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15th August 2005 Archive

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  • Judge clarifies Google AdWords ruling in the US

    'Likelihood of confusion'

    A district court judge this week clarified her decision of last December to dismiss important parts of a trade mark case against Google brought by car insurance firm GEICO over the search engine's AdWords service. Car insurance firm GEICO sued both Google and Yahoo! subsidiary Overture in May 2004 over the sale of its …

    Financial News 15 Aug 2005, 07:14

  • Cheques 'extinct by 2025'

    A drawn-out affair

    Paper cheques could be extinct within the next 20 years as consumers and businesses switch to more convenient forms of payment, a new study reveals. The rise of electronic payments, debit cards and telephone and internet banking are sounding the death knell for the cheque, which research from Halifax, the UK bank, shows has …

    Small Biz 15 Aug 2005, 07:23

  • Thus throws hat into Energis ring

    And Thus Spake, err, Thus

    Thus has gone public with an £800m 'proposal' for Energis, which would trump an agreed offer from rival Cable & Wireless. In a statement today, the Scottish telco urged stakeholders in Chelsys (Energis's holding company) not "to accept any proposal from any third party until the board of Chelys has initiated a process allowing …

    Financial News 15 Aug 2005, 07:57

  • Nvidia preps 'C51 Intel Edition'

    AMD version due 20 September, say moles

    Nvidia is preparing an Intel-oriented version of its first integrated chipset, 'C51'. Meanwhile, that part, which targets AMD-based systems, will launch on 20 September. So claim unnamed motherboard makers cited by DigiTimes. The Intel version of C51 is codenamed 'C60', the sources claim, but were apparently unable to suggest …

    System Builder 15 Aug 2005, 08:56

  • Intel slashes Pentium 4 6xx prices

    Up to 34 per cent off

    Intel yesterday pruned the prices of its Pentium 4 6xx processor series by up to 34 per cent. The cuts had been expected. The EM64T-enabled single-core CPUs all feature 2MB of L2 cache and support the customary 800MHz frontside bus speed. They are fabbed at 90nm. All five 6xx-class processors had their prices cut. The 3.8GHz …

    PCs 15 Aug 2005, 09:00

  • Bid for O2 dead, or just sleeping?

    Deutsche Telekom and KPN call off talks

    Mobile operator O2 has denied any knowledge of a reported €20bn takeover bid for the company, concocted by Deutsche Telekom and Dutch operator, KPN. An O2 spokesman told us: "We are not in talks, and we haven't been approached." However the Financial Mail says unnamed senior executives at the company were aware of the …

    Financial News 15 Aug 2005, 10:03

  • Chinese eye $100 wireless laptop

    Crucial for rural broadband deployment

    Broadband wireless has traditionally flourished in developing economies, as a relatively low cost way to bring broadband access to countries with limited infrastructure. But this does not mean that it is a technology for spreading access to poor users. In general, operators in new economies target enterprises, expatriates and …

    Mobile 15 Aug 2005, 10:11

  • Mobile war smoulders around internet UI

    Casualties expected as race hots up

    Most of the analysis of the handset war between Nokia and Motorola centers on their device designs, with Nokia’s stainless steel 8800 squaring up against the US company’s RAZR and PEBL. Just as important to the user’s choice, however, is the user interface and, increasingly the ease of use of internet capabilities, and this week …

    Mobile 15 Aug 2005, 10:22

  • Sony dips toe into SMB market

    Quocirca's changing channels 'Sony 1' programme woos resellers

    Sony leads the market in consumer electronics when measured across its total product range. That range is so diverse that for every product it sells it faces a different set of competitors – some of who lead Sony in their particular area. Profits have suffered in the face of fierce competition and Sony is looking to expand its …

    Small Biz 15 Aug 2005, 10:31

  • Flaw on Tuesday, worm by Sunday

    VXer wastes no time exploiting latest MS vuln

    Virus writers have created a worm that spreads using a Microsoft Plug-and-Play vulnerability disclosed only last week. The ZoTob worm exploits a security weakness detailed just five days prior to its arrival last weekend. Two variants of ZoTob have been discovered so far. Each allows hackers to seize control of vulnerable PCs. …

    Malware 15 Aug 2005, 11:03

  • US games software giants target UK mod-chip supplier

    Exclusive Seller 'prepared to fight'

    The founder of a UK-based games console modification company has pledged to fight the US software industry's attempt to shut down his business. Crewe, Cheshire-based Games World Direct (GWD) last week found itself targeted by the US-based Entertainment Software Association (ESA), after the organisation contacted its ISP, Luton- …

    Consoles 15 Aug 2005, 11:12

  • eBay UK trading to hit £4bn

    We're in the money

    Trading on eBay UK is likely to hit £4bn this year - equivalent to 1.3 per cent of all UK retail sales, the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) has predicted. And all of this ecommerce action could represent a £3,000 per annum boost for the average UK household, the CEBR told the BBC. In all, more than 50,000 Brits …

    Financial News 15 Aug 2005, 11:24

  • Taser absolved of stun gun death liability

    Shares up after Arizona ruling

    An Arizona court last week delivered some good news for Taser International Inc. shareholders when it dismissed a wrongful death and product liability lawsuit against the stun gun manufacturer. The decision - the third such wrongful death suit against Taser dismissed in a month - immediately sent the company's shares up nine …

    Bootnotes 15 Aug 2005, 11:29

  • RIAA admits CD-R more a threat than P2P

    Paving ground for mass anti-rip CD roll-out?

