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1st February 2005 Archive

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  • Nokia blesses mobile Python

    Go forth and execute

    Following on from the launch of the 3-D Snake game last week, Nokia has released another slithery serpent into the wild. A year after we broke the news, Nokia has formally announced the availability of the Python language for its Series 60 platform. The software allows developers to build portable applications using the popular …

    Mobile 1 Feb 2005, 00:42

  • Sun researchers discover 'pricing' breakthrough

    Servers are for losers

    Never afraid to embrace the unexpected, Sun Microsystems will hold one of its quarterly product launch events without launching a product. Sun, which makes the vast majority of its revenue from server sales, will not announce any hardware upgrades during a Tuesday web cast. Instead, Sun will reveal a revamped pricing model for …

    Applications 1 Feb 2005, 08:30

  • Denmark joins Poland's software patent picket

    But only 'til the elections

    Denmark is to join Poland in opposition to the EU directive on software patents, according to reports. Poland has blocked the formal adoption of the common position twice already, but the vote on the controversial directive is likely to be put back on the agenda of the next round of Council meetings as an A-item. This would see …

    Developer 1 Feb 2005, 09:49

  • Skype launches on Mac and Linux

    VoIP expansion

    Skype today launches versions of its software for Mac and Linux users. Skype claims more than 23 million users and 130,000 new users signing up every day. The Voice over Internet Protocol firm launched in August 2003. Users download Skype software which enables them to make phone calls over the internet. Calls to other Skype …

    Broadband 1 Feb 2005, 09:51

  • Virgin Mobile hits five million UK users

    But churn is up and ARPU down

    Virgin Mobile has five million UK users - a 37 per cent increase on the same period a year ago. But the virtual mobile operator is suffering from an increasing level of churn and lower Average revenue per user (ARPU). Virgin had its best quarter for new connections in Q4 04 - 417,000 new customers signed up, giving a total of 5 …

    Financial News 1 Feb 2005, 09:55

  • World chip sales down in December

    Stocks still high

    Chip sales will fall 4-6 per cent this month, compared to December 2004, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) forecasts. The organisation has published the latest global sales figures, for December last year. Revenues were $18.37bn, down 3.5 per cent on November's $19.02bn, but 14.6 per cent up on December 2003's sales …

    The Channel 1 Feb 2005, 10:04

  • AMD market share hits two-year peak

    Good Q4 2004 recovers from poor Q4 2003

    AMD's share of the x86 processor market reached the highest point it has attained in the last two years - and a year after it fell to its lowest point in the same period. Intel's arch-rival took 16.6 per cent of the market in Q4 2004, well up on the 14.7 per cent it took in Q4 2003, according to market watcher Mercury Research …

    Servers 1 Feb 2005, 10:30

  • Smart phone shipments break records

    10.9m mobile devices sold worldwide in Q4

    PalmOne's acquisition of Handspring - the legacy of departing CEO Todd Bradley - looks increasingly smart in light of Q4 2004 world mobile device shipments released this week by market watcher Canalys. While the company's PDA shipments fell six per cent on Q4 2003's total, smart phone shipments were up 154 per cent, well above …

    Mobile 1 Feb 2005, 11:23

  • Ebbers never made 'an accounting decision' - witness

    Trial continues

    Former Worldcom boss Bernie Ebbers never made "an accounting decision", a Manhattan court heard yesterday. On day three in the witness stand former WorldCom financial controller David Myers faced cross examination from Ebbers' defence lawyer Reid Weingarten. Myers was asked if he'd ever knew Ebbers to "make an accounting …

    Management 1 Feb 2005, 11:40

  • Mistral swallows Netkonect

    That's it

    Mistral Internet has snapped up Basingstoke-based business ISP Netkonect - its third acquisition in January. Terms are undisclosed. Founded in 1994, Netkonect supplies a number of telecoms and internet services and works closely with a network of resellers. It claims around 3,000 business punters and notched up a turnover of …

    Broadband 1 Feb 2005, 11:42

  • Malware maelstrom boosts SurfControl sales

    Enterprise demand

    Shares in UK-based censorware outfit SurfControl rose more than three per cent this morning with the release of healthy quarterly earnings results. For the quarter to 31 December 2004 (Q2 2005), SurfControl sales reached $24.7m (£13.1m) up 17 per cent from $21.2m in Q204. Revenues for the half year to December 31, 2004 …

