Odd Info

NTL customers told to 'f**k off'

2004-09-27T17:06:00.000-06:00

NTL has launched an urgent investigation into why one of the company's recorded messages told punters to "f**k off".

Customers in the North East of England were shocked by the verbal assault when they reported faults yesterday .

The Sun managed to get a transcript of the message before it was pulled. The message said: "Hello. You are through to NTL customer services. We don't give a f**k about you. We are never here. We just will f**k you about, basically, and we are not going to handle any of your complaints. Just f**k off and leave us alone. Get a life."

At this stage it's not known if security on NTL's network was breached, or whether it was an inside job. A spokeswoman for the cableco said it was "too early to say".

"The priority yesterday was to remove the offending message," she told us.

"This is a serious matter. The message was highly offensive and we would like to apologise to our customers," she said.

Source: The Register

Game Puts Players in Kerry's Swift Boat

2004-09-25T11:28:00.000-06:00

An upcoming video game lets players re-enact the Swift boat mission in Vietnam that won Sen. John Kerry a Silver Star award for battlefield heroism.
Latest headlines:

The first-person shooter "Kuma War" uses a ripped-from-the-headlines approach where gamers can download and then relive actual battles, mainly from the current war in Iraq.

Beginning Sept. 30, the "John Kerry" mission will be available for download as an add-on pack for the game, made by New York-based Kuma Reality Games.

The Kerry mission is based on the Navy's records of the encounter on Feb. 28, 1969.
Playing as Lt. John Kerry, you lead three Swift boats into enemy fire on the banks of the Mekong Delta. Don't try to turn around and flee — the game is scripted, so you have no choice but to attack the enemy before they kill you.

Kerry is unaware of the game and had no comment, spokeswoman Allison Dobson told The Associated Press. She said Kerry doesn't play video games.

Source: Yahoo!

Conservative group savages anti-P2P bill

2004-09-24T21:49:00.000-06:00

The American Conservative Union (ACU), which holds influential Republican activists and former senators on its board of directors, is running newspaper and magazine advertisements that take a humorous jab at the so-called Induce Act--and slams some conservative politicians for supporting it.

"This is the Hollywood liberals trying to crush innovation," said ACU deputy director Stacie Rumenap. "What's sad is that they've got Republicans on their side." A Senate committee vote on the bill is scheduled for Thursday.

The original version of the Induce Act said that anyone who induces any violation of copyright law could be legally responsible, a phrase that has alarmed Silicon Valley manufacturers and led Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to say he would consider less sweeping alternatives. A version that Hatch's office privately circulated on Friday afternoon, seen by CNET News.com, clarifies that a company must engage in "conscious and deliberate affirmative acts" of inducement to be found liable.

But technology companies were skeptical that it would eliminate their concerns. "The problem is that it doesn't look like they're willing to preserve the Sony Betamax standard for the cause of action of inducement," said Markham Erickson, associate general counsel for NetCoalition, which represents companies including Google, Yahoo, and CNET Networks, publisher of News.com.

Source: ZDnet

Net tool offers security alerts

2004-09-13T07:45:00.000-06:00

Besides blocking pop-up ads and offering alerts to new e-mail, a growing number of toolbar features can enhance security, expanding on the capabilities of the ubiquitous locked-or-unlocked padlock icon that signals whether information supplied to a merchant is secure.

GeoTrust Inc. hopes the green, yellow and red indicators on its new TrustWatch tool will become just as recognizable.

Beginning today, Web surfers can download a beta test version of the tool for free at trustwatch.com - Windows and Internet Explorer users only, for now - that GeoTrust says will let users verify the authenticity of Web sites and their compliance with security standards.

The tool features green, yellow and red light icons that continuously advise about the potential for fraud. The display is updated with each move to a Web site.

The advertisement-free TrustWatch site also enables users to enter a Web address or domain name into a search box and get back a rating measuring the site's security certification and the quality of encryption it uses to safeguard communications.

"We think the industry has kind of reached a crisis point, where if consumers are going to continue buying online, they're going to demand trust," said Neal Creighton, president and chief executive of GeoTech, which says it secures about one-quarter of all Internet transactions.

Creighton said the TrustWatch toolbar device does not track users' activities.

Source: Boston Herald

Kazaa colleague sues RIAA

2004-09-09T15:22:00.000-06:00

P2P company Altnet has instigated legal action against the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA), claiming the music trade body and other anti-piracy operatives have infringed its intellectual property.

Altnet is a joint venture of Brilliant Digital Entertainment and Joltid, the P2P software company founded by Kazaa's creators after they sold their original P2P offering to Sharman Networks. Sharman is currently being sued by the Australian equivalent of the RIAA.

