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23rd March 2005 Archive

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  • 'Recalled' Xbox goes bang in Sweden

    Situation normal, says MS

    An Xbox has blown up in a user's face in Sweden, despite the console being fitted with a replacement 'power cord'. In February, Microsoft issued a recall of over 14 million power cords supplied with early Xbox consoles, and sent users a fault interrupter as a replacement. The interrupter has been standard issue on later Xbox …

    Consoles 23 Mar 2005, 00:18

  • iTunes store 'hole' open again

    Apple block breached in a day

    Less than 48 hours after Apple repelled fair use activists, the iTunes Music Store can be again accessed from any platform, allowing customers to buy music unencumbered by DRM. A new version of PyMusique, 0.3, was released today which circumvented the block that Apple put in place on Monday. PyMusique simply allows users to …

    Music and Media 23 Mar 2005, 05:09

  • EMC: making storage simple for Small.biz

    Opinion That's the claim

    Over the last few years, storage has risen through the fog that has traditionally obscured much data centre activity. Indeed, today, storage management has such prominence and visibility that it is now seen to be a major focus of corporate attention. In fact, there are few organisations where storage management is not seen to be …

    Small Biz 23 Mar 2005, 08:08

  • Irish cinemas go all-digital

    World first etc.

    Ireland is to become the first country in the world to have completely digital cinema. Digital Cinema Limited (DCL), the Irish subsidiary of the American digital cinema technology firm Avica Europe, will install new technology into 500 screens in 105 sites throughout the country at a cost of €40m, making Ireland the first …

    Personal 23 Mar 2005, 08:22

  • The rise of the appliance

    Comment Well-trodden path

    Data warehouses have always had a problem with performance when it comes to (complex) analytic queries. Data Appliances are the latest answer to this issue. The question is: how well will they fare? First, let’s be clear about the meaning of analytics – this is the processing of queries against transaction-level data. For …

    Developer 23 Mar 2005, 09:12

  • South Korean swingers in net porn bust

    Illegal wife-sharing clampdown

    More than 150 South Korean swingers found themselves taking a short break from trans-marital rumpy-pumpy yesterday after police busted the owner and users of a wife-swapping website for alleged violation of pornography laws. The caged libertines are suspected of posting nude photographs of themselves on the "Bubu Plus" website …

    Music and Media 23 Mar 2005, 09:13

  • Peoplesoft eats at Oracle profits

    Sales surge

    Profits at database giant Oracle fell in the third quarter to $540m compared to net income of $635m in the same period of last year. Post-acquisition costs related to Peoplesoft are blamed for the fall Turnover for the three months ended 28 February was up to $2.95bn from $2.51bn. But Oracle shares fell slightly because Wall …

    Financial News 23 Mar 2005, 09:21

  • Intel invests in E Ink

    Cash to fund next-gen e-paper technology

    Intel has pumped cash into E Ink, the electronic 'ink' technology developer, it was revealed yesterday. The investment - the amount was not made public - comes through Intel Capital, the chip maker's venture capital division, which funds start-ups developing technology and applications that, one day, may boost demand for PCs …

    Mobile 23 Mar 2005, 10:00

  • IBM pays off Compuware

    Case closed...

    After five weeks in court IBM has agreed to settle all ongoing legal disputes with Compuware. Big Blue is paying the maninframe management software vendor $140m for software licenses and $260m for services over the next four years. The two companies agreed to end all outstanding litigation and to share interoperability …

    Applications 23 Mar 2005, 10:04

  • Amstrad slashes cost of E3 e-mailer

    2 - 4 - 1

    Amstrad is slashing the cost of its E3 e-mailer in a bid to boost sales of the videophone thingamajig. From this weekend the E3 will be halved from £99 to £49 in certain shops including Argos, Dixons and Comet. The idea behind the price cut is to encourage punters to buy the phones in pairs. Why? 'Cos then it should " …

    Peripherals 23 Mar 2005, 10:11

  • World chip glut 'over early Q2'

