25th August 2005 Archive

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BEA buying Plumtree customers

When portal companies collide

If ever you needed a good example of just how though business is in the enterprise IT market right now, you need look little further than BEA Systems' $200m purchase of enterprise portal specialist Plumtree Software. BEA is buying Plumtree to help turn last quarter's license sales blip, BEA's first upswing in software revenues …

Applications 25 Aug 2005, 08:51
EDS re-inks deal worth £2.6bn with DWP

Nice

David Blunkett's new home, the Department of Work and Pensions, has renegotiated its swathe of contracts with EDS, bringing them all under one umbrella. The move will give EDS a lot more certainty about where its money is coming from, and should reduce the DWP's annual costs. The terms of the new deal include infrastructure …

Management 25 Aug 2005, 09:59
Polyglot IM worm targets MSN

Mind your langauge

A new worm spreading over IM networks is the first to check system settings in order to send a message in the appropriate language. The Kelvir-HI instant messaging worm is spreading over MSN Messenger's network, albeit modestly. IM security specialist Akonix classifies it as a low-risk threat. The worm works by downloading a …

Security 25 Aug 2005, 10:02
AOL to reform customer service after NY probe

Spitzer slams stealth retention scheme

AOL has agreed to reform its customer service operation following complaints that led to legal action by Elliot 'the Blitzer' Spitzer, New York's attorney general. In a settlement announced Wednesday, AOL will be obliged to remove obstacles US consumers faced when seeking to switch or cancel their internet service. Spitzer’s …

Broadband 25 Aug 2005, 10:59
Quantum slashes 250 Irish jobs

Eyes not smiling as vendor looks East

Data storage hardware maker Quantum Corporation is to cut 250 jobs in Dundalk with the close of a manufacturing facility. The job losses, which were expected following reports earlier this summer, will see the company's Dundalk, County Louth facility wind down over the coming months, with a full shutdown expected in the second …

Storage 25 Aug 2005, 11:04
Utah bathed in pretty pink Aurora

Think solar activity, not Sleeping Beauty

Stargazers in Utah, Colorado, New York and other US states were treated to a rare display in the early hours of this morning, when the first of two large coronal mass ejections from the Sun collided with the Earth's atmosphere, creating stunning Auroras. A coronal mass ejection is an explosion inside the Sun that ejects a …

Science 25 Aug 2005, 11:20
O2 Germany licences mobile World Cup clips

In brief Fußball on the move

Mobile operator O2 has secured the right to sell highlight clips from all 64 matches in next year's World Cup to its mobile subscribers in Germany. O2 has secured the right to offer up to four minutes of video footage per match for "near-live" and post-match highlight coverage on mobile phones following a licensing agreement …

Mobile 25 Aug 2005, 11:21
Playboy launches full-frontal online edition

Subscribe now for top-notch e-smut

They're no slouches over at Playboy when it comes to innovative ways to deliver e-smut. Back in April, the soft pornographers launched a PlayStation Portable service allowing sweaty gamers to download widescreen fillies to their trembling PSPs. This came after the unveiling of the tasty iBod initiative which offered iPod Photo …

Financial News 25 Aug 2005, 11:46
LA cops bust pothead alligator liberator

Rogue 'gator dragnet continues

LA police have busted a man suspected of having released a full-sized alligator into the city's Lake Machado two months ago and which has since frustrated all attempts to recapture it. Alleged former alligator owner Anthony Brewer, 36, was cuffed at his home on Tuesday, where law enforcement officials found "make-shift …

Bootnotes 25 Aug 2005, 11:47
Gartner plots hype cycle for emergent tech

Collaboration hot. Video conferencing not

Collaboration, next generation architectures and real world web applications have been singled out as key emergent technolgies by analyst house Gartner. But other technologies such as video conferencing and passive RFID tags have been labeled as over hyped in Gartner's 2005 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies. Collaboration …

Bootnotes 25 Aug 2005, 12:16
Norwich Union probes IT staff lay-offs

Was procedure followed?

