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5th January 2006 Archive

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  • Microsoft begs for Windows Vista feedback

    Have a go if you're hard enough

    Microsoft is talking up a simplified mechanism for providing feedback on the company's planned Windows Vista operating system, due later this year. Hours before Microsoft chief software architect Bill Gates was due to evangelize Windows Vista during a keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las …

    Operating Systems 5 Jan 2006, 06:36

  • HP benches iTunes and promotes Real's Rhapsody

    CES Spits out Apple

    HP's career as an Apple reseller has come to an end. The computer maker is expected to announce that it has dropped iTunes as the main music software on its PC and picked up the Rhapsody service from Real Networks as a replacement. This move follows HP's July decision to stop selling rebadged iPods. Rhapsody will become the …

    PCs 5 Jan 2006, 07:27

  • Lampposts wired for Wi-Fi

    Strike a light!

    Boffins in Scotland are wiring up lampposts with solar panels and Wi-Fi technology to provide renewable street lighting and solar powered wireless broadband. The pilot project at the University of Abertay in Dundee is based on technology developed for disaster recovery services in the Third World. If successful, those behind …

    Broadband 5 Jan 2006, 08:55

  • McAfee and Applix agree SEC settlement terms

    Dialling for dollars

    McAfee is coughing up $50m and establishing an ethics "hotline" for customers and partners to report suspicious behavior by the company, following a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. The SEC investigation, begun in 2002, accused the security vendor of inflating net revenue by $622m between 1998 and 2000 …

    Financial News 5 Jan 2006, 08:56

  • Gates makes case for Windows in consumer world

    CES All play and no work

    Bill Gates headed a Microsoft executive line-up before the consumer and entertainment industries on Wednesday to make the case for adopting Windows in new devices and services rather than software from rivals. Opening the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Gates and co. outlined advances …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 09:07

  • Oracle Raptor takes bite out of complexity

    Step forward for Oracle developers

    Oracle is a step closer to launching its planned graphical programming environment, designed to simplify development of database tasks. The company has published an early release of Project Raptor, which enables software developers to browse database objects, run SQL statements and SQL scripts, and edit and debut PL/SQL …

    Developer 5 Jan 2006, 09:10

  • Windows beats Linux - Unix on vulnerabilities - CERT

    Good news and bad news

    It might not feel like it, but Windows suffered fewer security vulnerabilities than Linux and Unix during 2005. Linux and Unix experienced more than three times as many reported security vulnerabilities than Windows, according to the mighty US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) annual year-end security index. Windows …

    Software 5 Jan 2006, 09:41

  • Phone scams top list of UK cons

    Dial our premium rate number to hear this story

    Phone scams that promise punters non existent prizes are the UK's number one con, according to a survey by consumer group Which?. A third of adults say they've received an automated call offering them the chance to claim a cash prize or holiday, while two million grown-ups have called a premium rate phone line charged at up to …

    Networks 5 Jan 2006, 10:38

  • Sex chat doctor struck off

    'Katie Beckinsale' unfit to practice

    The 42-year-old doctor who posed as a teenage girl and used this false identity to chat online with 26 genuine teenage girls using "indecent language about sex and underwear" was yesterday struck off by a General Medical Council fitness-to-practise panel. Thomas Dent - a GP and director at the National Institute for Clinical …

    Media 5 Jan 2006, 10:47

  • Zero-day holiday

    Sobering up fast

    A few hundred million Windows XP machines lay vulnerable on the web today, a week after a zero-day exploit was discovered. Meanwhile, new approaches and ideas from the academic world - that focus exclusively on children - may give us hope for the future after all. For this month’s column I had planned to write a positive, …

    Security 5 Jan 2006, 11:08

  • Science cans stem cell paper

    Further disgrace for Hwang Woo-suk

    The journal Science yesterday announced it would take the highly unusual step of retracting a paper written by disgraced stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk and colleagues as the scandal surrounding Hwang's suspect study on tailored embryonic stem cells refuses to lie down. According to Reuters, Science has got permission from …

