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26th May 2005 Archive

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  • Space tourism will save the children - Burt Rutan

    Feed them the right stuff

    The promise that space travel will one day become as cheap, as safe, and as mind-numbingly tedious as air travel will inspire millions of youngsters to dedicate their lives to science and engineering, SpaceShipOne Master and Commander Burt Rutan apparently believes. Today's young lack the inspiration of heroic figures like Yuri …

    Science 26 May 2005, 05:10

  • Fans urge ICANN celebrity blogger to keep on blogging

    Ode to Joi

    Joichi Ito, the American businessman who after a kind of immaculate conception hatched forth as a pre-formed internet celebrity a couple of years ago, is having a crisis. Ito's gauche weblog has built up a cult following amongst hopeful software authors, lonely maternal housewives, out of luck marketing consultants, and …

    Media 26 May 2005, 05:12

  • A setback for Linux

    On the Bitkeeper fiasco

    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/business/2005/05/25/cz_dl_0525linux.html?partner=theregister.

    Operating Systems 26 May 2005, 07:26

  • JBoss signs consulting and SI deal in Asia

    Follows ObjectWeb

    Asia is shaping up as a competitive area for two open source middleware organizations, following JBoss's latest partnering deal. The open source specialist has signed a consulting and systems integration agreement with Nomura Research Institute (NRI). NRI will promote deployments of JBoss's Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS …

    Developer 26 May 2005, 07:51

  • Indigo not so open as .NET Framework?

    IP licensing question

    A Novell-backed project seeking to create an open source version of web services technology in future versions of Windows could hit an IP hurdle from Microsoft. Evaluation has begun on an open source version of Indigo, the web services communications layer due in Longhorn and updates to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. …

    Developer 26 May 2005, 08:18

  • IBM retains narrow lead over Oracle in database sales

    Look-out, here comes Linux

    IBM and Oracle remain locked in a tight race to control the lucrative relational database market, with Oracle's business enjoying a sizeable boost from Linux. According to Gartner, IBM retained its narrow lead over Oracle in terms of world-wide revenue during 2004, having scooped Oracle for pole position in 2002. However, the …

    Applications 26 May 2005, 08:26

  • C&W goes large on LLU

    Loopy

    Cable & Wireless is accelerating its broadband rollout by doubling its investment in local loop unbundling (LLU). Through its LLU ISP, Bulldog, C&W has already installed its kit in 400 BT exchanges enabling the firm to provide broadband services direct to punters. It has already hit its target of unbundling 400 BT exchanges …

    Broadband 26 May 2005, 09:44

  • Dirty PCs fuel hospital super bugs

    Control alt infect

    Scientists in the US have linked the spread of the hospital super bug MRSA to a sharp increase in the use of technology in hospitals. Researchers working in hospitals have found that the deadly bacteria clings to the keys of the computer keyboards used to update patient records and therefore can re-infect the hands of staff …

    Management 26 May 2005, 10:23

  • EU pledges €660k to understand open source

    It's nice, but how does it work?

    The European Union has approved a €660,000 grant for FLOSSWorld, a two-year project to promote FLOSS collaboration involving 17 partners in 12 countries. The funding is part of the EU's 6th Framework Research programme. FLOSS stands for Free/Libre/Open Source Software, and the project aims to support research and policy …

    Software 26 May 2005, 10:40

  • Tech Data ' pales beside Ingram Micro' - CSFB

    No Asia to cushion fall

    Financial analysts like to second-guess the results of the firms they cover: it's a harmless sport - after all they are guided heavily by the firms - and they grab some press coverage into the bargain. So caveat aside and onto Credit Suisse First Boston's predicitons for Tech Data, the world's second biggest IT distie, which …

    The Channel 26 May 2005, 11:00

  • Fearless Feds sink Star Wars pirate website

    Attack of the Clowns

    A massive collection of highly-skilled, dedicated, brave law enforcement officials managed yesterday to shut down a web site alleged to facilitate the illegal trade of the latest Star Wars movie and other content. Yes, it took the FBI and the Homeland Security Department to pull off "Operation D-Elite" - an action directed at …

    Media 26 May 2005, 11:10

  • Sun sets on UK encryption regulation powers

    Digital rights activists celebrate

    Digital rights activists are celebrating this week with the expiry of powers in the UK's Electronic Communications Act of 2000 that gave the Government the right to regulate companies selling encryption services. The Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), an independent body that studies the interaction between IT …

