17th June 2004 Archive

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Court clips DirecTV piracy suits

'No practical effect'

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday (15 June) that DirecTV cannot sue individuals for merely possessing technology useful for illegally intercepting the company's satellite signal, in the first significant legal victory for critics of DirecTV's aggressive anti-piracy campaign. A three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court …

Music and Media 17 Jun 2004, 00:33
Doom-mongers forecast Y2K gloom

It was five years ago today... 17 June 1999

Who can forget those heady pre-millennium days when - faced with computer meltdown followed by global apocalypse and nuclear winter - millions of panic-striken, hysterical people began to stockpile sugar, flour and toilet paper "in preparation for the Y2K menace"? Airliners would fall from the skies, cash machines would refuse …

Bootnotes 17 Jun 2004, 08:33
Eidos issues profit warning

Vietnam blockbuster held back to September

UK games publishing giant Eidos this morning scaled back its 2004 earnings forecast as it admitted that it had put back the release of its upcoming Vietnam War game, Shellshock: 'Nam 67, to September. The news saw Eidos' shares fall 9.1 per cent to £1.03 from yesterday's closing price of £1.1325. Eidos said it now expects to …

Financial News 17 Jun 2004, 09:25
Sprint to axe 1,100 jobs

Competitive market blamed

Sprint is culling 1,100 jobs in response to being squeezed by the "highly competitive" long distance market. Some 850 jobs will be lost from the US telco's Sprint Business Solutions (SBS) unit, while 250 corporate jobs supporting SBS will also be scrubbed out - including IT staff. Workers will be told that they've been singled …

Financial News 17 Jun 2004, 09:45
Voice has peaked, the future is data

That's entertainment

Revenues from mobile voice calls have topped out, and data will drive all revenue growth in the sector to 2008, says the Yankee Group. The analyst firm's latest forecasts, released today, suggest mobile voice revenue will peak at around $124bn. "Voice markets are saturated and voice ARPU (average revenue per user) is declining …

Mobile 17 Jun 2004, 09:48
Papers plan digital music moves

Broadsheets, tabloids talk to labels, suppliers

Five major UK newspapers are all looking to hop onto the digital music download bandwagon this year. The Guardian, Times, Mail, Mirror and Sun are all considering rolling out commercial services provides via their web sites and tied to promotions run within the papers themselves, New Media Age reports. All but the Mail have …

Financial News 17 Jun 2004, 10:50
HMV iPods not compatible with store's music downloads

Exclusive 'Significant' upgrade imminent

UK high street music retailer HMV has begun to sell Apple's iPod portable music player via its website. No great surprise there, given the device's popularity, nor that it is being sold through the music downloads section of HMV's site. What is odd, however, is that the iPod will not play songs downloaded through HMV. HMV's …

Financial News 17 Jun 2004, 10:56
321 Studio moots bankruptcy

Death is one way to escape the lawsuits

DVD duplication software maker 321 Studios has admitted that it is considering going bankrupt in order to fend off lawsuits from the music, movie and games industries. The latest action, launched on 15 June, comes from Atari, Electronic Arts and Vivendi Universal, who want the court to ban sales of 321's Games X Copy utility. …

Music and Media 17 Jun 2004, 11:20
Fujitsu Software gets serious outside of Japan

Stealth marketing

Fujitsu Software's head of application integration middleware, Robert Sepanloo, is targeting $100m revenue from the business in Europe and the US by 2006. It may be one of the best examples of stealth marketing the industry has seen, as despite Fujitsu Software being relatively unknown in Europe and the US, it has annual sales …

Applications 17 Jun 2004, 11:25
'Spam King' Richter get legal roasting

Tinned meat giant turns up the legal heat

Spam King Scott Richter's plans to launch a global clothing line under the "Spam King" and "SK" brands have come apart at the seams. The highly-popular Richter - founder of spam tsunamist outfit OptInBig.com - has received a cease and desist notice from meat conglomerate Hormel, makers of the nourishing real deal. As the …

Spam 17 Jun 2004, 11:35
Unions say 'no' to BT break-up

Technically complex, politically insane

The UK's two telecoms trade unions have resolutely rejected any suggestion that BT should be broken up. Responding to a review of the telecoms industry by regulator Ofcom, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and Connect insisted that there is no need to separate BT's wholesale and retail arms. Said Adrian Askew, general …

Telecoms 17 Jun 2004, 11:36
Munich embraces the penguin

Troubled LiMux project will go ahead

The city council of Munich yesterday decided to go ahead with its planned migration from proprietary to open source applications. Although financial and technical problems have dogged Project LiMux, Munich's Rathaus (City Hall) will now migrate 16,000 desktop PCs to the Linux operating system. The conservative, Bavaria-only …

