24th March 2005 Archive

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'Doomsday nerds' defend cyberspace

Going underground: a visit to Symantec's operation centre

From the outside it looks like a home for a Hobbit or two, but inside security analysts are monitoring banks of screens feeding alerts from hundreds of corporate networks. Welcome to Symantec's European centre of operations, housed in a former nuclear shelter in rural Hampshire. The site - near Winchester, Hampshire on land …

Enterprise Security 24 Mar 2005, 09:10
China to tag pandas

Ailuropoda melanoleuca var. rfidius

China will tag all of its 163 captive pandas in an effort to better monitor the population and prevent inbreeding, Xinhua news agency has announced. According to an unnamed state forestry administration official, information about "pedigree, age and other basic data will be permanently incorporated into the giant pandas by ways …

Science 24 Mar 2005, 09:12
Microsoft and EC row deepens

It's handbags at dawn...

The European Commission is investigating claims that Microsoft has deliberately sabotaged the video-player free version of Windows it is forced to sell in Europe. Under the anti-trust settlement agreed last year Microsoft said it would ship a version of Windows without its Media Player. This version had to be "fully functioning …

Operating Systems 24 Mar 2005, 09:16
Chinese to tag pandas

Ailuropoda melanoleuca var. rfidius

China will tag all of its 163 captive pandas in an effort to better monitor the population and prevent inbreeding, Xinhua news agency has announced. According to an unnamed State Forestry Administration official: "Information about pedigree, age and other basic data will be permanently incorporated into the giant pandas by ways …

Bootnotes 24 Mar 2005, 09:21
Intel chooses China for chip test plant

Can do Chengdu

Intel is to build a second chip assembly and testing facility in Chengdu, China, the company said yesterday. Work on the plant, located in Sichuan Province, will begin later this year with a view to entering production in 2007. Intel's first Chengdu plant, which is currently under construction, is expected to go on stream in …

Financial News 24 Mar 2005, 09:47
Labour MP backs Captain Cyborg shocker

Vote Tory before it's too late

We have just received shock news that MPs are seeking to honour Kevin Warwick - aka Captain Cyborg - with an Early Day Motion. The proposal, sandwiched between other matters of national import such as Water privatisation in Bolivia and the Prostate awareness campaign, reads: That this House congratulates Professor Kevin …

Bootnotes 24 Mar 2005, 09:53
No bonus for Google founders

Pity the poor billionaires...

Billionaire Google execs Larry Page and Sergey Brin are not getting bonuses from the search engine they founded together. Also off the bonus list is chief executive, and fellow billionaire, Eric Schmidt. But the three did get a holiday bonus of $1,566 (£837) along with their salaries. Google's initial public offering earned …

Financial News 24 Mar 2005, 10:03
Court backs California stem cell programme

Legal objections rejected

A legal attempt by a coalition of Christian and other groups to block California's $3bn stem cell research programme failed yesterday when the California Supreme Court dismissed two motions opposing the voter-approved scheme. Californians last November voted 59 per cent in favour of establishing the California Institute for …

Science 24 Mar 2005, 10:22
WiMAX hype peaks

Now it's time to deliver the technology, warns analyst

The hype surrounding the WiMAX wireless broadband standard has peaked - from now on it's down to companies supporting the technology to deliver on their promises in a timely fashion. So said Gartner research analyst Ian Keene yesterday, speaking at a demonstration of the wide-area WLAN system put on at the UK Science Museum's …

Wireless 24 Mar 2005, 10:31
Telecoms takeover turns into sixth form disco

Verizon lets MCI talk to Qwest...

Verizon has given permission for its fiance, MCI, to talk to rival suitor Qwest. But only until the end of the month. To recap on progress so far: Verizon offered $6.7bn for MCI which MCI joyfully accepted. But Qwest gatecrashed the engagement party and offered $8bn to buy MCI. MCI rejected this offer and said it couldn't even …

Financial News 24 Mar 2005, 11:41
Toshiba brings forward 4GB 0.85in HDD debut

April now, not 'mid year'

Toshiba will put its 4GB 0.85in micro hard drive into volume production next month, rather sooner than it anticipated when it announced the product in January this year. Back then, Toshiba said it would begin shipping the 2GB version of the drive at the end of the month. It said it would offer a two-platter version of the …

Mobile 24 Mar 2005, 11:49
Australian school bans iPod

Yuppie accessory is anti-social, won't get kids laid

A private school in Australia has banned its pupils from listening to their iPods. The yuppie consumer gadget will not be permitted in class, because it encourages kids to be selfish and lonely, according to the school principal. That's the perfect preparation for the life of David Brent-style bullshit and self-deception that …

Music and Media 24 Mar 2005, 12:15
Politics needs a technology injection

When did you last email your MP?

