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26th April 2005 Archive

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  • Is the future of Ingres in doubt?

    Comment Would it make sense for CA to sell Ingres?

    There are rumours flying about that CA may sell off Ingres. How much truth is there in that and would it make sense? The rumours apparently derive from a piece in Linux Business Week which reads as follows: "The rumor mill claims that Terry Garnett, the ex-Oracle, ex-Venrock half of Garnett & Helfrich Capital, the $250m Sand …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 09:45

  • Hubble sends back new pictures to mark 15 years in orbit

    Happy Birthday Hubble

    The Hubble space telescope has been in orbit for 15 years, during which time it has taken over 750,000 images of the universe. To celebrate, NASA has released two new pictures: one of a new area of the Eagle Nebula, a star forming region where hot dense gas is being shaped by ultraviolet light from a group of massive hot stars …

    Science 26 Apr 2005, 09:47

  • Microsoft and SAP deepen alliance

    Joint products ahoy...

    Microsoft and SAP are working together to make SAP's business management software and Microsoft's Office products work better together. The two considered a formal merger last year but will now jointly develop new products. The project is code-named Mendocino and aims to bridge the gap between desktop applications and the …

    Applications 26 Apr 2005, 09:52

  • Data protection charges for sale of police data

    Secrets sold to press

    Blackfriars Crown Court gave four men two-year conditional discharges last week over charges relating to their sale to the press of confidential data held by the police national computer on celebrities, according to reports. Two private investigators, John Boyall and Stephen Whittamore, civilian police worker Paul Marshall, and …

    Media 26 Apr 2005, 09:59

  • Courts deny dismissals in Rambus legal actions

    Antitrust, patent infringement cases to continue

    Rambus yesterday claimed small wins in its network of legal spats with Hynix and Micron. Hynix, Micron and other "co-conspirators" - as Rambus put it - had asked the San Francisco Superior Court to dismiss the antitrust legal action brought against them by the memory technology developer, which alleges they colluded to drive …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 10:08

  • Tech ad complaints fall

    Still number two in the charts though

    The number of complaints about dodgy adverts generated by the UK's computer and telecoms industry fell last year, according to official figures released today by the advertising watchdog. Complaints about misleading ads from the tech sector fell to 1,322 in 2004 from 1,579 the year before. Despite this, the UK's tech sector is …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2005, 10:29

  • Oracle developers - fancy a trip into space?

    Suborbital jaunt up for grabs

    It's not often that we at Vulture Central are moved to gasp "blimey, that's a really good prize", but that was the general reaction around the office when we learned that Oracle is giving away a suborbital flight to one lucky developer who works with the company's software. Yup, we're talking a top grab of $138,000 worth of …

    Developer 26 Apr 2005, 11:21

  • Squeezing CRM into the mid-market

    Quocirca's changing channels Where do resellers fit in?

    For the last few years, the mid-market, in the minds of applications vendors, has been ripe for improving the way they manage their customer relationships. Given the growth rate of some CRM vendors targeting this market, they may have a point. For a reseller looking to expand their portfolio to include a CRM offering, the range …

    Business 26 Apr 2005, 11:28

  • Elpida declares first annual profit

    But figures below expectations

    Elpida declared its first ever annual profit yesterday as it unveiled its fourth quarter results. For the three months to 31 March 2005, Elpida recorded revenues of ¥50.73bn ($480m), up 57.5 per cent on the year-ago quarter's ¥30.21bn ($286m). Net income went the other way, falling from a ¥490m ($4.6m) profit to a loss of ¥1. …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 11:35

  • Freedom2Surf hooks up to LLU broadband

    Easynet signs up another wholesale punter

    Easynet has signed up another ISP to take its unbundled wholesale broadband service. In December, Easynet unveiled LLUStream - a wholesale broadband service that the telco claims is between 30-35 per cent cheaper than BT. Using its own kit installed in BT exchanges via a process called local loop unbundling (LLU), Easynet …

    Broadband 26 Apr 2005, 11:39

  • AMD quad-cores due 2007

    CEO moots move into chipset biz too

    AMD will sample quad-core processors in 2007, company CEO Hector 'Money for Nothing' Ruiz has said. He also admitted he was exploring an entry into the system logic market. That said, the chipset move isn't about aping Intel and developing ancillary chips for its own processors. No, Ruiz is simply looking to enter what is …

    PCs 26 Apr 2005, 11:55

  • Scientists push bacteria to quadruple hydrogen production

    Amazing what a zap of electricty will do

    Researchers at Penn State university have discovered a new way of stimulating bacteria to extract hydrogen from bio-matter. The technique can yield four times as much hydrogen as fermentation alone, and unlike traditional fermentation, is not limited to carbohydrate based biomass. Dr. Bruce Logan, professor of environmental …

    Science 26 Apr 2005, 12:00

  • Google in St George snub outrage

    By the Lord Harry!

