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26th October 2004 Archive

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  • PalmOne updates Tungsten T5 firmware

    Glitch-fix coming for XDA II, too

    PalmOne has released its first firmware update for the recently released Tungsten T5 PDA. The 15MB download fixes a number of issues that affect the handheld's "performance and reliability", the company said. Specifically, it addresses "a problem in the Calendar that can cause a crash when the default view is changed from …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2004, 08:36

  • Cassini gives Iapetus a wide berth

    Reducing uncertainty

    The Cassini probe will not pass as close to the moon Iapetus as originally planned because of fears that the flyby will disturb the path of the $3.3bn space craft en route to Titan. Scientists have now tweaked the route so that Cassini will pass Iapetus from a greater, and therefore safer, distance, The Denver Post reports. …

    Science 26 Oct 2004, 08:44

  • Nvidia ups Q3 sales forecast

    Demand boost for mid-range GeForce 6 chips

    Nvidia yesterday increased its Q3 revenue forecast from $470-502m to $510-515, up to 8.5 per cent higher than it had previously predicted and up to 12.9 per cent above Q2's sales. The graphics chip maker attributed the increase to stronger than anticipated demand for its products, in particular its GeForce 6 series members, the …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2004, 09:20

  • Lastminute.com chairman calls it quits

    Cheerio

    Lastminute.com chairman Allan Leighton is leaving the one-time dotcom darling in January after four years in the job. Mr Leighton is to be replaced by fellow board member Brian Collie, who is currently a main director on the board of UK airport group BAA responsible. He recently announced he would be leaving BAA around the end …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2004, 09:38

  • Burt Rutan takes a V2-powered wander down memory lane

    X-Prize victor remembers von Braun

    Aviation pioneer Burt Rutan has been fondly remembering on the BBC his childhood hero - German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. The X-Prize victor recently hooked up with two surviving members of von Braun's V2 team and admitted that von Braun's dreams of space travel had inspired him on his own quest to escape Earth's …

    Science 26 Oct 2004, 09:44

  • Hynix bullish despite Q3 sales, income slip

    Forecasts 'high profit margins' ahead

    Hynix's third quarter proved less successful than its record-setting second, the semiconductor company admitted yesterday. Revenue fell eight per cent, from KRW1.65bn ($1.49bn) in Q2 to KRW1.54bn ($1.36bn). Net income was down 15 per cent, from Q2's KRW625bn ($550m) to KRW530bn ($467m). Despite the sequential dip, year on year …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2004, 09:44

  • Chip capex set to fall in 2005 - analyst

    Downturn to segue into slump?

    Spending on new chip-making equipment will fall next year - or, at the very best, match 2004's level - according to a new forecast from market watcher IC Insights. The latest prediction effectively reverses the seven per cent growth the researcher had previously said it expected to see through 2005. Now, says IC Insights, 2005 …

    Channel Register 26 Oct 2004, 10:05

  • Ofcom probes O2 billing blunder claims

    Not-so-free minutes

    O2 - the UK mobile operator that's prepared to go to court if anyone messes with its bubbles - is once again fending off allegations that it has been ripping off its punters. In September, O2 was forced to dismiss allegations that its billing system was up the creek and that it was overcharging customers of its mobile phone …

    Telecoms 26 Oct 2004, 10:41

  • EC greenlights Oracle's PeopleSoft bid

    Monti's swansong is sweet music for Ellison

    The European Commission is set to approve Oracle's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft and official confirmation is likely later today. Mario Monti, due to retire as Competition Commissioner at the end of the month, is to give the go-ahead for the $7.7bn takeover. It is believed that the EC concluded that the courts would not …

    Applications 26 Oct 2004, 10:45

  • The public sector's FOI Act challenge

    Must cultivate culture of openness

    The "deadline" for implementation of the UK Freedom of Information Act is January 2005. What does this mean? The public sector, widely defined to include educational organisations, Government agencies, "Quangos" and other extended tentacles of Government have to be in a position to respond to prescribed requests for information …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2004, 11:00