    Inventory stockpiles shrink

    Market watcher iSuppli has signalled the end of the inventory correction phenomenon that plagued the semiconductor industry through the latter half of 2004 and beyond. The company said last night that the electronics supply chain is on its way to ridding itself of surplus chips by the end of Q2. By the end of this month, it …

    System Builder 23 Mar 2005, 10:59

  • Japanese enable Human Area Network

    Your body as data-transfer conduit

    Japanese company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) claims to have developed the first viable Human Area Network (HAN) device, enabling fast data transfer between devices using the human body as a conduit. NTT reckons this latest advance on the wireless Personal Area Network concept - dubbed RedTacton - can …

    Data Networking 23 Mar 2005, 11:10

  • NPfIT boss prepares to cut failing suppliers

    And renames the whole shebang for good measure

    Key suppliers in the NHS' £6.2bn IT project are to be replaced because they are not delivering, according to Richard Granger, director general of the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). Granger would not say which companies are failing, but confirmed that none of the four main local service providers - BT, Accenture, CSC and …

    Public Sector 23 Mar 2005, 11:23

  • Mayor Ken touts mobile phone plan for the Tube

    Mind the gap

    Commuters on London's Tube network could be able to use mobile phones and wireless internet connections deep underground from 2008 if trials for the technology get the green light. Mayor Ken Livingstone is looking for suppliers to install their kit to enable commuters to use mobiles and wireless laptops on stations. The scheme …

    Mobile 23 Mar 2005, 11:29

  • Maximizing ASP.NET

    Site offer Go for it at 30% off

    ASP.NET has been perhaps the most popular and widely used part of Microsoft's .NET Framework. Part of the reason for this is that ASP.NET's object-oriented basis provided a lot more power and flexibility for developers. Another contradictory reason is that Microsoft made ASP.NET in such a way that people familiar with previous …

    Site News 23 Mar 2005, 11:33

  • Apple issues nine bug fixes...

    As Symantec talks up Mac OS X security threat

    Apple this week posted security updates to fix nine security vulnerabilities in its Mac OS X operating system. Both client and server versions of the latest version of its software - Mac OS X v10.3.8 - need patching. First up there's two security bugs in the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) that could create a means for attackers to …

    Security 23 Mar 2005, 11:57

  • EDS signs MoD contract

    Head for the hills

    EDS has signed the contract to overhaul technology for the UK's Ministry of Defence, after being named as preferred bidder earlier this month. The contract is for Increment 1 of the DII(F) project which will run for ten years at a cost of £2.3bn ($4bn). More work is possible once the first increment is completed. EDS will lead …

    IT Director 23 Mar 2005, 12:08

  • Tiscali France sale to be inked next week

    Maybe, maybe not

    Telecom Italia's bid to acquire Tiscali France may not be inked until next week, The Register has learned. Earlier press reports had suggested that the €250m to €300m acquisition could be completed as early as tomorrow. But this is thought to be a tad optimistic, with all the signs suggesting that a formal announcement is …

    Financial News 23 Mar 2005, 12:10

  • Inspector Gadget hits Gizmoville

    Tech Digest Fab bloggers invade The Reg

    The Register may cover everything most sane people would ever want to know about technology, but for certified gadget obsessives Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny scour Gizmoville for the rest: Obligatory iPod Accessory of the Week: Travel Soother Why create a plain old Radio Alarm Clock when you can get a bit more coverage with an …

    Personal 23 Mar 2005, 12:18

  • Yahoo! does a Google

    Email storage goes to a Gig

    Yahoo!'s free email subscribers will get a bigger inbox from late April with storage limits increasing from 250MB to 1GB - the same amount as Google's Gmail subscribers get. The move will take about two weeks to roll out to all users. Yahoo! denied it was a Google-beating move but said it reflected the changing way subscribers …

    Spam 23 Mar 2005, 12:20

  • CWU 'shocked and dismayed' at O2 job losses

    Uh huh

    The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has promised the "strongest possible" response if O2 announces compulsory redundancies as part of the 500 job losses it disclosed yesterday. The mobilephoneco said the job cuts from managerial and back-office staff are part of a restructuring of its business as it seeks to become more …

