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7th September 2005 Archive

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  • Wikipedia eclipses CIA

    Where'd the gatekeeper go?

    Wikipedia is fast becoming the number-one online resource for web surfers hungry for context about breaking news, in what must be a sad comment on the ability for traditional news media to keep its audiences well-informed. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia assembled in realtime, has reportedly experienced a 154 per cent hike …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 08:33

  • Snowball fight officially possible on Mars

    Frozen marsgaritas all round

    Mars is covered in huge quantities of ice and snow, according to NASA researchers, but the watery stuff is well mixed-in with the red planet's sandy dunes. Speaking at the British Association science festival in Dublin, Mary Bourke, of the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, said that the so-called niveo-aeolian (snow, …

    Science 7 Sep 2005, 08:49

  • Apple touts iTunes' UK 80% market share

    Analysis Under pressure

    Let there be no doubt that High Street music retailers Virgin and HMV to the UK's digital music market is shaking the tree. Even the formerly lofty Apple has felt it necessary to issue a public statement stressing its market leadership. Apple today told World+Dog that it holds first place in the UK digital music arena, …

    Financial News 7 Sep 2005, 09:36

  • ATI signs Chartered as graphics chip maker

    UMC deal in the offing, too?

    Claims that ATI has signed UMC as a foundry partner may prove premature. The graphics chip maker yesterday said it had brought in Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing as its second chip producer. ATI will be using Chartered to manufacture Imageon 2240 mobile media processors, which the foundry is punching out using …

    Peripherals 7 Sep 2005, 09:38

  • Ireland celebrates first anti-spam conviction

    4's A Fortune nailed

    Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, has secured his first conviction for a breach of the country's anti-spam law. A similar law exists in the UK but the UK Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has taken no such action to date. Ireland is also considering stiffer penalties for spammers. 4's A Fortune Limited was …

    Security 7 Sep 2005, 09:58

  • Dixons downbeat as UK sales dip

    Up overseas

    Dixons is continuing to suffer from the effects of weak consumer spending in the UK and remains "cautious", the high street electricals giant said today. Publishing figures for the 16 weeks trading to August, the retailer revealed that like-for-like sales in the UK were down 3 per cent, hit hard by a dip in demand for items …

    Financial News 7 Sep 2005, 10:07

  • US battery boffins build cow dung fuel cell

    Moo-bile applications

    Cow dung has provided human beings with fuel for millennia. Now, thanks to research conducted by Ohio State University, it could become the foundation for future notebook power plants. To be fair, it's not the manure per se that's the power source, but the bacteria crawling through it. According to researcher Ann Christy, …

    Science 7 Sep 2005, 10:12

  • Brain tissue shortage threatens research

    Bad news for budding Dr. Frankensteins

    A shortage of healthy brains being donated for medical research is impeding the development of treatments for diseases such as Parkinson's, scientists at the British Association Science Festival in Dublin heard yesterday. Dr Kirstin Goldring, who manages the UK Parkinson's Disease Society Tissue Bank at Imperial College London …

    Science 7 Sep 2005, 10:22

  • EC warned to tread softly on web TV

    Little new regulation needed

    The European Commission should be cautious about extending the Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF Directive) to cover the provision of online audiovisual content services, according to trade group the E-Business Regulatory Alliance. The group made its comments in response to a consultation by the European Commission …

    Networks 7 Sep 2005, 10:25

  • HP bangs data protection drum

    Keep it simple - buy our kit

    HP stumped up a swathe of storage management gear at SNW Europe this week, with the aim of making SM painless, if not exciting. Leading the pack are HP's Data Protection Storage Servers, which are disk-to-disk appliances consisting of Microsoft's Data Protection Manager software preloaded onto a Proliant server. The devices …

    Storage 7 Sep 2005, 10:37

  • Alienware readies ET-inspired MP3 player

    'Mothership' speaker system too

    Gaming PC specialist Alienware is to hop on the MP3 player bandwagon this Autumn with an extraterrestrial-inspired music machine of its own. The CE-IV is a Flash-based device, and will be offered in 512MB and 1GB versions, though there's a memory card slot - the company didn't specify a format - for extra storage. It will ship …

    Peripherals 7 Sep 2005, 10:47

  • Hurricane website is IE only

    More incompetence from FEMA

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency has not exactly won hearts and minds with its ability to manage an emergency. The agency, and its boss Michael Brown, has been widely slated for its handling of the post-Katrina disaster in the Southern US. Although its latest failing hardly compares to the litany of incompetence already …