In a suit filed with the Los Angeles District Court, Altnet maintains that the RIAA, Loudeye subsidiary Overpeer and a fellow anti-piracy operation, MediaDefender, have all violated a patent it holds covering the identification of files on a P2P network using digital fingerprint technology.

Altnet says it acquired the patent in 2003, and began approaching the named companies in order to seek licensing agreements. All three have used code that attempts to identify songs traded on P2P networks in order to monitor levels of piracy on such systems and to act against music sharers, the company alleges. In each case, it argues, they have used software that uses - or at least contains - technology it owns and have done so without its permission.

Source: The Register

Intel looks to fend off AMD with new 2006 chipset

2004-09-08T14:46:00.000-06:00

"You'll see some different platforms architectures around Blackford," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Intel's enterprise platforms group, in an interview. "It's our chipset for the dual-processor server market due out in 2006."

Dracott would not budge on further details, but our sources have revealed Blackford will ship with a 1066MHz front side bus.

The high-speed FSB will be just one of several adjustments Intel plans to make with its 2006ish Xeon products. The company is trying to adjust to a new threat from AMD's Opteron processor, which many analysts and customers believe has a superior with regard to memory performance and multiprocessor server designs.

Intel is currently somewhat gated by its FSB and north bridge and can only keep its processors fed with a limited amount of memory. The company, however, is now saying that it may well move to a new design to make up for these deficiencies.

"Just because we are going one route doesn't mean that we are married to that route," said Nimish Modi, VP in Intel's enterprise group. "We may come up with a different solution."
One addition Intel will make is via the use of fully buffered DIMM technology (FDB), which should improve memory performance. Intel also says that it's ahead of AMD with support for DDR2 memory because of its chipset designs.

One analyst, however, doubts that Intel will be able to make any major chipset shift until 2007, when Intel releases a common chipset for its Xeon and Itanium processors.

Source: The Register

Intel talks dual Pentium Ms

2004-09-08T14:45:00.000-06:00

Intel fleshed out its Centrino mobile CPU roadmap today, with details of the Sonoma platform, and a promised delivery date of Q105. The company also announced its next-generation mobile platform, codenamed Napa.

In his keynote, Anand Chandrasekher, general manager of Intel’s Mobile Platforms Group, said that Sonoma is designed to provide the basis for mobile entertainment system. He ran a demo on the platform, which he touts as the ideal technology for college students - it could also include a TV tuner, and would work with a remote control.

As well as incorporating the Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG network connection Sonoma includes a new Intel Pentium M processor sporting a 533MHz front-side bus and a chipset code-named Alviso.
After Sonoma comes Napa. Napa will include a dual core processor dubbed "Yonah". This is the first mobile-optimised dual core CPU, based on Intel's new 65nm process. Napa will include the Calistoga graphics chipset, and gets its connectivity from Golan, Intel's provocatively-dubbed next-gen wireless technology. Napa is "totally optimised for mobility from the ground up, and will provide performance on-demand," Chandrasekher said.

Source: The Register

Alienware powers up 4GHz desktop

2004-09-06T19:28:00.000-06:00

The new Area-51 ALX, introduced on Friday, uses overclocking, or the practice of pushing a processor past its factory speed setting, to elevate a standard Intel Pentium 4 chip to 4GHz. Because overclocking a processor can cause it to overheat, the desktop also includes a special liquid-cooling system devised by Alienware.

Purchasing the 4GHz Area-51 ALX desktop is an expensive proposition for most consumers, as the machine starts at about $4,200, according to pricing on Alienware's ALX Web site. But PC enthusiasts, such as game players, have traditionally been willing to pay more to get the latest, fastest hardware they can find. This has helped give rise to a number of high-end PC makers, including Alienware and Falcon Northwest.

The launch lets fans get a jump on getting a machine with a 4GHz chip. Intel recently pushed back introduction of a 4GHz Pentium 4 to the first quarter of 2005, having earlier announced plans to introduce it this year. The fastest current Pentium 4 runs at 3.6GHz.

Alienware says that thanks to its chip speed, the new ALX desktop is particularly well suited to multimedia applications such as 3D games, 3D content creation and digital video. The machine also incorporates PCI Express architecture, which boosts bandwidth to the graphics card and can be configured with up to 4GB of dual-channel memory.

In addition to the 4GHz Pentium 4 and a liquid-cooling system, the most basic Area-51 ALX desktop comes with 1GB of RAM, a CD-burner, ATI Technology's Radeon X800 graphics card, a 74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000 rpm hard drive and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS High Definition sound card.

