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24th May 2005 Archive

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  • Intel exec quits to run LSI Logic

    Talkwalkar walks

    Former Intel CTO Pat Gelsinger last night took full control of the company's recently formed Digital Enterprise Group following the surprise resignation of fellow DEG chief Abhi Talwalkar. Intel played down Talwalkar's departure, preferring to focus more on Gelsigner's elevated role. The erstwhile DEG co-chair is off to rival …

    Servers 24 May 2005, 08:43

  • UK court bans online porn sales

    World safer, kinder place this morning

    Pornmongers in the UK can no longer send videos or DVDs through the post or sell them online. Sex shops in the UK cannot sell adult material except to people who visit their premises. The High Court ruled yesterday that such restrictions are legal because they help prevent pornography being bought by children. Two UK companies …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 09:01

  • FTC claims Rambus spoiled antitrust evidence

    'Wouldn't have changed things,' says Rambus

    The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accused Rambus of destroying vital documents pertaining to its antitrust case against the memory technology developer. The allegation accompanied a request made by FTC investigators to re-open the record on the case in order that new evidence might be submitted. The request follows the …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 09:06

  • Cons should get 'unrestricted' net access - charity

    'Unrealistic' says Home Office

    The Home Office has rejected plans to give lags access to the internet and email while doing porridge. A report out today by the charity Forum on Prisoner Education (FPE) claims cons should be given "unrestricted access to the internet for 'educational, resettlement, and recreational purposes'". It argues that the UK should …

    Music and Media 24 May 2005, 09:30

  • Lookout, France! Google hires neo-con headbanger

    Axis of Do No Evil

    The company that prides itself on "Doing No Evil" isn't taking any chances with its latest executive appointment. Dan Senor, the company's new Global Communications and Strategy VP, has a CV guaranteed to have Register columnist Otto Z Stern firing a celebratory fusillade skywards from his compound in New Mexico. A former …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 09:42

  • Paris Hilton burger cavort crashes website

    Stampede to watch 'soft-core' TV ad

    Over-excited males flocking to see a controversial TV ad featuring highly-talented heiress Paris Hilton cavorting in a bikini atop a Bentley with a sponge, a hose and a Spicy BBQ Burger brought down the Carl's Jr. website specifically set up to promote the soft-core meatfest. According to Reuters, the company's servers went …

    Music and Media 24 May 2005, 10:10

  • EC watching clock on Microsoft's compliance deadline

    One week to go

    Microsoft has been given a week to comply with the European Commission's anti-trust sanctions, or face being fined at a rate of $5m per day. The Commission's ruling from March last year states that Microsoft must make a version of its operating system available without the Microsoft MediaPlayer software, and that it must open …

    Operating Systems 24 May 2005, 10:48

  • HP plans blade blitz on IBM

    Sales force swells

    A burst of sales from IBM's blade server division has rival HP rattled and ready to retaliate. HP recently reorganized its x86 server sales force in the hopes of selling more of the higher-margin blades, The Register has learned. Steps taken by HP include expanding its x86 sales team and having workers focus primarily on blades …

    Servers 24 May 2005, 10:49

  • Vodafone knocks up a profit

    Japan still struggling

    Vodafone posted respectable results for the year ended 31 March, 2005 but is still struggling to get its Japanese division back on track. The mobile giant brought in revenues of £34.1bn, up four per cent on last year, and earnings per share of 10.41 pence. Profits before tax and exceptional items grew three per cent to £10.3bn …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 10:49

  • UK banks hope to send phishing mules packing

    Extra security checks

    UK banks plan to delay transfers between account holders of the same group by up to a day in order to introduce new security checks. The move is designed to help thwart phishing attacks that cost British banks an estimated £12m last year. NatWest, Halifax and Barclays have all introduced the security measure, the BBC reports. …

    ID 24 May 2005, 10:56

  • Valley execs' greed returns to dotcom levels

    $2.1bn in the pocket

    While record numbers of tech jobs were shipped offshore last year, Silicon Valley's tech execs gorged themselves at levels unseen since the dot com boom. Tech executives pocketed an astonishing $2.1bn in compensation last year, every cent at the shareholders' expense. That's the highest level since $2.1bn recorded in 1999, the …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 11:01

