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18th July 2005 Archive

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  • Amazon.com goes nuclear on Avis, Orbitz

    Patent infringement

    Amazon.com Holdings has launched a legal offensive against a number of websites including Orbitz and Avis, claiming that they've infringed Amazon patents. Both brands are owned by Cendant, the travel and property services giant with twice the turnover of Amazon. Through Avis and Budget, Cendant owns owns a third of the car …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 07:25

  • Nigerian 419er jailed

    Email fraud ends in chokey

    A Nigerian woman has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for her part in a massive 419 scam. The case, heard in the Lagos High Court, has been hailed as the first big victory for Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crime Commission set up to fight just such crimes. Amaka Anajemba helped extract $242m from Brazilian …

    Music and Media 18 Jul 2005, 08:46

  • Tele2 buys Versatel

    Triple play

    Stockholm-based Tele2 AB has offered to buy Versatel Telecom International for a total of €1.34bn to boost its expansion on the continent. As part of the deal, investment firm Apax Partners will acquire Versatel's German operations, the company announced this morning. Versatel has been highly successful in building its German …

    Telecoms 18 Jul 2005, 09:00

  • Infineon memory boss quits

    Police raid, corruption allegations

    The boss of Infineon's memory business has quit the company and the board while police investigate corruption charges. Andreas von Zitzewitz offered his resignation on Saturday following police raids on Infineon's offices on Friday. Von Zitzewitz faces possible charges relating to "payments made for contracts regarding …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 09:21

  • Energis and C&W refuse to deny merger talk

    Game on

    Energis and Cable & Wireless (C&W) have refused to rubbish weekend press reports that the UK telcos are locked in talks about a possible merger. According to the Sunday Times, the pair have already hired financial advisors to negotiate the £700m deal. Talks are said to be at an early stage but a merger, should it go ahead, …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 09:25

  • No2ID pledge reaches 10,000 signature goal

    Take that, Mr. Clarke

    More than 10,000 people have signed a pledge, promising that they will refuse to register for ID cards in the event that the UK government decides we need them to combat the political nasty of the day. The pledge was started by No2ID's national coordinator, Phil Booth. He pledged that, if 10,000 people joined him, he would …

    Music and Media 18 Jul 2005, 09:46

  • Malware maelstrom menaces UK

    Post-St Swithin's deluge

    Lock up your email servers - there's a blizzard of Windows malware out there. Email security firm MessageLabs has blocked more than a thousand copies of an email worm called Breatel-A (AKA Reatle or Lebreat) which attempts to launch a denial of service attack on security vendor Symantec and opens up a backdoor on infected PCs. …

    Security 18 Jul 2005, 10:00

  • US gets jitters over in-flight mobes

    Comment Hi, I'm on the plane. Is Osama available?

    America's regulators are currently running around in circles over the issue of in-flight mobile phone calls. Transcripts of the latest Congress hearings show that experts are equally afraid that they will work, and at the same time, that they won't work. The transcripts also show that the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) will …

    Music and Media 18 Jul 2005, 10:22

  • The Cloud touts Skype Zones support

    The benefits of Boingo roaming deal

    European wireless ISP The Cloud has added its Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK and Sweden to Skype's fledgling aggregated network, Skype Zones. Well, sort of. In fact, many of the sites are already there, courtesy of the 18,000-hotspot deal US-based aggregator Boingo last week signed up to. The Cloud agreed to provide Boingo users with …

    VoIP 18 Jul 2005, 10:36

  • Time to turn on to power over Ethernet?