    Science 5 Jan 2006, 11:18

  • TomTom offers compensation over service outage

    Route cause analysis

    TomTom - the satellite navigation service - is offering its punters free traffic updates after its service was interrupted last month. The service interruption, which TomTom blames on problems with its ISP, follows similar problems in September, originally blamed on a server migration falling behind schedule. Both glitches …

    Financial News 5 Jan 2006, 11:22

  • Santa good to Fayrewood

    Or at least as good as he said he was going to be

    Christmas trading matched expectations at Fayrewood, the pan-European distributor reported this week. A brief note to the City today, where it is listed on the Alternative Investment Market, bragged that it "experienced the anticipated strong sales across the group in the final quarter of 2005". Total dividends for 2005 will be …

    The Channel 5 Jan 2006, 11:36

  • The outsourcing commandments

    Comment Development outsourcing: tips, tricks and pitfalls

    Sure it’s all the rage, but is the outsourcing of web and software application development all that it’s cracked up to be? Outsourcing is a subject of wonder, disdain, and even ignorance. I have a fairly unique position in that I have been a promoter of technology/development outsourcing for more than eight years. Back during …

    Developer 5 Jan 2006, 11:53

  • Are you an idiot? Click here

    A fool and his money...

    Well, it worked, because here you are. Now click here to discover how www.ClICkheREYouidIot.com (CHYI) is "harnessing the power of suggestion to better connect and converse with the consumer in today's diverse marketplace". Indeed, as CHYI CEO Mr Vaistte O'Tyme, discussing the news that from 5 January the CHYI website will …

    Bootnotes 5 Jan 2006, 12:54

  • Yorkshire boasts blanket broadband

    Public cash wires up final 24 exchanges

    Every telephone exchange in Yorkshire has been wired up for broadband following the injection of £2.2m of public sector cash. Regional Development Agency (RDA) Yorkshire Forward confirmed that the last of 24 exchanges - at Ramsgill Dale in North Yorkshire - was enabled for broadband at the end of December. BT had originally …

    Networks 5 Jan 2006, 13:12

  • Linksys wrestles with wireless webcam

    Tackles 'remote power' problem, still needs a socket

    Just a day after announcing that Ethernet power would drive all its wireless access points in future, Linksys unveiled a wireless webcam - which needs wires. The new Internet Video Camera, announced at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas this week, will ship in the spring, says Linksys. Unfortunately, although it's …

    Data Networking 5 Jan 2006, 14:07

  • Spear phishers target eBay

    Slimy

    Security researchers have uncovered a campaign of targeted spam messages that seek to defraud eBay sellers. Cybercrooks are targeting eBay sellers by sending forged auction inquires from what appears to be eBay's "Question from eBay Member" message portal, according to US-based security reseller Greenview Data, which markets the …

    Security 5 Jan 2006, 14:20

  • West Midlands picks Avanti to fill broadband gaps

    Deal done

    The West Midlands looks set to receive blanket broadband coverage from next summer following a dealwith broadband outfit Avanti. The West Midlands Networking Company (WMNC) - which is working on behalf of the regional development agency Advantage West Midlands - is paying Avanti £358,000 to install its wireless broadband …

    Broadband 5 Jan 2006, 14:28

  • Florida spammer fined $11bn

    Iowa ISP scores symbolic victory

    A small Iowa-based ISP has been awarded $11.2bn (£6.5bn) in a record judgment against a Florida spammer. CIS Internet Services successfully sued James McCalla over claims he sent more than 280m illegal spam messages with fraudulent return addresses towards CIS accounts, punting mortgages, debt consolidation services, …

    Security 5 Jan 2006, 14:31

  • Nokia scores hit with wireless internet device

    Two-week wait for wireless wonder

    The world's largest mobile manufacturer Nokia looks to have scored a major hit with a new wireless device that doesn't have any phone functionality. The Finnish firm announced on Wednesday that, against its expectations, it is to increase production of its 770 Internet Tablet handheld after achieving huge online sales since its …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 14:58

  • Another day, another gadget buffet

    CES Cool VoIP and PSP apps and gadgets galore

    Certified gadget obsessives Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny scour Gizmoville for the oddest digital goodies TV to go on your PSP coming to UK Sony’s CES presentation might have been high on gloss and short on content, but it did deliver some wonderful news for British PSP owners. Location Free TV – a very cool application for the …

