10th April 2003 Archive

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Microsoft's Mundie muddies derivatives market

CE licensees go to work for free

Microsoft has introduced new terms for licensees of Windows CE code, although its unclear how far this much-touted "freedom" actually takes the manufacturers. Certain chip makers, device makers and integrators will now have access to all the Windows CE code, excluding a small amount of software that Microsoft licenses from …

Software 10 Apr 2003, 03:19
Western Digital offers glowing red 250GB hard drive

Reg Kit Watch Plus: Group Sense unveils Palm smartphones and Sony launches UK Clies

Hard Drive Western Digital has issued a special edition of its 250GB, 7200rpm, 8MB cache 1394/USB 2.0 external hard drive. The new model ships with a clear case and built-in LED illumination. Hard drive as fashion accessory? Could be, but WD is really attempting to cash in the emerging trend for internally lit PC cases. The $ …

Personal 10 Apr 2003, 08:53
Put a Z in ISONews

DoJ seizure is 'illegal and abusive'

The people behind ISONEWs are mulling legal action to fight the "illegal and abusive" seizure of the domain by the US Department of Justice. The DoJ seized the URL, but not - it turns out- the site, in February, with the intention of turning it from what was a bible for the discerning software copier into a repository of anti- …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 08:55
Court date set for ‘landmark’ Freeserve case against Oftel

Competition

The Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) - the UK's highest specialist competition law court - is expected to rule next week on a dispute between ISP Freeserve and telecoms regulator Oftel. The long-awaited ruling - which is already being described as a "landmark" case in some quarters - follows an appeal by Freeserve to the CAT …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2003, 08:59
UK ‘must redesign’ e-gov sites

Leaked e-Envoy report

Nearly 80 per cent of UK central government Web sites need to be redesigned before they can be fully accessible to users with disabilities,judging from a leaked report from the e-Envoy's office. According to eGov Monitor Weekly around 800 public sector Web sites may need rebuilding to comply with accessibility laws requiring …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 09:08
Hoaxster hacker discovers infinite-wealth algorithm

Pennies from Heaven

Hacker stunt-double and convicted financial fraudster Kim Schmitz (aka Kimble) is up to his old tricks, this time with a package of techno trickery for making a killing in the stock market. To satisfy the dreams of instant fortune common to those who believe in fairy tales, he's devised an "AI-based decision system" for share …

Business 10 Apr 2003, 09:21
Microsoft licenses WinCE source code for commercial use

But is it any more appealing to the embedded market?

Pocket PC manufacturers will now be able to tailor their system software to better differentiate their products, after Microsoft today said it would allow Windows CE licensees access to the OS' source code. Microsoft's move isn't philanthropic, of course. It's intended to help WinCE better compete with embedded Linux, not to …

Software 10 Apr 2003, 10:12
Western Digital offers glowing red 250GB hard drive

Reg Kit Watch Plus: VIA launches KM400 Athlon chipset, and Group Sense unveils Palm smartphones

Hard Drive Western Digital has issued a special edition of its 250GB, 7200rpm, 8MB cache 1394/USB 2.0 external hard drive. The new model ships with a clear case and built-in LED illumination. Hard drive as fashion accessory? Could be, but WD is really attempting to cash in the emerging trend for internally lit PC cases. The $ …

Personal 10 Apr 2003, 10:53
Flexi-working not so flexible

Letter Letter from HR tech firm bod

Derek Kemp is the Chairman of Human & Legal Resources and its subsidiary Liquid HR, an outsourcing service for SMEs. Tech firms climb on flexi-working bandwagon John Leyden's article on the new legislation concerning flexible working was based on an excellent piece of research by Crown Computing. But I feel very strongly that …

Small Biz 10 Apr 2003, 11:00
Mobo makers dash to prep VIA-based P4 boards

Now the war's over

Asustek and MSI have said they will release motherboards based on VIA's upcoming 800MHz frontside bus Pentium 4 chipset, the PT400, DigiTimes reports. Gigabyte said it is evaluating the technology. Surprise, surprise. No sooner is the long-running legal battle between VIA and Intel sorted out, and the mobo makers decide they …

