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3rd February 2005 Archive

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  • Investors pummel Amazon for Q4 miss

    Firm points to new membership deal

    Shares of Amazon.com tumbled in late trading as investors reacted to a big fourth quarter earnings miss. On the surface, Amazon's financial figures look grand. The online retailer reported a 31 per cent surge in sales to $2.54bn in the fourth quarter. Amazon earned $347m, or 82 cents per share, during the period compared to $ …

    Financial News 3 Feb 2005, 01:02

  • MP3.com founder vows unchained melodies

    Will unveil DRM-free music store

    At least one newspaper thinks the battle against piracy is all over - and the Recording Industry Ass. of America, backed by Apple, has won. But Michael Robertson isn't so sure. The MP3.com founder who tangled with the music industry in a number of lawsuits before selling to Universal three years ago, is set to unveil MP3tunes, …

    Media 3 Feb 2005, 03:43

  • Sun opens processor auction house

    Bid on grid

    You've got to give credit to Sun Microsystems for its raw ambition. Just one day after it officially started a $1 per hour grid computing plan, Sun revealed phase two of the project - a type of auction system that lets customers say how much they're willing to pay for a compute hour. Sun has teamed with Archipelago Holdings - …

    Servers 3 Feb 2005, 07:33

  • BT Wholesale to resell iomart software to ISPs

    Content filter

    BT Wholesale is to flog iomart's Netintelligence software to scores of UK ISPs that resell BT's broadband service. This could be a big boost to iomart, a Scottish internet company, exposing it to 4.4m DSL end users in the UK Iomart boss Angus MacSween said: "All internet users, especially children are entitled to an abuse-free …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2005, 09:54

  • Napster launches portable player-friendly music service

    Will 'change the music industry forever'

    Napster today formally launched Napster To Go (NTG), the portable music subscription service trialled since last Autumn, which it bullishly claims will "change the music industry forever". Based on Microsoft's Windows Media 10 technology, NTG allows songs to be downloaded to a PC and transferred to a compatible music player …

    Financial News 3 Feb 2005, 09:59

  • BT bashed in prisoners' call discount row

    Are these the punters coming back to BT?

    BT is cutting the cost of making a phone call - but you'll have to be behind bars to benefit. Details fo the "discount offer" for the UK's 74,000 prisoners - which sees the cost of calls made from jails fall from 11p to 9p a minute between January 5 and April 5 - were revealed in a leaked memo. The Mirror reports that the lags …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2005, 10:30

  • First French P2P 'pirate' fined €10,200

    Schoolteacher's public shaming

    A French teacher was yesterday fined €10,200 ($13,300) in France's first major illegal file-sharing prosecution. Alain Oddoz, 28, was arrested on 18 August 2004 following an investigation into music-sharing information site France Barter by French law enforcement agencies. The teacher, one of 302 regular users of the site, was …

    Media 3 Feb 2005, 10:36

  • Gigabyte 'developing' dual-GPU graphics card series

    Follow-up to its GV-3D1 SLI board?

    Board maker Gigabyte is to launch a family of add-in cards containing two graphics chips, following the successful launch of its first dual-GPU card, the GV-3D1, last month. So claim "market sources" cited by DigiTimes today. They also claim Asustek is preparing similar products. The PCI Express x16 connected GV-3D1 is based …

    System Builder 3 Feb 2005, 11:03

  • Gainward bosses 'buy company'

    Parent firm's 69% stake acquired, reports say

    Gainward has confirmed that its Taiwanese parent, TNC Industrial, has agreed to sell its stake in the company to a third-party. Yesterday, Taiwanese news site DigiTimes reported that TNC had sold the Gainward name and the graphics card company's European operation to Palit Microsystems for $1m - essentially by selling its 69 …

    The Channel 3 Feb 2005, 11:24

  • E-crime to rocket in 2005

    Ballooning losses

    Online shopping and online fraud are to increase in equal measure during 2005, according to payment service CyberSource. It estimates that UK ecommerce revenues will grow by 36 per cent this year with 20m shoppers spending £17bn online. By 2009 as much as 25 per cent of UK shopping will be done via the internet. However, with …

    Small Biz 3 Feb 2005, 11:39

  • Bosses cool on IT spending

    ICT ROI, OK?

