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29th June 2005 Archive

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  • After Grokster: why (almost) everything we're told about P2P is wrong

    Analysis Two lobbies, no brain

    Grokster! Is it the end of the world as we know it? No, it isn't. But before we examine how the two lobbies, the technology lobby and the recording industry lobby, have let us down so badly, let's pause for a moment to consider how the press has let us down this week, too. The first rule of punditry is that you must never, ever …

    Music and Media 29 Jun 2005, 00:24

  • Oracle becomes EJB 3.0 'standard'

    JavaOne It's an Oracle world

    Oracle is throwing open its application server to millions of Java developers after Sun Microsystems approved Oracle's version of the proposed EJB 3.0 specification as an official reference implementation. Oracle told JavaOne 2005 delegates Sun approved its version of the Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) 3.0 specification as a …

    Developer 29 Jun 2005, 02:50

  • Open-source projects get free checkup by automated tools

    Acute eyeballs

    More open-source software projects are gaining the benefits of the latest code-checking software, as the programs' makers look to prove their worth. On Tuesday, code-analysis software maker Coverity announced that its automated bug finding tool had analyzed the community-built operating system FreeBSD and flagged 306 potential …

    Security 29 Jun 2005, 07:00

  • Sell the IT department down the river

    For a higher share price?

    Companies which outsource do better than those who don't, according to research commisioned by a company that does, er, outsourcing. Companies which outsource business processes perform better, and have higher stock market valuations, than companies which keep services in-house, according to the LogicaCMG-commissioned report. …

    IT Director 29 Jun 2005, 08:41

  • XP-lite goes Latin

    Starter Edition for Mexico

    Microsoft is offering a cut-down version of Windows XP for Spanish speakers in Latin America. Launched in Mexico yesterday it will be a cheaper version of XP but will only be available to OEMs and system builders, not as a packaged retail product. Part of the aim of the cheaper product is to cut down on piracy. The software …

    Operating Systems 29 Jun 2005, 09:40

  • BT thrashed for 'free' VoIP call claim

    Usage limits bite telco on backside

    BT Communicator - the giant telco's PC-based internet telephony service - does not make "free" calls, according to a ruling by the advertising standards authority (ASA). The telco had bragged in one of its mailings: "BT Communicator - FREE UK Calls for a year" and "The power of BT Broadband to enjoy free calls for a year". But …

    Telecoms 29 Jun 2005, 10:24

  • Virtual postcard delivers Trojan

    VXers deliver spyware calling card

    A spam campaign that poses as a virtual postcard delivery is being used to lure surfers into infecting their PCs with a Trojan horse. Windows users who follow the web link in the junk emails are roped into visiting a website which exploits well known vulnerabilities to install the Clsldr-D Trojan horse and other malicious code …

    Malware 29 Jun 2005, 10:29

  • UK at (very small) risk from tsunami

    Buy wellies now

    The UK is at risk from a tsunami, according to a government report, but the risk is very, very small. And apparently, any tsunami would also be very small by the time it reached us, and our existing coastal defences would be sufficient. So why has the British Geological Survey spent the last six months considering the question …

    Science 29 Jun 2005, 10:44

  • US boffins resurrect zombie dogs

    HP Lovecraft, come on down

    US scientists at the Papa Doc Duvalier Center for Reanimation Studies* are celebrating ground-breaking research during which they successfully raised dogs from the grave after several hours of "clinical death". According to news.com.au, the technique involves draining the mutts' blood and replacing it with a saline solution a …

    Science 29 Jun 2005, 10:57

  • Ebbers could face life for WorldCom fraud

    WorldCom now 'synonymous with fraud'

    Bernie Ebbers - who was found guilty of masterminding the $11bn accounting scandal at US telco giant WorldCom - should spend the rest of his days behind bars, the prosecution has said. That's according to prosecution papers filed with the federal judge in charge of the case which claim that the actions of the former chief exec …

    Financial News 29 Jun 2005, 11:06

  • ID cards halve Labour majority

    Blair's Poll Tax wins few friends

    The UK's Labour government saw its majority cut from 67 to 31 last night in a vote on the controversial ID Card bill. Twenty Labour MPs crossed the floor to vote with the Tories and Liberal Democrats against the bill's second reading but it was still passed on a vote of 314 to 283. Home Secretary Charles Clarke dismissed …

