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28th October 2005 Archive

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  • Wall Street puzzled by Microsoft's performance

    Be careful who you compare yourself to

    It may have been Microsoft's show but both Google and Yahoo! made their presence felt during the company's first quarter earnings call Thursday. Wall St analysts, clearly wowed by Google's ballooning business model, quizzed Microsoft over why MSN's revenue is projected to be flat or grow by two per cent this year, when Google …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 00:11

  • Visual Studio and SQL Server '05 step closer

    Close, close, closer

    They've been a longtime coming, but Microsoft's next database and developer tools have entered the final straight with code released to manufacturing. Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 have been posted to Microsoft's Developer Network (MSDN) with code due to become generally available at a November 7 launch event in San …

    Applications 28 Oct 2005, 00:58

  • Verizon's MCI deal gets Washington green light

    Thank god that's over

    The US Department of Justice has OK’d Verizon’s $8.4bn takeover of MCI, finally bringing an end to one of the US’ most spectacular corporate soap operas. The DoJ is forcing the combined company will have to offload some some dark fiber connections to ensure competition. The Feds are enforcing similar divestitures on the SBC/AT& …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 10:00

  • MIT and Nokia open joint research facility

    Surprise! It's all about mobile devices

    MIT said yesterday that it is starting a new research centre in partnership with Nokia, as part of its Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The new facility, called the Nokia Research Centre Cambridge, will focus specifically on advancing "the state of the art in mobile computing and communications", …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2005, 10:05

  • Sex.com thief arrested

    Stephen Cohen nabbed after five years on the run

    The con-man who stole the most valuable domain name in the world, Sex.com, has been arrested by Mexican police and handed over to US agents after nearly six years on the run. Stephen Michael Cohen was arrested on an immigration violation by Mexican authorities and turned over to the US border patrol yesterday, the LA Times has …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 10:30

  • Anti-Spyware definitions finalised

    Cover blown

    The Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC), an alliance of software companies, security firms and consumer groups, finalised its definitions of spyware on Thursday. The group defined spyware and other potentially unwanted technologies as those deployed without appropriate user consent and/or implemented in ways that impair user control …

    Malware 28 Oct 2005, 10:36

  • Dutch Big Brother mum quits show

    Suffers attack of good sense

    The woman who gave birth in the Dutch Big Brother house has walked out of the show after branding housemates "childish, talkative and manipulative", the BBC reports. "I want to enjoy maternity, not feel annoyance," Tanja told Dutch paper De Telegraaf, admitting: "I'll be happy when I am amongst normal people again." The …

    Bootnotes 28 Oct 2005, 10:40

  • Janet Jackson in net strip shocker

    Nude sunbathing clip hits web

    Janet Jackson yesterday made an unexpected guest appearence on at least two websites in a 34-second clip showing the singer sunbathing in her birthday suit. According to Reuters, the video "appears to have been shot surreptitiously through an opening in a fence surrounding an outdoor enclosure where the subject was lying on a …

    Bootnotes 28 Oct 2005, 11:21

  • Level 3/Cogent agree new traffic deal

    End of the end of the peer show

    Level 3 and Cogent Communications’ customers should not have to worry about being marooned from one another’s networks without notice after the firms announced a reworked peering agreement. The new deal continues the internet firms’ peering agreement, with revamped traffic agreements. More importantly for users, the firms will …

    Data Networking 28 Oct 2005, 11:47

  • Info Commissioner criticises ID Cards Bill

    Privacy and Data Protection concerns

    The Information Commissioner believes the measures set out in the National Identify Cards Bill go "well beyond" the requirements to set up a secure, reliable and trustworthy ID card system. In a statement published on the organisation's website, to the Bill that was passed by Parliament on 18 October, Richard Thomas, the …

    ID 28 Oct 2005, 11:51

  • Hounslow outsources revenue and benefits

    £50m contract award announced

    The London Borough of Hounslow has this week awarded an outsourcing contract worth £50m. The council appointed BPO service provider Liberata on a 10-year contract to manage a host of Hounslow’s back office functions including the administration and payment of housing and council tax benefits, council tax and national non- …

    IT Director 28 Oct 2005, 11:52

  • Manchester boffins hunt tropical storms in Darwin

    Why does it always rain on me?

    Researchers from the University of Manchester are heading off to Australia next week in search of a better understanding of the role dust particles play in the weather, ozone layer depletion, and possibly even in climate change. Yes, we know, it sounds like a lovely project: swapping a cold, gloomy Manchester winter for the …

    Science 28 Oct 2005, 11:58

  • Sales up but profits down at Ingram Micro

    Peaks and troughs

    Profits at Ingram Micro slipped to $48.4m in Q3 2005 from $77.3m in the same period last year. The distie's income dropped even though its sales grew 16 per cent from $6.02bn in Q3 2004 to $6.96bn in Q3 2005. Europe made up a third (43 per cent) of these sales, up 10 per cent compared to last year. Ingram Micro blamed one-time …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 13:34

  • WD Q1 nets increased income

    More hard drives sold, with better margins

    Western Digital saw hard drive shipments rise more than 8.2 per cent during the three months to 30 September 2005, the hard drive maker announced last night as it published its Q1 FY2006 financial figures. Sales for the period reached $1.01bn, up 23 per cent on the year-ago quarter and 7.5 per cent up on the previous quarter. …

    Storage 28 Oct 2005, 13:38

  • Florida ponders violent game distribution limits

    Not for sale or rental to kids

    Florida looks set to join California and introduce legislation to limit the sale of violent computer and video games to children. Sponsored by Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the Florida bill bans the sale of violent games to anyone under the age of 18. The bill calls for such games to be badged with a 2.5cm square sticker …

    Consoles 28 Oct 2005, 13:48

  • PDA shipment slide continued through Q3

    Ray of light at the low end?

