13th September 2005 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Meg Whitman's $2.6bn spam goof?

Analysis Giving VoIP a bad name

"eBay looks less fearsome when you're upside down," says the young CEO behind the online auction house's great Chinese rival Jack Ma. To encourage new hires at his Alibaba.com, Ma asks them to perform handstands. Maybe that won't be necessary for much longer, as eBay is a lot less fearsome - and a lot poorer - after splurging $2 …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 07:35
Bot herder websites in internet take-down

Dumbing down zombies

Bot herder websites that specialise in dumbing down the process of managing zombie networks of compromised Windows PCs are under attack. High profile bot sites such as ryan1918.com and 0x90-team.com have disappeared, reports anti-virus firm F-Secure. Another such site, known as "Neo, The One" (neo-theone.com.ar), which was …

Security 13 Sep 2005, 08:38
DCC issues IT distie profit warning

Price deflation and difficult trading

Shares in Irish business services group DCC fell sharply yesterday following a profits warning from the company. IT made up 21 per cent of the firm's operating profits last year and news that the division was struggling knocked ten per cent off DCC shares. The company said poor trading got worse in July and August. Gem …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 08:44
Computacenter profits down 70 per cent

And change ain't temporary

Computacenter's interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2005 show a fall in turnover and profits but the reseller is confident it will get back on track for the full year. Turnover was down to £1.15bn from £1.23bn last year. Profits fell from £30.1m to just £8.2m. Computacenter Germany recorded a 3.8 per cent drop in …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 08:56
Smut and personal data left on resold PCs

Sex, spies and hard-disk drives

Seven in 10 re-sold hard-drives and memory cards contain pornographic material, according to research by a UK-based data recovery firm based on the inspection of 1,000 hard disk drives over the last year. Disklabs knows this because one of the best ways of checking the integrity of files is by viewing images or movies. The firm …

Storage 13 Sep 2005, 09:01
Deutsche Telekom hangs up on MTS

From Russia with $1.2bn

Deutsche Telekom (DT) has bailed out of Russia after flogging its remaining stake in cellco Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) for €1.2bn. The giant German communications company said it would use the cash to help reduce its debt burden. Before yesterday's sale MTS' two major shareholders were Russian financial outfit AFK Sistema and DT …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 09:44
HP conference moved to Florida

From Big Easy to big Orange

HP's Technology Forum, due to have started in New Orleans this week, has been moved to Florida because of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The event will now take place from 17 October to 25 October at the Orange County Convention Center in Florida. HP and HP employees have given $3m to the Red Cross fund as well as …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 09:53
Katrina: a tough lesson in security

Pay attention, or pay the price

In the waning days of August, a massive category four hurricane devastated the gulf coast of the United States, particularly devastating the city of New Orleans. In addition to the estimated $50bn in property damage, clean-up and reconstruction costs, and the hundreds of likely dead, and tens of thousands displaced, the …

Security 13 Sep 2005, 10:01
Sony recalls 'millions' of PS2 power adaptors

Overheating could lead to injury, company admits

Sony has asked certain slimline-model PlayStation 2 owners around the world to return their AC adaptors or risk what it calls "injury hazard". At this stage, it's not known how many allegedly faulty adaptors Sony will have to replace, but it is believed to stretch well into the millions, with 843,000 units in the US alone. To …

Consoles 13 Sep 2005, 10:06
Drunk, stoned mice shed light on addiction

Nice work, if you can get it

Researchers in the US have discovered that the part of the brain that makes it fun to get stoned, also makes it pleasurable to get drunk . The tests, which were carried out on mice, confirmed that the so-called cannabinoid receptors known as CB1, are also stimulated by drinking alcohol. The CB1 receptors are directly involved …

Science 13 Sep 2005, 10:11
EU stumps Clarke data retention plan

Howzat!

UK home secretary Charles Clarke failed to get agreement to his proposals for an EU-wide data retention regime at an informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs Ministers in Newcastle last week, according to media reports. He had been hoping to speed up draft EU legislation, put forward by the UK, France, Ireland and Sweden …

Music and Media 13 Sep 2005, 10:17
Intel cans $700m Indian plant - report

Failed to curry favour with local government

Intel will not be building a $700m wafer-testing plant in India, a local newspaper has claimed. According to Indian business-oriented daily, the Business Standard, Intel put the plans for the plant on hold after it failed to gain tax concessions from the Indian government. The paper attributed the claim to an unnamed Intel …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 10:26
NHS staff oblivious to £6.2bn IT programme

Never heard of it, mate

Vast numbers of National Health Service front-line personnel are apparently oblivious to the £6.2bn national IT programme currently being rolled out, according to new research. A survey for NHS Connecting for Health found that nurses were least aware of the programme, with half knowing absolutely nothing about it, including …

Public Sector 13 Sep 2005, 10:47
Novell spies MS Vista launch opportunity

Time to migrate, says Linux outfit

Twenty months after entering into the Linux market by acquiring Suse, Novell has outlined its strategy to counter Microsoft in 2006. Jack Messman, chief executive of networking software vendor Novell says that 2006 will see widespread adoption of Linux on the corporate desktop. According to Messman the catalyst will be the …