    Readers who visited El Reg last Saturday will be aware that we proudly ran our annual St George masthead - in keeping with the Vulture Central tradition of celebrating the national days of those countries where we have either a substantial readership or from which we hope to extract the most advertising revenue. Of course, …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2005, 12:04

  • Infineon makes a loss

    Sees cloud but no silver lining...

    Lower prices and weak demand have pushed memory chip maker Infineon to a loss in the second quarter. Revenues for the second quarter ended 31 March 2005 was €1.61bn - down 12 per cent on the quarter before or four per cent on the same period a year ago. The firm made a net loss of €114m in the second quarter against a profit of …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 12:29

  • Silicon Image takes up the Slack

    Gentlemen, we salute that surname

    Silicon Image, a California-based outfit dedictated to "multi-gigabit semiconductor solutions for the secure transmission and storage of rich digital media" last week earned itself a place in the Vulture Central Notable Appointments Hall of Fame by hiring the deliciously-named Darrel Slack as its CFO. Yes, hot on the heels of …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2005, 12:30

  • Scientists want to bring the kilogram into 21st century

    Lumps of metal are so last season

    The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States, is calling for the kilo to be redefined in terms of a natural phenomenon, such as the number of atoms in a silicon crystal, or the amount of magnetic force required to levitate an object in a watt balance. For 115 years, the kilogram has been …

    Science 26 Apr 2005, 12:32

  • Sony to ship PSP on 1 September - official

    European release announced

    Sony's PlayStation Portable will launch in the UK and the rest of Europe on 1 September, the handheld console's maker revealed today. Ending months of speculation fuelled by ever-slipping availability dates on a variety of retailers' websites, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) finally named the date. From 1 September, …

    Consoles 26 Apr 2005, 13:11

  • MoD suppliers' laptop turns up on rubbish tip

    Disposal practices stink

    An Oxfordshire-based security company claims to have found sensitive MoD-related files on a laptop bought from council rubbish dump. The partner of a back-office worker at penetration testing outfit SecureTest bought the IBM Thinkpad laptop for £80 from a colleague at a council rubbish tip earlier this month. SecureTest staff …

    Management 26 Apr 2005, 13:52

  • Need a bespoke drive-by shooting, web app?

    Click here for Cholo Consultancy

    Those readers who need internet-based application development services, advice on low rider pick-up trucks or who would like to organise a drive-by shooting are pointed in the direction of Bristol-based Cholo Consultancy - a "one-stop IT consultancy" which appears to be run by Hispanic males dressed in "chinos, a wifebeater …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2005, 14:06

  • RSA ups channel programme

    More rebates for resellers

    RSA Security is changing its channel programme to offer more rewards to "committed partners". The programme, called SecurWorld, will offer better rebates to resellers who are fully-certified. Dealers will also have access to a portal of support tools and training information. The company believes the issue of IT security is …

    Security 26 Apr 2005, 14:14

  • IBM buys health consultancy

    IBM calls in men in white coats

    Big Blue is bolstering consultant numbers by buying Healthlink - the largest healthcare/technology consultancy in the US. IBM will gain 550 consultants - Healthlink has 625 employees in total. Financial terms of the deal, which should close in the second quarter, were not released. The deal will mean IBM is doing business …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 14:25

  • Evesham hits the channel

    PC builder seeks dealers

    Evesham Micro, the prominent UK system builder, is launching a reseller division to offer products to computer dealers. The Evesham2Channel division, headed up by Craig McDowell, is looking to develop partnerships with resellers. Dealers will get access to Evesham-branded products and a dedicated account manager. McDowell …

    PCs 26 Apr 2005, 14:30

  • Backlog builds as Amen strike bites

    Punters not happy

    VIA NET.WORKS is scrambling to support customers of its Amen web hosting business after workers walked out in protest at the planned sale of VIA to UK ISP Claranet. Strikers claim the number of support tickets outstanding for Spain, the UK and France has peaked at an all-time high of 2,000 - five times higher than the normal …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 14:40

  • Are you storing up email trouble?

    Good archiving is good business

    There is endless talk from some vendors in the IT community about the dangers posed by a whole raft of new regulations introduced by governments and other regulatory bodies in recent years. Businesses are rightly sceptical about some of the messaging coming from vendors, many having fallen, not so long ago, for the Y2K and other …

    Management 26 Apr 2005, 14:52

  • MV Cubik GamePro small form-factor PC

    Review Performance worth the price?

    Small form-factor PCs have always been an attractive proposition. The combined advantages of svelte external dimensions, portability, whisper-quiet operation and sheer sexiness usually outweigh the limited internal expandability. Out-of-the-box performance is often as good as a tower system, and that's why MV, better known as a …

    Reviews 26 Apr 2005, 14:54

  • It's 11 o'clock. Do you know where your databases are?

