20th September 2005 Archive

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HP throws scandal-dogged Peregrine a future

$425m buy-out

"If the corporate culture is so infected with problems that they have not yet been solved and if they are selling a product that is suspect on its face, then maybe society is better off if Peregrine Systems is laid to rest." So wrote Penn State ethics professor J Edward Katz last December, in one of the most damning judgments …

IT Channel 20 Sep 2005, 02:34
Cisco targets small.biz with networking bundle

Staying ahead of the 3Coms

Cisco has set up The Cisco Business Communications Solution, a one-stop networking shop for small and medium-sized firms. The "Solution" bundles products, services, support and financing options for firms with between 20 - 250 workers, long a stronghold of competitors such as 3Com. Pricing details were not available at the time …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 07:38
MS sues eight US resellers over hookie software

Customers dobbed them

Microsoft is suing eight resellers in the US for allegedly selling counterfeit versions of their software. The company said the prosecutions were a last resort after other attempts to stop the companies' behaviour failed. Consumers tipped off Microsoft by calling the hotline - 1-800-RU-LEGIT. Secret shoppers were then sent out …

IT Channel 20 Sep 2005, 08:17
Intel tweaks 65nm process to blitz leakage

But there's a catch...

Intel is working on a version of its 65nm chip fabrication process that will produce processors with even lower power consumption characteristics. The chip giant says he technology will reduce transistor leakage by a factor of 1000. There's a catch: the process halves the processor's potential performance, admitted Intel's …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 09:40
Opera gives away ad-free browser

No strings attached

Opera Software has permanently dropped the inclusion of advertising banners in the free version of its PC browser software. The ad-free, full-featured Opera browser is now available for download here. The browser was previously available free of charge with an ad banner. Users had the option of paying a licensing fee to remove …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 09:55
US e-sales to rocket

Say analysts

Online sales in the US will rocket in the next five years as etailers become more adept at getting shoppers to part with their cash. Online saleswill grow from $172bn this year to $329bn in 2010, equivalent to 13 per cent of total US retail sales, Forrester Research forecasts. Travel will remain the largest online retail …

IT Channel 20 Sep 2005, 10:00
Toshiba preps Cell mobo for developers

Reference board, processors to ship after PS3 debuts

Sony appears to have exclusive usage of the Cell processor until the PlayStation 3 console ships next March. Toshiba - with Sony and IBM one of the chip's co-developers - said today it would offer Cell-based hardware development kits in April 2006. The reference platform comprises Cell and support chips and is geared toward " …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 10:08
Compel maintains return to form

Turnover and profit up

Compel has put in a solid set of prelimary results for the year ended 30 June 2005. Turnover for the UK reseller grew 25 per cent to £79m and operating profit went up 89 per cent to £2.3m, after exceptional items this was reduced to an operating profit of £400,000. Margins grew from 8.8 per cent to 9.1 per cent, before shared …

IT Channel 20 Sep 2005, 10:11
Oracle promises 'lifetime support' for bought-in customers

Holdouts welcome

Oracle Corp has promised continued support for acquired applications while juggling with a shareholder legal action against its $5.85bn Siebel Software bid. Charles Phillips, Oracle's president, announced a lifetime support policy to give customers confidence their existing software investments would be protected. "We'll give …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 10:50
Nvidia GeForce Go 7800GTX to launch '29 September'

Borrows Intel's 'performance per watt' message

Nvidia is borrowing Intel's new approach to chip marketing to help it promote its upcoming GeForce Go 7800GTX So suggest allegedly leaked company presentation slides that outline the next-generation mobile graphics part and its launch on 29 September - a week on Thursday. The slides stress the chip's "revolutionary performance …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 11:08
Acer launches compact VGA Wi-Fi PocketPC

The n300 family debuts

Tantalising images of what purports to be Acer's next, Windows Mobile 5.0-based PocketPC have been tacitly confirmed as genuine by the manufacturer The snaps, posted on Chinese-language website Mobile1, show a stylish black and silver unit sporting a 3.7in, 65536-colour, 480 x 640 display which takes up most of the device's …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 11:11
Akimbi automates application testing pools

Taking humans out

A start-up is using virtualization technology to stake out a place in application testing with a product that streamlines development and helps cut costs. Akimbi Systems has announced Slingshot, software capable of taking a snap shot of a server environment, storing hardware and software configurations, and automatically …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 12:10
Phishers trawl for victims in Europe

Jeux sans frontières

Security watchers are reporting a surge of phishing attacks targeting European banks. Phishing attacks against over two dozen European banks were detected by security firm Websense last weekend (17-18 September). Traditionally, fraudsters have targeted North American banks in phishing attacks. "This is the first time we have …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 12:12
EC moots more charges against Microsoft

Bundling-related, apparently

The European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes has said she won't be waiting for the outcome of Microsoft's appeal against the original anti-trust charges before she decides whether or not to start another law suit against the firm. Kroes said the Competition Commission has already received more complaints against Microsoft …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 14:34
ATI pitches for PC-TV convergence

Tune into Avivo

ATI today unveiled a new consumer brand covering high-quality video performance across platforms, from TVs to PCs. Dubbed Avivo, the technology builds on the experience ATI gained developing and selling its Xileon line of image processing chips for digital TVs. The brand encompasses a range of image enhancement features, all of …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 15:29
Siebel is done deal, Oracle says

Hurdles? What hurdles?

Oracle’s acquisition of Siebel is a done deal as far as the delegates to OracleWorld in San Francisco are concerned. In the closing event on the first day of the conference Charles Phillips, Oracle’s president, and George Shaheen, Siebel’s CEO, appeared together on stage in a show of solidarity. “Bet you never thought you’d see …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 15:38
Spam map Googles junk mail proxies

Botnets ahoy

Mailinator - the service that offers free, disposable email addresses for use in web registrations - has created a "real-time" spam map. The system receives around a million junk mail messages a day. By resolving the IP addresses of proxies1 used to distribute this junk mail (and plugging this data into Google maps) the people …

Software & Security 20 Sep 2005, 15:38
Nvidia ships GeForce 6150, 6100 ~~North Bridges~~ er... GPUs

When is an integrated graphics engine not integrated?

Nvidia will launch 'C51', its first integrated chipset, later today, according to motherboard partner Foxconn. Trumpeting its own WinFast 6150K8MA-8EKRS mobo, Foxconn said the board was based on Nvidia's GeForce 6150 North Bridge chip, which hooks up to the Nvidia's new nForce 430 South Bridge. Since the AMD CPUs the chipset …

PC Builder 20 Sep 2005, 16:04