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8th November 2004 Archive

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  • Tesco opens digital music store

    Downloads earn loyalty points

    UK retail giant Tesco today launched itself into the digital music market today with a Windows-only "instant music" offering pitched against rival services from Woolworths, HMV, Virgin and others. The service covers the UK and Ireland, and currently offers up to 400,000 songs from major labels and indies at 79p a throw. Albums …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2004, 10:44

  • BT shells out £520m for Infonet

    Global data network tie-up

    BT is to buy US-based international data network outfit Infonet in a deal worth £520m ($965m). Once given the regulatory thumbs up and approval by shareholders, the deal is expected to give an almighty boost to BT's Global Services division, which provides ICT services to companies in 136 countries. Much of BT Global Services …

    Financial News 8 Nov 2004, 11:02

  • One standard, one Microsoft - how the NHS sold its choice

    Analysis Uk.gov locks itself in for a generation

    Last week the UK's National Health Service announced a landmark licensing deal with Microsoft, trumpeting savings of £330 million over the lifespan of the agreement. And what a sweet deal it was - for Microsoft. The NHS, the "largest procurer of IT services in the world" is now locked into Windows and Microsoft Office for nine …

    Public Sector 8 Nov 2004, 11:17

  • ATI unveils integrated, discrete Radeon Xpress chipsets

    Targets Athlon 64, Sempron

    ATI today formally launched its Radeon Xpress 200 series of chipsets, as anticipated, formerly known as the RS480 and RX480. Initially targeting AMD's Athlon 64 and Sempron processors, the Radeon Xpress 200 and 200P equip the chip with PCI Express support and, in the case of the 200, DirectX 9 graphics, with both vertex shader …

    System Builder 8 Nov 2004, 11:23

  • Pub landlord secures Vulcan for £15k

    Selection of fine ales, beer garden, nuclear bomber

    A pub landlord from Dukinfield, Cheshire has secured Avro Vulcan XL391 with a winning bid of £15,102.03. Christopher Ollerenshaw will display the beast outside the Snipe Inn after winning the eBay auction for the Cold War relic. XL391 has spent the last 20 years or so gradually rotting away at Blackpool airport. Former owner …

    Bootnotes 8 Nov 2004, 11:23

  • Titan hangs on to its secrets

    Surface images reveal much, but not all

    Cassini's close fly-by of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has left scientists with no clear idea of what to expect when the Huygens probe lands on the alien world, despite the amazingly detailed images they now have of the surface. Pictures from Cassini's fly-by revealed clearly delineated areas of dark and light on the moon's …

    Science 8 Nov 2004, 11:45

  • Nokia bows to cellcos in midrange

    Pursues new markets

    In a major preview of its strategy for 2005, Nokia seems to be giving up the battle with operators in its core midrange handset business, but compensating by chasing a host of new markets where it can attain its accustomed levels of dominance. Plans outlined at its Capital Markets Day last week sounded, on the one hand, like a …

    Mobile 8 Nov 2004, 11:50

  • Novell aims Linux at corporate desktops

    Tactical assault

    Novell aims to put Linux on more enterprise desktops with the launch of a version of the open source OS tailored to business users. Novell Linux Desktop 9 is promoted as a way for organisations to avoid single-vendor lock-in of their desktop systems. Novell does not rule out general replacement of Windows and other proprietary …

    Operating Systems 8 Nov 2004, 11:59

  • Cisco rethinks 802.16

    Is sceptical of WiMAX

    Having joined the WiMAX Forum recently, and made no secret of its desire to acquire an 802.16 specialist, Cisco is now having doubts. Its CTO Charles Giancarlo told the Next Generation Networks conference in Boston last week that his company has "not invested in WiMAX" beyond providing backbone infrastructure for potential WiMAX …

    Wireless 8 Nov 2004, 12:08

  • LLU is 'uneconomic', says Energis

    Won't invest in local loop

    Energis has ruled out a nationwide investment in local loop unbundling (LLU), because, it says, the figures don't stack up. In the summer the alternative floated the idea that it might install its kit in BT exchanges and provide telecoms services direct to end users. But today the company ruled out plans to invest in LLU, …

    Telecoms 8 Nov 2004, 12:26

  • Brits roll out jam-busting airtaxi

    Not quite a flying car, but close

    Things have been a little quiet of late on the flying car scene, and we appear to be no closer to a Moller M400 on the front drive than we were a couple of years back when we first reported on the Transport of the Future™ Despite the hype, we've been waiting fifty years for visionaries to come good on their promise of the …

    Science 8 Nov 2004, 12:28

  • 'See through clothes' scanner gets outing at Heathrow

    Oh, that is a gun in your pocket...

