8th August 2005 Archive

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UK firm offers legal video downloads

Testing the water

A UK firm has started a video download service in the hopes of creating a viable commercial alternative to renting or buying DVDs. The service - BoxOffice365.com - which allows customers to download videos of VHS quality was launched in a trial version last week. So far only a handful of live comedy and music video services are …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 02:02
The CardSystems blame game

Comment Don't shoot me, I'm only the consultant

On July 21, 2005, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on Credit Card Data Processing: How Secure Is It?" Of course, just by asking the question,you already know what the answer is going to be: not a disaster, but about as secure as you might imagine …

ID 8 Aug 2005, 07:18
Security still underfunded

Comment Hire someone complex

Blackhat is one of my favorite places to do some casual online banking over an insecure WiFi connection. Where's the risk, right? All joking aside, Blackhat is in fact a great place to do some deep thought on the current state of the security industry. Yes, the industry has grown a great deal and many things are now big. …

Enterprise Security 8 Aug 2005, 07:19
Security download must clearly disclose adware

Advertising.com settles FTC complaint

Advertising.com has settled charges made by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it failed adequately to disclose the bundling of adware with a free security download. The adware was mentioned, but only in a user licence that was easy to ignore. The settlement with Advertising.com, which is now part of America Online Inc., …

Malware 8 Aug 2005, 07:27
Public sector e-biz push threatens small firms

20,000 London jobs on the line, Newham claims

Thousands of small firms may miss out on valuable contracts by attempts to make the public sector tender process more efficient, new research claims. Findings from an assessment by the London Borough of Newham into the impact of the National e-Procurement Project suggest up to 4,000 smaller suppliers in the Capital risk losing …

Public Sector 8 Aug 2005, 07:35
IBM open sources enterprise search

Takes unstructured approach

IBM is open sourcing a jointly developed search architecture with a view to creating a common industry approach to querying unstructured enterprise data. The company is today expected to announce plans to open source the Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) used in the company's WebSphere Information …

Developer 8 Aug 2005, 07:38
Intel throws weight behind US municipal metrozones

Analysis New model could put key telecoms services back in public ownership

Intel is throwing its financial, technical and lobbying weight behind the rising tide of municipally run broadband wireless networks, seeing these as a way to stimulate uptake of Wi-Fi and WiMAX and so sell more of its chips and increase its influence over the communications world. It is helping authorities work out the best …

Wireless 8 Aug 2005, 08:20
Nokia and Ollila's legacy

Analysis Kallasvuo takes on Zander in battle of handset titans

Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila, the architect of the Finnish giant in its current form, is to step down next June, although he will remain as non-executive chairman. Although widely rumored to be after a career in Finnish politics, he has announced that he will take over the chairmanship of oil giant Shell instead. Olli-Pekka …

Mobile 8 Aug 2005, 08:22
Cisco 'eyes' Nokia network biz

Been here before

Is Cisco pursuing a merger with Nokia? That's certainly what UK newspaper the Sunday Business claimed this weekend. The paper said Cisco is looking to merge with a network infrastructure provider, and it believes Nokia is the firm CEO John Chambers has in mind. For all Nokia's success in the mobile phone market, its market …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 09:04
Who will buy Skype? Yahoo!? or Google? or Rupert Murdoch?

Never mind the quality, feel the width!

Rumours of a Skype valuation of $3bn Rupert Murdoch's New International from columnist Bob Cringeley, dismissed by another columnist (Simon Edhouse of Virtusoft) have surfaced - but is Skype a valuable commodity, then? The question has hidden answers, because most of the people who are likely to be interested in Skype are not …

VoIP 8 Aug 2005, 09:30
Yahoo! launches self-service ads

Anything Google do ...

Yahoo! is going head-to-head with Google again by launching a new service which enables webmasters to earn additional income by displaying ads on their sites. The search company has signalled its attempt to win more of the online advertising market by releasing a service that will directly compete with Google's AdSense …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 09:38
Dixons says goodbye to 35mm cameras

Digital only from now on, sort of...