    Peripherals 5 Jan 2006, 15:06

  • eBayer bids £1k for photo of 42in plasma

    Updated Auction pulled after Reg vigilante action

    How much would you pay for a 42in Panasonic plasma TV worth more than £3,000? A thousand quid? It's an absolute snip down at eBay, where one lucky punter is about to secure himself said item at a never-to-repeated price: Hold on a minute – that might not be quite the bargain we thought. Let's check the blurb: Yup. Sadly, …

    Media 5 Jan 2006, 15:33

  • RM to handle pupil data

    You boy

    RM Plc has been awarded a £16m extension on its contract to process pupil performance data for the Department for Education and Skills. The contract, which will run for five years, consolidates three previous arrangements under one consortium, headed by RM. The consortium includes RM data management subsidiary, Forvus. Other …

    Policy 5 Jan 2006, 15:43

  • Sony launches true electronic book

    CES Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy for real?

    Sony is to bring its Librié e-1000 electronic book to the US in March, the company annnounced at CES today. The device has been redesigned since is launch in Japan in 2004, and renamed the PRS-500 Portable Reader. The second-generation unit is smaller - it weighs 250g - and thinner - it's 1.3cm deep, including its leather-like …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 15:53

  • Xbox 360 to get HD DVD drive

    CES Externally, naturally

    Microsoft's XBox 360 will support the HD DVD next-generation optical disc format after all, the company's hardware chief, Robbie Bach, revealed at CES last night. However, the ability to play the discs will be delivered through a face-saving external drive, shipping at some point this year, Bach said. Last month, Microsoft …

    Games 5 Jan 2006, 15:58

  • HD DVD to debut in US in March

    CES Toshiba produces players; studios, content

    US consumers will be able to buy HD DVD content and hardware at the end of Q1, companies backing the next-generation optical disc format announced yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas. That's perhaps a little later than Toshiba, one of the format's strongest supporters, hinted when the launch window was …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 16:04

  • HD DVD to come to Europe this year, hints studio

    CES Studio Canal spills beans

    HD DVD will come to Europe in 2006, it has emerged. France's Studio Canal, part of the Canal Plus media combine, this week said it will ship 30 titles on the next-generation optical disc format this year. While the announcement was made at event predominantly pitching HD DVD's US debut, Studio Canal said that its HD DVD content …

    Peripherals 5 Jan 2006, 16:09

  • Sony touts Bluetooth camcorder mic

    CES Record 5.1-channel soundtracks up to 30m away

    Sony will next month ship a cute Bluetooth microphone accessory for members of its DVD camcorder line-up. The ECM-HW1 is designed as a pick-up for audio that the camcorder's main mic can't always catch, particularly since it can be located up to 30m from the recording device. The consumer electronics giant is pitching the part …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 16:16

  • DNA pixie dust fails to solve all UK crime, shock horror

    So if it's as wonderful as the Home Office says, how come?

    The Home Office has boasted of a quadrupling of detection of crime via DNA technology over the last five years, during which period the UK's National DNA Database has trebled in size, and now exceeds 3 million records. An enthusiastic report from the Home Office's Forensic Science & Pathology Unit (DNA Expansion Programme 2000- …

    Media 5 Jan 2006, 16:16

  • Sony Blu-ray Disc player coming 'this summer'

    CES Philips to ship H2, too

    Sony will ship Blu-ray Disc players to the US retail market in "early summer", the consumer electronics giant said yesterday at the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas. Dutch giant Philips also got in on the act, pledging to ship a player of its own later this year. Sony said it will ultimately offer Vaio systems …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 16:22

  • Four fired for strip club visit - WSJ

    Morgan Stanley elbows tech boys

    Morgan Stanley has fired four employees for visiting a strip club while attending a technology conference in Phoenix, Arizona, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal. The financial workers - all men - were technology industry specialists, said the newspaper report, and accompanied at least one client to the …

    Management 5 Jan 2006, 16:34

  • Bloggers have killed Official Secrets Act, claims Murray

    Not exactly. But they're not exactly in prison, either...

