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4th April 2005 Archive

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  • Bank of America sells flagpoles as cellular masts

    'Urgent need'

    Project America - it has a resoundingly fervent sound with the patriotism echoing, the Stars and Stripes and apple pie in the background... which appears to be Bank of America's way of getting a project under way which might be unpopular with the general public. The project is quite simply, using BofA buildings as cellphone …

    Mobile 4 Apr 2005, 07:55

  • Join Microsoft. Save the world

    Redmond cruises for rough trade at hacker convention

    A party in a gay club was followed up by a recruitment pitch by Microsoft at last week's Black Hat Conference in Amsterdam. After enjoying the bohemian delights of Digital Darkness - such as shackles on the wall and heavily pixelated porn beamed onto the ceiling - the assorted hackers, pen testers and bug finders at the invite- …

    Security 4 Apr 2005, 07:56

  • Database rootkit menace looms

    Check against delivery

    Crackers are developing more sophisticated techniques for take over the control of corporate databases using malicious code akin to malware already common on Unix platforms. The threat also applies to repository-based software such as CRM systems and web applications, creating a need for new security tools, according to …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2005, 07:57

  • Hacking Google for fun and profit

    Mayhem, mischief and Xmas lights

    Insecure websites are not the only venues at risk from Google-hacking. Network hardware can be hacked, cached printing pages can be perused and security cameras snooped on thanks to evolutions in attack techniques that are dumbing down network attacks. So-called Google hacking - named after the search engine - relies on …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2005, 08:03

  • Hutchison hit by 3G costs

    But not all bad news...

    Hutchison Whampoa saw profits hit hard by continuing losses from its 3G business late last week. Turnover for the group grew 23 per cent to HK$179.4bn ($23bn)in the year ended 31 December 2004. Profits attributable to shareholders grew 38 per cent to HK$16bn ($2.05bn). But the group's third generation mobile business saw losses …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 09:03

  • Google's Gmail grows again

    Inboxes double but still not open to all

    Google is doubling the size of mailboxes for its email subscribers to try and regain the initiative against Yahoo - which announced last week it is matching Google's 1GB storage. Google's email subscribers will get 2GB free storage and the firm will continue to add more capacity over time. But the service is currently in …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 09:12

  • World Cup tickets will contain RFID chips

    'ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go

    The 3.2 million tickets for the World Cup in Germany next year will each contain an RFID chip. FT Deutschland last week reported that Philips will manufacture the chip, which FIFA hopes will guard them against forgeries and the black market. The first phase of ticket sales - 812,000 tickets - will be through a draw from …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 09:17

  • World chip sales down in February

    Short month

    Global chip sales fell fractionally during February, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said today after revising January's total upward. Some $18.05bn worth of semiconductors were sold in February this year, down two per cent on the previous month's $18.41bn, but up 15.8 per cent on February 2004's $15.59bn sales. A …

    PCs 4 Apr 2005, 09:35

  • Smug BT crows about broadband numbers

    5m milestone passed

    BT's acting all smug today after announcing it will pass it five million broadband connection milestone this week - a year ahead of schedule. Marking the landmark today the former monopoly even managed to get a backslapping quote from PM Tony Blair. Whether everyone will agree with Blair's sentiments that "it is great news for …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2005, 09:42

  • UK Wi-Fi network nabs German WISP

    Third-biggest WLAN player

    UK Wi-Fi network The Cloud has become Germany's third-largest WISP by acquiring local player Airnyx, the company said today. The terms and conditions underpinning the acquisition were not made public. Both firms are privately held. Airnyx' chief, Volker Werbus, will stay on as The Cloud's local Country Manager. Airnyx was …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 10:10

  • Open source databases - a sword that cuts both ways?

    Plus c'est la même chose

    Is open source strategic? This is a question that every company thinking about the use of open source products needs to face. If open source is strategic then, like any other strategic resource, it needs to be managed: you need to have a specific strategy for open source products. The first thing to decide is the areas in which …

    Developer 4 Apr 2005, 10:43

  • ATI to announce R520 'in June'

    Sapphire rep names the date

    ATI will announce its next-generation graphics chip, the R520, early in June, possibly during the Computex show in Taiwan. So claims graphics card maker Sapphire, whose local marketing chief was interviewed recently by Middle Eastern gaming site T-Break. "As per the current plans, we expect ATI to announce its new GPU in June …

    System Builder 4 Apr 2005, 11:06

  • JVC unveils first one-side, two-layer DVD-RW disc

    Double the capacity (almost)

    JVC today said it has created the world's first single-sided, dual-layer DVD-RW disc, boosting the format's storage capacity from 4.7GB to 8.5GB. Members of the rival rewriteable DVD camp, DVD+RW, have been touting a dual-layer recordable DVD+R product for some time, with the 8x recording speed nearing completion and a 16x …

