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4th April 2006 Archive

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  • Joe public wary of trusting organisations online

    Government more trusted than e-tailers

    More needs to be done to convince the British public that their personal details are adequately protected online. A YouGov survey of 2,000 UK punters found that two in three (65 per cent) were uncomfortable with the idea of allowing organisations to share personal details in order to offer federated services. For consumers, …

    ID 4 Apr 2006, 01:02

  • 'Mysterious green goo' discovery halts phone repair

    Fears over safety of 'suspicious substance'

    More than 400 homes and businesses in Aldershot are without phone services after BT engineers refused to repair a faulty cable after finding "mysterious green goo" down a manhole. The "suspicious substance" was discovered last Friday after engineers were sent to the Hampshire town to investigate a phone fault. But they refused …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2006, 09:00

  • Sony unveils latest Walkman Flash MP3 players

    Multi-coloured USB sticks ahoy

    Sony has confirmed the debut of its latest Flash-based E-series Walkman music players, announcing this morning that the multi-coloured line-up for 512MB, 1GB and 2GB devices will ship across Europe at the end of the month. The manufacturer touted the devices' fast charge time: three hours' playback capacity after just three …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 09:06

  • Customer database dispute continues

    Value of card index the root of the issue

    The Court of Appeal last week allowed an appeal brought over the way a card index containing a customer database was valued for the purposes of assessing damages in a partnership dispute. The index should have been valued as at the time the partnership dissolved and not in light of its subsequent successful use, the court said …

    Small Biz 4 Apr 2006, 09:09

  • Employment law is too complex, says FSB

    Small.biz growth stifled by red tape

    Small businesses are finding it very difficult to cope with increasing amounts of employment legislation, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The trade group says calls to its free legal helpline on employment issues grew by 30 per cent last year. There were 70,943 calls to the helpline in 2005, up from 55, …

    Small Biz 4 Apr 2006, 09:18

  • Apple releases Mac OS X 10.4.6 update

    Intel and PowerPC; client and server

    Apple has posted Mac OS X 10.4.6, the latest update to its 'Tiger' operating system. Released as both PowerPC and Intel versions, the new software incorporates the customary array of tweaks and fixes, but most notably incorporates a major revision of the OS' iSync tool. Indeed, Apple warned iSync users to synchronise their PDAs …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 09:22

  • Online betting addict gets suspended sentence

    Steals £500,000 but is ill not dishonest...

    A woman has received a suspended sentence for stealing half a million quid from her employer, because the judge accepted that her addiction to online betting sites was an illness. Sharna Baker, 26, blew £90,000 of her own savings and sold her flat to feed her addiction to betting on horses and football matches. She used her job …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2006, 09:35

  • NTL confirms Virgin Mobile buy-out

    At last...

    NTL has finally confirmed that it is to acquire Virgin Mobile as part of a master plan to create a giant communications company to take on pay TV outfit Sky and incumbent telco BT. The deal values Virgin Mobile at £962.4m - almost £150m more than was originally rejected by the Virgin Mobile board in December last year. As part …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2006, 09:41

  • AMD's K8L 65nm core due H1 07

    Roadmap So near, so Sparta

    AMD's next-generation AMD64 core, codenamed 'K8L', has begun appearing on the company's roadmap under that name, kicking off with a H1 2007 appearance, according to documentation leaked on the web. So has upcoming CPUs' support for 800MHz DDR 2 SDRAM. A roadmap image posted at Chinese-language site HKEPC confirms past …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 09:52

  • Cisco and Dimension Data straddle the world

    Services for all

    Dimension Data is extending its up close alliance with Cisco beyond North America. The solutions and services vendor and the networking giant will roll out their Global Services Alliance across Europe, Asia and Australia. The North America program covers “planning, design, implementation and management of IT infrastructures”. It …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2006, 10:04

  • Samsung re-schedules Blu-ray player debut

    Adds 1080p support, though

    Samsung has put back the release of its Blu-ray Disc player by a month, the company has revealed. However, in compensation, it has apparently upped the player's output to a maximum HD resolution of 1080p. The BD-P1000 will now ship on 25 June, not 23 May as originally planned. According to a variety of news sources, Samsung …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 10:29

  • A Vista with no view of an EU sunset

    Comment IT industry blinkered by MS obsession

    The European Union's competition regulator has warned Microsoft it will not be allowed to sell the new Vista operating system in Europe if it comes pre-loaded with certain features. The anti-trust commissioner's office has stated that it is concerned with Microsoft's plans for Vista's integrated internet search, DRM and …

    Developer 4 Apr 2006, 10:40

  • Fujitsu exhibits fold-out keyboard UMPC

    Unwraps better than Microsoft's Origami?