    Mobile 23 Mar 2005, 12:25

  • ID theft is inescapable

    A new fact of life in a wired world

    March 2005 might make history as the apex of identity theft disclosures. Privacy invasion outfit ChoicePoint, payroll handler PayMaxx, Bank of America, Lexis Nexis, several universities, and a large shoe retailer called DSW all lost control of sensitive data concerning millions of people. Credit card and other banking details, …

    ID 23 Mar 2005, 12:29

  • Beauty queen sues 59 over net sex romp

    Websites punting fake porn vid

    Former Miss West Virginia Allison Williams is taking the big stick to 59 defendants for allegedly selling a fake sex video of her on the internet. The video - punted via websites showing the real Ms Williams in beauty queen regalia - claims to show the law school student engaged in sex acts in a news truck during a stint as a …

    Music and Media 23 Mar 2005, 13:01

  • Symbian Trojan attacks anti-virus protection

    Low risk malware adopts Windows attack strategy

    Malware authors have created a Trojan that targets Symbian smart phones and attempts to remove any anti-virus protection it finds. The Drever-C Trojan attacks mobile anti-virus packages from F-Secure, Kaspersky and Simworks running on Symbian devices. Targeting security protection is common in mainstream Windows PC malware but …

    Malware 23 Mar 2005, 13:03

  • NASA catches light from another planet

    Heralds new era in planet watching

    Scientists working with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have directly observed light from a known extra-solar planet. The US space agency has hailed the breakthrough as the beginning of a "new age" in planetary science. Regular Register readers might remember a picture of an extra-solar planet, released in January this year. …

    Science 23 Mar 2005, 13:05

  • True stories from under the bar table - the Kazaa case concludes

    Eye Witness Alex Malik was there

    Yawn … 8.30 in the morning … double yawn … didn’t really want to be here. Sydney was blowing a gust and the rain was pounding down. It was March but you would’ve thought it was July (that’s winter for those who are planning a summer holiday in Oz). Check out this exchange from the bar table: Lawyer 1: “what are we going to do …

    Music and Media 23 Mar 2005, 13:42

  • Novell buys Tally Systems

    Bolt-on for Zenworks

    Novell is buying Tally Systems, a small software company from Lebanon, NH for an undisclosed sum. The company is to integrate Tally’s IT asset management software into Zenworks, its systems management suite. There is a Sarbanes Oxley angle to the purchase, according to Novell chief Jack Messman. The Tally-Zenworks combo gives …

    Applications 23 Mar 2005, 14:51

  • O2 gets protective over 'bubbles'

    Another telco faces legal threat

    O2 is threatening legal action against UK telco Liquid Telecom for using bubbles and the colour blue in its ads. The giant mobile phone outfit claims that Liquid Telecom - whose ad features sea horses and pebbles, among other watery images - is infringing O2's "bubbles" and the colour "blue" trademarks which it uses in its own …

    Mobile 23 Mar 2005, 14:52

  • Drive-by Trojans exploit browser flaws

    Analysis Is Firefox really more secure than IE?

    Trojans - malicious programs that pose as benign apps - are usurping network worms to become the greatest malware menace. Sixteen of the 50 most frequent malicious code sightings reported to Symantec in the second half of 2004 were Trojans. In the first six months of last year, Trojans accounted for just eight of the top 50 …

    Malware 23 Mar 2005, 15:10

  • Scientists complain of industrial meddling in research

    Hands off our results!

    More than one in ten scientists working in the UK have been asked by private sector backers to tailor the conclusions of their research. Women are more likely to be asked than men, with 15 per cent saying they've been asked to alter their work, either to suit the funder's preferred outcome, to discourage publication of results …

    Science 23 Mar 2005, 15:20

  • Broadband gods smile on Telewest

    Whatever

    Broadband continues to boom for Telewest which recorded one of its "best ever" quarters for broadband sign-ups at the end of 2004. And the signs are that the beginning of 2005 is also set to be a cracker as more and more households jump on the broadband bandwagon. In the last three months of 2004 Telewest added 91,000 new …

