18th November 2004 Archive
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TiVo loses its MoJo
Pop-up ads, DRM lock-down coming soon
Time shifting DVR pioneer TiVo will soon display pop-up ads when users attempt to skip commercials, the LA Times reports today. TiVo owners will still be able to fast forward, but will be forced to watch a billboard style ad on screen. It's the latest in a series of compromises that threaten to leave the highly-regarded company …
Music and Media 18 Nov 2004, 09:20
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Telecoms review? What telecoms review?
UK.biz in the dark
British businesses are so clueless about telecoms policy in the UK that two thirds of companies are unaware that Ofcom is publishing a review into the industry today. The fact that Ofcom's review could determine the future cost, spec and availability of high-speed telecommunications - so vital, we're told, to the future …
Telecoms 18 Nov 2004, 09:22
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Rucksacks: an evaluation and comparison
Are freebies reliable?
If you don't attend many conferences you won't have noticed that it seems to be fashionable to give out rucksacks, backpacks and haversacks as freebies to delegates. However, just how good are these rucksacks? Can they stand up to a proper benchmark? Are some products better than others? Is there a message that we can take from …
Bootnotes 18 Nov 2004, 09:48
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Ofcom tells BT: shape up, or split up
Telecoms review published today
Ofcom has rejected calls to break up BT, following its review of the telecommunications sector. The regulatory is still wielding the threat of a forced split as a stick with which to beat the company, if it does not play ball. It has called instead for the telco to make "substantive behavioural and organisational changes", and …
Telecoms 18 Nov 2004, 09:49
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Creative declares 'war' on Apple's iPod
MP3 player firm commits $100m to out-spend rivals' ad campaigns
Digital music player maker Creative has pledged to spend $100m to out-market Apple in a bid to take the market away from the iPod. And not just Apple. Speaking in Singapore this week, Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo bullishly pronounced: "I'm planning to spend some serious money - I intend to out-market everyone." "The MP3 war has …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 09:53
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People want to pay by phone
But m-commerce 'inadequate'
In a very short space of time mobile phones have become nearly ubiquitous in many societies around the globe. As the ratio of the number of cell phones per head of population moves towards one, the network operators are keen to uncover new methods of extracting money from their subscribers, in both the contract and prepay …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 10:15
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Use Linux and you will be sued, Ballmer tells governments
Lawsuit doom over 228 'stolen' patents predicted
Asian governments using Linux will be sued for IP violations, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said today in Singapore. He did not specify that Microsoft would be the company doing the suing, but it's difficult to read the claim as anything other than a declaration of IP war. According to a Reuters report (which we fervently hope …
Operating Systems 18 Nov 2004, 10:34
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Nokia demos mobile IPv6 call
It's for you
Nokia has demonstrated what it billed as the industry's first mobile IPv6 call. The demo, at this week's 3G World Congress in Hong Kong, featured real-time streaming video between two CDMA Dual-Stack handset on separate CDMA access networks using Mobile IPv6. IPv6 is designed to replace the current Internet Protocol IPv4, which …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 10:49
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RIM takes active-user total to 2m
Doubles subscriber tally in nine months
Research in Motion was in part mood yesterday after declaring it now has more than 2m subscribers making regular use of its Blackberry hardware and the push email service that drives it. The figure represents a doubling of RIM's user-base since February this year when it passed the 1m mark. RIM launched Blackberry five years …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 10:59
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UWB approved, standard imminent
And if you believe that...