Technology has not lived up to its promise of transforming the way politicians communicate with the public, according to research. A meagre one per cent of the population has contacted their MP by email, but 38 per cent said they would if they knew what the address was. According to a Telewest survey of 3,150 people in the UK, …

Public Sector 24 Mar 2005, 12:16
Rise of the man-eating cyberloo

Hydraulic urinal of death

Our report earlier this month on the self-replicating CyberDyson - a bagless assassin which could order its own spare parts before launching a savage attack on the nearest Scotsman - considered the possibility that said spares were dispatched from a central warehousing facility by monkey-brain-controlled, electroactive polymer- …

Rise of the Machines 24 Mar 2005, 12:23
BOFH: Identity theft

Episode 11 Name, number, biometric

So the PFY and I have bowled up to a half-day presentation on identity theft which I'd been invited to after the recent security conference. (Well, technically, the boss had been invited to, but the invite was just sitting in his inbox.) After a little spade work, a phone call and some briefcase enhancements we're all set to go …

BOFH 24 Mar 2005, 12:49
ATI posts 'strong' Q2 sales gains

Better than last year - weaker than last quarter

ATI's quarterly sales and income dipped sequentially during its most recently completed quarter, Q2 FY2005, but the graphics chip maker was able to post big year-on-year gains. For the three months to 28 February, ATI made sales totalling $608m, up 31 per cent on the year-ago quarter's $463.3m, but down on the previous quarter' …

Financial News 24 Mar 2005, 13:00
IVF report provokes 'designer baby' rumpus

Parents should choose sex, committee says

A parliamentary cross-party Science and Technology Committee has recommended that couples undergoing IVF treatment should be allowed to decide the sex of their unborn baby. The 11-member committee's report into Britain's fertility laws immediately provoked renewed debate over "designer babies", Reuters reports. The report …

Science 24 Mar 2005, 13:05
PC World offers instore collection for web buys

From clicks through sticks to bricks

A wave of new technologies that can leave customers flummoxed has prompted PC World to add a human touch to its ecommerce system. The Dixons-owned superstore chain has launched a Collect@Store service, meaning customers will be able to browse and reserve products online before going to a physical store and completing their …

Small Biz 24 Mar 2005, 14:31
Ingres and Open Source - a success story

Robustness, performance, scalability

I have espoused the cause of Ingres for some time and, especially, I have commended Computer Associates' decision to take the Ingres database into the open source community. Now, I dare say that at some point CA will tell me all about its "open source challenge" and how successful that has been in developing new facilities for …

Software 24 Mar 2005, 15:23
Doctor Who leak culprit walks plank

Canadian exterminated

The source of the Doctor Who leak which saw the first episode of the new series splashed across the web has been sacked, the BBC reports. It's not, however, a Beeb insider, but rather someone working for "third-party company in Canada". BBC international production partner, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, probed the outrage …

Security 24 Mar 2005, 15:23
Ethical hackers meet airbag-toting cyborgs

Letters And you answer the eternal question: what does HP do?

We ran an article this week about Harvard Business School's decision to reject applicants who had used a mini-hack to sneak a peek at the status of their applications. In it, writer Mark Rasch asked a lot of questions about the ethical position of the applicants, the university and the those responsible for the security of the …

Letters 24 Mar 2005, 15:50
Novell man reappears at CA

Mysterious and mysteriouser...

Novell's technology boss Alan Nugent, whose mysterious departure was announced earlier this week, has resurfaced at Computer Associates. CA poached Nugent to head up its Unicenter business unit. CA has been rejigging its management structure from organisation around brands to organisation around business units. Nugent starts …

Applications 24 Mar 2005, 16:03
Brace yourselves - .eu domains are (almost) go

Warning on pre-reg scam

A mere six years after they were first proposed Europe is a step closer getting its very own top level domain - .eu. Erkki Liikanen backed the proposal for a Europe-wide domain name, the final part of a web address like .uk or .fr, when he was Commissioner for Enterprise in the late twentieth century (November 1999). The …

Public Sector 24 Mar 2005, 16:12
Creative MuVo Micro N200 MP3 player

Review Can it muffle the Shuffle?

The N200 is Creative's most diminutive MuVo yet - hence the 'Micro' in the title. The feat has been achieved by ditching the MuVo family's integrated USB connector in favour of a slimline, D-shaped port of the kind you find on digital cameras and the like. Yes, you now need a cable, something not required by other MuVos, but you …

Reviews 24 Mar 2005, 16:13
Oz eBayer punts 24 small Asian children

$340 a head

We're not quite sure what to make of this auction on Oz eBay - bit of a jolly jape or nasty racist poke? Rest assured, though, it won't last five minutes once the powers that be get wind of it: Description: 24 Small Children that come with their original warranty papers, clothing etc.. 8 of them have over-sized heads, and …

Bootnotes 24 Mar 2005, 16:19
Anonymity no protection for online libellers

Motley Fool ruling 'a timely reminder'

The tenuous nature of online anonymity was underlined yesterday, thanks to the final ruling in the Motley Fool libel case. Terry Smith, chief executive of city firm Collins Stewart Tullett, won undisclosed damages from Jeremy Benjamin, a fund manager. Benjamin had posted what he now accepts as false allegations on the Motley …

Music and Media 24 Mar 2005, 16:34
Credit card cock-up confuses World of Warcraft players

Identity theft panic

Does World of Warcraft developer Blizzard Entertainment run its European operations out of a four-star hotel in Croydon and a three-star premises in Harrogate? A large number of WoW's European players have this month received credit card statements showing their £8.99 monthly subscriptions for the online game being billed to …

ID 24 Mar 2005, 16:35
No hiding place? UK number plate cameras go national

But there are speed bumps on the road to the surveillance society

The national rollout of the UK police's ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) system is kicking off, with the goal of deploying a network of over 2,000 cameras on motorways, major roads and city centres. The system is claimed to be able to run database checks on 3,600 plates per hour, on vehicles travelling at speeds of up …

Music and Media 24 Mar 2005, 18:20