    Quocirca’s changing channels Old idea, new energy

    With the uptake of IP telephony continuing apace and the proliferation of IP devices in general, has the time finally arrived for an old concept – power over Ethernet (PoE)? For certain deployments of IP based technology, PoE is not only cost effective but arguably essential. IP enabled devices like telephones and surveillance …

    Data Networking 18 Jul 2005, 10:44

  • Sony Ericsson claims Q2 market share gain

    Phone shipments, revenues up

    Sony Ericsson made €87m ($106m) on sales of €1.61bn ($1.95bn) during its second fiscal quarter, the phone maker said late last week. The company's pre-tax profit was up 24.2 per cent from the previous quarter's €70m, but down 23 per cent on Q2 FY2004's €113m. Sales were up 25.2 per cent sequentially and 7.3 per cent year on …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 10:59

  • Cisco sets age limit for board

    Retirement motion

    Cisco has introduced an age bar for its board. Under a new governance policy agreed last week Cisco directors will no longer be eligible for, nominated or renominated to its board after they hit 70. The networking giant's current chairman, John P. Morgridge, 71, will step down after next year's shareholders meeting, which is …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 11:08

  • WinZip bought by VC

    Compression company feeling the squeeze

    One of the web's most popular shareware utilities WinZip has been bought by Vector Capital. WinZip makes one of the most popular compression utilities - it has been downloaded more than 140m times. Vector has bought the firm for an undisclosed amount. But few people bother to pay for the software once the free evaluation …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 11:10

  • TeleCity agrees £58m buyout

    Consolidating fragmentation apparently

    TeleCity - the UK-based colocation and data centre service provider - has agreed to a £58m buyout led by the 3i investment group. 3i and Oak Hill Investors have set up a new company - Inhoco - as a vehicle to acquire the data centre operation. The 21p a share offer represents a premium of 22 per cent on the 17.25p closing price …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 11:13

  • China sends pig sperm to space

    No, really

    Get out of the way, Miss Piggy, the Chinese are sending pigs to space, for real. Or at least, pig sperm. The researchers say they want to study the effects of cosmic rays and microgravity on pig semen, so they plan to send 40 grams of the stuff up on the next available rocket. According to China's Xinhua news agency, some of …

    Science 18 Jul 2005, 11:22

  • Vodafone takes the fight to VoIP

    Voice rates will fall as battle hots up

    Vodafone is responding aggressively to the rise of VoIP by launching a low cost, flat rate phone service of its own, using capacity on its 3G network. Echoing similar moves by its US joint venture Verizon Wireless, Vodafone’s plan reflects the main defense that cellcos have against the non-3G operators that seek to steal their …

    Mobile 18 Jul 2005, 11:33

  • Apple to muscle in on MVNO market?

    Have devices, will network

    Motorola’s iTunes handset is due to launch, at last, next month, against a background of rising speculation that Apple will become an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), leasing spectrum in the US to offer carrier services under the powerful iTunes brand. The successful MVNOs tend to be those with a well recognized brand …

    Mobile 18 Jul 2005, 11:36

  • Apple iTunes sells half a billion songs

    Next 500m sold by end of year?

    Apple's iTunes Music Store has sold more than 500m songs, the iPod maker's web site revealed this morning. The half-billion target was actually exceeded yesterday, 17 July, we can reveal. Our modelling had anticipated the 500m mark to be passed late June or early July, but the growth rate isn't so far off the forecast, and the …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 11:46

  • Kingston signs IBM for support

    Contract expansion

    Memory maker Kingston Technologies has signed IBM to provide its customers with on-site support in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Customers signing up to KingstonCare programme will get help from IBM engineers and replacement memory should anything go wrong. The service also provides telephone support and "excellent response …

    Channel Register 18 Jul 2005, 11:48

  • Sophos service searches for zombie PCs

    Botnot

    Anti-virus firm Sophos has launched a service that notifies organisations if any of their PCs are taken over by hackers. The ZombieAlert Service is designed to automatically notifies subscribers about exploited and hijacked computers on business networks. Trojans such as Phatbot are often used to seize control of Windows PCs, …

    Spam 18 Jul 2005, 12:27

  • Google tracks Hitler to San Diego

    Black helicopter alert Führer bunkers down on US soil

    Never in the history of conspiracy theories have there been more black helicopters simultaneously airborne than in the case of what actually happened to Adolf Hitler on - and after - 30 April 1945. Those of a less imaginative bent have it that the Führer simply shot himself and then his few remaining mates incinerated his and …