It's supposed to be official that UWB (ultra-wide band) wireless is approved, and a standard is being agreed. If you believe any such thing, you're horribly gullible; and the dispute inside the wideband club (MBOA) has reached the point where there are people saying: "It will never get sorted." And amongst those sceptics, I hear …
Wireless 18 Nov 2004, 11:24
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PowerVR MBX gains OpenGL ES Linux support
HI Corp ports over its 3D engine, too
Imagination Technologies has developed drivers for its PowerVR MBX mobile 3D graphics chip that enable OpenGL ES support on devices running Linux, the company said this week. It also said the chip will now host HI Corp's mobile phone-oriented 3D rendering engine, Mascot Capsule Engine Micro3D Edition 4. Imagination is less …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 11:24
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Petco settles with FTC over cyber security gaffe
Sentenced to 20 years' maximum security
Pet supply retailer Petco Animal Supplies Inc. will be on a short cybersecurity leash for the next 20 years to settle a Federal Trade Commission action over a security hole on its e-commerce site that may have left as many as 500,000 customer credit card numbers exposed to hackers. The settlement stems from an incident first …
Financial News 18 Nov 2004, 11:27
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IE in fresh security drama
Three bugs, two critical
IE is subject to a trio of unpatched vulnerabilities, security firm Secunia warned yesterday. It warns that two of the three unfixed security bugs are on the "critical" list. These "deadly duo" could be exploited in tandem to bypass security features in Windows XP SP2 and trick users into downloading malicious files. Flaws in …
Security 18 Nov 2004, 11:30
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Virgin Mobile ups customers, drops profits
Float costs bite
Virgin Mobile, the newly listed mobile operator, announced a 40 per cent rise in its half yearly earnings, driven by a substantial increase in subscriber numbers. The company now boasts over 4.6m subscribers, and said 647,500 of those had signed up in the last six months. Operating profit fell from £44.7m last year, to £35.6m. …
Mobile 18 Nov 2004, 11:56
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Maxtor ups desktop, enterprise HDD warranty periods
Same cover in whatever territory you buy
Hard drive maker Maxtor has followed rival manufacturer Seagate and upped the duration of the warranty it offers for enterprise-class drives. The company also increased the warranty period for internal desktop PC drives to three years. In some territories, that's already the warranty duration for these products - in others it's …
Storage 18 Nov 2004, 12:42
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Seagate ships 'world first' 400GB PC HDDs
A 7200rpm unit that's as fast as a 10,000rpm job, apparently
Hard drive maker Seagate has begun shipping what it claims is the world's highest capacity PC hard drive: a 400GB beast that's also the first drive of its class to hold up to 133GB on a single platter. At its announcement last June, the Barracuda 7200.8 was also said to offer "the industry's first native Serial ATA interface …
System Builder 18 Nov 2004, 12:58
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HTC 'Blue Angel' Wi-Fi PocketPC phone
Reg review Aka i-mate PDA 2k, O2 XDA IIs, Orange M2000 etc, etc
No company has done as much to advance Microsoft Windows Mobile telephony hardware than Taiwan's HTC. The company's smart phones have been offered by numerous vendors and networks, as have its phone-equipped PocketPCs, most notably as the O2 XDA family. And not content to find one good design and stick with it, over the last few …
Reviews 18 Nov 2004, 13:07
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Russian fined for virus-writing exploits
29A's Whale gets harpooned
A Russian member of well-known 29A virus writers group has been fined 3,000 roubles (approximately £57) after he admitted writing malicious code. Eugene Suchkov (AKA Whale), from the little-known Russian republic of Udmurtia, admitted writing the Stepan and Gastropod viruses. He posted live code for the viruses alongside the …
Malware 18 Nov 2004, 13:24
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Salesforce sales up
But outlook disappoints
Pay-as-you-go customer relationship management software provider Salesforce.com has posted an 80 per cent rise in revenues and new customers. In its third fiscal quarter, the company posted net income of $2.2m, or $0.02 per share, down from $3.8m, or $0.04 a share, a year earlier when it reported a $4.3m non-cash gain. Along …
Financial News 18 Nov 2004, 13:47
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Website blamed for student suicide
22-year-old found hanged in room
A Coroner has condemmed an online suicide guide after a medical student hanged himself following directions on the site. Liverpool Coroner Andre Rebello asked Yahoo! to pull the plug on the Holland-based site, but the company refused. Arwel Davies, 22, was found hanging from a hook on his bedroom door, the Coroners court heard …
Music and Media 18 Nov 2004, 13:49
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MSN signs up Overture for another year
And then what?
Overture, the paid-for search broker, has retained MSN, its second biggest client after its parent company, Yahoo!, for another year. MSN has appointed Overture to supply the sponsored search results on its US, Canadian, European and Asian websites, until the end of June 2006. The one-year extension of a deal, which has been …
Financial News 18 Nov 2004, 14:31
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CSA boss falls on sword over £456m IT system fiasco
EDS: 'badly designed, badly developed, badly tested, badly implemented'
The boss of the Child Support Agency has been forced out by the abject failure of its computer system supplied by EDS. Doug Smith, chief executive of the CSA, left his post yesterday but insisted to MPs that the situation would have even worse but for the actions he has taken. He said senior management had done their best to …
IT Director 18 Nov 2004, 14:35
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DiData back in profit
'Substantial progress in the last year'
Shares in South African disty and IT services group DiData rose this afternoon after the firm made it back into profit. For the year ended 30 September 2004 DiData made a profit of $33m compared to a loss of just over $9m last year. Total turnover for the group was $2.48bn, up 18 per cent on last year's figure. Revenue in the …
Channel Register 18 Nov 2004, 16:10
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Sony talks to Grokster
Can legit P2P be far away?
