23rd May 2005 Archive

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Time Warner mulls AOL float

Let this albatross go free

Time Warner is considering spinning off its AOL division, CEO Richard Parsons told shareholders on Friday. "If we get to the point where consolidation is happening in the Internet space...the possibility of an IPO is out there," said Parsons. The Wall Street Journal cites sources as saying that Time Warner would continue to …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 08:26
Commission gets industry support for Microsoft case

Big hitters back Commission case

IBM, Nokia and Oracle are among a group of big IT companies which has won the right to help the European Commission case against Microsoft. The Court of First Instance has given permission for the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (Ecis) to provide expert advice to the Commission. Ecis is made up of IBM, Nokia, …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 09:07
DTI reaches out to struggling Marconi

Jobs pow-wow

Troubled telecoms provider Marconi is meeting the DTI today as the government looks for ways to keep some of the firm’s research and development jobs in the UK. Marconi was clawing its way back to stability until BT announced last month it would not consider the firm for its £10bn next-generation network. Marconi's shares fell …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 09:21
Apple sued for sex, race, size discrimination

Hat-trick

Ex-Apple employee Shaune Patterson has alleged the Mac maker discriminated against her because of her race, her size and her sexual orientation. In a complaint filed with the US District Court of Northern California some time ago but amended on 16 May, Patterson claims Apple suspended her for a month and then fired her after …

IT Director 23 May 2005, 09:36
Thus still 'cautious' on tough market conditions

Demon sub numbers OK though

Scottish telco Thus is once again bleating about tough trading conditions as it reported increased losses for the year. Although turnover for the 12 months to the end of March swelled 8 per cent to £360m, the company also reported that pre-tax losses had increased from £26.7m to £41.47m. Takings from its data and telecoms …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 09:44
TSG goes for Smees

Proactive support for smaller biz

Technical Services Group (TSG) is offering a new support service for Small and Medium Enterprises. TSG’s service “System Care” promises to be a more responsive and reactive form of support for Smees. There are three levels of support - System Care 1- fixing IT systems when they go wrong, System Care 2 which actively monitors …

IT Director 23 May 2005, 10:10
Japan gears up for Pentium D launch

Dual-core desktop CPUs appearing in store displays

Intel's upcoming dual-core Pentium D chip has started to appear in Japan's computer stores ahead of its formal introduction. According to Japanese-language site Akiba PC Hotline, at least one shop has a Pentium D demo based on a Gigabyte 945 chipset-based motherboard. The display claims two CPU models, the 2.8GHz 820 and the …

PCs 23 May 2005, 10:24
Vodafone launches handset for phone-phobes

This is your grandmother calling

Vodafone has launched a new handset range designed for "customers who only want a mobile phone with voice and text services". Or, to put it in more straightforward terms, for your grandparents. Vodafone says it has conducted extensive customer research and discovered a market for phones that don't have all the shiniest tech …

Mobile 23 May 2005, 10:53
Apple in 'talks with Intel'

Analysis Hell not necessarily getting chilly

Apple is once again rumoured to be close to a deal to build computers based on x86 processors in place of the PowerPC line that has driven the Mac family since March, 1994. A Wall Street Journal report, published today, cites unnamed industry sources who allege Apple is close to signing a deal with Intel to buy its processors. …

Mac Channel 23 May 2005, 11:12
Email marketing set to grow

Good news for spammers, sorry - email marketeers...

Email marketing in the UK is set to enjoy strong growth this year thanks to rising demand and a move to third party solutions rather than in-house systems. Researchers from E-consultancy believe the UK market will grow 25 per cent from £120m in 2004 to £148m this year. This growth is despite price pressure on basic delivery …

Spam 23 May 2005, 11:17
Dutch hacker love-in faces the chop

What the Hack menaced

A distinguished hackers' gathering scheduled to take place in July faces a ban by the local municipality. The mayor of Boxtel, in the Netherlands, cites "fear of breaches of law and order and danger to public safety". The organisers of What the Hack have been told they now need a permit for the event to happen. Organiser Rop …

Enterprise Security 23 May 2005, 11:31
NetServices snaps up Telefónica UK

Broadband buy-out

Telefónica UK - the UK division of the giant spanish telco - has been sold to Manchester-based NetServices. An email to Telefónica customers seen by El Reg says that the deal was completed last Friday although financial details were not released. "This move, which is part of our [NetServices's] business development plans, …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 11:50
Mimosa ships all-knowing Exchange protector

