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2nd February 2005 Archive

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  • Google tops $1bn

    In the money

    Google earned $1bn revenues in a quarter for the first time, the company announced today. The web giant grossed $1.032bn, up from the $805.8m it grossed in the quarter ending September 30, and double that grossed a year ago. Net income, calculated on a GAAP basis, was $204m, which included a $60m write-down for stock …

    Financial News 2 Feb 2005, 01:11

  • Sun product discovered away from product launch

    Faster workstations

    A couple of years back, Sun Microsystems decided to start holding quarterly product launch events. It figured this system provided the best way to show what $500m - Sun's quarterly research and development spend - could do. The format typically has Sun dish out a flood of product news designed to overwhelm customers, analysts …

    Hardware 2 Feb 2005, 01:42

  • Adware-infected PCs net slimeware firms $3 a pop

    Is the market really that big?

    Adware infections net the purveyors of slimeware software around $3 a year for each infected PC, according to estimates from anti-spyware firm Webroot Software. Using this figure and stats from its own malware auditing services, Webroot guesstimates the illicit advertising market underpinned by adware infection of home and …

    Security 2 Feb 2005, 08:24

  • EMC whistleblower says Symmetrix coverup caused nervous breakdown

    'Cat is out of the bag'

    EMC allegedly tried to withhold information about faults in its Symmetrix storage systems from customers in the hopes of avoiding millions in replacement charges, according to a lawsuit from an EMC employee. Jack Wade has lobbed serious charges against EMC in a lawsuit filed with the Franklin Country Common Pleas Court in Ohio …

    Storage 2 Feb 2005, 08:29

  • TSG buys Leeds reseller

    Logical Solutions

    Technology Services Group (TSG) has bought another accountancy software dealer, this time in Leeds. The two directors and 15 staff of Logical Solutions, a Sage reseller, are relocating to TSG North offices, also in Leeds, They bring on board 300 small and medium-sized business customers. Financial terms are undisclosed. TSG …

    Channel Register 2 Feb 2005, 09:32

  • Simply Computers changes name

    Misco Consumer

    Simply Computers, hit by huge redundancies last week, is rebranding as "Misco Consumer". Simply customers are unaffected by the name change. with warranties honoured, as before. A spokeswoman for Misco told El Reg: "Misco is well known in the business market and the Simply name will be gradually phased out over the next few …

    Channel Register 2 Feb 2005, 09:35

  • Midwich signs up Elonex

    Home entertainment play

    Midwich has set up a home entertainment division, bringing media centre PCs and home AV products under one roof. The IT distie is to wholesale Elonex Media Centre PCs - the best in the UK market, it claims, pointing to a sheaf of rave reviews in the bookstand computer magazines. Midwich is also stocking AV products from Sony, …

    Channel Register 2 Feb 2005, 09:45

  • UMC Q4 income plummets on inventory adjustments

    Capex to be cut in 2005

    UMC, the world's second largest chip foundry, saw its income plunge almost 88 per cent sequentially during its most recently completed quarter, the company said today. However, the foundry reported "strong" full-year results; its figures - like those of arch-rival TSMC - reflect a vigorous business in the first half of the year …

    Financial News 2 Feb 2005, 10:27

  • MS licenses analog anti-rip technology

    Macrovision helps Redmond lock down... everything

    CD copy-protection specialist Macrovision is to work with Microsoft to ensure their respective DRM and anti-rip technologies are interoperable, the two companies said this week. Sounds straightforward enough, but the deal runs deeper. Microsoft agreed to license a number of Macrovision's patents, in particular those relating to …

    Music and Media 2 Feb 2005, 10:51

  • Bumper Q4 takes Borland into profit

    Nice

    Borland brought in revenues of $82.5m in the quarter ending 31 December, up 11 per cent on the $74m in the same period in 2003. A Q4 profit of $8m looked distinctly healthier than a loss of $5.7m a year earlier. Full year revenue hit $309.5m, up five per cent on 2003, taking the company into profit again. A net loss of $40.5m …

