20th January 2005 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

P2P hub operators plead guilty

Copyright violaters face clink

Two P2P users in the United States have pleaded guilty to distributing copyright material and face five years' jail and a fine of up to $250,000. The Feds were responding to pressure from the major record and movie mulitnationals and have now secured their first P2P piracy convictions. Investigators downloaded material worth $ …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2005, 00:10
Global 3G boost for Qualcomm

Nextel falls into line

The global roll-out of 3G networks continues to boost Qualcomm's bottom line. The San Diego company closed its first quarter of fiscal year 2005 with a net income of $513m on earnings of $1.39bn. Qualcomm reckons that the next year will see 55 million 3G phones ship, each one bearing a royalty gift back to San Diego, alongside …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 09:40
eBay meets target, splits stock but price tumbles

Did someone say 'irrational exuberance'?

Despite coming in the results predicted, eBay stock fell 11 per cent yesterday. Why? The online auction monopoly reported great numbers: gross income rose 44 per cent to $935.8m and net income rose from $157m a year ago to $226m. The revenue figure exceeded analysts' consensus estimate of $934m. eBay also rewarded investors …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 09:43
Seagate hints at job cuts despite 'strong' quarter

Sales rise, earnings rocket sequentially

Hard-drive maker Seagate made big gains in sales and earnings during its most recently completed quarter, Q2 FY2005, the company reported this week. However, it hinted that further job cuts beyond the 3000-odd redundancies made in 2004 may be necessary to maintain the company's momentum. The three months to 31 December 2004 …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 10:10
Nominet finding it hard to replace Willie

Chairman post re-advertised as Black pops up elsewhere

UK registry Nominet is to re-advertise the post of chairman this week after an initial recruitment drive turned up no suitable replacements for Internet legend Willie Black, who left officially on 8 December. Managing director Lesley Cowley confirmed that despite an advert in the Sunday Times just before Christmas, and over 70 …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2005, 10:25
Sony slashes FY2005 profit forecast

But still expecting strong growth over FY2004

Sony today cut its annual income forecast by over 30 per cent, claiming price erosion in key consumer electronics product categories will hit margins hard. The Japanese giant will still do very nicely in the year to 31 March 2005, however: it said it expects its income to grow significantly over the previous year. Sony now …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 10:38
Motorola reports record quarter

Mobile phone sales back ahead of Samsung's, company claims

Motorola heralded record sales yersterday when it published the results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004. The company's sales hit $8.84bn, up 27 per cent on the year-ago quarter's $6.97bn and up a more modest 2.6 per cent on the previous quarter's $8.62bn. Net income totalled $687m (28 cents a share), up 56 per cent on Q4 …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 11:09
Symantec posts strong quarter

Fattening up

Symantec yesterday posted bumper earnings on the back of recent viral epidemics that have boosted demand for its security software and services. For the quarter ending 31 December 2004 (Q3 2005), Symantec posted revenue of $695m, up 41 per cent from $494m in the same quarter last year. Net income for Q3 2005 was $164m, compared …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 11:18
MS launches Outlook email subscriptions

All the email you can eat for 40 quid

Microsoft has launched a subscription version of Outlook that will connect to Hotmail or MSN accounts. For $59 a year (£39.99 in the UK), subscribers get a copy of Outlook 2003 for Subscription Services, 2GB of online storage and the ability to send messages with attachments of up to 20MB. This is the first time Microsoft has …

Applications 20 Jan 2005, 11:20
Carphone crackdown on phone insurance scam

Exclusive Trading standards investigate too

The CarphoneWarehouse (CPW) is working with Trading Standards to crackdown on "rogue" companies pestering its customers with offers of cheap mobile phone insurance. These companies phone punters on the fly, offer cheap insurance by claiming to be working with CPW or a mobile phone network, but never deliver the necessary …

Mobile 20 Jan 2005, 11:21
Mosaid sues Hynix

And settles with Samsung

Memory technology company Mosaid has initiated legal proceedings against Hynix, alleging the South Korean DRAM maker has violated six of its US patents. The move follows the settlement, announced earlier this week, of a three-year patent-infringement battled between Mosaid and Samsung. The Canadian company's beef with Hynix …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 11:32
Mobile open-standards group recruits key players

OMTP signs PalmSource, Symbian, Siemens, Sony Ericsson and more

Mobile phone operating system developers PalmSource and Symbian yesterday both threw their weight behind the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP), an organisation pushing for open standards in the handset and PDA markets. The OMTP's goal is to bring network operators, software and operating system developers, hardware designers …

