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18th January 2005 Archive

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  • Man in £20 van makes it to Gambia

    Plymouth-Dakar triumph for Reg hack

    After crossing France, Spain, Morocco, the Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and finally the Gambia, Group One of this year's Plymouth-Dakar rally made it safe and sound to Banjul late last week. The cars were auctioned off on Saturday morning and broke all previous records for the amount raised. Twenty-eight cars went under the …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2005, 02:14

  • Intel, Pantech talk smart phone development

    South Korean handset maker keen to use XScale chips, apparently

    Is Intel about to enter the crowded mobile phone market? That's one conclusion that might be drawn from reports that South Korean handset maker Pantech is in negotiations with Intel over the joint manufacture of such devices. Another, of course, is that Pantech, South Korea's third-largest mobile phone maker, simply wants to …

    Mobile 18 Jan 2005, 09:50

  • Data-storage laws fail to drive Euro sales

    Businesses need to consider compliance

    A survey of European IT directors reveals that although they believe data storage is crucial to business continuity, they are unclear about the role of legislation in forcing businesses to use the technology. Around 76 per cent of those questioned believe storage is crucial to enterprise continuity. But 52 per cent either don't …

    Storage 18 Jan 2005, 10:31

  • UK onlines sales surge

    It's a Christmas cracker

    E-tailers recorded a cracker of a Christmas with online sales jumping 20 per cent as more people shopped online during November and December 2004. Research outfit Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) found that half of the UK population shopped online this Chrimbo, spending more than £3bn. Their purchases accounted for …

    Financial News 18 Jan 2005, 10:37

  • Symantec outlines plans for Veritas

    Integration without indigestion

    Symantec has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to help it integrate soon-tobe-acquired Veritas. The firm has also hired Bain & Co. to deal with customer-facing issues surrounding the takeover. Spin doctors for the firm are claiming the deal will mean more opportunities for its channel partners rather than just removing competition, …

    Financial News 18 Jan 2005, 10:43

  • Vendors target IBM ThinkPad market share

    What a carve up!

    Notebook makers are hoping to carve up IBM's mobile market share following the sale of Big Blue's PC division to Chinese vendor Lenovo last month. HP, for example, is reported to be running an ad campaign in Taiwanese newspapers that promotes its machines as US-developed systems, an approach that clearly plays on the fact that …

    PCs 18 Jan 2005, 10:45

  • Scot in court on DDoS charges

    Operation Casper

    A Scottish man suspected of orchestrating DDoS attacks on online businesses appeared in court yesterday following his arrest in a joint US/British crackdown on cybercrime last weekend. Matthew Anderson, 27, of Drummuir, near Dufftown, Moray, was charged with offences against the Computer Misuse Act 1990 at a private hearing at …

    Enterprise Security 18 Jan 2005, 10:47

  • Intel 2.13GHz Pentium M 770 arrives

    Top-end 533MHz FSB part appears in Tokyo shops

    Pentium M 770 processors have begun to appear in Tokyo shops today, ahead of tomorrow's formal launch of the 533MHz frontside bus-supporting chips. The debut, spotted by local site PC Watch, comes a week after other boxed 533MHz FSB Pentium Ms began appearing in the Japanese market. The PM 770 is clocked at 2.13GHz, Intel's …

    System Builder 18 Jan 2005, 11:00

  • The mysterious case of the 'gay-bomb' request

    Daft military research proposals

    The US military, planned to use stink bombs, chemicals that cause bad breath, and a so-called "gay-bomb" that would make enemy soldiers irresistible to one another as part of a range of non-lethal, but disruptive and morale-damaging weapons. An Air Force laboratory in Ohio applied for $7.5m funding to develop these, and other …

    Science 18 Jan 2005, 11:37

  • Lawson lures Peoplesoft punters

    Nervous? Step this way...

    Lawson Software is looking to lure Peoplesoft and JD Edwards customers away from Oracle with an improved migration programme. The move to Lawson products would take 12 months, and the company promises discounts on Peoplesoft and OneWorld maintenance support during that time. Aimed at IBM iSeries users, the scheme includes …

    Applications 18 Jan 2005, 11:48

  • Sony admits PSP 'update' is genuine

    But warns it's a dummy installer with no update code

    Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Portable (PSP) updater that leaked onto the web this past weekend is genuine. However, it publicly warned owners of the handheld console not to run the software, which it said will "cause the PSP hardware to stop operating". The updater is configured to install a number of bug fixes, …

    Consoles 18 Jan 2005, 11:53

  • Telewest, NTL unveil VoD services

    Job cuts sour video-on-demand launch

    The UK's two cablcecos have unveiled their video-on-demand services today as they look to bring greater flexibility to digital TV viewers. Telewest has brought a movies-on-demand service to its dTV punters in Bristol ahead of plans to launch a wider choice of TV-on-demand services beginning summer 2005. The UK's second largest …

    Telecoms 18 Jan 2005, 12:23

  • German court rules email blocking 'illegal'

    No selective filtering allowed

    Selectively filtering out emails of a specific sender may constitute an offence, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Karlsruhe ruled on Monday. Two years ago a university in Baden-Württemberg blocked the email of a former employee who left after a quarrel with his peers, but continued to stay in touch with scientists and friends …

    Music and Media 18 Jan 2005, 12:27

  • Sony Ericsson profits leap 28%

    3G gets the credit

    Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson made a net profit of £55m in Q4 FY2004, ended 31 December, an increase of 28 per cent on the same period last year. The joint venture shipped 12.6m handsets in the three-month period, up from 8m in the fourth quarter of 2003. Sales were £2,005m, up from £1,437m for the same period of 2003. …