  • Hacking: the must-have business tool

    Give yourself a competitive advantage

    Your competitor has a wildly successful web-based tool which is being used by many of your customers. Do you (A) give up and get out of the business; (B) set up a team of product developers to make a competing product; or (C) hack into the competitor's website, steal the code, and for good measure hire their critical employees …

    Enterprise Security 26 Oct 2004, 11:19

  • Blunkett poised to open ID scheme offensive tomorrow

    Answer to HAC imminent, says Blair

    David Blunkett is to publish his response to the Home Affairs Committee's heavily critical report on his ID card scheme tomorrow, Tony Blair said at his monthly press conference yesterday. The HAC report found very little positive to say about the scheme, but bafflingly concluded that "the Government has made a convincing case …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2004, 11:21

  • Porn pumps the wireless net

    Whooooar! Check out the sales figures on that

    The market for porn and other adult content on handsets will grow to around $90m in the US and $1bn globally by 2008, according to a study by analysts Yankee Group published yesterday. Yankee reckons that many carriers are true prudish and risk missing out on a slice of the lucrative market because of misplaced fears. Child …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2004, 11:22

  • WTF? A new black t-shirt?

    Cash'n'Carrion More snappy apparel from TechnoDepot

    We have a lot to thank the internet for - access to information; fast mass communication; and a whole rack of snappy abbreviations designed to take the fingerwork out of IM and email. Suitably inspired by the latter, the cheeky chappies down at TechnoDepot have decided to celebrate the highly-popular WTF? on a premium, 100 per …

    Site News 26 Oct 2004, 12:03

  • C&W flogs Japanese biz

    IDC not a 'good strategic fit'

    UK telco Cable and Wireless is to flog its Japanese business - Cable & Wireless IDC Inc. (IDC) - to Japanese internet and telecoms outfit Softbank for £72.4m. Although C&W reckons IDC is a "sound business operating in a highly competitive market", it reckons that it is not a "good strategic fit" as it continues to focus on its " …

    Telecoms 26 Oct 2004, 12:06

  • Wi-Fi Alliance certifies first converged kit

    Nice toys, but where's the business plan?

    As the Wi-Fi Alliance announces the first standards-certified dual-mode Wi-Fi/cellular products, there are such high expectations of the devices that many are ignoring the fact that few have yet worked out a business model. The Alliance has initiated a Wi-Fi/Cellular Convergence taskgroup focused on “identifying and meeting the …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2004, 12:26

  • Broadband wireless threatens 3G voice ambitions

    VoIP poised to strike

    Calculations of the threat to 3G revenues from broadband wireless have focused mainly on data, but as some 3G carriers put voice in a more central position in their strategies, they could find that route roadblocked too. The third generation UMTS and CDMA technologies may have been the first to promise both voice and broadband- …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2004, 13:51

  • Philips 755 mobile phone

    Review Will you take to 'Tag it'?

    With so many manufacturers making mobile phones, companies have to come up with more and more inventive ways to make you to want to choose their models over their competitors' products. To that end, we've seen a whole host of new technologies that even five years ago, you would have judged to be preposterous, writes Stuart Miles …

    Reviews 26 Oct 2004, 14:41

  • Swansea IT strike action off

    Council 'pleased' at ballot result

    A widespread strike in Swansea in support of IT workers has been called off after council union members voted not to go ahead with industrial action Council services would have been hammered if the three one-day strikes - due to begin this week - had gone ahead. Instead, workers voted yesterday not to proceed and agreed to call …

    IT Director 26 Oct 2004, 14:49

  • EDS suffers US Navy broadside

    Delays earnings announcement pending damage assessment

    Services behemoth EDS has delayed posting its accounts until 3 November while it tries to work out how much damage it suffered from its disasterous US Navy project. The $8bn deal has already forced EDS into making a profit warning. The firm's accountants KPMG are working out the value of $700m of assets connected to the project …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2004, 14:56