    Science 7 Sep 2005, 10:47

  • Yahoo! assists Chinese dissident conviction

    Updated J'accuse

    Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has accused Yahoo! of going out of its way to help Chinese authorities to convict a "dissident journalist". Shi Tao was sentenced in April to 10 years imprisonment for "divulging state secrets" partly on the basis of evidence supplied by Yahoo!. Reporters Without Borders said it " …

    Media 7 Sep 2005, 10:54

  • Watchdog brings Bulldog to heel

    Pooper scoopers

    Bulldog was mauled on prime-time TV last night about the abysmal service it's delivered over the summer. The BBC's aptly named flagship consumer affairs programme Watchdog had received hundreds of complaints from viewers who had suffered at the paws of the Cable & Wireless (C&W) owned broadband ISP. Last night's broadcast is …

    Broadband 7 Sep 2005, 10:57

  • Quantum leaps into new tape era

    Adios M-series, hello rack and stack...

    Quantum is replacing its entire low and mid-range tape automation product range with a revamped autoloader and a new PX500 series of rack-mount libraries. The new devices will support both SDLT and LTO drives, and store from eight to 200 tape cartridges. The PX500 series has three members so far: the one or two drive 4U PX502 …

    Storage 7 Sep 2005, 11:09

  • US 'world genius' touts 6.8GHz 'quantum-optical' CPU

    Preps multi-terabyte disk-less notebook too

    We're unsure* as to how we should take the claims of Atom Chip Corporation, which maintains it will show off a 2TB diskless notebook based on a 6.8GHz "quantum-optical" microprocessor at next January's Consumer Electronics Show. An image of said notebook, the Atom Chip SG220-2, popped up on a number of websites this week. …

    PCs 7 Sep 2005, 11:17

  • Natural selection fighting to survive in the US

    Ah, religion and politics

    A mere 26 per cent of people in the US believe that life on Earth has evolved without any input from a supreme being, according to new figures from The Pew Research Center. Unsurprisingly, secular respondents were overwhelmingly more likely to say they believed in the theory of natural selection. But even in this group, 15 per …

    Science 7 Sep 2005, 11:40

  • Burning Man, meet Drowning Man

    Silicon Valley's freak-out meets Katrina, with a bump

    The writer had found an elusive internet connection, and reaching beyond exhaustion was finding words to record the madness around him: "We are operating on something beyond tired, beyond care, beyond recognition," he wrote. "You just keep going, because you have no choice." New Orleans? No, Burning Man. The writer was …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 12:13

  • Google Maps reveals Katrina devastation

    New sat images of submerged Big Easy

    Google Maps has added post-Katrina satellite images of New Orleans which demonstrate pretty effectively why the Big Easy will be out of action for some time. As well as the standard "map", "satellite" and "hybrid" views, you can now select "Katrina" to jump to a post-hurricane image. This is how New Orleans used to look: And …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 12:25

  • Ofcom caps LLU charges

    And other regulatory morsels

    Ofcom wants to set a price ceiling for fully unbundled local loops as part of plans to increase competition for wholesale broadband. Last month BT cut the cost of renting a fully unbundled line from £105.09 to £80 a year. Despite BT's first move Ofcom is keen to set a cap on rental charges so that BT can't increase the cost to …

    Networks 7 Sep 2005, 13:10

  • Four women finger NY subway perv

    Flashing net celebrity in court

    Dan Hoyt - the "smirking sicko" who exposed himself to a 22-year-old woman on New York's subway and became a net celebrity for his trouble - has been released on $5,000 bail after appearing in court on four charges of subway flashing. The fugitive from justice finally gave himself up last Wednesday and was picked from a line-up …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 13:30

  • Orange Mobile Office Card 3G PC Card

    Review Orange gets it right, second time around

    Just under a year ago I reviewed the original 3G Orange Mobile Office Card and was decidedly unimpressed. Sub-standard hardware and poorly considered software added up to a package that, quite simply, wasn't up to the job at hand. This situation was made worse for Orange by the fact that only a few weeks earlier I had reviewed …

    Reviews 7 Sep 2005, 14:14

  • E-banking security provokes fear or indifference

    Brits not bothered, or hot and bothered

    A recent study by analyst Forrester Research has unearthed conflicting views about the safety or otherwise of online banking. The survey of 11,300 UK net users found that while many online banking consumers are complacent about security, a large minority have given up online banking as a direct result of security fears. Most UK …

    Security 7 Sep 2005, 14:20

  • No live TV birth for Dutch Big Brother

    Hope for humanity after ministry ruling

    There is hope for humanity after all - the Dutch authorities have ruled that the preganant woman currently appearing in human zoo Big Brother will not be allowed to give birth on live TV. This welcome news comes in the wake of our recent report that Talpa TV - run by former Endemol lead suit John de Mol, and responsible for …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 14:21