    Fujitsu has put on show a pair of conceptual PC designs, one intended to show how an "ultra-mobile" machine might operate, the other a home computer system which looks funky enough but probably won't give Apple's industrial designers any sleepless nights. The UMPC concept is certainly topical, what with the launch of …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 10:56

  • Passport rule change anticipates ID refusenik sabotage efforts

    Updated Early mass renewal plans go to the dogs

    The new UK Identity and Passport Service, spawned out of the Passport Service after the ID Cards Act became law on Saturday, celebrated its birth by trying to stop people renewing their passports whenever they want to, whether or not the passport is about to expire. The change in terms and conditions were slipped into the …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2006, 11:09

  • Epson unveils 'Windows Vista Capable' PC

    Logo goes live

    It's official - the blurry 'Windows Vista-capable' logo that appeared on the web last week is real, as Epson demonstrated today when it launched a desktop system for the Japanese market that conforms to the certification process centred on Microsoft's next generation of Windows. The machine in question is the Endeavour Pro …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 11:18

  • Thousands more file sharers sued

    Uploaders in 10 countries face legal action

    Recording industry watchdog IFPI is taking legal action against 2,000 people in 10 countries across Europe accused of sharing music files. There is a mixture of civil and criminal cases, depending on the country. In Portugal, one country in which the IFPI is taking action, it blames a 40 per cent fall in album and single sales …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2006, 11:27

  • Raver chomps through 40,000 disco biscuits

    Finds them so moreish

    Doctors have described what is thought to be the worst recorded case of ecstasy abuse. During his four-year peak, Mr A, the subject of the report appearing in the journal Psychosomatics, was consuming 25 pills a day. Now 37, Mr A ended his mammoth bender seven years ago, after three episodes where his body simply collapsed …

    Biology 4 Apr 2006, 11:35

  • EDS buys into India

    Complements strategy, apparently...

    Services behemoth EDS is buying MphasiS, an Indian outsourcing firm for $380m. Although the price of MphasiS shares, about $4.58 per share, represents a 30 per cent increase on their six month average price, investors were not impressed. MphasiS shares on the Bombay stock exchange fell 1.8 per cent to 212 rupees. The deal …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2006, 11:40

  • Hitachi preps quad-tuner HDD-equipped TVs

    Two analogue receivers, two digital

    Hitachi has unveiled a set of big-screen plasma and LCD TVs boasting not only four integrated tuners - two digital, two analogue - but also built-in hard disks with PVR functionality. The wonderfully named Wooo 9000 series contains six models offering 32in, 37in and 42in screen sizes. The two larger sizes are plasma panels …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 11:50

  • Leeds airline whippet into frenzy over French strike

    'Welcome to Yorkshire'

    A budget airline boss has dubbed French air traffic controllers "lazy frogs" for taking industrial action against their government's plan to make it easier to sack young staff. He said: "Get back to work or get another job." Demonstrating the true spirit of European fraternité, Jet2's Philip Meeson fumed at the strikers: "You …

    Bootnotes 4 Apr 2006, 12:04

  • Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1536

    Review A well-spec'd Centrino Duo laptop at an affordable price

    It hasn’t been three months since Intel launched the Centrino Duo platform, and you can already find much-better-than-base specification machines for quite a bit less than £1,000. The Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pi 1536 is one such laptop, and it has a very well-rounded feature set and utilises some of the latest technology... …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 12:19

  • Tech sector recruitment to rise in 2006

    Despite moves to low-cost manufacturing markets

    The job prospects in Europe's tech sector are looking bright, a new survey has revealed. Almost two-thirds of European tech firms are expecting to increase recruitment in the coming 12 months, according to a new IT confidence survey by Eurocom Worldwide in association with its UK partner Six Degrees. A mere eight percent …

    IT Director 4 Apr 2006, 12:42

  • Sony Ericsson announces eighth Walkman phone

    Gold blend

    Sony Ericsson today Liberacéd up its Walkman music phone line, adding a new W700 candybar model kitted out in a "titanium gold"-coloured casing. Sony Ericsson maintains the new hue is "subtle" and the phone's look "discreet", but we'd say it's more Nescafé Gold Blend than Lavazza espresso. The W700 comes bundled with a …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 12:57

  • Fujitsu touts four-way slider phone

    Concept design only, alas

    Fancy a phone with a large enough screen to surf the web as well as you would on a desktop? Fujitsu may have the answer. Well, its industrial designers do, and they'll this week show off their ideas at a special exhibition taking place in Milan. In addition to a pair of concept PCs, the Japanese giant has a couple of …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 13:37

  • AMD Fab 36 'generating revenue'

    Shipping chips to paying customers

    AMD's Fab 36 has begun making the company money, the chip maker announced today. Processors rolling off the plant's production lines last month became the first parts to be shipped to paying customers, the company said. Fab 36 is AMD's first 300mm-wafer fab, punching out chips made using a 90nm process, though it's scheduled …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2006, 14:04

