7th March 2005 Archive
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ID scheme to bite dust in pre-election terror rush?
So much repression, so little time...
The Government's difficulties in pushing control orders through Parliament are making it look increasingly unlikely that the ID Cards Bill will make it onto the statute book before the election. If it fails to do so, then any new Labour administration would be forced to start the process again from scratch after the election. …
Music and Media 7 Mar 2005, 09:41
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Forged Maxtor HDDs turn up in Japan
Not ours, manufacturer confirms
Fake 320GB Maxtor hard drives have surfaced in Japanese retail channels, the storage company confirmed this weekend. The dodgy drives were spotted on sale in Tokyo's Akihabara district, offered as Maxtor MaXLine II product. The units purport to be model number SA320J0, a 5400rpm, 3.5in product aimed at OEMs rather than retail …
Storage 7 Mar 2005, 10:30
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Nortel pinches Cisco exec
Switch company execs switch companies
Canadian networking giant Nortel has gone outside the firm to pick a new president. Gary Daichendt is Nortel's new president and chief operating officer. He has more than 30 years experience in the IT industry and was previously a vice president for worldwide operations at Cisco. Bill Owens steps down as president but remains …
Data Networking 7 Mar 2005, 10:34
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Carve up BT, says Energis boss
That's what he'll tell MPs
BT should be split in two, Energis chief exec John Pluthero is expected to tell MPs tomorrow. The outspoken head of the alternative telecoms company is due to appear before the Trade and Industry Select Committee (TISC) as part of its investigation into the telecoms review led by regulator Ofcom. And unless he has totally …
Telecoms 7 Mar 2005, 11:31
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Virgin Radio goes worldwide on 3G
Pricey in London, cheap in Bangkok
London-based Virgin Radio claimed to be the first station to offer its broadcasts over 3G today, though most UK listeners will probably stick to their trannies for now. Anyone with a burning desire to listen to shows such as Rock and Roll Football or the imaginatively titled The Late Show can do so, anywhere in the world with a …
Mobile 7 Mar 2005, 11:44
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Dampig Trojan menaces Symbian mobiles
Low risk, big mess
Virus writers have created a new Trojan capable of infecting Symbian Series 60 smartphones. Dampig-A, discovered March 4, attempts to trick users into downloading it by posing as the cracked version of the FSCaller application, developed by SymbianWare of Germany. The Trojan (a malicious SIS file dropper) disables some built-in …
Malware 7 Mar 2005, 11:51
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Fujitsu enables the magneto-optical cardiologist
Strange venue for disk-drive launch
Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. has chosen a rather unusual platform from which to tout its new range of Magneto-Optical (MO) removable drives - the American College of Cardiology's 54th Annual Scientific Session 2005, currently taking place in Orlando, Florida. Of course, there's a solid reason why Fujitsu is …
Storage 7 Mar 2005, 11:55
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Ebbers jury weighs up evidence
Deliberations and cogitations
The jury in the WorldCom fraud trial is to spend a second day weighing up the evidence against former WorldCom chief exec Bernie Ebbers Monday. Ebbers is charged with masterminding the $11bn (£5.8bn) accounting scandal that floored WorldCom in 2002. Former CFO Scott Sullivan - who has already pleaded guilty to his part in the …
Financial News 7 Mar 2005, 11:57
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Apple faces iPod, iTunes patent violation claims
Not quite the halo effect, the company anticipated
Apple has found itself facing a pair of intellectual property challenges that separately claim its FairPlay DRM system and its iPod music player contain technologies to which the Mac maker does not have a right. First up, Lake Forest, Illinois-based Advanced Audio Devices (AAD) alleges its patent, number 6,587,403, for a "music …
Mac Channel 7 Mar 2005, 12:20
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Somalia fingers Europe for toxic waste crisis
Companies dumped uranium, mercury and lead
Somali MPs have asked for international help in clearing toxic waste dislodged by the Asian tsunami. They claim the hazardous material, including uranium, mercury and lead, was left by unnamed European companies who took advantage of the political anarchy in Somalia to turn the country's coastline into an illegal rubbish dump, …
Science 7 Mar 2005, 12:22
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Stringer takes top spot at Sony
From Walkman to Welshman
Sir Howard Stringer is the new boss of Sony Corporation. The Welshman, who was previously chairman and CEO of Sony Corp of America, gets the top job: chairman, group CEO and representative corporate executive officer. Two other senior executives are also moving seats. Dr Ryoji Chubachi will be responsible for Sony's worldwide …
Financial News 7 Mar 2005, 12:31
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BT Retail to trial 8 Meg DSL
And other ISP stuff too
BT Retail has joined Sheffield-based PlusNet in announcing that it will start trialling 8 Meg broadband service from April. Last week BT Wholesale announced its plans to recruit up to 2,000 businesses and consumers in Strathclyde and Greater London to take part in the trial. A spokeswoman for BT's Wholesale division declined …
Telecoms 7 Mar 2005, 13:02
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Don Corleone meets 50 Cent
On the bloodsoaked streets of videolandia
Rapper 50 Cent last week announced he has teamed up with Vivendi Universal Games to produce "50 Cent: Bulletproof" - a gaming extravanganza which sees the artist "in the role of a crusader taking on crime families in the New York underworld", as Reuters puts it. Rap aficionados will, of course, see that the game's title is a …
