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9th January 2006 Archive

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  • Hands on with Samsung's HSDPA mobile

    CES Top video streaming from the fastest phone in town

    One of the most interesting exhibits in the whole of CES, from a UK perspective at least, is the HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Data Packet Access) mobile phone from Samsung. The SGH-ZX20 is a clamshell mobile that will be able to take advantage of the much faster data speeds (up to 3.6Mbps compared to 384kbps of 3G) of the new …

    Mobile 9 Jan 2006, 09:06

  • Sage buys into US (again)

    Online processor bought

    UK accounts specialist Sage is paying £184m for Verus Financial Management which provides online payment services for small and medium-sized businesses in the US. Verus has over 100,000 merchant customers and charges them service fees on transactions processed. Turnover for the year ended 31 December 2005 was £36m - up 26 per …

    Applications 9 Jan 2006, 09:46

  • DSGi heads north to Finland

    Claims to be 'market leader'

    DSG international (DSGi) - the high street electricals outfit behind the likes of Dixons, Currys and PC World - is continuing to splash cash on its ambitious European expansion plans. The firm has blown €49m (£33m) on Markantalo, an electrical retailer with 26 stores in Finland. Bolted on to DSGi's existing Finnish operations …

    Financial News 9 Jan 2006, 10:32

  • Osama bin Laden banned from orbit

    FAA draws up space tourism regs

    The US Federal Aviation Authority has responded to the possible threat of terrorist exploitation of the burgeoning space tourism business by drafting some proposed regs to ensure Ossie bin Laden and his mates don't book themselves aboard Virgin Galactic. In effect, the FAA says space tourists should be treated the same as …

    Science 9 Jan 2006, 10:38

  • TV to iPod, PSP conversion tools spill onto the market

    Now you see it...

    It’s been difficult to predict how Apple will continue to develop the video iPod, given that it had such a poor start in signing up so little content for the device. Now, it’s barely a few days into the New Year and already there are appearing handfuls for software tools for putting “personal copy” video onto not just the …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2006, 11:22

  • Collection for anti-RIAA case

    New York mom seeks cash for lawyers

    An online news service is collecting money for Patricia Santangelo's defence fund - the New York woman who is defending herself against a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Ass. of America(RIAA). The RIAA accuses her of illegally distributing copyrighted material. The divorced mother of five children believes a friend of the …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2006, 11:49

  • TechnoDepot does Sudoku - in hex

    Cash'n'Carrion Brainteasing t-shirt hits the shelves

    The new Cash'n'Carrion Reg merchandising shop is now up and fully functioning and - as a prelude to a Spring burst of e-commerce activity - we're delighted to announce the arrival of a new TechnoDepot t-shirt. Yup, those cheeky chappies have jumped squarely onto the Sudoku bandwagon, but with a techie twist - these lads do …

    Site News 9 Jan 2006, 11:59

  • Seagate preps Iomega, iVDR killer

    CES 'Tornado' to blow removable-disk rivals away?

    Watch out, Iomega - Seagate has you in its sights. The hard drive giant used the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to sound out the industry on a scheme to create a new removable hard disk drive standard. The system isn't so far removed from Iomega's Rev product. Having offered RHDD products in the past in which only the …

    Storage 9 Jan 2006, 12:01

  • Stakes raised in NTL - Virgin Mobile bid talks

    Investors holding out for more cash

    There's still little sign of a breakthrough in the stalemate surrounding NTL's bid to buy Virgin Mobile. The Sunday Telegraph reports that the cellco's institutional shareholders are playing hard to get and want the firm to hold out for 400p a share. In December, NTL - whose merger with Telewest recently received the green …

    Financial News 9 Jan 2006, 12:03

  • AOL agrees to settle 'wrongful billing' lawsuit

    To 'avoid the burden and expense of litigation'

    AOL has agreed to cough up as much as $25m to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the giant ISP "wrongfully billed consumers". The agreement forms part of a proposed class action settlement reached by the Illinois state court after both sides in the case agreed to mediation conducted by a retired federal judge. …

    Telecoms 9 Jan 2006, 14:12

  • Google Earth menaced by WW2 bomber

    Veteran aircraft caught in flight over UK

    The results of our Google Earth black helicopter competition last year proved just how eagled-eyed you lot were when it came to virtual planespotting, but here's one you missed, and a real blast from the past it is too: Zooming in, we have... ...yup, an Avro Lancaster flying over Stukeley Meadows, Huntingdon, England, as …

    Bootnotes 9 Jan 2006, 14:13

  • We can all be Big Brother now

    The New Deal for disadvantaged communities

    You've read the book and seen the film. Now you too can oppress the proletariat - and for only £3.50 per week! Yes, it's true. You can take part in this groundbreaking social engineering project without leaving the comfort and safety of your own ivory tower, which we will refurbish using the same interior architect who kitted …

    Music and Media 9 Jan 2006, 14:39

  • Apple online store blacklists innocent Channel Islanders

    Jobs planning to slip into Jersey?