    Security 26 May 2005, 11:15

  • SAS gets its ETL act together

    Encouraging progress

    SAS introduced a number of new point releases in March of this year, notably to its Enterprise Reporting and ETL (extract, transform and load) solutions. Many of the new features are, to a certain extent, catch-up capabilities, in the sense that SAS has been relatively late to become a serious general-purpose player in the ETL …

    Applications 26 May 2005, 11:22

  • Virgin Mobile ups profit

    Predicts further rev growth

    Virgin Mobile says it has been unaffected by a broader slowdown in consumer spending even though the amount of cash spent by each user is down on last year. Takings over the last year were up 15 per cent from £453.3m to £521.3m while operating profit was also up from £48.6m to £53.7m. Reporting numbers for the year to March, …

    Financial News 26 May 2005, 11:24

  • Now Microsoft 'decouples' Longhorn from .NET

    More code overboard

    A security architecture touted as one of the core benefits of Microsoft's next major Windows upgrade look like being the next casualty of the Longhorn death march. Mary Jo Foley reports that only some parts of Longhorn will be based on .NET 2.0, rather than the entire OS, as originally intended. If this latest bout of …

    Security 26 May 2005, 11:33

  • Intel Pentium D dual-core desktop CPU

    Review Pentium 4 670, too

    Today, Intel's officially released Pentium CPUs that offer both high clock speeds and dual-core loveliness, although you won't get both in one package. The Pentium 4 660, which is a 3.6GHz 'Prescott' chip with 2MB of L2 cache, will now be play second fiddle to the Pentium 4 670. All the same internals; just 200MHz faster and, …

    Reviews 26 May 2005, 12:37

  • Visto moves into mid-range phones with Nextel

    While MS mobile email push is stalled

    Visto's dominance of intellectual property in email push - and its willingness to enforce its legal rights - has seen Vodafone, and now Nextel, go with the "ConstantSynch" technology, rather than wait for Microsoft and Exchange to support this technique. The Nextel announcement yesterday claims that it not only works with today …

    Mobile 26 May 2005, 12:42

  • Tiscali UK turns to unbundled broadband

    'Huawei the lads'

    Tiscali UK will begin to migrate broadband punters in London onto its new unbundled platform from tomorrow. Those getting the local loop unbundling (LLU) treatment shouldn't notice much difference - not to start with anyhow. For Tiscali, though, uncoupling itself from BT and providing broadband directly to consumers by …

    Broadband 26 May 2005, 12:58

  • IBM eyes small business market

    Quocirca's Changing Channels Services pitch

    IBM, a high priest of enterprise IT delivery, wants to spend more time ministering to the needs of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Will it find a receptive flock? IBM has transformed itself in the last 15 years by turning into a services-led organisation. Sure, it still sells software and hardware, but this is on the …

    Software 26 May 2005, 13:08

  • Ofcom fine tunes high tech ham licence

    Porcine radio fans, rejoice

    Good news for radio hams: communications regulator Ofcom plans to replace annual amateur radio licences with a new electronic licence that lasts for life. The regulator says it is seeking a balance between maintaining regulatory control and reducing expensive and unnecessary bureaucracy. The proposed new system would mean …

    Bootnotes 26 May 2005, 13:16

  • ID cards technology is ready, says UK minister

    But we're still adding up the bill

    UK government ministers gave a vote of confidence to the technology underpinning its controversial ID card scheme, as proposals for the national scheme were reintroduced in Parliament on Wednesday. The scheme will link personal information such as names and addresses to biometrics - a computer scan of a person's iris, face or …

    Security 26 May 2005, 13:24

  • Rio CE2100 2.5GB MP3 player

    Review Too big a player, too small a capacity?

    When Rio launched the CE2100 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, the internet was awash with excitement. As a 2.5GB hard drive-based player in a small casing and with 20 hours of playback, what was not to like? Despite that buzz, five months in the world of the gadget industry is a long, long time, writes …

    Reviews 26 May 2005, 13:29

  • Sly Intel CEO warns that Apple is the safer computer buy

    But, if you upgrade . . .