    Financial News 23 Mar 2005, 15:32

  • US admits GM crop cock-up

    Sold 'several hundred tonnes' of non-approved maize

    A US biotech company has admitted that several hundred tonnes of non-approved GM corn produced from its seed have been sold over the past four years. The Bt10 seed was planted accidently instead of the Bt11 variety. Although developer Syngenta says that its admission of the error to US regulators last year confirms that …

    Science 23 Mar 2005, 15:49

  • Vonage expands UK service

    But gets into hot water with the state of Texas

    Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) provider Vonage is expanding services to 100 cities in the UK, including Leeds, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Preston and Salisbury. Residential customers pay £9.99 a month for unlimited calls to UK and Ireland fixed lines. Small business customers can pay £18.99 a month for unlimited calls to fixed …

    Telecoms 23 Mar 2005, 16:15

  • Sendo reports Ericsson to EC, Ericsson sues Sendo....

    Handset spat attack...

    Ericsson is taking legal action against UK handset maker Sendo for allegedly infringing patents it owns on GSM and GPRS technology. Sendo has reacted with surprise to the action which it described as "unprovoked and unnecessary". Hugh Brogan, chief executive of Sendo, told El Reg the companies had been in discussion over the …

    Mobile 23 Mar 2005, 16:21

  • Watch out, there be scammers about, warns watchdog

    If it's too good to be true...

    Rogue operators are looking to use the long holiday weekend to rip-off UK punters, according to phone watchdog ICSTIS. It's received credible market intelligence that scamsters are looking to ramp up the use of illegal Automated Calling Equipment (ACE) to tell people they're the "lucky winner" of a cash prize or holiday. Of …

    Telecoms 23 Mar 2005, 16:23

  • iVoice files patent on bouncing grannies

    From speech recognition to airbags...

    It's fair to say that speech recognition outfit iVoice is not afraid of growing its product portfolio in new and unexpected directions. In this case, though, it has gone off at such a tangent that we wonder just what exactly is going on down at the company's R&D department*. Yup, iVoice has filed a patent on a bouncing granny " …

    Bootnotes 23 Mar 2005, 16:36

  • DoH broadens technology choice for GPs

    Lays out hoops for jumping suppliers

    GPs in England are to get a wider choice of computer systems, under new plans announced today by the Department of Health. The range of available suppliers has been extended to include approved partners of the government-appointed Local Service Providers. Local service providers were finally appointed in January last year. The …

    Public Sector 23 Mar 2005, 16:44

  • NASA gives thumbs up to new Shuttle missions

    Hubble still out in the cold

    NASA says that its plans to return to flight are on track for a May launch, confirming that all of the criteria for a new mission have now been met. The US space agency grounded its Shuttle fleet after the loss of Columbia in February 2003. The shuttle burned-up on re-entry, because of a gap in its insulation tiles. Superheated …

    Science 23 Mar 2005, 17:12

  • IDC crimps PC forecasts, cites US outlook

    'Host of risk factors'

    IDC has lowered forecasts for world PC sales in 2005, citing a cautious outlook in the US and delayed recovery in Japan for the adjustment. Last year PC shipments in the US grew 11 per cent, but this year the market is expected to ease to 7.6 per cent growth. "While IT buyers in the United States have indicated firm intentions …

    PCs 23 Mar 2005, 17:43

  • BMC snags OpenNetwork for $18m

    Access management play

    BMC Software has bought OpenNetwork, a privately owned web access management and single sign on (SSO) firm, for $180m cash. BMC will add OpenNetwork's browser-based authentication and authorisation products for web-based applications to its identity management suite. The deal also enables the firm to market identity federation …

    Applications 23 Mar 2005, 19:16

  • Xbox safety: the cable and the damage done

    Letters Bad engineering - worse explanation

    Last month Microsoft recalled 14 million Xbox cables - which isolate, rather than fix a problem with early versions of the console. The problem is inside the Xbox and these consoles still present a clear safety threat - in Sweden, an Xbox fitted with the replacement cable exploded in its owners face. Microsoft denies the …

    Letters 23 Mar 2005, 20:50