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5th April 2005 Archive

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  • Google wants your DIY porn videos

    All in the name of science

    The internet's transformation into a really dodgy public access cable channel continues apace. Google co-founder Larry Page has announced that the company wants the public to send in its homemade videos - and he doesn't mind how mucky they are. "There might be an adult section, or something like that. I don't think that is …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 06:56

  • Sybase invokes licence gag in flaw disclosure row

    NGSSoftware negotiations

    Database maker Sybase will likely drop legal threats against a UK-based security company this week, allowing the company to publish details on six flaws, a source familiar with the negotiations said on Monday. The potential agreement between Sybase and Next-Generation Security Software comes after a two-week dispute over …

    Enterprise Security 5 Apr 2005, 07:29

  • Congestion charge planned within M25 area

    If it moves, tax it

    The Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT), a Government-funded transport think tank, is poised to recommend a congestion charging system covering the roads inside London's M25 motorway ring. The CfIT has been evangelising the benefits of GPS-based nationwide road charging for some years now, and is reported to intend to …

    Music and Media 5 Apr 2005, 07:33

  • Hitachi headstand sets new HD density record

    Magnetic recording is good for another decade

    Hitachi reckons it has kicked the feared super-paramagnetic effect a decade into the future, by demonstrating the disk industry's highest magnetic recording density yet - 230 Gb per square inch, or 356 Mb per square mm. The demo used perpendicular recording technology, and Hitachi Global Storage Technology (HGST) said it could …

    Peripherals 5 Apr 2005, 08:01

  • Cisco pumps $750m into channel financing

    Credit where credit's due

    Cisco is greasing credit lines for its resellers with $750m in extra credit for partners worldwide. Along with the increased credit limits Cisco Capital is also going after small and medium businesses with an improved leasing programme. The money is split: $250m comes direct from Cisco through 30-day accounts; and $500m is …

    Channel Register 5 Apr 2005, 08:09

  • No 'Toothing' please, we're British

    Journalist confesses to Bluetooth sex hoax

    Remember 'toothing'? Last year the BBC, Reuters and (inevitably) Wired all reported that Bluetooth phones were instrumental in a wave of casual sex sweeping Britain. "Brits Going at It Tooth and Nail" (geddit??) screamed Wired, with Daniel Terdiman opening his report with the discovery, "The Brits sure are randy". According to …

    Bootnotes 5 Apr 2005, 09:08

  • Blair to ditch ID cards

    He'd rather have an election...

    As predicted by El Reg here the Government looks set to ditch its unpopular ID card legislation if Tony Blair calls an election today. Blair is widely expected to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament today - the trigger for a General Election on 5 May. But this means he must sacrifice several Bills currently before the House. …

    Public Sector 5 Apr 2005, 09:13

  • BEA signs UK public sector MoU

    Discounts for three years

    The government's procurement agency, OGCbuying.solutions, has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding with software company, BEA Systems. It says the deal could save £15m on public sector IT costs through discounts on software licenses, support and services from the middleware vendor. Hugh Barrett, chief executive of …

    Software 5 Apr 2005, 09:29

  • Sex.com ruling upheld by Court of Appeals

    Game over

    Stephen Cohen has lost an appeal against a ruling that he must pay $65 million to Gary Kremen, the man who registered sex.com, reports USA Today. Cohen stole the domain name in 1995 and used it to front a lucrative porn business. Kremen, of San Francisco, originally registered the name in 1994. But Cohen, an ex-convict, took …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 10:15

  • Sony channel gets united

    1 face, 1 voice, 1 true religion...

    Sony is rejigging its channel programme to deliver one point of contact for all resellers. The electronics giant hopes the revamped scheme will help get its products into corporate accounts. Sony "1" promises to be a single integrated partner programme. One website will provide simpler communication with resellers. It will give …

    Channel 5 Apr 2005, 10:27

  • Crunch time for MCI/Verizon/Qwest lurve triangle

    It's a real weepy

    Giant US telco Verizon is in a strop amid fears it could be jilted by MCI. It's told the company formerly known as WorldCom that if it decides to accept the $8.9bn offer from Qwest - even after already agreeing to be acquired by Verizon - then it will walk away from the deal. Last week Qwest upped its offer to $8.9bn after …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 10:32

  • Microsoft meets most EC demands

    Getting closer to agreement

    Microsoft has accepted most of the conditions set by the European Commission to bring the software vendor into compliance with last year's anti-trust ruling. Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, told the FT: "There were 26 areas where the Commission wanted changes to be made and we were able to say yes to 20 of those …

    Software 5 Apr 2005, 11:28

  • Netline Open-Xchange - the next Firefox?

    Email server play

    The open source community has been a great new source of innovative and high quality products and these are now starting to achieve success above the operating system level. According to the Mozilla Foundation, thei Firefox browser has been downloaded 25 million times since its release a few months ago. Firefox works fast and …

    Applications 5 Apr 2005, 11:47

  • Eidos board under fire over Elevation bid bias

    'Accept SCi's rival offer - or else...'

