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16th February 2005 Archive

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  • Cisco overhauls security line-up

    RSA 2005 ATD tackles Trojans and spyware

    Cisco aims to help its customers fortify networked systems against a broader range of attacks. The scheme - dubbed Adaptive Threat Defense (ATD) - is designed to contain a wider variety of threats using network devices such as firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and routers. Software upgrades across a range of Cisco …

    Enterprise Security 16 Feb 2005, 00:08

  • Sun speeds Opteron gear, squeezes SuSE

    Old kit on sale

    Solaris x86 ranks as priority one at Sun Microsystems, but the company has not forgotten about its Linux clientele. Fans of the penguin will see price cuts on older versions of Sun's Opteron-based servers as well as new, faster versions of this kit. Sun has thrown in a SuSE upgrade for its user base too. Sun has packed its …

    Servers 16 Feb 2005, 01:24

  • Passwords? We don't need no stinking passwords

    RSA 2005 Some PINs never change

    Concerns over online security are continuing to slow consumer e-commerce growth. A quarter of the respondents in a recent survey have reduced their online purchases in the past year and 21 per cent refuse to conduct business with their financial institutions online because of security fears. More than half (53 per cent) of the 1 …

    Enterprise Security 16 Feb 2005, 01:41

  • EMC admits to iSCSI fleet

    Clariion gets another 'i'

    EMC this week fumbled its way through a new storage system launch, unveiling the fleet of iSCSI boxes that most of the IT reporting community had already unveiled. The big daddy of storage has officially introduced the Clariion AX100i, CX300i and CX500i systems to customers. As the names suggest, these are iSCSI-ready versions …

    Storage 16 Feb 2005, 09:11

  • Questar courts bloody-nosed Linux wannabes

    Euro distros

    If you live in Europe are looking to get your grubby hands on a copy of the Linspire operating system, then Questar is at your service. The small company based in Milan has been operating as a type of virtual subsidiary for US software makers since 1993. Of late, Questar has focused on creating different versions of Linspire …

    System Builder 16 Feb 2005, 09:12

  • UMC HQ raided in China investment probe

    Foundry chiefs' homes searched too

    Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Justice (MoJ) have raided the homes of key UMC staffers as part of an investigation into investments made by the chip foundry in China. Investigators also entered UMC's HQ and took away a number of documents. The raids, reported by Chinese-language newspaper the United Daily News (UDN) this …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2005, 10:12

  • Apple sues three journalists for emails

    EFF backs defence

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling for court protection for three journalists targeted by Apple. The three reporters work for online titles appleinsider and powerpage.org. In November they published stories about "Asteroid", a future Apple device for linking musical instruments to computers. Apple is demanding …

    Music and Media 16 Feb 2005, 10:51

  • NTL to trump BT in March assault

    Broadband competition

    NTL is to launch an all-out assault on BT, in an aggressive marketing campaign against rival broadband providers. From mid March, NTL intends to "match or beat ALL BT Broadband products on price, speed and usage allowance", according to a leaked memo posted on the NTL:HELL forums. The UK's largest cableco - which has three …

    Telecoms 16 Feb 2005, 11:01

  • Is Linux security a myth?

    Comment Time will tell

    There are rare occasions in IT when a particular architecture reaches a point where it stops being purely IT driven and takes on a life of its own. The last year has seen the open source movement reach such a cult status; and at the vanguard of open source fashion can be found the Linux operating system. While the platform …

    Operating Systems 16 Feb 2005, 11:32

  • UK techies blow 17 days a year yakking to mates

    Personal email hits productivity

    The productivity of UK businesses is being threatened by employees who waste time emailing their friends, new research claims. Forty per cent of UK workers spend an hour or more every day messaging friends and relatives and swapping jokes, according to a poll by Clearswift. UK IT departments proved the worst behaved, spending 17 …

    Small Biz 16 Feb 2005, 11:35

  • ViewSonic VP171b 8ms LCD monitor

    Review More to it than a fast response time?

    Right, let's make this clear from the start: the ViewSonic VP171b has been upgraded from a 16ms panel to a faster, 8ms one. This should be good news to folk who claim that they can notice differences in response time when gaming and watching movies. Myself, I'm sceptical - surely you should be concentrating on taking out the …

    Reviews 16 Feb 2005, 11:54

  • Napster To Go DRM 'threat' astounds media

    Comment Move along, nothing new here...

