4th August 2004 Archive

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SiS samples second Socket T chipset

Single-channel memory this time

SiS today introduced its latest Socket T-oriented North Bridge chip, the SiS649, a single-channel memory part aimed at modestly specced Pentium 4 PCs. The SiS649 supports the full range of P4 frontside bus speeds - 400MHz to 800MHz - and HyperThreading. It can cope with both DDR and DDR 2 SDRAM, at speeds of 266MHz up to 533MHz …

Channel 4 Aug 2004, 08:43
Intel dual-core desktop chip 'to ship mid-2005'

Smithfield = Prescott + Prescott?

Intel will release its first dual-core desktop Pentium 4 processor in a year's time, the chip giant's latest roadmaps reportedly reveal. The part, codenamed 'Smithfield', will be pitched at high-end and mainstream PCs, themselves aimed at creative, corporate, lifestyle and business buyer categories, according to a presentation …

Channel 4 Aug 2004, 09:11
Japan to probe Hynix DRAM dealings

State-aid allegations warrant an enquiry, says Finance Minister

The Japanese government is to investigate allegations that South Korean memory maker Hynix received outlawed state aid. "We believe that there is enough evidence for starting our investigation," Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki told reporters at a regular news conference yesterday. Elpida and NEC formally asked the Japanese …

Financial News 4 Aug 2004, 09:35
Eircom overcharges 31,500 customers

€409,000 blunder

Ireland's biggest telecoms company, Eircom, has overcharged more than 31,500 customers, it has been revealed. The revelation came as telecoms regulator ComReg issued a statement saying it wanted a full report from Eircom explaining how such an incident could happen - and how it would be prevented in the future. It is understood …

Telecoms 4 Aug 2004, 09:41
Eidos confirms takeover talks

Preliminary discussions underway

UK games publisher Eidos has confirmed speculation that it has entered into talks with a number of other companies to discuss possible takeover deals. The company stressed that the negotiations are "at a preliminary stage" and could easily end without "offer being made for the company". Eidos' board said it doesn't expect to …

Financial News 4 Aug 2004, 09:51
Text is best for website accessibility

Simple as that

Text is best for a small, but important and growing, group of Internet users, most obviously the blind. Other users who may benefit are users of small form factor devices such as PDAs, users connected by slow lines, or users who need voice response because they are using their eyes for other activities. However for the majority …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 09:58
The curse of IT specialisation

Losing sight of the big picture?

The Internet has changed many aspects of the way we work. From an IT professional's point of view it has made a fundamental difference to the efficiency of the market for IT skills. Agencies used to build their business on a large database of CVs they could match to client's job opportunities. Today they can reach a much wider …

IT Director 4 Aug 2004, 10:06
BenQ encouraged workers to throw footy sickies

Red card for Euro 2004 sponsor

BenQ UK has been given the red card after being found to have encouraged workers to throw sickies during the recent Euro 2004 football championships. The techie hardware outfit - one of the sponsors of Euro 2004 - ran an ad plugging a laptop with a screen that was 33 per cent brighter than average. Under the headline "Bogus …

Small Biz 4 Aug 2004, 10:09
Penguin and the great katie.com hijack

The abused becomes the abuser over Katie.com

It was a book that taps into many people's fears over Internet technology - how children may be at risk from adults manipulating the anonymous online exchange. There have been numerous TV programmes, articles and even laws created that cover and hope to battle the perceived menace of Internet chatrooms. However, Katie.com is …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 10:20
HP launches Linux laptop

But where's the wireless support?

HP yesterday became the first major PC maker to offer a Linux-based notebook computer, though it remains a "test" launch to be used to gauge demand for products installed with the open source OS and key functionality, such as wireless networking, is disabled. The Compaq nx5000 comes with Novell's SuSE Linux 9.1 pre-installed, …

Channel 4 Aug 2004, 10:27
NASA hands out $13.5m for radiation studies

19 projects get the green light

NASA has announced grants totaling $13.5m to fund ground-based research in space radiation biology and space radiation shielding materials. In all, 19 projects will be allocated time at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (SRL) and the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory …

Science 4 Aug 2004, 10:29
Cybersleuths track Dame Porter’s millions

Computer forensics finger Westminster wedge

Computer forensics played an important role in Westminster City Council’s fight to recover the £36m surcharge imposed on Dame Shirley Porter for her role in the 1980s ‘homes for votes’ scandal, it emerged this week. Evidence unearthed by forensics experts at Vogon International helped city law firm Stephenson Harwood in …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 10:34
Creative revels in 'outstanding' Q4