    Fewer UK bosses are planning to increase their IT budgets compared to last year, according to research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on behalf on Telewest. Just 43 per cent of senior execs plan to boost their ICT budgets in 2005, compared to 58 per cent last year. This slip in confidence stems from …

    Management 3 Feb 2005, 11:42

  • Avalanche man urinates his way into urban legend

    News reports taking the p*ss

    The report on the Slovak man who urinated his way out of an avalanche with the aid of 60 half-litre bottles of beer has been debunked by the ever-vigilant snopes.com. To recap, we noted with some delight that "Richard Kral was off on holiday when the snow swallowed his Audi in the Tatra mountains. Initially, he tried to dig his …

    Bootnotes 3 Feb 2005, 12:03

  • T-Mobile unveils Sidekick-styled 3G device

    MDA IV to ship with Windows Mobile

    T-Mobile's German wing today launched the latest in the company's own-brand MDA handset family, the 3G-enabled MDA IV "mini laptop". With a design that clearly owes much to Motorola's MPx smart phone and Danger's Hiptop communicator - which T-Mobile offers in the US as the Sidekick - the MDA IV sports a QWERTY keyboard located …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2005, 12:08

  • Possessions Reunited

    SMS tech used to trace owners of lost kit

    Text messaging technology can help find the owners of lost and stolen property. The Possessions Reunited service from UK firm First Point of Contact provides users with stickers, key rings and luggage tags (each containing a unique code) that can be easily attached to high value or sentimental items. If an item is found, or …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2005, 12:11

  • Parliamentary report flags ID scheme human rights issues

    Home Office becoming serial lawbreaker?

    Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has flagged a string of problems the UK's ID Cards Bill has with the European Convention on Human Rights, which was incorporated into UK law in 1998. The Committee's report draws Parliament's attention to "a number of serious questions of human rights compatibility", and it has …

    Media 3 Feb 2005, 12:27

  • Sierra sued over 'flawed' Voq smart phone

    Allegedly misled shareholders

    Sierra Wireless has been targeted with a class action lawsuit that alleges the company violated its duties to its shareholders when it launched its "flawed" Voq Pro smart phone last year. The complaint was filed by law firm Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins with the US District Court for Southern New York. That …

    Financial News 3 Feb 2005, 12:45

  • Hackers at mercy of US judges

    Supreme Court ruling grants leeway in sentencing

    A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last month giving judges more leeway in deciding federal prison terms could be good news for computer intruders who don't fit the classic criminal mold, legal experts say. In US v. Booker, decided 12 January, the court ruled 5-4 to overturn part of a 1984 law that required judges to …

    Security 3 Feb 2005, 13:20

  • EU goes on biometric LSD trip

    Consortium considers legal, standardisation and deployment issues

    In December 2004, the European Commission adopted the biometric passports directive, a regulation that mandates the use of biometric facial images within 18 months and fingerprints within three years for all passports issued. Biometrics such as fingerprints have long been used as identifiers, albeit mainly for catching …

    Security 3 Feb 2005, 13:23

  • Siemens readies digital TV, VoIP Wi-Fi handsets

    CeBIT outing

    Siemens may have yet to decide whether it intends to flog off its mobile phone division, but while it ponders such a course, its handset business has to continue touting new product. To that end, the company today revealed a trio of handsets it will show off at CeBIT next month. The line-up includes a rugged unit for active- …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2005, 13:23

  • BT promises to play fair, in Ofcom appeasement

    Offers to open network

    BT is offering "transparent and equal access" to BT's local network in a proposed regulatory settlement with Ofcom. It also plans to cut the cost of wholesale broadband, and local loop unbundling (LLU) products, and to make wholesale line rental (WLR) more "commercially attractive". The string of proposals announced today form …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2005, 13:34

  • No Xbox 2 launch at GDC - MS

    All eyes on E3

    Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox 2 will not be unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) next month, leaving all eyes looking to the E3 show in May for the next-generation console's debut. It's going to be a crowded event: Sony is expected to have playable PlayStation 3 consoles up and running at E3, and Nintendo is …

    Consoles 3 Feb 2005, 13:42

  • Brit flying car earns its wings

    Order your Jetpod now

    UK flying car outfit Avcen (beware: Flashtastic site) - the hopeful future manufacturer of the Jetpod city-hopping airborne taxi - has been in touch to keep El Reg up to speed on the project's progress. To recap, we reported back in November that Avcen was hoping to fill the skies above Blighty with its $1m Jetpod by 2010, …

    Science 3 Feb 2005, 14:04

  • The Cell Chip - how will MS and Intel face the music?

    Analysis Part II: Place your bets

    A number of readers consider Intel and Microsoft the two dumbest companies ever to file a 10Q, and rejoice at the prospect of an upstart - almost anyone will do - dethroning them. But be careful for what you wish for: it might come true. Such a dismissive and negative view of these two giants isn't fair, of course. They're …

    Personal 3 Feb 2005, 14:29

  • Software patents: EU votes for restart

    Shock JURI boost to anti-patent campaigners

    The European Parliament's committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a restart of the whole legislative process of the controversial directive on computer implemented inventions. The result of the vote is a huge boost to anti-patent campaigners, who are concerned that the directive would allow …

