26th April 2004 Archive

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Myratech goes titsup

Brummie reseller hits the ropes...

Myratech.net, the web hosting and design business, has gone bust. Shares in the AIM-listed firm were suspended last week ahead of the appointment of administrators The administrator is Mr C K Rayment of BDO Stoy Hayward, Birmingham. Rayment is seeking a buyer for Myratech's 200 remaining customers, which include accountants …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 09:02
Telewest boosts broadband speeds

More zoom for same dosh

Telewest is increasing the speed of its cable broadband services for more than 450,000 punters - and isn't going to charge them a bean. A spokeswoman said there were no strings attached to the upgrade, no hidden price rises or usage caps. The UK cableco is revamping its range of blueyonder Internet products to offer faster …

Telecoms 26 Apr 2004, 09:02
Intel accuser alleges 150 others violate chip patent

Patriot spreads its net

Patriot Scientific, the technology company sueing Intel and others for alleged patent infringement, has told more than 150 other firms that it will sue them too - unless if they come to a suitable arrangement with it. Patriot's action takes in many of the biggest names in the Wintel PC world. In addition to Intel, the company …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 09:06
Baltimore complains to FSA about stalking shareholder

Biter bit

Former dotcom darling Baltimore Technologies has complained to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about Acquisitor Holdings, its largest shareholder. Baltimore claims the group pushed down its share price by making negative comments about the company and then snapped up the cheaper shares. According to Baltimore, …

Financial News 26 Apr 2004, 09:22
Wanadoo UK to unveil £17.99 broadband

Deal marks Freeserve's Wanadoo rebrand

Freeserve is to unveil a new entry-level broadband service for just £17.99 a month as part of its much-publicised Wanadoo makeover. According to insiders, the name change becomes official from this Wednesday when "Freserve" is airbrushed from history and replaced by Wanadoo - the name of its French parent. As part of the …

Telecoms 26 Apr 2004, 09:22
FTC outlines appeal against Rambus ruling

Sticking to its guns

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has detailed its appeal against a Commission judge's February decision to drop the anti-trust action the organisation brought against Rambus. The appeal was launched early last March, but the FTC didn't release its appeal brief until late last week. The FTC's argument centres on the belief …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 09:43
Xbox cops another loss

$209m down in Q3, despite rising revenues

Third quarter results for software giant Microsoft have shown that revenues from the division responsible for the Xbox console rose significantly, but the business still made a $209m loss in the three month period. Revenue from the Xbox operations was up by some $81m for the three months ended 31 March, with the bulk of that …

Consoles 26 Apr 2004, 10:17
Analyst 'confirms' impending Treo 610

PalmOne signs up Verizon, apparently

Boston-based securities and investment bank Detwiler Mitchell & Co. (DMC) has inadvertently confirmed rumours that PalmOne is preparing an update to its Treo 600 smart phone. In a communication to investors, the company said: "We are hearing that PalmOne has plans to move away from Sierra Wireless for models following the Treo …

Mobile 26 Apr 2004, 10:21
Emails that come back to haunt

Deleted? Maybe not...

When you delete an email, what happens? In most cases, the email in question is transferred to a part of the computer where it may be overwritten in case extra space is needed on the computer. Or it may not - especially given the large capacity with which most computers today are equipped. Either way, the majority of emails that …

Storage 26 Apr 2004, 10:22
Google back in court over Adwords

Axa sues in France

French insurance giant AXA is taking Google to court over allegations that the search engine sold on AXA trademarks as search terms. The case centres on use of "Adwords" - search terms which trigger paid-for results. AXA claims that Google users searching for "AXA" or "direct assurance" were shown ads from rival insurers …

Financial News 26 Apr 2004, 10:49
Pick up a 32MB USB watch for a quid

Cash'n'Carrion Limited offer

Our popular MeMIX USB2.0 Memory Watch has been such a hit with customers that we thought we'd give a few lucky punters who are not already enjoying its wrist-borne 256MB the chance to "buy-one-get-one-free". It's as simple as this: if you buy the 256MB model (which normally retails on its own at £80.85, or £94.99 inc VAT), we' …

