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22nd March 2006 Archive

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  • AOL's email tax row goes intergalactic

    Phasers on stun! Esther Dyson is back

    The wide-ranging coalition that objects to a tax on sending email has a new, and unexpected opponent. One that mere earthlings dare engage at their peril. It's former "Net Queen", space cadet, and Register reader favorite Esther Dyson, whose latest transmission has been captured, decoded and published by the New York Times. …

    Media 22 Mar 2006, 00:27

  • Windows Vista slips to 2007

    Merry Xmas, OEMs

    Microsoft has pushed back the consumer release of Windows Vista to January 2007, because it isn't good enough to meet its Q4 2006 target.Instead, Microsoft has staggered the launch into two parts - subscribers to Microsoft's Volume Licensing Program will be able to get the code in November 2006, while OEMs can begin shipping it …

    Operating Systems 22 Mar 2006, 03:05

  • Debit card fraud underscores legal loopholes

    Three secret data leaks to blame

    Consumers have noted a large increase in the amount of debit card fraud since the beginning of 2006, as well as a wide recall of cards by banks and financial institutions. Three major incidents are likely fueling the fraud, according to financial and security experts. A breach associated with bulk goods retailer Sam's Club …

    Security 22 Mar 2006, 07:02

  • Gates admits Internet Explorer error

    Oops, I did it again

    Drummer/singer Phil Collins once asked the philosophical teaser: "How many times can I say I'm sorry?" It seems Bill Gates might have the answer: three. Gates used his company's AJAX-friendly MIX06 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, to issue his third self-confessed mea culpa, this time admitting Microsoft made a mistake on …

    Applications 22 Mar 2006, 09:57

  • Gates and Meg Whitman to advise Brown

    You want to move next door, that's what you want to do...

    Gordon Brown is setting up an International Business Advisory Council to advise him, and trade secretary Alan Johnson, on global business and the challenges of globalisation. Brown said: "“There is no more important question for advanced industrial countries today than how to rise to the challenges and opportunities of …

    Business 22 Mar 2006, 10:00

  • Quanta 'to make next-gen video iPod'

    Momentum building behind rumoured gadget

    Taiwan's Quanta has won the contract to manufacturer Apple's eagerly anticipated video-oriented iPod, Chinese-language newspaper the Economic Daily News has claimed citing unnamed industry sources. Such a device is believe to be in the pipeline. Pictures said to show the new iPod were posted online earlier this month then …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 10:20

  • In the Mix

    MIX06 Beyond the browser is a brave new world….. honestly

    Microsoft’s sold-out MIX06 conference is a brave affair, attempting to bridge an almost impossible divide – the gap between developers and designers. Under fake Italian skies, and hidden in the cavernous halls of Las Vegas’ Venetian hotel, 1700 attendees are learning about Microsoft’s new web technologies and, if all is going …

    Developer 22 Mar 2006, 10:26

  • EC should extend privacy regs to RFID, says bar code chief

    Tags are a very private matter

    The organization which runs the bar code systems has backed the extension of EU privacy rules to cover RFID technologies. EC commissioner Viviane Reding earlier this month launched a consultation on RFID, saying that while there was a level of hysteria over the technology’s perceived threat to privacy she was prepared to extend …

    Media 22 Mar 2006, 10:34

  • C2000 gets DIY handyman

    Inventory control boss from B&Q

    Computer 2000 has hired an inventory and online sales expert from DIY retailer B&Q. Jean-Francois Bessiron was head of supply chain for seasonal products at B&Q - he ran multi-channel sales and set up its online store. B&Q posted results today - profits fell by two thirds which the firm blamed on lower consumer spending and …

    The Channel 22 Mar 2006, 10:43

  • Eclipse woos Windows Vista developers

    Come on over to my place

    The Eclipse Foundation is making a play for Microsoft's ISV partners deciding whether to port their applications to Windows Vista with a cross-platform alternative that expands their market reach. The open source tools consortium has announced four new application frameworks under the umbrella Rich Client Platform (RCP) project …

    Developer 22 Mar 2006, 10:44

  • AMD Socket AM2 CPUs to support DDR 2 800

    But will it tell users?

