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6th April 2005 Archive

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  • IKEA hoax a bright spot in dystopian week

    Letters And has anyone seen the Bahamas?

    We ran an article this week that posed the question "Is open source strategic?". The author argued that if it is, it is probably bad news for open source enthusiasts because it would expose the open source suppliers to the same scrutiny as commercial software vendors. A number of you wrote in saying that this wasn't quite the …

    Letters 6 Apr 2005, 00:31

  • Azlan goes a bundle on security services

    Reseller add-ons

    Azlan has assembled five new bundles of security services which should make it easier for networking resellers to sell such add-ons to customers. The five packages are: penetration testing, security awareness workshop, security assessment, vulnerability testing and security planning and design. Services are delivered through …

    The Channel 6 Apr 2005, 06:48

  • Napster subscriber tally tops 410,000

    But how long with they stay subscribers?

    Napster's subscriber base reached 410,000 during its most recently completed fiscal quarter, Q4 FY2005, the company said today in advance of its formal earnings announcement. During the three months to 31 March 2005, the digital music purveyor grew its subscriber base by 143,000 individuals, of which 12,000 joined through the …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 06:53

  • Woman to lead UK fight against cybercrime

    NHTCU gets new governor, website revamp

    Detective chief superintendent Sharon Lemon has been appointed head of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. She joins the National Crime Squad hi-tech crime division after leading Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT), the national and international single point of contact for on-line child abuse investigations. Lemon joined …

    Security 6 Apr 2005, 07:27

  • Yahoo! and Google's top brass cash in

    Stock warning - snouts in the trough

    Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel took home $230m from the result of stock sales last year, one of the largest ever hauls for a company executive, a SEC filing reveals. Semel holds another 300 million in Yahoo equity. While mere mortals are usually restricted by selling chunks of options over a four-year period, most of Semel's equity is …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 07:28

  • C2000 gets new print boss

    Man from Tosh...

    Simon Aldous is joining Computer 2000 as general manager of its CAD and high-end printing business, Datech 2000. Aldous has been at Toshiba, running its indirect channel for the last three years and has long experience in distribution. He helped set up Tosh's UK distribution network. Before that he ran his own business …

    The Channel 6 Apr 2005, 08:00

  • US still in midst of hi-tech powered super boom - pundit

    Productive in cheap clothes

    It's tough to quantify and even harder to prove. But, optimists rejoice, the US economy is still booming. Investors can feel this even if they can't explain it. That's the rather visceral take on US business handed out today by Jim Glassman, a managing director and top strategist at JP Morgan Chase. Glassman, speaking in …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 08:00

  • Software group joins EC's MS crusade

    Big Blue, Nokia and Oracle weigh in behind EC case

    A group of software companies is banding together to help the European Commission in its ongoing anti-trust case against Microsoft. The European Committee for Interoperable Systems has asked the EC if it can provide technical and legal advice to regulators. ECIS members include IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks and Red Hat. …

    Operating Systems 6 Apr 2005, 08:17

  • On IBM and native XML

    Comment Abusing the natives

    Back in colonial days, natives were generally considered second rate. That has all changed, at least in the IT world, where all things native are generally considered to be a "good thing". However, any term that might be used to describe something worthwhile is open to abuse by marketing. In the IT industry we use the term " …

    Developer 6 Apr 2005, 09:03

  • RIM edges into Q4 loss

    Subscriber wins, tax gains ease effect of NTP settlement costs

    Blackberry maker Research in Motion saw its subscriber base rise past the 2.5 million mark during its most recently completed fiscal quarter, Q4 FY2005, as service and software revenues began to slow the company's dependence on hardware sales. However, the effect of the company's legal battle with NTP hit earnings hard, though …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 09:40

  • Linux versus XP on the desktop: Reg readers speak

    Reader survey results...

    A survey of Register readers, carried out by analysts Quocirca, reveals you love Linux on the desktop, but you love Windows XP too. Almost half the companies surveyed had deployed Linux on the desktop to some extent, with 43 per cent having at least some fully deployed Linux desktops. Another 24 per cent are experimenting with …

    Applications 6 Apr 2005, 09:51

  • MCI rejects Qwest, cuddles up to Verizon

    Better to have loved and lost...

