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29th March 2006 Archive

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  • Wither Rational?

    Not standing still

    I was talking to an ex-Rational manager a week or so ago, who obviously believed that IBM’s enthusiasm for Rational was waning in the face of its success with Eclipse and who also thought that the morale of ex-Rational employees inside IBM was waning. Well, that POV seemed to come as a surprise to Roger Oberg (Vice President …

    Developer 29 Mar 2006, 00:20

  • BizTalk - yet another launch

    It's deja vu all over again

    BizTalk Server 2006 was half-launched last year. Yesterday it had a proper launch (with general availability etc.) at the London Stock Exchange. As it has already been in production use for some time with favoured customers, so why have a launch at all? It's a chance to discover how paranoid the London Stock Exchange is …

    Developer 29 Mar 2006, 00:26

  • Red Hat continues bull run in Q4

    Linux gives us wings

    Red Hat claimed to beat out an already healthy Linux market as it reported fourth-quarter sales figures that saw net income more than double. The Linux distributor reported a 130 per cent increase in net income to $27.3m on revenue that grew 37 per cent to hit $78.7m during it fourth quarter. Red Hat was also happy to report …

    Financial News 29 Mar 2006, 00:30

  • JBoss delivers message to IBM and BEA

    Middleware statement

    JBoss is ramping up its challenge to closed-source web servers and messaging middleware with updated editions of its software for enterprise IT infrastructures. The company today announced JBoss Messaging 1.0 - a version of JBoss MQ re-engineered to deliver a modular messaging engine capable of shipping with or without JBoss' …

    Applications 29 Mar 2006, 00:51

  • Meet the Jefferson of 'Web 2.0'

    Goobage in, Goobage out

    If Google's PageRank reflects the "uniquely democratic nature of the web" - and if weblogs are the most empowering technology of our age [**] - then how can we begin to fete a humble entrepreneur based in St Paul, MN? Very probably as the Gutenberg of the digital age. And the Jefferson. All rolled into one. Brian Adams of Blue …

    Media 29 Mar 2006, 01:27

  • Tech bubble banker wins back his badge

    Forgive and forget

    Silicon Valley's star banker Frank Quattrone continues his comeback, with the watchdog SEC overturning a lifetime ban on him working in the securities industry. Once again it was on a technicality. In March 2003, the securities regulator NASD suspended the former Credit Suisse First Boston investment banker for a year, and …

    Financial News 29 Mar 2006, 02:00

  • AMD grabs Itanic survivors

    Drying out at Fort Collins

    The race to hire Fort Collins chip engineers is on with AMD bulking up its staff in the city by poaching Itanium engineers from Intel. An AMD spokesman confirmed that the company has hired "some Itanium guys," including former Intel fellow and director of Itanium circuits and technology Sam Naffziger. All of the staff come from …

    Servers 29 Mar 2006, 02:02

  • Microsoft hires EU legal dream team for anti-trust aid - report

    What's yours is mine

    Microsoft's legal team has been picking the brains of three former European Union judges in preparation for next month's showdown with the Commission. Having failed to sway the European Commission by invoking the court of public opinion over a potential two-million-a-day euro fine, Microsoft reportedly recruited the judge trio …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 2006, 02:12

  • High Court to hear Apple versus Apple on iTunes

    Another dispute...

    Apple Computer will take on Apple Corps in the High Court on Wednesday in a dispute over whether the iTunes music service breaches an agreement with the Beatles' record label and infringes its trademarks. It is the third time the two well-known brands have been to court over the computer company's use of the Apple name. The …

    Media 29 Mar 2006, 07:02

  • Cambridge Consultants restarts VC biz

    Money meets mouth

    Cambridge Consultants is reopening its venture capital business. It will raise a fund with an investment partner and aims to have its first new venture up and running by 2007. It will then work towards producing a spin-out company every two years. The fund will be invested exclusively in Cambridge Consultants' own businesses. …

    Financial News 29 Mar 2006, 07:02

  • Supreme Court to hear eBay's patent challenge

    Case divides biz community

    The US Supreme Court will hear eBay’s appeal tomorrow against an injunction imposed in a patent dispute over the auction site's fixed-price 'Buy it Now' service. eBay is challenging the same court practices that nearly shutdown the BlackBerry email service recently. eBay has asked the Court to review the question of whether an …

    Media 29 Mar 2006, 08:42

  • Patches released for zero-day IE threat

    Third parties to the rescue

    Hundreds of malicious websites are attempting to exploit the most critical of two flaws announced last week in Microsoft's browser, convincing two companies to release workarounds late Monday to head off the threat. Security firms Determina and eEye Digital Security each created a standalone patch to protect Windows systems …

    Security 29 Mar 2006, 09:07

  • Flash price plunge heralds cheaper MP3 players?

