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12th August 2005 Archive

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  • Lloyd's taking on open source IP risk

    Exclusive Blue blood for new blood

    Lloyd's of London is close to offering independent insurance protection worldwide against potential IP litigation involving Linux and open source software. The financial services giant has agreed to take on the risk associated with open source, and is finalizing arrangements to work through Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) who …

    Software 12 Aug 2005, 01:31

  • Perens: Torvalds' patent pool is useless

    Spitting in the wind

    Open source activist Bruce Perens has dismissed as inadequate a new IP initiative backed by Linus Torvalds. The Open Source Development Labs' (OSDL) patent commons project is intended to provide patent protection to open source developers. Perens, speaking at LinuxWorld, compared the patent pool to "spitting in the wind" - …

    Developer 12 Aug 2005, 07:19

  • Vodafone customers suffer mystery number blockage

    No calls to 07800 for you lot

    Vodafone has confirmed that a large number of its customers have been unable to make calls to Orange customers whose phones start with the 07800 prefix. According to Register readers, the problem began last weekend, with Vodafone customer support staff acknowledging the problem by Monday. When we spoke to Vodafone, engineers …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2005, 08:26

  • Nvidia reports Q2 income jump

    Despite sequential sales dip

    Nvidia's earnings bloomed during its second fiscal quarter, despite a slight dip in sales, the graphics chip maker revealed yesterday. For the three months to 31 July 2005, Nvidia realised revenues of $574.8m, up 26 per cent on the year ago quarter's $456.1m, but down 1.5 per cent on the previous quarter. Q2 FY2006 net income …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 09:19

  • Mac users demand 'slow SuperDrive' fix

    Petitioners claim 2x performance on 8x-rated drive

    Evidence is mounting that a major write-performance problem is affecting certain Mac-mounted optical drives and troubled Mac users have begun petitioning Apple in the hope of a fix. So far, users claim, the Mac maker has been unwilling to acknowledge the issue, let alone provide a solution. According to Steven Haigh, the issue …

    Mac Channel 12 Aug 2005, 10:10

  • Britney to drop sprog on live TV?

    If Kevin Federline gets his wicked way

    Britney Spears' squeeze Kevin Federline wants the highly-talented chanteuse to drop her sprog on live TV, a breathless Yahoo! reports. Britney is due to eject her bun in October, and young Kev reckons - in the wake of the couple's recent ratings flop Chaotic - that the sight of the pop sensation, legs akimbo, grunting her …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2005, 10:15

  • Intel to ship Xeon 5000 dual-cores this year?

    Could be worried about Opteron

    Taiwanese server maker sources have claimed Intel could be planning to bring forward the debut of 'Paxville', the chip giant's first dual-core Xeon processor. The 90nm Paxville is currently scheduled to ship during Q1 2006, when it will be released as the Xeon 7000 series. However, sources cited by DigiTimes, claim the part …

    Servers 12 Aug 2005, 10:20

  • Chief beancounter gets five years for WorldCom fraud

    'Regrets', I've had a few, but then again...

    Scott Sullivan - the beancounter who fingered Bernie Ebbers for the $11bn (£5.8bn) WorldCom fraud - has been sentenced to five years in jail for his part in the monster con. The former financial boss of WorldCom had already pleaded guilty to his part in the conspiracy and his testimony helped nail Ebbers - the WorldCom chief …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 10:22

  • HP buys Scitex super-wide printer ops for $230m

    It’s a Vision Thing

    HP is moving into super-wide format printers by buying the business of Scitex Vision for $230m cash. The acquisition gives HP a leg-up in the world of billboards, banners street advertising and sundry visual pollution of public spaces, where Scitex Vision is the market leader. Scitex Vision is owned by the Israeli printer giant …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 10:28

  • Intel 'preps' Pentium 4 6xx price cuts

    Paving the way for VT-enabled versions

    Intel will take the axe to its Pentium 6xx series price-list this weekend, Taiwanese motherboard maker sources have claimed. The cuts, reported by DigiTimes, are said to see the 90nm single-core processor family's prices reduced by up to 33.7 per cent. The cuts will see each model drop a price grade: the 670 will fall from $ …