Dixons is to stop selling 35mm cameras in its normal retail outlets, saying that the non-digital market is "increasingly niche". Dixons will be a digital-only zone once current stocks of 35mms run out, it said. Sales of digital cameras might be outstripping those of 35mm cameras - by 15:1, according to Dixon's spin doctors - …

Peripherals 8 Aug 2005, 09:42
Intel's 'Yonah' to supersede 'Dothan' Q2 06

Roadmap Dual-core drive revealed

Intel's 65nm dual-core Pentium M successor, codenamed 'Yonah', will ship at 1.67, 1.84, 2.0 and 2.17GHz when it debuts early next year, the latest company roadmaps to be made public reveal. The four dual-core incarnations will be accompanied by just one 2MB L2 single-core version of the part, as Intel had already announced, …

PCs 8 Aug 2005, 09:45
Oz legit downloads fail, and fail again

Analysis The complacency, the expense

Australian lawyer, academic researcher and music industry commentator Alex Malik presents the first of a two part look at the Australian market for digital downloads. His research has found that while IFPI are spinning the success of authorised downloads, the reality shows that at least in Australia, there are substantial gaps …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 09:59
NTL goes large with 10 meg broadband

Need for speed

NTL is to crank up the speed for all its broadband punters by setting access speeds at 10 meg as standard. The upgrade to its network is due to be completed by the end of 2006. Customers currently signed up to its three meg service will be the first to the first to try out the new blistering speeds. As part of the upgrade, …

Telecoms 8 Aug 2005, 10:02
Intel aligns key old-style Centrino EOL dates

400MHz FSB CPUs, chipsets for the chop

Anyone in the market for Intel's 855 and 852 mobile chipsets now has a month more to request product before the chip giant stops taking cancellable orders for them. Prospective buyers now have until 23 September to order the 400MHz FSB, AGP 4x Centrino chipsets and still get the chance to pull out of the order. Until recently, …

PCs 8 Aug 2005, 10:53
Marconi confirms bid talks

Huawei fingered

Marconi has confirmed it is holding talks with rivals over the possible sale of the telecoms equipment maker. Shares in the UK firm raced ahead this morning up 44.75p (17 per cent) at 311.75p. In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange Marconi said: "Marconi Corporation plc is continuing to pursue all strategic options …

Data Networking 8 Aug 2005, 10:56
UK to get Xbox 360 on '25 November'

'Highly-placed' mole spills beans

Microsoft will ship its Xbox 360 console on Friday, 25 November, "highly placed" sources cited in a GamesIndustry.biz report have claimed. According to the moles, the console could cost up to £299. To be fair, that figure is a guess based on information said to be coming out of Microsoft rather than genuine pricing data. In …

Consoles 8 Aug 2005, 11:25
Microsoft quells Vista virus concerns

Written out of the script

Microsoft has confirmed that a new scripting tool will not ship as part of the next version of its operating system, Windows Vista. The disclosure dispels concerns that a virus writer had created the first "Vista viruses" by targeting a new interactive shell codenamed Monad (or MSH). MSH was originally scheduled to be ship with …

Malware 8 Aug 2005, 11:34
Madasafish ribs Wanadoo over broadband speed

Letter writing copycats

It looks like Wanadoo might have started something. Last week the ISP formerly known as Freeserve ran an ad in a Sunday paper in the guise of a letter addressed to BT chief exec Ben Verwaayen. The letter poked fun at BT's decision to double the speed of its entry-level broadband service to 2 meg just hours after Wanadoo UK …

Telecoms 8 Aug 2005, 12:45
UK workers hate work, office customs and each other

It's official

A new survey by RPCushing Recruitment has confirmed what we at Vulture Central have known for years: the UK's desk-bound workers dislike office customs, office outings and more-or-less don't much like the people they work with. We can all sympathise with the half of workers who resent having to fork out for gifts when someone ( …

Small Biz 8 Aug 2005, 12:53
ID cards: Home Office pursued over LSE rebuttal

Wrong tree, wrong bark

Home Office attempts to quash academics' criticism of the planned national identity system appear to have backfired badly, prompting a fresh round of questions about the scheme's chances of success. The London School of Economics says the Department's recent rebuttal of their critique of the Government's identity cards scheme …

Public Sector 8 Aug 2005, 13:16
HSBC facing '£19m' loss on Granville collapse

Gloomy prospects for unsecured creditors

HSBC, Granville Technology Group's main banker, is unlikely to recover any of the £19m it is owed by the group, according to reports. Granville, the company behind the Time and Tiny computer brands, collapsed at the end of July with debts estimated at over £50m. Granville probably owes around £30m in unsecured debt to trade …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 13:27
Friends Reunited ponders sale

Looking for a new best friend?

