17th January 2006 Archive

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Chip and PIN forces scammers to switch focus

Izzy whizzy, let's get busy

As Chip and PIN technology takes hold on the high street, credit card fraudsters have been forced to alter their techniques, new research reveals. During the second half of 2005, the number of fraudulent transactions in high-street shops fell by 25 per cent compared to the first six months of the year, data from fraud detection …

Small Biz 17 Jan 2006, 07:03
Never email a job reference

Comment Never write when you can talk. Never talk when you can nod. And never put anything in an email

The UK's privacy chief issued guidance recently that, between the lines, revealed a strange quirk of data protection law: if you don't want an employee to see what you've told another boss about him, send the reference by post, not email. The Information Commissioner's Office issued its latest Good Practice Note in the spirit …

Small Biz 17 Jan 2006, 07:03
419ers offer Russian oil fortune

As email fraudsters exploit US mining disaster

Advance-fee fraudsters are attempting to dupe computer users into thinking they are in line to receive money from a jailed Russian oil tycoon via an aggressive new spam campaign. The spam email poses as a message from the personal secretary of billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky and offers recipients a cool $8m providing they'll " …

Spam 17 Jan 2006, 09:26
Phishing fraudsters target Apple

Fresh fruit for rotting vegetables

Email fraudsters are targeting Apple fans in a change of tactic from standard phishing attacks. Commonly bogus emails that form the basis of phishing attacks pose as security messages from online banks in an attempt to dupe a tiny proportion of recipients, who happen to be customers of the bank, into visiting a bogus site on …

Spam 17 Jan 2006, 09:32
IBM acquires Bowstreet for composite application development

Analysis Primed for blue-washing

On the 20th December, IBM announced the acquisition of long-time partner Bowstreet, a 75-person, privately-held company based down the road in Massachusetts from IBM's Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Software group, into which it will be assimilated (or "bluewashed" as IBM quaintly refers to it). The acquisition is hardly …

Software 17 Jan 2006, 10:31
Tesco.com posts 'record year'

Cellco business passes milestone

Tesco.com has posted another bumper year as increasing numbers of shoppers opt to buy their groceries online rather than traipse round a supermarket pushing a wobbly trolley. Publishing a trading update today, the retail giant didn't provide much detail concerning its recent performance, except to say that Tesco.com had …

Financial News 17 Jan 2006, 10:34
'Tell us the truth about ID costs' - Lords harpoon the ID Bill

Thrice, with more Government defeats in the pipeline

Peers last night voted by 237 to 156 for an amendment delaying the implementation of the ID Cards Bill until a full account of the costs had been produced. The Government defeat was the first of three inflicted by an alliance of Tory, Liberal and rebel Labour peers, and further defeats are likely when the Lords resumes …

Music and Media 17 Jan 2006, 10:59
Software patents loom large again

Forced back on agenda

Europe's Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on Monday launched an initiative that could re-open the controversial software patents debate. As part of the initiative McCreevy has unveiled a public consultation on how future action in patent policy to create an EU-wide patent system can take account of "stakeholders' …

Software 17 Jan 2006, 11:36
VIA ships 90nm Eden low-power processor

C7 CPU transformed for silent PCs.

VIA today took its x86-compatible Eden processor family into the 90nm era by extending the series with two models derived from the company's 'Esther' core, also the basis of its C7 processor product line. The new chips are the Eden and Eden ULV - the latter an ultra-low voltage part that consumes just 3.5W at 1GHz and 7.5W at 1 …

PCs 17 Jan 2006, 11:37
Actuate gets busy

Comment Buys performancesoft, releases BIRT 2.0

Actuate has been busy lately: BIRT 2.0, which is the reporting technology developed by Actuate for the Eclipse community will shortly be generally available, and the company has just announced that it has acquired performancesoft. Both of these developments are significant. performancesoft (spelled with a small ‘p’) is/was …

