10th January 2006 Archive

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OpenSolaris ready to power up on IBM's PowerPC

Sun demo looks on with admiration

A long-hyped version of the Solaris operating system for IBM's Power processor appears close at hand. A posting on the Blastware.org site describes something called "Polaris." It's a version of the OpenSolaris kernel for the PowerPC architecture. Such an operating system could help push Sun Microsystems' OS into new markets …

Servers 10 Jan 2006, 00:54
Microsoft founder opens PDP fetish site

Tap an old box

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has expressed his undying love for DEC's PDP computer in a very public fashion - he's created a website dedicated to the machine. PDP Planet went live today as a way to commemorate the venerable line of DEC systems. The site includes scintillating photos of PDP computers - some of which have …

Servers 10 Jan 2006, 01:36
Logicalis completes Avnet reseller acquisition

Adds $100m-a-year revenues

Logicalis, the South African-owned reseller, has added $100m-a-year revenues to its North American subsidiary with the acquisition of HP end-user specialist, Avnet Partner Solutions (APS). Terms are undisclosed. The acquisition, announced last November and completed today, brings Logicalis' US annual revenues to $450m and its …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 07:02
Revenue weighs up Arctic Systems appeal

Taxing issue

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is expected to announce this week whether it will appeal a court ruling which stopped the government from restricting the way in which married couples running their own business file their taxes. It is believed that HMRC will release guidance indicating if it will appeal to the House of Lords …

Small Biz 10 Jan 2006, 07:02
High Court approves service of a lawsuit by email

You've got writ

Emails that initiated legal proceedings were ignored as spam by a shipping firm. It was a costly oversight: the firm lost the case without taking part and an English judge has rejected a late challenge, ruling that service by email is just as valid as post or fax. The significance of the case, decided 21st December, is limited …

Spam 10 Jan 2006, 07:02
The Computacenter update that isn't

Auditors reviewing the situation

Computacenter yesterday issued a statement explaining why it is not issuing a pre-close trading statement, as is its usual custom ahead of entering its close period following the year end. The reseller giant notes that it has been subject to an offer (from its founders and senior managers) since 18 November and "as a result, …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 07:02
BSG warns on lost contract

Mapeley Estates says no...

Business Systems Group warned the Stock Exchange yesterday that the loss of a £2m contract was likely to hit its profitability for next year. BSG said it was disappointed to be told yesterday that Mapeley Estates Ltd was not going to renew its current outsourcing contract when it expires in March. This will have no impact on …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 10:00
UMC chiefs indicted over alleged China fab investment

Staffers quit foundry then join it again as advisors

UMC chairman Robert Tsao and vice-chairman John Hsuan have been formally accused by the Taiwanese authorities of making illegal investments in mainland Chinese chip-maker Hejian. Prosecutors also indicted Tzeng Tun-chian, the president of UMC's venture capital division. Tsao and Hsuan have now quit their posts at UMC, the world …

Financial News 10 Jan 2006, 10:25
Verizon switches off MP3 support

Microsoft deal results in Microsoft-only player

Last week, US mobile firm Verizon announced a deal with Microsoft to allow subscribers to listen to music on their phones. But it has now emerged that people signing up to the new service are losing the ability to play MP3s on their phones. The company said the decision was made to keep things simpler for users - one media …

Mobile 10 Jan 2006, 10:30
AMD ships dual-core gaming CPU

Athlon 64 FX-60 to face Intel's PEE 955

AMD has begun shipping its first dual-core Athlon 64 FX gaming processor, the FX-60, hot on the heels of Intel's Pentium Extreme Edition 955. The chip-maker has also introduced a pair of top-end Turion 64 processors, the ML-42 and ML-44. The FX-60 is clocked at 2.6GHz, less than the 2.8GHz FX-57. Both are fabbed at 90nm and …

PCs 10 Jan 2006, 10:42
Game sales boosted by Xmas turnaround

Hip hip....

Sales of Sony PSP consoles and software helped Game Group to an "outstanding" Christmas, the computer games retailer announced today. Reporting sales for the six weeks to Christmas, Game disclosed that total sales were up 37.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, while like-for-like sales were up 27 per cent. In …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 11:20
Hey - do you look like Charlie Sheen?

Click here for hot Star Estimator action

Has your mum ever noted your passing resemblance to Charlie Sheen? Did an ex-girlfirend once compare you to Hugh Grant - and not because she was bailing you from an LA jail where you'd just spent the night on a kerb-crawling rap? Well, we've just been informed of a simple and fun way to discover whether you really do have what …

Bootnotes 10 Jan 2006, 11:28
So what the hell is Business Transformation?

