7th March 2006 Archive

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Don't wait for Apple - upgrade your Intel Mac

DIY a Duo

There's an upside to Apple's decision to use bog-standard PC chips. Mac owners don't have to wait for the aftermarket to produce custom boards to rev their machines. And they don't have to sit idling in front of roadblocks set up by Apple, either. No sooner had the single core Mac Mini rolled onto the market, than an …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 00:10
Brocade copies HP and Veritas by buying NuView

Same name, new global namespace

Brocade Communications strayed from its switching roots on Monday, announcing the acquisition of software maker NuView. With the purchase, Brocade joins HP and Veritas as companies that have also acquired NuView over the years (more on that later). Brocade shelled out $60m for the file virtualization start-up. NuView's main …

Storage 7 Mar 2006, 02:15
Borland's Delphi goodbye

Stob Farewell my lovely

And it came to pass that the Sons of Kahn, who dwelt in the valley of the Scotts, fell yet again upon interesting times. And their fortune did wax and wane, only with not so much of the wax. And they did bring forth a version of Delphi called '2005'. But the users of Delphi looked upon it with scorn, for it was a stinker. And …

Verity Stob 7 Mar 2006, 10:14
Firms 'invisible' to online shoppers

Lack of search engine nous to blame

Nearly half of small businesses could be missing out on their share of the growing online market due to poor knowledge of search engines. A new report from Fasthosts shows that 49 per cent of small firms fail to submit their company’s websites to search engines. Two-thirds of internet users told researchers that they only look …

Small Biz 7 Mar 2006, 10:28
National gun database backfires

New round of setbacks

Further delays have plagued the project to create the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS). Two forces that have been piloting the database, Lancashire Police and the Metropolitan Police, will now have to run further tests. They have been forced to do so by the need to cleanse data so that information can be …

Public Sector 7 Mar 2006, 10:32
Cisco captures video surveillance firm

Let's get physical

Networking giant Cisco has agreed to acquire video surveillance firm SyPixx Networks for $51m in cash and stock. SyPixx markets hardware and software technology that allows analogue video surveillance systems to plug into IP networks. The deal positions Cisco to offer video surveillance technology and enter the physical security …

Enterprise Security 7 Mar 2006, 11:00
China touts environmental benefits of plastic trees

This Christmas brought to you by the People's Congress

China has sought to demonstrate its environmental credentials and play down US fears over its economic muscle by pointing out that without it, the traditional American Christmas just wouldn’t happen. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, listing the benefits of US-China trade in Beijing today, said that an ever-growing forest of …

Bootnotes 7 Mar 2006, 11:38
No fault with over half consumer returns

Not working by design

Over half of electronic kit returned to stores is in full working order, a Dutch researcher has found. The report says the average US consumer gives a new toy 20 minutes to work out, then gives up. Elke den Ouden carried out the studies for her thesis at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Reuters reports. She found that …

Bootnotes 7 Mar 2006, 11:43
Sony to ship blank Blu-ray Discs this month

Single-layer for now

Sony's blank-disc division will this month begin shipping rewriteable Blu-ray Discs in Europe. Recordable discs will appear in April, the company said. However, dual-layer versions will not surface until later in the year, it added. The products due in March and April each provide 25GB of storage capacity and run at 2x speeds …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 12:09
Council wins computer monitoring lawsuit

Triumphs over porn-perusing politician

Harlow Council has won a High Court action brought against it by a former councillor who claimed that its monitoring of a laptop used by him was unlawful. Lib-Dem Councillor Matthew Shepherd sued after being criticised for allegedly downloading pornographic images. Seeking damages of £35,000, the former councillor claimed …

Public Sector 7 Mar 2006, 12:17
ATI hires US XGI staffers

Buys XGI partner too

ATI hasn't acquired XGI, but it did say yesterday it has bought some of the Taiwanese graphics chip company's US-based staff. It also said it has snapped up Microsynergy, an XGI partner based in Shanghai. ATI CEO Dave Orton said the move gives the company a foothold on mainland China in a city central to China's booming …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 12:27
BT gets on the FirstGroup bus

Ding Ding! It's the IT services infrastructure stop

A BT-led consortium has signed a deal to provide bus and train operator FirstGroup with IT services. The £46.9m five year deal will make-over First's communications systems at its 700 UK and 300 North American sites. Together with partners HP and MegaPath Networks, BT will manage First's current data services and oversee two …

Channel Register 7 Mar 2006, 12:42
EU privacy experts slam email tracking services

Didtheyreadit.com under fire

Services that track whether an email has been opened will breach EU data protection laws unless the recipient has given unambiguous consent to the service, according to an opinion from the Article 29 EU Working Party on Data Protection. Did they read it? The EU Working Party singled out the Did they read it? service as an …

Music and Media 7 Mar 2006, 12:57
Intel spills beans on UMPC

Not a PDA replacment but a 'PC companion'...