    ID 29 Jun 2005, 11:26

  • India call centre staff in sex romp shocker

    Rumpy-pumpy insource

    Any reader who has ever wondered what Indian call centre operatives get up to between harassing angry BT punters about overdue bills and then selling their personal details to the highest bidder may be surprised to learn that they do not actually fill their spare time with watching old episodes of Eastenders in order to hone …

    Bootnotes 29 Jun 2005, 11:58

  • Wanadoo brand to be scrapped

    The future's Orange from now on

    The name Wanadoo is to be consigned to the scrap heap as part of yet another rebranding exercise at the ISP formerly know as Freeserve. Next year Wanadoo will ditch its logo and rebrand under the Orange livery as part of a "simplified brand architecture" announced by parent France Telecom today. The name change comes a little …

    Telecoms 29 Jun 2005, 12:04

  • Novell launches GroupWise 7

    Let's be practical about this

    Software firm Novell expects the launch of its collaboration suite GroupWise 7 to help it to claw back some of the losses it recorded in the second quarter. The group, which posted a net loss of $16m in its fiscal second quarter results, has announced the open Beta availability of the latest version of its popular GroupWise …

    Small Biz 29 Jun 2005, 12:45

  • Spyware blizzard shows no sign of let up

    It's raining Trojans

    Hackers are continuing to target British workers with a series of specially crafted Trojan horse attacks two weeks after a UK government agency issued an unprecedented security warning. The latest batch of malware again targets a small network of specifically targeted domains in assaults designed to slip under the corporate …

    Malware 29 Jun 2005, 12:57

  • AMD and MS dig deep to free the freebies for 64-bit PC fans

    One moment in swag

    The good news for you hardware geeks out there is that AMD and Microsoft have found a few more cheap hardware/software kits to offer at their Tech Tour events. The bad news is that the kits will probably run out by the time you finish this story. Earlier this month, we reported that AMD and Microsoft could not meet the demand …

    PCs 29 Jun 2005, 13:32

  • France wins billion dollar fusion research plant

    Clean energy

    The European Union announced yesterday that the world's largest ever fusion reactor will be built in France, at a total cost of around $12bn. Competition to secure the 30-year International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project has been intense, but Japan withdrew its bid last week leaving the floor open for the …

    Science 29 Jun 2005, 13:47

  • Mashboxx pulls off Sony BMG deal

    Do the monster mash

    P2P music outfit Mashboxx has struck a licensing deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment as it gears up for the launch of its “legal” file sharing service. Mashboxx, like a number of other up and coming firms, attempts to exploit the file sharing phenomenon by offering file sharers the opportunity to buy legal, DRM protected …

    Financial News 29 Jun 2005, 14:16

  • Fake news spreads email virus

    Papal bull

    Claims of Osama bin Laden's capture by US soldiers and conspiracy rumours about Pope John Paul II's death are just two of the supposed news stories tricking internet users into launching a new email virus. The Kedebe-F worm spreads itself through email posing as breaking news stories about the supposed arrest of the author of …

    Malware 29 Jun 2005, 14:25

  • Wanadoo to blow €200m on Orange name change

    What ya wanadoo that for?

    France Telecom is to spend €200m changing the name of its Wanadoo ISP to Orange - the brightly-coloured name of its mobile phone operation. Details of the corporate make-over were released today as FT gave more detail about its massive rebranding exercise. The UK is set to be the first country to get a new lick of paint even …

    Telecoms 29 Jun 2005, 14:46

  • German identifies cerebral penis control centre

    And it's very, very small

    Regular readers will know that we at Vulture Central pull out all the stops to keep you, our beloved audience, completely up-to-the-minute with all that is essential for the well-informed IT metropolitan. Yes indeed, from vibrating knickers to entamponed mobile phones and lesbian cows to masturbating San Franciscans, no stone is …

    Bootnotes 29 Jun 2005, 14:53

  • Google conquers planet Earth

    Never mind War of the Worlds...

