The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

18th February 2005 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Regulate this

    RSA 2005 Government health warning over stricter IT laws

    The role of government in regulating the IT industry sparked sharp debate at this week's RSA Conference. Richard Clarke, former White House cyber-security advisor, and cryptographer Bruce Schneier argued for the benefits greater regulation might bring against opposition from Harris Miller, president of the IT Association of …

    Enterprise Security 18 Feb 2005, 09:31

  • Samsung shows 'world's first' DDR 3 chip

    Clocked to 1066MHz and beyond

    Demand for DDR 2 SDRAM has barely begun to exceed DDR levels - the latest generation memory technology is still the more expensive of the two, bit for bit - yet Samsung has already started touting DDR 3. The South Korean giant this week claimed to have punched out the world's first DDR 3 chip, a 512Mb part clocked at an …

    PCs 18 Feb 2005, 11:08

  • Mosaid, Hynix settle patent spat

    DRAM technology licence signed

    Mosaid has licensed six memory patents to Hynix, calming the legal spat that flared up between the two companies in January. Then, Ottawa-based Mosaid claimed the South Korean memory maker had infringed the DRAM patents, and filed a complaint with the US District Court of Eastern Texas to seek compensation. The patents cover " …

    Financial News 18 Feb 2005, 11:15

  • Nvidia Q4 sales best yet - almost

    But income a long way from historical high

    Nvidia yesterday reported the second-highest quarterly sales in the company's history with Q4 FY2005 revenues jumping to $566.5m, just shy of the $582.9m it recorded for Q1 FY2003. The most recently completed quarter's figure represents growth of 9.9 per cent sequentially and 20 per cent over the year-ago quarter. Net income …

    Financial News 18 Feb 2005, 11:23

  • BT gets onside with OnSpeed

    Deal done

    OnSpeed - the outfit that accelerates the speed of plain old dial-up internet access - has signed a distribution deal with BT. Financial details surrounding the tie-up were not released. As part of the agreement, BT will give its BT Yahoo! Anytime customers a free 12-month subscription to OnSpeed. BT Yahoo! Pay-as-you-Go …

    Telecoms 18 Feb 2005, 11:32

  • UMC chief admits desire to acquire Hejian

    Confesses to advising the Chinese foundry's founders

    UMC chairman Robert Tsao has admitted helping the founders of China-based foundry Hejian Technology devise a business plan for their company. But while he re-iterated UMC's previous position that neither it nor its executives have a stake - financial or technological - in Hejian, Tsao came clean on UMC's interest in acquiring …

    Financial News 18 Feb 2005, 11:37

  • Learn to design effective database systems

    Site Offer Expand your bookshelf at 30% off

    Even though most developers spend much of their programming time working with databases, many of them have never had any focused training on how to design and build a database that works smoothly and is easy to use. The Reg bookshop is offering you the chance to put this right, with 30% off Designing Effective Database Systems …

    Site News 18 Feb 2005, 11:44

  • Vxers are more innovative than big software firms

    Comment Complexity kills innovation

    There's more innovation coming from today's virus writers than from the big software companes whose core goals are to progress and innovate, says SecurityFocus columnist Kelly Martin. Viruses grew by over 25 per cent in 2004. We're at about 115,000 viruses today, and the virus variants and mutations continue to grown in record …

    Applications 18 Feb 2005, 12:21

  • Qwest to bid again for MCI

    Gloves off

    MCI looks set to become the centre of a bidding war after Qwest said it planned to resubmit a bid for the US long distance telco. In a letter to MCI's board of directors, Qwest chief executive Richard Notebaert said the company was currently poring over MCI's $6.7bn (£3.55bn) deal with Verizon announced on Monday. "We would …

    Telecoms 18 Feb 2005, 12:33

  • Congress names new NASA chief

    Former astronaut takes control

    Former astronaut Fred Gregory looks set to be named NASA's next chief administrator. He was named as the acting-chief by congressional spokesman Joe Pouliot, according to reports. He will take up the post on Monday, after the current boss, Sean O'Keefe, comes to the end of his tenure today (Friday). Gregory, who has served as …

    Science 18 Feb 2005, 12:50

  • DEC 'tsunami hack' man pleads not guilty

    Court waits for IT security report

    The east London man accused of attempting to hack into the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) website was released on unconditional bail yesterday after pleading not guilty. Daniel James Cuthbert, 28, of Whitechapel, east London, was charged on February 10 with a single offence under Section One of the Computer Misuse Act. He …