    System Builder 12 Aug 2005, 10:29

  • Gov.UK preps ID card contracts

    Home Office indicates high-level IT requirements

    The Government has set out the massive IT and support infrastructure it intends to source for the planned national identity system. The Home Office's Identity Cards programme laid down its expected requirements in an information notice to potential suppliers on 11 August. Formal procurements are due to launch once the identity …

    Public Sector 12 Aug 2005, 10:42

  • Technology in schools: for fun, education, hacking & explusion

    Letters And we visit the 1950s

    Rockstar bagged itself another set of headlines this week after promotional shots of its new game, Bully, upset parents, and anti-bullying campaigners. Surely, though, this uproar has rather played into the hands of the games company. After all, we know that there is rarely such a thing as bad publicity: Anyone who thinks …

    Letters 12 Aug 2005, 10:48

  • £200K card skimming gang caged

    Four go down for four years each

    Four members of an ATM card skimming gang blamed for stealing at least £200,000 were each jailed for four years on Thursday. The unfantastic foursome, all from Eastern Europe, put false facias on cash machines and filmed shoppers entering their PIN numbers. The London-based gang were caught when staff in a Cardiff hotel became …

    Music and Media 12 Aug 2005, 10:56

  • Scientists blame balloons for climate change debate

    The case for global warming just got stronger

    Researchers at the US' National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may have overturned one of the key weapons in the armoury of climate-change sceptics. Data from weather balloons in the 1970s has long puzzled scientists, because it appears to contradict computer models of global warming. Most models have a strong link …

    Science 12 Aug 2005, 11:01

  • Lawyer vows to prove link between video games and murder

    'Blood on the hands' of Rockstar, Sony et al, says Thompson

    Outspoken attorney Jack Thompson has said he will win the civil case brought against the publisher of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and others by the families of policemen shot dead in Fayette, Alabama in 2003, allegedly by a youth obsessed with the video game. A jury this week declared Devin Moore, 20, guilty of the murder of …

    Music and Media 12 Aug 2005, 11:08

  • NZ man held in Oz rabbit bestiality dragnet

    No IT content, but contains traces of cannabis

    A New Zealander working in Sydney as a "finance industry professional" has appeared in court charged with animal cruelty, bestiality and drug offences following the deaths of 17 rabbits and a guinea pig. Reuters reports that the man was cuffed in his office at 1am this morning after a probe by cops and Australia's Royal Society …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2005, 11:23

  • Wide open Vistas beckon for Microsoft in Germany

    Bags trademark rights

    Microsoft has bought the German trademark rights for Vista, the name for its next iteration of Windows, codenamed Longhorn. In the US, the company could face a court battle over the name. Vista.com, a Redmond-based software firm,is checking if Microsoft's Vista trademark infringes on its own; and other objectors could emerge, …

    Operating Systems 12 Aug 2005, 11:24

  • Cabir mobile worm gives track fans the run around

    Minor outbreak at Athletics championship

    Phone-mad Finns are coping with a minor outbreak of the Cabir mobile virus at the Athletic's World Championship in Helsinki this week. Cabir, which infects smartphones running Symbian Series 60 using Bluetooth short-range radio communication technology to spread, is flourishing in the packed stadium area. The version of Cabir …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2005, 11:54

  • AMD pursues NEC, Fujistu

    AMD vs Intel Yet more subpoenas sent

    AMD continues to send NEC fresh subpoenas, adding more names to the list of staff it believes possess evidence that will prove its allegation that Intel acted contrary to US antitrust law. Documents filed with the US District Court of Delaware this week and seen by The Register show a pair of new subpoenas, both of which name …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 11:57

  • Intel to detail next-gen chip design

    Conroe to debut at Intel Developer Forum?

