24th June 2002 Archive

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MS to micro-manage your computer

'Palladium' they call this scheme

A recent MSNBC article by techno-pundit Steven Levy discusses Microsoft's plans for a new computer operating environment (code-named "Palladium") that links hardware, software, and data into a neat package, allegedly more secure and convenient for users. Or, putting it in simpler terms, it's Microsoft's answer to fixing …

Software 24 Jun 2002, 05:05
007 Sean Connery in spam a friend for Scotland blooper

Oops...

Revered Scottish icon Sir Sean Connery* has been fingered by PA for engaging in 'spam a friend' tactics. And we've absolutely no idea why we found this one in Australia, but there you go. Sean, a long-standing and prominent supporter of the Scottish National Party, has been using his not for profit web site, seanconnery.com, to …

Music and Media 24 Jun 2002, 07:10
MS UK offers free Windows .NET Server beta eval CDs

That nice of them...

Microsoft UK is offering free evaluation CDs of Windows .NET Server beta 3, in Web, Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter flavours. The offer doesn't appear to be valid elsewhere in the world, but according to a discussion thread at Neowin (thanks to Neowin for the tip) the system is at least taking orders from hopeful punters …

Software 24 Jun 2002, 07:13
RIRs seek distance from ICANN

Reform meeting

The Internet Corp for Assigned Names and Numbers will meet in Bucharest, Romania this week for discussions that could ultimately decide whether the domain name system manager lives or dies. But even as a committee set up to address reform of the troubled organization published its first concrete recommendations, a key …

Music and Media 24 Jun 2002, 07:15
France Telecom nears MobilCom victory

Expensively gained

France Telecom SA was poised for victory in the battle for control of German wireless operator MobilCom AG on Friday when CEO Gerhard Schmid cleared his office at the company's Buedelsdorf headquarters. His departure was a condition for a syndicate of 17 banks offering the company a 4.7bn euros ($4.6bn) lifeline. But …

Mobile 24 Jun 2002, 07:15
CMGI-Engage marriage annulled

Pre-nuptial disagreement

CMGI Inc has pulled out of its bid to take full control of Engage Inc, its majority-owned online advertising subsidiary, after disagreements about which direction to take the firm. As a result, CMGI's chairman and CEO have both resigned from Engage's board. May 21, CMGI announced its intention to acquire the 24.5% of …

Business 24 Jun 2002, 07:15
HP boosts Superdome performance

With 875MHz PA-8700+

Hewlett Packard Co will today announce that it has cranked up the clock speed on the PA-RISC 8700 processors used in its top end Superdome Unix servers. The new PA-8700+ processors run at 875MHz, a 17% increase in clock speed over the 750MHz PA-8700s currently used throughout the former HP 9000 Unix server line. Vish …

Servers 24 Jun 2002, 07:15
EMC's careful words do Brocade no favours

Read the small print

Exactly what EMC Corp thinks of the first high-end SAN switching from Brocade Communications Systems Inc is not clear, possibly because the company itself has yet to decide, Tim Stammers writes. But by releasing the product under a staged qualification program, it may have inadvertently undermined what limited confidence …

Hardware 24 Jun 2002, 07:24
Red Hat: one of our Operating Systems is missing

eCos goes MIA

Red Hat has axed its "other" operating system eCos, which formerly belonged to Cygnus, and there's an analysis of why at Rick Lehrbaum's LinuxDevices site. Scooter actually scooped this here for CNET, but as is the way with CNET scoops, it was buried in Paragraph 13, and so no one noticed. CNET reported that Red Hat had laid …

Software 24 Jun 2002, 08:37
MS DRM OS, retagged ‘secure OS’ to ship with Longhorn?

The repositioning spin begins...

The Microsoft Secure PC project is rolling out, and could be with us as early as the next major version of Windows, Longhorn. The whole idea of a computer that just plain won't let you steal other people's stuff is of course a tricky one (why would you buy it?), as we've previously indicated here, and here, so the ever- …

Software 24 Jun 2002, 08:59
BT slips out BTOpenzone hotspots

Public WLAN plan

BT has unveiled the first wireless "hotspots" ahead of the commercial launch of its Public Access Wireless LAN network later in the summer. The hotspots - dubbed "BTOpenzones" - give people broadband access on the move. The first BTOpenzones are at the Heathrow Hilton, BT Centre in London and the company's development centre …

