22nd March 2005 Archive

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Novell gets suite on SMEs

Server to desktop Linux package unveiled at Brainshare

Novell is going after the small business market with what's billed as the first Linux suite for SMEs. Novell Linux Small Business Suite 9 is designed to offer an alternative to Windows as a "server-to-desktop" Linux bundle tailored to the needs of smaller firms. The technology - due to ship March 31 - will feature Linux server …

Applications 22 Mar 2005, 09:35
HP hooks Snapfish.com

Reels in online photo firm

HP is buying online photo storing and developing website Snapfish.com. The deal comes just a day after Yahoo bought Flickr - another leading online photo firm. Snapfish users can keep their pictures online, share them with other people, edit and improve pictures as well as order prints and other products. Snapfish also offers …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 09:45
eBayer seeks to exorcise voodoo cuddly toy

Night of the Satanic Stitch Teddy

Those readers who feel that their lives are lacking a little excitement may well be interested in snapping up a possessed Stitch teddy bear which has terrorised a Canadian family to the point that they are now compelled to take the only course of action left to them - offload the voodoo devil cuddly toy on eBay before it …

Music and Media 22 Mar 2005, 10:02
Bono to buy Eidos

Under a blood red income statement

US venture capital company Elevation Partners is to buy UK games publisher Eidos for $135m (£71m), it emerged last night. The deal is a straightforward cash purchase, with EP paying 50p a share, 27 per cent above Eidos' Friday closing price of 39p. Eidos' shares rose to 53p this morning on the news. The deal is expected to be …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 10:30
Oracle wins Retek bidding war

Biggest apps vendor just got bigger...

Larry Ellison's Oracle has fought off bitter competition from SAP to buy retail software specialist Retek for $630m. Earlier this month SAP offered $8.50 a share for Retek but Oracle made a counter offer of $9 a share. SAP increased its offer to $11 a share - an offer Retek's board recomended shareholders accept. Oracle then …

Applications 22 Mar 2005, 10:39
Apple plugs PyMusique iTunes 'hole'

DRM-less downloads blocked

It was always too good to last. Apple has stamped on an attempt to make it possible to purchase songs from the company's iTunes Music Store without having DRM restrictions added to the downloads. In a statement, the Mac maker announced last night that it was henceforth requiring all ITMS customers to upgrade to version 4.7 of …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 10:43
MCI/Verizon/Qwest slanging match continues

Histrionics and straw men

MCI is refusing to talk to Qwest about its $8.45bn take-over offer. MCI's decision to go "dark" has angered Qwest so much its boss rattled off a sharply worded letter yesterday calling on MCI to "immediately engage in negotiations to finalize the proposed merger agreement" between MCI and Qwest. For its part, MCI's management …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 11:00
U3 signs first USB Flash drive makers

More support for 'truly portable apps' technology

U3, the company formed by SanDisk and M-Systems to develop and licence an application delivery platform for USB Flash drives, has won the backing of memory and storage firms Verbatim, Memorex and Kingston Technology, it said yesterday. Verbatim will ship U3-compatible drives under the Store'n'Go brand in the Autumn. Memorex's …

Storage 22 Mar 2005, 11:01
NTL hits copper trail to ADSL2+

UK twisted pair play

It turns out that the crazy idea that NTL had all those years ago when it bundled a twisted pair copper wire into its home connections, alongside co-ax, is going to give it a fantastic advantage in the UK triple play market. Back then Voice over IP was a distant dream so NTL decided to install its own telephone lines, because …

Telecoms 22 Mar 2005, 11:55
Sweaty palms? You're nicked, chummy

Trace elements can now reveal fingerprints

Researchers at the Los Alamos laboratory in the US have developed a new way of detecting fingerprints, using the chemical elements left behind in fingerprint residue. That is sweat, to you and me. When we sweat, our bodies excrete salts, such as sodium chloride and potassium chloride. These salts can actually be detected in …

Science 22 Mar 2005, 12:10
Time Warner settles AOL SEC fraud investigation

Coughs up $300m

Time Warner has finally settled a long running investigation by the US' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amid claims that AOL inflated its ad earning revenue in the early part of the decade. Details of the settlement for Time Warner's AOL internet division had already been trailed in December. Yesterday's announcement …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 12:15
UMC to take stake in Hejian

Nothing to do with investment probe, apparently

UMC, the world's second largest chip foundry, yesterday said it may take a 15 per cent stake in the Chinese foundry at the heart of allegations that it made a "breach of trust" with the Taiwanese government. UMC said the stake, worth $110m, would be in return for advice the company gave to Hejian during its 2001 foundation by a …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 12:20
Quadriplegic controls PC by mind power alone

BrainGate

A US company has carried out trials on a brain implant which offers quadriplegics the possibility of controlling a computer by mind-power alone. Although the first volunteer to use the Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems' BrainGate has so far been able only to move an on-screen cursor, play the game Pong and transmit simple …

Science 22 Mar 2005, 12:26
Intel to cut chipset prices 3 April - report

Just as next-gen Pentium system logic ships

Intel will cut the prices of its 'Grantsdale' and 'Alderwood' chipsets next month, with further cuts coming in July, Taiwanese mobo maker sources have claimed by way of DigiTimes. The first round of cuts, said to be coming on 3 April, will see the price of the 910GL, 915PL, 915GL, 915P, 915GV and 915G fall by up to $2. Come 3 …

System Builder 22 Mar 2005, 12:28
Business school 'hack' raises ethical questions

Trespass or plain curiosity?