Software 17 Jan 2006, 11:43
Gizmondo parent secures debt with Smart Adds IP

Back-up if it can't raise $75m by March

Tiger Telematics, Gizmondo's parent company, has pledged the patent and other intellectual property rights of its Smart Adds subsidiary - plus all the shares - against the company's ability to raise $75m in funding by 31 March. The move was revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public this past Friday …

Consoles 17 Jan 2006, 11:54
Housing Corp dumps Elonex

Flagship public sector contract killed off

The Housing Corporation has dumped Elonex as a supplier after three difficult years. In a statement, dated 22 December 2005, the corporation confirmed it had terminated its contract with Elonex and said: "A new contract for the majority of services has been put in place with the previous ASP sub-contractor, Netstore. The …

Public Sector 17 Jan 2006, 11:58
NTL / Virgin Mobile deal inches forward

Negotiations 'drawn-out'

Further details have emerged of NTL's revised bid for Virgin Mobile. The improved offer, which is expected to come in close to the £900m mark, and sees Sir Richard Branson taking £42m less for his 71 per cent share of the cellco, is being touted by some onlookers as enough to satisfy the demands of the cellco's minority …

Financial News 17 Jan 2006, 12:32
Privacy guardian to examine Shoreditch CCTV scheme

Home-view CCTV may offend privacy safeguards

The Information Commissioner is preparing to investigate Shoreditch council over its Big Brother plans to allow citizens to spy on one another using its network of CCTV cameras. The council, who announced a pilot for the scheme in December, plan to allow 20,000 Shoreditch residents to spy on each other using a set of 500 CCTV …

Music and Media 17 Jan 2006, 12:41
7global buys Fairbridge

It's a mini-merger for managed services...

7global Managed Services is buying privately held Fairbridge Communications. 7global, with 99 employees, offers managed services and applications for a monthly subscription. Fairbridge is based in Harrogate and employs 50 people. It specialises in security and managed services for SMEs and corporates. John Severs, formerly …

Channel Register 17 Jan 2006, 12:53
DDR 2 prices on the rise

Strong demand, tight supply

DDR 2 SDRAM prices are set to rise during the second half of the month, driven up by high demand and tight supply, market watcher DRAMeXchange said today. Blame Samsung, at least in part, the organisation said, citing the chip giant's "inadequate" bit supply, which pushed 512Mb DDR 2 chip spot prices up five per cent to $4.64 …

Channel Register 17 Jan 2006, 13:04
BenQ launches first BenQ-Siemens handsets

Pledges aggressive 3G, multimedia product strategy

BenQ Mobile today said it will focus on 3G and multimedia as its ships new handsets this year under the BenQ-Siemens brand. The first three devices to carry the new name will be the EF81, S68 and S88, the company said. The EF81, in particular, demonstrates the company's conception of its future direction, it added. In which …

Mobile 17 Jan 2006, 13:28
Evesham Voyager C550 Core Duo notebook

Review The price is right?

As the dust settles on the Intel Centrino Duo launch, several machines based on the new technology have started to appear on the market. After the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi our second Centrino Duo laptop comes from a UK company - not what you expect when you have massive players like Dell, IBM and HP on the case. The Voyager C550 …

Reg Hardware 17 Jan 2006, 14:23
Hitman jailed for lack of death

Kent: you can't even trust the hired killers

A man from Kent, England has been jailed for failing to kill a woman despite accepting money to carry out the hit. The would-be hitman, Kevin Reeves of Snodland near Rochester, promised Christine Ryder he would arrange her slaying in exchange for a large bag of cash. But despite receiving payments totalling £20,000, Reeves …

Bootnotes 17 Jan 2006, 15:14
Cingular accuses two firms of stealing customer records

Hello. Is it me you are looking for?