    AMD's upcoming Socket AM2 single- and dual-core processors look set to support 800MHz DDR 2 SDRAM when the new interconnect is launched in Q2 - almost certainly at the Computex show in June - a variety of sources citing AMD documentation have claimed. Website Xbit Labs cites a "confidential" AMD document which states: " …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 10:50

  • Lenovo readies budget dual-core SME-friendly laptops

    Own-brand offering

    Lenovo will next week ship its first own-brand dual-core notebook. The new model will be pitched a small-business buyers on a "limited budget". The N100 is part of the Lenovo 3000 notebook family, the company's attempt to build a brand of its own rather than simply rely on the ThinkPad monitor acquired from IBM. The new …

    The Channel 22 Mar 2006, 11:06

  • Microsoft ups XBox 360 shipments

    Supply problems over

    Microsoft is doubling or tripling the number of XBoxes it will send out to retailers every week. It has added a third manufacturer - Celestica - and has got a solid supply of components. "Microsoft will distribute two to three times the number of Xbox 360 consoles to the retail channel weekly," the company said in a statement …

    Games 22 Mar 2006, 11:15

  • Merrill Lynch to cough $2.5m for missing emails

    SEC action settled

    Merrill Lynch and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have settled proceedings brought over a failure by the company to promptly produce emails requested by SEC staff. The brokerage firm will pay $2.5m. The proceedings related to “various investigations and inquiries” being carried out by SEC staff into Merrill Lynch …

    Management 22 Mar 2006, 11:17

  • ITV confirms takeover approach rejected

    Nothing to see here

    ITV - the UK broadcaster that is branching out into net TV and which recently bought dotcom giant Friends Reunited - has rejected an approach regarding a possible buyout. In a statement to the stock exchange today ITV said that a consortium comprising Apax Partners, The Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs' Principal Investment …

    Financial News 22 Mar 2006, 11:27

  • The rise and rise of Peter Cochrane

    TechScape Former BT CTO gives forth

    Peter Cochrane started out digging ditches for a living, before what could be described as a meteoric rise to CTO of BT. Born in 1946, in Nottinghamshire, Dr Cochrane left school with what he terms "little education" and started digging ditches for the Post Office. From the age of 11 he admits to "a green-fingered interest …

    Management 22 Mar 2006, 11:32

  • Broadband possible in space

    Nobody tell BT

    If humanity does ever colonise the wintry wastes of Mars, at least between having their faces sucked and uncovering Total Recall conspiracies, pioneers will be able to console themselves with eyeball-meltingly explicit broadband video feeds. Researchers at MIT have made the possibility of high-speed optical communications in …

    Data Networking 22 Mar 2006, 11:34

  • Belkin to boost 5G iPod battery life

    TunePower said to increase video playback time by up to 300 per cent

    Want your fifth-generation iPod to run for longer than two hours when you're playing videos? Accessory specialist Belkin reckons it has the answer: a bolt-on rechargeable battery pack that the company claims boosts the player's playback duration by 300 per cent. Belkin said its TunePower adds up to six hours of extra …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 11:34

  • Debit-card fraud underscores legal loopholes

    Notification issues

    Recent widespread debit-card fraud likely has roots in three major data leaks that occurred in the last six months, two of which have yet to be publicly disclosed by the companies involved. Consumers have noted a large increase in the amount of debit-card fraud since the beginning of 2006, as well as a wide recall of cards by …

    Security 22 Mar 2006, 11:53

  • Verizon to pay CBS for video content

    'Survivor' via fibre

    Verizon is paying CBS an undisclosed amount for access to its analog and digital content as well as video-on-demand. Verizon will retransmit the content on its FiOS TV service delivered via fibre-optic network. The network is available in some parts of seven states. The company was already using CBS content under a previous …

    Broadband 22 Mar 2006, 11:56

  • Commons walks all over Lords' ID card proposals

    Compromise rejected

    The Commons yesterday stuck to the government's guns rejecting (by 284 to 241) a truce offered yesterday by the House of Lords. The Lords have seen their attempts to liquidate government plans for covertly compulsory ID cards rejected by MPs three times. The Lords had proposed a compromise on Monday that they hoped would end …

    Media 22 Mar 2006, 12:09

  • Transmeta confirms Microsoft partnership

    More about Xbox 360 than Xbox Handheld?

    Transmeta has confirmed it is engaged on "proprietary" design work for Microsoft, a revelation that will undoubtedly fuel speculation that the software giant is working on a mobile version of its Xbox 360 games console. In fact, it's more likely to relate to the shipping 360 product. According to documents filed by Transmeta …

    Games 22 Mar 2006, 12:13

  • Samsung touts 'smallest' dual-core laptop

    Q35 coming

    Samsung has shown off what it claims is the world's smallest dual-core notebook, a machine it describes as "ultra-mobile" that weighs just 1.9kg and sports a 12.1in, 1280 × 800 widescreen display. The Q35 is based on an Intel Core Duo T2700 processor connected to an Intel 945GM chipset across a 667MHz frontside bus. The …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 13:08

  • EC backs state aid to fund broadband

    If the market fails...

