10th April 2006 Archive

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UK SMEs clueless about VoIP

'Like cutting bread with a spoon'

Three quarters of managers in UK small businesses (SMEs) haven't the foggiest idea about VoIP, according to research from internet telephony outfit Inclarity. A survey of 500 SME execs found that only one in eight firms are using the net to make phone calls which helps them save money on telecoms and IT costs. At the same time …

VoIP 10 Apr 2006, 09:02
IDC forecasts internet video surge

$1.7bn industry by 2010

The US is on the verge of a boom in internet video services, fuelled by an increase in the amount of premium content made available online, according to a new report from IDC. The analysts predict that the services will generate over $1.7bn in revenue by 2010. According to IDC, the market for internet video services began its …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 09:13
Info commissioner issues guidance on database trading

Data protection obligations

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a guidance note advising businesses on how to comply with the Data Protection Act when buying and selling databases containing customers' confidential information. The guidance is intended for use only when a database is sold because a business is insolvent, closing down …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2006, 09:27
Anticipation grows for Carphone 'free' broadband offer

Steady now

The Carphone Warehouse is expected to confirm plans to offer cut price broadband when it publishes its trading update tomorrow. Speculation surfaced two weeks ago that the retailer-cum-telco - which is investing megabucks in local loop unbundling (LLU) - was mulling the idea of "free" or cheap broadband. Weekend press reports …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 09:38
Google buys Orion algorithm

Israeli student hits G-spot

Google has bought an algorithm from an Israeli student studying in Australia. The search giant hasn't commented on the story, but it appears that Ori Allon has left the University of New South Wales to go and work for Google. The algorithm, a set of rules used by search engines to produce relevant results, is called Orion. The …

Financial News 10 Apr 2006, 09:42
Uranus has a dusty blue ring

Boffins take a close look with high-power telescope

Scientists have found that a new ring of debris found orbiting Uranus is blue. The ring has a small moon in it called Mab, thought to be the source of the particles, and is “strikingly similar” to Saturn's outer ring. The American team, reporting in Science, say only the smallest particles lost by Mab during meteor impacts are …

Space 10 Apr 2006, 09:44
AMD raises Athlon 64 prices

Adds 3GHz Opteron 2xx, 8xx series chips too

AMD appears to be playing down the availability of its Opteron 1xx series, at least for now. The chip maker today unveiled Opteron price adjustments which relegate the 1xx CPUs' presence on its public price list to mere 'call for details' status. Today also saw the debut of Opteron x56 two-way and four-way server chips, as …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 09:45
Council website usage on the up

Socitm report

A survey of local authority websites across the UK shows that for 2005, visits rose by 40 per cent compared with the same period the previous year. The survey is the third of its kind and shows that take-up is on an upward trend ahead of the national drive to boost greater awareness of government websites. Socitm Insight, the …

Public Sector 10 Apr 2006, 09:50
Telstra sale decided this month

International road show...

Australia is to decide later this month whether or not to sell its remaining stake in national telco Telstra. Finance minister Nick Michin is travelling to meet European and Japanese investors after Easter. The Australian government owns 51.8 per cent of Telstra and Michin will gauge investors' appetite for the shares. A …

Financial News 10 Apr 2006, 11:02
iMac boots Windows Vista, survives to tell tale

Ends up without Mac OS X, though...

Windows Vista has been booted on an iMac, according to a poster on the OSx86 Project forum yesterday. Previous attempts to install and run Vista - currently available in pre-release form - have been unsuccessful. According to OSx86 Project's correspondent, the solution is to eradicate the machine's Mac OS X disk partitions …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 11:03
Publican receives £600k BT phone bill

Ooops, says BT

BT claims human error was to blame after a publican from West Sussex received a phone bill for an eye-watering £616,776. Jack Harding, who runs The Olive Branch pub near Arundel, usually forks out around £100 a month for his BT phone bill. But he needed a stiff drink after he opened his bill to find he owed more than £600,000 …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 11:04
Ex-Gizmondo exec arrested in California

Stolen car allegations

Malibu police arrested former Gizmondo executive Stefan Eriksson this weekend almost two months after his $1m red Ferrari Enzo was totalled in a smash on the Pacific Coast Highway. Two other sportscars, including a second black Enzo, were taken from his home and impounded. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department yesterday …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 11:33
BT inks rock concert TV deal

The Who?

