17th December 2004 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

• ↑ December 2004
• ← 16th December 2004
• 18th December 2004 →

• Tech lobby loses stock options battle

  WYSIWYG comes to the balance sheet

  US corporations must accurately reflect the value of stock options in their accounts from June next year, the accounting industry's board FASB ruled today.

  Management 17 08:45

• RIAA sues 754 more P2Pers

  But to what effect?

  The Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) has filed a further 754 lawsuits against named and unnamed individuals it claims have infringed its members' copyrights.

  Media 17 09:53

• Symbian CEO to quit

  Levin off to run £747m-turnover United Business Media

  Symbian CEO David Levin is to leave the company to join publishing and media group United Business Media (UBM), it was announced last night.

  Financial News 17 10:21

• Analyst slashes 2005 chip capex forecast - again

  Chip makers to spend 15% less on new kit next year

  Market watcher Gartner has once again cut the amount of money it reckons the world's chip makers will invest in new equipment next year.

  The Channel 17 10:46

• BOFH gets into the Xmas spirit

  Good will to all men. No, really...

  So I'm prancing around the office with my Santa hat on when the PFY walks in.

  BOFH 17 10:50

• 'World's Biggest Luddite' heads for the UK

  Lock up your laptops

  Lock up your laptops - the "World's Biggest Luddite" is coming to the UK.

  Bootnotes 17 10:56

• DHS network vulnerable to attack

  Remote access security issues

  The US Department of Homeland Security is having some homeland cyber security issues on its systems providing remote access to telecommuters, according to a newly-released report by the DHS Inspector General's office.

  Security 17 11:06

• AMD to gain market share in 2005

  But 'sleepy' Intel to be fully awake by 2006

  AMD will continue to grab market share from Intel next year, investment house Piper Jaffray (PJ) forecast this week, thanks to what the researcher called a "very compelling product line".

  Financial News 17 11:19

• Property tycoon buys fantasy island

  $26,500 down the hole? Apparently not...

  A 22 year-old Australian gamer has bought a virtual island for $26,500 in the largest Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) purchase ever.

  Media 17 11:34

• DfES wants school kids spaced out

  Learning about fun science

  The British National Space Centre and the Department for Education and Skills have joined forces to bring real-life space science into the classroom.

  Science 17 11:40

• iRiver preps colour-screen iPod Mini rival

  H10 unveiled

  iRiver's parent company has revealed the portable music player maker's next major release: the 5GB hard drive-based H10.

  Mobile 17 11:40

• Capgemini picked for Swansea eGov project

  Big in Wales

  Swansea Council has named Capgemini to run its ambitious £100m eGovernment programme.

  Policy 17 11:45

• eBay buys Rent.com for $415m

  Auction house becomes landlord

  eBay is spreading its wings still further with the acquistion of Rent.com for $415m. The apartment rental site claims to be the biggest of its type in the US and boasts an annual revenue of $40m.

  Financial News 17 11:51

• Adobe patches Acrobat, Reader flaws

  Read all about it

  Adobe has released updates for Acrobat and Reader to fix security bugs that might allow attackers to gain access to unpatched systems. A trio of vulnerabilities pose a risk to users of version 6.0.0 to 6.0.2 of Abode’s products.

  Applications 17 11:57

• PalmOne offers Treo 650 users a free 128MB card

  Hurry, offer open only while stocks last

  PalmOne has posted instructions detailing how Treo 650 owners can claim their free 128MB SD memory card.

  Mobile 17 12:12

• Swatch designs Paparazzi wristwatch for MSN

  Comes to Europe next Spring

  Swiss company Swatch and Microsoft have jointly designed a new computer wristwatch called Paparazzi. The miniature computer tells you what the weather will be like tomorrow, which movies are showing in local cinemas, the sports results and even current stock-exchange prices.

  Mobile 17 12:16

• Spanish deploy CAD in the name of God

  Unfinished cathedral gets virtual boost

  Builders on Antoni Gaudi's landmark Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona are to get helping hand in realising the Spanish architect's vision - in the form of new software from Dassault Systemes and IBM.

  Applications 17 12:17

• German Postbank phishers arrested

  Five caught, one on the run

  German police have arrested five suspects of Internet-banking fraud that successfully targeted Postbank account holders. A sixth suspect is on the run, German news site Heise Online reports.