    While the world's mobile professionals continue to buy fewer PDAs than they have in the past, the low-end of the market continues to show some strength, market watcher IDC said yesterday. Worldwide PDA shipments fell 16.7 per cent between Q3 2005 and Q3 2004, IDC's numbers show, with the most recently completed calendar quarter …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2005, 13:51

  • Mobile data a rip-off says email software vendor

    OpenHand wags a finger

    A British email software claims greedy mobile operators are locking it out of the mobile data, forcing it to find a backdoor into the lucrative sector. OpenHand Software says it became so exasperated by trying to sell its mobile data service through operators that it came to the conclusion they have a vested interest in selling …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2005, 14:08

  • Palm TX Wi-Fi PDA

    Review Back in black

    It's not so long ago that Palm launched the LifeDrive, the first PDA to include a hard drive, and Palm set itself up with a tough act to follow. Its twin autumn launches comprised one PDA designed to get newcomers interested - the £80 Z22, and one for the more serious PDA fan, the T|X, writes Sandra Vogel. Palm has decided to …

    Reviews 28 Oct 2005, 14:29

  • Biometric monkeys get Imperial about student satellites

    Letters And why not?

    What a mixed and varied week it has been. Let's see...where to start? None of you was very impressed that a sociologist was giving evidence this week in the Dover intelligent design trial. We had several letters suggesting that some kind of science, as opposed to arts-based qualification would be more useful. Reader Scott …

    Letters 28 Oct 2005, 15:00

  • Court squashes strawberry scent trade mark bid

    The sweet smell of legal failure

    The European Court of First Instance yesterday dismissed an attempt to register a trade mark for the smell of ripe strawberries, on the grounds that there is no “generally accepted international classification of smells” that would identify the mark. Laboratoires France Parfum had applied for a community trade mark in 1999 – …

    Science 28 Oct 2005, 15:17

  • eBay scam gang face sentencing

    Husband and wife scammers

    A couple who conspired together to fleece eBay users worldwide out of around £300,000 in a long-running scam are due to be sentenced at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court on Friday. Nicolae Cretanu, 30, and his wife Adriana, 23, a Romanian couple based in east London, conned marks into handing over cash for non-existent goods. The …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 15:25

  • Girls: fancy an SMS-fired Bluetooth vibrator?

    NSFW Well, by an amazing coincidence...

    Our female readers are invited to imagine the folllowing scenario: It's Monday, you're at work, you're bored, you're thinking "how could I possibly spice up this trawl of the 2,000 weekend emails in my inbox?" when it occurs to you that if someone were to invent an SMS-triggered Bluetooth vibrator then your partner could bring …

    Bootnotes 28 Oct 2005, 15:28

  • Unspinning the government by text message

    RU vtng 2dy?

    The government thinks that it can better engage with the public by sending it text messages. Oh deep joy. We're not sure where the government is going to get everyone's mobile phone number from. A quick straw poll in the office reveals that none of us will be handing ours over voluntarily, and we suspect we are not alone in …

    Public Sector 28 Oct 2005, 15:31

  • Phone, chip makers demand EC Qualcomm probe

    WCDMA 3G technology licencing abuse allegations made

    Nokia, Panasonic, NEC, Ericsson, Texas Instruments and Broadcom have accused Qualcomm of abusing European anti-trust regulations - and they have asked the European Commission to force it clean up its act. The six firms' beef centres on Qualcomm's ownership of key 3G mobile phone technology patents and how it makes that …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 15:41

  • Palm kicks off Euro 3G smart-phone R&D drive

    Irish centre to develop carrier apps and more

    Palm has opened an R&D centre in Ireland, the better to create custom smart-phone applications for its European, Middle Eastern and African carrier customers, the company said today. The R&D facility, located in Airside Business Park in Swords, County Dublin next door to Palm's existing European Operations and Supply Chain …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2005, 16:22

  • Microsoft warns that Korea may have to do without Windows

    Veiled threat or confession?

    Korean lovers of Microsoft's operating systems may soon have to without the software, according to the code giant. Microsoft has confessed that Windows might be pulled from the Korean market due to ongoing actions by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). In one of the many global looks at Microsoft's competitive practices, …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2005, 17:25

  • Intel's Xeon chip kill is result of chaos in India

    Exclusive Server chief leaves India and Intel behind

    While stunning in its own right, Intel's cancellation this week of the multicore "Whitefield" processor stands as a more significant miscue that simply excising a chip from a roadmap. Whitfield's disappearance is a blow to India's growing IT endeavors. Originally discovered by The Register, Whitefield stood as a major …

    Servers 28 Oct 2005, 19:02