    The world's mainstream media has been amazed by reports that the DRM technology intended to protect songs supplied by Napster's To Go can be bypassed, "potentially letting [users] make CDs with hundreds of thousands of songs for free", as one astounded Reuters reporter put it. And it's true, they can. But then they've always …

    Music and Media 16 Feb 2005, 12:00

  • Bye bye Carly, don't forget to write

    Letters Plus thoughts on Apple's pint-sized product line

    So, Carly Fiorina has left HP, to the delight of the stock market and Register readers, among them current and former HP employees. Whether she jumped or was pushed is a mere detail, the end result is the same. Out goes the most powerful woman in corporate America, with a $45m golden parachute to help her to a nice soft landing …

    Letters 16 Feb 2005, 12:10

  • Domain dispute puts question mark over UK ecommerce

    Game.co.uk goes to appeal

    A dispute over ownership of "game.co.uk" could have significant and far-reaching effects on e-commerce in Britain. The domain, which comes under the control of private company Nominet, was awarded to Game plc in January following a complaint that the owner, Garth Sumpter, was misusing it. Mr Sumpter, a consultant for the …

    Music and Media 16 Feb 2005, 12:34

  • Cheated wife on spyware wiretap rap

    Illegally spied on hubby's net affair

    A Florida wife who installed spyware on her husband's PC in order to catch him in flagrante while he indulged in Yahoo! Dominoes with his online lover has been found guilty of violating state law. Beverly Ann O'Brien was found guilty under Florida's wiretapping law of illegally obtaining the online chat records because she " …

    Music and Media 16 Feb 2005, 13:32

  • Abbey axes 335

    IT jobs gone

    Abbey National is laying off 335 IT staff as a result of its merger with Santander Central Hispano. The firm will cut 200 jobs from its Milton Keynes office, 85 in Belfast and 50 in Glasgow. Another 240 staff from business banking and Abbey's online bank Cahoot are being offered transfers to Isban - the SCH subsidiary which is …

    IT Director 16 Feb 2005, 13:40

  • Man sues bigger penis pill company

    'No increase in size' despite maker's claims

    A US man has filed a lawsuit claiming false advertising against a herbal penis enlargement pill company because its products did not produce the promised enhanced member. The suit states that Florida-based Alzare LLC claimed in "very, very convincing" advertising featuring doctors and porn stars that its pills would add up to an …

    Music and Media 16 Feb 2005, 13:52

  • Sanyo trumpets Wipoq debut

    3GSM 'Personal mobile gateway'

    Sanyo has announced the first Wipoq; a messaging hand-held, not a phone. What is it? It's a "personal mobile gateway" peripheral device - but a breakthrough: it's one that doesn't actually need a PMG to work. The news announcement conceals the breakthrough well. It says, blandly, that Sanyo has licensed an operating system for …

    Mobile 16 Feb 2005, 14:06

  • ISP 'co-op' formed to boost broadband

    One for the little guys

    The United Kingdom Internet Forum (UKIF) is forming an "ISP co-operative" to improve the purchasing power and commercial clout of some of the UK's smaller internet providers. So far around 17 ISPs have signed up to the UK internet trade group's scheme which should help them pool orders for IT hardware and wholesale broadband, …

    Telecoms 16 Feb 2005, 14:12

  • Fraudsters expose 100,000 across US

    Credit data company admits ID theft

    A US credit data company has admitted that fraudsters last October accessed records on up to 35,000 people, according to reports from AP and the LA Times. Georgia-based ChoicePoint Inc. confessed on Tuesday that the scammers "may have stolen credit reports, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information" on thousands …

    Enterprise Security 16 Feb 2005, 14:26

  • Support for proposed eBay strike fades

    Boycott 'not taken seriously'

    Hacked off eBay users are threatening to launch a week-long boycott of the auction site from Friday. The "strike action" is due to take place in response to recent increases in fees introduced by eBay. Unrest among some eBayers has led to vocal comments being posted on eBay message boards, threats of people leaving the auction …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2005, 15:00

  • T-Mobile hacker pleads guilty

    Unusual secrecy

    A sophisticated computer hacker who penetrated servers at wireless giant T-Mobile pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single felony charge of intentionally accessing a protected computer and recklessly causing damage. Nicolas Jacobsen, 22, entered the guilty plea as part of a sealed plea agreement with the government, says prosecutor …

    Enterprise Security 16 Feb 2005, 15:05

  • Qualcomm: WiMax isn't magic

    3GSM But it's creeping up

    Qualcomm rarely needs an invitation to comment on the WiMax bandwagon, and when we met Senior VP Jeff Belk Wednesday, it so happened he had a presentation ready. His timeline slide compares the maturity of UMTS and CDMA EV-DO to 802.11, .16 and .20, and what do you know? UMTS and EV-DO are here and work, and WiMax is somewhere …

    Wireless 16 Feb 2005, 15:17

  • Cannes demos the next fast thing

    3GSM HSDPA - Data gets faster, acronyms get longer

    One of the few reliable laws in the technology industry - if the demo works, it’s probably been faked. Every vendor worth the name is demonstrating HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) here this year. The next enhancement to 3G, inevitably known as 3.5G, it promises to make the downlink a whole lot faster – from 384kbps up …

    Mobile 16 Feb 2005, 15:41

  • UK boffin demos plane-based broadband

    Whatever next?

