8th October 2003 Archive

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Napster's back – what did Silicon Valley learn?

Review A secret history

Doerr predicts, the Segway Co. will be the fastest outfit in history to reach $1 billion in sales - 'Reinventing the Wheel' - Time. Napster is about to reborn on Thursday as a pay-for music service. Roxio spent $5 million for the privilege, due any day to go into beta. And today a venture capitalist called Ann Winblad will be …

Music and Media 8 Oct 2003, 02:37
IBM's T-REX mainframe just got bigger

More Linux love

IBM's dinosaur just got bigger with the addition of two new mainframe models to the z990 line. The z990 - code-named TREX - was released in May in two different flavors - an 8 processor machine and a 16 processor machine. Now IBM is adding a 24 processor box and a 32 processor box to the mix. The z990 now tops out out at 9000 …

Servers 8 Oct 2003, 03:55
MPEG founder rallies DRM players

MPEG LA competes for attention

After a few hours of viewing the new digital forum that MPEG committee founder Leonardo Chiariglione has set up this week, Faultline reached the same conclusion that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reached about Earth. Mostly Harmless. Chiariglione managed once in the 1980s to get the world to take seriously enough a …

Personal 8 Oct 2003, 07:05
How does Skype get through Firewalls and NAT Routers?

SuperNodes

If, like some of our readers, you are either confused about how the new Skype Voice over IP system gets past firewalls and NAT routers, or you are skeptical about it, it's worth noting the answer that Niklas Zennstrom, one of the key architects of both Kazaa and Skype gave us on the subject. Readers were concerned that the peer …

Data Networking 8 Oct 2003, 07:14
LookSmart: looking downhill

Life after Microsoft

The worst seems to have happened at LookSmart, with Microsoft terminating the longstanding relationship that brought in at least 65 per cent of the sponsored search and web directory provider's revenue. LookSmart may now be heading towards a takeover. LookSmart said that the deal will end January 15, 2004 and, to understate the …

Business 8 Oct 2003, 08:45
Microsoft tweaks IE

Life after Eolas

Microsoft today responded to its recent $521m legal defeat in the Eolas patent lawsuit with "modest" changes to Windows and Internet Explorer. Additionally the Redmond giant promised to come up with measures that web developers who use IE can take "to ameliorate or eliminate the impact of the ruling". The ruling in favour of …

Software 8 Oct 2003, 09:37
Tories ditch plans for guaranteed ADSL

'Doesn't make sense'

The Tories have ruled out enforcing telcos - well, BT actually - to wire up every household in the UK with ADSL. This non-piece of policy was revealed in a Web chat with shadow Minister for Trade and Industry, Michael Fabricant, at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool. Asked about his view of Universal Service …

Telecoms 8 Oct 2003, 09:38
Dothan notebooks to ship Jan/Feb 2004

If Intel meets its deadline

Taiwanese notebook manufacturers are ready to ship machines based on Intel's upcoming next-generation Pentium M chip, codenamed 'Dothan', just as soon as the chip giant can ship the thing. Assuming Intel makes its end-of-the-year release deadline, notebooks based on the part would hit the market late January or early February …

Personal 8 Oct 2003, 10:45
MCom sniffs around Invisible Networks

'Need to look under the bonnet'

Mapesbury Communications Ltd (MCom) - which describes itself as a "neutral host broadband wireless internet access hotspots" - has tossed its hat into the ring as a potential buyer for Invisible Networks (IN). Chairman Olivier Garrigue told The Register that he was interested in buying what was left of the wireless broadband …

Wireless 8 Oct 2003, 10:58
No techno fix for crime or terrorism cops

Serious barriers

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada The Tamil Tigers were early adopters of the Web, and use their deep knowledge of search engines to help drown out their critics. al-Qaeda sleeper cells set up online chat rooms to keep in touch. Drug dealers were among the first and most exuberant users of cell phones and pagers. Law …

Security 8 Oct 2003, 11:01
Graeme Watt leaves Tech Data

Other interests

Graeme Watt, head of Tech Data Europe, has resigned to "pursue other interests". An accountant by training, Watt was UK finance director and managing director at Computer 2000 , Europe's biggest IT distie, which was acquired by Tech Data in 1998. Nestor Cano, president of worldwide operations at Tech Data will assume Watt's …

Channel 8 Oct 2003, 11:17
Orange, Smart launch Bluetooth car

Wireless should be the standard for safe driving

Mobile network Orange and motor maker Daimler Chrysler today pledged to help establish Bluetooth as the "standard for safer driving" with the launch of a car that integrates the wireless technology. DC's Smart subsidiary, maker of stubby but stylish two-seater city cars, unveiled a special edition of its City Coupé decked out …

Mobile 8 Oct 2003, 11:31
Micron samples 288Mb RLDRAM II chips

Targeting network and comms apps

Micron has begun sampling 400MHz 288Mb Reduced Latency DRAM (RLDRAM) II chips, the company said yesterday. Aimed more at communications, networking and data storage applications than performance PCs, RLDRAM II provides high speed access and up to 28.8Gbps of bandwidth, based on a 36-bit interface and the 400MHz memory clock. …

Channel 8 Oct 2003, 11:54
Cuckold bombards Royal Mail with revenge email

Is he in trouble? Is he in trouble!