  • Demon chases overdue accounts

    Admits some bills may have been sent in error

    Demon has admitted that a "very small number" of its customers might have been invoiced incorrectly, after it carried out a sweep on overdue accounts recently. It seems some invoices may have been sent out in error and, as a result, it's set up an email address for people to contact if they think they may be affected by the …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2006, 14:19

  • PC IQ stops trading

    Lights go out in Romsey

    Reseller network PC IQ has stopped trading. The Hampshire-based reseller group offered buying discounts, marketing and advertising help, and recycling of old IT kit. We've failed to get hold of someone to talk to, but the firm did send us an email: "In response to your request, I can confirm that PC IQ Ltd ceased trading on 31 …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2006, 15:03

  • Birmingham Council signs 'unique' deal

    Transforming rather than outsourcing

    Birmingham City Council has signed a £475m deal with support services giant Capita - but, rather than merely signing an outsourcing agreement on 1 April, the unusual collaboration has been called a "transformation" agreement, and operates more like a lease. Birmingham hopes the Capita deal will find it £500m of savings, while …

    Public Sector 4 Apr 2006, 15:13

  • Virgin to improve customer service at NTL

    'Bout time too

    Staff at Virgin Mobile are to spruce up NTL's lack lustre customer service following the merger of the companies. Much of the chit-chat surrounding NTL's £962m take-over of Virgin mobile today has been about "quad-play" services and rebranding. But one of the consequences of the merger is the decision to export Virgin's "keep …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2006, 15:19

  • Unofficial zero-day patches gain corporate support

    Deliver us from evil

    Organisations are deploying unofficial patches in the absence of officially sanctioned security fixes from vendors, a new survey suggests. Around one in eight (13 per cent) customers quizzed by security vendor PatchLink deployed an unofficial third party patch when the zero-day Microsoft WMF (windows Meta File) exploit was …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2006, 15:28

  • Microsoft buys intelligence

    Pays for Proclarity

    Microsoft is buying a business intelligence firm based in Boise, Idaho. ProClarity has been an MS partner for some time and makes analysis and visualisation software to sit on top of other MS business intelligence products. The price of the purchase was not revealed. According to MS's press release, this fits in with the …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2006, 15:33

  • Your friendly Imagine Cup team mentor

    Mentor's blog An introduction from the 'trusted guide and advisor'

    My name is Rob Miles. I’m the mentor for the Team 3 Pair entry for their Imagine Cup entry. I’ve just looked up mentor at wordreference.com and it says “wise and trusted guided and advisor”. That works for me. I hope it works for the students…. I lecture at the University of Hull in Computer Science. We’ve been involved with …

    Developer 4 Apr 2006, 15:34

  • Scientists solve reproductive riddle

    Sperm or eggs?

    For the first time, a research paper describes how the switch between producing a woman's single batch of eggs or a man's lifetime of sperm is flicked. The discovery, due to be published in the journal Science, could have important applications in fertility treatment. It makes an interesting aside to a California biotech firm' …

    Biology 4 Apr 2006, 15:38

  • Mesh seeks to net gamers with ATI CrossFire rigs

    AMD dual-core CPUs, too

    Mesh has launched two new gamer-oriented desktop PC families, each based on AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core and equipped with ATI's Radeon Xpress 3200 chipset - on an Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard - to enable CrossFire multi-GPU graphics. The Matrix² XFR range comprises three models, as does the Matrix² CrossFire line-up. The …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 15:42

  • CSC prepares for takeover bids

    And slashes European operations

    The board of CSC are mulling approaches for a sell off. A restructuring plan was also announced, with 5,000 jobs set to be shed, mostly in Europe. Shares in the IT services company rose more than four and a half per cent on the news. CEO Van B Honeycutt said: "For some time it has been apparent to us, and to other companies in …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2006, 15:56

  • Reg Hardware's Critical Mass

    Review Round-up No-holds-barred product assessments from around the web

    This week's no-holds-barred product assessments from around the web... Dell Axim X51v "Dell has added a new member to its mobile Axim family. This model has more memory, a bigger screen, a new OS and more processing power. What's all this good for..?" - UK Gamer   Foxconn, Gigabyte and AVC coolers for Intel LGA775 and …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 17:04

  • Network Solutions glitch hits customers

    Outage.com

    Network Solutions' website and some of its DNS services were knocked out for around two hours on Tuesday, 4 April because of an outage involving its co-location provider, Savvis. The exact cause of the outage between 07:56 EST and 10:02 EST remains unclear. Services have largely been restored, and Network Solutions apoligised …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2006, 17:20

  • Asus to make 13.3in widescreen MacBook - report

    As per June 2005 allegations

    Asus has reportedly won the contract to manufacture Apple's upcoming Intel-based iBook - aka the MacBook - which will be the first consumer-oriented notebook from the vendor to incorporate a widescreen display. So claimed Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Times today, according to the AFX news service. The report …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2006, 20:12