    NAND falls as DRAM rallies

    iPods and other MP3 players look set to become much cheaper thanks to a dramatic decline in the price of NAND Flash chips. According to memory industry watcher DRAMeXchange, NAND Flash prices on the spot market have fallen by more than 50 per cent since the start of 2006. It said 2GBb and 4Gb NAND Flash chip prices fell by 63 …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 09:22

  • Insight pays DoJ to end investigation

    No liability admitted...

    US Reseller Insight Enterprises has agreed to pay the Department of Justice $1m to settle charges that it falsely presented itself as a small company to gain advantage in contract negotiations. Comark Government & Education Services, a subsidiary of Insight Enterprises, falsely claimed it was a small business to get itself on a …

    The Channel 29 Mar 2006, 09:32

  • ANC moves Edinburgh depot to Africa

    Your deliveries may be slightly delayed

    Readers expecting urgent deliveries via courier ANC's Edinburgh office should be aware that - according to a link on the company's website - this could take a little longer than you might expect: That's right. As our correspondent Ian Hapke notes: I'm sure that all those folk wanting to emigrate (legally or otherwise) into …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 09:33

  • We're not merging, say MSI and Gigabyte

    Have pondered it, though

    Motherboard makers MSI and Gigabyte have denied claims they've been talking about a merger - even though, by their own admission, they have discussed the possibility more than once. A report, published by Chinese-language media this week, alleged the two companies were talking about getting together, a process begun five …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 09:37

  • Bulldog told to be more upfront about pricing

    Line rental buried in small print

    Bulldog has been told to be more upfront about its charges for its unbundled broadband service after complaints that it buried price information in the smallprint. A nationwide press ad last autumn dangled the tempting offer of "up to eight meg broadband only £9.75* a month fixed for as long as you are with us." The asterisk …

    Broadband 29 Mar 2006, 09:38

  • Enigma machine up for sale on eBay

    Code breaker turns bank breaker...

    An Enigma code making machine is up for sale on eBay. Current bids stand at €9,980 but the seller is hoping for a final price of €40,000. The auction is due to end on 3 April. The machine was made in 1941 but the serial numbers have been removed, making it impossible to tell who it was used by. It is in working order and comes …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 09:43

  • Space tourism rockets

    Stars line up to splurge dosh shocker

    Virgin Galactic has announced that it has signed up more than 150 prospective space tourists. Richard Branson's latest venture will haul millionaires into a brief sub-orbital flight using a fleet of SpaceShipTwo craft, the successor to the ship which claimed the Ansari X-Prize for commercial space flight in 2004. Fibrous …

    Science 29 Mar 2006, 09:45

  • Toshiba pre-announces next-gen Nvidia mobile GPU

    GeForce Go 7900 GS available now, apparently

    Nvidia hasn't announced its GeForce Go 7900 GS mobile GPU yet, but Toshiba yesterday said it has begun shipping a gaming-oriented notebook which delivers "state-of-the-art graphics" thanks to the new chip, 256MB of graphics memory and a 17in TruBrite display. The Centrino-branded Satellite P105-S921 is powered by a 1.83GHz …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 10:06

  • Cops slap Asbo on terror cat

    Attacks Avon lady, duly restrained

    Connecticut authorities have slapped a restraining order on a cat which, according to shaken locals in Fairfield, has subjected the residents of a quiet suburban cul-de-sac to a feline reign of terror during which it attacked several people and even had a pop at the Avon lady. The chilling Connecticut Post report into 5-year- …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 10:07

  • NZ cops cuff armless 121km/h speed merchant

    Or rather, they don't

    An NZ man with no driving licence was slapped with a NZ$170 fine and banned from driving after cops caught him doing 121km/h on a state highway, the New Zealand Herald reports. Nothing unusual there, you might think, but a licence wasn't the only thing the Waikato 32-year-old was lacking. As an officer approached the detained …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 10:24

  • Palm's low-end Treo spotted on web

    Lowrider, Hollywood... or hoax?