Where do morality and ethics end, and criminality begin? What is the appropriate "punishment" for the crime of curiosity coupled with the act of snooping? These questions have been raised once again in the case of a number of applicants to the US' most prestigious business schools who went beyond the normal processes to sneak a …

Enterprise Security 22 Mar 2005, 12:57
Elpida samples 256Mb 800MHz DDR 2 chips

Volume production in two months' time

Elpida will begin shipping 800MHz 256Mb DDR 2 SDRAM chips in two months' time - the "industry's first" DDR 2 devices to reach 800Mbps operation - the memory maker said today. The chips will be available in 8- and 16-bit widths ready for incorporation into DIMMs. Elpida is sampling the 8-bit parts now, and expects to offer 16- …

System Builder 22 Mar 2005, 13:46
MCI UK settles three-year-old billing snafu

Finally...

MCI UK has finally called off its debt chasers after admitting that a company that it has been mistakenly billing for three years is no longer one of its customers. In February 2002 London-based web design and production company Purple Interactive terminated its leased line agreement with MCI UK. However, the telecoms giant …

Telecoms 22 Mar 2005, 13:52
Desperate housewives spam used to spread spyware

Only the lonely

There has been a sharp increase in spam messages purporting to offer the details of women looking for casual sex in recent weeks. But surfers hoping to hook up to swingers are actually directed to pornographic websites, which often harbour spyware, email security firm Clearswift warned Tuesday. The ruse is one of the latest …

Spam 22 Mar 2005, 14:39
O2 to axe 500 jobs...

...and create 2,000 new ones

O2 is to axe 500 jobs as part of a major restructuring of its business. The mobilephoneco wants to replace back office workers tied up with managerial and admin tasks and replace them with 2,000 workers dealing directly with punters. It also plans to open a fourth call centre and expand its network of shops. The job losses are …

Mobile 22 Mar 2005, 15:47
Firms paying too much for software, says anti-piracy group

Shocking lack of dodgy licences...

Almost eight out of ten UK businesses could be paying too much for their software licenses. Only 22 per cent of people responding to a FAST survey were sure they had the right number of licenses. Another 11 per cent did not know if their business was over or under-licensed and 41 per cent thought they were probably over- …

Software 22 Mar 2005, 15:58
Duo charged over DDoS for hire scam

Man allegedly hired teen to wipe out online rival

The FBI last week arrested a 17 year-old and a Michigan man over suspected involvement in a denial of service for hire racket. The duo allegedly orchestrated an October 2004 attack against a New Jersey company that sells sporting goods over the internet. Jersey-joe.com suffered the loss of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" of …

Enterprise Security 22 Mar 2005, 16:03
Plucky, aged online British store sold

World's oldest online store sold to Amerikey

Digital River, the ecommerce specialist, is buying British online software store SWreg for $8.8m. There is a chance of further payments if revenue and development targets are met. SWreg claims to be the world's oldest online store. It was founded by Steve Lee in 1986 and has been profitable ever since. It sells software from …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 16:05
French firms rampage through Reg letters bag

Letters All very Gallic

Wanadoo got in lots of hot water last week for their advert showing teenagers snogging in a scrap yard. The advertising standards people said it was too risque and that scrap yards are dangerous places to play; so it slapped a ban on the ad: You can see it now: Kid one: "did you see the Wanadoo ad?" Kid two: "Yeah it was so …

Letters 22 Mar 2005, 16:58
Tiscali 'flogs French ISP'

Telecom Italia new owner, apparently

Tiscali has flogged its French operation to Telecom Italia for between €250m and €300m, according to press reports. The acquisition of Tiscali's Liberty Surf unit should be signed on Thursday reports Il Corriere della Sera via AFX newswire. According to press reports a number of suitors - including Neuf Telecom, Cegetel and …

Telecoms 22 Mar 2005, 17:13
Scientists lighten up on dark energy

'Einstein was right when he said he was wrong'

The universe is expanding at an accelerating rate because of ripples in space-time that stretch beyond the observable edges of the universe, according to a paper published in Physical Review Letters. This theory runs counter to current scientific thinking, which holds that so-called dark energy is responsible for this …

Science 22 Mar 2005, 17:45
SCi launches bid for Eidos

Offers shares as alternative to Bono's cash

UK games publisher SCi has made a rival bid for Eidos after the loss-making games company's board said it was recommending a bid from U2 vocalist Bono's Elevation Partners. The SCi offer amounts to £76.1m, just above EP's £71m bid, but would be transacted through a share swap rather than a cash purchase. SCi is offering six of …

Financial News 22 Mar 2005, 17:49
Utah enacts net porn law

Stop this tide of filth

Utah's governor has defied criticism from technology firms and free speech activists to sign into law a bill designed to protect children from Internet pornography. The controversial bill (PDF)will require ISPs to block access to websites deemed "harmful to minors" on request. This blacklist will be drawn up by the state's …

Music and Media 22 Mar 2005, 18:13
Kill the Crackberry!

MS licenses sync to former arch-rival Symbian

Symbian has licensed Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync protocol and will in turn develop a plug-in for its phone manufacturers who license its operating system. The plug-in will be optional, but it will allow the manufacturers to build phones that support remote synchronization with Exchange with no extra license fees …

Mobile 22 Mar 2005, 21:28