    Eidos shareholders may move to fire the troubled games publisher's board after company executives failed to back a bid from rival publisher SCi. Last week, Eidos' board told shareholders to stay calm until it had had a chance to assess SCi's share-swap offer, launched as an alternative to Elevation Partners' £71m cash bid for …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 12:43

  • Chip improves vision, baffles scientists

    How does it do that?

    A small photosensitive chip implanted in the retina has made a huge difference to the vision of patients suffering from the degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa, US researchers have shown. And it seems that an implant in one eye can actually improve vision in the other. Dr. Ronald Schuchard, a leading researcher in the …

    Science 5 Apr 2005, 12:54

  • NTL is UK's largest broadband ISP

    Says NTL

    NTL claims to be the largest provider of residential broadband services in the UK. According to figures it's cobbled together from a load of different sources, it stands head and shoulders above BT Retail as the UK's number one broadband ISP. At the end of 2004, NTL had 1.335 million broadband punters including 61,000 users …

    Telecoms 5 Apr 2005, 12:56

  • Intel Pentium Extreme Edition dual-core CPU

    Review Intel's fastest desktop - times two?

    Once you've invested a few billion dollars in a fabrication plant and have a team of skilled engineers beavering away, you'll find it relatively easy to design and build an x86 processor. As time goes by you have to develop it to reduce production costs, raise efficiency and to increase its speed. Over the last 20 years we've …

    Reviews 5 Apr 2005, 13:16

  • NASA takes alien hunt to Mexico

    Take us to your leader

    NASA scientists are reportedly turning to Mexico for help in their search for extraterrestrial life. The space agency believes that a network of 170 lakes around the town of Cuatro Cienegas could hold clues to the conditions prevalent on Earth when life began. The lakes, which have a species diversity that rivals the Galapagos …

    Science 5 Apr 2005, 13:43

  • SCO drops filings off at SEC

    At last - sort of

    SCO Group finally handed in a stack of filings to the SEC last week, but has still not seen off the threat of a Nasdaq delisting. The company last week filed its form 10-Q's for the quarters ended 31 January, 30 April, and 31 July, 2004, and its form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2004. SCO had been facing delisting …

    Operating Systems 5 Apr 2005, 14:27

  • MP gets police to investigate BT over rogue dialler scams

    CPS takes a peek too

    Police investigating cases where BT customers have been ripped off by rogue dialler software have sent a report to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The investigation hinges on whether punters who've been conned out of hundreds of pounds by rogue dialler operators should pay their BT phone bills. Labour MP Bob Blizzard …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 14:40

  • DiData buys Aussie reseller

    Picks up MS upgrade specialist

    Dimension Data is buying an Australian consultancy which specialises in Microsoft integration and systems management work. Bellerephon develops systems to speed deployment and management of MS servers and desktops. The firm owns intellectual property which South Africa-based services group DiData will use to help it upgrade its …

    Software 5 Apr 2005, 15:17

  • Nvidia ships nForce for Intel

    Better late than never

    Nvidia has begun shipping its nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition chipset, the company said today, a day ahead of the anticipated release date. To be fair to those pundits pointing to a 6 April debut, Nvidia did promise to ship the part by the end of March, as pledged by the company's chipset chief, Drew Henry, at the product's CeBIT …

    System Builder 5 Apr 2005, 15:43

  • eCrime cost UK.biz £2.4bn in 2004

    Soaring losses

    Cyber attacks cost UK corporates more than £2.45bn last year, according to police. A National Hi-tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) backed survey (PDF) of 200 firms published Tuesday found that 89 per cent of companies have experienced at least one incident in the past year, up from 83 per cent a year ago. Malware - viruses, worms and …

    Security 5 Apr 2005, 16:02

  • US Appeals Court clarifies protest website law

    WIPO pseudo-law sucks.com

    A decision by the Ninth Circuit (California) of the US Court of Appeals has clarified where the law stands in relation in protest websites - and it doesn't look good for WIPO, one of the arbitrators for global domain disputes. Despite a Mr Michael Kremer owning and running a protest website at the exact same dotcom address as a …

    Music and Media 5 Apr 2005, 16:05

  • In praise of Windows 2003 SP1

    Comment Reasonable fixes

    Usually I get to use this space to complain about Microsoft's poor security practices, but not this time -- with last week's release of Windows 2003 Service Pack 1, this time they get praise. After eighteen months of beta testing, Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now publicly available and loaded with security enhancements. I thought I'd …

    Operating Systems 5 Apr 2005, 16:40

  • Google and Yahoo! accused of click fraud collusion

    Up springs the inevitable lawsuit

    Google, Yahoo! and other players in the search business have become embroiled in a lawsuit which involves overcharging for pay-per-click online advertising. The Wall Street Journal says that plaintiffs in the US filed a lawsuit in February alleging that Google and Yahoo overcharge advertisers, and also that they collude with …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 17:03

  • .Net report speared a third time

    Sentan lists 'fundamental flaws'

    The .net report has been speared a third time - by bidder Sentan. It has produced a long letter outlining what it says are "several fundamental flaws, each resulting in a material impact upon the final ranking", and has called for a "thorough and immediate review" by ICANN. The strongly worded letter and attachment is likely …

    Financial News 5 Apr 2005, 18:07