    Tantalising images that are claimed to show Palm's upcoming low-end Treo smart phone have been posted on the web. The shots show a blue device with a screen and keypad not unlike those featured on the current Treo 650 and - crucially - no external antenna. The pictures appear on fansite Treonauts here and here. In the two …

    Phones 29 Mar 2006, 10:28

  • Fibernet reports slower than expected progress

    Shares dip

    Shares in UK-based Fibernet, which provides carrier services to large enterprises, other telcos and ISPs, dipped today as the firm warned that business hasn't been as brisk as hoped. The value of contracts signed in the last quarter (£7.9m) was below expectations and the firm doesn't expect to make up this shortfall in the …

    Data Networking 29 Mar 2006, 10:38

  • Katie Holmes to enjoy iPod during birth

    Cruise supplies 'calming music'

    Tom Cruise has given pregnant Katie Holmes an iPod packed with her fave tunes - to help her keep schtum during the forthcoming birth of their child, UK tabloid The Sun reports. The thoughtful gift comes after the delivery to the couple's home of six-foot "birthing boards" reminding Holmes to keep her trap shut during the …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 10:48

  • From JAWS to Dolphins: IT for Nairobi's blind students

    Case study Tools for inclusive education

    Lawrence Momanyji, 10 sits at the front of class with a Brailler at his desk. Lawrence is a bright boy – he came fifth out of 52 in the recent class exams. He is a pupil at Kilimani Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, one of 32 blind and visually impaired children on the school roll. Kilimani is, according to its headmistress …

    Science 29 Mar 2006, 10:59

  • It's springtime for Computerland

    Trading statement

    Computerland issued an upbeat trading statement today saying that business in the second half is running ahead of its expectations. The Nottingham-based reselling and services firm said it was seeing strong growth in its managed services business and now expects profits for the year to come in ahead of the market’s expectations …

    The Channel 29 Mar 2006, 11:19

  • Dell unveils D820, D620 'super 3G'-ready notebooks

    HSPDA card not available yet, though

    Dell has begun taking orders for its anticipated Latitude D620 and D820 business-oriented notebooks - and has said the higher-end machine will sport an Nvidia graphics chip as yet unannounced by the GPU maker. It also said the machine will be offered with an HSDPA 3G data card - but not yet. The part in question is the Quadro …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 11:34

  • German downloaders face two years' prison

    Five years if you're doing it for money...

    The German justice minister has defended changes to German law which will increase sentences for consumers caught downloading copyrighted material to two years. Anyone caught downloading songs or films for commercial purposes could get up to five years in prison. The changes come into force on 1 January 2007. Justice minister …

    Media 29 Mar 2006, 11:47

  • DNS hackers target domain registrars

    Network Solutions and Joker.com hit by DDoSsers. More to follow?

    Hackers have launched distributed denial of service attacks against the Domain Name System (DNS) servers of a brace of domain name registrars over recent days. The motive for the separate attacks against Network Solutions and Joker.com remains unclear. Network Solutions said the attack on its name servers caused a "brief …

    Security 29 Mar 2006, 12:01

  • iPod Nano gets slimline stand

    Dock holiday

    US iPod accessory maker Marware has unveiled a docking cradle that's almost as minimalist as the player it's designed to support. The iPod Nano Stand is sculpted to fit the player perfectly, with a dock connector and a back plane to make fitting and removal painless. There's a standard USB port to cable the cradle to the …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 12:05

  • MPs botch HCI rescue

    Home computer tax break fixed

    The tax break for people who buy home computers through their wage packet was scrapped last night, despite protests from businesses endangered by the short notice of its termination. The Home Computing Initiative, which since its revision last year has provided home computers to half a million people through the payrolls of 1, …

    The Channel 29 Mar 2006, 12:26

  • Motorola changes mind on Q ship date

    Shipping "soon", apparently

    When will Motorola ship its Q smart phone? Last week, the company's website added a page promoting the slimline would-be Blackberry beater. It said the 1.2cm-thick, keyboard-equipped handset will be "available April 2006". Now Moto has changed the page to read "shipping soon". Is it simply being cautious or is it signalling a …

    Phones 29 Mar 2006, 12:34

  • Events, dear boy... a view from Apache

    Comment Who better to comment on open source quality issues?