Friends Reunited - the site that lets people track down long lost chums - could be put up for sale, according to The Sunday Times. The company - valued at around £120m - has hired financial advisors to work out a plan for the future which might include the full or partial sale of the business. Nothing has been agreed as yet …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 13:29
Sun lounger towel annexation declared illegal

No IT angle, but good news for irate Brit tourists

There's some very good news today for those Brits - and Germans - who are infuriated by the practice of "reserving" sun loungers by creeping out at 4am and leaving towels on them: the practice is not legally binding and any "British tourist would be quite within their legal rights to ignore the reservation implied by the towels …

Bootnotes 8 Aug 2005, 13:54
Sony sues Lik-Sang - again

This time it's about Europe-bound PSP exports

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) has begun legal proceedings against Hong-Kong's Lik-Sang, the gaming hardware exporter said today. SCEE's move is specifically intended to prevent Lik-Sang from selling PlayStation Portable handheld consoles to European buyers unable to wait for the PSP's formal launch on 1 September. …

Consoles 8 Aug 2005, 14:02
Acer Ferrari 4000 notebook

Review Getting Turion right

The general consensus here regarding Acer's Ferrari 3200 notebook was that it was a decent, well-featured machine, but no one was really sure that they wanted a bright red laptop. It seems that Acer has taken this on board, and the new Ferrari 4000 is more understated - in fact the general opinion this time around is that it …

Reviews 8 Aug 2005, 14:40
Clouds scupper Shuttle landing attempt

Try again tomorrow

Low clouds over Kennedy Space Center have prompted NASA's mission controllers to delay the Shuttle's return to Earth by a day. There were two landing opportunities today, but the possibility that the landing strip could be obscured means both have been ruled out. Mission controllers were hoping the cloud would clear, and sent …

Science 8 Aug 2005, 15:22
OS exploits are 'old hat'

Analysis Cisco Black Hat talk illustrates wider security risks

Security issues involving Cisco kit highlighted in Michael Lynn’s presentation at Black Hat are characteristic of networking vendors in general. Cisco is just the most visible of these vendors to target as hackers raise their sights from attacking operating systems towards attacking network infrastructure and database systems, …

Enterprise Security 8 Aug 2005, 15:24
AOL buys wireless firm

Wildseed, you make my...

AOL has acquired Wildseed - the privately held US wireless technologies outfit - for an undisclosed sum. Based in Kirkland, Washington and with offices in London, Wildseed provides interactive accessories for wireless phones. It's best known for its SmartSkin interactive accessories which deliver music, ringtones, video clips …

Mobile 8 Aug 2005, 15:31
London Internet Exchange cuts ISP charges

The LINX effect

LINX (the London Internet Exchange) - a mutual organisation owned by more than 170 ISPs and links their networks - has cut its fees by 15 per cent. Increased levels of net traffic have led to a "better-than-expected financial position for the world's largest internet exchange", it said in a statement. And following a financial …

Telecoms 8 Aug 2005, 15:33
Two straight Canadian blokes to marry

Smart tax move

We're sure that most Reg readers don't object to gay marriage as long as it doesn't frighten the horses, but we wonder if that liberal sentiment extends to heterosexual same-sex union? We'll find out soon enough, because Canadians Bill Dalrymple, 56, and chum Bryan Pinn, 65 have decided to tie the knot, the Ottawa Sun reports …

Bootnotes 8 Aug 2005, 15:35
iTunes Japan shifts 1m songs in four days

Music download frenzy

Apple Japan has sold more than one million songs to Japanese consumers since it opened its own iTunes Music Store last Thursday, the company said today. "iTunes has sold twice as many songs in just four days as all the other online music services in Japan sell in one month," CEO Steve Jobs was pleased to report. "iTunes has …

Financial News 8 Aug 2005, 15:37
Dell goes SLi for next XPS gaming PC

Twin GeForce 7800 GTX cards on board

Motherboard makers have confirmed that Nvidia will launch the GeForce 7800 GT later this week. Separately, it has emerged that Dell will offer systems based on the Nvidia's SLi technology. Dell today said its upcoming XPS 600 gaming PC will be based on Nvidia's nForce 4 SLi chipset and Intel dual-core processor technology. The …

PCs 8 Aug 2005, 16:12