Mobile 20 Jan 2005, 11:49
Morse: UK sales under pressure

Takes Diagonal path in services push

Trading in the UK remains "challenging and competitive", Morse says. Shares fell 10 per cent yesterday on a Q2 sales update, in which the mid-range reseller revealed that hardware revenues and margins were under fire. However, smaller country operations in Spain and France, continue to perfom well. And Germany and France have …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 12:22
Ofcom probes Gio over complaints failure

More bother for troubled ISP

Ofcom is launching an investigation in to Gio Internet, over the troubled ISP's failure to operate a satisfactory complaints process for peeved punters. Over the last year it has received a "growing number of complaints...from consumers dissatisfied with Gio", the comms regulator said. "Gio does not appear to have a code of …

Telecoms 20 Jan 2005, 12:23
Variety the spice of life at CeBIT 2005

Multimedia, SMEs and ICT outsourcing

"Get the spirit of tomorrow" is the slogan CeBIT has picked for this year’s show, to be held between 10 - 16 March in Hanover, Germany. Some 500,000 people are expected to visit Europe’s biggest ICT trade fair. CeBIT expects 6115 exhibitors from 65 countries, only slightly up on last year, when 6109 exhibitors came to Hanover. …

Channel Register 20 Jan 2005, 12:23
Creative loses first battle in Apple 'war'

Now looks to rival to help boost Flash player sales

MP3 player maker Creative Technology failed to outsell Apple's iPod during the holiday sales season, it emerged today when the company published its financial results for the period. Apple last week said it had sold 4.5m iPods in the three months to 31 December 2004, more than double the 2m Creative today said it sold during …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 12:25
Webcam Trojan suspect arrested in Spain

Caught red-handed

A man suspected of writing a Trojan horse to steal confidential banking information from net users has been arrested in Madrid by Spanish police. The 37 year-old suspect (known only by his initials J.A.S.) is alleged to have used P2P networks to distribute an unnamed Trojan, which allowed him to activate webcams and snoop on …

Anti-Virus 20 Jan 2005, 12:39
'EA leak' yields late 2005 Xbox 2 ship date

All eyes on E3

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console, whether it will be dubbed 'Xbox 2' or 'Xbox Next', is going to ship late 2005, according to reports citing a press released that is alleged to have leaked out of games publishing giant Electronic Arts. Games site Spong this week received a copy of an as-yet-unpublished announcement of …

Consoles 20 Jan 2005, 12:56
Nokia 'completely committed' to N-Gage

Handheld console... er... 'not going anywhere'

Nokia has denied online reports that the mobile phone giant is about to can its N-Gage handheld console. According to a company spokesman cited by Computer and Video Games.com, Nokia remains "completely committed" to the platform. "Nokia has no intention of shutting down the N-Gage," he said. "We are completely committed to …

Consoles 20 Jan 2005, 13:25
T-Mobile axes 2,200 jobs

Saving for growth

T-Mobile is axing 2,200 jobs - one in ten of its European workforce in a massive cost-cutting exercise to save €1bn (£693m) a year. Some 1,200 jobs will be axed in Germany alone as the company embarks on a new scheme called 'Save for Growth'. Jobs will be lost in T-Mobile's other country operations including the UK, which …

Mobile 20 Jan 2005, 13:33
Beer fights cancer: official

The story we've all been waiting for

Scientists at Okayama University in Japan have rather agreeably discovered that unidentified compounds in lager and stout may help to prevent DNA damage leading to cancer. Some cancers are apparently provoked by heterocyclic amines - "DNA-damaging chemicals found in cooked meat and fish", New Scientist reports. The university …

Science 20 Jan 2005, 13:36
YOU'VE GOT MAIL, DEAR

Now, how about a nice cuppa?

Email app outfit FamilyMail has released an idiot-proof email program which is "specifically designed for parents who do not use email and are concerned about computer security". What FamilyMail 8.3 is actually designed to do is let your granny - who still believes that if there is no bulb in the bulb holder and the switch is …

Telecoms 20 Jan 2005, 13:37
Music sites charged with 'enslaving' users

Proprietary format handcuffs

Online music services such as iTunes may be growing in popularity but they're also a source of frustration for many music fans. That's according to the results of a new study which has criticised such services for trying to enslave internet users by locking them in to proprietary formats and music players. Research conducted by …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2005, 13:38
Bertelsmann makes first Napster settlement