    Financial News 1 Feb 2005, 11:47

  • Cost and privacy concerns stall PAYD car insurance

    For a little while, anyway

    Pay-as-you-drive car insurance will not be commercially viable anytime in the next three years, according to Strategy Analytics. It cites privacy concerns, launch costs and patent fees, along with back-end data integration, as significant short-term obstacles to the technology's mass-scale deployment. Under pay-as-you-drive …

    Personal 1 Feb 2005, 11:53

  • MSN Search goes live

    Yahoo! ousted

    MSN starts using its homegrown technology for its search engine from today, replacing a previous agreement with Yahoo! It allows you to search the web, news, images or Encarta - Microsoft's encyclopedia. MS previously charged for access to Encarta content. With Search Builder, you can specify the language, country or region of …

    Financial News 1 Feb 2005, 11:57

  • O2 3G handsets go on sale

    Buy - but not yet use - nationally

    UK mobile phone network O2's consumer 3G service officially went live today, as the company began offering third-generation handsets to punters anywhere in the country, whether they live in a 3G coverage area or not. Three handsets went on sale today, from O2's website and retail chain: two clamshells and a candybar, Nokia's …

    Mobile 1 Feb 2005, 12:06

  • Get to grips with Linux for less

    Site Offer Save pounds at The Reg bookshop

    Continuing with the tradition of offering the best and most comprehensive coverage of Red Hat Linux on the market, Red Hat Linux Fedora 3 Unleashed now includes new and additional material based on the latest release of Red Hat's Fedora Core Linux distribution (released in November 2004). Incorporating an advanced approach to …

    Site News 1 Feb 2005, 12:14

  • Intel dual-core Yonah to ship single core too

    Roadmap Celeron M line not going dual?

    Intel's 'Yonah' dual-core mobile processor, its first 65nm Pentium M, will support a 667MHz frontside bus clock when the part ships in volume in Q1 2006, the chip maker's latest roadmaps reveal. Yonah's launch window has been public knowledge for some time - Intel itself has said that its first 65nm processors will arrive in …

    PCs 1 Feb 2005, 12:31

  • NTL completes £1.27bn sale of broadcast division

    Whatever

    NTL has completed the £1.27bn ($2.3bn) sale of its broadcast division to a consortium led by Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group. The UK cableco is to use up to £475m of the proceeds to repurchase its common stock and will use another £500m to repay some of its outstanding debt. The rest of the cash will be used for …

    Financial News 1 Feb 2005, 12:45

  • The new certainties: spam, taxes and software licences

    Letters And a plan for President Bush

    Bumper letters bag, this week. It would appear that life's new certainties (software licences, spam and taxes) have driven more of you than usual to your keyboards. Once you were there, you got chatty about all kinds of things... Let's begin with the interview with a link spammer. We had plenty of mail on this one. Someone even …

    Letters 1 Feb 2005, 12:54

  • Google becomes domain name seller

    But what is it really up to?

    Google has become a registrar - a company allowed to sell Internet domain names - but told us it has no current plans to sell any. Last week, Internet overseeing organisation ICANN and technical arm IANA, quietly approved Google's application and gave it ID number 895. It is now entitled to sell any .biz, .com, .info, .name, . …

    Financial News 1 Feb 2005, 14:17

  • Undead worms infest Windows PCs (again)

    Old viruses dominate January virus chart

    Zafi-D has kept its place at the top of the virus charts for a second consecutive month, accounting for 44 per cent of all reports of anti-virus vendor Sophos in January 2005. The worm, which poses as a Christmas greeting, is continuing to cause problems well into the New Year. Runner-up spot went to NetSky-P. The worm - first …

    Security 1 Feb 2005, 14:20

  • MSN Belgium to use eID cards for online checking

    Integrates govt card into MSN systems

    Microsoft will integrate the Belgian eID Card with MSN Messenger. Microsoft's Bill Gates and Belgian State Secretary for e-government Peter Vanvelthoven announced the alliance today in Brussels. "We’re working to ensure that our technologies support e-ID, to help make online transactions and communications more secure," Gates …

    Media 1 Feb 2005, 14:34

  • VIA PT-series P4 chipsets

    Preview They're late - but are they worth the wait?