    Apple UK has confirmed it is turning down orders from residents of the Channel Islands made through its online store while it considers opening a dedicated site serving the small islands in the English Channel quite near France. Sales stopped in December, Apple told us, with customers asked to use real world shops instead. …

    Financial News 9 Jan 2006, 15:03

  • Digital camera sales boost Jessops Xmas sales

    Click-tastic

    Yet another surge in demand for digital cameras helped boost sales at Jessops, the high street photographic retailer revealed today. Publishing its Christmas trading statement Jessops - which also flogs camcorders, binoculars, film and photo imaging materials - reported that like-for-like sales in the five weeks to January 1 …

    Peripherals 9 Jan 2006, 15:28

  • Vodafone and Sony gang up on your ears

    Personalised radio coming to a bus or train near you...

    Vodafone and Sony are teaming up to provide a radio service for mobile phones which they claim will offer truly personalised music. The service, dubbed Vodafone Radio DJ, comes in different parts - pre-defined channels based on genre or mood which can skip to the next song if you don't like what you are listening to. Or …

    Mobile 9 Jan 2006, 15:32

  • Becta reviews UK schools for Microsoft 'lock-in'

    Value for money?

    The government agency leading implementation of the Department for Education and Skills' e-strategy has launched two reviews of schools' use of ICT. The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) last week announced a value for money review of Microsoft's educational licensing programme, and a second …

    Software 9 Jan 2006, 15:34

  • Hands on with Java XML filter pipelines

    Ignored by many

    In this tutorial we will step through this little understood area of XML processing. Java XML Filters are part of the SAX API for XML processing. Java XML filters are objects that can filter (or process) data within a pipeline of filters, wrapped around a core XML processing application. The SAX API is a standard part of the …

    Developer 9 Jan 2006, 15:42

  • BDE plans more Sage acquisitions

    A cruising saloon to TSG's racing coupe

    Mid-market Sage reseller BDE Group has lined up a credit line for more acquisitions in 2005, with an anticipated budget of £5m. The plans will effectively double its acquisition spending after it spent £5m on two takeovers in the last 18 months: Apex, an SME Sage reseller, in December and Object Group, a mid-market Sage …

    Channel Register 9 Jan 2006, 15:49

  • Government minister beats workers with pistol

    How to complain, Armenian style

    Armenian culture minister Ovik Oveyan was inexplicably sacked last week after steaming into the main offices of the country's Armenskiye Electroseti electricity company and pistol whipping two workers. The reason? A power cut to his apartment in the capital Yerevan had prompted Oveyan to call Armenskiye Electroseti and demand …

    Bootnotes 9 Jan 2006, 15:54

  • Handheld porn not just for Christmas

    Think of the children says SurfControl

    Parents with nothing better to worry about post-Christmas are advised that "One of This Season's Most Popular Gifts May Expose Children to Pornography". And they're not talking about the Chronicles of Narnia or Nigella Lawson's latest creamy offering. The portentous press release from SurfControl warns that the video-enabled …

    Bootnotes 9 Jan 2006, 16:05

  • MCI airbrushed as Verizon takeover completed

    MCI who?

    The MCI name is being airbrushed and replaced instead by a new logo following the completion of its takeover by US telco Verizon. After ten months of wrangling Verizon has finally completed its acquisition of MCI - the US telco formerly known as WorldCom most noted for being at the centre of an $11bn accounting scandal. …

    Financial News 9 Jan 2006, 16:39

  • EMC adds consultants with Internosis buy

    Add a little here, lose a lot there

    EMC has snapped up Maryland-based storage consultancy Internosis Inc just days after announcing it would part company with 1,000 existing staff this year. The companies did not reveal how much the deal is worth, but said it would add 250 professionals to EMC’s roster. Internosis has a particular focus on Microsoft environments …

    Channel Register 9 Jan 2006, 16:40

  • Security flaws on the rise, questions remain

    Flawed rationale

    After three years of modest or no gains, the number of publicly reported vulnerabilities jumped in 2005, boosted by easy-to-find bugs in web applications. Yet, questions remain about the value of analyzing current databases, whose data rarely correlates easily. A survey of four major vulnerability databases found that the …

    Security 9 Jan 2006, 21:38

  • Five million Brits duped by scams, says Which?

    Taxing the stupid

    Five million UK adults have fallen victim to a series of moneymaking frauds, such as premium-rate prize scams, work-from-home schemes and Nigerian 419 email scams, according to research published by consumer watchdog Which?. A further 23 million people have been targeted by the scams. Britain's most widespread scam, according …

    Security 9 Jan 2006, 23:44