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1st November 2005 Archive

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  • Is the WiMAX-4G train leaving without Intel?

    WiMAX World Qualcomm and start-ups steal the show

    Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose? Wireless has increasingly been the subject of Californian utopians' fantasies for several years now. The propellerheads were coming, we were told, and armed with technology such as smart radios, the evil incumbent telcos would be overthrown, along with hated authority figures regulators …

    Mobile 1 Nov 2005, 01:43

  • AA call centre staff get toilet checks

    Pitstops not fast enough...

    The Automobile Association's call centre staff will be taking stop watches to the toilet to make sure they don't breach new work rules which limit the time they can spend on the loo. Staff should be "online", on the phone, for 85 per cent of the time. The rules reportedly mean staff get 82 minutes a day to have lunch, other …

    IT Director 1 Nov 2005, 08:02

  • SOA? It’s A People Thing

    Don’t get so excited about the technology

    One of the major issues with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is that technology companies are the primary drivers of its development, yet its implementation has little to do with technology. This does create a situation where having an `SOA’ offering becomes an important tick-box for the technology vendors, with each …

    Developer 1 Nov 2005, 09:02

  • Opera takes to the sky with Thales deal

    In-flight entertainment, Norwegian-style

    Opera is to supply its browser for the TopSeries in-flight entertainment system Thales sells to operators of the larger Boeing and Airbus planes. So next time you are browsing the web at 30,000 feet, you know who to thank. The company says its browser was selected because it can be deployed easily in so many languages, …

    Applications 1 Nov 2005, 09:17

  • AOL founder finally prised out of Time Warner

    Case to spend more time with Carly

    Farewell, then Steve Case. The man who founded AOL and saved it from dotcom meltdown by turning it into a gigantic suicide truck aimed at Time Warner, finally left the board today. Case had served as chairman of the merged Time Warner-AOL until January 2003. While his former AOL colleague Bob Pittman left as the merger - …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 09:23

  • HP hopes users warm to Itanium blade servers

    Unix adventure

    HP has started slinging an Itanium-based blade at customers looking to run HP-UX on compact systems. The Integrity BL60p will ship in the first quarter of next year and hold two Itanic processors. HP has picked 1.6GHz versions of Intel’s “Madison” version of Itanium with 3MB of cache. Up to eight of the blades can be slotted …

    Servers 1 Nov 2005, 09:36

  • Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows

    More fun with digital audio

    Sysinternals' Mark Russinovich has performed an analysis of the copy restriction measures deployed by Sony Music on its latest CDs: which he bluntly calls a 'root kit'. Using conventional tools to remove Sony's digital media malware will leave ordinary users with Windows systems unable to play CDs. While the Sony CDs play fine …

    Security 1 Nov 2005, 10:25

  • Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.3

    Major Tiger update

    Apple has released Mac OS X 10.4.3, the latest update to its operating system. The patch is available from both Apple's support website and through the OS' own Software Update mechanism. The update is available for both the client and server versions of the OS, and separate update downloads target Mac OS X 10.4.2 and other, …

    Operating Systems 1 Nov 2005, 10:30

  • Voda flogs Swedish operation

    After all, it makes sense

    Vodafone is flogging its Swedish operation to Telenor for around €1bn (£700m) because it "makes sense". The deal, announced yesterday afternoon, sees the UK-based mobile giant selling its 100 per cent stake in Vodafone Sweden to the pan-Nordic telco and the largest provider of telecoms services in Norway. If all goes to plan …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 10:33

  • Oracle offers free beta

    Free as in beer...

    Oracle is offering a free, beta version of its XE database product. The "Express Edition" is available as a free download for developers and students to play around with. But software vendors can also distribute it. Oracle says it is based on the same Release 2 code base and is fully-compatible with other Oracle databases. It …

    Applications 1 Nov 2005, 10:34

  • Nvidia wrestles desktop graphics lead from ATI

    Intel ahead of both, almost everywhere else

    Nvidia has reclaimed the leadership of the desktop graphics chip market from arch-rival ATI, third-quarter figures from market watcher Jon Peddie Research (JPR) reveals. According to the firm's latest Market Watch statistics, desktop graphics chip shipments were up 9.8 per cent sequentially in Q3 to 50.9m units. Integrated-part …

    System Builder 1 Nov 2005, 10:47

  • AMD, IBM to develop 32nm, 22nm chip making tech

    Official announcement months after details leaked

    AMD and IBM have extended their chip fabrication process development pact, the two companies confirmed yesterday. The agreement will see the pair co-operating on the technologies used to produce processors at 32nm and 22nm, and will centre on research in transistor design, interconnects, lithography and ways to connect a die to …

    System Builder 1 Nov 2005, 10:54

  • Juniper's pan-Euro disty deal

    InTechnology in the frame..