Full year figures not bad either

Creative Technology - aka Creative Labs - today said its Q4 results had exceeded its own expectations, with sales rising 35 per cent over the year-ago quarter to $201.8m. The three months to 30 June 2004 saw income reach $6.6m (eight cents a share), up 43 per cent on Q4 2003's $4.6m (six cents a share). For the whole year, …

Financial News 4 Aug 2004, 11:05
Tesco to deploy kiddie-calming shopping trolley

Fighting supermarket ennui with educational DVDs

UK supermarket chain Tesco is considering rolling out a hi-tech shopping trolley which will help prevent obstreperous tots from throwing shopping-related tantrums. The Wanzl "Tantrum Tamer" will be kitted out with a screen through which harrassed parents can feed their offspring a range of educational DVDs and CDs. Tesco says …

Bootnotes 4 Aug 2004, 11:07
BT replaces 'red bill' with Indian call centre nag

'Good morning. Cough up now'

BT is phasing out the dreaded "red bill" to remind customers that they need to cough up and is using call centre staff in India to telephone errant punters instead and offer them the chance to pay over the phone. If punters can't be reached by phone, then BT will send out the red bill as a reminder. When one Reg hack was …

Telecoms 4 Aug 2004, 11:26
Porno blog spam turns nasty

Smut attack via compromised military proxies

Blog spamming is turning nasty. First spotted approximately a year ago, blog spam involves the automated posting of Web address onto weblogs or online discussion boards. Spam comments deposited using the technique include a link to a spamvertised website. The idea is not so much to get visitors to a spammed location to visit …

Spam 4 Aug 2004, 12:07
Scientists explain why stuff is matter

All down to decay rates, it seems

Miniscule differences in the way antimatter and matter behave may help to explain why the universe is dominated by matter, according to a group of scientists working on the BABAR experiment. The big bang should have produced equal quantities of matter and antimatter. The fact that our universe is so dominated by matter must be …

Science 4 Aug 2004, 12:57
Symbian revenues, device sales rise

Smart phone demand on the up

Symbian's smart phone OS licensees shipped just under 5m handsets during the first half of the year, 85 per cent more than they shipped during H2 2003, the company revealed today. Licensing and consultancy fees, plus royalties yielded £26.6m in revenues for the period, up 26 per cent on the £21.1m recorded for the year-ago half …

Financial News 4 Aug 2004, 13:43
Scottish small.biz gets £1m broadband hand-out

Boost for rural areas

Scottish businesses are to receive an extra £1m to help boost the take-up of broadband in rural areas. Those businesses eligible for hand-outs will be able to receive £1,000 towards a broadband service - such as two-way satellite - to help make their firms more productive. It's hoped that the cash would further increase …

Small Biz 4 Aug 2004, 13:48
Latest MyDoom hunts victims via Yahoo!

More! viral! madness!

Another new version of the MyDoom worm is spreading, and like last week's variant it uses Yahoo! as part of its infection routine. MyDoom-Q is similar to earlier MyDoom variants. It normally spreads via email, with a spoofed sending address and a variety of different subject lines. The body of an infected email contains random …

Anti-Virus 4 Aug 2004, 13:52
New York warms to VoIP

Cheap chattering for small.biz

Small businesses in New York are warming to the idea of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony, if M5 Networks' recent business wins are indicative of a trend. The company announced that in the last month, it has signed 15 new business clients, and poached over 600 phone users from Cisco: representing six per cent growth …

Small Biz 4 Aug 2004, 14:06
BBC confirms Daleks will battle Doctor Who

Auntie and Terry Nation's estate kiss and make up

The Daleks will be appearing in the new series of Doctor Who after all, the BBC has confirmed. The news comes after a prolonged campaign in support of the homicidal salt cellars by Who aficionados which attracted high-profile backing from UK tabloid the Sun. The BBC says that artistic differences between the Corporation and the …

Bootnotes 4 Aug 2004, 14:27
Toshiba takes micro HDDs to 60GB

Breaks 1.8in form factor areal density record. Hurrah

Toshiba today added 30GB and 60GB models to its 1.8in hard drive line-up, both offering what the company claims is the highest areal density of any hard drive of that format. The two models feature one and two 30GB platters, respectively. Both offer an areal density of 93.5Gb per platter. The drives' fluid dynamic bearings help …

