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27th April 2005 Archive

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  • Oracle wading into open source certification?

    Spikes Silicon Valley hopeful

    Oracle is considering certification of open source software in a move that could tread on the toes of one of Silicon Valley's brightest start-ups. Oracle president Charles Phillips yesterday revealed the company believes its next opportunity lies in testing the interdependencies between open source software that is freely …

    Software 27 Apr 2005, 01:01

  • Book giant feels wrath of Jobs

    Ahead of new bio, Apple destocks Wiley titles

    Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs has handed his biographer a publicity bonanza to on the eve of the publication of his latest book. Top science and tech publisher John Wiley says that Apple has pulled all Wiley titles from Apple's own retail stores in retaliation against a new biography of the billionaire fruitarian. Apple …

    Mac Channel 27 Apr 2005, 02:24

  • Mentec acquires Xdat Software

    Great Plains expansion

    Mentec, the Irish-owned Microsoft Great Plains reseller, has bought a London-based accountancy software dealer, its second UK acquisition in recent months. Terms for the acquisition of Xdat Software Ltd were undisclosed, but the sum paid is thought to be around £750,000, according to ElectricNews.Net. Xdat is Microsoft's third …

    Channel Register 27 Apr 2005, 07:33

  • TSG buys Yorks dealer

    Pegasus on the Agenda

    Technology Services Group Ltd (TSG) has bought another company, this time Agenda Business Systems, a Pegasus accounting software specialist based in Barnsley. The reseller group gains 150 small and medium-sized business customers, which it will seek to convert to its wider range of IT services. TSG now has 100 employees in …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 07:46

  • Dixons embarks on mega Euro expansion

    Plans for growth

    Dixons has unveiled ambitious plans to expand its electrical retail operation on the Continent. The UK retailer is increase the number of its PC City superstores in France from seven to as many as 100 stores, it announced today. It is to enter two new markets with the opening of its first PC City store in Portugal. And it is to …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 10:04

  • World chip glut halved in Q1

    Not out of the woods yet

    The world's chip makers and their customers ate into their combined stockpile of semiconductors rather more than had been forecast in the first quarter, market watcher iSuppli said yesterday. The research firm described the excess chip chow down as "undeniably a positive development for the global chip industry". The researcher …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 10:25

  • Failing UK cyber defences need overhaul

    MoD systems hit by hackers 71 times

    The UK's National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC) needs more powers to enforce security best practices in order to safeguard the nation's critical systems against cyber-attack, according to a former chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority. Lord Toby Harris of Haringey called for the appointment of a …

    IT Director 27 Apr 2005, 10:31

  • Amazon profits go down the Swanee

    Sales up though...

    Online retailer Amazon saw its shares dip 2.5 per cent last night after posting disappointing results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2005. Despite upping sales by 24 per cent to $1.9bn Amazon's profits took a dip. Amazon benefitted from foreign exchange movements but with this stripped out it still increased sales by 22 …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 10:35

  • Egg shuffles top brass

    Bankers, eh

    Egg is restructuring its top management as part of plans to save the internet bank £12m a year. CFO David Doyle will quit the company on 16 May after less than two years as chief beancounter. He will be replaced by COO Mark Nancarrow while chief exec Paul Gratton will take responsibility for "Risk, Audit and Legal functions", …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 11:37

  • Web scammers sell Indian PM's house to American

    Old school con

    You'd imagine there is not a man, woman or child in Christendom who has not heard the classic - and likely apocryphal - tale of how enterprising Londoners sold the defunct old London Bridge to some enthusiastic Americans who thought they were buying Tower Bridge. Well, here's someone who must have been out playing golf when …

    Music and Media 27 Apr 2005, 11:48

  • Juniper takes two for improved application push

    Redline and Peribit snagged in $500m spending spree

    Juniper Networks splashed out $500m on two firms Tuesday as part of its long-term strategy of overtaking Cisco as the favoured networking infrastructure supplier to telcos and big corporates. Wide Area Network optimisation technology firm Peribit Networks and application front end firm Redline Networks will set Juniper back $ …

    Data Networking 27 Apr 2005, 11:57

  • World mobile phone sales slow

    Growth plunged in Q1

    Worldwide mobile phone sales slowed during Q1 2005, with year-on-year growth dwindling to under ten per cent - the lowest rate in two years - market watcher Strategy Analytics (SA) said today. During the quarter, some 172m mobiles were shipped, mostly from the top three vendors, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. That's well down on …

    Mobile 27 Apr 2005, 12:02

  • Mobiles 'ring around the blue collar'