The products are coming on Thursday, 9 March, but Intel is already telling us how we're all going to be using its new ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) platform, now revealed to be "designed to access online media and content on the go". Intel is cagey about whether the UMPC is a PDA replacement - it counts too many PDA makers as …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 13:02
ICM Computer refit will hit figures

But secures further deals

ICM Computer Group said that earnings for the current year will take a hit as it refits a business continuity centre. The statement came as it released results for the six months to December 31, which showed revenues of £37.4m, compared to £38.7m a year ago. Pre tax profits were £2.1m, compared to £2.5m previously. Excluding …

Channel Register 7 Mar 2006, 13:23
Fujitsu sets eyes on HCI prize

Opens the portal with Computacenter

Fujitsu-Seimens computers and Computacenter are launching a new portal for small and medium sized businesses to enable them to implement the government's Home Computing Initiative (HCI). The service will reduce costs by helping managers run HCI schemes online, apparently. HCI allows employees to apply for a tax-exempt loan of a …

Small Biz 7 Mar 2006, 13:25
Jamba puts a frog in Napster

All-you-can-eat downloads

Jamba, the Verisign-owned ringtone vendor, best known for its torturous Crazy Frog tune, is starting an all-you-can-eat download music service in Europe, similar to Napster. The Berlin-based company will start its new service from 1 May in Germany. Other European countries will follow shortly thereafter, a spokesperson for …

Financial News 7 Mar 2006, 13:28
Five days closer to a Kazaa resolution ... or not?

The Kazaa appeal has been heard. It must be over

Well, five days have passed and the appeal by the record companies and Kazaa has been heard. We await a judgment. In the meantime, here are some observations from the appeal. To these eyes, the appeal before the Full Court of the Federal Court was a very different animal to the main case. Firstly, there were no witnesses …

Music and Media 7 Mar 2006, 13:50
LaCie Rugged 80GB portable hard drive

Exclusive Review Won't get lost in fog...

LaCie was one of the first hard drive vendors to offer truly mobile products: compact external drives powered by the host computer so the only accessory you need is the connector cable. The down sides have always been a higher price than desktop, mains-powered parts, and usually lower capacities and speeds. But for many users - …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 13:59
ATI unveils Mobility Radeon X1800, X1800 XT

Not shipping, though...

ATI has just unveiled its new Mobility Radeon X1800 and X1800 XT notebook-oriented graphics chips, both fabbed at 90nm and incorporating more than 312m transistors, used to provided respectively 12 and 16 Shader Model 3.0 pixel shaders and eight vertex shaders. Both GPUs support eight-channel DDR, DDR 2 and GDDR 3 memory, …

Reg Hardware 7 Mar 2006, 14:27
LearnDirect 'could do better'

MPs concerned with gov e-learning programme

The company established by the government to deliver e-learning is making some progress, but is still failing to reach groups with the lowest skills levels, according to MPs. A report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee found the Learndirect service, operated by Ufi, has in seven years provided courses to 1.7m people, two- …

Public Sector 7 Mar 2006, 14:31
Zombie PCs menace mankind

Script-kiddies make way for Mr Big

Cybercrooks are developing more sophisticated techniques to steal confidential data. According to the latest edition of Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report, malicious hackers are increasingly using bot-networks, modular malicious code and targeted attacks on web applications and web browsers to carry out cyber raids. The …

Malware 7 Mar 2006, 14:49
Hearst Group calls the NetDoctor

'Rosebud, Rosebud..."