    Enterprise Security 18 Feb 2005, 12:52

  • ATI ships 'first' mobile AMD chipset

    Turion-ready

    ATI has begun shipping a mobile version of the Radeon Xpress 200 chipset it launched for AMD Athlon 64 and Sempron-based desktop systems late last year. Pitching the part, the Xpress 200M, as the world's first PCI Express, integrated DirectX 9-supporting chipset for notebooks equipped with AMD processors, ATI declared the part …

    PCs 18 Feb 2005, 12:57

  • Business goes mad for storage

    Gimme server virtualisation

    On the whole, surveys do not often provide "scientific data" but sometimes they can throw up some interesting observations on differing trends and how ready the world is to follow up on new developments. With this in mind, it is worthwhile taking a look at the results of a small survey performed by Nemertes Research at the …

    Storage 18 Feb 2005, 12:59

  • Microsoft punts telco platform

    3GSM Connected Services Framework

    As wireline and wireless operator move towards converged, all-IP networks - capable of delivering advanced multimedia services - the software at the core of the systems will give its provider huge impact on the carrier market. Microsoft is making a bid for some of this business with its CSF platform, which supports integration …

    Mobile 18 Feb 2005, 13:38

  • Coming soon: the sub-$50 mobile

    3GSM Operators call the tune on handsets

    It is an annual tradition now that, at the cellular industry’s superevent, 3GSM, there should be a new wave of mutual attacks and recriminations between the handset majors and the largest cellcos. This year, however, it was clear how far the balance of power has shifted in favor of the operators and their desire to control the …

    Mobile 18 Feb 2005, 13:39

  • BOFH: Danger, Falling Computing Peripherals

    Episode 6 It'll all end in tears

    "IT WAS JUST A BIT OF FUN!" the PFY burbles. "NO-ONE GOT HURT!" "Someone could have got hurt," the Boss counters. "You could get hurt logging in!" the PFY responds. "No you couldn't!" "You could if I found you using my username!" The Boss sighs heavily, which is a sure sign he's run out of arguments and is going to start …

    BOFH 18 Feb 2005, 13:43

  • US Senate moves against genetic discrimination

    No genes no trainers

    The US Senate has passed a bill that would prohibit employers, health insurers and other groups from discriminating on the basis of genetic information. Advances in genetic testing have sparked concerns that individuals could find themselves excluded by employers or health organizations because they may have a genetic …

    Science 18 Feb 2005, 13:54

  • DRM and daft lawsuits win no friends at El Reg

    Letters But we found a Fiorina fan

    If there was ever a headline that would guarantee a response from Register readers, it was Is Linux security a myth?. In it, the writer argued that security can never be perfect, and that Linux cannot ever be 100 per cent secure. You all seemed perfectly happy with this line of reasoning, even if you surprised yourselves by …

    Letters 18 Feb 2005, 14:58

  • Firebox VoIP Cyberphone

    Review Time to chuck out that call centre-style headset?

    Nothing in life is free - or is it? With Skype's gratis voice-over-IP (VoIP) software taking the world by storm, Firebox.com, a UK-based gadgets site, has teamed up with the company and a small handset manufacturer to release the Firebox VoIP Cyberphone, writes Stuart Miles. For those not in the know, Skype allows you to make …

    Reviews 18 Feb 2005, 15:00

  • Parent power detags US schoolkids

    RFID rumpus

    Parent protests have forced the scrapping of an RFID tagging scheme at an elementary school in California. The firm behind the technology decided to pull the plug after parents and the American Civil Liberties Union expressed health and privacy concerns over the deployment, CNET reports. The school in Sutter, north of …

    Music and Media 18 Feb 2005, 15:22

  • Online fraud could dent economies

    Let's be careful out there

    A bigwig in the US Secret Service has warned that online fraud poses a real threat to a nation's economy. Speaking at the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco Ralph Basham warned that hackers and criminals are teaming up to steal private financial information from companies and individuals. "There is no longer any doubt …

    Security 18 Feb 2005, 15:28

  • Bose SoundDock iPod speakers

    Review Wake up the neighbours

    Bose has decided that iPod users are sufficiently numerous now to venture into the iPod add-on business, but can the company bring its high-end loudspeaker prowess to the world of personal audio? asks Stuart Miles. Compared to other speakers you can hook up to your iPod, two things about the SoundDock stand out. Firstly, it's a …

    Reviews 18 Feb 2005, 15:29

  • Sony preps 'iPod killer' - again

    Buying Apple's just too expensive now, apparently

    Watch out, Apple - Sony is coming after you. But it's the iPod's market share the Japanese giant wants, not the company itself. Sony president Kunitake Ando today expressed the consumer electronics firm's confidence that by the end of the year it will bring to market a portable digital music player "much more competitive than …