    The European Commission (EC) is urging countries to invest in broadband and use all the state aid funding available to ensure that high speed net access is available in rural and remote areas. It remains adamant that broadband is essential to future prosperity and the creation of jobs. And while competition and open markets are …

    Broadband 22 Mar 2006, 13:18

  • Solved by science: the pensioner pervery pandemic

    Case closed

    Readers who have been following the recent spate of senior citizen misbehaviour across Europe will be glad to hear that evolutionary biology has provided an explanation. For the uninitiated, just lately there's been the Russian OAP's porn crypt, his countryman who became a porn star at 75, and the poor Italian policeman who …

    Bootnotes 22 Mar 2006, 13:32

  • Cash-strapped FBI agents left without email

    Unreachables

    Budget cuts at the FBI have left some agents without email accounts. "As ridiculous as this might sound, we have real money issues right now, and the government is reluctant to give all agents and analysts dot-gov accounts," said Mark Mershon, head of the FBI's New York office, AP reports. "We just don't have the money." Every …

    Data Networking 22 Mar 2006, 13:36

  • Aussies reject 'opt-in' for porn

    Strewth Bruce

    Australian IT minister Helen Coonan has rejected proposals from the opposition Labour party to force ISPs to install filters to remove pornographic content and provide Aussies with "clean feed" internet access. Under the proposed scheme adults who wanted to view porn would have to ask their ISP to remove the filters. Minority …

    Bootnotes 22 Mar 2006, 13:46

  • Second flying car spotted Down Under

    New hyperdrive-driven X-vehicle caught on Google Earth

    Australian sky-watchers have spotted a second flying car on Google Earth and - like the first example clocked back in January - this one is also menacing the good burghers of Perth: The story has just broken in theage.com.au, which pinpoints the hyperdrive-driven vehicle as taking off "near the shores of Coogee Beach, just …

    Bootnotes 22 Mar 2006, 13:59

  • Sage mounts Viking invasion

    From Newcastle to Norway

    Sage plans to buy its way into the Scandinavian market with the £334m acquisition of Oslo-based Visma. Visma is the largest Scandinavian vendor of business management solutions for SMBs. Its revenues last year were £166m at a profit of £22m, and assets were estimated at £197m. Sage will offer 125 Norwegian Krona per share, a …

    Small Biz 22 Mar 2006, 14:24

  • Nvidia acquires Hybrid Graphics

    Middleware purchase

    Nvidia is to buy Hybrid Graphics, a Finnish developer of graphics middleware for mobile devices, the graphics chip company said today. Terms are undisclosed. Hybrid will retain its identity, post-acquisition. It will continue to offer its Mobile Framework (MF) graphics engine, which is due for a major upgrade in Q2. Hybrid …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 14:57

  • French DRM bill 'state-sponsored piracy' - Apple

    J'accuse

    Apple has denounced France as a sponsor of piracy after the country's parliament backed a bill that, if enacted, will force the company to open its DRM technology to other hardware vendors and online music stores. Speaking to Reuters, an Apple spokeswoman blasted the move as "state-sponsored piracy", adding: "If this happens …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 15:02

  • Brown's budget extends R&D relief

    Price of a Lordship frozen...

    Gordon Brown delivered his tenth, and widely assumed last, Budget today and promised to keep UK growth on track at between 2 and 2.5 per cent for this year rising to between 2.75 and 3 per cent for 2007. Brown is introducing a zero rate of vehicle tax for cars with the lowest pollution rating. But rates increase up to a new …

    Financial News 22 Mar 2006, 15:13

  • Lack of proper kip killed dinosaurs

    Exhausted T-Rex too shattered to cope

    Forget meteorite strikes and global cooling - the dinosaurs were killed off by a lack of proper kip, according to Niels Rattenborg of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. And it wasn't because they were too knackered to run away from extinction-causing threats, either - they apparently didn't survive "because their …

    Science 22 Mar 2006, 15:31

  • Apple MacBook Pro 'fastest Windows XP notebook'

