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7th February 2005 Archive

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  • AOL man pleads guilty to selling 92m email addies

    Fuel for spam

    An ex-AOL employee has pleaded guilty to stealing 92m customer names and email addresses from the ISP's database. The 24-year old, Jason Smathers, sold the email addresses for $28,000. Smathers sold the names to Sean Dunaway who used the names to promote his offshore gambling site before selling them on to other spammers. …

    Spam 7 Feb 2005, 10:12

  • AOL UK doubles broadband speeds

    Prepares for new love affair with Dixons

    AOL is the latest British ISP to double the speed of its broadband products without charging net users more. But it won't happen overnight: the firm is rolling out the upgrade to its 750,000 (ish)UK broadband over the next six months. The speed increase coincides with AOL UK's new distribution deal with the Dixons Group. From …

    Telecoms 7 Feb 2005, 10:20

  • Intel Japan faces anti-trust action

    Regulators not happy

    Intel is facing warnings from regulators in Japan concerned about its business practices. According to reports the Japanese Fair Trade Commission is to warn the chip giant that its aggressive business practices are in breach of anti-trust laws. The FTC believes Intel offered computer makers discounts to reduce their use of …

    Channel Register 7 Feb 2005, 10:33

  • Intel details dual-core Itanium

    Foxton power conservation tech too

    Intel boffins will this week discuss the creation of the 90nm dual-core Itanium 2 processor and detail 'Foxton', the chip maker's energy conservation system for server processors. The dualie Itanium, codenamed 'Montecito', has been on Intel's roadmap for some time, but the company will use the International Solid-State Circuits …

    Servers 7 Feb 2005, 10:51

  • Ask Jeeves if it'll buy Bloglines

    Blogtastic

    Search engine Ask Jeeves is planning to buy Bloglines, the leading RSS aggregator, and integrate its technology into its search system, according to unconfirmed reports. Napsterization, a media blog, reports that Bloglines technolgy will go live on the main site today (6 February) prior to Ask Jeeves announcing the acquisition …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2005, 10:52

  • University of California moots barcodes for corpses

    Swapping toe tags for RFID tags

    The University of California is considering using barcodes and RFID tags to keep track of the bodies donated to medical research, following a series of scandals involving illegal trading in body parts. Last year, the director of the university's Willed Bodies programme and one other person at UCLA was arrested as part of an …

    Music and Media 7 Feb 2005, 11:10

  • Alliance touts holographic disc 'revolution'

    One HVD equals 200 DVDs

    Forget HD DVD, forget Blu-ray Disc, the future is the HVD - the Holographic Versatile Disc. So claim six Japanese companies, led by Optware and including Fuji Photo Film, who last week launched the HVD Alliance to promote the "revolutionary" format to hardware manufacturers, disc pressing firms, content providers and end-users …

    Storage 7 Feb 2005, 11:28

  • Revealed: the tech consumer as prawn

    Comment Mouth open at sewage outlet

    "I wouldn't eat prawns," said Julie Walters, portraying a prissy housewife in one of Victoria Wood's comedy sketch shows. "You know how they are. They spend all day treading water at sewage outlets with their mouths open." Somehow one gets the impression more and more that the bigger companies - both hardware and software - …

    Music and Media 7 Feb 2005, 11:29

  • XML - past, present and future

    Chewing the fat with MS's Jean Paoli

    Last week I had the pleasure of meeting up with Jean Paoli of Microsoft. In November, Jean was presented with the XML Cup 2004 to recognise his lifelong work in XML and its precursor SGML. The meeting gave me an opportunity to hear about the fascinating history of XML and understand some of its importance to Microsoft and the …

    Developer 7 Feb 2005, 11:54

  • eBay backtracks as it cuts some fees

    Power to the eBayers

    eBay is cutting some of the fees it charges sellers in the US and Canada after being stung by criticism over recent price hikes. Less than a month after eBay announced new fees would be introduced from 18 February has reined back some of its proposals after "listening to you, our Community". In an email to customers, eBay North …

    Small Biz 7 Feb 2005, 12:02

  • Google loses another trademark fight in France

    Handbagged by Louis Vuitton

    Google has lost another trademark infringement fight in Europe, this time to luxury goods company Louis Vuitton. The Paris District Court has ruled that the search company's practise of selling advertising triggered by searches for trademarked brand names does infringe the Louis Vuitton trademark. It charged Google with …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2005, 12:19

  • Broadreach to bring Wi-Fi to motorway eateries

    Displaces Swisscom Eurospot

    UK public-access Wi-Fi provider Broadreach Networks announced today that its ReadyToSurf Internet access service has pushed out rival WISP Swisscom from UK motorway stops run by Moto. Moto maintains 43 locations adjacent to the UK's motorway network, all of which will now gain ReadyToSurf fixed Internet access terminals and Wi- …

    Wireless 7 Feb 2005, 12:43

  • 3G success hangs on handsets

    Price and usability crucial

    The slowness of 3G to start to deliver on its promises is well documented, and the operators have laid the blame firmly at the door of the handset makers. Many of their complaints were politically motivated, as part of the ongoing battle between phonemakers and cellcos to take the 3G driving seat. But now that UMTS and EV-DO …

    Mobile 7 Feb 2005, 13:00

  • US telcos Sprint for the line

    Analysis Competition hotting up

    The face of US telecoms has changed dramatically in the past year. Following the consolidation of the cellular sector with the mergers of Cingular Wireless with AT&T Wireless, and then Sprint with Nextel, the most dramatic of them all has been agreed – the acquisition of AT&T by SBC, one of the regional ‘Baby Bells’ it was …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2005, 13:01

  • Rude software causes emotional trauma

    My PC is ignoring me

    Scientists at California University in Los Angeles (UCLA) have discovered computers can cause heartache simply by ignoring the user. When simulating a game of playground catch with an unsuspecting student, boffins showed that if the software fails to throw the ball to the poor student, he is left reeling from a psychological …

    Science 7 Feb 2005, 13:03

  • Sanyo S750 3G handset

    Review Nice technology, shame about the size?

