11th June 2002 Archive

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Anti-open source ‘whitepaper’ devastated

MS deserves a refund

Roaring Penguin's David Skoll has written a fine rebuttal to the ADTI whitepaper. With his permission we're reproducing it whole and unedited: The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) has finally published its white paper entitled "Opening the Open Source Debate". My earlier comments were based on media reports and e-mail …

Software 11 Jun 2002, 02:16
Homer Simpson MP3 “banned” by Fox

Objectionable material

Counter culture hero Paul Krassner - co-founder of the Yippies - has made available a recording of Homer Simpson that Fox refused to sanction. It features Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer in Fox's The Simpsons introducing a live performance by Krassner. Although the introduction was penned by Castanella, Fox owns the rights and …

Bootnotes 11 Jun 2002, 04:05
Palm OS 5.0 milestone more of a molehill

Summer 2003 slated for big bang

Although Palm's software chief David Nagel hit the right, very cautious note in interviews yesterday - as the company finally released final code for PalmOS 5.0 - the company still can't resist its bad habit of overselling itself. PalmOS 5.0 is a port of the current OS onto ARM: it isn't a new OS in any meaningful sense, and …

Personal 11 Jun 2002, 06:02
KPNQwest faces High Noon deadline today

Customers have to pay up

KPNQwest NV's future is still hanging in the balance after trustees for the bankrupt carrier look set to extend the deadline to collect funds from customers until noon today. If the customers that promised to settle their bills pay up, trustees are optimistic that the backbone could be kept in operation for several weeks, …

Music and Media 11 Jun 2002, 09:02
Find the rogue protocols

Firewall plug

San Diego-based startup Akonix Systems Inc is offering companies a way to monitor and regulate employees' use of insecure internet services such as instant messaging, with the launch of its first product, L7, yesterday. The software targets "rogue protocols", defined as those that intentionally avoid network security. L7 ( …

Security 11 Jun 2002, 09:03
StorageTek Gives Up on HP

Future lies with Overland

Storage Technology Corp has given up on its OEM relationship with Hewlett-Packard Co, according to CEO Pat Martin. Louisville, Colorado-based StorageTek has been supplying HP with tape-automation products, but it would appear that the post-merger company will go with Compaq's OEM partner Overland Data Systems instead. No …

Hardware 11 Jun 2002, 09:03
EarthLink buys PeoplePC for $10m

B2B play

EarthLink Inc is making a play into the business-to-business white-label internet access market and the budget consumer market, snapping up smaller rival PeoplePC Inc for the bargain-basement price of about $10m. PeoplePC's niche is providing a PC-and-internet bundle, both directly to consumers and to consumers and …

Music and Media 11 Jun 2002, 09:03
Increasing Virtualisation

What goes around...

It is quite normal for old concepts to be repackaged and reproduced as new ideas. For a long time, there has been a view that virtualisation is good because it provides a common platform for development. However, this is creating opportunities for others who can do clever things beneath that platform. We all know the …

Software 11 Jun 2002, 09:17
AOL shows UK broadband hand

Not cheap

AOL is entering the UK's ADSL market - and it's not cheap. The ISP is kicking off with monthly subs of £34.99, but is sweetening the deal with a cut-price £25 modem offer until July 15. AOL is charging upto £10 a month more than rival broadband ISPs. But the new service will have exclusive multimedia content from the Time …

Mobile 11 Jun 2002, 10:28
BT gets 802.11b rubber stamp

And everyone else too

The government yesterday duly amended the Wireless Telegraphy Act, opening to flood-gates to commercial providers of public WLAN services on the 2.4GHz spectrum. This is where the Wi-Fi 802.11b standard hangs out. And where to date, short range devices such as baby alarms and radio control toys operate. Previously, public …

Mobile 11 Jun 2002, 10:49
E-envoy envoy wows Internet World

Punters stay away in droves

The Internet World show kicked off in London today with as much va-va-voom as France's football flops. The opening keynote speech by Government bigwig Richard Barrington from the Office of the e-envoy was poorly attended. Very poorly attended. Initially, those people entering the conference hall were told that it would be …

Music and Media 11 Jun 2002, 10:56
Snoops a go-go: UK gov goes mad on privacy invasion

Earlier repressive powers to be extended to more or less everybody

The UK government intends to implement sweeping extensions to the snooping powers of official bodies before its controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) even comes into force. RIPA was bludgeoned through Parliament two years ago in the face of heavy opposition, and is to come into force later this year. The …

Music and Media 11 Jun 2002, 11:39
PDAs cost loadsamoney

Big Biz TCO thing

Gartner, the IT analyst firm, makes something of a speciality of estimating the total cost of ownership (TCO) of computer hardware for its corporate customers. You know the sort of stuff - the purchase price of a desktop PC is only 12 per cent of its TCO; it costs up to $150 to dispose a PC safely and legally etcetera. Now it's …

Mobile 11 Jun 2002, 11:59
Tele2 guarantees 99.9% broadband uptime

Business Plan

Tele2 is to guarantee broadband service levels for its business customers, the wireless broadband outfit confirmed today at the Internet World show in London. The measure is part of a shift in strategy for Tele2 after it decided to move away from home users and concentrate instead on business customers. It's also an …

Telecoms 11 Jun 2002, 12:19
Phone handsets get Nintendo-style games capabilities

A bulletin from our Next Big Thing department

In the past couple of weeks wireless technology developer TTPCom has been touring companies demonstrating one of the most intensely desirable mobile phone handsets - a silver and blue demo unit that you'll never be able to buy (not exactly, anyway), but that the company hopes will fire the imagination of handset manufacturers …

Software 11 Jun 2002, 12:43
People chipping company hit by class actions, FDA probe

Digital nightmare?

The pseudo-cyborging activities of Applied Digital Solutions and Digital Angel have run into serious trouble in the shape of a comprehensive axing by WorldNetDaily, which publishes a special report on the subject today. Among the woes the site lists are a US Food and Drug Administration investigation, at least four class action …

Personal 11 Jun 2002, 13:42
Football roolz at Internet World

Unlike France

As far as El Reg is concerned, two companies are head and shoulders above the rest at the Internet World show in London. They’ve shown initiative, intelligence and an acute awareness of what punters needs as they traipse round the stands. That’s right – they’ve got TV feeds so show-goers can watch the World Cup. It might …

Bootnotes 11 Jun 2002, 15:07
Local councillors refuse to publish interests on Net

Sauce for the goose...

Kent County Council has refused to publish a register of councillors’ financial interests on the Net, citing fears that members could be exposed to "unnecessary risk". To be more precise, activists could use the information to target "individuals". Now they will have to trudge down to County Hall in Maidstone and take …

Music and Media 11 Jun 2002, 15:40