23rd December 2005 Archive

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Judge orders Lucent to cough up $240m in bankruptcy case

Winstar wins

Lucent Technologies has vowed to fight a ruling that will see it take a $300m charge in a bankruptcy case. Judge Joel B. Rosenthal issued an opinion on Wednesday, ordering Lucent to pay former customer Winstar Communications $244m plus interest and other costs. As a result, Lucent intends to take a $300m charge in its first …

Data Networking 23 Dec 2005, 09:42
TechScape: I'm going to live forever

Interview Kurzweil's faith in the future

Ray Kurzweil thinks he's going to live forever. And, he thinks you and I will too. As he told me, we are the first generation of humans who can expect to achieve immortality because of, amongst other things, advances in modern science and medicine. Kurzweil is the author of Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, …

Science 23 Dec 2005, 10:42
AMD admits low-end desktop chips in short supply

Packaging bottleneck

AMD has coughed to a shortage of desktop processors, though it hopes the situation will be resolved some time next quarter. An AMD spokeswoman confirmed the shortages, claiming they affect only the lower end of the company's desktop product line, CRN reports. "AMD is experiencing unprecedented demand for our desktop processors …

Reg Hardware 23 Dec 2005, 10:59
Local councils adopt '24/7 culture'

So that's what e-gov is all about

Local councils in the UK have moved to a "24/7 culture" after making almost all of their services "e-enabled". The latest figures on the Government's drive towards e-government shows that more than 97 per cent of local services will be e-enabled by the turn of the year. "Residents can now access services and information at any …

Public Sector 23 Dec 2005, 11:05
Jews for Jesus sue Google

Blog kerfuffle

Evangelical Christian group Jews for Jesus has filed a trademark infringment suit against Google after taking exception to jewsforjesus.blogspot.com, hosted on the search monolith's Blogspot, Reuters reports. The blog, written by "Whistle Blower" is critical of what it calls Jews for Jesus's "confrontational style of evangelism …

Bootnotes 23 Dec 2005, 11:24
ATI to launch Radeon X1900 'next month'

R580 to debut on 24 January?

ATI will announce - but not necessarily ship - its 90nm R580 graphics chip next month as the Radeon X1900. So claims Anandtech, citing a company presentation sent to graphics-card manufacturers this week. Other, Far Eastern sites point to a 24 Janaury launch date. The X1900 is down in the document as sporting 48 pixel- …

Peripherals 23 Dec 2005, 11:29
Sony to unveil 82in LCD TV

Monster

Sony will show off a monster 82in LCD TV in January - ten months after Samsung demo'd just such a beast of its own. According to a Nihon Keizai Shimbun report, Sony will unveil its prodigious panel at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Samsung's screen made its debut last March at the CeBIT show, held in Hannover, …

Peripherals 23 Dec 2005, 12:03
PDA for your pet

and other high-tech shaggy dog stories

Certified gadget obsessives Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny scour Gizmoville for the oddest digital goodies, TV Scoop features all that’s cool in British telly and Propellerhead answers your PC queries PDA for your pet Being a pet owner can be trying; you have to remember to feed them, pet them, give them their meds, take them …

Peripherals 23 Dec 2005, 12:07
Johnlewis.com reports record sales

£100m and counting

John Lewis has racked up online sales of £100m in the last 12 months, according to the latest figures from the UK department store. John Lewis Direct - which includes johnlewis.com and its catalogue business - hit the milestone figure as it reported record sales this Christmas. Top sellers include this year's "must have" …

Financial News 23 Dec 2005, 12:08
Hangover cures don't work: official

Sobering news

Bad news today for those of us who are about to leave the office and sink a few liveners in celebration of the prospect of four days of wall-to-wall nosh and booze: hangover cures don't work and the only way to avoid a head like a breezeblock is not to drink in the first place. That, says Reuters, is the conclusion of a crack …

Science 23 Dec 2005, 12:10
A nice case of Mumps?

Mumps, now known as M, is a widely used language in American health care.

I have a soft spot for “legacy” languages – and I, for one, like getting legacies. Back in my day, we expected to learn new languages for different projects (learning Simula for a port simulation, for instance, made a lot more sense than trying to “standardise” on COBOL; or even FORTRAN, the usual simulation language then). So I …

Developer 23 Dec 2005, 12:18
Korean stem cell pioneer walks plank

'Intentionally fabricated' study results

Korean stem cell pioneer Hwang Woo-suk quit today amid concerns that he may have "intentionally fabricated" results in a 2005 paper on producing tailored embryonic stem cells, Reuters reports. A panel from Seoul National University has probed claims by former colleagues that "key findings in their paper were false", and Roe …

Science 23 Dec 2005, 13:09
US tracks Xbox chippers via cellphone

Letters A mixed Yule mailbag

Xmas is almost upon us and we take this opportunity to wish you, our beloved readers, all the best for what remains of 2005 and the whole of 2006. Three people who will, sadly, not be enjoying their Yule as much as they might like are the ne'er-do-wells recently charged will selling illegally-modified Xboxes: Nice to know as …

Letters 23 Dec 2005, 13:24
Microsoft and Google throw in the Lee

Chairs safe for now

The very public spat between Microsoft and Google over the hiring of Kai-Fu Lee has ended. The increased tension between the two companies that the Lee saga emphasized remains. Microsoft and Google revealed this week that they've settled the Lee hiring issue, ending the embarrassing drama before a January trial. Neither party …

IT Director 23 Dec 2005, 19:52
Enraged woman vents by swallowing cell phone

A mobile mouthful

We've all been there. Your spouse or loved one drives you to the breaking point, and you have no other choice than to swallow his cell phone. A Blue Springs, Missouri woman was the latest victim of cell phone rage. She swallowed her boyfriend's mobile in mid-argument because "she didn't want the boyfriend to have it," according …

Bootnotes 23 Dec 2005, 20:13
Egg nog binge shuts down Reg offices

Site news Happy Holidays

The Register would like to wish all of our loyal readers – and even some of the less faithful ones - a very Merry Christmas. The Vulture flock will be taking a brief hiatus to celebrate the holidays. Presents. Good deeds. Parties. Unconditional love for all mankind. The usual stuff. We'll be back in full force on December 27 …

Site News 23 Dec 2005, 21:00
'Take out a subscription to The Register. Then cancel it, and sign it Disgusted Wikipedian'

Letters Nothing stings like a gift rejected...

"He who feels punctured must have been a bubble - Lao Tsu A funny thing happened last week. Author and broadcaster - and veteran OpenOffice user - Andrew Brown wrote a piece in The Guardian a fortnight ago demolishing some of the more absurd myths around open source software projects. Frustrating bugs went unfixed for years …

Letters 23 Dec 2005, 21:51
San Francisco shows world how not to do Muni Wi-Fi

Comment Vendors invited to write their own monopoly

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is the very model of a modern politician. A telegenic eunuch without any ready hinterland or beliefs, he presides by gesture and photo-opportunity. Policy is replaced by stunts, whose success is measured by publicity they generate; and political leadership means setting a gently optimistic mood …

Public Sector 23 Dec 2005, 21:59