    We've come to believe that your choice of mobile phone says more about what you are than who you are. But one thing is clear: we all like to think we're ahead of the technology curve. Sanyo may be a late entrant into the UK mobile phone market - this is the first device the company has launched here - but it has managed to …

    Reviews 7 Feb 2005, 13:05

  • Acer spills user details Down Under

    Breach plugged, customer warning fired out

    A security breach uncovered last week left customers of Acer's Australian store able to see other user's order histories, complete with contact details. Credit card details were not disclosed but complete contact information (email and phone addresses) and detailed order information was left exposed. This data, samples of which …

    ID 7 Feb 2005, 13:39

  • Aussies deploy toad-blasting audio killing machine

    War against the cane toad gets louder

    An enterprising Australian reckons he has found an answer to the plague of poisonous cane toads which is marching its way inexorably across Oz, according to a transcript of an ABC Radio National broadcast last week. The cane toad was introduced into Australia from Hawaii in the 1930s to fight the spread of cane beetles. Since …

    Science 7 Feb 2005, 13:41

  • TI licences PowerVR phone graphics core

    Extends MBX licence to MBX Lite

    Texas Instruments has extended its PowerVR MBX Lite graphics engine licence, the chip maker said today. TI signed its first PowerVR MBX licence in April 2003, partnering with the graphics core's UK-based developer, Imagination Technologies. The results of the deal were announced less than a year later, in February 2004, when TI …

    Mobile 7 Feb 2005, 14:05

  • Energis calls for BT break-up

    'Just get on with it'

    Ofcom should "just get on with it" and break up BT, according to Energis CEO John Pluthero. Today he urged Ofcom to reject BT's proposals for a regulatory settlement and instead focus its attention on the structural separation of the UK's former telephone monopoly. In its submission to Ofcom concerning the Telecoms Review, …

    Telecoms 7 Feb 2005, 14:53

  • US brewer adds caffeine to beer

    Get me a pint - quick

    A US brewer is set to exploit Britain's mooted 24/7 licensing laws by launching a caffeine-laced beer. Anheuser-Busch's 4.5 per cent "BE" brew boasts a hit of caffeine equivalent to half a cup of coffee, plus ginseng and Brazilian fatigue-busting guarana. It is seen as a rival for non-alcoholic looney juice Red Bull - commonly …

    Bootnotes 7 Feb 2005, 14:55

  • PPARC sets up Mars committee

    Planning for Aurora

    PPARC has appointed a board of space experts to oversee the UK's participation in the European Space Agency's Aurora programme. The Aurora Advisory Committee (AurAC) will be headed by Dr. Mark Sims from the University of Leicester, last seen as project manager on the Beagle 2 mission. He will be joined by the Open University's …

    Science 7 Feb 2005, 15:25

  • U2 says soz for online snafu

    Ticket touts toast Irish rockers

    Rock gods U2 have apologised to fans who were unable to get their hands on early tickets for the band's next tour. Tickets for the Vertigo/2005 tour went on sale last week - the idea was that U2 fans would get first chance to buy them. This didn't happen. An open letter from U2's drummer Larry Mullen says: "There was a mess up …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2005, 15:55

  • Small.biz demands return to tech college system

    Old school thinking, 21st-century reasoning

    A report by the Small Enterprise Research Team at the Open University reveals that 50 per cent of entrepreneurs believe that schools and universities do little to instil practical skills in their students, and that two thirds of UK small business owners are calling for the return of technical colleges in order to boost …

    Small Biz 7 Feb 2005, 17:11

  • Egenera freshens blades with a touch of Opteron

    Beyond Wall Street

    Egenera this week spruced up its blade server line in a major way with the release of new Opteron-based systems and a refresh of the BladeFrame hardware that sits at the center of the company's technology. Egenera will shortly roll out two- and four-way Opteron-based blades, making it one of the first companies to use AMD's 64- …

    Servers 7 Feb 2005, 17:48

  • MCI 'makes $5m a year from spam gangs'

    Spamhaus accuses telco of aiding and abetting junk mailers

    Spamhaus has slammed MCI for hosting a website selling spamming software that is allegedly integral to the illegal trade in compromised PCs. The site - send-safe.com - sells spamware called Send Safe which uses broadband-connected PCs infected by viruses such as SoBig to distribute junk mail. More than 70 per cent of spam comes …

    Spam 7 Feb 2005, 18:29

  • 13 EU countries link up to fight spam

    Come and join us

    Anti-spam enforcement authorities in 13 European countries have agreed to work together when investigating complaints about cross-border spam from anywhere within the EU. The countries are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain. The idea …

    Spam 7 Feb 2005, 18:48

  • Your 'fancy' Napster bashing bites

    Letters We dream of disappearing music

    Our recent column challenging Napster's new To Go music rental service triggered an unusual volume of letters. The vulture flock appears to be divided where Napster is concerned with many saying $14.95 per month for tethered downloads sounds pretty good and others insisting that Apple's per song model will win the online music …

    Letters 7 Feb 2005, 19:40

  • Firefox spoofing flaw goes international

    Esperanto for spammers bug hits Opera and Konqueror too

    A security loophole in Mozilla and Firefox browser could be used to spoof the URL displayed in the address bar, SSL certificate and status bar. The vulnerability also affects Opera and Konqueror and stems from a flawed IDN (International Domain Name) implementation within the browsers. The bug could be exploited by registering …

    Spam 7 Feb 2005, 21:38