    New Intel CEO Paul Otellini has flashed a level of marketing savvy unseen with his predecessor by making the unusual suggestion that consumers buy Apple's Mac computers if they wish to avoid immediate security risks. Confused? You're not alone. Otellini had attendees of a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Carlsbad, …

    Security 26 May 2005, 13:44

  • Skype makes empassioned 911 plea

    Don't regulate us

    The anticipated "web affiliate program" which Skype announced today didn't generate the stir here in Stockholm. Instead, a passionate plea to regulatory authorities was made by Niklas Zennström, asking them to regulate the incumbent carriers, not the newcomers. The spur for this clearly heart-felt call was the decision by the …

    VoIP 26 May 2005, 13:54

  • Toshiba, Sony fail to agree - again

    Two-format future forecast

    Toshiba and Sony this week as near as makes no odds confirmed there is no chance their rival blue-laser optical disc formats will be combined into a single offering. The two companies' presidents, along with the head of Matsushita, met this week to see if they could thrash out a solution to stalled negotiations on bringing …

    Peripherals 26 May 2005, 13:55

  • Germans plan biometric hooligan clampdown

    For you, matey, the riot is over

    The German government plans to record the biometric facial features of those present in stadiums during the World Cup in 2006. By comparing these features with images stored in a database, the police hope to identify potential hooligans. When the software recognises a suspicious person, security forces on location can …

    Security 26 May 2005, 14:09

  • Belgians in cunning misspelt ID card plan

    Shud confuze frawdsters

    A new Belgian electronic ID card contains typos introduced purposely to confound potential fraudsters, Luc Vanneste, General Director Population and Institutions of the Belgian Home Office, proudly announced this week. To trick fraudsters, the Home Office has introduced three circular arcs on the card - just beneath the …

    Security 26 May 2005, 14:23

  • Shares slump as Novell posts loss

    Linux investment to blame

    Shares in software company Novell slumped on Wednesday after the company posted a $16m loss in its second quarter results. The loss was attributed to Novell's increased investment in repositioning the company as a Linux provider. After the announcement, shares in Novell fell seven per cent in after-market activity. Despite …

    Financial News 26 May 2005, 14:33

  • Cisco warns over DNS glitch

    Many products affected, overtime potential high

    Cisco is advising users of its IP telephony kit to update their software following the discovery of a flaw that might allow hackers to mount denial of service attacks. The bug, involving flaws in the processing of maliciously crafted DNS (Domain Name System) packets, also affects some of Cisco's content networking and secure …

    Data Networking 26 May 2005, 14:41

  • Mac OS X 10.4 - more bling than bang?

    Review We take the UI to task

    While the third update to Mac OS X, Panther, was an essential upgrade for Mac users, the fourth has presented Apple's marketeers with something of a challenge. The ritual that we call the annual OS upgrade is Apple's best publicity showcase after January MacWorld - a chance to remind the world that it doesn't just make iPods. …

    Reviews 26 May 2005, 15:15

  • HP and Dell show server rivals how it's done in Q1

    Iron sales up

    Strong sales from HP and Dell carried the worldwide server market higher during the first quarter of 2005, according to the latest data from Gartner. Total server sales hit $12.3bn - up 4 per cent from the $11.8bn sold in the same period last year. Gartner characterized this rise in sales as a solid start to the year. In …

    Servers 26 May 2005, 15:32

  • Telcos act to squeeze out 'few rotten apples'

    To find out more dial 090..

    Some of the UK's leading telcos have finally agreed to work together to try and stamp out those "few rotten apples" that rip-off punters with expensive phone services. They've effectively signed up to an early warning system that should help the industry spot scams and take action more swiftly against rogue operators that lure …

    Broadband 26 May 2005, 15:37

  • Cisco pushes application optimisation

    FineGround purchase gives scope for expansion

    Cisco has bought application optimisation start-up FineGround Networks for approximately $70m in cash and options. The deal, announced Thursday, is expected to close before the end of July 2005, subject to regulatory approvals. Privately-held FineGround makes network appliances that "accelerate, secure, and monitor application …

    Data Networking 26 May 2005, 15:41

  • Estonian prez ices internet voting plan

    Security still a concern

    Estonian president Arnold Ruutel has put the kybosh on plans to allow internet voting in the country, saying that the process needs to be made more secure. He called for a more thorough debate on the uniformity of elections and the reliability of voter identification. According to press agency AFP, Ruutel specifically mentioned …

    Policy 26 May 2005, 15:47

  • Cray secures funds, CFO and shareholder lawsuits

    Praying for Black Widow

    Supercomputer maker Cray has been on a fantastic voyage this week, receiving another dose of funding from the US government, two class action lawsuits and a new CFO. Cray nailed down $17m from the Feds over the next two years to continue work on the company's future system code-named Black Widow. The computer is due out in 2006 …

    Servers 26 May 2005, 16:28

  • Netcraft launches anti-phishing toolbar

    Net benefit

    Netcraft this week released a Firefox version of its free anti-phishing toolbar. The release follows the availability of a similar Internet Explorer plug-in, released in December 2004. The toolbar blocks access to phishing sites reported by other members of the Netcraft Toolbar community and validated by Netcraft. More than 7, …

    Security 26 May 2005, 16:31