    The Recording Industry Ass. of America has acknowledged that P2P file-sharing is less of a threat to music sales than bootleg CDs. The RIAA's chief executive, Mitch Bainwol, last week said music fans acquire almost twice as many songs from illegally duplicated CDs as from unauthorised downloads, Associated Press reports. …

    Music and Media 15 Aug 2005, 11:38

  • Scientists invent pee-powered battery

    Are you taking a sample?

    Researchers in Singapore have developed a paper battery that is powered by urine. Despite sounding gloriously silly, the breakthrough promises a cheap and disposable power source for home health tests for things like diabetes. Research investment into developing smaller and cheaper chips to process information in disposable …

    Science 15 Aug 2005, 11:41

  • Violent video games do not cause aggression

    No evidence, academic report suggests

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has weighed into the ongoing polemic regarding a possible link between violent video games and "real-world aggression". The Uni says the findings of the first long-term study into exposure to video games and subsequent stroppy behaviour may be "surprising", given that they show " …

    Consoles 15 Aug 2005, 12:10

  • Korean rhetoric of hate immortalised on web

    'You black-hearted running dog!'

    Fans of Communist anti-Western rhetoric will be delighted to learn that a US aficionado of North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) has collated more than "50 megabytes of hard-core Stalinist propaganda ... each article written in the unique and indelible style of the KCNA". Those not familiar with the "running dog lackey" …

    Music and Media 15 Aug 2005, 12:56

  • Brits steal carloads of F**king Austrian roadsigns

    No IT angle and certainly NSFW

    An Austrian village called Fucking will not change its name despite sniggering Brits making off with its roadsigns. Mayor Siegfried Hauppl has asked visitors to lay off the signs which began to attract outside attention after British and US soldiers passing through in 1945 illuminated the locals as to the English meaning of …

    Bootnotes 15 Aug 2005, 13:06

  • Firefox loses ground to IE

    Blip on the road?

    Firefox's market share slipped last month for the first time since the alternative browser began its battle to offer a popular alternative to Microsoft's ubiqitous Internet Explorer software. This consistent growth suffered a set-back when Firefox fell back from 8.71 per cent market share in June to 8.07 per cent in July, …

    Applications 15 Aug 2005, 13:44

  • Energis rubbishes Thus bid

    Clock ticking

    Telco Energis has ripped apart the takeover offer made by its smaller rival Thus, as it continues to recommend its shareholders accept the “fully-committed offer” from Cable & Wireless due to lapse this evening. C&W and Energis spent the weekend thrashing out details of a potential deal – the C&W offer is due to expire at 5pm …

    Financial News 15 Aug 2005, 14:25

  • Want women in IT? Make maths mandatory

    Surprising research results

    A new study of 21 different nations has found that the male dominance of computer science at university level is pandemic. At first glance the study looks to be yet more confirmation of what we already know. However, it gets more interesting. Differences between the countries indicate that women might not be genetically …

    IT Director 15 Aug 2005, 14:42

  • UK hit by sperm donor crisis

    Not enough coming forward and coming

    The UK government's plan to make fertility treatment increasingly available to single women and lesbian couples has hit a slight snag - there are not enough sperm donors coming forward and coming to provide 50 per cent of the raw materials. The problem stems partly from changes in the law in April which mean that sperm donors …

    Science 15 Aug 2005, 15:39

  • Bulk mailer convicted of data theft scam

    Information inflation

    A Florida man has been convicted of stealing vast amounts of personal information from Acxiom, one of the world's largest database companies, in order to inflate the value of his spamming firm. Scott Levine, 46, of Boca Raton, Florida, was last week found guilty of 120 counts of unauthorized access to data, two access device …

    Spam 15 Aug 2005, 16:01

  • 'Employees first' ruling nixed after appeal

    Legal wrangling

    The Court of Appeal has overturned a ruling that gave employees priority over administration fees when companies collapse. The original ruling, handed down by Mr. Justice Peter Smith, stated that when a company goes into administration, cash owed to employees must take priority over the administrators' fees and administration …

    Business 15 Aug 2005, 16:21