    Google has launched a downloadable application which lets you virtually travel to anywhere in Canada, the US and the UK. Google Earth offers pictures of major cities in the UK and US - some of those in the US include the ability to tilt the image to see the sides of buildings. The maps or images can be overlayed with Google's …

    Financial News 29 Jun 2005, 14:54

  • Novell versus SCO will go to court

    Discovery phase next...

    Novell has failed in its attempt to get SCO's patent claims chucked out so the case is now likely to go to court. The case enters the discovery phase where both sides must ready the evidence they wish to use in court. SCO claims ownership of patents included in some versions of Unix. Novell claims it has evidence to support …

    Operating Systems 29 Jun 2005, 14:56

  • Sony may go after PSP sellers

    Grey imports threaten fabric of society

    Sony may take further legal action against other retailers and websites which are selling mobile Playstations ahead of the delayed UK launch in September. Sony took one-man reseller ElectricBirdLand to court on Monday to seek a temporary injunction to stop the site selling PSPs. But similar machines and accessories are …

    Consoles 29 Jun 2005, 15:06

  • Anti-spyware market to rocket

    In brief Reach for the sky

    The corporate anti-spyware market is predicted to explode over the next four years extending to more than 540m seats in 2009, a 30-fold increase from an estimated 16m seats in 2005, according to a study by analysts the Radicati Group published this week. Security concerns - including regulatory compliance risks posed by spyware …

    Malware 29 Jun 2005, 15:14

  • Is that a lake on Titan?

    Book your sailing holiday, now

    A dark patch on the surface of Titan, moon of Saturn, might be a lake filled with liquid hydrocarbons, astronomers have said. The picture, snapped by the Cassini spacecraft, shows a dark shape 235km by 75km in the moon's southern polar region (the red dot marks the pole itself). Scientists are hesitating to pronounce the …

    Science 29 Jun 2005, 15:20

  • Wanadoo UK domain 'suspended'

    Orange ISP blames 'small administrative oversight'

    There are red faces at Wanadoo UK - France Telecom's UK ISP which will be renamed Orange from next year - after one of its business domains was "temporarily" suspended yesterday afternoon. FSBusiness.co.uk - which dates back to when Freeserve (renamed Wanadoo last year, btw) offered net services to, erm, businesses - fell off …

    Telecoms 29 Jun 2005, 15:27

  • MS issues final software update for Win2K

    Last hurrah

    Microsoft released a final update rollup for Windows 2000 on Tuesday (28 June) just two days before expiration of mainstream support of the still-widely-used operating system. The update contains every security patch issued since the release of Service Pack 4 and the end of April 2005 along with various non-security related …

    Operating Systems 29 Jun 2005, 16:31

  • Grokster: Confusing sin and sinner

    Comment Bad can be good - ask Bruce Willis

    This merry band of Register readers (a.k.a. technophiles extraordinaire) surely knows already all about Grokster and StreamCast, two companies that have been distributing P2P filesharing technologies. You also know about the music/movie industry crusade against P2P that ultimately spawned the U.S. Supreme Court decision on …

    Music and Media 29 Jun 2005, 18:17

  • Database growth boosts Oracle

    Billion dollar profit in Q4

    Oracle posted solid revenue growth during its fourth quarter on the back on improved database sales. Larry's shop reported a 26 per cent jump in revenue to $3.88bn, while net income rose 3 per cent to $1.02bn. The results came as Oracle manages a number of rocky acquisitions. These deals, however, didn't seem to affect the …

    Financial News 29 Jun 2005, 20:08

  • Motorola buys Sendo team, patents

    Hello MotoSendo

    Motorola has acquired the R&D team and the patent portfolio of Sendo, which went into administration today. Sendo is Britain's only mobile phone manufacturer, and shipped 5m handsets last year. The deal affects around 200 engineers, 170 in Birmingham and 30 in Singapore, and around 90 patents or patent applications. Sendo was …

    Financial News 29 Jun 2005, 20:15

  • Sun can't afford to market Linux desktop

    Tux gives way to Solaris

    Sun Microsystems' attempt to woo developers will see the company downplay its Java Desktop System (JDS) for Linux in favor or Solaris and Sun Ray thin clients. Sun software executive vice president John Loiacono told The Register Sun is "shifting" its marketing emphasis away from JDS for Linux as a way of "targeting resources …

    Operating Systems 29 Jun 2005, 20:59