    InTechnology has done a deal with Juniper Networks to distribute its products across Europe. The disty will sell the J-Series of enterprise routers aimed at big firms and government departments in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal and the UK. InTechnology said the deal was a credit to its Network Solutions …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2005, 10:57

  • Pretec readies smallest USB Flash drive yet

    Honey, I shrunk the storage

    Memory card specialist Pretec is to introduce what may be the world's smalled USB Flash drive. The iDisk Diamond - successor to the company's iDisk II and iDisk Tiny product lines - is smaller than a standard USB connector. The 2.7cm x 1.2cm x 1.9mm sliver weighs a mere 1g, though its 128MB storage capacity isn't exactly much …

    Peripherals 1 Nov 2005, 10:59

  • Compel to tell AGM it's on track

    Looking good

    Compel is holding its AGM this afternoon and will tell shareholders it is on track to hit financial targets for the year. Chairman Sir Michael Bett will say: "Since our full year results announcement in late September, market conditions have remained stable and we anticipate this environment will continue. "Our performance is …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 11:01

  • Hubble spies two maybe-moons orbiting Pluto

    Confirmation to follow in February

    Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope think they may have identified two previously unknown moons orbiting Pluto. Any discovery to do with Pluto is particularly useful because despite its much debated planet-status, it is a Kuiper Belt object, meaning it is a remnant of the very earliest era of the solar system. The …

    Science 1 Nov 2005, 11:03

  • AMD trims Opteron prices

    One-way server chips get cheaper

    AMD quietly cut the prices of its Opteron 1xx 64-bit server processor family yesterday - the company's third round of price adjustments in seven days. The latest cuts affect all but the top-most dual-core and single-core Opteron 1xx chips, the 180 and 152. All the rest, both single- and dual-core, saw their prices reduced by …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2005, 11:04

  • Green light for Venus mission launch

    New launch date slated

    Venus Express, Europe's first mission to our sister planet, has been given the all clear and a new launch date, after the satellite was grounded because of contamination from the rocket launcher. The craft will now lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 9 November. It was originally set to launch on 26 October …

    Science 1 Nov 2005, 11:19

  • Morse suffers poor first half

    But confident on year

    Morse said sales were poor in the first half of the year but it expects things to pick up during the second half. It expects a greater proportion than before to be earned in the second half of the year, due to its shift away from pure reselling. In a statement to the Stock Exchange ahead of its AGM this morning Morse said: "The …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 11:29

  • Dell stays mum on job cuts

    Speaks in smoky riddles

    Dell is poised for its biggest job-slashing program for four years, according to reports. A Register reader got in touch to tell us he had heard that 180 jobs will go in the UK and Ireland but staff were still in the dark. Dell UK is unwilling to talk about job cuts blaming the "quiet period" before the desktop giant posts …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2005, 11:53

  • Bulldog makes fresh start

    No longer in the doghouse

    Bulldog is kicking off a new marketing campaign today in the hope it can draw a line under the unpleasantness of the last couple of months. The Cable & Wireless-owned ISP had a rotten summer after being overwhelmed by demand for its broadband service. But its failure to provide the service expected led to hundreds of complaints …

    Telecoms 1 Nov 2005, 12:06

  • Stem cell hopefuls swamp Korean research website

    'I wish I could walk again'

    The website of the World Stem Cell Hub in Seoul was reduced to a crawl for several hours earlier today after it bgean accepting applications for patients with spinal injuries or Parkinson's disease willing to take part in stem cell research, AP reports. Despite explicitly stating that the volunteers were being asked to donate …

    Science 1 Nov 2005, 12:06

  • US telco mergers get FCC rubber stamp

    Time to move on

    Two mega mergers in the US telecoms sector got the green light yesterday after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it was satisfied the deals offered "significant benefits" to punters. The approval means that SBC can go ahead with its $16bn merger with AT&T while Verizon can finally swallow MCI as part of an $8.5bn …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 12:08

  • October breaks malware production records

    Variants on a theme

    October saw the biggest increase in virus numbers since anti-virus firm Sophos began tracking outbreaks in 1988. The security vendor now identifies and protects against a total of 112,142 viruses, an increase of 1,685 on September. Rather than creating new viral strains, the bad guys are churning out multiple new variants of …

    Malware 1 Nov 2005, 12:11

  • Could yoghurt save us from MRSA?