    Labour intensive

    When it comes to using mobile phones in businesses, the phone wedged beneath the average worker's ear will be resting against a blue collar. A pan-European survey from mobile services provider O2 found that, in the UK, blue-collar workers will soon to overtake professional staff in their use of mobile services at work. …

    Mobile 27 Apr 2005, 12:06

  • Grid computing meets data flow challenge

    A significant milestone

    Scientists at CERN announced yesterday that eight major computing centres have managed to sustain an average continuous data flow of 600 megabytes per second for 10 days. It is a significant milestone for scientific grid computing. The total volume of data transmitted between CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research …

    Servers 27 Apr 2005, 12:08

  • Security for the paranoid

    Comment Even a paranoid can have enemies

    Paranoia is the key to success in the security world. Is it time to worry when other security professionals consider you too paranoid? "You can't ever find a place that's nice and peaceful, because there isn't any. You may think there is, but once you get there, when you're not looking, somebody'll sneak up and write F*** you …

    Enterprise Security 27 Apr 2005, 12:11

  • A380 behemoth takes to the skies

    Airbus giant on its way

    Up to 50,000 people are reported to have lined the runway at Blagnac International Airport in Toulouse to watch this morning's first lift-off of the Airbus A380, which took to the skies at 8.29 GMT and landed safely almost four hours later. The monster twin-decker - nicely registered as F-WW0W - carried a crew of six and a " …

    Science 27 Apr 2005, 12:13

  • Aspect-Oriented Analysis and Design at 30% off

    Site offer Big savings as ever at Reg bookshop

    Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) is a revolutionary new way to think about software engineering. AOP was introduced to address crosscutting concerns such as security, logging, persistence, debugging, tracing, distribution, performance monitoring, and exception handling in a more effective manner. Unlike conventional development …

    Site News 27 Apr 2005, 12:17

  • Interregnum makes three into one

    Merges wireless firms

    Merchant bank Interregnum is merging two of its subsidiary companies with Red-M (Communications) Limited, creating a combined business which will be floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Interregnum Wireless Holdings Ltd, Cellular Design Services Ltd and Red-M (Communications) Limited will form a new company - Red …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 12:34

  • Tiny.com ticked off by ad watchdog

    Small print included big delivery charge

    Time Group Ltd - trading as tiny.com - has been told off by the advertising watchdog for running a misleading ad for its PCs. Someone from Merseyside complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after seeing an ad for a Power PC retailing at £699. He or she got the hump because the ad didn't make it clear that the …

    PCs 27 Apr 2005, 12:38

  • EC honours European tech innovators

    Jeux sans frontieres

    The three grand winners of this year's European Commission sponsored IST (Information Society Technologies) prize received their awards in Brussels yesterday. Two French firms, Let It Wave (for its image compression technology) and Praxim Mediavision (computer assisted surgical systems), along with Swedish firm Cypak (pin-on- …

    Small Biz 27 Apr 2005, 13:12

  • Dutch plans for iPod tax could kill MP3 industry

    A levy on the .mp3 format

    A Netherlands proposed tax on MP3 players could devastate sales of hard disk players, and set up international waves over copyright legislation. The tax is being proposed by the Stichting Thuiskopie foundation, and is set to become law in the Netherlands in a few short months unless the European Commission finds a reason to …

    Music and Media 27 Apr 2005, 13:45

  • Sony's trading platform could change character of gaming

    Fraud should be virtually eliminated

    It is the world's worst secret that online games like Sony's EverQuest which use the Massively Multiplayer role playing format, generate enough black market revenues to power a small country. Players find notice boards and discussion groups, and sell characters with advanced abilities, or weapons or their accumulated game …

    Consoles 27 Apr 2005, 14:04

  • Web attacks soar

    Insecure apps let hackers run riot

    Web server attacks and website defacements rose 36 per cent last year, according to an independent report. zone-h, the Estonian security firm best known for its defacement archive, recorded 392,545 web attacks globally in 2004, up from 251,000 in 2003. Mass defacements (322,188) were by far the largest category in 2004. More …

    Security 27 Apr 2005, 14:26

  • Microsoft and EC agree to disagree

    Ballmer told to get in line quick

    The European Commission has told Microsoft to stop dragging its feet over complying with last year's anti-trust judgement. The Commission can fine Microsoft as much as five per cent of its daily turnover for every day it is not compliant with the judgement. In March last year the EC found Microsoft guilty of abusing its …

    Operating Systems 27 Apr 2005, 14:29

  • Guardian pulls ricin terror debunk from website

    Story about imaginary terror now itself imaginary

    A Guardian story on "The ricin ring that never was" has been pulled from the newspaper's website, for what are said to be 'legal reasons'. The story, by Duncan Campbell (the investigative writer, not the Guardian journalist of the same name), analysed the collapse of the UK's 'ricin conspiracy' trial, and reported Porton Down …