BT isn't due to unveil its much hyped TV service until autumn, but it's still managing to string out a series of announcements about content deals. Still, it beats contemplating what might happen if Carphone really does kick off a broadband price war. So far, BT's signed up kids' favourites Bob the Builder and Pingu to help …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 11:35
O2 unveils Wi-Fi smart phone

XDA IQ makes its debut

UK mobile phone network O2 has formally launched its XDA IQ smart phone, as exclusively revealed by Reg Hardware last month. The IQ incorporates a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GSM/GPRS radio with EDGE support. The phone also has Bluetooth 1.2 and 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless connectivity on board. As expected, the handset is …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 11:35
Heads spy on teachers

Trust no one

Teachers are preparing to protest against surveillance cameras and microphones that are being installed in classrooms across the UK. Surveillance firm Classwatch has installed more than 50 CCTV systems with microphones across the UK, said the Times Educational Supplement on Friday. Draconian headteachers, who have had teachers …

Music and Media 10 Apr 2006, 11:52
Nintendo vs Sony

Who is winning the handheld war?

Who exactly is winning the handheld wars? Sony says it is, and Nintendo says it is. Sony says the PSP is selling faster, from launch, than the PSOne or PS2. The PSP is selling neck-and-neck in the US and Europe with Nintendo's DS. In Japan, however, the DS is clearly trouncing the PSP. Whatever the reality is of who is edging …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 11:58
ATI SB600 South Bridge to debut in May

Next-gen chipsets coming sooner than expected?

ATI will unveil its long-awaited SB600 South Bridge chip next month, a senior company executive has revealed. The product is set to help the company limit its dependency on its South Bridge-chip partner ULi, now owned by ATI's arch-rival, Nvidia. According to Billy Wang, ATI VP for Asia Pacific and China, the SB600 will be …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 12:03
Science lines creationism up for a chinning

Royal Society webcast set to agitate UK God Squad

Tomorrow evening sees a high-profile counter-punch by the Royal Society against creationists. Leading genetics professor Steve Jones will deliver an unambiguous defence of Darwin's theory, “Why Creationism is Wrong and Evolution is Right” at the learned society's London HQ. Prof Jones has written several popular science books …

Biology 10 Apr 2006, 12:07
Sudoku used as bait for adware download

Give 'em the old Yazzle Dazzle

It's common practice for hackers to attempt to trick users into visiting maliciously constructed websites by offering either warez or smut. These pages are designed to exploit various software vulnerabilities in order to install malware onto victims' machines. Adware traffickers have now adapted the tactic to lure users into …

Security 10 Apr 2006, 12:14
Her Maj sent first email in 1976

Gawd bless yer, e-ma'am

The Queen sent her first email in 1976, Her Maj's official website has revealed. Details on the historic moment - forming one of "80 facts about the Queen", celebrating Liz II's forthcoming achievement of octogenarianism - are not highly illuminating. Suffice it to say, one's first royal email was issued from "an army base". …

Bootnotes 10 Apr 2006, 12:15
Transmeta begins second year working for Sony

Helping out Microsoft, too, don't forget

Transmeta is once again working for Sony and Microsoft. The processor power-reduction technology specialist said it would once again provide design and engineering services to Sony, which licensed Transmeta's LongRun 2 anti-leakage process in January 2005, leading to a two-year services deal being signed in March 2005. …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 12:34
Faults system blamed for Wanadoo LLU woes

Your fault, their fault, the fault system's fault...