    After last month's somewhat lightweight piece, I had in mind a solid programmer article for March. But like Harold Macmillan, I'm not just going to ignore events. So here instead is something topical. Open source advocates have been getting very worked up about an article in The Economist entitled Open source business. Open, …

    Developer 29 Mar 2006, 12:37

  • Blair's answer to climate change: the internet

    Or time for a carbon regime change?

    Tony Blair has responded to his government's failure to hit its CO2 emissions target by calling for “a technological revolution comparable to the internet”. He promised to push for a new global consensus on climate change to replace the mostly impotent Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto is set to run until 2012. The government yesterday …

    Science 29 Mar 2006, 12:40

  • Navy waves goodbye to Sea Harriers

    Falklands legend flies into history

    The Royal Navy yesterday waved a fond farewell to the Sea Harriers, which played such a vital role in the 1982 Falklands conflict. The final five aircraft from 801 Squadron performed a last aerial display at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, prompting Commander Henry Mitchell to comment: "It hasn't quite hit me yet …

    Science 29 Mar 2006, 12:52

  • Dell extends Precision portable workstation line

    Status Quadro

    Dell has upgraded its Precision family of mobile workstations, adding a pair of new models to the line-up, both equipped with mobile-oriented Nvidia Quadro FX GPUs and Intel dual-core microprocessors. The Precision M90 and M65 both use Intel's 945PM chipset and ship with up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR 2 SDRAM. Dell is offering the …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 13:06

  • First Brazilian cosmonaut makes World Cup boast

    Samba spaceman should stick to space, man

    Brazil's first cosmonaut has boasted he will take the national shirt aboard the International Space Station to 'commemorate' the country's 'victory' in this year's football World Cup. He'll blast off from Kazakstan on Thursday at 02:30GMT aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Planet-headed airforce pilot Marcos Pontes, 43, puffed: “To …

    Science 29 Mar 2006, 13:46

  • BT managers chilled by pay freeze

    Payments not backdated either

    BT managers who take on new jobs or are promoted over the next few months will have their pay frozen until July. According to documents seen by El Reg, BT is introducing the pay freeze for BT Retail managers in order to comply with corporate governance rules. As a result, any BT Retail manager awarded a pay rise between 2 …

    Broadband 29 Mar 2006, 14:00

  • PwC settles dotcom fraud case

    Pays off shareholders

    PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has made an out-of-court settlement with shareholders of e-district who alleged the accountancy giant had failed to discharge its legal responsibilities. The case had been due in court in June, and all details of the settlement are remaining secret. E-district was the last bubble on board the …

    Financial News 29 Mar 2006, 14:08

  • Ulead yanks Blu-ray support from week-old app

    MovieFactory 5 not fully verified for Blu-ray recording it seems

    Media software maker Ulead has dropped Blu-ray Disc support from the latest release of its DVD MovieFactory video capture and disk-mastering application - even though the software has only been shipping for just over a week. DVD MovieFactory 5 went on sale on 20 March complete with BD-R support. Today, Ulead said it would be …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 14:09

  • SUSE CTO exits Novell

    Man overboard

    Juergen Geck, chief technology officer of SUSE Linux at Novell, will leave the firm at the end of the week, CRN reports. His departure is the latest of a string of departures by senior executives as SUSE since Novell acquired the open source software distributor two years ago. Geck worked with SUSE for more than 10 years, …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 2006, 14:21

  • WD unveils 6GB pocket drive

    HDD on USB

    Western Digital (WD) has announced its take on the USB-driven external microdrive, launching a bus-powered 6GB hard disk drive under its Passport Pocket brand. The 6 x 4.5 x 0.9cm, 45g unit contains a 1in, 3,600rpm HDD with a 2MB cache. It has a mean read seek time of 11ms, WD said, and a nominal average latency of 8.3ms. …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 14:31

  • Rollerskating coppers defeated by turf

    Think 'Daleks and stairs'...

    A top-notch UK crimebusting initiative - which saw London's Royal Parks Constabulary issued with in-line rollerskates - has ground to a halt after crims realised they could escape simply by scarpering across grass, the Telegraph reports. Four Royal Parks officers were issued with the pursuit shoewear six years ago after some …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 14:36

  • Panasonic Blu-ray player to cost 'under $1,500'

    Ah, $1499.99, then...