    Nobody does, apparently...

    Do you know how many databases your organisation has installed? Locally? Across whatever continent you are on? Globally? I don't just mean: which vendors have you bought them from (even if you know that much, which many large organisations won't), but how many instances of each database are there? And of those instances, do you …

    Management 26 Apr 2005, 15:10

  • Microsoft gets outside beancounter

    Kiwi goes to Seattle

    Microsoft has appointed an outsider as its new Chief Finance Officer. Chris Liddell, originally from New Zealand, takes over from 9 May. He was previously CFO of International Paper. It is an unusual step for Microsoft which has a reputation for saving top jobs for long-time employees. The previous CFO, John Connors, was at the …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2005, 15:14

  • Bono crashes on Bill Gates' sofa

    Rich bloke and rock pundit put world to rights

    We can all sleep a little sounder in our beds today safe in the knowledge that roving rock pundit Bono and Bill Gates spent at least one night over the weekend putting the world to rights at Bill's Seattle pad. The U2 frontman crashed at Bill's following a gig in the city attended by the world's richest bloke. Gates admitted to …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2005, 15:30

  • India, China poised to feast on US IT complacency

    Sun Prez warns fellow Americans

    The technology lead prized by the US, Europe and Japan could come back to haunt the regions as nations such as India and China progress without the shackles of old fashioned hardware and software, according to Sun Microsystems President Jonathan Schwartz. "My view is that (India and China) don't have to deal with all the legacy …

    Servers 26 Apr 2005, 16:38

  • Troubled Gio set to 'shut down'

    'Wheels are in motion'

    Execs at troubled ISP Gio Internet Ltd are preparing to close down the company and have stopped taking on new customers. It's unclear when the ISP will be put out of its misery but Irvine-based Gio's last remaining customers - some 3,500 dial-up users - have been told their service will be pulled in less than a month. Any move …

    Broadband 26 Apr 2005, 16:39

  • French court bans DVD DRM

    Keep it in the family

    A French appeals court has ruled that movie companies must remove the copy protection from DVDs, and castigated them for inadequately labeling copy-protected movies. The Paris court reversed an earlier ruling in favor of Le Studio Canal and Films Alain Sarde against consumer group UFC-Que Chosir, reports Afterdawn. The lobby …

    Media 26 Apr 2005, 16:52

  • Microsoft reveals hardware security plans

    Concerns remain

    Can trusted computing hardware deliver security without locking out competition, asks SecurityFocus's Robert Lemos. The next version of Windows, codenamed "Longhorn," will have security features to take advantage of the trusted computing hardware now showing up in the marketplace, Microsoft executives announced on Monday. The …

    Software 26 Apr 2005, 17:13

  • Smart phones boom - Symbian up, MS and Palm down

    Nokia's ballgame

    Symbian increased its share of the worldwide smart phone market in Q1, according to research by Canalys. The market as a whole has almost doubled from a year ago with 10.7 million devices shipped in the first three months of the year, up from 5.9 million in the first quarter of 2005, but down by 200,000 from the Xmas quarter. …

    Mobile 26 Apr 2005, 18:01

  • Veritas goes hetero with new NetBackup

    Veritas Vision NetApp involved in data love-in

    Veritas today provided its most detailed look to date at the upcoming NetBackup 6.0 product and shed light on a new rev - 6.0 - of Enterprise Vault. One of the big themes stretching across both products is simpler, more complete management of a wide range of hardware and information. Both products are set to ship this summer. …

    Storage 26 Apr 2005, 21:33

  • A Yahoo! phone? Nokia can help

    Deal bypasses network operators

    Heads rolled at Google last year when the New York Times revealed that the company was considering a Google-branded phone. Unfortunately, it was the wrong set of heads: the leakers, rather than the executives responsible for hatching the idea, were sent packing. As anyone from Nike to Claudia Schiffer can testify, branding a …

    Mobile 26 Apr 2005, 22:31

  • Hungry Sun customers must wait to feast on 'product hog heaven'

    Government pork first, kit later

    Will Sun Microsystems beat its customers over the head with product at an event next month? Not likely, says Sun's President Jonathan Schwartz. Sun will hold one of its quarterly product launch events next week in Washington D.C. But, as has become the case of late, Sun won't actually launch product at the product launch. It …

    Servers 26 Apr 2005, 23:18

  • Join us, Oracle tells developers

    Just don't compete on PeopleSoft

    Oracle is spicing up the appeal of its 7,000-strong ISV network with the prospect that directors of partner companies could find themselves bought-out by the database giant. Oracle president Charles Phillips today proclaimed that Oracle is fast becoming the "buyer of choice" in the wake of a quick succession of deals for …

    Applications 26 Apr 2005, 23:26