    Beats an Acer by a nose

    Want the fastest Windows XP Core Duo notebook? Then buy a Mac. According to benchmarks carried out by website GearLog, Apple's MacBook Pro running Windows XP is a better Adobe Photoshop rig than any other Core Duo laptop on the market. GearLog's test results can be found here. The site used a recently detailed technique that …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 15:41

  • Easynet commits to LLU

    Sky broadband on the way

    Easynet - the local loop unbundling (LLU) operator bought by Sky for £211m - is to continue installing its kit in BT exchanges to provide broadband services direct to end users. As it stands today, the ISP has unbundled 232 exchanges giving it access to 20 per cent of UK homes. But by the end of the year around 750 exchanges …

    Networks 22 Mar 2006, 16:15

  • IceCube scientists fly home for the Winter

    Massive Antarctica particle project hails neutrino success

    An enormous project to build the world's largest neutrino telescope underneath the South Pole has completed its second Antarctic Summer of drilling work. The $272m IceCube detector will harness a cubic kilometre of solid ice to explore these mysterious sub-atomic particles. Because of the unbearably bleak Antarctic winter, work …

    Science 22 Mar 2006, 16:15

  • EC rejects latest MS anti-trust spin

    Ouch...

    The European Commission has dismissed Microsoft's latest attempt to placate the regulators by offering free support to licensees signing up to see server code. A statement from the EC criticises Microsoft for going to the press rather than giving them details. It says the issue of support is irrelevant because the documentation …

    Software 22 Mar 2006, 16:32

  • Firefox 2.0 alpha debuts online

    Pre-feature release is strictly for code jockeys

    Preview versions of Firefox 2.0 have been posted on the the Mozilla Foundation's website. Although Firefox 2.0 "Bon Echo" alpha isn't out officially yet developers can already obtain Windows, Mac OS X and Linux versions of the code. Users hoping to get a glimpse of the improved anti-phishing, session restoration and management …

    Applications 22 Mar 2006, 16:35

  • Dell starts selling $9,900 overclocked gaming PC

    Bundles 30in LCD, four graphics cards, physics processor

    Dell today starts taking orders for its "limited edition" XPS 600 Renegade quad SLI, physics engine-equipped desktop gaming rig. The kit will set you back a whopping $9,930, although this includes Dell's 30in LCD monitor. The XPS 600 Renegade comes in a custom-painted case inside which sit four GeForce 7900 GPUs each with …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 16:38

  • 'Nut Case' gang rampage - GTA cited

    Murder, robbery and kidnapping raps

    A member of the Oakland, California "Nut Case" gang who allegedly indulged in an orgy of murder, attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping could face the death penalty if the jury at his trial finds him guilty on commission of a robbery and multiple murder raps. Demarcus Ralls is the first Nut Case to stand trial for a six-week …

    Media 22 Mar 2006, 16:44

  • Samsung pre-announces 2.33GHz Intel Core Duo T2700

    Whoops - dual-core mobile chip not due 'til Q3

    Samsung has announced Intel's Core Duo T2700 mobile processor before the chip giant has even said it will offer such a part. The as-yet-unlaunched 65nm dual-core CPU is set to appear in the notebook maker's upcoming Q35 laptop, as we were first to report earlier today. Samsung showed the Q35 off in South Korea this week, but …

    Hardware 22 Mar 2006, 17:00

  • Dutch court upholds Creative Commons licence

    Unambiguous win for Adam Curry

    A Dutch Court has ruled that photos posted onto photo-sharing site Flickr under a Creative Commons licence should not have been reproduced by a gossip magazine without the permission of the poster. The case concerned former MTV VJ and podcasting guru Adam Curry, who published photos of his family on Flickr under a Creative …

    Media 22 Mar 2006, 17:46

  • Bird flu's problem

    Why cough and sneezes don't spread diseases

    Scientists have offered a decent explanation for why the bird flu pandemic we're all supposed to be cowering in our hermetically-sealed Anderson shelters from has yet to materialise. The H5N1 influenza virus needs to acquire the ability to pass from human to human in order to precipitate the downfall of civilisation. According …

    Science 22 Mar 2006, 18:02

  • 200,000 HP staff exposed as laptop loss party continues

    Thank you, Fidelity

    Financial services companies appear to have it in for their technology customers with Fidelity Investments adding to a spate of laptop thefts. A laptop lost by Fidelity this month has exposed 196,000 current and former HP employees, staff were told last night. "This is to let you know that Fidelity Investments, record-keeper …

    Security 22 Mar 2006, 20:13