Operating Systems 13 Sep 2005, 10:56
Intel 975X chipset to support SLi and CrossFire

Nvidia and ATI's rival multi-GPU systems catered for, apparently

Intel's 975X chipset, the upcoming successor to today's 955X, will support Nvidia's SLi technology and the ATI equivalent, CrossFire. So claim Taiwanese motherboard-maker moles, cited by local news site DigiTimes. According to the report, the 975X's North Bridge chip will support 16x PCI Express lanes, which mobo makers can …

Peripherals 13 Sep 2005, 11:01
Albatron intros 'easy connect' Intel SLi mobo

'Pedal-less design'

Albatron today introduced an SLi-enabled motherboard targeting Intel processors, touting the board's ability to dispense with the daughtercard usually required to activate SLi. Based on Nvidia's nForce 4 SLi Intel Edition chipset, Albatron's PX19-SLi supports dual-core processors, a 1066MHz frontside bus and 667MHz DDR 2 SDRAM …

System Builder 13 Sep 2005, 11:11
Chaintech denies mobo biz exit

Launches new Intel-based board to prove it

Chaintech today announced its latest Intel-oriented motherboard, just days after it refuted claims it was quitting the mobo market. Its statement was prompted by Taiwanese press reports that, following memory module maker Walton's move to acquire 25 per cent of the company, it would be focusing solely on DIMM production. Not …

System Builder 13 Sep 2005, 11:29
14,000 Telstra jobs at risk

Telco denies union claims

There are fears that as many as 14,000 telecoms jobs could be axed in Australia following the privatisation of incumbent telco Telstra. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has called on Telstra management and the Government to release a confidential 104-page document which it says details the job cuts and other cost …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 11:43
Businesses will have graded access to ID database

That's OK then

The Home Office said yesterday that businesses and public sector agency access to the national identity card database will be allowed on a graded basis, according to need. The idea is that so-called trivial checks on people's biometrics should not be allowed to overload the system. According to The FT, Katherine Courtney, the …

ID 13 Sep 2005, 11:53
RM releases rugged classroom laptop

Bash Street Kids-proof

British education-oriented PC maker RM today introduced a cut-price ruggedised notebook designed to be "secure, robust and able to function" in "demanding classroom environments". Definitely one for Bash Street, then. The RM Mobile One is fitted with thin rubber shock-absorbing panels around each of the two halves of the …

PCs 13 Sep 2005, 12:50
Executed Chinese prisoners skinned for collagen treatments

Genuinely grim

Skin from prisoners executed in China is being used to develop cosmetic collagen treatments aimed at the European market, according to The Guardian. The newspaper says that agents from a China-based company claim the skin, which is taken from prisoners after they have been shot, is being used to develop the collagen for anti- …

Science 13 Sep 2005, 12:55
Nokia unveils aggressive mobile email challenge

Good to drive pitch to win all 650m corporate email accounts

Nokia's Enterprise Solutions chief, Mary McDowell, said in July the company wasn't interested in acquiring RIM, and today she revealed why. The mobile phone giant unveiled Nokia Business Center (NBC) this morning, a mobile email system designed to make access email and corporate data on the move "more affordable, intuitive and …

Mobile 13 Sep 2005, 13:25
Man flogs dead horse on eBay

Andalusian or Lipizzan? We have no idea

Stuff devil dolls, second-hand breast implants and bare knuckle-fight DVDs, this has to be the tastiest auction on eBay for months: your chance to acquire a dead horse at a knock-down price. It's a case of caveat emptor, though, because the entire description of this particular item is: Dead horse for sale. Please email me …

Bootnotes 13 Sep 2005, 13:29
Ballmer: 'I've never thrown a chair in my life'

It was a table, then?

Steve Ballmer has denied ever throwing a chair in his life in response to the accusation that he launched said piece of furniture across the room when ex-MS employee Mark Lukovsky told the big fella he was off to Google. Ballmer simply tells the Telegraph: "I've never thrown a chair in my life," thereby creating the possibility …

Bootnotes 13 Sep 2005, 13:37
Google Earth threatens democracy

Military hardware laid bare to Godless commies

The recent news that South Korea is to take the US to task over Google Earth images which expose its military installations to close Commie scrutiny has provoked a mini stampede of other peace-loving nations eager to protect their assets from prying eyes. Enter stage right Thailand, which says it may ask Google to "block …

Bootnotes 13 Sep 2005, 13:54
RealBasic 2005 for Mac, Windows and Linux

Review Cross-platform development nirvana?

