21st September 2005 Archive

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Oracle eyes logistics and transport with UK buy

Another one bites the dust

Oracle has announced its second acquisition in two weeks with a deal that expands the vertical-sector expertise of Oracle's e-business software. Oracle has snapped up privately held G-Logic, a UK-based specialist in logistics and transportation management software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The database …

Applications 21 Sep 2005, 00:18
GoogleNet flickers into life

No packet left behind

Five months after announcing its first Google-branded hot spots, covering San Francisco's Union Square and main public library, Google is enhancing the service. The ad giant briefly made a beta of a proxy server, Google Secure Access, available for limited download today before withdrawing the link. The proxy is intended to …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 00:19
Fewer chairs remain after Microsoft reshuffle

Put it down, Steve. Gently

Microsoft has rejigged the company's reporting structure, collapsing the seven divisions created in 2002 into three new ones. It's a bid to deal with the process issues that have bedevilled the company, exemplified by the delivery of Microsoft Vista three years later than planned, and several features short. The changes are " …

Business 21 Sep 2005, 03:27
Orange launches SPV M5000 3G smart phone

Windows Mobile 5.0 on board

Mobile phone network Orange today launched in the UK, France and Switzerland its anticipated take on the HTC Universal clamshell form-factor smart phone, the SPV M5000. As Orange's first 3G-enabled PDA, M5000 will become the flagship model of the company's business-oriented Signature device line-up, a range of corporate- …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 07:02
Authors sue Google

Do no scanning

The Authors Guild, along with a former US poet laureate, is suing Google for copyright infringement. Google operates two programs intended to incorporate print material into its search index, one of which, the Google Print for Libraries program, is targeted by the suit. Google has been scanning the collections at five libraries …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 07:14
Korean regulator fines Samsung

Faking documents

South Korean regulators have fined electronics giant Samsung for obstucting investigators looking for evidence of price fixing and dodgy contracts with suppliers. The Fair Trade Commission accused Samsung of working with a chip subsidiary Semes to forge or destroy relevant documents. A spokesman for the FTC said: "Samsung …

Channel Register 21 Sep 2005, 08:41
Christian rockers risk wrath of DMCA with DRM tips

'My heart is heavy with this whole copy-protection thing'

The bassist of Switchfoot is teaching fans how to disable the copy protection measures in the San Diego rock band's own CDs, presumably upsetting Sony and perhaps unwittingly testing the anti-circumvention rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Tim Foreman, brother of lead singer Jon, has taken exception to the Digital …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 08:47
IDC bumps up PC sales estimates for '05

Consumers and developing countries fuel growth

The outlook is good for the PC market, with the market expected to stay strong in 2005 and long-term growth expected to remain stable at nine per cent. Following strong international demand that led to increased growth in the second quarter, total PC shipments for the second half of 2005 are expected to reach almost 110 million …

PCs 21 Sep 2005, 08:55
UK VoIP service is 'child's play'

'A' is for 'apple' and 'anaphylactic shock'

A Bristol company claims its VoIP service is so simple to use - "it's child's play". Switch Call is so confident that its service is the "simplest VoIP service available in the UK" it is offering punters the chance to take its "VoIP Challenge", which promises to refund the upfront joining fee if the service is cancelled within …

VoIP 21 Sep 2005, 08:57
ITN plugs in to web TV

The green, green grass

News outfit ITN has become one of the first broadcasters to sign up to a new broadband TV service. The deal with GreenGrass.tv should make ITN news bulletins available to millions of net users - but only as long as they are happy to pay-to-view. At the moment, though, the amount of content available via the site is limited, …

Telecoms 21 Sep 2005, 09:02
Market 'not ready' for UK.gov shared services push

Aggregate score

Suppliers would be unable to cope if the UK public sector now made a wholesale move to shared services, says a key government figure. The public sector would disrupt the market by fully deploying shared services at this time, David Myers, director of the Whitehall team leading on shared services in government, warned on 20 …

Public Sector 21 Sep 2005, 09:07
Sony Europe boss quits

Mr Playstation, Chris Deering, quits

Sony Europe president Chris Deering is leaving his post after just 18 months. Deering, the man credited with the succcess of the Playstation, is retiring to "pursue personal opportunities in the US where his family now resides". From 1 November Deering will be replaced by Fujio Nishida, currently in charge of Electronics …

Financial News 21 Sep 2005, 09:08
NPL offers support to inventors

Funding and testing for new products

Inventors and entrepreneurs are invited to apply for a new fund that can help them bring their ideas forward. The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is offering a share of £500,000 in funding from the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) to small businesses that have measurement issues with products that are almost ready for …

Science 21 Sep 2005, 09:19
What's the future of email?