Minor plaintiff drops suit for $50,000

Bertelsmann has made its first settlement in the long-running Napster copyright infringement saga, the NY Times reports. The German media group will pay $50,000 to Bridgeport Music of Southfield, Michigan to settle "accusations from Bridgeport Music... that it had contributed to copyright infringement by lending millions of …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 14:21
Euro Apple fans moan over Mac Mini pricing

Opinion It's the sales tax, stupid

European Mac users are petitioning Apple to eliminate what they claim is its "rip-off" Mac Mini pricing. "We'd like to make an appeal to Apple on the pricing of the new Mac mini in the European Union," the online petition states. "Basing [sic] on the last long-term rate of exchange of US dollars to euros (and vice versa) - …

Mac Channel 20 Jan 2005, 14:24
Hynix infringed 50 Rambus patent claims - judge

Summary judgements issued

The US District Court of Northern California has rejected all but one of six requests for summary judgements made by Hynix in its long-running legal dispute with Rambus. Judge Ronald Whyte also ruled in favour of a seventh summary judgement motion, this time requested by Rambus itself. The upshot is that of the 59 claims that …

Channel Register 20 Jan 2005, 15:12
iRiver H10 5GB MP3 player

Review iPod Mini meets iPod Photo

The 5GB hard drive market is awash with players all vying to be the top dog, so what makes iRiver's H10 stand out from the crowd? asks Stuart Miles. Well, it's certainly compact. And the front boasts a 1.5in, 262,000-colour screen and a vertical touchpad control mechanism almost identical to the one on Creative's Zen Micro. …

Reviews 20 Jan 2005, 15:38
LG sniffing round Siemens mobile phone biz

Cash injection, not deodorant, needed

South Korean firm LG Electronics is in the frame to buy Siemens' loss-making handset business, according to German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche, by way of newswire AFP. Unnamed sources say the two companies are locked in talks over the future of the mobile phone business, which lost €140m (£97m) in the fourth quarter of …

Mobile 20 Jan 2005, 15:45
UK.gov urged to lead fight on e-crime

London calling

The UK government has been urged to take the lead in fighting cybercrime. Parliamentary lobby group EURIM and think tank The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said yesterday that the UK has an historic opportunity to spearhead the international fight against cybercrime whose economic effects "already far outstripped …

Security 20 Jan 2005, 16:29
The race is on for ownership of .net

Five contenders and the lobbying has already begun

The deadline has closed and there are officially five companies bidding to take over the Internet's third-biggest registry - .net. From 1 July this year, 5.1 million .net domains will be handed over to the applicant that an independent group of advisors, working under the auspicies of ICANN, decide is most suitable. Their …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2005, 16:29
MCI nabs NetSec for $105m

Security services play

MCI is to buy managed security services firm NetSec for $105m in cash. The acquisition will enable MCI to offer advanced security services to large companies and government customers a year quicker than would otherwise be possible, it says. The transaction should close within 30 days. NetSec offers a suite of security services …

Financial News 20 Jan 2005, 21:25
Satellite snaps huge, penguin-killing iceberg

Size of Long Island

An iceberg the size of Long Island is smashing into the continent of Antarctica. Caught by both the Terra and Aqua satellites heading straight for the Drygalski Tongue (the floating extension of the Drygalski Glacier), the iceberg looked set for a head-on collision. But at the last minute, just two and a half miles from the …

Science 20 Jan 2005, 21:32
Hand over the code, judge tells IBM

SCO gets lots of source, plus a football lesson

The SCO Group has secured a legal victory over IBM with a judge ordering IBM to reveal all of its versions of AIX and Dynix and documentation of any changes made to the software. While SCO was granted this crucial part of its request, it lost out in a bid to see IBM's Configuration Management Version Control (CMVC) and Revision …

Operating Systems 20 Jan 2005, 21:33
The aftermath of a domain name hijack

Panix picks up the pieces

The industry needs to find a way to establish stronger trust in registrars if it is to avoid a repeat of last weekend's hijacking of the Panix.com domain name, says Alexis Rosen, Panix president. He sees a problem in a system where so many entities are able to act as registrars, when that same system bases its stability on …

Telecoms 20 Jan 2005, 21:33
Journalists must reveal their sources (if Apple asks)

Letters Lock up the leakers and throw away the key!

Mac sleuth Nick de Plume has won big name legal backing in his fight against Apple, with storied attorney Terry Gross coming to his defense. No, not the NPR interviewer, but the man who served as special counsel for the EFF and specializing in First Amendment cases, and a successful attorney in several consumer fraud and …

Music and Media 20 Jan 2005, 23:32