Site News 26 Apr 2004, 11:02
NTL to supercharge broadband speed

What a surprise

NTL is to boost the speed of its broadband service at no extra cost - mimicking a similar announcement made by Telewest earlier today. NTL's entry-level 150K service is upgrading to 300k although the price will remain £17.99 a month. The 600K service is to increase to 750K (£24.99) while its 1MB service ramps up to 1.5MB (£37. …

Telecoms 26 Apr 2004, 11:02
Intel to launch 3.6GHz P4 in June

Intel Desktop Roadmap 90nm Celerons, Grantsdale, Alderwood, too

Intel will launch Its 'Grantsdale' and 'Alderwood' Pentium 4 chipsets during the fourth week of June, with an official announcement to that effect likely to be made at Computex Taiwan earlier that month, OEM sources have claimed. At least, that's what they have told Japanese web site PC Watch, which notes that Intel will launch …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 11:08
UK gov holds EDS to account over crap CSA system

Another IT cock-up

Staff at the Child Support Agency are using pocket calculators to work out what people owe, thanks to the comprehensive failure of its IT system from EDS. Less than half the 320,000 applications received since March 2003, when the system was launched, has been processed. The Work and Pensions sub-committee took evidence last …

Public Sector 26 Apr 2004, 11:11
Bell Micro picks boss for Europe

Watt's back

Graeme Watt has been appointed president of Bell Microproducts Europe, responsible for Ideal Hardware and Bell's European divisions. He will report to president and CEO Don Bell. He replaces acting interim president Martin Blaney who will remain at the US-owned distie as chief operating officer for Europe. Previous president …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 11:43
Fallen in love with your PC?

You're not alone, research shows

People get so emotionally attached to computers that they are prepared to queue to use their favourite one. This truly baffling* finding comes from researchers at Pennsylvania State University. They wanted to know just how far people would go to use a particular machine so they monitored students using the university's 800 …

PCs 26 Apr 2004, 11:45
Creative MuVo 2 4GB MP3 Player

Reg Review Best compact HDD-based kit yet?

I've wondered, in the past, how small solid state digital music players could get, but I'm starting to have to ask the same question of hard drive-based machines. Apple's iPod Mini is sleek enough, but Creative's rival product, the MuVo2 comes very close. Both pack a 4GB Hitachi hard drive, making for ultra compact sizes: the …

Reviews 26 Apr 2004, 12:31
NASA moots robotic Hubble fix

Plans embryonic but optimism widespread

Hubble may yet be saved, despite the cancellation of service missions to the space telescope that followed the Columbia disaster. Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator, said that a small spacecraft could be designed, which would attach itself to Hubble and act as a back-up battery. This would be much easier than replacing …

Science 26 Apr 2004, 12:46
US man on Net stalking rap

Harassed ex, now faces jail

A South Carolina man has become the first person to be charged under US laws prohibiting Internet stalking. Robert James Murphy, 38, of Columbia, South Carolina, denied 26 counts of using his computer to "to annoy, abuse, threaten and harass" Joelle Ligon, a 35 year-old Seattle woman, at a US District Court hearing last week. …

Music and Media 26 Apr 2004, 14:23
Ofcom plays down BT split rumour

'Hypothetical and discursive' mootings

Ofcom has played down speculation that it is working on the "pros and cons" of splitting up BT. Today's FT reports that the UK's giant communications regulator is examining the merits of splitting BT's wholesale and retail divisions. Such a move would free BT Retail - which still accounts for more than 70 per cent of domestic …

Telecoms 26 Apr 2004, 14:24
Telefónica fights 419 lottery tsunami

Won a Spanish sweepstake lately?

Spanish telecom operator Telefónica says it will work with the police to try and stop the problem of Nigerian scammers operating out of internet cafes and sending thousands of sweepstake scam letters. This week the Abusive Hosts Blocking List - which tracks spam sources, spam friendly providers and other hosts which pose a risk …

Spam 26 Apr 2004, 14:52
Shell's IT department off to India

Exclusive Offshore dole exploration

Oil giant Shell is looking to offshore almost 3,000 IT jobs, according to internal documents seen by The Register. Central services at Shell have been rebranded Group IT Infrastructure (GITI), although this is known internally as "Give IT to India". Almost one third of jobs in the IT department could go abroad. The cost-saving …

IT Director 26 Apr 2004, 15:16
ID cards to use 'key database' of personal info

Blunkett blanket trawl

David Blunkett today published his draft bill paving the way for a compulsory UK ID card, and reports over the weekend claimed that cabinet opposition had drawn some of the scheme's fangs, the draft suggests that it will be more extensive than expected in several key areas. According to the Sunday Times, Foreign Secretary Jack …

Music and Media 26 Apr 2004, 15:34
i2 Technologies: time to sell up?

