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18th April 2005 Archive

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  • Movie industry settles DVD chips case

    Victory for MPAA

    The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has settled a suit with a microchip maker, which it had accused of breaching a license that required it to sell DVD chips only to properly licensed companies. The MPAA sued ESS Technology in April 2004, as part of a crackdown on the illegal distribution of Content Scramble System …

    Peripherals 18 Apr 2005, 06:24

  • Skype scores 100 millionth customer

    Two services added too...

    Voice over IP (VoIP) giant Skype is celebrating the download of the 100 millionth copy of its software by making two new paid-for services available. SkypeIn will let customers receive calls from landlines and mobile phones wherever they are in the world without paying roaming charges. SkypeIn services costs €10 for three …

    VoIP 18 Apr 2005, 07:47

  • Will Microsoft offer EII?

    Comment And what about Oracle?

    SQL Server 2005 will have a lot of good stuff in it. One of the things I particularly like is the BI Development Studio, which is effectively an extension to Visual Studio for developing BI applications. One of the features of this product is its support for building virtual cubes – does this mean that Microsoft is planning to …

    Developer 18 Apr 2005, 08:11

  • MS marketing Starts Something

    You see your passion, we see ongoing revenue streams

    Microsoft is launching a worldwide ad campaign to bolster sales of Windows XP. The firm is claiming the campaign will be one of the longest and largest in its history. The ads highlight how people can use MS technology to follow their passions. Will Poole, VP of Windows client at Microsoft, said: "As we enter the third decade …

    Software 18 Apr 2005, 08:52

  • Eight convicted in Denmark's biggest piracy case

    Porridge for pirates

    Eight men have been convicted by a Danish court of making and selling illegal copies of software, games and music. Late last week the Copenhagen City Court heard the eight men made the copies abroad and sold them to Danish customers via the internet. It was Denmark's largest ever piracy case with products worth $585m, according …

    Software 18 Apr 2005, 09:23

  • Macromedia to merge with Adobe

    Flash + PDF = ?

    Graphics and publishing software specialists Adobe and Macromedia are to merge, the companies said today. The acquisition will see the target firm's shareholders offered 0.69 Adobe shares for every Macromedia share, valuing the latter at $41.86 a pop, a premium over this past Friday's $33.45 closing price. The whole deal is …

    Applications 18 Apr 2005, 09:32

  • UK gov seeks rocket-launching cigarette expert

    Now pay attention, 007

    If you've got a penchant for gyrocopters, rocket-launching cigarettes and exploding boli - and further don't mind working in Milton Keynes - then the UK government has just the job for you. Her Majesty's Secret Service is looking to replace its current Q, Dr John Widdowson, and has taken the unusual step of advertising for the …

    Music and Media 18 Apr 2005, 09:37

  • Apple posts Mac OS X 10.3.9

    Pre-Tiger patch

    Apple has updated Mac OS X 10.3, just ahead of the release of version 10.4 of the operating system. That said, the new version, 10.3.9, is mainly tweaks and bug-fixes, though it does incorporate Apple's most recent security patches, so is certainly worth implementing even if you plan to upgrade to Tiger in due course. In …

    Operating Systems 18 Apr 2005, 09:39

  • Save us from spam

    UK consumers cry out to ISPs for protection

    The majority of UK consumers and small businesses are yet to deploy anti-spam filters. A poll of UK residential email users and SMEs published Monday found 57 per cent have no anti-spam filtering installed, leaving them unprotected from spam, key logging and phishing attacks. Four in five consumers (82 per cent) have anti-virus …

    Spam 18 Apr 2005, 09:44

  • SMART-1 finds possible moon-base

    Eternal sunshine of the Lunar kind

    Scientists have identified a candidate "peak of eternal light" - a permanently illuminated area on the moon that could be used as a future lunar base. The site, which is near the northern lunar pole, was identified by the SMART-1 satellite, which has been monitoring the light levels at the poles since it arrived in orbit at the …

    Science 18 Apr 2005, 10:45

  • EU angers US with GM maize 'ban'

