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4th March 2005 Archive

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  • Intel updates Ent PC with audio 'reality amp'

    IDF Spring 05 Adds dual-core CPUs, too

    Intel demonstrated its latest Entertainment PC system this week, a major update that will take advantage of the chip maker's dual-core desktop processors and 945/955 chipset - not to mention some nifty audio enhancement software. The EPC, developed by Intel's motherboard division, was launched in 2004 based on Intel's Pentium 4 …

    PCs 4 Mar 2005, 01:10

  • Intel sees virtualization as key to child-proof PCs

    IDF Spring 05 Locked down

    A pair of Intel's finest code pushers took the stage this week at the Intel Developer Forum to explain the merits of virtualization technology. In this particular case, the staffers looked to hype reasons why business users and consumers might like to have PCs that run different types of operating systems or might like to carve …

    PCs 4 Mar 2005, 01:52

  • Intel's 100-core chip could power intelligent toilet

    IDF Spring 05 Big dreams for 2015

    Those of you who just do a bit of web surfing, typing and e-mail may be struggling to figure out how to get a little more out of that new 3.6GHz chip. Have no fear. In ten years time, you can try and figure out how to use 100 core processors many, many times more powerful than your current Pentium. So said Intel senior fellow …

    Science 4 Mar 2005, 02:24

  • Nokia 9300 Communicator

    Review Mobile office nirvana, or fancy paperweight?

    The 9300 Communicator is Nokia's most serious challenge yet in the mobile data market. We sourced a unit from Expansys, who have several hundred in stock right now, with or without contract. But using it soon invoked a really odd sensation in your reviewer, an erstwhile Psion user. It was like being thrown into the future from …

    Reviews 4 Mar 2005, 06:57

  • The Thudpucker Proxy

    Letters Pepperland will be free

    Re: Doonesbury savages Pepperland's copyright utopians Your Pepperland Letters This Doonesbury strip ran several years ago and is a re-run. Still, its message is all the more topical with the new hardware and increase in connectivity over the last few years. Jim Lucke Thanks to many of you for pointing out that howler so …

    Letters 4 Mar 2005, 06:59

  • Horizon profits jump in '04

    Exposed in Ireland

    Horizon Technology Group's operating profits grew 38 per cent to €7m for 2004, up from just over €5m in 2003. Operating profit margins at the specialist Sun Microsystems reseller increased from two per cent in 2003 to 2.5 per cent in 2004. Turnover rose 12 per cent from €250m to €281m over the year. As a percentage of turnover …

    Channel Register 4 Mar 2005, 09:55

  • FCC strikes against VoIP blocking

    Powell wants to be VoIP enforcer

    Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell backed enforcement action to protect VoIP traffic as the agency yesterday announced a settlement with a carrier that blocked internet users’ voice calls. Local telco Madison River LLC has pledged to refrain from blocking VoIP calls over its network and ensure that such …

    Music and Media 4 Mar 2005, 12:10

  • Man in Reg masthead lingo terror ordeal

    Letter Y Ddraig Goch? WTF?

    We here at Vulture Central occasionally receive a missive so delightful that it merits a showcase of its own. In this case, one JK (we have the full name but have not published it for our correspondent's own safety) wrote to inform us of strange goings-on at El Reg on 1 March. Read on in wonder: Sent: 01 March 2005 16:24 To: …

    Letters 4 Mar 2005, 12:13

  • Police push for dedicated paedo-protection unit

    UK Internet Safety Centre

    Police are proposing a new dedicated unit to tackle internet child pornography - staffed by officers, charity workers and computer experts - with resources to monitor suspect internet activity 24/7 and carry out covert ops against net paedophiles. Stuart Hyde, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the BBC that "law …

    Music and Media 4 Mar 2005, 12:19

  • MPs condemn e-Uni disaster - again

    'Disgraceful waste', etc

    The commons education select committee has roundly condemned the UK's failed e-University as a "disgraceful waste", confirming the 2004 opinion of Dr Ian Gibson, Labour MP and chair of science and technology committee at the Commons, that UKeU was a "shameful waste" of public money, and an "absolute disaster". As we previously …

    Public Sector 4 Mar 2005, 12:23

  • Employees get stuck on mobiles

    Analysis Land line? Pah!

    The majority of employees use their employer-supplied mobile phone in preference to a land line, even when sitting at their desk. Quocirca research in 2004 indicated that 55 per cent of IT decision makers across Europe believed this was a frequent occurrence. This may well be an optimistic under-estimate. The mobile phone is …

    Mobile 4 Mar 2005, 12:26

  • Brazil greenlights GM soya

    Lifts ban, despite protests

    Brazil's lower house of Congress has lifted a ban on the sale and use of genetically-modified seed. The vote - considered a major victory for biotech giants such as Monsanto - was passed on Wednesday by a majority of 352 to 60, the New York Times reports. The law will be signed within a fortnight by Brazil'a president, Luiz …

    Science 4 Mar 2005, 12:29

  • Irate readers deploy plasma weapon

    Letters Torture? You're having a laugh

    It's a funny old game, the IT news business. We ran a piece yesterday on the US's Pulsed Energy Projectile device - capable of knocking down a charging rhino from over a mile - on the off-chance that it might be of some interest to our beloved readership. What we didn't expect, though, was the pulsed energy burst of scorn aimed …

    Letters 4 Mar 2005, 12:37

  • SCO to restate three quarters of results

    Loss unaffected

    SCO Group must restate two quarters of results “to correct certain accounting errors”, the company revealed on Thursday The restatements for the quarters ending 31 January, 30 April, and 31 July, 2004, will not hit SCO’s 2004 fiscal year bottom line - meaning the Unix vendor and Linux bugbear’s fiscal 2004 loss per share will …