    A security scanner that sees through clothes and produces a nude image of passengers has made its debut in a trial at Heathrow Terminal 4, according to a report in the Sunday Times. And was it just the other week we we were saying, "We'll save what happens when people learn these have gone in at an airport for another day"? Yes …

    Policing 8 Nov 2004, 13:39

  • uSwitch unveils broadband service checker

    Punters face 'choice and confusion'

    Uswitch, the UK utilities price comparison service, is running the calculator over broadband service providers. With more than a hundred ISPs providing all sorts of packages at different speeds and prices, uSwitch reckons its service will help customers navigate the maze of operators and tariffs on offer. Based on information …

    Telecoms 8 Nov 2004, 13:41

  • Aussie 419 ringleader jailed for four years

    Mastermind scammed AU$5m

    An Australian 419 fraudster who conned AU$5m from his victims was today jailed for four years on 10 counts of fraud and one of perverting the course of justice by the NSW District Court theage.com.au reports. Judge Mahoney said that a substantial deterrent sentence was called for, and duly banged up 40-year-old Nick Marinellis …

    Spam 8 Nov 2004, 13:48

  • Small businesses improving email security

    Virus-infected emails rarer

    Email security is improving among small businesses, according to VIA NET.WORKS. The hosting provider notes the number of infected emails is dropping, despite a rise in new viruses. Small businesses have often been blamed for proliferating viruses, usually because many lack security expertise. Earlier this year a survey by the …

    Small Biz 8 Nov 2004, 14:16

  • 3 lines up three phones from Motorola

    Symbian-based A1000 pitched at business buyer

    UK 3G network 3 will be offering three new Motorola handsets in the run-up to Christmas, the company has said. The A1000 is pitched at the smart phone market and business users in particular. The Symbian-based handset sports 24MB of user-accessible memory, and ships with a PDF and Microsoft Office-compatible file-viewer for …

    Mobile 8 Nov 2004, 14:45

  • Offshoring benefits UK job market

    The Advanced Institute of Management speaks

    The UK has benefitted from the offshoring trend, a new report claims. It found that despite the regular reports of jobs going overseas, even more jobs have been created in the country as other nations offshore work here. The report, published by the Advance Institute of Management, reveals that Britain has been more successful …

    IT Director 8 Nov 2004, 15:04

  • Big guns back UK IT security drive

    MS and eBay sponsor Project Endurance

    A major UK campaign to raise public awareness of internet security was officially announced today. Project Endurance was launched at the CBI Conference in Birmingham by Mike O’Brien MP, ecommerce Minister, and Digby Jones, Director General of the CBI. The scheme - supported by business, law enforcement and government agencies …

    Security 8 Nov 2004, 15:08

  • Apple iPod Photo

    Preview One of the first in Europe - and we had a look

    With only one iPod Photo in Europe at the moment, we were invited to have a first-hand look at the new model before it hits the shops in the UK in the next couple of weeks. So should you be ditching the fourth-generation model straight away, and is this just the first step in things to come? asks Stuart Miles. On the surface …

    Reviews 8 Nov 2004, 15:09

  • Eight fined in eBay auction scam

    Inflated prices by bidding for own gear

    Eight people in the US who used eBay to flog gear are to cough up almost $90,000 (£48,575) after admitting they artificially inflated the price of their goods by bidding themselves. The $90,000 will be used to pay back more than 120 people who were ripped off by the scam, reported AP, with the rest used to settle fines. The …

    Financial News 8 Nov 2004, 15:11

  • Nvidia ships mobile GeForce 6800

    Shader Model 3.0 support for notebooks

    Nvidia today introduced its latest mobile graphics chip - the first GeForce 6-class notebook-oriented GPU. The GeForce Go 6800 provides fill DirectX 9 acceleration - including Shader Model 3.0. The chip supports DDR graphics memory clocked at up to 300MHz, Nvidia said, and DDR 2 or G-DDR 3 SDRAM at 600MHz, all across a 256-bit …

    System Builder 8 Nov 2004, 15:42

  • Fossil to revive PalmOS PDA wristwatch line

    Vapourware no more?