    Superbug not a big dairy fan

    Humble yoghurt could be a more effective defence against super bugs such as MRSA than all the antiseptics and antibiotics in the world, according to a researcher at University College London (UCL). Professor Mark Spigelman, of UCL's Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health, has published a discussion paper …

    Science 1 Nov 2005, 14:00

  • German boffins snap hi-res rat brain activity

    Unique brain-chip interface

    German scientists have taken a movie of a rat's mental clockworks using a unique brain-chip interface they say could pave the way for mind-controlled prosthetic limbs. The 20ms movie, which can be slowed down by a factor of 1,000 if your powers of concentration are not sharp enough to catch it, captures brain activity at …

    Science 1 Nov 2005, 14:37

  • Reseller posts Splinter Cell game unlock code

    Chaos Theory cock-up

    Top marks to US reseller Tiger Direct for (essentially) giving away a copy of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory to every potential customer of Leadtek's WinFast PX 7800 GT TDH graphics card. Yes, the card does come with a copy of the game bundled alongside Prince of Persia and a host of other apps and utilities, but Tiger Direct is …

    Bootnotes 1 Nov 2005, 15:01

  • Sony offers iTunes-like PSP media tool

    PSP vs iPod

    Sony has launched the PlayStation Portable's answer to Apple's iTunes jukebox software: a PC-based application designed to keep the mobile device stocked with music, video, photography and other content. PSP Media Manager copies media to the games console across a USB 2.0 link. It sniffs out suitable content on the host …

    Consoles 1 Nov 2005, 15:12

  • Union demands assurances over O2 jobs

    The man from Telefonica, he say...

    The union representing some 3,000 staff at O2 has called on the cellco to give written assurances that jobs will not be axed following the take-over by Telefonica. Yesterday, the Spanish telco confirmed plans to blow £18bn to acquire O2, the former mobile division of BT. While Telefonica is keen to expand its operations into …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2005, 15:27

  • Shout goes out over PHP security bugs

    The script's a killer

    Security researchers have identified numerous new vulnerabilities in PHP - the popular, open source web development environment. The critical security flaws create a possible means for hackers to conduct cross-site scripting attacks, bypass certain security restrictions or even (at least potentially) compromise a vulnerable …

    Enterprise Security 1 Nov 2005, 15:38

  • Creative Zen Vision personal video player

    Review Outclassed by PSP?

    We might not like the idea, but manufacturers around the world are intent on telling us that we must and will watch movies on the go. One of the first companies to try and get you to swallow this mantra was Creative, and its latest attempt is its update to the Portable Media Center, the Zen Vision, writes Stuart Miles. Small …

    Reviews 1 Nov 2005, 15:49

  • Jesus appears in Romanian wardrobe

    Pilgrims flock to furniture simulacrum

    A Romanian family is bracing itself for a veritable crusade of pilgrims after discovering the likeness of Jesus flanked by Saints Peter and Paul in a humble wardrobe, Ananova reports. Valeriu Junie, 66, says he spotted the holy trio about a year ago while watching TV. The epiphanised Junie recalled: "I turned on the light and …

    Bootnotes 1 Nov 2005, 15:53

  • Vodafone blackout cuts calls to Orange

    Network spookiness

    Vodafone's mobile network wobbled last night leaving punters unable to call anyone on the Orange network. The incident occurred at around 2.30am this morning and was blamed on a software glitch. Engineers resolved the problem at around 9.15am this morning. However, as part of the fix Vodafone punters whose numbers were …

    Mobile 1 Nov 2005, 16:03

  • Google blinks on office suite

    World gasps

    Global search merchant Google is contemplating hiring engineers to help build OpenOffice applications. Google's manager for open-source programs Chris DiBona told news.com: "We want to hire a couple of people to help make OpenOffice better." With these innocent, careless words DiBona started another snowstorm of speculation …