Analysis It's all about GUIs

Microsoft's recent acquisition of FrontBridge Technologies, which was finally completed at the end of August 2005, will provide a much needed functionality boost to Microsoft Exchange. A minor surprise in this is that the functionality FrontBridge delivers was already on the Exchange roadmap. Microsoft has decided to buy rather …

Software 21 Sep 2005, 09:33
UK is nation of 'mobile download junkies'

Name that ringtone

UK mobile phone users are "download junkies" spending a whopping £740m on ringtones, games and pictures, according to research outfit Mintel. The surge in spending - up from £40m in 2002 - is attributed to the ease of downloading and increasing familiarity with digital gear. Ringtones account for a third of all downloads with …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 10:02
Hands-On Microsoft Access tutorial

Site offer Get up to speed at 30% off

Access is one of the most widely-used pieces of software, but many of its users find it vexing to really understand and use well. This is because you can't master Access without an understanding of how a relational database management system works, and many Access users lack that training. While there are many books on Access, …

Site News 21 Sep 2005, 10:03
Bagle blitz unleashed

Incoming

Hackers have spammed out multiple new variants of the Bagle Trojan to millions of email addresses this week. The attacks came in two waves on Monday and Tuesday and forced many anti-virus firms to issue multiple signature updates over a greatly compressed period. The infected messages typically have a blank subject line, body …

Anti-Virus 21 Sep 2005, 10:06
World of Warcraft plague 'swamps servers'

Virtual virus

When Blizzard introduced the God of Blood - Hakkar to his mates - in a new World of Warcraft scenario called Zul'Gurub, little did it know it was summoning up the online equivalent of Ebola or AIDS. According to a posting on WoW fansite Shacknews, anyone who ends up in a fusticuffs-style confrontation with Hakkar will be …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 10:06
EU GM maize impasse favours DuPont

EC will approve 1507 by default

The EU has failed for the second time to approve importation of a GM maize produced by DuPont Co. subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred International and Dow AgroSciences offshoot Mycogen Seeds. The GM organism - dubbed 1507 - is resistant to glufosinate-ammonium herbicide and some insects. Back in May, EU agricultural experts couldn't …

Science 21 Sep 2005, 10:18
Women rule the internet roost

At home, mum's the word

Suspension of internet privileges has become the new way to discipline a unruly children, AOL UK has found, following a six month anthropological study of five British families. The research, which was backed with a quantitative poll of more than 4,000 net subscribers, reveals how the PC is affecting family life in the UK. AOL …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 10:35
No2ID appoints parliamentary spokesman

Lib Dem Matthew Taylor named in role

Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor and MP for Truro and St Austell, has joined anti-OID card campaigners No2ID as the group's official Parliamentary spokesman. Taylor will advocate for the group in the House of Commons, as well as with broadcast media, and will head up the campaign's team of spokespeople in …

ID 21 Sep 2005, 10:37
Intel chipset shortage 'extends to high end'

Demand for DDR 2 to suffer?

Intel's chipset shortage is spreading, with supplies of high-end desktop parts becoming as increasingly hard to obtain as its low-end offerings. Unnamed motherboard-maker sources, cited by DigiTimes, say supplies of the 945G integrated chipset line-up are tightening, joining the entry-level 915 family in short supply. Some …

System Builder 21 Sep 2005, 10:42
Sex and drugs hit girls harder

Both bad for teens, research suggests

Sex is more likely to lead to depression in teenage girls than experimenting with drugs or alcohol, research has found. Whether you are a boy or a girl, sex, drugs and alcohol screw you up, and abstinence makes the heart grow stronger, the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) found in a survey of 13,500 American …