    System Builder 4 Apr 2005, 11:10

  • T-Mobile to cut tariffs - report

    Shells fly as price war hots up

    T-Mobile looks set to join the price war in the UK's mobile phone industry by cutting tariffs. The Sunday Telegraph reports that the mobilephoneco will cut call charges sometime in the spring. It quotes T-Mobile chief exec Rene Obermann as saying: "We are not about to walk away from the retail battle." No one from T-Mobile …

    Mobile 4 Apr 2005, 11:14

  • Do you like sex and rock music?

    eBayer makes Glastonbury offer you can refuse

    If you're female, a bit of a looker, around five feet tall and don't mind selling yourself into sexual slavery in return for a Glastonbury Festival ticket, then one eBayer is offering a lucky girl the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get down and dirty at the world's premier rockfest. There's a catch, though. Glastonbury …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2005, 11:18

  • Redstone buys Xpert for £25.5m

    One-stop telecoms shop

    Redstone, the UK telecoms provider, is beefing up its data networking business with the £25.5m cash and shares acquisition of Xpert Group. We last wrote about Xpert in 2001, when the then Irish-owned reseller switched domicile to the UK on the back of a £12m MBO funded by Lloyds Development Capital. In its last financial year …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 11:22

  • Gov.uk backs open source drive

    Tackling obstacles

    The Government has funded a ground-breaking new venture to accelerate the use of open source software (OSS) throughout local government. Known as the Open Source Academy, the project represents one of the most significant developments yet in moves to drive up OSS adoption in government. The Academy brings together a consortium …

    Public Sector 4 Apr 2005, 11:51

  • Civil liberty group pans EU biometrics plans

    Commerce ahead of privacy

    Civil liberties groups have condemned an EU study on the possible social impact of biometric technologies – including fingerprint, iris and face recognition – as "technologically determinist" and say it puts economics and profit above liberties and privacy. The report (pdf) from the European Union's joint research centre (JRC) …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2005, 11:51

  • Microsoft takeover bid goes to court

    Groove takeover not so groovy...

    The former marketing boss of Groove Networks is taking the company to court to try and stop it being taken over by Microsoft. Michael Matthews, an ex-sales and marketing vice president at Groove, failed in his first attempt to stop the deal. His request for an injuction to temporarily block the takeover was rejected by a …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 12:03

  • Matsushita, LG calm plasma patent clash

    Out-of-court settlement agreed, apparently

    Last November's plasma display patents dispute between South Korea's LG Electronics and Japan's Matsushita has been resolved, it has been reported in the Japanese press. Matsushita sued LG, alleging the company had infringed its intellectual property rights, by using its patented method of dispersing heat from the screens. It …

    Peripherals 4 Apr 2005, 12:07

  • McAfee sees accounting weakness

    Another tech company that can't keep the books

    Anti-virus provider McAfee has become the latest company to warn the stock market that its accounting procedures could fall foul of US accounting laws. McAfee said it had found material weaknesses in the way it accounts for income tax, revenue and the way it closes its books. The company said, on the advice of its auditors, it …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 12:35

  • Trojan phishing suspect hauled in

    Stole millions (allegedly)

    An Estonian man suspected of plundering millions from hundreds of online bank accounts accounts across Europe was arrested last week. AP reports that the unnamed 24 year-old allegedly used a sophisticated Trojan in order to monitor the keystrokes on victims' PCs and extract confidential banking passwords that allowed him to …

    Security 4 Apr 2005, 12:36

  • PalmSource sees red as device sales decline

    PDAs less popular than they were a year ago

    Palm OS developer PalmSource slid into the red during its third fiscal quarter after a fall in device shipments hit its royalty revenues. The company's licensees shipped 30 per cent fewer Palm OS-based handhelds than they did in the year-ago quarter. During the three months to 25 February 2005, PalmSource notched up revenues of …

    Software 4 Apr 2005, 12:40

  • MS moves Switzerland to Russia

    The power of Windows Server System

    Any reader who doubts the sheer raw power of Microsoft's Windows Server System is advised that it has the potential to relocate entire nations thousands of miles. Check out these extracts from a current ad for the earth-moving Redmond product: That's right, the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs IT operation is run by a …

    Bootnotes 4 Apr 2005, 12:46

  • MCI mulls latest Qwest offer

    More sweeteners than Tate & Lyle

    MCI is mulling the latest offer from Qwest, according to the reports from the US. It has until midnight Tuesday to accept or Qwest said it would pull its offer, paving the way for a possible hostile take-over. Last week Qwest upped its offer to $8.9bn after that other dogged suitor, Verizon, increased its bid for MCI to $7.6bn …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 12:50

  • NEC swaps PCs for trees

    Green is big in Japan

    Environmentalist PC users in Japan who sell their old PCs back to NEC for "refreshing" can revel in the knowledge that they are now even more environmentally friendly than they thought, thanks to a new "afforestation" project NEC is running. NEC's refreshed PC programme is currently only available in Japan. The company buys old …

    PCs 4 Apr 2005, 13:05

  • Dell Latitude D410 sub-notebook

    Review Pint-sized performer?

