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30th December 2004 Archive

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  • Tesco claims 500,000 mobile sign-ups

    Milestone

    Tesco has signed up 500,000 subscribers for its UK mobile phone service, just 14 months after setting up in business. The UK supermarket giant is what is called a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO): it manages the customer relationships and billing, while the infrastructure and network is supplied by someone else - in this …

    Mobile 30 Dec 2004, 15:28

  • Intel invests in three digital home firms

    'Strategic interests'

    Intel continues to pump money into companies developing products for the so-called 'digital home'. Three more of these firms have received undisclosed investments, the chip giant said today. As ever, the investments come through Intel's Intel Capital (IC) subsidiary, which seeks to encourage firms working on products and …

    PCs 30 Dec 2004, 15:42

  • Samsung founds $100m antitrust fines fund

    In case the US DoJ gets tough

    Samsung has put $100m to one side just in case the US Department of Justice fines it for allegedly conspiring to fix memory prices. The South Korean giant revealed the existence of the antitrust war chest today, 30 months or so after the DoJ began investigating claims that major memory makers, including Samsung, Infineon, …

    Financial News 30 Dec 2004, 16:12

  • Union slams MoT IT system delays

    'Frustrating embarrassment'

    A computer system which will enable people to check out the MoT status of cars they want to buy is running two and a half years late. The original launch date for the database, designed by Siemens Business Services, was May 2002, but since then it has missed three "go live" dates, most recently today, according to the Public and …

    Public Sector 30 Dec 2004, 16:22

  • JVC preps dual DVD/Blu-ray disc

    Triple-layer sandwich

    Japanese consumer electronics company JVC has created an optical disc that contains both regular DVD and Blu-ray Disc zones. The announcement comes a month after Toshiba and Memory Tech, both members of the rival HD DVD camp, unveiled a similar dual-format disc that meets today's DVD standard an HD DVD. JVC's prototype goes …

    Storage 30 Dec 2004, 16:37

  • BT has 'Big Brother' wobbles over ID scheme bids

    Sees major image damage in the cards?

    British Telecom may not bid for ID card contracts because of concern that its involvement would make it seem like a 'Big Brother' company in the eyes of the public. According to This is London, BT has been talking to consultants and public bodies, including Liberty, in order to gauge how close involvement with the ID scheme …

    Music and Media 30 Dec 2004, 17:41

  • FCC to auction three 3G bands from June 06

    Formerly federal spectrum

    The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will auction off the States' 1710-1755MHz and 2110-2155MHz spectrum bands to prospective 3G telephony providers by June 2006 at the earliest. The FCC will also auction off the 1432-1435MHz band soon afterward, the organisation said, possibly as early as July or August 2006. The …

    Mobile 30 Dec 2004, 18:49

  • Microsoft revokes Passport service

    It's not for partners anymore

    Microsoft has given up on trying to hawk its controversial Passport sign-on service to other companies, according to a report in the LA Times Microsoft's decision to shut down its Passport partner program comes after one of its largest allies - eBay - said it would retire Passport in January and use its own service instead. …

    Financial News 30 Dec 2004, 18:58

  • Windows XP users Phelled by new Trojan

    Symantec warns SP2 not safe

    A new Trojan horse - named Phel - that punishes users of Microsoft Windows XP operating system is in the wild. Security software firm Symantec has issued a bulletin warning Windows XP users to be on the look out for the program, which is distributed as an .html file. The malicious code can attack systems running XP Service Pack …

    Malware 30 Dec 2004, 19:56

  • Snowed-in code blamed for Comair's Xmas flight collapse

    Old box grounds travelers

    Aging server software has been blamed for Comair's holiday collapse that left thousands of travelers stranded. Comair last week said that winter storms had affected its computer systems responsible for scheduling flight crews. At the time, however, the carrier - a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines - did not say exactly how …

    Servers 30 Dec 2004, 21:07