    Imports face test for 'illegal GM organism'

    EU experts last Friday angered the US by blocking imports of US GM maize products unless "there is proof they are untainted by an illegal genetically modified organism", Reuters reports. The escalating row concerns non-approved Bt10 corn seed developed by biotech outfit Syngenta. The US admitted in March that several hundred …

    Science 18 Apr 2005, 11:26

  • Texas moves against public Wi-Fi porn

    Rest stop prudery will hit truckers hard

    An illuminating posting on Slashdot today reveals that Texas is moving to prevent the dissemination of net porn via public Wi-Fi networks. The act "relating to prohibiting wireless Internet access to obscene materials on public property" declares: "A state agency that provides wireless Internet access on state property may not …

    Music and Media 18 Apr 2005, 11:27

  • Resellers get double-barrelled DSL

    When two is better than one

    Vaioni Group is making its bonded broadband or uber-DSL product available for resellers to sell onto customers. The firm has been offering the service directly to customers for some time. In essence it sticks two, or more, DSL lines together - providing more bandwidth and better reliablility. Ian Taylor, previously at Zen …

    Telecoms 18 Apr 2005, 11:29

  • Who should buy Colt?

    TDC, Vodafone or Clearwire?

    The promise of convergence of wired, wireless and mobile services has shifted the perceptions of the main telecoms players, especially in Europe, radically in recent times - though as so often, the telecoms investment community has been slow to recognize the trend. It should have been obvious far earlier that operators with only …

    Telecoms 18 Apr 2005, 11:44

  • OSS gains business ground in Europe

    Analysts surprised by findings

    Open source software is gaining ground in mid-to-large sized companies in Europe. According to analyst house IDC, one third of these businesses now report "significant live use" of an open source database of some description. The researchers suggest that open source is, in fact, eating into the market share of proprietary …

    Software 18 Apr 2005, 13:39

  • Intel launches dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition

    But who's shipping systems?

    Intel today formally launched its dual-core Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor, as anticipated with Dell, Velocity Micro and Alienware all "selling" systems based on the chip. The vendor said nothing though about the availability of the 130W chips themselves. If said PC vendors are also shipping PEE-based systems from today …

    PCs 18 Apr 2005, 13:55

  • IT industry told to 'cough up' by child campaigners

    Need to protect kids

    The IT industry should do more to protect kids online, according to campaigners, who believe that tech companies should spend dosh to create a global child protection organisation and use their expertise to regulate chat rooms and block the transmission of offensive images. Tighter regulation and increased education make up …

    Music and Media 18 Apr 2005, 14:10

  • Internet is killing mail order catalogues

    Uh huh

    Internet shopping is now more popular than thumbing through weighty mail order catalogues, according to research from consumer analysts Mintel. Its latest study reveals that a third of those quizzed have bought goods online, compared to a quarter who admitted using a catalogue. The decline in popularity of mail order …

    Financial News 18 Apr 2005, 14:14

  • MySQL at 30% off

    Site offer Books galore at discount prices

    With over four million installations, MySQL is the most widely used open source database management system worldwide. MySQL 5 is a long-anticipated, significant new version of the database that brings MySQL up to the level of an enterprise-class database system. New features in MySQL 5, such as stored procedures and enhanced …

    Site News 18 Apr 2005, 14:15

  • Seagate unveils 120GB notebook HDD

    Storage on the move

    Storage specialist Seagate today introduced what it claims is the world's highest capacity hard drive for notebook computers - and its first Serial ATA unit for laptops. Part of the company's Momentus line-up, the 2.5in, 120GB drive is nonetheless only set to spin at 5400rpm - it you want a faster unit, you'll need Seagate's …

    PCs 18 Apr 2005, 14:20

  • Mobile email consolidation kicks off

    RIM faces squeeze

    Wireless email has always been the first application to be adopted by a company seeking to become a mobile enterprise, and the litmus test for all the other mobilized applications that can then be built on top of the basic architecture. This means that the market for mobile email infrastructure suppliers is not just large, with …