    Mac Channel 18 Feb 2005, 15:55

  • WebTV 911 ne'er-do-well pleads guilty

    Viewers' PCs dialled emergency services

    A 44-year-old Louisiana man has pleaded guilty to sending an email attachment which reprogrammed MS's WebTV service viewers' computers, causing them to dial 911, the United States Attorney's Office reports. David Jeansonne 'fessed up to two counts of "intentionally damaging protected computers, causing a threat to public safety …

    Music and Media 18 Feb 2005, 16:10

  • NY Times buys About.com for $410m cash

    Touched by your presence, Dear

    The New York Times Co is stumping up $410m cash for Primedia's About.com. It says the combination of About.com's 22 million monthly users and its 13 million users will make it the world's 12th biggest company on the internet. It will cross-promote NYTimes products to About.com and intends to improve the content and visibility of …

    Financial News 18 Feb 2005, 16:19

  • L33tsp34k for the luddite classes

    Microsoft helps parents get a grip

    Microsoft has published a parent's guide to online slang, and we were unable to resist it. It aims to educate confused parents about the wacky online world their kids inhabit, so that mums and dads across America don't freak out when they spy on their offsprings' email, and can't understand a word of it. The idea behind it is …

    Bootnotes 18 Feb 2005, 16:36

  • Intel steers Itanic core correction

    Errata non grata

    Intel will begin shipping updated versions of its Itanium 2 processors on 6 May after sampling on 4 March, The Register has learned. That date will see the chip maker start offering the latest Itanic core stepping, A2, a revision of the A1 core currently shipping and turning up in servers (apparently). The update takes in all …

    Servers 18 Feb 2005, 16:41

  • BT abandons scheme to block rogue diallers

    Lines blocked, questions asked

    BT has stopped blocking UK-based premium rate numbers suspected of being used by rogue dialler companies to defraud consumers out of hundreds of pounds. In June last year BT responded to mounting concerns about rogue dialler software - which secretly changes computer settings so they call a premium rate phone line instead of …

    Telecoms 18 Feb 2005, 16:55

  • Reg chats with ISS veteran

    Space Week Astronaut Andre Kuipers on life in space

    The International Space Station (ISS), a collaboration between the space agencies of the US, Canada, Russia, Japan and Europe, is currently the world's most important manned space project and has been orbiting the globe 15 times a day for well over a thousand days. When completed, the 450 tonne structure will house seven crew, …

    Science 18 Feb 2005, 17:12

  • BSA in open (standards) revolt

    Shocking

    The BSA has called on the European Commission to relax its requirement for open standards in its projects to make government services available to citizens online. In an open letter to the Commission, Benoit Müller, the Business Software Alliance's European policy director, said that the EC's insistence on open standards would …

    Developer 18 Feb 2005, 17:28

  • Customers, resellers bite Apple back

    Writ slipped under wire

    Three US legal firms filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Apple yesterday, accusing it of scamming customers with shorter warranty periods and passing old kit off as new. The suit, filed in San Francisco on Thursday (Feb 17), represents consumers and resellers in two separate subclasses. The consumer suit accuses …

    Channel Register 18 Feb 2005, 17:41

  • How my wasted roommate dodged Linux and other lessons

    Letters Open source grandma

    As expected, our recent story on desktop Linux generated plenty of complaints and a few compliments. Our suggestion that Linspire would turn over control of the Desktop Summit if more companies would get involved was a particular point of contention. We're pleased to bring you Linspire President Kevin Carmony's perspective on …

    Letters 18 Feb 2005, 19:06

  • Sun adds speed and Fujitsu to server line

    So begins UltraSPARC's end

    Sun Microsystems has made some subtle but significant changes to its server lineup by boosting the performance of homegrown kick and opening up Fujitsu's gear to its customers. Sun this week revealed that its v490 and v890 midrange servers have been blessed with 1.35GHz UltraSPARC IV processors. This kit had been running on 1. …

    Servers 18 Feb 2005, 21:12

  • RSA looks ahead on RFID security

    RSA 2005 Trust but verify

    Cryptographic researchers are working out ways to make RFID technology more palatable to consumers ahead of its expected widespread deployment over the coming years. RFID tags are small silicon microchips attached to an antenna which emit a unique serial number by radio over short distances. Miniature RFID tags can be embedded …

    ID 18 Feb 2005, 21:16

  • Intel to attack greedy TCP/IP stack

    I/OATa get you

    Intel next year will plant itself square in the middle of the budding market for systems that speed network traffic by rolling out something called I/OAT. I/OAT stands for I/O Acceleration Technology and it will be previewed for the first time at next month's Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. Intel remains cagey …

    Storage 18 Feb 2005, 22:24