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20th October 2005 Archive

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  • Apache cause celeb for Sun and BEA

    Jini and WebLogic in same week

    Java vendors' growing captivation with Apache has resulted in expanded product and licensing support from BEA Systems and Sun Microsystems. The latest toolkit for Sun's Jini peer-to-peer networking architecture has been released under the newest version of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF's) software license. Among the …

    Developer 20 Oct 2005, 08:43

  • ITV trials broadband TV

    It's local TV for locals

    ITV has become the latest outfit to dip its toe in the water of broadband TV with the launch of a pilot service on the south coast of England. The TV service is aimed at viewers in the Brighton and Hastings area who will be able to tune into channels featuring local content including news, weather and entertainment guides via a …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 09:06

  • Secret tracking codes in laser printers cracked

    Big brother does dot-to-dot

    The pages that are printed by your colour laser printer may include tiny dots, almost invisible to the naked eye. The dots form a code that can be read by the US Secret Service, ostensibly to track down counterfeiters. Now, for the first time, the code has been cracked. The Secret Service has admitted before that the tracking …

    Management 20 Oct 2005, 09:55

  • OFT objects to Visa transaction fee pact

    It was always on the cards

    The Office of Fair Trading says that Visa and its members, including most major banks, are breaking competition laws by agreeing a fee that is payable on card transactions. It follows a similar ruling last month against MasterCard. The statement of objections focuses on what is called a domestic multilateral interchange fee, or …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 10:03

  • Publishers join forces to sue Google

    It's what all the cool kids are doing

    The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is suing Google over its plans to make scans of millions of books available online. Google announced earlier this year that it would digitise and index the content of five major libraries, and make the content searchable. The publishing group says Google's Print Library project will …

    Media 20 Oct 2005, 10:30

  • Colt shunts more jobs overseas

    Narrows losses though

    Colt - the UK-based telecoms group that provides communications services to businesses - is still shunting jobs overseas as it continues to cut costs. By the end of the year 15 per cent of its workforce will be based in India taking headcount there to 450 while numbers in Europe will drop to 3,400. Turnover for the three …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 10:34

  • Animal lovers slam Choke-A-Chicken toy

    Oz kids encouraged to strangle dancing poultry

    Aussie animal lovers are up in arms about a dancing chicken toy which squawks and slaps his wings when strangled, slamming the Taiwanese novelty as "grossly irresponsible", AP reports. The Choke-a-Chicken is imported into Oz by Jaycar Electronics, which pitches the electronic pet at kiddies over three. The blurb explains: The …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2005, 10:37

  • David Copperfield to attempt stage impregnation

    Magic wand will put bun in oven

    Not content with making the Statue of Liberty disappear or or having himself sawn in half by a circular saw and then reassembled, magician David Copperfield will attempt to impregnate a woman live on stage - without going anywhere near her with his magic wand. If he succeeds, it will be his crowning acheivement - doubly …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2005, 11:03

  • ISS astronauts see Wilma intensify

    Lots of cloud

    As Hurricane Wilma became the most intense category five hurricane on record, astronauts on board the International Space Station were on hand to capture the evidence. The storm, currently wandering through the Caribbean, seems to span the globe in the image from NASA TV. It has since dropped to a still fearsome category four …

    Science 20 Oct 2005, 11:13

  • AOL erases 700 workers

    You have a pink slip.

    AOL is axing 700 jobs in response to the hordes of users fleeing the service. The bulk of the jobs are to be lost at its "Member Services" organisation with the closure of its operation in Orlando. Some jobs in Dulles have also been zapped while a "small number of actions across our worldwide operations were taken in an effort …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 11:15

  • Chinese babies for sale on eBay tentacle

    Shanghai police probe illegal ads

    Shanghai police are searching for someone called Chuangxinzhe Yongyuan (forever innovator) who offered babies for sale on eBay-owned Chinese site Eachnet. Ads placed on 16 October punted infants from the impoverished province of Henan for 28,000 yuan (£1,950) for a boy and 13,000 yuan (£900) for a girl. According to China Daily …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2005, 11:18

  • Irate Chinese threaten Google boycott

    Taiwan controversy rumbles on

    China has thrown a predictable strop at Google after the search monolith apparently bowed to Taiwanese pressure to stop calling the island a province of China on its popular maps service. As we recently reported, Taiwan emailed Google to insist it is in fact the Republic of China. Foreign ministry spokesman, Michel Lu, …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2005, 11:54

  • Nokia ships beastly number of phones in third quarter

    And still the people scream for more

    Nokia jacked up its estimate of the likely size of the world mobile market this year, as it revealed third quarter numbers which show it taking a third of the market overall. Total revenues in the quarter ending September 30 were €8.4bn, up 18 per cent on the year. Net profits came in at €881m, up 29 per cent on the year. …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 12:59

  • Firefox hits 100m downloads

    Updated Up, up and away

    There's reason to crack open the champagne at the Mozilla Foundation today after Firefox browser downloads reached the 100m milestone. Yup it's party time and fans of the open source browser are invited to upload their celebratory snaps here. There's also a plan to release a Firefox One, a weather balloon capable of carrying a …