A jealous husband faces legal action after setting up a website accusing his wife of conducting an affair with a senior employee of the Royal Mail. To make matters worse, the unnamed man, who lives in the midlands, sent an email to chief executive Adam Crozier and other senior managers of the Royal Mail alleging that their …

Music and Media 8 Oct 2003, 12:23
Bio-terror kit going cheap – from the Pentagon

Oh Puh-lease

The Pentagon has halted sales of redundant low-end laboratory equipment following accusations that they could be used to develop instruments of biological warfare. Buyers of the surplus kit came from, among other places, Egypt and the Philippines, where terrorist groups are known to operate. The lab kit for sale includes …

Security 8 Oct 2003, 12:52
BlueYonder frags gaming service

Not core anymore

BlueYonder, the ISP wing of Telewest, is shutting down its multiplayer games service. In a statement posted on its bygames web site, the company said it is to concentrate on its core business of Internet service provision. It will now leave content provision to others. The service shuts on November 5, a little more than two …

Telecoms 8 Oct 2003, 13:28
Tiscali to unveil 150k ‘broadband’ service

'A puffed up product launch' - BT

Tiscali UK is to announce a cut-price DSL product tomorrow in a move that will "force competition into the broadband market". The announcement, leaked to The Register, sees the ISP introducing a 150Kbps "broadband" package for £15.99 a month, subject to a £25 set-up fee. Tiscali reckons this "broadband" product will pick up 20 …

Telecoms 8 Oct 2003, 13:31
Windows, Linux gain in server sales, but what about 'free'?

The 64,000 matchstick question...

Microsoft is moving into a "dominant role" in the server market, says IDC, "even as Linux grows." Which is an intriguing headline to the research outfit's take on the 2002 operating system market, but who's winning? The data IDC puts forward perhaps speaks of a more even match than "dominant role" suggests. The company notes …

Servers 8 Oct 2003, 13:51
Northern Ireland offers broadband funds

Making connections

The government of Northern Ireland has re-iterated its pledge to bring 100 per cent broadband availability to the region and announced new funding for broadband. "Government's vision is for Northern Ireland to be the leading broadband region in the UK and the first region to have 100 percent broadband availability," said …

Telecoms 8 Oct 2003, 14:01
US parents sue over WLAN school fears

Could 'permit toxic proteins to invade the brain'

Parents in Oak Park, Illinois, have launched a class action lawsuit against their local school board for allegedly threatening the health of children by installing wireless local area network technology in classrooms. The lawsuit, reported by Wi-Fi Networking News, alleges that Oak Park Elementary School District 97 has " …

Wireless 8 Oct 2003, 14:42
EMC dips into HP's storage exec pool – again

Elias on board

Like a number of former HP storage executives before him Howard Elias has joined EMC. Elias, 46, served as senior veep of business operations and management in HP's Enterprise Systems Group until his exit from the company last month. His unemployed status lasted but a few weeks with EMC now scooping him up as the new EVP of New …

Storage 8 Oct 2003, 14:46
CNET removes anti spam software 'made by spammers’

Twists and turns

CNET's popular Download.com service has removed a copy of Spam Remedy v2.3 Pro yesterday following complaints about its makers (Update: this assertion is wrong as our follow-up article Why 'Download.com' isn't what it appears to be explains.) Spam Remedy promotes its antispam product by, believe it or not, spamming. Not totally …

Music and Media 8 Oct 2003, 15:08
Warning: virus terrorism stories may contain nuts

High tech unit probes killer neckwear...

"Virus writers probed for terror ties," says Reuters firmly, the ensuing story making it clear - should this have been necessary - that we are here talking about virus-toting terrorist groups, rather than a predilection among virus authors for unfortunate neckwear. But on the other hand, that's something the UK's National High- …

Security 8 Oct 2003, 15:30
Shift key breaks latest CD anti-rip tech – grad student

MediaMax CD3 not so 'incredible' after all

A Princeton PhD student has published a paper detailing the music industry's latest CD copy protection scheme - and how the technique can be bypassed by simply holding down the host computer's Shift key when a 'protected' CD is inserted. The copy-protection mechanism in question is SunnComm's MediaMax CD3 system. Launched in …

Music and Media 8 Oct 2003, 15:54
Oracle offers up database to the little guys

Five-user license under $1,000

Best known for its stranglehold on enterprise accounts, Oracle has decided to go after small and medium-sized companies with a new version of its database. The Standard Edition One is a single processor version of the Oracle Standard Edition Database. It is priced at $5,995 or $195 on a per user licensing plan with a minimum of …

Hardware 8 Oct 2003, 19:29
MS plucks Sierra Wireless for smartphone

Xscale win

A Canadian modem company, Sierra Wireless is to introduce a smartphone based on Microsoft's Smartphone 2003 platform next year. The 'Voq' looks like a candybar phone, but its keypad opens to form a fold-out QWERTY keyboard. Flextronics will manufacture the device, which runs on GSM/GPRS networks. Sierra is targeting business …

Mobile 8 Oct 2003, 21:11
Do-Not-Call site has AT&T web bug

Trust us - we're a phone company

The FTC's popular Do Not Call page has been a runaway hit with US consumers, with over five million signing up to avoid spam calls from telemarketers. But the web site hides a little secret: a web bug. Most users won't be aware that the registry hosts a one pixel by one pixel image: a popular tracking ploy. And where does trail …

Music and Media 8 Oct 2003, 21:12
Intel spammer comes up short in California governor bid

Anti-offshore campaign denied

The great Intel spammer Ken Hamidi has come up short in a bid for the California governor's seat with just a few friends and strangers backing his anti-offshore worker platform. Hamidi earned but 1,664 votes, at the time of this report, versus the 3.6 million raked in by the Terminator and serial groper Arnold Schwarzenegger. …

Bootnotes 8 Oct 2003, 22:12