    Applications 1 Nov 2005, 16:10

  • Asteroid hunters text government over toilet sanctions

    Letters Er, that'll be your letters

    The AA was caught out this week in a most unfortunate piece of worker-wrangling. Call centre staff, it seems, are watched very closely to make sure they are not spending valuable company time on the lav. There's a lot of sympathy for AA call centre staff out there, because so many of you have similar experiences. Company names …

    Letters 1 Nov 2005, 16:42

  • BT Ireland tipped to buy networking outfit

    All quiet on Cara deal

    BT Ireland looks set to acquire Dublin-based networking outfit Cara Group in a deal that could be announced as early as this week Cara is involved in LAN, WAN and wireless networking and also IP telephony for government and corporate clients. Speculation that Cara could become a take-over target have been circulating for at …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2005, 16:46

  • Bank-robbing witch foiled by magic dye pack

    Hallowe'en blag goes up in purple smoke

    A female Hallowe'en blagger dressed as a witch robbed two banks in less than an hour - but failed to use her magic powers to ward off the effects of an exploding dye pack, AP reports. The first hit came at Olympia, Washington, when a woman wearing a "shiny purple witch hat, cloak and long blond wig handed the teller a note …

    Bootnotes 1 Nov 2005, 16:49

  • Sri Lanka blocks South Pacific in rogue dialer crackdown

    Cut off the usual suspects

    Sri Lanka is to block direct dialling to 13 countries, mostly in the South Pacific, in a move designed to combat the growing menace of rogue autodiallers. The ban comes into force on Tuesday (1 November), AFP reports. Rogue dialers change the number used in dial-up connections to an expensive international number. Sometimes …

    Telecoms 1 Nov 2005, 16:53

  • RIM unveils Intel-based Blackberry

    8700c to ship in three weeks' time

    Research In Motion will ship its Intel-based Blackberry 8700c in three weeks' time, the company said today. The device, which utilises and updates the classic Blackberry hardware form-factor, sports a 320 x 240, 65,536-colour LCD, 16MB of SRAM and 64MB of Flash storage in addition to the XScale PXA901 processor supplied by …

    Mobile 1 Nov 2005, 17:17

  • Intel shoves dual-core Xeon MP out the door

    AMD's lead shrinks a tad

    Intel has again pushed ahead with being behind on the dual-core server processor front. The chipmaker today said its dual-core Xeon intended for servers with four or more processors has started shipping today, instead of in early 2006 as originally planned. This puts Intel just about seven months behind AMD, which shipped its …

    Servers 1 Nov 2005, 18:07

  • Dell ends four-way, dual-core chip boycott

    All hail Paxville MP

    At long last, Dell can now go head-to-head with its main competitors and offer a four-way server that uses dual-core chips. Dell piggybacked on Intel's announcement today of the Xeon MP processor 7000 to say that its PowerEdge 6800 and 6850 servers are dual-core ready. The quad-socket boxes perform up to 51 per cent better with …

    Servers 1 Nov 2005, 19:28

  • SCO lodges 'infringing' code with court

    But we can't see it yet?

    After two and a half years of waiting for the shoe to drop, the SCO Group has finally filed the evidence it alleges was misused by IBM, and incorporated into the Linux kernel, to a Utah court. SCO lodged the five page document, which identifies 217 areas of concern, in compliance with an interim deadline on Friday; the company …

    Developer 1 Nov 2005, 21:30

  • 'Replace CEOs with cans of beets'

    FoTW Dress good, or become Gateway

    Just to prepare you all for the joy that lies ahead later this week when we publish the complete Stern Response mailbag, I've decided to issue this flame in its full, unedited glory. Now you know what I have to deal with on a daily basis. RE: CEOs should follow NBA and make geeks wear real clothes Hey, shit for (what might be …

    Letters 1 Nov 2005, 21:31

  • Web hosted, ad-supported Windows: streaming to your PC

    .NET done - now let's get Google

    Microsoft patted itself on the back for completing .NET, while announcing 'live' Windows and Office offerings today. With these offerings, Microsoft hopes it can counter Google and tap into the trend for "software as a service." Bill Gates, Microsoft's chief software architect, said Tuesday that planned versions of Visual …

    Software 1 Nov 2005, 22:26

  • Google revs up its scanners

    Brrrm, brrrm

    Google Print is revving up its scanners once again, vowing to churn through more books from the Stanford University and University of Michigan collections. Google imposed a moratorium on the scanning project in August, but threatened to resume scanning by the start of November, which is today. While Google has struck agreements …

    Music and Media 1 Nov 2005, 23:00