that it was binning an expensive new ERP system. Shares recovered slightly today but are still worth about half what they were late last year. The company said it was ditching a planned ERP system at a cost of about £30m. The system was meant to help …

IT Director 21 Oct 2004, 13:46
Cetacean community thwarted in Dubya sonar suit

Court rules against Flipper et al

The world's cetacean community - encompassing dolphins, porpoises and whales - has been dealt a severe blow in its fight to sue president George Bush over the US Navy's use of sonar, Reuters reports. Three judges at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declared that animals had not yet been given the right to sue, …

Science 21 Oct 2004, 13:49
Operators announce mobile classification board

ICSTIS subsidiary to classify adult content

UK mobile operators have finally announced the body that will regulate and classify adult content available on mobile phones. The specially formed organisation - called the Independent Mobile Classification Body (IMCB) - is an independent and separately-financed subsidiary or the premium rate regulator, ICSTIS. In January this …

Mobile 21 Oct 2004, 14:54
Campaign warns of software patent menace

FFII-UK launches 'Project Innovation'

The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII-UK) has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangers posed by software patents, particularly to smaller businesses. The campaign, Protect Innovation will target the government and businesses. As a first step, the organisers are inviting companies to send …

Developer 21 Oct 2004, 15:00
Viruses leap through window of opportunity

AV scanners left standing

Mass mailing viruses could be consigned to the dustbin of history if only anti-virus vendors were quicker off the mark. Findings presented by security experts at the recent Virus Bulletin Conference in Chicago show that reducing the ‘window of vulnerability’ between the release of a virus and the availability of fixes could …

Anti-Virus 21 Oct 2004, 15:03
Apple issues critical alert for iMac G5 owners

Don't move your machine until you've read this

It's generally accepted that Mac users are more tech savvy, more attractive to the opposite sex and just plain more intelligent than the average computer user. Or so we thought. It appears, though, that some iMac G5 owners need a few pointers as to how to transport their kit from one place to another. Nothing too technical, …

Bootnotes 21 Oct 2004, 16:01
Music sales rise despite RIAA's best efforts

We need to suffer!

There are no stranger beasts in the business world than the major music labels. Only these creatures, represented by their legal attack dog the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), would apply an excusatory tone to the release of product shipment figures that show a significant increase in sales. Where other …

Music and Media 21 Oct 2004, 16:58
Ballmeromics: the hardware way to end software piracy

As always, he's totally Ballmer...

Steve Ballmer this week came up with a novel explanation for high levels of software piracy in emerging economies. Hardware, he says, is too expensive. What these people need, he said, is a "$100 computer." We at The Register have had occasion previously to observe that Steve is rich and we are not because he can see things …

Software 21 Oct 2004, 17:18
Google finally fixes Desktop security vuln

Staff: 'Gone phishing'

The first flaw in Google's Desktop Search product has been discovered, and now fixed, according to the giant ad broker. The JavaScript vulnerability allowed third party websites to view the results of searches made on your local hard drive. It took Google four days to address the problem, and according to the Javascript expert …

Enterprise Security 21 Oct 2004, 23:07
Scientists slice graphite into atom-thick sheets

Turn it sideways and it vanishes

An international team of scientists has made a new material just one atom thick, by extracting a single plane of carbon from a graphite crystal. Known as graphene, the new fabric effectively exists in just two dimensions, and could pave the way for computers built from single molecules. In the latest edition of Science, …

Science 21 Oct 2004, 23:29
Microsoft cruises in Q1

Ups forecast on rosy server revenues

Microsoft continued to pump out plenty of cash in its core businesses and managed to cut losses in underperforming units during its first quarter. The software maker posted $9.2bn in revenue during the period - a rise of 12 per cent over last year's Q1 revenue total of $8.22bn. As always, Microsoft cleared a handsome profit as …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 23:32
Sauce settlement sours Google results

It's a one-off

As expected, Google's first quarter as a publically-traded company was its best yet, with the ad broker raking in revenues of $805.8m in the three months ending 30 September. But the cost of settling its patent dispute over core technology with arch-rival Yahoo! took the shine off the results. The deal, which went in Yahoo's …

Financial News 21 Oct 2004, 23:56