The chairman of Sony BMG Rolf Schmidt-Holtz has admitted the music giant is in early talks with file sharing network Grokster. Schmidt-Holtz said the technology was too popular to ignore and needed to be brought into a legal framework. He said: "I'm not negotiating myself, as Sony BMG chairman, but I know some staff members are …
Music and Media 18 Nov 2004, 16:11
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MoD forms electronic warfare 'Tower of Excellence'
Aka 'collaborative research group'
The MoD today announced the formation of a "collaborative research group" uniting the Ministry, industry and academia for an applied research programme into electronic warfare. The group is the fifth of the MOD's so-called "Towers of Excellence" (the other four are Guided Weapons, Radar, Underwater Sensors and Synthetic …
Science 18 Nov 2004, 16:11
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Poland scuppers EU software patent directive
Support withdrawn
The Polish government has withdrawn its support for the European software patent directive. At a cabinet meeting in Warsaw yesterday, officials concluded that the directive does not meet its original objective of limiting patents on software and business methods in Europe. According to a statement from the FFII (Foundation for …
Developer 18 Nov 2004, 16:18
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AOL goes a bundle on consumer security
AOL 9.0 Security Edition
AOL has added a range of features to ward off computer viruses, intrusive spyware programs and spam to a special edition of its internet access software. Called AOL 9.0 Security Edition, the release is the first version of America Online to focus specifically on security. It is available as a free upgrade to existing AOL …
Security 18 Nov 2004, 16:25
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PeopleSoft threatens to sue Oracle
Oracle threatens to buy PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft and Oracle are letting the venom gush, as their long-standing battle approaches a possible end this week. Both companies have fired off last-minute statements, hoping to push investors to their respective sides. Oracle is looking for at least half of PeopleSoft's shares to be tendered in favor of its $24 bid for …
Applications 18 Nov 2004, 16:40
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Ofcom review 'misses golden opportunity'
Reactions mixed on regulator's big day
Ofcom has "missed a golden opportunity to open up the UK communications market to greater competition, innovation and investment", according to internet lobby group UKIF. In its review of the UK telecoms sector published today, Ofcom said it wants BT to engage "substantive behavioural and organisational changes" and provide …
Telecoms 18 Nov 2004, 16:53
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IBM benchmark leaves server rivals breathless
Power5 crushes Itanium for record score
You knew it wouldn't take long for IBM to start rolling out the benchmarks once its new 64-processor Unix server hit the streets. Few, however, could have imagined that the company would so completely crush past marks. IBM today announced that its p5 595 server running the DB2 database on the AIX operating system broke the 3m …
Servers 18 Nov 2004, 17:58
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Home Office stalls on weapons scanner health risks
'Er, dunno', says trustworthy Home Secretary
Are your children being irradiated? Are you being irradiated? The UK Home Office seems unconcerned by the question, despite being responsible for at least one of the government organisations wielding the devices that might be doing the irradiating. Weapons scanners that use x-rays are now being tested by the Metropolitan Police …
Music and Media 18 Nov 2004, 18:00
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Sun's finishing of the year with a storage run
Five spot of new kit
While Sun Microsystems' Solaris team stole the headlines this week, the company's storage group was busy as well, rolling out new software and hardware products to try and help out what has been one of Sun's least impressive businesses. The new additions to Sun's storage line are pretty straightforward. First up, customers …
Storage 18 Nov 2004, 18:59
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Google shares fall on less-than-stellar growth fears
More competition
Google shares fell three per cent today, after the company said its growth rate is unsustainable. The internet search engine company had revenues of $805.9m to the end of September, a 105 per cent increase on the $394m made in the same quarter of 2003. Given such growth, it is unsurprising that the company's regulatory filing …
Financial News 18 Nov 2004, 22:14