    Intel will unveil its next-generation processor architecture in just under two weeks' time, the chip giant said today. Due to ship in H2 2006, the architecture will result in "processors that are high-performance, energy-efficient and multi-core", the company said. "New form-factors" for PCs will be enabled, it promised. The …

    PCs 12 Aug 2005, 12:15

  • Sun to shed around 1,000 jobs

    UK will be affected

    Sun Microsystems' UK workforce will be hit by its plans to shed around 1,000 jobs worldwide over the next year, as part of the company's drive to reduce costs. As many as 100 of the job cuts are rumoured to be from the UK's Client Solutions division, sources have claimed. The company confirmed today that some of the job losses …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 12:25

  • The name's BOFH - James BOFH

    Episode 23 OOF

    "What do you two know about business intelligence?" the Boss asks the PFY and I after we answer the call for a quick chat at his request... "A novel idea but I don't think it'll catch on," the PFY responds. "Sorry?" The boss burbles, missing the PFY's point. "Business & Intelligence - bit of a misnomer," the PFY replies …

    BOFH 12 Aug 2005, 13:02

  • Amazon pays $40m in patent settlement

    Settles Soverain claims

    Amazon.com is coughing up $40m to settle a patent infringement case with Soverain Software covering ecommerce patents. Chicago-based Soverain filed the infringement claim in January, 2004, and at the time ecommerce mammoth Amazon insisted it would defend the suit vigorously. Yesterday, Amazon announced in an SEC filing that it …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 13:15

  • NY enacts security breaches disclosure law

    Firms obliged to own up to gaffes

    New York has enacted an information security breaches law which will oblige firms and local government agencies to notify customers in the state if their personal information is taken or its systems are hacked into. The legislation is designed to promote a culture of security. It also helps protect consumers by giving them the …

    ID 12 Aug 2005, 13:17

  • Shuttle flights are gone 'til November

    At the earliest

    No new Shuttle missions will blast off until November at the earliest, NASA has said, as it scrubbed a flight scheduled to depart in late September this year. The space agency is unwilling to risk new flights until it has nailed down the cause of the falling debris during the launch of the shuttle Discovery, the BBC reports. …

    Science 12 Aug 2005, 14:25

  • Deadline set for C&W's Energis take-over

    Agree by Monday or deal is off

    Cable & Wireless (C&W) has made a formal bid to buy-out alternative telco Energis, it confirmed today. But the offer is only valid until close of business on Monday and needs the backing of a substantial majority of those banks that own Energis. In a statement issued today C&W it "has made a proposal to acquire Energis [which …

    Financial News 12 Aug 2005, 14:27

  • iTunes to yield 5% of Apple's revenues in 2006

    Analyst does his sums

    Apple will have sold 1.365bn songs through the iTunes Music Store by the end of 2006, investment house Piper Jaffray calculates. According to a note send by PJ analyst Gene Munster to investors this week, relayed to the rest of the world by iLounge.com, that's 55.6 per cent more than the company had previously forecast. The …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2005, 15:18

  • AMD Athlon X2 3800+ dual-core CPU

    Review Entry-level two-core champion?

    At the beginning of the month AMD launched its latest budget processor, the Sempron 3400+. Launched on the same day was the dual-core Athlon 64 X2 3800+. Right now you have the choice between single core or dual-core but before long dual-core will become very much the norm, writes Benny Har-Even. It's easy to understand why. …

    Reviews 12 Aug 2005, 15:51

  • Court revives high-profile wiretap prosecution

    Service provider snooping loophole ties lawyers in knots

    A US federal appeals court has overturned a decision that implied service providers could legally snoop on subscriber's email messages in a ruling that revives a high-profile online eavesdropping prosecution. Two years ago a judge ruled it permissible for online literary clearinghouse Interloc to make copies of messages sent by …

    Music and Media 12 Aug 2005, 16:00

  • Google Print put on pause

    There's no such thing as a free scan

    The irresistible force of Google Inc. has bumped into the immovable object of copyright, with the result that Google is calling a brief truce. Last night, the internet company said it would halt scanning in copyrighted book material as part of its Print project. Google has antagonized libraries and rights holders by opting them …

    Music and Media 12 Aug 2005, 23:22