9th October 2003 Archive

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Competition Winner Longhorn RTM – what it means to you

After Microsoft's surreal decision to celebrate the 'release' of its next version of Windows internally with a party, two years early, we invited you to offer better suggestions for the acronym RTM. Historically it's stood for Release To Manufacturing, but a more appropriate definition was clearly needed. And four hundred of …

Bootnotes 9 Oct 2003, 00:09
Schlumberger Sema: UK eHealth market poised for substantial growth

National Programme for IT

SchlumbergerSema has been awarded a five-year contract estimated to be worth over £64 million, by the UK Department of Health. The project will boost the eHealth market in the UK by ensuring that physicians use the Internet in their daily work. SchlumbergerSema, the IT Services Division of Schlumberger, will design, develop, …

Business 9 Oct 2003, 07:47
Nokia phone explodes – again

Oh dear

A Dutch teenager suffered burns to his leg when his Nokia mobile phone exploded in his trouser pocket on Monday. This latest incident comes less than three months after a woman, also from The Netherlands, suffered burns to her face and neck after her Nokia handset exploded. At the time Nokia blamed the incident on a non-Nokia …

Mobile 9 Oct 2003, 09:47
Invisible Networks saved – maybe

'Deal agreed'

Titsup wireless broadband operator Invisible Networks could be on the verge of being rescued. A message on the company's Web site reads: "Invisible Networks has agreed a deal to transfer the business and network. We expect to provide continuity of service to as many customers as possible." A full announcement could be made as …

Wireless 9 Oct 2003, 12:08
BB take-up in Germany to rocket

12.5m lines by 2008

The take-up of broadband services in Germany is expected to grow 300 per cent-plus over the next five years to more than 12.5 million lines, according to research out today. Apparently, Net users in Germany are so comfortable with the online world that many people make purchases over the Internet "without a second thought". …

Telecoms 9 Oct 2003, 12:09
Mac OS X 10.3 to ship in 15 days' time

Day of the Panther

Apple has chosen 24 October as the release date for Mac OS X 10.3, aka 'Panther', with copies being handed over to buyers from 7pm UK, 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific time on that day. And having just released an updated version of Mac OS X 10.2.8, Apple has also released a minor upgrade to its iCal and iSync calendar and device …

Mac Channel 9 Oct 2003, 14:13
Nokia ships 3650 phone with improved display

Re-launched as 3620 and 3660

Nokia today launched a pair of handsets based on its 3650 phone, the tri-band 3660 and the 3620, the former aimed at the European and Far Eastern markets, the latter at North America. Both are GSM/GPRS handsets. Like the 3650, the two new models run the Symbian OS and the Series 60 GUI. An integrated 640 x 480 digicam can take …

Mobile 9 Oct 2003, 14:17
O2 to axe 200 jobs

Devolution rules

mmO2 is to axe up to 200 jobs in a bid to give its businesses in the UK, Ireland and Germany more autonomy. Staff were alerted earlier this week that jobs would go in the mobile company's product development division and among human resources, legal and some other central functions of the business. mmO2 currently employs …

Mobile 9 Oct 2003, 14:25
GameCube outsells PS2 in US after price cut

How long will it last?

Nintendo has shot to the top of the class in America, with the GameCube outselling Sony's PlayStation 2 by 20 per cent to become the best selling home console in the US last week following a price reduction in late September. According to a statement from Nintendo of America, the Cube was the second biggest selling console in …

Personal 9 Oct 2003, 14:42
Another Nokia phone explodes

In Vietnam, this time

Another Nokia phone has exploded - this time in Vietnam. A young woman is in hospital today being treated for burns after her mobile exploded yesterday inside her pocket. A spokesman for the Finnish mobile outfit said he was unable to say what was the cause of the incident until the phone, battery and charged had been …

Mobile 9 Oct 2003, 15:04
Elpida punches out 1Gb 533MHz DDR II at 100nm

Intel investment paying off?

Elpida will next month begun sampling what it claims it's the world's fastest, most dense 100nm DDR II SDRAM chip. The 1Gb device is designed to operate at an effective bit rate of 533MHz. The memory maker views the news as a major thumbs-up for its 100nm process technology and its 300mm wafer fab. The company has received a …

Channel 9 Oct 2003, 15:08
UK gov aims for ‘level playing field’ with open source pilots

Proof of concept...

The UK Government is kicking off nine 'proof of concept' trials of the use of open source software in the public sector with the intention of creating "a level playing field" between open source and proprietary software. The trials are being jointly co-ordinated by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Office of the …

Software 9 Oct 2003, 15:51
EMusic buyer to kill off unlimited download offer

Puts limits on subscriptions

Online alternative music service EMusic will next month scrap its unlimited download service and replace it with a rather more limited offering, the company told its 70,000-odd subscribers this week. The change follows the company's acquisition by Dimensional Associates (DA), privately held venture capital firm focused on the …

Music and Media 9 Oct 2003, 15:57
Egenera's blades are blooming

AOL has a taste

Egenera has overhauled its blade server line with a new chassis and faster kit, continuing a rare push as a successful hardware start-up. Last week, Egenera rolled out the BladeFrame ES - a smaller version of its BladeFrame chassis aimed at departments and remote offices of larger companies. To complement the chassis, Egenera …

Servers 9 Oct 2003, 15:59
BOFH makes a hardware call

Episode 23 Bloody maintenance companies

BOFH 2003: Episode 23 So I'm making a hardware call about a dud disk which can only mean one thing: I'm going to be annoyed. I start up a game of Age of Empires in the assurance that I will have taken over the world with my water powered nuclear generators by the time they answer the phone. And I'm not far wrong. After …

BOFH 9 Oct 2003, 16:12
Ballmer's new MS security fix – same patches, but ‘nicer’

New regime strangely similar to old regime...

A few weeks ago Microsoft appeared to be tacitly conceding that, in the face of repeated and damaging attacks, the 'patch and patch again' approach to security was a busted flush, and that 'securing the perimeter' was the way to go. But how do you get there from here? It's hard, so it's not exactly surprising that the most …

Software 9 Oct 2003, 17:17
Teen charged in cyber stock scam

Trojan claim

Federal officials filed securities fraud and computer crime complaints Thursday against a Pennsylvania teenager who allegedly used a Trojan horse and someone else's online brokerage account to sell thousands of worthless stock options to an unwilling buyer. Van T. Dinh, 19, is the first to be charged by the Securities and …

Security 9 Oct 2003, 20:29
Yahoo! flies high in Q3

Barnstorming quarter

Yahoo! has posted strong Q3 results, with net income more than doubling to $65.3 million, thanks largely to the health of its marketing services sector. Net revenues for the quarter were $356.8 million, up 43 per cent from the same period last year, when it brought in $248.8 million. One of the strongest engines for growth at …

Business 9 Oct 2003, 20:35
SunnComm to sue ‘Shift key’ student for $10m

Alleges DMCA violation, damage to its reputation

SunnComm has threatened Princeton PhD student Alex Halderman with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for exposing a key weakness in the company's latest CD copy protection technology, MediaMax CD3. The company said today it will take legal action against Halderman for revealing how MediaMax CD3 can be bypassed by …

Music and Media 9 Oct 2003, 20:48
Sun cluster guru joins MS in brain drain

Exclusive Top-level defections hit N1

A few bombs have dropped within Sun Microsystems' software division, as employees have departed to potentially greener pastures. The most prestigious name is Dr. Yousef Khalidi, distinguished engineer and chief technical officer for N1 products at Sun, who has defected to Microsoft. Khalidi was the brains behind Sun Cluster 3.0 …

Servers 9 Oct 2003, 22:01