    Financial News 2 Feb 2005, 11:03

  • SBC to axe 13,000 jobs in AT&T merger

    Please hang up now

    US telecoms giant SBC is to axe 13,000 workers in its $16bn (£8.5bn) acquisition of former parent AT&T. Details of the job cuts were contained in slides accompanying a briefing explaining the deal.< Some 5,100 jobs are to be lost in sales and business and 5,100 are to go at the engineering divisions. Around 2,600 admin jobs - …

    IT Director 2 Feb 2005, 11:20

  • Mobile telcos pressure fixed-line rivals

    Subscriber numbers on the up-and-up

    The number of global mobile phone subscribers will reach nearly two billion by the end of 2005, although most voice calls will still be made by landline, according to a new telecom trends forecast issued by Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Group. Deloitte predicts that mobile subscriber growth will …

    Mobile 2 Feb 2005, 11:39

  • Dell ships (almost) unleaded desktop

    OptiPlex line-up also goes BTX

    Dell this week announced what it believes are greener desktop PCs based on an "environmentally friendly" design that reduces energy consumption and cuts the amount of lead used in their construction. Not that the PC giant would have so developed the OptiPlex GX280 had the European Union not forced its hand. The EU's Reduction …

    PCs 2 Feb 2005, 11:45

  • Windows authentication: reasonable and gentle

    Analysis Redmond's 'velvet glove'

    Microsoft recently announced its latest ploy to extort more money from the public and further strengthen their software monopoly: they want to make you pay for a legal copy of Windows before you get any OS add-on features or updates. To make matters worse, they are even extending this restriction to security updates, potentially …

    Software 2 Feb 2005, 11:57

  • Dell touts smart card disk crypto for laptops

    Keep others' mitts off your corporate data

    Dell yesterday updated its business-oriented notebook family with a smart card-based security sub-system designed to protect corporate data in case of loss or theft. The three new models in the Latitude D line-up all feature built-in smart-card readers and integrated data encryption chips. Based on the Trusted Platform Module 1 …

    PCs 2 Feb 2005, 12:28

  • Small.biz demands scam protection

    Under attack

    The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling on ministers to furnish small firms with safeguards from dishonest scams. It says the government's plans to protect consumers from shady dealers should extend to small businesses, otherwise they will continue to fall foul of the criminals. The call came as the Office of Fair …

    Small Biz 2 Feb 2005, 12:31

  • Revenue waives late filing penalty, for some

    Tax was still due by 31st Jan

    The Inland Revenue will waive its £100 late filing penalty for some people who were unable to complete their self assessment forms online by the 31 January deadline. A problem with the IR's email system meant that a backlog of "submission failed" messages built up over the weekend. Normally the messages would be delivered …

    Small Biz 2 Feb 2005, 12:33

  • Ebbers fortune at risk as share prices slid

    Bank's threat

    Bernie Ebbers used his substantial number of shares in telecoms giant WorldCom to guarantee a $400m (£212m) personal loan from Bank of America, a US court heard yesterday. But as WorldCom's stock price fell over 2000 and 2001 the bank called on Ebbers to pay the loan or stump up more security for the loan. If he failed, Bank of …

    IT Director 2 Feb 2005, 12:34

  • How to stay in touch - even when you're dead

    Mobile phone for the deceased

    An inventor from Osnabruck, Germany, has released a mobile phone for the deceased. The idea is that once your loved one is six feet under, you will still be able to talk to them, even if the conversation might be a little one-sided. The phone comes in a black box with a loudspeaker that is placed on top of the grave. It runs on …

    Mobile 2 Feb 2005, 12:36

  • US hit for $548m in fraud losses

    ID theft tops league

    Identity theft topped the list of complaints received by the US Federal Trade Commission for the fifth successive year, accounting for 39 per cent of consumer fraud complaints filed with the agency last year. Credit card fraud was the most common form of reported ID theft (28 per cent), followed by phone or utilities fraud (19 …