    Ordinarily we'd avoid mentioning the Government's unaccountable failure to gaol Craig Murray, in case we inadvertently reminded its members of something they missed from yesterday's 'To Do' list. But, as the man himself so plainly wants to draw attention to his continuing liberty, we might as well just go ahead. Bloggers, says …

    Media 5 Jan 2006, 17:38

  • XM friends bring MP3s to satellite radio devices

    CES Let our powers combine

    XM Satellite has claimed a pair of firsts over rival Sirius Radio with the release of two new devices that can tune in satellite radio and play MP3s and the announcement that it has topped six-million subscribers. XM unveiled the new devices from partners Samsung and Pioneer at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here in Lost …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 19:07

  • What do you get if you cross an iPod with a DVD player?

    CES An eVU that you can't buy

    Maybe the tiny video iPod screen doesn’t quite do it for you. Or, perhaps, you’re tired of lugging around a pretty clunky portable device just to watch DVDs. If so, you might want to check out the eVU device from e.Digital. e.Digital describes the eVU as a mobile entertainment device (MED), and that seems pretty darn accurate. …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 19:35

  • Judge dismisses Hynix 'unclean hands' claim

    Rambus patent infringement claims to come to trial in March

    A US District Court judge has dismissed Hynix's request to chuck out the patent infringement case brought against it by Rambus. Judge Ronald Whyte's ruling came at the end of a two-week period in which he heard Hynix's allegations that Rambus had destroyed and/or changed documents pertaining to the case. However, Judge Whyte, …

    Financial News 5 Jan 2006, 20:08

  • OpenOffice supports U3 'portable Home folder' Flash drives

    CES Run productivity app on any PC

    OpenOffice has been updated to support U3 USB Flash drives, the organisation behind the portable Home folder technology said today. OpenOffice 2.0 can be run from any U3-branded Flash disk. The software automatically ensures that any preferences files and documents it creates are stored on the removable disk and not on the host …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 20:13

  • JVC to ship 2x dual-layer DVD-RW discs next quarter

    CES 4x version to follow, apparently

    JVC today announced the world's first single-sided, dual-layer DVD-RW media will ship in Q2 - more than a year after the company unveiled the technology. The new discs will support 2x recording speeds, JVC said, but it was quick to point out it has already developed a 4x version in its labs. The 2x products will provide DVD- …

    Peripherals 5 Jan 2006, 20:25

  • Give me a lipstick MP3 player or give me death

    CES OK, digital binoculars will do

    Our first Consumer Electronics Show (CES) wrap covers a little bit of everything - from a new twist on binoculars to a pen-sized scanner. If gadgets are your thing, please proceed with pace. The leather iPod bar We’ll start you off with something familiar and easy to digest. It’s the line of device accessories from French firm …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 22:01

  • Samsung to ship Blu-ray 'first' with April player launch

    CES At twice the price of an HD DVD rig, though...

    Samsung today pledged to ship a Blu-ray Disc (BD) player ahead of rival manufacturers, getting its BD-P1000 machine to consumers in the "April timeframe", according to Jim Sandowski, head of Samsung USA's digital product marketing. The player will pump out HD content at 720p or 1080i resolutions, Samsung said. Supported audio …

    Peripherals 5 Jan 2006, 22:33

  • Toshiba turns 90° to boost 0.85in HDDs to 10GB

    CES And finally ships late, non-perpendicular 4GB version

    Toshiba today said it has finally begun shipping its long-awaited 4GB, 3600rpm 0.85in micro hard disk drives. The company also pledged to boost the drives' capacity to 10GB courtesy of perpendicular recording techniques. That said, consumer electronics companies looking to use the drives in their products will have to wait …

    Hardware 5 Jan 2006, 22:48

  • Samsung, SanDisk prep iPod Nano clones

    CES Yet more small, black 2GB and 4GB MP3 players...

    Two MP3 player makers today demonstrated their decision to compete with Apple's iPod Nano by... er... announcing virtually identically styled products. Step forward Samsung and SanDisk, whose YP-Z5 and and Sansa e200 players elicited immediate 'it looks like a Nano' calls from assembled hacks. Ah well, if you can't beat 'em, …

    Mobile 5 Jan 2006, 23:19