    Applications 20 Oct 2005, 13:08

  • eBay names beancounter for top Skype job

    Someone to count on

    Ebay chief beancounter Rajiv Dutta has been named president of Skype as the online auction site attempts to capitalise on its $4bn acquisition of the VoiP outfit. Dutta will work with Skype chief exec Niklas Zennstrom and eBay's head auctioneer Meg Whitman to help integrate the internet telephony business across eBay. Whitman …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 13:38

  • Netflix hits pause on movie download plan

    Chopped down by Hollywood

    Internet DVD renter Netflix has put its plans for a movie download service on hold after failing to agree terms with Hollywood. In a conference discussing its third quarter numbers Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the company would continue working on the infrastructure for the planned service, Reuters reports. However, due to …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 14:06

  • New software lobby group to target EU politicians

    Let's get associated

    Some of Europe's biggest software companies have joined forces to form the European Software Association, a new industry body set up specifically to lobby the European Commission and Parliament on behalf of the software industry. Other similar lobby groups already exist, but according to the newly formed ESA (not to be confused …

    Software 20 Oct 2005, 14:14

  • CA lights up storage with iLumin capture

    Analysis Global rollout looms

    This week Computer Associates strengthened its already robust storage management offerings with the acquisition of iLumin, a privately held supplier of enterprise message management and archiving tools. The move will add extra functionality to CA's existing line of storage management offerings, particularly in the rapidly …

    Storage 20 Oct 2005, 14:44

  • Microsoft becomes Wembley Stadium sponsor

    Blue screen, green turf tie-up

    Microsoft has announced a deal to becomes Wembley Stadium’s first founding partner. The deal - reportedly worth £5m over five years - comes with an agreement by Wembley National Stadium Ltd to take on the software giant as a technology partner. Hardware vendors such as HP and Sun have been heavily involved in sponsoring motor …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 15:04

  • Starry future for broadband movies

    We'll all be at it, apparently

    Every home in the UK will download at least one movie using their broadband connection by 2010 giving filmmakers a potentially lucrative new source of revenue, according to research from Screen Digest. Analysts predict that the market for the legitimate downloading of movies is set to be worth more than £60m in the UK over the …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 15:15

  • US Navy sued over dolphin-stranding sonar

    Ouooooop... click... phweeeeeeep

    The US Navy is facing legal action from environmentalists over its use of sonar in routine training, according to reports. The Natural Defense Resources Council (NRDC) argues in a federal lawsuit that the sonar can cause injury and death to many marine mammals, and that the Navy is violating environmental law with its sonar use …

    Science 20 Oct 2005, 16:05

  • Webroot guesstimates inflate UK spyware problem

    Paint it black

    The UK had the third highest rate of spyware infections last quarter, according to research by anti-spyware firm Webroot Software which lumps tracking cookies in with far more malicious risks such as Trojans and keylogging programs. The UK has 18 "spies" on an average PC if you include cookies but only 4.5 if you exclude these …

    Security 20 Oct 2005, 16:18

  • O2 pushes ahead with super-fast mobile service

    Manx for the memories

    O2 is on the verge of flicking the switch on its latest super-fast mobile service. The Isle of Man will see the first commercial launch of an HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) network service in Europe when it goes live on November 1, say those behind the scheme. Once up and running, customers will be able to use their …

    Mobile 20 Oct 2005, 16:21

  • US regulators mandate extra eBanking security

    Feds eye two-factors

    US federal regulators want banks to adopt two-factor authentication as a means to combat the growing problem of online account fraud. Bank Web sites are expected to introduce systems that move beyond basic password access to accounts by the end of 2006, according to guidance issued by the Federal Financial Institutions …

    Security 20 Oct 2005, 17:20

  • Intel's Paxville: too slow, too hot, too dumb

    Opteron killer - back to the drawing board?

    When we nicknamed Intel's new dual-core Xeon processor "Hot Carl," we didn't know how prophetic this would be. A fresh set of benchmarks comparing the Xeon with AMD's dual-core Opteron chip show Intel's product to be a power hungry demon that doesn't perform. GamePC got its hands on some of the Xeons - code-named "Paxville …

    Servers 20 Oct 2005, 17:58

  • OpenOffice challenges Microsoft on XML standards

    Freedom versus Function

    The open source community has taken a further step towards unseating Microsoft's Office productivity hegemony, with the release of its latest suite. OpenOffice 2.0 has been released featuring a new interface and a standards-based XML architecture intended to tempt even more governments, companies and individuals to convert from …

    Applications 20 Oct 2005, 20:24

  • Zend scripts industry PHP push

    More open source then ever

    Zend Technologies is rallying vendors and the open source community to promote industry wide consistency in PHP and promote greater developer uptake. Zend has created the PHP Collaboration Project with backing from 14 software and hardware companies. The project will create the Zend PHP Framework to help standardize the way …

    Developer 20 Oct 2005, 22:56

  • Phone buy puts Adobe head-to-head with Microsoft

    Flash the stealth killer platform, all along?

    Macromedia is to acquire Mobile Innovation, a privately-held design and integration house in the UK with around 50 staff, for an undisclosed sum. What makes this deal noteworthy is that Mobile Innovation designs phones as well as user interfaces. It's an integrator, and Tier One handset manufacturers devolve a lot of design …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2005, 23:19