  • AMD to ship dual-core Athlon X2 on 31 May

    Computex debut

    AMD will formally launch its dual-core desktop processor, the Athlon 64 X2 - aka 'Toledo' - on 31 May, the company has said. The event - which takes place on the first day of this year's Computex show, in Taipei, Taiwan - will come five days after the launch of Intel's rival chip, the Pentium D, if speculation surrounding the …

    PCs 24 May 2005, 11:05

  • US family defiant in tinfoil house

    Fighting radiation attack, Sacramento style

    This one is causing some merriment on Slashdot at the moment: a Sacramento family has been ordered to remove aluminium cladding from their house which, they claim, is protecting them from radio wave attack by neighbours. According to local news outfit KCRA, the D'Souzas say the assaults began on the first anniversary of 11 …

    Music and Media 24 May 2005, 11:10

  • Kingston Comms posts profit

    Anyone managed to find Hull on Auntie's new weather maps yet?

    Kingston Communications' decision to expand its business beyond its East Yorkshire enclave is beginning to pay off, the Hull-based telco said today. Group turnover for the year to March excluding discontinued activities was up 23.6 per cent at £364.3m compared to £294.7m last year. At the same time the telco turned last year's …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 11:21

  • Microsoft vs Google heats up

    Local searches for local people

    Bill Gates kept the heat on Google yesterday by lifting the skirts on MSN’s new local search and mapping service. Gates demoed “MSN Virtual Earth” - a new local search service which will combine local search with maps and satellite pictures. Speaking at a conference in Carlsbad, California, Gates said Google would struggle as …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 11:28

  • Sonos wireless music kit ready to roll in UK

    On sale next month

    Sonos will ship its multi-room wireless hi-fi system in the UK on 10 June, the company told The Register yesterday. The Sonos Digital Music System (DMS) is pitched as the iPod era's successor to the racked hi-fi stack of old. The system comprises one or more ZonePlayer 50W RMS per channel amplifiers which communicate with the …

    Peripherals 24 May 2005, 13:08

  • Punters wooed by MCI and Verizon

    Hey, everything will be OK, OK?

    MCI and Verizon have sought to reassure punters about the future of their $8.8bn merger following the bruising take-over battle earlier this year. In a joint letter that acknowledged their rocky start, the companies thanked punters for their "understanding and support over the last few months" as they grappled to fend off the …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 13:11

  • Microsoft ups direct sales staff

    Resellers told not to worry

    Microsoft is increasing the number of direct sales staff it employs but insists partners have nothing to fear. Simon Witt, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s enterprise and partners group, told eWeek the enterprise sales force had grown by 60 per cent in the last five years and would grow by another 60 per cent in the next …

    Software 24 May 2005, 13:32

  • US bank staff 'sold customer details'

    Data theft apology sent to thousands

    The sale of sensitive banking details to an allegedly bent debt collection agency has triggered warning letters to more than 100,000 US consumers. Bank of America has told about 60,000 customers and Wachovia a further 48,000 that their financial records have been breached. Both banks have offered affected customers free credit …

    ID 24 May 2005, 13:35

  • Public sector IT less satisfying when outsourced

    Keep it in-house, then

    Despite continuing interest in outsourcing local government IT projects, new research from the Society of IT Management (Socitm) has revealed that users don't like it. The survey found that user satisfaction is, on average, 13 per cent lower in largely outsourced councils than in those that keep their IT in-house. Socitm's …

    IT Director 24 May 2005, 13:46

  • Sun King vows to ask new HP Chief on a Solaris x86 date

    Jocks engage in post Fiorina dance

    New HP CEO Mark Hurd should be on the lookout for a dinner invitation and a Solaris x86 goodie bag from Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy. McNealy this week vowed to revive past conversations between HP and Sun over the use of Solaris x86 on HP's servers. The Sun Chief failed to tempt former HP CEO Carly Fiorina with such an …

    Servers 24 May 2005, 13:50

  • Suffolk ISP nabs BB users

    Consolidation

    Suffolk-based ISP Fast24 has snaffled up the broadband customer base of another Suffolk ISP, Central Point. It's not known how many ADSL punters are to be transferred to Fast24 or, indeed, how much the ISP shelled out for the extra customers. Instead, Jason Elsom of Fast24 said in a statement that the ISP could be on the hunt …

    Telecoms 24 May 2005, 13:55

  • PalmOne to become Palm again

    PalmSource stuffed?