    Dell's Latitude D410 is based on the latest version of Intel's Centrino notebook platform, 'Sonoma', which brings support for PCI Express, Serial ATA hard disks, DDR 2 memory and the new Express Card format. However, the D410 employs only two of these - PCI Express and DDR 2, writes Benny Har-Even. The processor is a Pentium …

    Reviews 4 Apr 2005, 13:12

  • Microsoft Business Solutions gets new UK head

    Channel man for MBS division...

    Microsoft has appointed Paul White as product group director of its Business Solutions division. White replaces Simon Edwards who has moved to MBS Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to Microsoft White was managing director for MBS's biggest UK partner - Touchstone. He has 15 years experience in ERP, working for Systems …

    Business 4 Apr 2005, 13:22

  • Carjackers swipe biometric Merc, plus owner's finger

    Sometimes you might not want such great security...

    A Malaysian businessman has lost a finger to car thieves impatient to get around his Mercedes' fingerprint security system. Accountant K Kumaran, the BBC reports, had at first been forced to start the S-class Merc, but when the carjackers wanted to start it again without having him along, they chopped off the end of his index …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2005, 13:52

  • Meet hi-tech white van businessman

    £250k mobile office

    A UK businessman is stumping up a cool £250,000 for a hi-tech mobile office/home which will simultaneously feed his wanderlust and the requirements of his peripatetic business. Ben Tristem, 28, jacked in his City job in 2003, sold his London flat and moved into a £50,000 camper van from which he and his partner Lizzie Bury have …

    Business 4 Apr 2005, 13:58

  • .Net report was fudged

    Telcordia’s bitter history with key bidder

    The controversial report over ownership of the .net registry was fudged and the evidence is contained within the report itself. The 58-page document by US tech company Telcordia has faced severe criticism since it was released last week. Now it has emerged the criterion on which Verisign was chosen was never specified by …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2005, 14:51

  • Three quarters of corporate PCs shun SP2

    Holding back as 12 April deadline looms

    Only a quarter of corporate PCs running Windows XP have upgraded to SP2 (Service Pack 2), according to a survey out this week. The study by asset management outfit AssetMetrix - published days before the deadline for holding back on SP2 installation expires on 12 April - paints a picture of a lack of preparation for a major …

    Security 4 Apr 2005, 15:05

  • Hitachi predicts super-drives

    Size doesn't matter as long as its small

    Hitachi Global Storage is expected to announce a big breakthrough in storage technology which will allow much more data to be stored on a hard drive. The changes will allow up to 4.5GB of information to be stored per square centimetre, versus a little over 2.9GB per centimetre today. HGS reckons the drives will be ready for …

    Reviews 4 Apr 2005, 15:09

  • US to embrace VoIP

    27m VoIPers by 2009

    The use of broadband telephony in the US is expected to explode over the next four years as home users hop on the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) bandwagon. Those clever boffins at IDC reckon the number of residential VoIP users will rise from three million at present to 27 million by the end of 2009. Despite its slow start …

    Small Biz 4 Apr 2005, 15:45

  • A cashpoint that gives you verbals

    'You have insufficient funds to get drunk. Go home'

    Diebold, the US's largest maker of cashpoint machines, and electronic voting machines, is working with Scansoft to make its machines more useable by blind people. The company is the second largest ATM maker in Europe. It has designed its latest machine, called Opteva, with the help of the US National Federation of the Blind. …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2005, 15:51

  • Rambus offers to quadruple DRAM data access speeds

    Cradle of parallelisation

    Rambus has developed a memory technology it claims will yield as much as a fourfold performance gain over standard memory yet can be applied to today's DRAM core designs. The technique, dubbed 'Micro-threading', involves partitioning the memory chip's storage into separate addressable areas, to which data requests can be sent …

    System Builder 4 Apr 2005, 16:18

  • Text me and I'll reply with a virus

    More mobile malware madness

    Virus writers have created a third mobile phone virus capable of replicating via MMS messages. The Mabir worm, which targets Symbian Series 60 phones, is not spreading, but its ability to propagate via Multimedia Messaging Service messages (MMS) gives cause for concern. Mabir is essentially a variant of the Cabir worm, which …

    Malware 4 Apr 2005, 16:24

  • Fujitsu expected to deliver Itanium giant

    Can it sell one?

    Tremble in fear, server vendors. Fujitsu is about to release one of the biggest, baddest Itanium servers around. Okay, the thought of a 64-processor Itanium box would be a bit more intimidating if servers running on the processor sold well. But poor pick-up for Itanic won't stop Fujitsu from unleashing its 64-way beast tomorrow …

    Servers 4 Apr 2005, 19:20

  • Sun's OpenSolaris marketing term has an advisory board

    Product on the way

    Linus Torvalds didn't show up to cheerlead for OpenSolaris, but Roy Fielding did. Fielding, chief scientist at Day Software and co-founder of the Apache Software Foundation, was the biggest name Sun Microsystems could find to join the OpenSolaris Community Advisory Board (CAB). Sun announced the formation of the Board today and …

    Operating Systems 4 Apr 2005, 23:34