Revenue slide continues

i2 Technologies shows no signs of halting its revenue slide despite repeated restructuring and efforts to adapt to changing market conditions. Its business is sound but its position is not, and being acquired by a larger firm may be its best route to success. i2's revenue fell on both a sequential and a yearly basis in Q1 2004 …

Mobile 26 Apr 2004, 15:41
Phishing scams cost UK banks £1m+

Brute force and ignorance

Phishing scams have cost British banks more than £1m over the last 18 months. This is a tiny fraction of the £402.4m lost through credit card fraud for last year, but banks are still keen to raise awareness of the issue. Scam emails that form the basis of phishing attacks pose as 'security check' emails from well-known …

Spam 26 Apr 2004, 15:42
Sun makes servers Windows-ready

Seriously. It's true.

As promised, Sun Microsystems has certified its Xeon- and Opteron-based servers to work with Microsoft's server operating systems, cementing another change in the two companies' always exciting relationship. As far back as February, Sun executives confirmed that they would look into putting x86 gear though the Windows Hardware …

Servers 26 Apr 2004, 15:47
IT vendors seek the quiet life

Predictable recurring revenue streams. Lovely

IT sales can be fun: there is a rush from winning a deal and killing the competition. But almost no salesperson enjoys the ever-lengthening sales cycle, the creeping featurism, and the necessity to make sales monthly, quarterly, and yearly that hallmarks the IT market. No wonder vendors are desperate to get out of this cycle and …

Channel 26 Apr 2004, 15:51
Gold and laser key to 3D circuits

Auric Goldfinger would be delighted

Physicists in Shanghai have developed a revolutionary new technique for building three-dimensional micro-circuits, using gold oxide, chunks of glass and some high powered lasers to create a kind of 3D dot-matrix transistor-printer. Taking circuit boards into 3D is a logical and neccessary next step: although chip makers are …

Science 26 Apr 2004, 15:56
60 face axe at Dixons call centre

'Minor restructure of operations'

IT services company Capita has confirmed that 59 jobs are under threat at its contact centre in Sheffield following a "review of operations". News of the proposed job cuts emerged a fortnight after Capita took over the site as part of a £18m a year outsourcing contract with electrical retailer The Dixons Group. The five-year …

IT Director 26 Apr 2004, 16:42
CA puts 35-day month and $2.2bn in revenue behind it

Taps interim CEO

In a broad housekeeping exercise, CA today admitted to prematurely booking $2.2bn in revenue during 2000 and 2001, named Ken Cron as interim CEO and appointed a new chief operating officer. The $2.2bn in prematurely tabulated revenue was discovered by CA's internal audit committee during a lengthy investigation. The committee …

Financial News 26 Apr 2004, 16:48
Would you like a cherry Bagle with your zombie PC?

More viral shenanigans

An unknown group of VXers has released a new version of the Bagle worm. Bagle-Y (AKA Cherry Bagle) spreads by either email or network shares. It opens back doors on infected PCs and turns them into zombie clients in DDoS or spam networks. The worm also tries to terminate various security and anti-virus applications, as well as …

Anti-Virus 26 Apr 2004, 20:03
Airport security failures justify snoop system

CAPPS-II database Hell

Recent government reports on the failure of American airport screeners to detect threat objects at security checkpoints may provide ammunition for proponents of the controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) database solution, which is currently stalled by myriad snafus too numerous to mention. …

ID 26 Apr 2004, 20:21
Bush demands Net access tax ban

'Power lines were for electricity'

President Bush today called for Congress to maintain a ban blocking taxes on Internet access and for the US to increase the spread of broadband connections, during a speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "Now, the use of broadband has tripled since 2000 from 7 million subscriber lines to 24 million," Bush said. "That's good. But …

Telecoms 26 Apr 2004, 21:42