  • Insecurity begins at home

    Complacent users under spyware and virus attack

    Spyware is rife and virus infection commonplace yet many home users reckon they are safe from online threats. An AOL/National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Online Safety Study - conducted by technical experts in the homes of 329 typical dial-up and broadband computer users across the US - found that most computer users think …

    Malware 26 Oct 2004, 15:01

  • Airespace extends WLAN switch line to SMEs

    All the security, management features, for fewer APs

    WLAN switch maker Airespace today extended its enterprise-oriented product line downmarket with a new wireless network controller pitched at small to medium-sized businesses. The Airespace 3500 provides the same access point, security and radio coverage capabilities as the company's more corporate-oriented boxes, but controls …

    Data Networking 26 Oct 2004, 15:22

  • Oxford enjoys wireless broadband trial

    iBurst set for wider deployment

    The latest broadband wireless technology to go on trial in the UK is ArrayComm’s iBurst, which is being tested in Oxford prior to a potential expansion by Personal Broadband Australia (PBA). ArrayComm announced in June that it would trial the broadband network around Oxford, and the tests are now in motion. The network is being …

    Telecoms 26 Oct 2004, 15:33

  • Lime-sucking Brits absorb heavy US flak

    Letters 1776 and all that

    The Guardian's letter writing campaign, whereby concerned Brits could write to undecided US voters in swing states in a bid to persuade them against voting for Bush, was probably not the greatest idea of all time. More supporting evidence follows: I'm a real admirer of The Register's even-handedness (unusual in an IT industry …

    Letters 26 Oct 2004, 15:44

  • Judge bins Florida paper trail challenge

    Rules voters' rights 'adequately protected'

    US Representative Robert Wexler (Democrat, Florida) has lost a bid to require voting machines to create a voter-verifiable paper trail. Citing equal protection statutes, the Wexler team argued that those Florida districts with touch screen machines would be at a comparative disadvantage if a re-count were required. And raising …

    Public Sector 26 Oct 2004, 15:51

  • Four million email addresses: yours for £29.95

    London mail-order service for wannabe spammers

    A technology lawyer is warning Register readers that a 'too-good-to-be-true' email is in fact too-good-to-be-true. The missive offers 4.6m email addresses on an "Unbelievable Secrets" CD for £29.95 along with bulk mail software that can send "30,000+ emails per hour". Straun Robertson, an IT lawyer at solicitors Masons, said …

    Spam 26 Oct 2004, 16:05

  • Spam monitors clock increase in 'Rolex' junk mail

    Online Del Trotters on the make

    Offers for cheap "Rolex" watches are beginning to eclipse Viagra pills in spam emails. Over the last month, UK-based security software firm Sophos reports a threefold increase in the number of junk emails referencing Rolex. Junk mail referencing Rolex detected by the firm increased from two to six per cent this month. "Spammers …

    Spam 26 Oct 2004, 16:25

  • Oracle can buy PeopleSoft: official

    Merger-mania ahoy!

    In one of Competition Commissioner Mario Monti's final acts before he retires at the end of the week he has officially approved Oracle's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. The European Commission was originally concerned that the takeover would damage competiveness in the market for enterprise software for big businesses. After …

    Applications 26 Oct 2004, 16:28

  • 80 per cent of home PCs infected - survey

    Billg's proud legacy

    The Internet is well on its way to becoming one vast bot net, a survey by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance suggests. Researchers interviewed, and examined the computers of, 329 volunteers. They found that nearly all Windows PCs are infected with some form of malware, and that a majority of users are unaware of the …

    Malware 26 Oct 2004, 19:59

  • Apple unveils color photo iPod

    Quid Pro Bono?

    As expected, Apple has extended its successful iPod music player to carry and display your photos. Two new iPod Photo models, slightly heavier than the regular iPod, and with a color screen and support for an AV cable that allows the photos and albums stored on the iPod to be displayed on a TV screen, were added to the line-up …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2004, 21:42