Science 21 Sep 2005, 10:45
Broadband set to smash 200m barrier

Europe leads the pack

Europe has the largest concentration of broadband lines in the world, according to the latest stats from Point Topic. At the end of June, the European Union (EU) accounted for 47.5m broadband connections, followed by North America (44.3m) and Asia-Pacific (40.6m). In all, Point Topic reports that 24.5m new connections were made …

Telecoms 21 Sep 2005, 11:22
Nvidia ships first integrated chipsets

C51 comes to market

Nvidia has introduced its C51 AMD-oriented integrated graphics chipset, pushing the product as a graphics add-on for two new members of the nForce 4 chipset family. Available in two forms, the GeForce 6150 and GeForce 6100, the chips provides GeForce 6 series - Intellisample 3.0, CineFX 3.0, Ultrashadow 2.0 etc - DirectX 9.0 …

System Builder 21 Sep 2005, 11:24
TomTom 'sorry' for traffic service titsup

Blames 'unforeseen technical issues'

TomTom - the satellite navigation service - is offering its punters free traffic updates for a month afters its website went titsup last week. Services suffered after a server migration fell behind schedule leaving TomTom punters unable to access the site. The company - which has offices in Amsterdam, London, Massachusetts and …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 11:26
Companies eschew supply chain automation

Analysis Still on the phone and email

When we think of supply chains, we also tend to think of companies running highly automated systems with information running smoothly up and down the chain using technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) standards. Even for those who saw EDI as too expensive in the 1990s, due to the need for managed leased lines …

Data Networking 21 Sep 2005, 11:34
Nokia sells Nigerian its one billionth phone

Dialling 419...

Nokia today said it had sold its one billionth mobile phone - in Nigeria. According to the handset giant the milestone-making device was sold earlier this summer, and was a Nokia 1100. You can just see how it might have happened: To: mobile.phone.sales@nokia.com From: paul 'paul' arapmoi Subj: YOUR BEATIFUL MOBILE NOKIA …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 2005, 11:36
Linux users warned over Firefox flaw

Shell shock

Security researchers have discovered a new vulnerability with Firefox that might allow hackers to seize control of Unix or Linux machines running vulnerable versions of the popular alternative browser software. The vulnerability can only be exploited on Unix or Linux based environments. Firefox users at risk are advised to …

Security 21 Sep 2005, 11:45
ATI says R5xx Radeons in 'volume production'

Pledges to deliver by the end of the month

ATI yesterday effectively announced its R520 series of graphics chips, releasing the names of the upcoming products on the back of statement saying they are now in mass-production. According to the graphics chip company, its foundry partner, TSMC, is "in volume production of multiple 90nm products for ATI". Among them are the …

System Builder 21 Sep 2005, 12:01
PayPal hit by payment problems

Dear oh dear...

PayPal has been hit by two separate technical problems that are causing transactions to appear more than once on some customers' accounts. Although the money is not actually being removed from accounts this can have the effect of freezing the account if spending limits appear to be breached. Messageboards on PayPal's parent …

Financial News 21 Sep 2005, 12:57
Nokia unveils low-cost 'emerging markets' phone

Dual-band and no camera on the 2652

Nokia today introduced a clamshell handset for what it calls "emerging markets". The Nokia 2652 is a Series 40-based handset with a 4096-colour 128 x 128 display but no camera, though it can receive MMS messages. It's a dual-band (900/1800) GSM device with Class 4 GPRS support, and has a WAP-capable XHTML browser. It can handle …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 12:58
Pammie tops Lycos top 50 search terms

Pneumatic actress leads ten-year stats

It's official: the delightful Pamela Anderson has topped the Top 50 search terms for the last ten years, closely followed by Dragonball and Pokemon. According to Lycos, Britney Spears was the most sought after singer, 'N Sync topped the bands while the Simpsons and Star Wars were the most popular TV and film searches, …

Music and Media 21 Sep 2005, 12:59
955X-based mobo shoot-out

Review We test the top LGA755 motherboards

Which motherboard to buy? Determining the answer to this question is, arguably, the most important of all hardware choices. The choice of motherboard defines, in part, just how future-proof a system will be. Making a bad choice can lead to problems that aren't apparent for, say, CPUs and processors. Having to replace a …