    MCI has turned its back on Qwest and decided instead to be acquired by Verizon. MCI - which had always had a fondness for Verizon but had been considering Qwest's advances - has finally made a decision. Even though Qwest offered more for MCI ($8.9bn), the company formerly known as WorldCom decided, instead, to opt for Verizon …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 09:55

  • Ericsson hacker jailed for three years

    'Gissa job' industrial spy sent to Swedish slammer

    A Hungarian man who cracked into the corporate network of Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson was jailed for three years on Monday. Csaba Richter, a 26-year-old IT consultant, pleaded guilty to accessing sensitive documents on Ericsson's intranet. If the case had gone to trial he stood to go to jail for up to six years on charges …

    Media 6 Apr 2005, 10:15

  • Sony adds hard drive 'airbag' to MP3 player

    Drop it and your music's safe, apparently

    Sony will this month ship its latest hard drive-based personal digital music player, this time adding a removable battery to the feature set and an anti-impact system to the unit's hard disk. The NW-HD5 is equipped with a 20GB drive, which sports a "G Sensor" to detect sudden drops and cushion the storage medium to prevent …

    Peripherals 6 Apr 2005, 10:39

  • Tiscali confirms sale of French opo - finally

    Telecom Italia snaps up Liberty Surf

    Tiscali has sold its French ISP business - Liberty Surf - to Telecom Italia, both companies have confirmed. Telecom Italia is to shell out around €266m for Tiscali's 95 per cent stake in the business. Once the deal is complete, Telecom Italia will launch a public offer for the remaining 5 per cent of Liberty Surf's share …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 10:42

  • First galaxies arrived early, and overweight

    Infrared is the new black, dahling

    Galaxies might have started to form far earlier than scientists had previously thought, according to new results from teams working on the Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes. Speaking at the Royal Astronomical Society's annual conference in Birmingham this week, Andrew Bunker, from the university of Exeter, explained that he …

    Science 6 Apr 2005, 10:52

  • RSA warns on profits

    Security firm misses targets

    RSA Security has warned that it will miss revenue targets for the first quarter. The firm's shares have fallen from just below $16 to $11.32 since Monday. RSA expects earnings for the quarter ended 31 March to be between £74m to $76m rather than the $81m and $84m it was predicting. This will give earnings per share of 8 to 10 …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 11:08

  • Apple Japan opens buy-by-phone iPod shop

    Still no Music Store, though

    Apple's Japanese operation may be taking its time launching a local version of the Mac maker's iTunes Music Store, but eager iPod buyers can at least now order one of the company's music players using only their mobile phones. The Apple Store Mobile is accessible through a dozen AU and NTT handsets - actually, it's on the web, …

    Mac Channel 6 Apr 2005, 11:15

  • Movie downloads will be a big business... but for whom?

    Analysis Riders and runners

    The trouble with one business model that works for one area of digital media, is that it will rarely work, unchanged, for another area. That’s the thing that has been bugging Steve Jobs at Apple and which stops his company from coming out with something analogous to a video iPod. But it doesn’t seem to be stopping any other …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 11:52

  • Extend your Unix skills

    Site offer 'Unix Advanced' at 30% off

    With Unix becoming more and more ubiquitous, Unix users are becoming more ubiquitous as well - and a growing number of them are ready to move beyond just using the open-source OS to actually administering it. Not wishing to disappoint, The Register Bookshop has got just the ticket for these budding Unix consultants. Rather than …

    Site News 6 Apr 2005, 13:51

  • Demon jobs on line at Glasgow tech support

    'Business efficiency review'

    Demon Internet could be about to axe around 40 jobs in Scotland as it moves to close its tech support centre in Glasgow. Staff were told of the proposals yesterday although insiders have told The Register that many workers walked out in disgust even before managers had finished the meeting. "They told us they're making the lot …

    Business 6 Apr 2005, 13:52

  • Exoplanet 'more likely to be brown dwarf'