    PDA and smart-phone maker PalmOne can now go back to calling itself Palm, thanks to a deal done with Palm OS developer PalmSource, it emerged today. When the original Palm split itself, creating the two firms, each took a share in the Palm Trademark Holding Company (PTHC), presumably to ensure neither PalmOne nor PalmSource …

    Operating Systems 24 May 2005, 14:03

  • Bradford IT staff to strike

    Outsourcing grows uglier

    IT staff at Bradford City Council are threatening strike action over a disputed outsourcing agreement. Back in January 2004 staff threatened to strike when the council first mooted privatising the department. But the threat was averted after lengthy negotiations between public sector union Unison and the council. In July IBM …

    IT Director 24 May 2005, 14:39

  • When will RIAA's Rosen respond to Otto's love note?

    Stern response As the slime grows

    It has been more than a week since I asked former RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) Chairman Hilary Rosen out on a date. She has yet to respond. This makes me wonder if The Register isn't ALL the publication management claimed it to be. My words are precious, and I'll not send them into a vacuum. The delivery, …

    Letters 24 May 2005, 15:34

  • Puny human takes on chess-playing supercomputer

    Silicon vs. the leetle grey cells

    The credibility of the human race is on the line, as a new six match man vs. machine chess tournament is announced in London. From 21-26 June, Hydra, the most powerful chess-playing computer ever built, will take on the rather puny-by-comparison UK chess Grandmaster, Michael Adams at the Wembley Centre. A purse of £80,000 is up …

    Bootnotes 24 May 2005, 15:37

  • Big Blue European workers strike

    Big Bleu?

    It wasn’t just BBC staffers that were on strike on Monday - IBM workers across Europe took action to protest against planned job cuts at the IT giant. An alliance of works councils, unions and employee groups took the action to try and stymie cuts expected to claim between 10,000 and 13,000 jobs. A statement from the 25 groups …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 15:43

  • House passes anti-spyware bills

    Asks Senate to take its pick

    The House of Representatives approved two anti-spyware bills on Monday. The bills take markedly different approaches to fighting the growing problem of invasive programs that snoop on user's online activities, effectively leaving it up to the Senate to thrash out a solution. The Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act of 2005 …

    Malware 24 May 2005, 15:50

  • Internet forces British banking industry to modernise

    'Good news for bank customers'

    The growing popularity of internet and home banking has finally forced UK banks to speed up the time it takes to transfer funds between accounts. At the moment, funds can take at least three days to clear. Once the new system is up and running, though, the clearing times on electronic payments from internet or phone punters …

    Financial News 24 May 2005, 15:55

  • IBM and Red Hat to teach Uni students how not to get offshored

    Open source equals paycheck

    Jobs of tomorrow. Jobs of tomorrow. Jobs of tomorrow. That's what IBM and Red Hat can promise the software students of today who are seeing their potential jobs offshored to India. IBM and Red Hat were emphatic about looking toward the future in a joint statement issued today to tout their promotion of Linux with university …

    Software 24 May 2005, 16:04

  • Westminster to open Wi-Fi network to hoi polloi

    Public accces planned

    Westminster Council's metropolitan Wi-Fi network is to be made accessible to the public, courtesy of BT's wireless Internet service provider, BT Openzone. The network will also be upgraded to improve 3G mobile data connectivity in the area. The Council today named the telco the Wireless City Project's infrastructure partner, …

    Public Sector 24 May 2005, 16:10

  • ISPs urged to throttle spam zombies

    International clean-up campaign

    The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with more than 35 government agencies worldwide, announced an ambitious effort on Tuesday to get ISPs and other organisations to deliver the net from the plague of zombie spam networks. The group is encouraging ISPs to identify and quarantine customers whose PCs may have unwittingly …

    Spam 24 May 2005, 16:27

  • Shiver me timbers: we are all pirates

    Letters Polemic ahoy, me buckaroos

    We thought we'd keep letters fairly light and breezy today (no, really) so why not begin with Microsoft's rather poorly-named OneCare PC health check service: Ahem, "Has anyone pointed out to Microsoft, how OneCare sounds, when spoken with a comedy French accent, Inspector Clouseau-style?" I nearly killed myself laughing at …

    Letters 24 May 2005, 16:57