Operating Systems 17 Jun 2004, 11:37
RISC OS rights rumble becomes war of words

System builders suspend shipments

Aftershocks from the falling-out between RISC OS 4 owner Castle Technology and the operating system's developer and provider, RISCOS, are shaking other players in the Acorn ecosystem. Stuart Tyrrell Developments (STD) this week refused to take further orders for with A6 and A75 RISC OS-based systems citing "notice of a legal …

Channel 17 Jun 2004, 11:52
Thieves lift PCs from security show

Asia Securitex 2004 - safe as houses

It may not be daring as the attempted heist of the Millennium Star diamond from the Millennium Dome - an audacious Sweeney-style blag involving JCB, speedboat and nail gun - but at least the wags who lifted two PCs from Asia Securitex 2004 in Hong Kong appear to have got away with it. Yesterday's snatch is particularly …

Bootnotes 17 Jun 2004, 12:11
Tablet PCs struggle for acceptance

Much-hyped but largely unloved

The much-hyped tablet PC has enjoyed only limited success so far due to high prices and IT managers who are not willing to take a risk on the devices. That's according to a new report from In-Stat/MDR, which said that tablet PCs have only found homes in certain vertical markets such as healthcare, real estate and insurance. In …

PCs 17 Jun 2004, 12:52
Home Office caned over immigration visa blunders

We need the computers to run it because we can't...

A UK National Audit Office report has concluded that the Home Office contrived to grant more than 7,000 visas incorrectly, overruling Visa Agency staff who thought the applications should have been rejected. The visas represented more than 90 per cent of applications made locally in Bulgaria and Romania, and the issue puts the …

Music and Media 17 Jun 2004, 12:53
Nine PCs stolen from NHS hospital

Confidential patient data takes a walk

A gang of thieves has stolen NHS computers containing eight years of confidential patient data from the pathology department of the Royal Shewsbury Hospital in Shropshire. The break-in on Monday night - which was captured on CCTV video - has caused severe disruption to the targeted department since the computers contained …

ID 17 Jun 2004, 12:55
Spam poetry reaches new artistic heights

Crestfallen, thousand years waiting

It hasn't escaped our notice that spam tsunamists are in the habit of finishing their missives with random collections of (often highly esoteric) words as part of their ongoing battle against the spam filter. But although these assemblages are designed purely to serve their dark masters' will, they occasionally transcend their …

Spam 17 Jun 2004, 13:15
The BBC, the lost tape and the 6-foot fridge

Updated An mp3 comedy classic

We gather that things do not run as smoothly as they should down at BBC Bristol. Apparently, someone in London recently sent an urgent video tape via courier which duly arrived in the post room at said outpost of The Corporation. One of the operatives therein - noticing that the label was peeling off - decided to replace it …

Bootnotes 17 Jun 2004, 13:45
Intel to EOL Mobile P4 in Q1 2005

Sources confirm chip maker's plan

Further confirmation has emerged that Intel will phase out its Mobile Pentium 4 processor during Q1 2005. A move to end-of-line the MP4 was signalled last February by Intel's mobile products chief, Anand Chandrasekher. Speaking to reporters at Intel Developer Forum, he said that the company will probably kill off the Mobile P4 …

Channel 17 Jun 2004, 13:55
BT's Wi-Fi technology faces courts trial

All rise

The Royal Courts of Justice and six other courts around the UK have been kitted out with wireless Internet "hotspots" as part of measures to help modernise the legal system. The BT Openzones will enable the public, jurors and others at the courts to access the Internet, without the need to plug into a telephone line. The Royal …

Wireless 17 Jun 2004, 13:59
Proxim, Intel to develop WiMax reference kit

End-user equipment

Intel and wireless equipment maker Proxim today said they would collaborate on the development of WiMAX kit for both ends of the broadband wireless link. The agreement echoes a similar pact signed between Intel and Alcatel last March to co-develop WiMAX (aka 802.16) equipment. Like Alcatel, Proxim will develop base-station …

Wireless 17 Jun 2004, 14:40
US extends biometric passports deadline

One year's grace

The US House of Representatives has voted for a year-long extension to the deadline for countries to introduce biometric passports for their citizens. This is a year less than Colin Powell asked for, and many countries (including the UK) will be unable to meet it. On Tuesday, Maura Harty, Assistant Secretary of State for …

Music and Media 17 Jun 2004, 16:15
Napster gives away MP3 players

Profits are for losers

Showing a longing for its dot-com hysteria heritage, Napster has decided to give away MP3 players to people willing to sign up for a year-subscription to its service. Napster managed to coax Rio into lending its name and music players to what can only be seen as a desperate proposal for increasing online music sales. Now …

Personal 17 Jun 2004, 22:44