    ID 2 Feb 2005, 13:28

  • UK Online unveils 2Mb service

    Need for speed

    UK Online, a division of Easynet, has launched a 2Mb service. The Broadband 2000 package costs £29.99 a month and comes with a free modem and connection. Oh, and there are no usage limits either, apparently. Said UK Online general manager Chris Stening: "Broadband 2000 answers the demand for extra speed from customers who share …

    Telecoms 2 Feb 2005, 13:31

  • Police cuff US student keystroke logger

    Swiped exams from teacher's PC

    A Houston High School student faces a fine possible $2,000 fine or 180 days' jail after admitting rigging a keystoke logger to a teacher's PC and using it to download exams, Houston's Local 2 reports. Fort Bend School District School spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson said: "Sometime in mid-December, we got a tip that this student …

    Enterprise Security 2 Feb 2005, 14:39

  • Swift observatory sends back stunning test shot

    Gamma-Ray hunters ready for action

    The final instrument on board Swift, the satellite launched in November last year to hunt for gamma-ray bursts, has been switched on, and the space lab is now fully operational. The ultra-violet optical telescope (UVOT) has sent its first picture back to Earth, and is poised to snap its first gamma-ray burst. The false colour …

    Science 2 Feb 2005, 14:58

  • Mobile-using drivers 'age 50 years'

    Terrifying effect of yakking on the move

    University of Utah researchers claim that a 20-year-old blabbing on a mobile phone while driving has the reaction times of a 70-year-old, AP reports. And it doesn't matter if you're chatting hands-free, because "any activity requiring a driver to actively be part of a conversation likely will impair driving abilities," said …

    Mobile 2 Feb 2005, 16:05

  • BT clobbered in Ofcom probe

    Pro-Energis ruling could result in payout

    Energis could be looking forward to a six-figure repayment from BT following a draft ruling today by Ofcom. The communications regulator was forced to intervene in a row between the two companies last October concerning allegations that BT had overcharged Energis for wholesale business ISDN2 Line Rental (WLR ISDN2) between …

    Telecoms 2 Feb 2005, 16:23

  • MS downplays SP2 vuln risk

    NX protection concern

    Microsoft is downplaying the significance of research that suggests support for revamped memory protection in Win XP SP2 will fail to block a common type of security attack. Alexander Anisimov of Russian security firm Positive Technologies last week published a paper explaining how the data execution protection (DEP) and heap …

    Enterprise Security 2 Feb 2005, 16:31

  • Heise.de under DDoS attack

    €10,000 reward for information

    German tech publication Heise.de has been targeted by a persistent and determined denial of service attack, it says. The origin of the attack is unknown so far, and Heise's publishing house is offering a €10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the attacker. The assault began on Monday this week, and Heise …

    Enterprise Security 2 Feb 2005, 17:11

  • SunnComm fixes 'Shift Key' embarrassment

    Take that, nerd boy

    SunnComm has at last fixed its most infamous flaw - the Shift Key break to its DRM (digital rights management) technology. The company has started shipping an update to its MediaMax software that blocks users from employing the Shift Key attack discovered in 2003 by a student at Princeton University. The student realized that …

    Music and Media 2 Feb 2005, 17:56

  • Root kit surfaces after Jabber attack

    Open source code jockeys urged to check code

    The Jabber Software Foundation (JSF) - the open source instant messaging organisation - has advised developers to check their code, after discovering that a hack attack against its website was more serious than first suspected. An audit conducted on JSF's web servers after an intrusion two weeks ago revealed a root kit on a …

    Enterprise Security 2 Feb 2005, 18:02

  • Symbian updates OS, toolchain

    Banging the DRM

    Symbian has updated its smart phone operating system to version 9, adding DRM and support for new screens and storage devices. The company has also updated its toolchain, and Nokia today announced a new version of CodeWarrior for Symbian, version 3.0, that supports the updates. Nokia acquired the rights to CodeWarrior for …

    Mobile 2 Feb 2005, 21:17