Norwich Union is investigating allegations that company policy on the handling of redundancies was not followed when IT staff in Bristol were given their marching orders. The company, part of the Aviva Group, embarked on a significant program of restructuring following Aviva's acquisition of the RAC motoring group earlier this …

Management 25 Aug 2005, 13:57
Councils to publish phone mast emission data

Beams are going to find me

Vodafone has sought to quash UK luddites' fears that mobile phone masts are turning their brains into something resembling a partially set trifle. The cellco is working with seven local councils to install monitors which will keep track of the emissions from Vodafone base stations. The data will be published to publicly …

Mobile 25 Aug 2005, 14:54
China slashes gamers' time online

Just 3 hours' Lineage II for you, sunshine

China will attempt to limit the amount of continuous time online gamers can spend staring at their monitors amid growing concern about "addiction" to games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II. There are an estimated 20m+ Chinese regularly indulging in online gaming, the BBC reports, paying around $500m a year for the …

Bootnotes 25 Aug 2005, 14:58
The GIMP threatens PIN number security

Linux image manipulation black ops

This must be a first: Linux image manipulation programme the GIMP has been fingered as a possible tool in uncovering people's PIN numbers as sent through the post. It's not all open source gloom, though, Photoshop can also be used to, in certain circumstances, enhance illicitly-obtained printed PIN numbers. That, at least, is …

Security 25 Aug 2005, 15:11
W3C tells US Copyright Office: IE is not the only fruit

Browser plans under fire

The US Copyright Office wants to limit the number of browsers that can submit online forms to its site. The agency has proposed that, temporarily at least, it will accept copyright claims via forms submitted from only Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers. Perhaps it is just feeling very retro, but whatever the …

Applications 25 Aug 2005, 15:25
Mio GPS smart phone exposed

Exclusive A701 packs in Windows Mobile 5 too

Mio will next week preview the A701, its first GPS-enabled Windows Mobile-based smart phone, The Register has learned. According to basic specifications we've seen, the device is based on a 520MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor backed by 192MB of memory, of which we reckon at least 64MB will be ROM. The phone runs Windows Mobile …

Mobile 25 Aug 2005, 15:38
US getting fatter, faster

America buckles under extra load of lard

Americans are getting fatter, faster than ever before, according to the latest figures from the non-profit Trust for America's Health. The organisation found that the number of people classed as obese went up in 48 states between 2003 and 2004, taking the national average rate of obesity to a hefty 24.5 per cent. In 10 states …

Science 25 Aug 2005, 16:15
Intel preps 'GPS for Wi-Fi' location tech

IDF Precision Location Technology to become a WLAN standard?

Intel today demonstrated a location-detection system for Wi-Fi networks that it claims will provide far more accurate readings than traditional triangulation techniques. And the company pledged to submit the system, dubbed Intel Precision Location Technology (PLT), to the IEEE's 802.11 standards team for incorporation into …

Data Networking 25 Aug 2005, 17:22
Intel looks to 'Dunnington' multi-core Xeon future

IDF Better Reidland than deadland...

Intel's follow-up to 'Whitefield', its four-core, next-generation microarchitecture-based Xeon MP chip, will be called 'Dunnington', the chip giant let slip yesterday. It's one of the few codenames that hasn't been bandied about freely at this summer's Intel Developer Forum, but Digital Enterprise Group chief Pat Gelsinger …

Servers 25 Aug 2005, 18:14
Pentium 4 VT plans confirmed by Intel

IDF Desktops get it ahead of Itanium, Xeon

Intel has confirmed a report that the Pentium 4 660 and 670 will be updated soon to incorporate Virtualisation Technology. However, 'Paxville', the 90nm dual-core Xeon MP part whose release was recently brought forward, will not contain VT, it has emerged. According to a presentation made yesterday by Intel Digital Enterprise …

PCs 25 Aug 2005, 18:28
Microsoft goes Hollywood with 'Halo' film deal

Plans breast implant and eating disorder beta

Microsoft has a new deal with Hollywood and, no, it's not to use Windows digital rights management (DRM) capabilities to prevent illegal copying of films. Microsoft's popular Halo Xbox game is going from the TV screen to the big screen, after two studios agreed to produce a film featuring the game's cyborg hero Master Chief. …

Software 25 Aug 2005, 19:30
US fighters tooling up with lasers

Death Star blueprint in works

The US military is going all Star Wars with plans to equip its aircraft with laser guns to shoot down enemy missiles and aircraft. The snappily named High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS) program has been tasked with the job of developing, building and testing a relatively small and light-weight laser device …

Science 25 Aug 2005, 22:08
Big Iron boys make a bundle for SMBs

Sun and Oracle team on Opteron

Big iron stalwarts Sun Microsystems and Oracle have launched a series of Linux and Solaris database bundles targeting resellers and small and medium business (SMBs). The Database Packs combine Oracle's 10g Standard Edition One database with Sun's StorEdge 3310 array, and Sun Fire V20z and V40z AMD Opteron-based servers running …

Small Biz 25 Aug 2005, 23:35