  Security 17 12:19

• PalmOne Q2 sales soar

  Reaping the benefits as buyers turn to smart phones

  PalmOne saw its sales grow 37.8 per cent sequentially and 29 per cent year on year during the second quarter of its 2005 fiscal year, the smart phone and PDA maker reported yesterday.

  Financial News 17 12:35

• Wanadoo.fr staff strike over 'buggy' VoIP service

  UK roll-out won't be delayed

  Wanadoo UK has denied that the roll-out of its new internet telephony service will be delayed, after problems with the VoIP service in France.

  Broadband 17 13:00

• Gooooal! Ronaldinho scores his own domain name

  Open and shut case this one

  Brazilian and Barcelona football star Ronaldinho has won his namesake domain name, www.ronaldinhogaucho.com.

  Financial News 17 13:11

• Car self-destructs in assassination bid

  Frenchman shaken after terror ordeal

  A middle-aged Frenchman has become the latest victim of murderous technology after his car exploded as he activated the central locking system.

  Science 17 13:32

• Prior art claimed for concentration camp invention

  It could only happen in Letters

  Afternoon, lovely readers, and welcome to Friday's trawl through the letters bag. We'll hand over to John Lettice to kick things off today:

  Letters 17 13:44

• Apple talks up mid-range Motorola 'iPod phone'

  Coming sooner than we think?

  Apple has declared itself "very happy" with Motorola's attempt to build an iPod-style mobile phone that can play songs downloaded from its iTunes Music Store.

  Mobile 17 14:11

• Playboy turns up the heat with iBod

  iPod Photo + smut = phwooar!

  We're delighted to report that Playboy is once again pushing back the envelope of soft porn by offering iPod Photo users the chance to acquire some free snaps of naked fillies.

  Bootnotes 17 14:20

• Rosy future for Sprint-Nextel marriage

  But what of T-Mobile USA?

  So 2004 has started and ended with a major US cellco merger. The difference in style and execution of the two deals symbolizes wider contrasts that will filter through to the market as the four companies involved go through their transition periods. The takeover of AT&T Wireless by Cingular was messy, protracted and the buyer has been saddled with an inflated purchase price and a difficult consolidation process. Though the two companies achieved market leading bulk, their marriage was one of deeply flawed operations with poor customer service records and unimaginative future technology paths.

  Mobile 17 14:43

• NTL's CIO quits

  Phil Pavitt makes 'genuinely personal decision'

  NTL is looking for a new CIO after Phil Pavitt confirmed his decision to quit the cableco next year.

  Broadband 17 14:56

• Canadian 'iPod tax' illegal, judge rules

  Canada's Copyright Act only specifies blank media

  Canada's levy on blank media that could be used to record copyright material does not apply to MP3 players, the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal has ruled.

  Media 17 14:58

• Motorola shapes up its act

  Four groups emerge from radical resructure

  Motorola CEO Ed Zander is approaching his first anniversary in the job, one that will be overshadowed by the probable loss of the company's largest equipment customer, Nextel. As analysts mulled over the potentially serious impact of that loss, Zander rolled out his long awaited corporate restructuring, in an announcement that was low key, but highlighted many pointers to a future Motorola.

  Mobile 17 15:13

• MS plugs weak XP firewall

  Critical update

  Microsoft this week quietly fixed a security weakness in the configuration of the built-in firewall component of Windows XP.

  Security 17 15:48

• Radiation puts kybosh on cheap satellite plans

  No safe space

  The space around the Earth is more dangerous than scientists thought, according to new research. This could mean plans for lightly shielded, very cheap satellites will have to be shelved for the time being.

  Science 17 16:27

• 'We know you're in there!' - x-ray drug powers for UK police

  May order scans for swallowed drugs

  The Home Office's collection of tough-sounding but pointless laws continues to grow, despite the departure of David Blunkett mid-week. Today's addition is the Drugs Bill, which includes proposals to give police powers to order ultrasound or x-ray examinations of "dealers who swallow their drugs to conceal the evidence."

  Media 17 18:04

• Adobe shares dip despite Q4 profit surge

  Investors crop gains

  Shares of Adobe were down 2 per cent during Friday's trading even though the software maker posted better than expected fourth quarter figures one day earlier.

  Financial News 17 19:23

• ↑ December 2004
• ← 16th December 2004
• 18th December 2004 →