Cingular Wireless won a temporary restraining order on Friday against two companies which it accuses of selling illegally-obtained customer records over the web. The two companies, DataFind Solutions and 1st Source Information Solutions, are already the subject of a civil suit from Cingular. But embarrassment for the cellphone …

Music and Media 17 Jan 2006, 15:15
Major cellcos aim to keep brand control of music services

Customer loyalty key to branding battles

Major cellcos are increasingly enthusiastic about the ARPU potential of mobile music download services, and are starting to engage in the branding battle that we have already seen in areas such as mobile email. Faced with services such as Apple iTunes that are heavily branded by the content or device maker, cellcos are fighting …

Mobile 17 Jan 2006, 15:21
Taxman wrongly fines 10,000 UK businesses

Oops

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is once again in the firing line after leaked documents revealed a computer error led to 10,000 UK companies being fined incorrectly. The fines of up to £400 were dished out during 2004/05 and concerned the completion of tax forms. But documents leaked to Computer Weekly revealed that a "basic flaw …

Small Biz 17 Jan 2006, 15:43
Jesus favours rock on His iPod

Hip-Hop not big in Heaven, poll shows

Were Jesus to pack an iPod, then he would most likely be moshing to Christian Rock, claims a Beliefnet survey. That's according to 13 per cent of respondents to an online poll carried out by the "leading multi-faith spirituality media company and online community". A further 11 per cent reckoned the Son of God would be punishing …

Bootnotes 17 Jan 2006, 15:53
Kidnapped footballing sheep transferred to eBay

'Give me your money, or the sheep gets it'

The peace of a January Tuesday was shattered this morning when the following missive dropped onto the Vulture Central doormat, its individual letters cut-and-pasted from a copy of The Sun in the traditional style: Supporters of Shrewsbury Town Football Club have kidnapped the partner of a Carlisle United supporter after their …

Bootnotes 17 Jan 2006, 16:11
BT boss bigs up broadband for SMEs

Someone has to...

Ben Verwaayen, BT chief executive, wants to reassure the UK's small businesses they can rely on the giant telco for their broadband services. In an interview on BT's Broadband Office website, Verwaayen is quizzed on a number of issues that face SMEs. Asked about customer service, he said: "People rely on our ability to provide …

Small Biz 17 Jan 2006, 16:13
Google Earth: the photo interpretation challenge

WMDS and black helicopter facilities

There's some light entertainment this afternoon courtesy of a couple of readers who have spotted further strangeness on Google Earth. First up is Stuart Dempsey, who asks "what the hell?" is this place all about: Paul Van Den Steene of Brussels, meanwhile, thinks he may have succeeded where the CIA failed and found one of …

Science 17 Jan 2006, 16:26
Union mourns Walsall's aborted IT privatisation

Questions over council decision

Walsall Council has been such a shambles that even its union was looking forward to washing its hands of them, it has emerged. Now it looks as if the two are stuck with each other after the council cancelled its plans to outsource key unionised services to the private sector. Unison, which represents the council's workers, is …

Public Sector 17 Jan 2006, 16:34
TalkTalk getsgets newnew MDMD

Splendid

TalkTalk - The Carphone Warehouse's retail phone business - has a new managing director after former boss Max Alexander left the firm to join Thomson Directories. New man David Thatcher joins from cableco NTL, where he has worked for the past four years, most recently as its head of consumer sales and marketing division. He's …

Networks 17 Jan 2006, 17:01
Nvidia expands nForce 4 Intel line-up

Budget SLI part and mainstream PC chipset to ship later this month

Nvidia has added two more chips to its Intel-oriented nForce 4 North Bridge line-up, expanding the product family at the low-cost end of the market. The nForce 4 SLI XE and nForce 4 Ultra support all Socket 775 Intel processors, and while the Ultra already supports AMD's 64-bit CPU line-up, the SLI XE remains an Intel-only …

PCs 17 Jan 2006, 17:11
Salesforce pitches to become the 'iTunes' of enterprise apps

Sharing, ripping, charging for CRM

Tapping into the rhetoric around Web 2.0, hosted CRM provider Salesforce.com has billed its latest online service as the "iTunes of enterprise applications." Chairman and chief executive Marc Benioff has launched AppExchange, a hosted service for ISVs creating, posting and sharing business applications for download by end-users …

Applications 17 Jan 2006, 20:27