    Mobile 18 Apr 2005, 14:37

  • Intel launches WiMAX chip

    Interoperable kit by the end of the year, says WiMAX Forum

    Intel has formally announced its first WiMAX product, a system-on-a-chip capable of receiving wireless broadband signals both inside and outside customer premises. The ProWireless 5116 is fully compliant with the 802.16-2004 standard, Intel said, and is the first product of its kind to be "optimised for cost-effective modems …

    Wireless 18 Apr 2005, 14:48

  • Proof by self-checking software: the four colour problem

    Colouring in maps

    Computer scientists at Microsoft Research Cambridge (MSRC) have developed a self-checking software-based proof of the four colour theorem that they say sweeps away any remaining uncertainty surrounding earlier proofs. MRSC researcher Georges Gonthier and Benjamin Werner, a researcher at INRIA, have devised a computer program …

    Science 18 Apr 2005, 14:56

  • Consumers and laps boost euro PC sales

    Going up or down... depending who you ask...

    Consumer sales and laptops were the main drivers for strong PC sales growth in Europe, Middle East and Africa in Q1, according to IDC's latest figures. IDC reported year-on-year growth of 15.7 per cent for the first quarter of 2005. Business demand stayed strong especially among smaller customers. IDC looks at branded shipments …

    PCs 18 Apr 2005, 15:46

  • TDC target for take-over - report

    Rumour mill keeps on turning

    The rumour mill is working overtime following press reports that Danish telco TDC could be snapped up by an international group of investors. TDC - the outfit that helps run discount mobilephoneco easyMobile in the UK - is reportedly on the shopping list of some unnamed investment funds, according to Danish newspaper Jyllands- …

    Financial News 18 Apr 2005, 15:52

  • EMC wags new NAS giant at rivals NetApp and IBM

    Look at the size of it

    EMC rattled the storage world today by releasing one of the highest-end NAS (network attached storage) systems on the planet. Along with the hardware, EMC also rolled out a number of software upgrades meant to make managing large volumes of data easier. With the Celerra NSX box, EMC feels pretty confident that it has won the " …

    Hardware 18 Apr 2005, 16:12

  • Linux on desktop needs better sales people

    If you build it will they come?

    Linspire chief exec Michael Robertson is visiting London on a mission to persuade system builders that there's money to be made in Linux on the desktop. Robertson guesstimates that it costs PC builders £125 or more in licensing fees to offer PCs with Windows XP and Office XP pre-installed. Linspire's pitch is that system …

    Operating Systems 18 Apr 2005, 16:19

  • Philips Q1 income takes €433m nosedive

    That's gotta hurt

    Philips Electronics has blamed weak semiconductor sales and falling flat panel TV prices for a 79 per cent drop in quarterly net profits. The consumer electronics group posted earnings of €117m for the quarter ending 31 March, down from €550m for the same period a year ago. The company's LCD business (LG Philips LCD) made a net …

    Financial News 18 Apr 2005, 16:24

  • Centerprise rescues CFL Computer Systems from liquidation

    Phoenix from ashes

    Centerprise International, the UK PC builder, has rescued South Wales integrator CFL Computer Systems from liquidation. Falling profit margins forced CFL, which had a turnover of £4.25m and employed 27 people at its peak, into liquidation in March according to local reports. Centerprise has taken over the company's assets and re …

    Financial News 18 Apr 2005, 16:32

  • Azul puts 384-way Java rocket up for sale

    Process much?

    Azul Systems has turned the concept of a server appliance on its head with a soon to be released Java software crunching workhorse. A server appliance used to be a small, cuddly system with one or two processors that handled fixed functions well. It could hum away serving up web pages and required little administration. Start- …

    Servers 18 Apr 2005, 18:28

  • Our phones don't work - Verizon boss

    Deal with it

    If you're infuriated by your cellphone's lousy reception indoors, stop fretting. It's a feature, not a bug. So says Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, who was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle's Todd Wallack on Saturday. "Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?" he said. "The customer …

    Mobile 18 Apr 2005, 21:19