    Developer 3 Feb 2005, 14:45

  • DEC warns of fake tsunami appeal website

    Looks official, but it ain't

    Charitable webusers are being warned away from website masquerading as that of the Disasters Emergency Committee. The site, which looks like an older version of the official DEC page, claims to be collecting money to help the victims of the boxing-day earthquake and tsunami. Users are directed there by a spam email, headed " …

    Media 3 Feb 2005, 15:07

  • Matrox unveils PCI-E Millennium

    Upgraded P650 to ship in two months' time

    Matrox will ship its latest PCI Express pro graphics card, the Millennium P650 PCIe 128 next April, the company said this week. Pitched at content creators, the card provides a pair of 10-bit, 400MHz RAMDACs feeding twin DVI ports and dual RGB outputs. With 128MB of RAM on board, the card can drive two screens at resolutions of …

    System Builder 3 Feb 2005, 15:25

  • Worm poses as Saddam death pics

    Latest zombie ruse

    A worm that seeks to tempt Windows users into infection by promising "death pictures" of Saddam Hussein has begun doing the rounds on the net. The Bobax-H worm offers up infected email attachments posing as “photographic evidence” that the former Iraqi dictator has been killed during an attempted escape bid from custody. Bobax-H …

    Security 3 Feb 2005, 15:35

  • Nvidia updates mobile Quadro FX graphics chip line

    Shader Model 3.0 and PCI Express at last

    Nvidia this week added another member to its Quadro FX Go mobile line-up, at last bringing Shader Model 3.0 and PCI Express support to its workstation graphics processor chip family. Nvidia says the new chip's updated architecture offers twice the performance of the previous model. The 1400 certainly doubles the memory bus and …

    System Builder 3 Feb 2005, 15:42

  • UK's Royal Festival Hall announces WLAN link

    Wi-Fi jobbies in the lobbies

    UK public Wi-Fi network provider The Cloud has equipped London's South Bank Centre with a WLAN centred on the arts complex's Royal Festival Hall site. Ultimately, the company said, it hopes to roll out Wi-Fi across the whole 10.93 hectare (27 acre) site. The South Bank Centre is currently being redeveloped, with building work …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2005, 16:14

  • BT DSL price cut undermines LLU competition

    The telco giveth and the telco taketh away

    BT Wholesale is promising faster and cheaper broadband in a move designed to back its commitment to greater competition and flexibility in the UK's telecoms sector. It's looking to run ADSL trials up to 8Mb and run pilots for ADSL2+ technology to support higher-speed services of up to 18Mb. From April, BT's also intends to cut …

    Broadband 3 Feb 2005, 16:23

  • HP preps iPaq smart phone

    More Treo than Treo?

    Undoubtedly stung by PalmOne's relative success with its Treo range of smart phones, HP this week wanted World+Dog to know that it too is in the PDA-meets-phone market. To prove it, the company said it was going to launch more such models this year and next. Surprise, surprise. Equally unsurprising was the company's …

    Mobile 3 Feb 2005, 16:35

  • UK councils will all meet e-enabling deadline

    e-Gov minister Hope springs eternal

    Local councils will all meet the 2005 deadline for e-enabling their services, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Local e-Government Minister Phil Hope said yesterday that most councils have already made good progress towards the target. He added that, altogether, local authorities expected to save £1. …

    Policy 3 Feb 2005, 16:43

  • Bid now for a piece of computer history

    Christie's to auction lots and lots of lots

    If you ever wanted to own a contemporary sketch of Charles Babbage's analytical engine - the forerunner to modern-day computers - or get your hands on the first business plan devised to sell computers, or even the original Arpanet documents written by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn - then now's your chance. But it won't be cheap. …

    Science 3 Feb 2005, 16:59

  • Botnets strangle Google Adwords campaigns

    Keyword hijacking risk

    Security researchers have discovered a way to shut down or seriously impair a Google Adwords advertising campaign by artificially inflating the number of times an ad is displayed. By running searches against particular keywords from compromised hosts, attackers can cause click-through percentage rates to fall through the floor …

    Financial News 3 Feb 2005, 17:14

  • Tory group report attacks ID scheme as a con trick

    Just a big identity fraud, you could say...

    The Bow Group Tory think tank has published a critique of the ID scheme by former Minister Peter Lilley MP. Lilley, who has been active in opposition to the scheme in Parliament, echoes Privacy International's suggestion that the ID card could become the Labour Party's poll tax, and the report provides a succinct primer to the …

    Media 3 Feb 2005, 17:47

  • HP and EMC ready to settle ancient storage dispute

    Team Fiorina gives in

    After battling for years over storage patents, EMC and Hewlett Packard have agreed to settle the matter out of court. The companies last week filed a joint motion to hold a private arbitration to resolve the dispute, an EMC spokeswoman confirmed. HP, which acquired the patents and legal baggage when it acquired StorageApps in …

    Storage 3 Feb 2005, 19:49