    Panasonic's Blu-ray Disc player, the DMP-BD10, will set consumers back a whopping $1,500 when it ships in the US in September - up to $500 more than Sony's offering. Actually, Panasonic said the DMP-BD10's price will be "less than $1,500" - so our money's on a $1499.99 price tag... The company didn't provide much in the way …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 14:54

  • Asus to ship Ageia PhysX add-in boards

    First CPU, then GPU, now PPU

    Asus will begin shipping a dedicated physics processing board based on Ageia's PhysX PPU in May, the company said today. The card contains 256MB of memory dedicated to environment calculations designed to make virtual worlds feel more real to game players. Ageia announced PhysX last week. It claims that 60 developers - …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 15:25

  • BT, uSwitch clash over transparency of switching sites

    uSwitch rejects 'murky money making methods' claims

    BT has called on uSwitch to come clean about commission charges following concerns about the transparency of the online price comparison service. uSwitch - which was snapped up by US outfit EW Scripps for £210m ($366m) earlier this month - describes itself as a "free, impartial...comparison and switching service that helps …

    Financial News 29 Mar 2006, 15:27

  • Barclays denies online confusion

    Services suspended

    Barclays Bank customers have complained they can no longer set up new payments through the website. Barclays' call centre is telling customers that an increase in fraud, especially phishing, has forced them to stop customers setting up payments to new people - existing standing orders are not affected. Customers are advised to …

    Security 29 Mar 2006, 15:43

  • NTT DoCoMo preps army-style music phone

    Music Porter X unveiled

    NTT DoCoMo will next month ship a music player capable of downloading songs from its 3G FOMA mobile phone network. Yes, it's a phone too, but unlike music-friendly mobiles like Motorola's Slvr and Rokr, the Music Porter X is designed to spend as much time hooked up to a hi-fi as placed in a pocket. Kitted out in a …

    Phones 29 Mar 2006, 15:58

  • Blue Peter badge privileges suspended

    The day Auntie lost her innocence...

    Turn on your TV set and reach for the consolatory home-made sweets. The BBC has given up trying to protect the sanctity of the Blue Peter badge against rotters who sell them for their privileges to the highest bidder on eBay. And it's about to be announced to the nation's children. Kids win their badges by performing or …

    Bootnotes 29 Mar 2006, 16:00

  • Apple adds noise limit to iPod firmware

    Volume discount

    Worried Junior may be listening to his or her iPod too loudly? Apple has added a user-definable volume limit to its latest iPod Nano and 5G iPod firmware. iPods sold in France and other EU countries have a mandatory volume limit, so it will interesting to see whether the update allows Euro users to turn their iPod 'up to eleven …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 16:07

  • Apple, Beatles spat about logos not music, says lawyer

    Apple vs Apple Beatles' trademark case comes to court

    It's the logo, stupid. That, at least, is what the Apple vs Apple case centres on if opening arguments made by Apple Corp. lawyer Geoffrey Vos QC are anything to go by. It's not about Apple Comp. selling recorded music, it's about the Mac maker promoting the business with its logo, Vos said. "Apple Computer can go into the …

    Hardware 29 Mar 2006, 16:52

  • Microsoft adds Virtual Server to delay parade

    Like Switzerland without the punctuality

    Microsoft's delay culture has carried over to the Virtual Server team with an update to the server slicing product being pushed back to "early 2007." The Redmond beast now plans to ship a beta of the service pack 1 (SP1) for Virtual Server 2005 R2 in the next 90 days and deliver the final take of the update next year. Microsoft …

    Operating Systems 29 Mar 2006, 20:33

  • Windows Vista under EC spotlight

    Probe extended

    Microsoft has moved to re-assure European regulators there's nothing anti-competitive going on with its delayed Windows Vista operating system. The company told the European Commission Wednesday it's working hard with partners and competitors to build products and services capable of working with Windows Vista. Microsoft said …

    Media 29 Mar 2006, 20:45

  • OSDL fires up open source welfare program

    Fellowship of the fund

    Are you an open source developer whose project is a little strapped for cash? Then Linus Torvalds' Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has good news for you. OSDL has announced the creation of a Fellowship Fund that will provide financial support for software developers working on Linux and open source projects lacking the …

    Developer 29 Mar 2006, 23:44