    Radio scientists in the UK have successfully demonstrated the first air-to-ground mesh broadband connection. A microlight plane established a broadband connection with the South Witham mesh, at an altitude of 2,000 feet. Voice and data traffic was sent over the link. The project, in late January, was prompted by Australian mesh …

    Wireless 16 Feb 2005, 15:48

  • BT workers demand 8% pay rise

    Why? 'Cos they're worth it

    BT staff are demanding an eight per cent increase in wages to repay them for their "loyalty, hard work and co-operation". The Communication Workers Union (CWU) - which represents around 54,000 of BT's 100,000 or so workers - has submitted a claim for more pay and allowances to meet the increased cost of living. The union notes …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2005, 15:52

  • Verizon's MCI takeover faces shareholder revolt

    Shareholders want explanations...

    Verizon's takeover of MCI could be stymied by MCI shareholders who want to know why an apparently higher offer for the firm was rejected. Verizon offered $6.75bn for MCI - the company formerly known as WorldCom - which MCI accepted, despite receiving a offer from Qwest of a reported $7.3bn. Three institutional investors, …

    Financial News 16 Feb 2005, 15:58

  • Reseller duo in court for 'bribing' council

    Allegedly...

    Two men from Essex-based IT dealership Orbital Solutions are accused of making corrupt payments to ensure they won contracts from Havering Council. Southwark Crown Court began hearing evidence in the case today, in a trial that is expected to last up to eight days. The prosecution alleges that Havering council official Kevin …

    Channel Register 16 Feb 2005, 16:28

  • Opera and Orange seek phone browsing perfection

    Driving data use

    Orange has confirmed that it is working with browser maker, Opera Software, to research and develop a web browser interface for mobile phones. The collaborations come as the developer claimed its Opera Platform is ready for commercial deployment. Opera said the customisable browser will make it easier for mobile phone users to …

    Mobile 16 Feb 2005, 17:02

  • SiS signs Intel bus licence

    Adds support for 1066MHz

    SiS has licensed Intel's 1066MHz frontside bus specification, a move that heralds the chip maker's support for Intel's latest Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processors. That said, it will be some time before SiS' updated chipsets ship: the company will not offer such products until H2 2005, it said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing …

    PCs 16 Feb 2005, 17:05

  • PlusNet to trial BT's 8Mb broadband

    Speed junkies

    Sheffield-based PlusNet has confirmed that from April it will be trialling broadband DSL at speeds up to 8Mb as part of a wider pilot scheme announced by BT Wholesale two weeks ago. The UK's former telecoms monopoly has already announced plans to deliver higher speeds for its wholesale ADSL products to meet what it described as …

    Telecoms 16 Feb 2005, 17:08

  • Scammers say 'No' to drugs, 'Yes' to fraud

    RSA 2005 Path of least resistance

    Better credit card fraud detection techniques are encouraging crooks to look for easier pickings elsewhere. "The path of least resistance is moving on from credit card fraud to checking [current] account fraud. Fraud on debit cards, ATM transactions and money transfers are all on the rise," said Avivah Litan, research director …

    Enterprise Security 16 Feb 2005, 20:56

  • 3PAR adds DIY tool for snapshots

    Getting possessive about enterprise data

    It's not just Windows that has adopted the possessive language of childhood, with *My* Computer, *My* Network and *My* Documents, now it's enterprise storage too. Array developer 3PAR has come up with software called mySnapshot, which enables users - the initial target is software developers - to create and delete their own …

    Storage 16 Feb 2005, 22:10

  • Sun burns Solaris and Linux staffers

    Thanks for the code

    Sun Microsystems has sent some of its operating system staff packing as it finishes up a long period of layoffs. Sources have informed The Register that a larger number of staffers in Sun's operating platforms group have been shown the door. Many of these workers had been cranking away on new versions of Solaris and the Java …

    IT Director 16 Feb 2005, 22:10