Mobile 24 Jun 2002, 09:41
One.Tel goes mobile

Low line rental

One.Tel - the fixed line discount telco - has teamed up with Vodafone to enter the mobile phone market. Promising low prices, line rental for the service costs £4.99 a month - around 60 per cent cheaper than average line rental charges from other operators. Unlike other services, there are no inclusive calls provided with this …

Mobile 24 Jun 2002, 11:52
Intel launches 2GHz P4-M

Mobility allowance

Intel today launched a 2GHz version of the Pentium 4-M, its fastest mobile CPU to date. But it ain't cheap, priced at $637 for 1,000 units. The new 1.9GHz P4-M is a bit pricey too, tipping up at $401 in OEM quantities. So it'll be a little while before either chip hits the mainstream - but maybe not too long the way Intel is …

Channel 24 Jun 2002, 11:57
Mysteries of the CDRW back ups revealed

Plug and go? No!

There's a war going on between digital rights owners and software 'pirates', and the biggest flashpoint is the humble CDRW drive. There are perfectly innocent uses for copying software - and that's for back-up. Unfortunately, plug and go it ain't. Currently there are at least 25 different data CD protection schemes, and maybe …

Personal 24 Jun 2002, 12:42
Thus close to broadband legal action

Still keeping mum

Thus has declined to comment on reports that it is on the verge of launching legal action in a bid to see tighter regulation of BT. According to the Sunday Telegraph, the telco wants Oftel to investigate BT's pricing for broadband because it believes it has been acting anti-competitively. If the action - which could be kicked …

Telecoms 24 Jun 2002, 13:53
Armed robbers hijack Evesham lorry

Driver shaken, not hurt

Armed robbers hijacked an Amtrak lorry containing approx. 300 Evesham PCs, late Friday afternoon. The driver was held-up at gunpoint at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, near the M5 turnover. He was kidnapped and bundled into the back of a car, then driven down the M5. He was released badly shaken, but not hurt. All the PCs were …

Channel 24 Jun 2002, 14:08
Orange sees red over price regulation

Threatens 3G cutbacks

Orange is threatening to claw back investment in 3G technology if regulatory proposals to cut the cost of making calls to other mobile networks go ahead. Last year, Oftel proposed that call termination charges should be reduced by 12 per cent less than the rate of inflation for the next four years. Mobile operators objected to …

Mobile 24 Jun 2002, 14:09
NEC crowned supercomputer king (again)

AMD spins up the charts

NEC is top of the supercomputer tree, with its Earth Simulator offically overtaking IBM's ASCI White nuclear bomb simulator in the TOP500. This is not exactly a surprise: the emphasis is "officially. For the NEC Earth Simulator was first named fastest, biggest, tinnest on the planet, in April. However, the TOP500 supercomputer …

Servers 24 Jun 2002, 14:44
Lotus Domino goes spam busting

Server side

The latest IBM Lotus Domino 6 software is to include anti-spam features in a bid to give administrators more control in weeding out junk email. Since the anti-spam technology is located on the server, the developers claim it will enable administrators to delete spam before it gets to the recipient. Those behind the product …

e-Business 24 Jun 2002, 14:45
Power 4 the People

Server briefing IBM's RISC push

IBM's attempt to re-capture the Unix server market continues apace. Having fallen well behind Sun and HP during the late 1990s, largely thanks to a complicated customer-confusing product line, parts of the business competing with other parts of the business and Sun's aggressive pursuit of the Internet server market, Big Blue …

Servers 24 Jun 2002, 15:47
Cisco to switch prices on July 1

Network maintenance re-negotiation advice

Cisco customers should act now to renegotiate maintenance contracts before the network giant changes its prices on July 1. That's the advice from Gartner which reckons Cisco will increase prices by between five to 10 per cent for older router product families (4500/4700 and 7500) from next month. Maintenance prices for the …

Data Networking 24 Jun 2002, 16:31
HP trots to 802.11 hot spots

Infrastructure play

HP today announced a worldwide initiative to supply all the kit for public Wireless LAN hot spots in airports, hotels, restaurants and the like. The firm is to offer a complete set of hardware, software and services to organisations looking to roll out WLAN hot spots. According to Analysys Consulting, the number of 802.11 …

Mobile 24 Jun 2002, 19:47
Microsoft's decency Police make random arrests

Letters We're too rude for Passport, too - readers

After we published this story - My name's too rude for MS Passport - you've given us a fascinating insight into the role of the service as an arbiter of public decency. Specifically, into the criteria Hotmail admins employ for accepting user names. Who gets in, and who doesn't? Well, in addition to scanning for offensive …

Letters 24 Jun 2002, 21:09