Ian Watmore spills the beans

These days it is not enough to be agile with your business. Now you have to be in the business of business transformation. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? But what does business transformation mean, exactly. Err... The Society of IT Management reckons it knows a thing or two about the matter, and it is running a one day- …

IT Director 10 Jan 2006, 11:52
Koreans did actually clone dog, panel declares

Some relief for Hwang Woo-suk

The Seoul National University panel investigating the work of disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk has partially exonerated him by declaring that his team did in fact produce the world's first cloned dog in 2005, as claimed. However, the panel said data regarding the production of tailored stem cells was "deliberately …

Science 10 Jan 2006, 11:57
e-Government head's parting shot

It was good to talk

Ian Watmore, Britain's head of e-government, vacated his post yesterday after 18 months in the job, but will continue to influence on the e-gov strategy from his new billet at the Cabinet Office. He was much liked by two limbs of government that are not normally so supportive of central policy makers: suppliers and local …

Public Sector 10 Jan 2006, 12:20
AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 dual-core gaming CPU

Review The best AMD consumer-oriented processor yet?

The Athlon 64 FX, the pinnacle of AMD's consumer processor offerings, now has two cores, to more effectively run a modern OS. There's no surprise - the mystery of whether or not the next FX would be single- or dual-core was dashed a while ago, and really it was obvious if you think about it. Once you understood that it was dual- …

Reviews 10 Jan 2006, 12:34
Hubble spies North Star's little brother

Actually a triple-star system

The Hubble Space telescope has finally snapped a third member of the Polaris star group previously known only by its gravitational pull on its companion, thereby visibly demonstrating that the "North Star" is indeed a trio of stars. The group, made up of Polaris A, B and (new family member) Ab lies around 430 light years from …

Science 10 Jan 2006, 13:24
Visiting a black hole? Allow plenty of time

200,000 years - at least

If you fancy taking a quick trip to the heart of a black hole be sure to allow plenty of time, since an international team of boffins has discovered that even the last leg of such a jaunt could take up to 200,000 years. Yup, according to an investigation of the "internal motions of gas surrounding the nucleus of the active …

Science 10 Jan 2006, 13:52
BBC hacks in CES porn kidnap outrage

Held in bar for two harrowing hours

Here's a poser for all you IT hacks out there: you've been dispatched to CES in Vegas to check out the latest in 110m plasma widescreens and Skype-enabled Bluetooth mice when, suddenly, you find youself strangely drawn toward a bar, outside of which the porn industry's finest are parading along a red carpet on their way to the …

Bootnotes 10 Jan 2006, 14:26
Mercury ships PS3 - kind of

Evaluate the Cell CPU for data visualisation apps

US-based Mercury Computer Systems (MCS) has begun shipping a technology evaluation system centred on Sony, Toshiba and IBM's Cell processor - the heart of the PlayStation 3. Not that MCS is pitching the rig at games developers. Its Cell Technology Evaluation System (CTES) is aimed at companies keen to test Cell's suitability …

Servers 10 Jan 2006, 15:07
Downloads hit Christmas peak

Record-breaking record sales...

Christmas 2005 saw a new record set for downloaded music - with the last week of the year seeing more than 20m music tracks downloaded and paid for by US customers - three-times higher than the 2004 figure. This compares to the previous record set the week before Christmas of 9.5m downloads - suggesting a lot of Americans woke …

Financial News 10 Jan 2006, 15:11
Gravity-busting Lanc scrambles black helicopters

Letters Much airborne strangeness

Today's letters round-up is a rather airborne affair, containing as it does your feedback on the hyperdrive and the Google Earth Lancaster. We'll start off, though, with a quickie on the matter of EMC and its "rebalancing" of workers: In July I was "selected for a resource action". It took me quite a few minutes after my …

Letters 10 Jan 2006, 15:38
Red Hat picks partner for Oracle work

Abtech tipped for the top...

Linux distributor Red Hat will be working more closely with UK reseller Abtech to promote the use of Oracle 10g running on Linux. Abtech has been a Red Hat Advanced Partner for a year but will now work to create a range of configurations for small, medium and heavy users of Oracle software. The companies claim running Oracle …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 15:39
US phone record sale outrage

Cheating spouses beware

The no-questions-asked sale of phone call records by US data brokers has prompted a huge security flap. The disreputable practice forced the Chicago Police Department to warn officers that their call records might be easily obtainable - potentially exposing the identities of police informants to criminals. Privacy advocates are …

Music and Media 10 Jan 2006, 15:51
Avecho sells business to Stylish

Controversial anti-virus tech lives on

The assets and business of controversial UK-based anti-virus vendor Avecho Group, which went into administration last month, has been sold to a new firm, Stylish Limited. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Avecho slipped into administration on 2 December, barely three years since the business was founded. The Essex …

Anti-Virus 10 Jan 2006, 15:59
Nokia and Kyocera resolve patent dispute

They kept that one quiet

Nokia and Kyocera have settled their differences over which of them owns what mobile phone intellectual property, thus resolving all pending litigation between them. The pair today said they had agreed to license each other their respective patents. Crucially, Kyocera will pay Nokia a royalty covering technology used in its …

Mobile 10 Jan 2006, 16:04
e92plus does two deals

Celestix and SurfControl

e92plus, the UK security distie, has won exclusive distribution rights for SurfControl Web Filter on Celestix devices. The Europe-wide agreement will see e92plus distributing Celestix appliances running MS Windows Server 2003 pre-loaded with MS ISA Server 2004 and SurfControl Web Filter. e92plus has also finalised a deal with …

Channel Register 10 Jan 2006, 16:10
ATI Radeon Xpress to support HDMI

CES Sign of the times...

