29th August 2005 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Brazil cuffs 85 in online bank hack dragnet

In brief Operation Pegasus

Brazilian federal police last week cuffed 85 people across seven states suspected of hacking online bank accounts and netting $33m, Reuters reports. The arrests were the culmination of a four-month investigation, codenamed "Operation Pegasus", which generated 105 arrest warrants. A total of 410 officers took part in the swoop …

Enterprise Security 29 Aug 2005, 09:54
Student constructs hamster-powered mobe charger

Eco-friendly mammal energy

We've often wondered for what purpose exactly hamsters were put upon this earth, and now we know: to charge mobile phones. Sixteen-year-old Peter Ash, of Somerset, finally cracked this age-old poser after his long-suffering sister complained of pet hamster Elvis scuttling away for hours during his nocturnal exercise wheel …

Bootnotes 29 Aug 2005, 10:13
Microsoft will make you pay for Virtual Server

One way or another

No one would mistake Microsoft's server virtualization software team for a smooth operator. The group managed to change its stance on two issues during last week's Intel Developer Forum (IDF) event, telling customers they'll have to pay for an update to Virtual Server 2005 and shifting the release date for revamped …

Servers 29 Aug 2005, 12:02
Intel abandons GHz war, embraces cool future

IDF in Review Rivals welcome it to the party

As we understand it, there are some of you who have lives or at least other things to do. So, you may not have traveled out to San Francisco for last week's Intel Developer Forum (IDF). (Or, maybe you work at AMD, and they had you locked down at a workstation, trying to get a production edge.) Lucky for you, El Reg had plenty …

Servers 29 Aug 2005, 14:47
US taxpayers asked to build dams in China?

Lenovo's 'Project Grace'

Should US taxpayers fund public works projects in China? Such a reality may be closer than you think if Chinese PC maker Lenovo gets its way in North Carolina. Only a handful of Reg readers complained about Lenovo's request for $14m and a host of other incentives to keep the jobs it inherited from IBM in North Carolina's …

Financial News 29 Aug 2005, 15:08
Savings, not skills, driving outsourcing

Never mind the resume

There's been a substantial drop in the number of companies outsourcing application development in order to utilize external skills, as more companies instead turn to outsourcing for cost savings. Just 19 per cent of those companies polled are outsourcing to tap their suppliers' expertise, down from 44 per cent in the year 2000 …

Developer 29 Aug 2005, 17:39
This Commons Just Isn’t Creative

Letters Readers: Licensing fails to impress

What is creativity? How much does it rely on computers? And is copyright today abused so badly by rights holders that we face a new Dark Ages? We threw up some of these questions in a long ramble last month, and received one of the most thoughtful postbags ever. Because the piece touched on so many areas, not surprisingly, the …

Letters 29 Aug 2005, 17:58
BMC and CFO have feelings of mutual resignation

Don't forget to write

BMC hit investors and customers with unexpected news on Monday, revealing that its CFO George Harrington has resigned. The software maker characterized the change as one of "mutual agreement." It tapped Treasurer Stephen Solcher as interim CFO and announced a hunt for a permanent replacement. In a show of confidence, BMC …

Financial News 29 Aug 2005, 18:31
Server start-up says Dell is too hot to be cheap

Single-core bore

Start-up Azul Systems has made an example out of Dell by pitching the server giant as a seller of hot, pricey gear. Azul packed a whopping 1,248 processor cores and 800GB of memory in a single, standard server rack and drew just 9.1kW - 137 cores per kW. Not one to shy away from entering a rival system in a challenge, Azul …

Servers 29 Aug 2005, 22:20