  • Microsoft sues EC

    Makes a nice change

    Microsoft is taking legal action against the European Commission and has confirmed it has filed a suit with the Court of First Instance. As part of the agreement reached last March the Court asked MS to open up access to its server APIs - it is this issue the software firm is now contesting. Microsoft issued a wordy statement …

    Software 7 Sep 2005, 14:50

  • 3 UK to expand handset net access

    Wibbly Wobbly Wireless Web

    3 UK looks set to increase the amount of content its punters can view on the net using their 3G phones. Following a tip-off by a vulture-eyed reader, El Reg has learnt that the mobile operator is on the verge of providing an internet access service shortly with an announcement to be made as early as next week. At the moment …

    Mobile 7 Sep 2005, 14:53

  • F5 buys Swan in web acceleration push

    In brief Signet purchase

    Traffic management outfit F5 Networks has acquired Wan optimisation and application acceleration firm Swan Labs for $43m. The all-cash transaction is subject to various closing conditions - including acceptance of employment with F5 Networks by particular Swan Labs employees - but expected to close in the first quarter of F5 …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2005, 15:14

  • Stop using the word 'mobe'!

    Poll Well, should we?

    There have been a few complaints recently (well, two actually) about our increasing use of the word "mobe": I really hate the word "mobe". What does it mean? Mobile phone? A mobile phone with a camera? I know you're UK-based and I do understand most of these English oddities that appear in your articles, but the word "mobe" …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 15:46

  • Clarke: Europe must trade civil liberties for security

    2-for-1 special?

    British Home Secretary Charles Clarke has warned that European citizens will have to accept that civil liberties may have to be bartered away in exchange for protection from terrorists and organised criminals. Speaking at the European Parliament, he said that the European Convention on Human Rights might need to be changed if …

    Media 7 Sep 2005, 15:55

  • Hero BOFHs needed for Katrina relief work

    PFYs wanted too

    The SANS Institute - best known for helping to track hacker activity via the Internet Storm Center - is helping to recruit tech-savvy volunteers to help care for people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. Techies are needed to set up PCs and wireless networks at shelters and at Red Cross headquarters in Washington DC to install …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2005, 16:08

  • Sun tries to tempt thousands with reworked partner program

    Move on from Solaris 8

    Sun Microsystems hopes to expand the number of ISVs building applications on Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris by 30 per cent before next summer following an overhaul of its iForce partner program. Sun's goal is to grow its Solaris 8 partner network to 10,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) during the next year, following the …

    Software 7 Sep 2005, 16:09

  • Apple unveils iTunes phone, Flash iPod

    Is the ROKR a CROCKR?

    More than a year after Apple first announced its partnership with Motorola to put iTunes on a mobile phone, the device is finally available. Apple also overhauled the iPod line - introducing a new, solid state music player - and revamped its iTunes software today. A year is about four generations of technology for the cellphone …

    Mac Channel 7 Sep 2005, 19:40

  • CA makes a puddle in patent pool

    The Free 14

    Computer Associates International (CA) is cracking open the door on its patent portfolio by releasing some of its IP to open source developers. CA on Wednesday said it had released 14 of its patents covering application development and modeling, business intelligence and analytics, systems management and storage, and network …

    Applications 7 Sep 2005, 21:06

  • Sun has at least 1GHz of Niagara Viagra

    32 threads today, 64 tomorrow?

    Sun officials still won't say a heck of a lot about the upcoming Niagara processor family, despite the fact that our sources have it shipping in just a couple of months. Thanks to some beta systems and OpenSolaris, however, the Average Joe can discover a thing or two about these multicore chips. Sun has positioned Niagara-based …

    Servers 7 Sep 2005, 21:19

  • 'China has f*cked us' - Bill Gates

    MS infighting tickled PRC Govt, alleges Google defector

    Microsoft's internal politics - the slipping roadmaps, the meetings about meetings about meetings, and the lack of even a coherent medium-term strategy - are more than just a tech industry soap opera. They're a source of amusement for the Chinese Government, a departing Microsoft exec has alleged. It's Dr Kai-Fu Lee, the former …

    Media 7 Sep 2005, 22:50

  • Microsoft paints underachieving MBS range as Dynamics

    Hopes the 's' is for sales

    Microsoft is putting a little pizzazz into its business solutions (MBS) range - a line that's missed key product delivery dates and revenue expectations. The diverse enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) line has been unified under the "Dynamics" brand. Microsoft CRM becomes Microsoft …

    Applications 7 Sep 2005, 23:35