Source: ZDnet

Oil eases as Saudi offers discounts

2004-09-06T09:59:00.000-06:00

Brent crude futures for October delivery fell 33 cents to $40.90 a barrel in London. Trade was subdued, with U.S. markets closed because of the Labor Day holiday.

Saudi Arabia cut prices for October-loading crude to both the United States and Europe, following up on its pledge to give customers all the crude they want to try cool oil prices.

Prices for heavier grades were cut particularly hard, as the kingdom tries to make them more attractive for refiners who are put off by their high yield of low-value fuel oil.

The Saudi pledge has failed to bring prices down much as refiners are not keen to take heavy grades that make up most of the extra Saudi supply. They want lighter grades, which yield more high-value products like gasoline.

Prices are around $4 under a peak hit last month, after big-money speculative funds took profits from a rally that boosted prices 40 percent higher this year.

Source: CNN

Man accused of stalking with GPS

2004-09-06T09:55:00.000-06:00

Ara Gabrielyan, 32, was arrested August 29 on one count of stalking and three counts of making criminal threats. He was being held on $500,000 bail and was to be arraigned Wednesday.

"This is what I would consider stalking of the 21st century," police Lt. Jon Perkins said.

Police said Gabrielyan tracked the 35-year-old woman, who was not identified, after she ended their relationship, showing up unexpectedly at a book store, an airport and dozens of other places where she was.

Police said Gabrielyan attached a cellular phone to the woman's car on August 16 with a motion switch that turned on when the car moved, transmitting a signal each minute to a satellite. Information was then sent to a Web site that allowed Gabrielyan to monitor the woman's location.

The woman learned how Gabrielyan was following her when she discovered him under her car attempting to change the cell phone's battery, police said.

Police allege Gabrielyan threatened over a six-month period to kill himself and the woman. An attorney for Gabrielyan could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

Source: CNN

Million more in ADSL reach

2004-09-06T09:52:00.000-06:00

A million more homes and businesses should be able to get broadband from today after BT lifted line limits and extended the reach of its broadband service.

Until today, anyone further than 6km from their DSL-enabled BT telephone exchange was probably unable to hook-up to the service. BT has ditched this limit and also increased the range of its 1Mb service from 4km to around 6km. Following successful trials in Milton Keynes and in the Scottish Highlands, BT is confident that just about anyone connected to a DSL-enabled exchange can get broadband.

In an email to ISPs BT Wholesale said: "The launch of Long Reach ADSL today means that all line qualification results for 512kbit/s products will be green regardless of the length of the line between the end user and the exchange."

Source: The Register

Al Gore Caught Speeding

2004-09-05T23:34:00.000-06:00

Former Vice President Al Gore paid a $141 fine for speeding on a highway last month near Oregon's coast, a state police official said on Friday.

Gore, who carried Oregon in the 2000 presidential election, was driving in a rented car to visit family when he was issued a speeding ticket for going 75 miles (120 kph) per hour in a 55 mph (88 kph) zone on a highway between Portland and the Oregon coast, a popular summer destination.
"He was cooperative, polite and respectful," said Dale Rutledge, spokesman for the Oregon State Police.
Gore mailed in his check for the ticket, well ahead of the deadline for contesting it on Sept. 13, Rutledge said.
Source: Yahoo!

PluggedIn: HDTV 'Starter' Kit for PC Comes with Some Kinks

2004-09-05T23:29:00.001-06:00

High-definition television can show the sweat beading on an athlete's brow, but the cost of all the necessary electronic equipment can get a shopper's own pulse racing.

Instead of dropping more than $1,000 for a new TV, set-top box and antenna to bring in the signals that dramatically improve TV picture quality, look not in the living room, but in the home office.

A $200 upgrade can turn a personal computer into a "starter" high-definition television.
The new product from ATI Technologies Inc. puts high-definition versions of "Law and Order," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and other hit TV shows within the budgets of far more households.

Indeed, the Markham, Ontario, company bills its HDTV Wonder as "the home's first HDTV device," able not only to show HD-video, but also to record scheduled programs onto a hard drive.

Still, some experts say it may be better to start saving for the real thing.
"It's a tricycle with training wheels," said Gartner Inc. media analyst Laura Behrens.

Source: Yahoo!

Calif. Academy of Sciences Holds Tag Sale

2004-09-05T23:22:00.000-06:00

The California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park held a one-of-a-kind yard sale Sunday, offering rock-bottom prices on everything from antique wooden incubators to six-foot-tall prehistoric bird replicas.