Bootnotes 7 Mar 2005, 13:10
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Gizmondo to ship 19 March
British Nintendo-Sony basher comes to UK, at last
Gizmondo will begin shipping its eponymous handheld games console in the UK on 19 March, eight days after Nintendo's DS goes on sale here. The launch will coincide with the opening of the company's Regent Street, London retail store. Other retailers will get hardware on the same day. The console will go on sale for £229 …
Consoles 7 Mar 2005, 13:24
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Airlift alleviates BOFH polo shirt crisis
Cash'n'Carrion Back in stock, order restored
The crisis has passed and all those sobbing sysadmins who have been sitting in darkened rooms unable to work because of a worldwide shortage of BOFH polo shirts can now emerge blinking in the light, credit cards at the ready. Yes, so popular did our first batch of this magnificent shirt prove that it was pretty well gone in …
Site News 7 Mar 2005, 13:25
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Single Sign On 'in-a-box' lands in Europe
Imprivata aims to turn on resellers with appliance play
Single sign on appliance firm Imprivata launched in the Europe on Monday (7 March) with a promise to reduce corporate password management pains. Imprivata's OneSign appliances are designed to authenticate users so that they only have to log on once in order to access multiple applications (either desktop, client-server or Web- …
ID 7 Mar 2005, 13:48
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Israelis strap on militant-busting wristwatches
Real-time images, instant kill
Israel last week revealed that ground troops now sport wrist-borne LCD screens which enable real-time identification and elimination of targets. The Tadiran system - code-named "V-Rambo" - beams images of the enemy from unmanned drone aircraft direct to the men in the field, shortening the time it takes to identify and strike a …
Science 7 Mar 2005, 13:52
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Moscow prosecutor lets low-cost MP3 site off the hook
AllofMP3.com not breaking Russian law, apparently
Russian prosecutors have decided they are unable to take legal action against controversial online music provider Allofmp3.com - despite the music service's lack of sufficient licences to offer the content it does. Last week, the Moscow Southwest regional prosecutor's office said no criminal indictment could be brought against …
Music and Media 7 Mar 2005, 14:52
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Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router
Review It's not 802.11n, but does it operate faster and further?
The plethora of wireless networking standards is confusing enough and Belkin's Wireless Pre-N Router muddies the water even further. Despite the suggestive name, this access point doesn't support the draft 802.11n high-speed wireless standard and will not be compatible with it when it is ratified, probably sometime late in 2006 …
Reviews 7 Mar 2005, 14:54
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Outsourcing more expensive than in-house service
Gartner on customer service outsourcing
Businesses looking to save money by outsourcing customer service functions are risking losing customers and paying even more for the privilege. Although researchers from Gartner predict the market for outsourcing will grow from $8.4bn in 2004 to $12.2bn in 2007 they say 80 per cent of projects started to save money will fail to …
Business 7 Mar 2005, 15:01
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EC OKs software patents
Ministers say oui...
Despite opposition from open sourcers, the European Parliament, Denmark, Poland and Portugal and support from almost no-one but Bill Gates KBE the European Council of Ministers has approved passage of the software patents bill. The Computer Implemented Inventions Directive (CIID) was passed by the Council this morning despite …
Software 7 Mar 2005, 16:18
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Terrorists target offshore call centres
Offshoring gets dangerous...
A terrorist cell busted by Indian police was planning attacks on leading software firms in Bangalore. Three men were shot dead and two arrested in southwest Delhi on Saturday. Indian police claim the men were members of Lashkar-e-Toiba - a Wahabi militant group fighting for an independent Kashmir. Police found documents …
Business 7 Mar 2005, 16:26
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MS charts road to Istanbul
In brief: Multimeeja
Microsoft is due to unveil its plans to add multimedia capability to its collaboration products tomorrow (8 March). The completed messaging client, codenamed Istanbul, will complement Live Communications Server (LCS) 2005, Microsoft's corporate IM software. The product is part of plans to pull what Redmond describes as Real Time …
Applications 7 Mar 2005, 16:31
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Vodafone signs big distie deals
Using resellers to target business
Vodafone has struck global deals with IT distribution giants Ingram Micro and Tech Data to help it target business customers through traditional IT channel networks. The two wholesalers will carry business products, such as Vodafone’s Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard range and the Blackberry from Vodafone range, as well as …
Mobile 7 Mar 2005, 17:19
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Boeing sends flirtatious CEO packing
Stonecipher's Scarlet Letter
Gone are the good old days when it took vodka-peeing ice sculptures, fake subsidiaries and government payoffs to get canned as a CEO. Now, all a top executive has to do is play a bit of tonsil hockey with an underling to be fired, as Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher discovered today. Boeing's board forced Stonecipher to tender his …
IT Director 7 Mar 2005, 23:44