    Nice pictures, but don't get too excited

    A European team of astronomers claims to have taken the first direct image of an extra-solar planet. Their announcement comes just weeks after two US teams made a remarkably similar boast, and has prompted a sceptical response from some parts of the astronomical community. The possible exoplanet is orbiting a star known as GQ …

    Science 6 Apr 2005, 13:57

  • CA reorganisation puts emphasis on security

    Trimming the sails

    Computer Associates Tuesday announced a reorganisation of its business to place more emphasis on its core systems management and security operations. CA is dividing itself into business units rather than product-based divisions in a strategy that will see the software giant organised along the same lines as arch-rival IBM. CA's …

    Applications 6 Apr 2005, 14:01

  • Hacker law change gets ‘elevator pitch’ in parliament

    Famous for 10 minutes

    Measures to reform UK hacking law were aired in parliament yesterday. But a lack of mainstream political interest means that changes in the law are unlikely for some time. Derek Wyatt MP, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (APIG), moved a 10 Minute Rule Motion calling for amendments to the Computer Misuse …

    Security 6 Apr 2005, 14:14

  • Aigo P880 20GB MP3 photo player

    Review Does music too

    Apple's iPod line-up has, like it or not, become the benchmark by which other personal digital music players are judged. That's not to say they always measure up to the competition, and they've usually taken longer to adopt new features, such as colour displays and photo browsing, than their rivals have. But whether it's …

    Reviews 6 Apr 2005, 14:35

  • BT, UK Wi-Fi network enter roaming pact

    Telco's hotspot tally rises to 7,800-plus

    BT's Wi-Fi subsidiary, Openzone, has added Broadreach Networks' collection of hotspots to its own, courtesy of a roaming deal struck between the two companies. It's a two-way agreement: not only will BT Openzone customers be able to access the Internet at Broadreach's locations, which include the country's major railway …

    Broadband 6 Apr 2005, 14:44

  • Hynix creditors to cede control early - report

    Management may take charge this year

    Hynix may soon regain control of its destiny from its creditor banks. Originally due to take charge in the second half of 2006, Hynix's chiefs could get to run things before the end of June. So claims a Korea Times report, citing an official of the Korea Exchange Bank, on the Hynix's creditors. The KEB is believed to be …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 14:51

  • Another 18 months for Mars rovers

    Keep on truckin'

    NASA has approved another 18-months of crawling around on the Red planet for the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The rovers, which were originally designed to explore the surface of Mars for just three months, are holding up so well after their fourteen month stay on the red planet, that mission scientists say they are …

    Science 6 Apr 2005, 14:56

  • Homeland Security blows $16m prepping for apocalypse

    Duct tape and sheet plastic writ large

    The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is conducting drills in Connecticut and New Jersey to help first responders perfect their routines in anticipation of the next mass-casualty terror attack on US soil. Dubbed TOPOFF (for 'Top Officials'), the week-long exercise will test the practical limits of "10,000 participants …

    Bootnotes 6 Apr 2005, 15:14

  • Clarke confirms disappearance, and reappearance, of ID cards

    Just like that...

    Home Secretary Charles Clarke has confirmed that controversial legislation to introduce ID cards has been shelved. But he said the ID card bill would be included in the Labour Party's manifesto, published early next week, and would be an early priority for the next Parliament should Labour win the election. Clarke blamed the …

    Media 6 Apr 2005, 15:15

  • Next Stop: Gizmoville

    The week's other coolest gadgets

    Coolest Mobile Accessory of the Week Orange's Star Wars boxed set Uh-oh, the marketing behemoth that is Lucasfilm is really getting into full lightsabre-like swing with the release of Orange's Star Wars Episode 3 box set. Apparently if Luke had decided to make a phone call during the trilogy, he would have chosen the Orange …

    Peripherals 6 Apr 2005, 16:01

  • Feds beg Congress to expand PATRIOT Act

    You'd be dead already without it

    US Attorney General and former White House torture apologist Alberto Gonzales warned the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that certain temporary provisions of the so-called "Patriot" Act must not be allowed to expire as scheduled later this year. "Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups still pose a grave threat to the …

