10th November 2005 Archive

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Gates stirs Microsoft with dramatic 'more meetings' plea

Analysis We read the Bill and Ray memos - so you don't have to

Ever the master of public relations, Microsoft has always been able to figure its way out of a tight spot with the use of a judiciously leaked memo. Remember when AOL merged with Netscape back in 1998? Time to take a leak. Remember 2000, when Symbian was stealing the thunder from Microsoft's cellphone strategy? Time to take a …

Bootnotes 10 Nov 2005, 00:04
Second-hand software licences for sale

And they're legal

A new market has opened for second-hand Microsoft software licences by exploiting British insolvency laws and a clause within many Microsoft licences that permits disused or unwanted volume licences to be transferred. Microsoft says the business model is legal. Discount-licensing.com, the trading name of Staffordshire-based …

Developer 10 Nov 2005, 09:36
Cisco misses the Street

UK and Europe blamed

Cisco shares in Frankfurt are down almost three per cent this morning after the router giant posted disappointing quarterly results late last night. For the first quarter of 2006, ended 29 October 2005, Cisco made sales of $6.5bn, compared with $6.0bn for the first fiscal quarter of 2005 and $6.6bn in the fourth quarter of 2005 …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 09:47
Supremes won't review freelancer's source code defeat

Consultant wasn't consulted

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal against a ruling that said a company could modify programs written by an independent consultant, without his consent. The case serves as a reminder of the need to have written agreements in place with freelancers. The case dates back to 1996, when consultant programmer William …

The Channel 10 Nov 2005, 09:48
AMD-Intel legal battle will not go West

AMD vs Intel Court case to be heard in Delaware, not California

AMD's anti-trust lawsuit brought against Intel will be heard in the US District Court of Delware under Judge Joseph Farman, the US Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has ruled. However, pre-trial procedures relating to other anti-trust actions against the chip giant will be consolidated into AMD's action, the …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 10:00
Mobile technology: the big Reg survey

Reg Reader Studies Your invaluable input required

It's that time of the month again when we ask you, our beloved, tech-savvy readership to give us your input on a topic of IT import. This time around, the lads at Reg Reader Studies have out-snapped themselves in the title department with the scintillating "Responsibility and accountability in the deployment of mobile …

Tech Panel 10 Nov 2005, 10:38
Nvidia Q3 beats Street

Record sales - almost...

Nvidia came in ahead of analyst expectations when it announced a Q3 FY2006 net income of $65.3m (36 cents a share) on sales of $583.4m last night - just shy of the $583.8m record achieved in Q1 FY2006. That said, the company saw its profitability fall sequentially. Wall Street had been anticipating earnings of 36 cents a share …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 10:39
Openreach hits BT with £70m charge in Q2

'Foundation for certainty and clarity'

BT is shelling out £70m to fund the creation of Openreach - its new access services division. Openretch - as it's become affectionately known - forms part of a regulatory deal with Ofcom to ensure that rival telcos and operators get equal access to wholesale services from BT. In September BT agreed to abide by 230 legally- …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 10:53
Tech companies unite to buy up Linux patents

Usual suspects

A new patent holding company, Open Invention Network (OIN), has been founded with the sole aim of acquiring patents relating to Linux and offering them royalty free to Linux developers. OIN backers IBM, Novell, Red Hat, Philips and Sony said that the company would promote Linux and "spur innovation globally". Patent licences …

Software 10 Nov 2005, 11:03
Sage buys Adonix

Big buy for British book keeper

Sage is paying £78.4m in cash for French firm Adonix. Adonix provides enterprise resource planning for medium sized firms. The company claims almost 7,000 customers and twenty years of experience on its website. It employs 750 people. The deal excludes HR management developer Meta 4 and Italina ERP unit Formula which used to be …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 11:07
NTP vs RIM judge 'unlikely' to stay case

But may yet force the $450m settlement on NTP

The US Judge presiding over NTP's legal battle with Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) this week said it was "highly unlikely" he would wait for a US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) verdict on the validity of NTP's intellectual property before making his own judgement on the matter. "Frankly, it's highly unlikely that …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 11:08
Reg inks affiliate deal with MicroDirect

Site offer Get yer quality computer components here

Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that a new link appeared yesterday in the "Reg Shops" navigation box on the left of your screen, viz: "Computer Components". The explanation is simple: El Reg has inked an affiliate deal with MicroDirect to supply quality computer components, and especially peripherals, to our tech-hungry …

Site News 10 Nov 2005, 11:10
Four-GPU SLi rig spied on web

Asus R&D team's games machine revealed?

