28th December 2005 Archive

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New model shows Cray with 8 per cent less staff

Canada and Europe not so crucial

Supercomputer specialist Cray will kick off the New Year by cutting 8 per cent of its workforce. Cray revealed the layoffs in a Dec. 14 regulatory filing, which stated that close to 65 full-time employees will be axed. Most of the cuts will take place by April. "Almost all of the staff reductions affect our international sales …

Financial News 28 Dec 2005, 06:05
Man charged with assault by swallowed cell phone

Police dial-up a new story

Marlon Brando Gill may have taken AT&T's "reach out and touch someone" slogan too far, according to officials. Police have charged the Missouri man with felony assault, suspecting that Gill crammed a cell phone down his girlfriend's throat during an argument. Last week, we reported that 24-year-old Melinda Abell had been taken …

Bootnotes 28 Dec 2005, 07:03
Of Sybase, iAnywhere and Extended Systems

Analysis For once the marketing is accurate

Sybase announced its intention to acquire Extended Systems at the end of July and it completed said purchase about six weeks ago. It is now briefing analysts and customers on its plans for Extended Systems’ OneBridge product and how that will be integrated within the iAnywhere environment and, specifically, with the iAnywhere …

Developer 28 Dec 2005, 08:02
Of bubbles and developers

2005 in review The big events of 2005

Silicon Valley is a different place these days. After years of dot-com fallout, 2005 saw tech companies regain their self confidence - a fact signified by rapacious M&A, guilt-free spending on marketing activities and bold strategic statements. Here are the events that made this year what it was, and that will have an impact …

Developer 28 Dec 2005, 08:02
Tory and Lib Lords plan to hobble ID cards scheme

Amendment would make registration optional

Tory and Liberal Democrat peers plan to 'decouple' passports and identity cards by allowing passport applicants to opt out of the National Identity Register, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph. Although the Government describes the initial rollout of the ID scheme as voluntary, it intends that ID cards first be …

Music and Media 28 Dec 2005, 10:09
Galileo satellite takes to the skies

Giove-A 'demonstrator' is go

Europe this morning took another step towards the planned 2010 deployment of its €3.4bn Galileo satnav system when the Giove-A satellite blasted off atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The 600kg Giove-A "demonstrator" is designed to "trial technologies for future Galileo satellites", the BBC reports. It will also " …

Science 28 Dec 2005, 13:33
Best gadgets of 2005

2005 in review We'll have five of each please

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. Here's our top ten gadgets of 2005 - in no particular order: Plantronics Pulsar 590a We have been banging on about Bluetooth …

Personal 28 Dec 2005, 13:42
Doctor Who secures 2005's top TV moment

The Empty Child wows UK viewers

Britain's TV viewers have voted a clip from the Christopher Ecclestone incarnation of Doctor Who as the top TV moment of 2005, UK tabloid The Mirror reports. The behind-the-sofa moment - featuring a suitably spinechilled Doctor and Rose confronted by a ghostly lad haunting Blitz-ravaged London in The Empty Child - will appear on …

Bootnotes 28 Dec 2005, 14:22
Virus poses as MSN Messenger 8

Botnet client masquerades as beta code

Malware authors have produced a virus which poses as a test version the latest, as yet unreleased, version of MSN Messenger. The Virkel-F masquerades as "MSN Messenger 8 Working BETA" and is available from a bogus site as a supposedly leaked early version of the software. Windows users who download and run the malware (given …

Spam 28 Dec 2005, 14:27
Marriott starts credit check service after losing data tapes

206,000 people might enroll

The year wouldn't be complete without another missing tape storage story, and the timeshare division of Marriott has graciously answered this call. Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI) this week admitted that data relating to 206,000 of its partners, employees and customers has disappeared. The missing tape storage holds …

Storage 28 Dec 2005, 17:56
Japanese firms confirm talks to create chip powerhouse

Take that, Taiwan, US and China

Hitachi, Toshiba and Renesas have confirmed that they're considering creating a company to handle their shared chip fabrication needs. Meanwhile, various media reports say the three companies are much farther along with their plans than they let on. The triumvirate refused to spare more than two sentences on their ambitions in …

Financial News 28 Dec 2005, 18:48
Nortel listens when the Tasman is testifying

$100m speedy router buy

Nortel has picked up Tasman Networks in a bid to boost the performance of its networking gear to better handle bulkier data loads. Nortel will pay $100m for the San Jose-based Tasman, which has been in business since 1997. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2006, gives Nortel a maker of high-performance routers …

Financial News 28 Dec 2005, 19:15
Nissan and MS team on 'URGE to sit on your rear' concept car

Where do you not want to go today?

Nissan and Microsoft have partnered to show that they can deliver as much impotent grandeur as any other auto/software maker duo. The vendors this week announced that they will unveil the first "fully integrated gaming system within a vehicle." At this point, you're probably thinking, "Come on, we've all seen a Playstation …

Bootnotes 28 Dec 2005, 20:01
Man admits to eBay DDoS attack

Leader of the bots

An Oregon man has pleaded guilty to launching a DDoS attack against eBay that caused at least $5,000 in damages, US authorities said this week. Anthony Scott Clark, 21, of Beaverton admitted to working with several other people to take control of 20,000 computers. According to the US Department of Justice, Clark in 2003 …

Spam 28 Dec 2005, 21:44