    Media 6 Apr 2005, 16:14

  • IBM hands over NAS duties to NetApp in mega storage tie-up

    It's an EMC hate thang

    If you're EMC, the last couple of hours haven't been terribly pleasant. That's because two of EMC's rivals - IBM and Network Appliance - announced a major alliance designed to crimp EMC's style in the network attached storage (NAS) market. IBM will now start reselling NetApp's entire line of NAS gear and related software. The …

    Storage 6 Apr 2005, 16:18

  • MPs 'unconvinced' about need to break-up BT

    Concerns raised about LLU pricing though

    A group of MPs remains "unconvinced" for the need to split up BT maintaining that pursuing the "nuclear" option should only be a last resort. A report by the Trade and Industry Select Committee (TISC) into the Telecoms Review by Ofcom found that MPs broadly supported the progress made so far by the regulator. TISC agreed with …

    Financial News 6 Apr 2005, 16:22

  • Browser bugs sprout eternal

    Fresh vulns for Firefox and IE

    Mozilla has patched a vulnerability in its popular Firefox web browser that could allow hackers to snaffle information from the PCs of surfers. The JavaScript-related security bug, which affected versions 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 of Firefox, created a means for hackers to seize potentially sensitive information in memory. Exploitation …

    Security 6 Apr 2005, 16:28

  • Save the world, buy green stuff online

    Do the hippy hippy shop

    Adam Vaughan, managing editor of the gadget junkie's favourite, Stuff magazine, has started a greenie blog. Its all about ethical, environmentally friendly shopping and is loosely based on US site treehugger.com. Hippyshopper.com has all kinds of bits of kit that might well appeal to you, our lovely readers, so we thought we'd …

    Media 6 Apr 2005, 16:32

  • Oh Woe is Siebel

    'We did not expect the results to be this low'

    Siebel has blamed poor execution and weak demand for its expected first quarter loss, ending a fragile recovery of the firm's finances. In its preliminary results announcement, the California-based business software firm said it expects revenues of between $297m and $300m for the first quarter. This compares to revenues of $329 …

    Applications 6 Apr 2005, 16:36

  • Mobile Trojan kills smart phones

    Warez doodz beware

    Virus writers have created a mobile Trojan capable of rendering an infected Symbian Series 60 unusable. Fontal-A is a SIS file Trojan that installs a corrupted font file on the device, causing it to fail when the mobile phone is next rebooted. Fontal-A is a Trojan, incapable of spreading by itself or via Bluetooth. The small …

    Security 6 Apr 2005, 16:42

  • Linus Torvalds defers closed source crunch

    Key kernel tool gets proprietary

    Linux founder Linus Torvalds may soon be using a proprietary, closed source code management tool for Linux kernel development, to the dismay of many in the open source community. Torvalds today diplomatically postponed his final decision, explaining that he's taking a week offline, and he says actively exploring alternatives to …

    Operating Systems 6 Apr 2005, 21:44

  • Does regulation work? 'Don't ask me,' says former SEC chief

    Just over-comply, Pitt tells financial services biz

    His name was on the agenda, so you assumed he would show up. Still, we had some doubts. Scott McNealy invited one of his bete noires - former SEC chief Harvey Pitt - to a Sun Microsystems gala yesterday. McNealy wasn't on hand to hear Pitt, but he was there in spirit. Pitt became the target for a McNealy crusade after imposing …

    Servers 6 Apr 2005, 22:02

  • MS antitrust: IBM, Nokia, Oracle enter the fray

    Redmond doesn't speak for us

    A consortium including IBM, Nokia and Oracle has stepped up support for the EU, requesting to intervene on its behalf at the European Court of First Appeals. The grouping, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems or ECIS, says that it reflects the genuine industry consensus, which is behind tougher sanctions in the EU's …

    Software 6 Apr 2005, 22:58

  • Vintage computer docs under the hammer

    See what made Robbie the Robot tick

    Vintage documentation for what was once the world's fastest computer is up for grabs at eBay this week. Manchester's Atlas dates back to what Verity Stob calls the 'Robbie the Robot' era of computing. It was a collaboration between the city's university and Ferranti, was designed at the West Gorton site (familiar to visitors as …

    Vintage 6 Apr 2005, 23:14