    Bootnotes 18 Jul 2005, 12:31

  • Sproqit finally cranks out workgroup system

    Architecture gets Unisys, Ingram Micro thumbs-up

    Sproqit will next month ship the delayed Workgroup version of its mobile PC-to-PDA data-access system, the company said today. Originally scheduled to ship in December 2004, Sproqit Workgroup Edition (SWE) provides SMEs with wireless access not only to email and PIM data stored on local PCs and servers, but almost any kind of …

    Mobile 18 Jul 2005, 12:39

  • McKinnon warns off fledgling hackers as hearing looms

    Don't do it kids, says NASA hacker

    Gary McKinnon, the British hacker facing an extradition hearing in nine days time has warned other hacking wannabees not to follow his example. McKinnon, who faces a possible 72 years in a US prison if he is forced to stand trial in America for entering over 53 US military computer systems, is terrified by the prospect. "I was …

    Enterprise Security 18 Jul 2005, 12:58

  • You Blew Me Up You Bastard

    Give it to bin Laden straight - posthumously

    In these troubled times it's good to know that someone out there is addressing the issue of how you would express your anger and disgust were you - God forbid - to become a victim of terrorist atrocity. Enter You Blew Me Up You Bastard.Com, a new online resource dedicated to ensuring that your ire is properly expressed …

    Bootnotes 18 Jul 2005, 13:08

  • Sophos changes channel programme

    Survey leads to changes

    Anti-virus specialist Sophos is tweaking its channel programme in response to a survey of its resellers. The firm's new business development team will generate qualified sales leads at firms with between 100 and 1,000 seats. Sophos is also increasing availability of its training courses - they're now run every month and it has …

    Channel Register 18 Jul 2005, 13:11

  • Exabyte buddies up to Northamber

    Tape disty deal

    Exabyte is getting Northamber to distribute its products in the UK. It said it chose Northamber to open up new channels especially those aimed at small to medium sized firms. Exabyte makes back up tape systems - its best known products include VXA Packet and LTO Ultrium tape drives.® Related stories Northamber doubles interim …

    Channel Register 18 Jul 2005, 13:18

  • Bulldog faces Ofcom complaints

    Gripes continue

    Hacked off Bulldog punters are being urged to contact telecoms regulator Ofcom with their complaints about the broadband provider. Steve Collis from Dartford is spearheading a campaign to notify Ofcom about the problems experienced by some punters after running into his own ISP troubles. Collis plans to pull together as many …

    Telecoms 18 Jul 2005, 14:04

  • Enta and MAXDATA

    Disty deal for all products

    Enta Technologies will now distribute all of MAXDATA's products. MAXDATA is best know for its Belinea range of monitors but Enta will now sell its MAXDATA branded desktops, notebooks and servers. It will be a challenge because the brand is not well-known in the UK. Enta said MAXDATA had a "first-class set of products". The …

    Channel Register 18 Jul 2005, 14:06

  • Germany backs ESA's mission to Mars

    Big cash injection, this one

    Germany has signed up to the preparatory phase of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars mission, the Aurora project. During the preparatory phase, partner countries will hammer out agreement on exactly what Aurora's missions to the moon and to other planets should look like. By December, the proposal for the next phase should …

    Science 18 Jul 2005, 14:09

  • Asbo teen ordered to get legless

    And to threaten public

    A Northumberland teenager has been granted every tearway's dream - an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo) requiring him to get drunk and "to use threatening behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to members of the public". According to UK tabloid the Mirror, the unnamed 15-year-old yobbo was legally obliged to …

    Bootnotes 18 Jul 2005, 14:16

  • MS probes Win XP SP2 kernel bug

    Crash risk dummy

    Windows XP SP2 has proved to be a lot more robust than critics give Microsoft credit for but that doesn't mean it's immune from security problems. Security researcher Tom Ferris of Security-Protocols.com discovered a bug in XP's kernel that might be used by hackers to crash even fully patched systems with Windows firewall …

    Enterprise Security 18 Jul 2005, 14:59

  • EC raids Dell in Intel anti-trust probe

    Channel really quite pleased

    The European Competition Commission raided Dell's office last week at the same time as it was rifling through Intel's files, as part of an anti-trust investigation into the chip-maker. A spokesman for the Competition Commission told us that it had visited Dell's offices, and that this was linked with the Intel investigation. He …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 15:11