    Operating Systems 4 Mar 2005, 12:46

  • Nokia's camera-free Bluetooth bet for business

    A successor to the 6310i - but SE sticks to pics.

    by Bryan Betts Nokia and SonyEricsson have both been busy launching new phones this week, but while most are all-singing models, with cameras, MP3 players and FM radios, Nokia's 6021 is a more sober offering. Yes, at long last, it's another business-class phone with no camera. Some buyers have long complained that, for mobile …

    Mobile 4 Mar 2005, 12:55

  • Server sales boost storage revs in Q4

    Those numbers just keep spinning

    Storage systems revenue grew just 1.8 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter despite demand for capacity by petabytes leaping 57.7 per cent in the same period. Latest figures from IDC showed external disk storage revenues growing one per cent on the year to $3.8bn. However, a slightly stronger performance by internal …

    Storage 4 Mar 2005, 13:22

  • Cows bear grudges: official

    And chickens have needs, too

    We at Vulture Central were growing increasingly concerned that funding bodies may have taken the axe to the kind of cutting-edge research which proved that cows enjoy a bit of girl-on-girl, and that sheep like happy, smiley people and pine for absent friends. We needn't have worried. A team at Bristol University has proved what …

    Science 4 Mar 2005, 13:30

  • BOFH: Your Job number is...

    Episode 8 ...273108B for Bravo

    So the helpdesk lot are being a complete pack of annoying bastards and it's starting to get on my tits. The supervisor's doing this monster push on gathering statistics to make his group seem like the heart and soul of the department in a transparent attempt to get more money for his role. Ordinarily, I quite like the Helpdesk …

    BOFH 4 Mar 2005, 14:00

  • New Intel Irish plants 'under threat'

    Company considers position, report suggests

    A report has suggested that the IDA's decision to withdraw €170m in grant aid for Intel could have more severe consequences than originally thought. The Irish Times has reported that Intel Ireland has sought planning permission to build as many as three new factories in Leixlip, Co Kildare, where it already employs some 4,700 …

    Financial News 4 Mar 2005, 14:32

  • Euro ministers set to OK patent measure

    Little chance for amendments

    European ministers are expected to give the OK for the controversial Computer Implemented Inventions Directive to proceed when they meet Monday. The European Commission has already nixed efforts to send the directive, which would allow software to be patented, back to the European Parliament, effectively restarting the …

    Software 4 Mar 2005, 14:52

  • Creatives and techies amongst worst software pirates

    BSA hits firms for €4m

    The Business Software Alliance hauled in almost €4m from enforcement actions against EMEA businesses last year, a 10 per cent rise on 2003. Small and medium firms in the creative industries, the hi-tech sector and professional services were the worst offenders, the software industry rottweiller declared today, as it reported …

    Software 4 Mar 2005, 15:31

  • Astronomers eyeball smallest star yet

    Just a bit bigger than Jupiter

    Astronomers searching for extrasolar planets have discovered the smallest star spotted yet - just 16 per cent larger than Jupiter. OGLE-TR-122b was identified during analysis of data gathered during the planet-hunting OGLE project in Chile, New Scientist reports. The OGLE survey identified almost 200 objects by watching for …

    Science 4 Mar 2005, 15:34

  • Siemens outsources IT - to itself

    ATOS Origin tie-up mooted

    Siemens has handed over responsibility for its entire IT infrastructure to its struggling Siemens Business Services arm. Under a three year plan, Siemens plans to save “hundreds of millions of euros” by handing the operation of all its units’ and regions’ IT infrastructure to SBS. At the same time, the firm said, SBS will …

    Financial News 4 Mar 2005, 16:27

  • Spammers adopt slippery tactics to bypass ISP defences

    Botnets repurposed

    Spam levels are rising even though the percentage of junk mail spewed out from compromised PCs directly is on the slide. Tests by email security firm MessageLabs on 90,000 inbound connections to its honeypot servers on 1 October 2004 revealed that 79 per cent of the connections came from "open proxy" computers or zombies ( …

    Spam 4 Mar 2005, 16:32

  • Nokia nixes fuel cells development project

    'Too immature'

    Nokia has shelved plans to develop mobile phones powered by fuel cells for at least a few years, the Finnish phone manufacturer said Thursday 3 March. Eight months ago, Nokia launched a fuel-cell development programme but it has concluded the technology is still some way off maturity. Nokia may restart development work in the …

    Mobile 4 Mar 2005, 16:51

  • BPI nails 'music pirates'

    23 filesharing settlements

    UK music fans have agreed to pay thousands of pounds in compensation for distributing music illegally via peer-to-peer networks, the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) announced Friday. Music fans paid up to £4,500 each in a series of 23 settlements and agreed to accept injunctions against them illegally uploading music again …

    Music and Media 4 Mar 2005, 17:35

  • Apple wins first round of 'secret' war

    Online hack scare

    Apple has secured a victory of sorts in its quest to force three, popular product news sites to turnover their sources. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg this week handed out a preliminary ruling that said online news outlets don't enjoy the same protections as more traditional publishers with regard to …

    Mac Channel 4 Mar 2005, 21:18

  • Limp Bizkit lead claims hackers stole his sex video

    Secret Service gets intimate with case

    A lawsuit filed on behalf of Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst alleges that the same people who hacked Paris Hilton's cell phone were able pull a homemade sex video off Durst's computer. The Smoking Gun has obtained part of Durst's complaint against various websites that posted portions of Durst's sex romp with a former …

    Music and Media 4 Mar 2005, 22:58