Channel 4 Aug 2004, 14:28
Mac-addled Segway users crush the American Dream

Letters Battery-powered pulpit on a cannonball run

Our description of a young man trying to ride his Segway all the way across America may have bordered on brutal, but you readers took the criticism to the next level. Not one of you stood up for the mighty Segway - vehicle of dreams. Is it really that sad to see a blogger on wheels crawling along the highway at 10 mph for 80 …

Letters 4 Aug 2004, 14:52
UK PC biz sees best growth for four years

Q2 boom in desktops, notebooks and servers

The UK PC market marked its fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth during Q2 as sales rose 21.4 per cent year on year to 1.88m desktops, notebooks and servers, market watcher IDC reports. That figure also represents the UK market's highest quarterly growth rate for almost four years, the researcher added. IDC said …

Channel 4 Aug 2004, 15:07
Extradition ruled out in bookie extortion case

Leave it the Russians, say UK cybercops

UK authorities have no plans to seek the extradition of alleged members of a Russian cyber extortion gang suspected of launching series of debilitating attacks that cost British bookmakers tens of millions in lost revenues. Three men suspected of masterminding a cyber-extortion racket targeting online bookies were arrested last …

Enterprise Security 4 Aug 2004, 15:07
Swansea IT staff to strike over outsourcing deal

Action starts next Monday

Swansea City Council's IT staff are to strike in protest against the council management's decision to outsource the support function. The ballot of the 100 staff was decisive: of the 74 votes cast, just two votes were recorded against the motion to strike. The ballot was prompted by an advertisement in the European Business …

IT Director 4 Aug 2004, 15:12
Patent fears halt Munich Linux migration

Pre-emptive concerns

One of Europe's most publicised Linux migrations has been halted over patent fears. The decision was not prompted by a litigious IT vendor, but as the result of concerns expressed by Munich city Alderman Jens Muehlhaus. Muehlhaus represents the Green Party, an open source supporter. As part of 'Project LiMux', Munich plans to …

Data Networking 4 Aug 2004, 15:12
57 cuffed in UK anti-piracy crackdown

Operation Zouk

UK anti-piracy investigators arrested 57 people last weekend in a nationwide crackdown targeting music, film and computer game piracy. Many of those arrested as part of Operation Zouk could face benefit fraud charges along with copyright offences - 45 of those collared were on benefits. Department of Work and Pensions' anti- …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 15:29
IT company gives workers free beer - wins award

Cheers!

A US software company that gives its workers free beer on Friday afternoons has been named the "Best Small Company to Work for in America". Analytical Graphics, Inc (AGI) also gives workers access to a free laundry service, free meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner - all week and access to free snacks, confectionary and drinks. …

Small Biz 4 Aug 2004, 15:36
Afghans to benefit from polystyrene houses

What would the Big Bad Wolf make of it?

A group of engineers has come up with an unusual plan to rebuild areas in Afghanistan damaged by the decades of war or shaken down by earthquakes: they want to use polystyrene. The Washington-based Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said it became interested when the US government committed to rebuilding many of the …

Science 4 Aug 2004, 16:11
321 Studios to make DVD copying software no more

Done in by the courts

321 Studios has decided to stop fighting the good fight, announcing this week that the company is no more. "321 Studios regrets to inform you that it has ceased business operations including . . . the sale, support and promotion of our products," the company said on its website. "Despite 321 Studios’ best efforts to remain in …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 16:19
Victim not killer owned 'murder manual' game

Manhunt off the hook?

The copy of the computer game Manhunt that was discovered during the investigation into the murder of a 14-year-old boy was not the possession of the killer but the victim, it has emerged. UK retailers Dixons and Game both pulled the title from their stores' shelves last week after the parents of the murdered boy, Stefan …

Consoles 4 Aug 2004, 16:44
Neutered SCO no longer on the offensive

McBride puts lawsuits on hold

IDG News Service's reporter Robert McMillan must have a soothing tone because he appears to have tamed one of the IT world's most vocally savage beasts - SCO's CEO Darl McBride. McMillan pushed McBride on a number of points during a recent interview, goading the SCO chief into declaring that his company will not pursue any more …

Music and Media 4 Aug 2004, 17:48
Novell takes SuSE Enterprise Linux to the next kernel

JBoss bundle

Novell has taken the lead position in the kernel wars, beating out rival Red Hat with a new server operating system based on the latest Linux version. Novell today delivered SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, which uses the 2.6 Linux kernel. The operating system also ships with the JBoss application server and support for a host …

Operating Systems 4 Aug 2004, 21:38