    Financial News 18 Jan 2005, 12:28

  • Enterprise WLAN firms update switch tech

    Aruba and Trapeze release upgrades

    WLAN switch makers Aruba and Trapeze today upgraded their enterprise-oriented wireless networking offerings. Aruba has updated its AirOS switch operating system to version 2.3, adding a new set of security and management to the package. The upgrade allows remote-office WLANs to be controlled by the switch through an IPSEC VPN. …

    Data Networking 18 Jan 2005, 12:29

  • Sunncomm gets a nod and a wink from Universal

    DRM, short-sellers and Shazam

    DRM software maker SunnComm has signed another major music label up as a customer - sort of. SunnComm last week touted its new deal with Universal Music Group (UMG). The agreement, however, would carry a bit more weight, if announced in less apprehensive tone. "The world's largest music company may choose at some point to …

    Music and Media 18 Jan 2005, 12:39

  • ESA shows off Titanic views

    Composite postcard from Saturnian moon

    The European Space Agency has released a new image of the surface of Titan. The composite shot, made from a jigsaw puzzle of 30 images, shows the moon from a height of around ten kilometres, just over a kilometre higher than Everest. The pictures were actually snapped as the probe fell from an altitude of 13km to eight …

    Science 18 Jan 2005, 12:57

  • Red Hat readies new release

    Quicker and more secure...

    Linux distributor Red Hat is readying the next release of its enterprise operating system which will have improved security and full support for the 2.6 Linux kernel. The launch will coincide with Valentine's Day and LinuxWorld in Boston, according to this story on IDG. The release will be the most significant upgrade since …

    Operating Systems 18 Jan 2005, 13:52

  • Verizon and Yahoo! forge broadband alliance

    Been there, done that... so where's the t-shirt?

    Verizon Communications Inc - the US's largest telecoms company - is hooking up with Yahoo! to promote a co-branded broadband service. Both companies reckon the pairing will help increase demand for broadband and attract cable punters to DSL. Verizon and Yahoo! intend to promote the service with an "aggressive" marketing …

    Telecoms 18 Jan 2005, 13:54

  • Airbus rolls out A380

    Fanfare of trumpets for world's biggest passenger airliner

    Airbus this morning rolled out its twin deck, 555-seat A380 superjumbo at a celeb-packed ceremony in Toulouse. Politicians including Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac queued up to praise the €11bn project: the latter hailed it as the "crowning achievement of a human and industrial adventure" while the former confirmed the A380 as " …

    Science 18 Jan 2005, 13:54

  • HP takes on RISC with Itanium 2 gambit

    Servers galore

    HP threw its weight behind Itanium 2 processors yesterday with the launch of a range of Integrity servers based on Intel's Madison chip. It also debuted a pay-per-use pricing policy for Windows, improved virtualisation software and support for a fourth operating system, OpenVMS 8.2. The systems vendor is hoping to persuade …

    Servers 18 Jan 2005, 14:35

  • Veritas retools its Backup Exec baby

    It's really suite

    Veritas has once again beefed up its popular storage software - Backup Exec - aimed at small- and medium-sized customers by adding a number of tools typically found only with its more expensive products. Veritas CEO Gary Bloom today unveiled Backup Exec 10.0 in front of a large crowd full of reporters, analysts and customers …

    Storage 18 Jan 2005, 17:04

  • Liberty Media and UnitedGlobalCom to merge

    Creates largest broadband outfit outside US

    Cable TV giant Liberty Media International, Inc. and broadband outfit UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. have agreed to merge. The newly formed company - Liberty Global - will be one of the largest owners and operators of broadband communications systems outside the US with a share in companies serving more than 14m punters in 17 countries …

    Telecoms 18 Jan 2005, 17:18

  • Worm poses as porn-purging program

    XXX Baba-C-on-PC action

    A new mass-mailing worm which tries to scare naive users into running it by saying pornographic content has been found on their PCs has begun doing the rounds. Users are told that adult material on their PC can be hidden by running an attached program called "Evidence Cleaner", actually the Baba-C worm. Baba-C turns the …

    Malware 18 Jan 2005, 17:21

  • Veritas CEO promises Symantec buy will be kind and gentle

    The workers are safe

    Veritas CEO Gary Bloom assured nervous customers that the proposed merger between his company and Symantec will not result in massive layoffs or massive drops in support. "It is not about cuts," Bloom said, during a product launch for BackUp Exec 10 here in New York. "We have been very clear about that." Symantec has proposed …

    Software 18 Jan 2005, 17:22

  • MPs to scrutinise Ofcom's telecoms review

    The reviewers being reviewed

    MPs are to scrutinise Ofcom's strategic review of the telecoms industry to assess the regulator's approach to promoting the right framework for a competitive broadband market. The Trade and Industry Select Committee (TISC) wants to examine the progress of the review so far and to make sure that the year-long investigation into …

    Telecoms 18 Jan 2005, 17:23

  • Readers storm Verizon email blockade

    Letters Muppet of the Month award imminent

    This week, we'll begin with a selection from the rather large response to Verizon's decision to block all European emails by default. It says the move is designed to reduce spam (uh-huh) and despite reports to the contrary, claims that it only blocks spam messages on an individual basis: Hi John, To quote Bart Simpson, "The …

    Letters 18 Jan 2005, 17:29