    Much later than initially anticipated, VIA this week launched its latest chipsets, which provide PCI Express support for Pentium 4 processors. Having had several meetings with VIA in the past year, I was originally told these chipsets would launch before VIA's AMD solution was ready, but somewhere along the line the company …

    Reviews 1 Feb 2005, 14:56

  • UK targets scammers in month-long campaign

    Psst...wanna cheap iPod? Legit, honest

    UK consumers lose an estimated £1bn a year on cons and scams, according to figures released today by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Launching a month-long campaign warning about the perils of dodgy dealings, the OFT said punters need to do more to protect themselves from being ripped off Among the OFT's top ten scams are: …

    Media 1 Feb 2005, 14:57

  • HP scientists wave bye-bye to the transistor

    So last century

    A breakthrough in molecular computing could be the beginning of the end for the transistor, according to scientists at HP. Researchers have successfully demonstrated a "crossbar latch", a technology that behaves just like a transistor, but is much smaller, and simpler to make. HP's quantum science research (QSR) group says the …

    Science 1 Feb 2005, 15:14

  • Sony PlayStation Portable PSP-1000

    Review Phew, what a scorcher

    I can still vividly remember buying my PlayStation 2. I had spent the best part of two hours wandering around the legendary Golden Arcade in Hong Kong and finally decided to give up on haggling over a few dollars and just put my credit card down. Of course, I picked up pretty much every game that was available at launch while I …

    Reviews 1 Feb 2005, 15:30

  • Madasafish in 2Mb ADSL promo

    Costs £17.99 a month

    Madasafish.com - the ISP that had its "oi, Churchill, noooooo!" TV ad banned recently - is getting aggressive. It is offering its brand new 2Mb ADSL for £17.99 a month - with the first two months for free. The ISP is also chucking in a free modem and free connection. The 2Mb service comes with a 2GB a month usage allowance. …

    Broadband 1 Feb 2005, 16:20

  • HP sharpens blades with Cisco networking tech

    Gigabit Ethernet to the max

    HPis to integrate Cisco's network switch technology into HP's BladeSystem architecture. The technology pact, predicted by El Reg last September, makes it easier for customers to buy blade server systems and optimise their performance and reliability within datacentre environments. A new Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch module, …

    Servers 1 Feb 2005, 16:23

  • EU driving licence plus 'info network' goes on roadmap

    MEPs suggest deadlines

    The European Parliamentary seems likely to give the go ahead to Commission proposals for a single European driving licence format this month, following support from the Parliament's Transport Committee. The MEPs propose a ten year period for switch-over to a credit card format licence, with a common format to be introduced after …

    Media 1 Feb 2005, 16:24

  • Welsh Assembly drags heels over online pharmacies

    Blushingbuyer threatens move to England

    A Welsh online retailer is facing forced exile to England if the Welsh Assembly doesn't adopt new regulations for pharmacies. Once the new regulations become law, in April 2005, it will be possible to sell prescription drugs through a website. And that could be bad news for Blushingbuyer.co.uk. If the Welsh Assembly does not …

    Small Biz 1 Feb 2005, 16:26

  • OSDL opens IP advice centre for Linux developers

    Fight back against spurious legal action

    The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is setting up a free legal centre to offer advice and legal help to Linux developers and users. OSDL aims to encourage Linux use in the enterprise, it is funded by various vendors including Alcatel, Ericsson, HP, IBM and Sun. Backed by a $4m grant, the centre's first clients are the Free …

    Developer 1 Feb 2005, 17:05

  • Gates drops in on Brussels

    Was in town anyway and thought I'd give you a call

    Bill Gates was in Brussels today on something of a peace mission, stressing his company's desire to co-operate with the European Commission. After a lunch meeting with several members of the European parliament, the Microsoft chairman told reporters: "Anything they want us to do better, I will listen very carefully and make …

    Operating Systems 1 Feb 2005, 17:14

  • The Cell chip - what it is, and why you should care

    Analysis Part 1: A look at how it works

    No chip in years has caused as much excitement as the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba. It promises to be the most important microprocessor of the decade, with potentially enormous repercussions for how the industry computes, and how the rest of us use digital media. It will power the PlayStation 3 and technical …

    Personal 1 Feb 2005, 22:07

  • Sun server crushes IBM MP3 player

    HP implicated

    Sun Microsystems has taken a circuitous route to attacking rival HP by tossing out a server ad that really doesn't make much sense. The ad declares that one of Sun's servers is "76 per cent faster because we're 100 per cent committed to building business systems - not cute MP3 players, printers and cameras." The ad raises the …

    Servers 1 Feb 2005, 23:27