  • ICANN prez delivers internet vision

    Interview Paul Twomey gives forth

    In his most revealing interview since taking charge of internet overseeing organisation ICANN in March 2003, president Paul Twomey has accused governments looking to subsume ICANN into a UN body as "living in a political fantasy land", while at the same time being thankful that the internet community doesn't have tanks. Just …

    Music and Media 18 Jul 2005, 15:34

  • Orange SPV M500 smart phone

    First UK review 'Magician' restyled

    The SPV M500 is Orange's take on HTC's 'Magician' compact PocketPC phone, which began appearing earlier this year in a number of guises, such as the i-Mate Jam. Since then, the handset has been remodelled. The internal specifications are almost identical, so the changes are purely cosmetic, as you can see from my earlier …

    Reviews 18 Jul 2005, 15:45

  • VMware greets new dual-core chips with old world licensing

    Two for one

    VMware has joined to the rush to recognize dual-core processors and changes the chips demand of software licenses. What's VMware's plan? Well, thankfully, to treat the dual-core chips on the market from AMD and soon from Intel as regular, old single-core products. VMware's stance puts it in the "per-socket" camp where, as you …

    Servers 18 Jul 2005, 15:54

  • Typosquatters hijack US credit report site

    Be careful out there, warns privacy forum

    Privacy-sensitive US citizens aiming to get their government-mandated annual free credit reports have to be careful not to endanger their sensitive data instead, stated a report released last Thursday. More than 200 domains with similar spellings to the official AnnualCreditReport.com site have been registered by private …

    Public Sector 18 Jul 2005, 16:02

  • Cost of US cyber attacks plummets

    But watch out for ID thieves

    The cost of individual cyber attacks fell dramatically in the US last year but unauthorised access and the theft of proprietary information remain top security concerns. The 10th annual Computer Crime and Security Survey, put together by the Computer Security Institute (CSI) in conjunction with information security experts at …

    Security 18 Jul 2005, 16:17

  • SAP seeks irrelevant executive

    Must travel without traveling and know nothing

    Backoffice software giant SAP appears to be bringing a refreshing new approach to its recruitment policy. The company is currently hiring a director of business development for its Palo Alto office. It's an important job: developing partnerships with software vendors in key vertical markets. Perhaps that's why SAP stipulated …

    Bootnotes 18 Jul 2005, 18:44

  • Intel slaps 'wide load' tag on new Itanium

    Coming to a Harmonious Competency Center near you

    With 9MB of cache strapped to its back, Intel's third generation Itanium processor stands as one of the widest loads in the chip game. Now, the tubby beast can handle a wider data load as well due to an increase in its front side bus (FSB) speed. Intel has boosted Madison's FSB from 400MHz to 667MHz on two new models of the …

    Servers 18 Jul 2005, 18:44

  • $1 domains for the developing world

    And Swedish, Korean, Latvian... dot-orgs for the rest of us

    The developing world could soon see .org domain names for just $1 under a new scheme by non-for-profit registry PIR. From the start of July, PIR (Public Interest Registry) will provide domain-name sellers with a $5 rebate for every domain they sell in Latin America and India. The cost to registrars is $6 per domain per year, …

    Financial News 18 Jul 2005, 19:32

  • DoD picks Opteron as weapon of mass simulation

    Up in HP's arms

    HP has nailed down a major win for its still young line of Opteron-based servers, picking up a cluster contract from the US DoD (Department of Defense). The busy DoD staffers will set up a 1,024 processor system in Sept. at the Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC) Major Shared Resource Center (MSRC) based at Wright-Patterson Air …

    Servers 18 Jul 2005, 21:17

  • Compaq showpiece turns into giant God conduit

    Mark of Hurd?

    HP could whack up to 25,000 workers any minute now - an unsettling premise for employees the world over. The threat of layoffs, however, could prove a tad less disconcerting to some old Compaq hands living in Houston thanks to the grand opening of a massive new church. The $95m Lakewood Church Central Campus has appeared on the …

    Bootnotes 18 Jul 2005, 21:29