    Music and Media 27 Apr 2005, 14:31

  • Claranet rejects 'cold feet' claims over VIA deal

    'Absolutely going ahead'

    UK ISP Claranet has dismissed speculation that its bid to acquire cash-strapped VIA NET.WORKS "looks set to hit the rocks". Striking workers at VIA's Amen web hosting subsidiary issued a statement yesterday claiming that, according to their sources, "it seems Claranet have gotten cold feet" and that the deal "looks set to hit …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 14:39

  • Spider attack chef saved by mobile phone snap

    Hi, doc - I just got bitten by this...

    A Somerset chef who was bitten twice by a highly-venemous Brazilian spider was saved thanks to a snap he took of the beast on his mobile phone, the Times reports. Matthew Stevens, 23, disturbed the Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera) which had stowed away in a crate of bananas and found its way to the Quantock Gateway …

    Bootnotes 27 Apr 2005, 14:50

  • Revamped Real music service aims at Napster

    Wherever you go, you're still tethered

    RealNetworks announced its anwer to Napster To Go yesterday, but with the twist that it plans to give away songs in exchange for advertising. The new incarnation of Rhapsody, Real's music download and subscription service, will provide punters with 25 songs a month free of charge. The catch - a business model not dissimilar …

    Financial News 27 Apr 2005, 15:01

  • Nokia takes wraps off N Series phones

    Unleashes 'iPod killer'

    The Register may cover everything most sane people would ever want to know about technology, but for certified gadget obsessives Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny scour Gizmoville for the rest: Nokia takes wraps off N Series phones including its 'iPod killer' Nokia today launched its first new series of phones in years. Aimed …

    Mobile 27 Apr 2005, 15:34

  • PalmOne launches Treo 650 in UK

    At last

    PalmOne has formally launched its latest smart phone in the UK, more than six months after the device's US debut and two months later than planned over here. The Treo 650 was to have shipped in the UK in Q1, according to comments made by company CEO Ed Colligan at the time of the US launch. Then, come February 2005, PalmOne UK …

    Mobile 27 Apr 2005, 15:37

  • BT puts footy online

    Fifa qualifiers - ten euros a pop

    BT is teaming up with Sportfive to stream video footage of the remaining World Cup qualifiers over the internet. Games which are not televised will be streamed instead. Users can choose a 250k or 500k stream for €9.95. Or you can download the game to keep for €6.95. Sportfive is a sports rights agency which claims to own the …

    Public Sector 27 Apr 2005, 15:51

  • Apple takes desktop G5 line to 2.7GHz

    Amazon-leaked specs confirmed

    Apple updated its Power Mac G5 line-up today, though the four machines' new specs were made public a day ahead of time by Amazon.com. It also knocked up to 21 per cent off the prices of select Cinema Displays. As expected the new line-up takes the dual-processor tower systems to 2.7GHz, with each chip running across a 1.35GHz …

    Mac Channel 27 Apr 2005, 16:02

  • Yahoo! search gets personal

    Good enough for Google?

    Yahoo is offering a beta version of its personal search engine, branded My Web. It updates Yahoo Search which launched late last year. The search engine will remember what you have previously searched for, allow you to store previous search results, annotate those results and send them on to other people. Users can save a copy …

    Applications 27 Apr 2005, 16:24

  • IT contractors cash in on earnings growth

    That means more dosh

    IT contractors in the UK saw their earnings jump ten per cent last year following greater demand for their services. Thanks to an increase in spending from the public sector, as well as companies spending more on their IT projects, it seem IT workers are quids in, according to a survey of one thousand contractors by accountants …

    IT Director 27 Apr 2005, 16:33

  • Veritas preps secret weapon to ease licensing horror

    Veritas Vision Bloom's omerta busted

    The licensing "nightmare" faced by some Veritas customers may lessened in the near future thanks to a new service and product pairing, The Register can exclusively reveal. Earlier this week at the Veritas Vision conference, Veritas CEO Gary Bloom faced off against a user base furious over software licensing issues. One customer …

    Storage 27 Apr 2005, 18:24

  • Dell cuddles up to EMC's NAS gateway

    Ready to sell

    The Dell and EMC love-in took a mushier turn this week as Dell agreed to resell an EMC network attached storage (NAS) gateway system. Dell will start shipping the NS500G box to customers later this year. The system sits at the low-end of EMC's NAS gateway line and fits in well with Dell's existing networked storage gear. Dell …

    Storage 27 Apr 2005, 20:48