Asus has demonstrated a four graphics chips running co-operatively on an SLi-enabled motherboard. So claims Chinese language website PCPOP, which has pictures of the rig and what it can do when running 3DMark 05. The Asus system comprises the company's Nvidia nForc 4 SLi 16x-based A8N32-SLI Deluxe mainboard and a pair of its …

System Builder 10 Nov 2005, 11:15
E-voting snafu hits Schwarzenegger

Hasta la vista, Governator

A computer data cock-up meant that California Governor Schwarzenegger was told he'd already voted when he showed up at a polling station earlier this week. The Gubernator was initially advised he might have to submit a provisional ballot before checks established he hadn't previously voted, allowing the former Hollywood star to …

Policy 10 Nov 2005, 11:49
Lads from Lagos recruit Kofi Annan

Oil for food generates $250m

We've said it before and we'll say it again: 419 emails are like number 12 buses - you wait ages for one and then loads turn up at once. Yes indeed, we were delighted to learn yesterday that the late Dennis Thatcher had bequeathed us 950,000 quid, but it just gets better and better. No sooner had we fired off an email to claim …

Bootnotes 10 Nov 2005, 12:09
NY State orders car CO₂ emission curb

2009 deadline

In a bid to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, New York state officials have announced that cars sold or registered in the state must cut the amount of CO2 they produce, as of 2009. The move could cut the state's emissions of the gas by 14.9 million CO2 equivalent tons per year by 2020, and by 26.3 million CO2 equivalent tons …

Science 10 Nov 2005, 12:12
Olympus quits MP3 player market

'Freezing' a non-core operation

Apple has claimed another major scalp in the Digital Music Wars. Olympus, maker of the m:robe media player, has said it is pulling out of the market. Olympus admitted its presence in the market is weak, even though the business is a highly attractive one, according to a presentation given yesterday to outline its new strategy …

Peripherals 10 Nov 2005, 12:42
Email 'get rich quick' scams double in October

Smut and gambling promos take a dive

Incidence of email "get rich quick" scams more than doubled (albeit from a low base) last month, according to email security firm Clearswift. It warns surfers to disregard spurious "work from home opportunities" received via junk mail which are normally designed to lure naive users into criminal enterprises. After accounting for …

Security 10 Nov 2005, 12:46
Kingston Comms confirms bid approach

Takeover fever continues

Kingston Communications - the telco that operates from a BT-surrounded enclave in Hull - is the latest outfit to receive a bid approach. In a statement today the company confirmed that "has received an approach that may or may not lead to an offer for Kingston Communications. "The approach contains a number of conditions and …

Broadband 10 Nov 2005, 12:49
Her Maj gets satnavved up

Gawd bless yer, techsavvy ma'am

The Queen has installed satellite navigation systems in her Daimler-Jaguar as well the fleet of limos - three Rollers, two Bentleys and three Daimlers - which whisk Her Maj between palace and public function. That's according to UK tabloid the Sun, which reports that Liz II was seen "using" a satnav system in her Daimler-Jag at …

Bootnotes 10 Nov 2005, 13:10
US TV sex on the up-and-up

Or rather, the up-and-down

US TV viewers are currently enjoying 3,783 sex scenes per 1,000 hours of quality programming, compared with a limp 1,930 in 1998, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey has found. According to the BBC, the KFF discovered that 70 per cent of shows now have sexual content "ranging from a reference to full depiction", with an average …

Bootnotes 10 Nov 2005, 13:11
First Trojan using Sony DRM spotted

Roots you, Sir

Virus writers have begun taking advantage of Sony-BMG's use of rootkit technology in DRM software bundled with its music CDs. Sony-BMG's rootkit DRM technology masks files whose filenames start with "$sys$". A newly-discovered variant of of the Breplibot Trojan takes advantage of this to drop the file "$sys$drv.exe" in the …