Media mammoth Hearst Group is buying UK consumer health site NetDoctor. Since launching in 2000, NetDoctor has become the leading private UK site for information on topics such as diet, erectile dysfunction, and bladder weakness. It claims 2m readers a month. NetDoctor will be incorporated into Hearst's UK arm, the National …

Financial News 7 Mar 2006, 14:56
Horizon delays results

Busy Bees

Horizon Technology Group is knocking back its 2005 earnings announcement by a week. It will now spill the bean(counter)s on 16 March. The reseller group blames the short delay on "senior management time devoted to acquisition and integration activity delayed the preparation of the financial statements", it said today in a …

Channel Register 7 Mar 2006, 15:22
Russian pensioner set to take bonk mags to the grave

In case he gets buried alive?

A pensioner with a dicky ticker has made plans to be buried with his collection of top-shelf filth, Russian daily newspaper Utro has reported. After a heart attack scare, 65-year-old Vladimir Villisov decided he could not bear to part with his cherished jazz hoard, even in the afterlife. The Mramorskoe man had a customised …

Bootnotes 7 Mar 2006, 15:23
MS denies helping Beijing nail cyberdissident

So how was Night Wolf put down?

Microsoft has denied helping Chinese authorities obtain evidence against a local journalist charged with sending "subversive" emails from a Hotmail account. Li Yuanlong, 45, is accused of sending opinion pieces that "fabricated, distorted and exaggerated facts, incited to subvert the state and sought to overthrow the socialist …

Music and Media 7 Mar 2006, 15:57
Loch Ness monster actually circus elephant

Boffin in aquatic pachyderm claim shocker

The good burghers of Loch Ness and its environs will doubtless be delighted to learn that the legendary monster on which the region's entire economy is based was probably nothing more than a circus elephant taking a dip. That's according to palaeontologist Neil Clark of Glasgow University, who has spent the last two years …

Bootnotes 7 Mar 2006, 16:00
Citibank reissues cards after fraudulent withdrawals

ATM crooks target bank

Fraudulent cash withdrawls have prompted Citibank to re-issue an unspecified number of credit and debit cards. The bank has also blocked PIN-based transactions of Citi-branded MasterCard cards in the UK, Russia and Canada to protect customer accounts. The issue came to light after US Citibank customer Jacob Appelbaum posted on …

ID 7 Mar 2006, 16:55
'Fascist' ID database worries Lords

Creeping compulsion

The House of Lords called upon the ancient liberties enshrined in British common law last night when it ping-ponged the ID Cards bill back to the House of Commons. The Lords stood by its previous amendment to the bill, rejected last month by MPs, that prevents the cards from being introduced by "creeping compulsion". But it …

Music and Media 7 Mar 2006, 17:02
Lala - a P2P NetFlix for swapping CDs

Exclusive We give it a whirl

A new Valley-based start up is updating the old idea of a swap meet for music fans. LaLa.com provides a site where you can find and trade legitimate CDs with other members. LaLa gives you a stack of cases and envelopes, and each CD you acquire from other members costs you $1, plus postage. That's as much, the company points out …

Financial News 7 Mar 2006, 17:37
Indians lament UK border controls

Points mean prizes

The British government's proposed immigration controls could restrict international trade, India's IT trade lobby has warned. Indian IT firms have led an economic revival on the back of business done for European and American firms. Much of it has involved the use of relatively cheap, but well-educated computer geeks and a …

IT Director 7 Mar 2006, 17:53
AT&T 'overpaying' for BellSouth - S&P

Job cuts galore

Standard and Poor's has downgraded its rating of AT&T to 'sell', following the US telecom firm's proposed $67bn acquisition of BellSouth. The credit rating agency says the deal has its merits - but AT&T is paying too much. S&P analyst Todd Rosenbluth also thinks that the "regulatory approval process will be lengthy given the …

Networks 7 Mar 2006, 19:02
Intel's new 'Core' could gore AMD

IDF Magical knob tweaks

Intel today worked hard to convince anyone who would listen that AMD's performance advantage has come to an end. A new processor architecture stretching across its mobile, desktop and server lines will deliver better overall performance and better performance per watt than AMD's rival products. And this performance edge is …

Servers 7 Mar 2006, 21:37
Intel puts on multi-core peep show

IDF Feel the ~~heat~~ future

Intel's main revelation of a new chip architecture stole the show on the first day of IDF. The chip beasty, however, did dish out a couple more tidbits that will interest the enterprise crowd. On the more immediate front, Intel will start shipping its "Sossaman" low voltage version of Xeon next week. IBM announced plans to pick …

Servers 7 Mar 2006, 23:56