Personal 10 Apr 2003, 11:38
Nokia Networks axes 1,800 staff

More networking industry woes

Nokia Networks, Nokia's mobile infrastructure arm, is taking an axe to its workforce as part of a programme to reduce costs and return its business to profitability. The measures announced today include the loss of 1800 jobs at the company, which employs approximately 18,000, as part of corporate reorganisation designed to …

Data Networking 10 Apr 2003, 11:56
UK.Gov Web sites get another bashing

Shooting fish in a barrel

The UK Government's Web sites have come in for yet another bashing following research that found each site had an average of 600 errors - seven times higher than the average error rate for the UK's leading 100 companies. Diagnostic testing and monitoring outfit B2W tested 55 of the Government's top sites and found that more …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 11:58
3 UK extends half price handset promo

By one month

3 UK has extended its introductory offer on half-price handsets, due to end at the end of last month, by a further month until the end of April. The offer, which previously applied only to the 3G mobile operator's Kit and Caboodle contracts, has also been extended to its 3toGo (pay as you use) service. This month consumers will …

Mobile 10 Apr 2003, 13:00
UK Xbox price to drop this week

AxeBox

Microsoft is set to cut the price of the Xbox to £129.99 in the UK this week according to reports from retail sources, in a move which will see the console matching the hardware price of the GameCube. Although Microsoft would neither confirm nor deny the story at time of writing, stating that the company does not comment on …

Personal 10 Apr 2003, 13:03
Unlucky Demon tries to restore email

Touch wood, fingers crossed etc

Demon is still trying to sort out the backlog of email caused by a power cut that hit its Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Finchley yesterday. The problem for Demon's punters started when the public power supply was hit early yesterday morning. No problemo - because Demon has a back-up generator which kicked in as expected. …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 13:30
Apple preps remodelled, dockable 30GB iPod…

...as Dell drops Windows version

Apple is set to launch a new version of its iPod MP3 player later this month in a move that will see its rumoured online music service see the light of day and explain why the current 5GB model is proving so hard to find. However, the new version may not be enough to get Dell back on board - it has just stopped selling the …

Mac Channel 10 Apr 2003, 15:27
DMCA strikes again in N2H2 filtering list case

First amendment does not apply

A Federal Judge has dismissed an application to permit a Harvard researcher to obtain a list of sites blocked by a censorware tool through reverse-engineering. Ben Edelman, a Harvard Law student and well-known online activist, had sought permission to reverse-engineer the list of Web sites blocked by N2H2, a process in possible …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 15:45
Dell whips up sub-$1200 Centrino notebooks

Rose-tinted spec.

Dell today announced two budget Centrino-based notebooks, the Inspiron 500m and Latitude D500, both bringing Intel's mobile technology to market for less than $1200. Dell's actually cheating a little with the Inspiron. Yes, the machine is based on Intel's Pentium M processor, but wireless connectivity isn't standard. Since that …

Personal 10 Apr 2003, 16:12
Google washes whiter

Where did that story go?

Google has made its own statement on the 'Googlewash': by making The Register story that coined the phrase disappear from its search results. Not all the search results, mark you, but a very specific one. When you search for the word "Googlewash" (as at 9pm Pacific Time last night) around a hundred results are returned by …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2003, 16:29
Poison applet could wipe Windows PCs

A brace of MS alerts

A brace of Microsoft security vulns pose risks for both home users and corporates. The more serious problem, involving Microsoft's virtual machine (Microsoft VM), which enables Java programs to run on Microsoft Windows, provides a mechanism for attackers to run amok on Windows PCs. Microsoft has released a fix designed to …

Security 10 Apr 2003, 16:59
115 staff optimized out of Brocade

Switch Bitch

Brocade is pink-slipping 115 people - nine per cent of its workforce. In a terse statement today the switch maker describes the lay-offs as "Business Model Optimization". Brocade will take the obligatory one-time charge for the cuts in its second quarter, which ends April 30. The company expects revenue of between $128 million …

Storage 10 Apr 2003, 22:11