ATI didn't say much about the future of its Radeon Xpress chipset line at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but it did indicate that the next generation of the product will support the HDMI interface. As our photo of the relevant part of ATI's CES stand shows, the company also suggested the part will offer " …

Reg Hardware 10 Jan 2006, 16:12
Man sues over chatroom humiliation

AOL failed to stop abuse, claims 'victim'

An Ohio man who claims that he was humiliated by two other participants in an AOL chatroom has sued the two men for causing emotional distress and the ISP for failing to stop the alleged abuse, according to a report from Law.com. The case, which is due for a hearing in an Ohio court today, is said to be the first of its kind. …

Music and Media 10 Jan 2006, 16:27
Dodgy anti-spyware firms to cough up $2m

FTC wins pay-out for 'ill-gotten gains'

Two dodgy anti-spyware operators have agreed to cough up $2m to settle charges brought by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The US consumer watchdog alleged that Spyware Assassin and TrustSoft used email and pop-up ads to drive net users to their websites for a "free spyware scan". The "scans" revealed that spyware was …

Security 10 Jan 2006, 16:30
US keeps cheese-eating surrender monkeys at bay

Guantanamo Bay...

The United States faces isolation from the cultural and culinary delights offered by French visitors because of a hiccup over US demands for new passports. France is one of 27 countries which is a member of the Visa Waiver Program. This has allowed them, along with Britain, to drag their feet over US demands that passports …

ID 10 Jan 2006, 16:32
Malware on tap scheme draws flak

Frame4 flamed

A Dutch-firm's plans to sell malware samples to corporates have drawn a barbed response from members of the anti-virus industry and a penetration testing firm. Dutch security Frame4 Security Systems plans to go live with a malware distribution project, dubbed MD:Pro, from 1 February. The service is promoted as offering " …

Anti-Virus 10 Jan 2006, 16:55
Blears blogs the Home Office defence of data retention

Unconvincingly, of course. But hey, it's a start...

Wiliam Heath's Ideal Government blog has scored a coup with a post in the name of Home Office Minister Hazel Blears, who as far as we know has now become the most senior UK Government minister to interface with blogdom. The content - a justification of Home Office data retention policy - adds little to the sum total of human …

Music and Media 10 Jan 2006, 17:16
Union takes aim at Big Blue

Growing union plans unofficial action

Union officials are planning picket action at IBM offices across the US in retaliation for the firm's freezing of employee pensions. The Alliance@IBM arm of the Communication and Workers of America union is also hoping to drum up enough new recruits over the dispute to seriously consider seeking recognition. Linda Guyer, …

Financial News 10 Jan 2006, 17:21
Dell refreshes AMD chip rumor with 'possibility' upgrade

1,356 days of gossip

Why should 2006 be any different from 2005, 2004 or 2003? That's right. It's Dell using AMD chips rumor time once again. It took less than two weeks for 2006 to be pumped full of the same rampant speculation that has followed the Dell and AMD non-relationship. As usual, Chairman Michael Dell lands at the center of the rumor …

Servers 10 Jan 2006, 19:07
Intel Macs stay at non-Intel prices

Macworld New iMacs come early

Apple is shipping its first Intel-based Mac six months early and debuting its first Intel-based laptops. However, it seems that Intel technology does not herald Intel pricing. CEO Steve Jobs opened Macworld in San Francisco by previewing the MacBook Pro, a machine that supersedes the PowerBook G4 and introduces 4-5x performance …

Mac Channel 10 Jan 2006, 20:42
Google turning Canada into mobile software mecca

Part of a 'great mission'

Sneaky Google nabbed Canadian mobile device software maker Reqwireless last Summer - and didn't bother to tell anyone about the acquisition. Like the rest of the hacks, we've just learned about it now. Google bought Reqwireless for an undisclosed sum in the hope of improving the search engine giant's various software products …

Mobile 10 Jan 2006, 20:50
'If you can find a better iPod, buy it,' says Apple's Jobs

Macworld Steve Iacocca goes car podding

A week after Microsoft and MTV pitched the Urge.com rival to iTunes, Apple Computer upped the ante in online entertainment and services. Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, opened San Francisco's Macworld announcing an iPod deal destined to put iTunes in 40 per cent of US cars, additional content for the latest iPod, and …

Mac Channel 10 Jan 2006, 23:56