Reviews 21 Sep 2005, 13:20
Northamber inks profit

Turnover up a little too

UK disty Northamber increased profits by 18 per cent compared to last year. For the year ended 30 June 2005 Northamber made pre-tax profits of £2.6m, up 18.5 per cent from the £2.2m made last year. total sales grew to £236.3m compared to £232.8m for the same period last year. The distributor said it was particularly pleased …

Financial News 21 Sep 2005, 13:56
Mars: a changing, dynamic world

They've got pictures to prove it

New features have been spotted on the surface of Mars by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The orbiter has taken periodic photographs of the planet's surface since it began its mission in 1997. Snaps of the same sand dune in 2002 and 2005 clearly show new features have emerged. The gullies in the later photograph are …

Science 21 Sep 2005, 13:59
Jens of Sweden 'declared bankrupt'

Resurfaces in Switzerland, apparently

Swedish MP3-player vendor Jens of Sweden is back, reborn as Switzerland-based JOS, after declaring itself bankrupt in its home country. According to reports in Computer Sweden magazine and newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, translated by newssite The Local, faults with Jens' MP130 player cost the company dear. So did the collapse of …

Financial News 21 Sep 2005, 14:03
Caudwell to flog fixed line biz

Focus on mobile, Europe

Telecoms entrepreneur John Caudwell and the man behind phones 4u is looking to flog his fixed line telephone business after receiving "a number of approaches from third parties interested in acquiring Caudwell Communications". The sale of the business and its 600,000 punters could net Caudwell £100m, according to The Telegraph …

Telecoms 21 Sep 2005, 14:11
IPdrum plugs mobile phones into Skype

Make and take VoIP calls on any Nokia, SonyEricsson handset

Norwegian company IPdrum yesterday launched a system that connects the Skype VoIP network to mobile phones. You'll note the use of the plural there. IPdrum's Mobile Skype Cable requires two handsets, one which connects to a host PC's USB and audio ports using the aforementioned cable, and the other to make and take calls from …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 14:39
ASA stamps on Crazy Frog TV ads

No amphibians before 9pm, says watchdog

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned Crazy Frog adverts from appearing on British TV before Nine O'clock in the evening in an effort to protect children from his tuneless squeaking. VeriSign subsidiary Jamster, the company behind the amphibian, says it intends "to pursue all legal means to overturn the ASA' …

Mobile 21 Sep 2005, 14:43
Airport PCs stuffed with meaty goodness

Intimate emails, malware, confidential data...

Businesspeople are treating public access terminals in airport departure lounges as their home PCs and in the process exposing confidential data and email messages to all and sundry. A mixture of curiosity and boredom led consultants from the Dubai-based network security outfit Scanit to uncover a plethora of secrets left by …

ID 21 Sep 2005, 14:48
Mandriva rejigs channel programme

Linux dealers get graded help

Mandriva, the Linux distribution outfit formerly known as Mandrakesoft, is revamping its channel programme. It will offer better marketing support and four different levels of relationship. Partners can choose from Standard, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Standard resellers get business and product information through an online …

Channel Register 21 Sep 2005, 14:58
DVD Forum okays 30GB, dual-layer HD DVD-R

Formal ratification 'next Spring', says Toshiba

Toshiba today said the DVD Forum has approved its suggestion for a 30GB, dual-layer recordable HD DVD-R disc. The format gained the organisation's thumbs up last week at a meeting of the Forum's Steering Committee. The dual-layer disc will now become part of the HD DVD-R standard, though formal ratification is not expected to …

Peripherals 21 Sep 2005, 15:44
US net entrepreneur sticks ads on bums

'Poverty pimp' slammed for 'Bumvertising'

A US net entrepreneur has solved his lack of advertising budget problem by paying beggars to stand motionless beside Seattle Highway exit ramps with ads proclaiming his wares, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports. Ben Rogovy, 22, wanted to promote his website for poker fans, but was a bit short in the wonga department. …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 2005, 15:45
Hot young stars baffle astronomers

Andromeda head-scratcher

New pictures from Hubble have helped astronomers identify the source of a mysterious blue light that emanates from a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Andromeda galaxy. However, in typical space-science fashion, the discovery poses more questions than it answers. It turns out that the blue light is coming from a disk …

Science 21 Sep 2005, 15:58