Watches while you mail

Start-up Mimosa Systems has released an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-archiving e-mail backup software package for Microsoft Exchange customers. NearPoint is the first product to arrive from Mimosa, which started back in 2003 on the back of $6.5m in venture capital. The software runs on a server appliance and constantly monitors …

Servers 23 May 2005, 14:07
Boffin wins prize for EPrints project

Nice

The UK's Unix and Open Systems User Group (UKUUG) has named Christopher Gutteridge the winner of its 2005 award for his work on the University of Southampton's EPrints project. EPrints was established as a project in 2002 to explore issues around Open Access publishing. It is now used by over 150 other research institutions "to …

Applications 23 May 2005, 14:14
Kent students get hyper fast WiMAX broadband

Trial trailled

The University of Kent (UoK) is to trial a new wireless broadband service that could deliver a blisteringly fast 45 Meg internet connection for Canterbury. Joining forces with Kent-based wireless outfit Telabria, the UoK is looking to research and develop the deployment of WiMAX wireless networks. Beginning next month Telabria …

Wireless 23 May 2005, 14:26
Creative launches Neeon 'smallest' HDD MP3 player

Colourful

Creative launched its latest hard drive-based MP3 players on Friday. The new arrivals include the 5GB Zen Neeon, a 20GB version of its Zen Micro, this time simply dubbed the Zen, and a Zen-branded version of its MuVo V200. Creative claimed the Neeeon is the smallest hard drive-based player it has yet offered. The black 8 x 4.7 …

Peripherals 23 May 2005, 14:32
Bush pledges to veto stem cell bill

General dismay at prez's pledge

President Bush has threatened to veto legislation aimed at loosening US goverment restrictions on stem cell research. Supporters of the offending bill - which is due to come before both the House of Representatives and the Senate shortly - believe that the vote will be close. If both approve it, then only a two-thirds majority …

Science 23 May 2005, 14:38
Camera lenses go flat and skinny

Like much of Hollywood

Researchers in Quebec have developed a new lens which is extremely flat and five times thinner than a sheet of paper, that they claim will revolutionise photography. With the new technology, even the smallest of cameras would be able to take perfectly clear pictures, and even get close up to their subjects with none of the …

Science 23 May 2005, 15:03
Telenor blows $1bn on broadband firms

Nice

Telenor has splashed out more than $1bn on two broadband businesses in a bid to bolster the provision of high speed services. Norway's big telco has forked out SEK6bn ($823m) on Bredbandsbolaget, Sweden's second biggest provider of broadband services with some 335,000 punters. Telenor also splashed out DKK1.4bn ($237m) on …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 15:40
Jury clears businessman in VAT fraud case

Bad news for Customs

An Irish businessman walked free last week after a UK court found him not guilty of multi-million pound VAT offences. Dylan Creaven, 31, of Kensington, London, was accused of defrauding HM Customs and Excise of £14m. He was originally arrested in late 2002 and accused of fraud totalling £162m. Charges were later reduced to two …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 15:47
HP a 'toxic tech giant' says Greenpeace

Environmentalists go on the offensive

Environmental activist group Greenpeace launched a series of assaults on the image of the tech industry today, starting by delivering a truckload of waste to the Geneva HQ of HP. They called the company a "toxic tech giant", and called on the firm, and others like it, to clean up its act. It also unveiled a 2.7 metre high …

Personal 23 May 2005, 16:10
Prez Sueltz leaves Salesforce.com

Quick exit from CRMville

Pat Sueltz has left Salesforce.com after serving just 14 months as the firm's president. Sueltz last week disappeared from the CRM maker's mangement list. The firm, while silent on the reasons for Sueltz's exit, did confirm during an earnings call that she has departed "to pursue other opportunities" - always a popular pastime …

Financial News 23 May 2005, 16:34
PalmSource CEO hands in resignation letter

Time to get interim

PalmSource today announced a "leadership transition" as David Nagel stepped down as President and CEO. Nagel officially quit the PDA software maker on Sunday and was replaced on an interim basis by Patrick McVeigh, a SVP at the company. The PalmSource board has kicked off a search for a new CEO. "I want to thank Dave for …

IT Director 23 May 2005, 16:45
Why Apple won't embrace intel

Jobs can't be that mad with IBM, surely?

This story has expired from The Register's archive. You can now find it at its original location on the Forbes.com website: http://www.forbes.com/home/personaltech/2005/05/23/cx_ah_0523apple.html?partner=theregister.

PCs 23 May 2005, 22:30