Early shoppers got rock bottom prices on everything from globes to maps to specimen jars.

"I wanted a stuffed polar bear," said Gordon Drake, of Redwood City, as he cruised the crowded shopping aisles with his girlfriend. He ended up with some wall art instead, as the stuffed life-sized creatures went fast.

Academy members who help fund the popular park attraction got an early 8 a.m. look at the goods before the general public was admitted two hours later.

Source: Yahoo!

Big Brother says: Buy this!

2004-09-05T21:11:00.000-06:00

Well, Big Brother is about to move one step closer to making Hollywood fantasy a reality.

Meet the Human Locator. It's a new technology developed by Canadian ad agency Freeset Interactive that purports to detect when humans are near, track their movement, and then broadcast messages directed at them on a nearby screen.

The Human Locator is essentially a camera and computer that collects data on the number of people walking within a certain target area, the direction they're headed, and their speed.

Imagine, for instance, walking down the street and passing by a blank wall. Suddenly the image of a car appears. As you pass by, the image shifts as you move. A voice greets you with "hello!" As you start to move away, it says "don't go," as it launches into the latest marketing pitch.

Source: CNN

Laser mouse conquers new surfaces

2004-09-05T20:08:00.000-06:00

The Swiss-American mouse king will announce an optical mouse Wednesday that uses an Agilent Technologies laser, rather than a light-emitting diode, to track its movements. Because the laser light used in the MX 1000 relies on a short wavelength, the MX 1000 mouse is approximately 20 times more sensitive to surface details than conventional optical mice, according to the company.

As a result, the mouse can accurately transmit information about its motions to the computer when traveling across shiny or slick surfaces. By contrast, traditional mice can be confounded by subtle surfaces such as highly polished wood; optical tracking images sent back to the computer do not readily indicate that the mouse has moved, nor do they accurately replicate the movements.

"With a laser, (the mouse) is able to get more surface structure detail," company spokesman Nathan Papadopulos said. The mouse also tracks better over rough surfaces than regular optical mice, he added.

Source: ZDnet

Gmail Creates Email Storage Competition

2004-09-05T17:44:00.000-06:00

In the same way it rocked the Internet-search world, Google has caused a stir in the Web-mail arena, this time with its recent introduction of Gmail Beta. At the time of Google's announcement of its new online mail service, leading services such as Yahoo Mail and MSN Hotmail were offering free e-mail accounts with one or two megabytes of storage, while Gmail boasted a whopping one gigabyte of storage for free.

Not surprisingly, the competition took notice. Yahoo was the first to take action, upping the storage maximum for its free service to 100MB. Microsoft has said it will dole out roomy 250MB in-boxes for its free Hotmail service later this summer, but for now, you're still stuck with the minuscule 2MB max. Lycos and Netscape have yet to respond to the Gmail threat, keeping mum about their 5MB in-boxes.

Right now, the only way to get a Gmail beta account is to be invited. Gmail account users are provided with a certain amount of invites every so often. So far (during my first month as a user) I've recieved 6 invites that I can give out. While the method google uses to send invites to its users is not really known for sure, it is estimated that each account receives 6 invites per month. To quote from the Gmail help section:

As we make way for more accounts, we may periodically allow you to invite others to join Gmail. When we do so, you will see an invitation link in your inbox. If you do not see the invitation link, that means that we are unable to provide you with additional invitations at this time.

Source: Cnet

Archos ships video, audio, gaming handheld

2004-09-05T17:41:00.000-06:00

Archos has begun shipping its Gmini400 personal multimedia device, taking the French company into the increasingly crowded mobile gaming market.

Pitched primarily as a portable media player, the 400 sports a 2.2in, 18-bit colour screen backed by 20GB of hard drive storage and a CompactFlash slot for content storage.

But with a five-way navigator control and the Mophun games engine, Archos is also aiming the 400 at the same well-to-do adult gamers the likes of Tapwave, Gizmondo and Nokia are also gunning for.

Source: The Register

eBay domain hijacker arrested

2004-09-05T17:29:00.000-06:00

Police in Germany have arrested a 19 year-old from Helmstedt for hijacking the site of eBay Germany about a week ago. Visitors to eBay Germany were redirected to a site hosted by internet provider Intergenia AG. Initially, phishers were suspected of the domain hijack.
The boy admitted he requested a DNS (domain name server) transfer for several high-profile sites, including Google.com, Web.de, Amazon.com and eBay Germany. While most of these transfers were denied, somehow eBay slipped through. It remains unclear how the domain could have been transferred without the consent of the existing holder.

Source: The Register