Since its arrival in the mid-1990s, RealBasic has been helping amateur and professional software developers create applications quickly by side-stepping most of the complexities other languages and programming environments throw at them. Back in the days of the language from which RB is derived, you could type in half a dozen …

Reviews 13 Sep 2005, 14:18
UK.gov ID card costings fit on back of (small) envelope

Analysis Mathematics of the madhouse

Earlier this year the home secretary condemned research from the LSE and Kable which costed his proposed ID card proposals at three times the government’s preferred numbers. Charles Clarke described the figures as "mad" and naturally backed the Government's "best estimate" of £93 per ID Card. It follows that the £93 figure …

Music and Media 13 Sep 2005, 14:32
Bloke called Pete seeks 1,999 namesakes

Attempts record-breaking Pete concentration

You know how it is: you're trying to find a few hundred people with the same christian name as you so you can all get together and beat the world record for the biggest en masse gathering of namesakes when, devastatingly, you learn that some bloke called Mohammed has assembled 1,500 Mohammeds in Dubai, thereby taking the Guiness …

Bootnotes 13 Sep 2005, 14:34
Aussies 'clueless about 3G'

Where do they get this research?

Aussies are "still clueless" about 3G, according to a report by IDC. Even though 3G - which enables users to make calls, watch video clips and browse content via their handsets - was first introduced more than two years ago, the authors behind Phone a Friend: Australian Consumer Wireless Usage and Preferences, 2005 reckon "the …

Mobile 13 Sep 2005, 14:38
Police extract stolen mobile from woman's posterior

Another body cavity blagger cuffed

Just what is it about Romanian women and mobes mobile phones? Back in April, we reported on the sticky case of 34-year-old Ruxandra Gardian who attempted to make good her escape with a phone concealed in her vagina. Unfortunately for her, quick-thinking cops simply rang the thing and the game was up. We suggested at the time …

Bootnotes 13 Sep 2005, 14:45
HP UK job cuts detailed

968 jobs to go...

Printer giant HP has detailed just how many jobs it is cutting in the UK. It seems 968 HP employees in the UK are to lose their jobs. The company has seven UK sites but will not explain which jobs are going from where. Most jobs are going from HR, IT and finance, according to the BBC, but HP would not say how many of the …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 14:50
Good Technology confirms layoffs

Exclusive Bad day for sales team

Nokia's mobile email software sidekick Good Technology today confirmed claims that it has made a large number of its workers redundant. In a statement made to The Register, the company admitted that it had implemented a "reduction in staff largely in our inside sales team". The company's statement follows allegations made …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 15:10
eBuyer 'fesses up to problems

Inventory management system wasn't managing

Online retailer eBuyer has apologised to customers forced to wait for purchases and blamed a problem with its inventory management system for the problems. The Register started getting emails late last week complaining of renewed problems with eBuyer. Back in July the site had a series of problems which led to 282 complaints to …

Financial News 13 Sep 2005, 15:15
IT pros more aware of Sexual Offences Act

'No excuse for employers'

More than half of IT pros are now aware of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and its recent campaign to stamp out illegal content in the workplace. In May, the IWF kicked off its "Wipe it Out" campaign to crack down on child porn in the workplace following the introduction of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) 2003. At the time, …

IT Director 13 Sep 2005, 15:19
ID cards and eBay and whiskers on kittens...

Letters A few of your favourite things

More on the tax office's computer error. This would be the unnoticed computer error which resulted in almost a million taxpayer records being deleted from Inland Revenue computer systems between 1997 and 2000. Yes, you read that right: How convenient - this "computer error" (i.e. down to lack of testing) saves the Revenue £70m …

Letters 13 Sep 2005, 15:27
Users play fast and loose with corporate PCs

Risky business

Users are more likely to engage in risky internet behaviour at work because they reckon their IT department will protect them against viruses, worms, spyware, spam, phishing, and other security threats. That's according to a recent online survey of 1,200 corporate end users in the US, Germany, and Japan conducted by net security …

Security 13 Sep 2005, 15:44
Mobile WiMAX - getting there very slowly

Standards still all shook up

Mobile WiMAX will happen, but don't expect it to be an overnight success, says analyst company Visant. "It takes time to tweak and test a network, and carriers have to be comfortable with it," Visant's Andy Fuertes told us. "WiMAX isn't going to skip those stages because Intel says so." The analysts note that while technical …

Mobile 13 Sep 2005, 22:44
Apple shot first, asked question later, say sued sites

Trigger-happy lawyers

Apple sent its lawyers after two amateur-run Mac news sites without conducting a serious internal company investigation first to demand who leaked trade secrets, court documents show. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which bid to have the documents unsealed, claims it deals a crucial blow to Apple's attempt to silence the …

Music and Media 13 Sep 2005, 22:47
Microsoft CRM RSS feeds on the books

Challenging Salesforce.com?

Microsoft is introducing RSS to its fledgling customer relationship management (CRM) suite. The company is working on features that enable users of its Dynamics CRM to receive updated sales information through subscriber-based Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. RSS is expected in the third edition of Microsoft's CRM software …

Applications 13 Sep 2005, 22:52
Gates previews Windows Vista and Office 12

Déjà vu all over again

Two years after unveiling Microsoft's "biggest release of the decade" Bill Gates is back to preview features in the upcoming Windows Vista client, along with Office 12. Opening Microsoft's Professional Developers' Conference (PDC)in Los Angeles, Gates set the scene for the first public demonstrations of Windows Vista and Office …

Operating Systems 13 Sep 2005, 23:00