    Fossil's first line of Palm OS-based wristwatches were canned before they ever shipped, but it looks like the watchmaker is planning to make another attempt to bring them to market. The company has updated its website and once again features the three Wrist PDA models - Sport, Dress and Casual. The designs and specifications - …

    Mobile 8 Nov 2004, 15:45

  • Arnie terminates conference speech

    Missing in action...

    The ninth annual Cal-IT conference met today in London and heard from a panel of distinguished public sector IT experts that the relationship between software vendors and users is becoming far too unbalanced in favour of the big software companies. Cal-IT is a showcase for small Californian technology firms organised by the …

    Applications 8 Nov 2004, 16:09

  • 'Sophisticated' UK sprints ahead in ICT race

    And we slurp tea with our little finger curled in mid air

    The Government is bragging about the state of the "e-nation" after claiming that UK businesses are now among the "most sophisticated users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the world". An International Benchmarking Study for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) by consultants Booz Allen Hamilton found …

    Financial News 8 Nov 2004, 16:13

  • Vodafone to splurge £100m on 3G launch

    This has got to work

    Vodafone is set to roll out its 3G service this week, a £22bn gamble it cannot afford to lose. The company will spend £100m on marketing and advertising to support the launch, a fraction of the amount it forked out for the spectrum licence. After frenzied bidding in 1999, Vodafone paid £14bn for the right to operate third …

    Mobile 8 Nov 2004, 16:29

  • NTL completes Virgin.net buyout

    Deal done

    NTL today confirmed it has completed the acquisition of Virgin.net. Formerly a joint venture between the cableco and Virgin, the ISP is now wholly owned by NTL. With some 600,000 customers, Virgin.net gives NTL a powerful brand with which to punt internet services beyond its existing cable network. Simon Duffy, NTL chief exec …

    Telecoms 8 Nov 2004, 16:30

  • Did US terror measures down UK MPs?

    Government level blue on blue

    Yesterday the UK Parliament's Transport Select Committee published its report on the Car of the Future, on which we hope to bring you more shortly, but in the annexes at the back of the report, it seems to us there's a tale to tell. Problems with a flight to Washington? Last January? Well, well... A delegation from the …

    Bootnotes 8 Nov 2004, 17:37

  • BBC to cull more online content

    Websites face axe in search for 'sufficient public value'

    The BBC is to cull those parts of its online service which do not add "sufficient public value" and "reprioritise this investment into services that do", according to the Beeb's new media and technology supremo, Ashley Highfield. He called the changes - instigated by the Corporation's board of govenors in response to the …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2004, 17:42

  • Czech virus writer joins anti-virus firm

    Update The wages of sin are ... a job

    A prominent former virus writer has secured a job developing anti-virus software. Benny, one-time member of the 29A virus writing group, has begun work as the main developer of Zoner Anti-Virus (ZAV), according to an entry on his home page. Zoner Anti-Virus is developed by Zoner Software, a small company based in Brno in the …

    Malware 8 Nov 2004, 17:47

  • IBM puts Blue Genes up for sale

    Hip and powerful

    Get ready to pony up; IBM is delivering the future of computing - now. IBM has eagerly turned its Blue Gene supercomputing experiment into an actual product, putting the system on sale at starting price of $1.5m. You'll be expected to pay significantly more for a fully-equipped, usable machine, but the price tag gives an idea …

    Servers 8 Nov 2004, 18:02

  • Circling the wagons: the net politics of exclusion

    Election 2004 Why dodgy metaphors don't help

    Here's a fable. In summer 2004, a vacancy comes up in a London office, and the manager sets about recruiting. He interviews a blue man and a green man. The blue man has impeccable qualifications and very good experience. The green man’s qualifications are weak, and he is under-experienced - but he's witty and he gets on well …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2004, 18:36

  • US must be carved like a turkey - pundits

    Death of a nation

    The headlines say it all. "Man celebrates Bush win with suicide " - "Pubic hair prince set to rule Supreme Court " - "Air travelers to get peanuts and blasts with stun guns." While W. is claiming a mandate, world+dog appears less assured that a cohesive unity of thought is sweeping the nation. Most notably, calls for secession …

    Bootnotes 8 Nov 2004, 19:39

  • Why MS paid Novell half a billion bucks today

    But fresh antitrust suit is in the envelope, says Novell

    Microsoft paid Novell $536m today, although it might not be enough to fend off a fresh antitrust case, which Novell says it will file by the end of the week. Novell says issues relating to the WordPerfect office suite, which it briefly owned in the early-1990s, are still outstanding. According to a Novell press release, today's …

    Operating Systems 8 Nov 2004, 21:18