Security 10 Nov 2005, 13:25
TSG brings Pegasus specialist under its wing

Strengthens midlands operation

The ever-acquisitive Technology Services Group has closed a takeover deal with Birmingham-based Open Systems Services. Pegasus software specialist OSS is the 17th company SME reseller TSG has hoovered up since its buying spree began in October 2003. TSG funded the buy with the £25m corporate facility with Lloyds TSB Corporate …

The Channel 10 Nov 2005, 14:21
Govt tightens rules on e-casino advertising

Three to one it'll never work

The Government looks set to clamp down on some types of advertising for online casinos, the FT reports today. The problem appears to be with those online casinos based outside of the UK. While they are free to plug their businesses, they are not allowed to tempt punters with attractive offers such as being prepared to match …

Financial News 10 Nov 2005, 14:30
Spitzer snaps star births in Cassiopeia

Infrared reveals all

Stunning new infrared pictures of star forming regions in the Cassiopeia constellation have been sent back by the Spitzer Space Telescope. The images reveal stars forming inside towering pillars of dust - more than ten times larger than the famous "Pillars of Creation" pictures Hubble took of the Eagle Nebula. The largest of …

Science 10 Nov 2005, 14:40
Love labor law? Hate Xmas?

We have just the seminar for you

We're delighted to announce that Settec - "considered today as one of the main players in training business", and offering "specialized seminars cover topics such as defensive driving, first aid, ergonomics..." - has organised a full-steam five-day session in sunny Cairo for those of you interested in Labor and Social Security …

Management 10 Nov 2005, 15:21
Rainbow warriors crack password hashes

Is it safe? Nope

A trio of entrepreneurial hackers hope to do for the business of password cracking what Google did for search and, in the process, may remove the last vestiges of security from many password systems. Over the past two years, three security enthusiasts from the United States and Europe set a host of computers to the task of …

Security 10 Nov 2005, 15:42
Sony hit by lawsuits over root kit

Spyware flushes out lawyers

Sony BMG is facing a class action suit from Californian consumers who claim the music giant's rootkit DRM technology damaged their computers and breaks three separate Californian laws. The suit asks the court to stop Sony selling any more CDs containing the rootkit and seeks compensation for damage already done. Some Sony audio …

Security 10 Nov 2005, 15:51
Give us digital rights for digital consumers

European consumer supergroup launches campaign

The UK's National Consumer Council (NCC) has lent its voice to pan European calls for the music and film industries to stop treating consumers like pirates. The pan European consumer organisation BEUC is launching a campaign, backed by MEP Zuzana Roithova, to see consumers' digital rights enshrined in law because it believes …

Media 10 Nov 2005, 16:12
Nvidia GeForce 6800 GS reference card

Review Real overclocking potential

The GeForce 6800 GT was a cracker. While Nvidia wowed everybody with the 6800 Ultra, it was the 6800 GT that most people bought, offering most of the bang without quite as much of the buck. However, Nvidia has decided that the 6800 GT has had its day. The reason? Well, ATI has been fighting back to compete with the GT. …

Reviews 10 Nov 2005, 16:51
Sophos develops Sony DRM unmasking tool

Unplugging Sony's Root-man

UK security firm Sophos plans to release a tool which will detect the existence of Sony's DRM copy-protection rootkit on Windows computers, disable it, and prevent it from re-installing. The move follows the discovery of the first malware (a Trojan called Breplibot) that takes advantage of Sony-BMG's use of rootkit technology …

Security 10 Nov 2005, 17:29
EMC should set VMware free

Analysis Spin it off, and reward the faithful

EMC shareholders concerned about the stagnant nature of the company's shares should open up a new document file right now. They should address it to CEO Joe Tucci, and they should title it "Spinoff VMware and unlock precious shareholder value." EMC has done a remarkable job of posting double-digit revenue gains over the past …

Storage 10 Nov 2005, 20:56