Wanadoo UK's faults system is being blamed for leaving some of its customers without broadband for weeks on end. The ISP is currently moving thousands of users to its local loop unbundling (LLU) network, but it admits some migrations are not going ahead as planned. As a result, Wanadoo customers report being left without …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 13:12
Horizon buys SAP house

EPC does enterprise integration of its own

Horizon Technology has bought fellow Irish outfit Enterprise Process Consulting (EPC), a SAP consulting firm. The hybrid distribution and services firm will pay €2m upfront and make performance payments of up to €1.5m to be made over two years. EPC does SAP consulting for the pharmaceutical and public sectors in Ireland. …

Channel Register 10 Apr 2006, 13:36
Granny floors intruder with TV karate moves

Battling Romanian septuagenarian

We've said it before and we'll say it again: what on Earth is happening to the world's pensioners? Time was, your dear old grandpa would be sitting in a fireside chair, dispensing wisdom and Werther's Originals in equal measure while wrapped in a tartan travelling rug, faithful Labrador asleep at his beslippered feet. Not any …

Entertainment 10 Apr 2006, 13:37
MoD opens doors on counter-terrorism lab

Collaboration to out-tech terror

The UK government has opened the doors on its new Counter-Terrorism Science and Technology Centre. The MOD said it would provide a “one-stop shop” for technical responses to attacks. It will be staffed by experts from government, academia and industry. Centre director, civil servant Ken Brigden said: "[It] will be staffed by …

Science 10 Apr 2006, 13:39
Red Hat buys JBoss

Start-up sold for cash

Linux distributor Red Hat has bought open source middleware firm JBoss for $350m. The price includes $70m which is subject to performance targets. Sixty per cent of the price will be paid in Red Hat shares and the rest in cash. The press release says JBoss has modelled its business on Red Hat's subscription model as well as …

Servers 10 Apr 2006, 13:51
Orange SPV M600 PDA phone

Review Windows Mobile push email comes to Orange

I’m going to go out on a limb here: the SPV M600 from Orange is the best Windows Mobile smart phone I have ever used. It’s not perfect - that would be an overstatement - but if you’re after a smart phone with PDA functionality, the SPV M600 is the one to get. It’s way ahead of Orange's SPV M500 when it comes to functionality, …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 14:17
Terminator 4 is go - with or without Arnie

I probably won't be back

The producer of Terminator 4 - slated to begin production in Australia next year - has said the project will certainly go ahead, whether Arnold Schwarzenegger can make a cameo appearance or not. According to UK tabloid the Mirror, Andy Vajna said: "We would like Arnie as a cameo. We want to go on with the Terminator and turn it …

Entertainment 10 Apr 2006, 14:19
Hidden warranties in open source software

Licences yet to be tested in court

Companies using open source software may have more rights than they think. Distributors rarely include warranties in open source licences - but English law might decide otherwise, according to a technology lawyer in Leeds. Michael Peeters, a partner at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, says warranties as to the …

Applications 10 Apr 2006, 14:23
Air France says 'oui' to in-flight text messaging

But 'non' to voice calls...

Air France is to allow passengers to use their mobile phones once airborne on certain flights, though only for text messaging and data applications, the airline announced last week - voice calls will be interdit for the time being. The service will kick off in March 2007, three months after Air France takes possession of a …

Mobile 10 Apr 2006, 14:41
Man clobbered with £126 trillion phone bill

Makes BT's £616k cock-up look like small beer

Publican Jack Harding got the shock of his life when he received his monthly phone bill from BT demanding more than £616,000. But if you think that's bad, spare a thought for Yahaya Wahab, a 63-year-old meat importer from Malaysia. He's just been sent a bill for 806 trillion Ringgit - about £126 trillion. According to Malaysia …

Telecoms 10 Apr 2006, 14:44
HSBC joins Morse's mobile ATM network

First Direct and HSBC sign up

Consulting, technology and support company Morse has told the Stock Exchange that HSBC and First Direct are the first banks to join the firm's mobile ATM network MoniLink. The service, due to go live later this year, will let customers use mobile phones to access bank services. The company said it was pleased HSBC had joined …

Mobile 10 Apr 2006, 14:51
Band hope ringtone will get them to Number One

Jimmy Saville would be spinning in his grave if he were dead

Mobile music might mean irritating ringtones to you, but an Italian band is hoping a deal with mobile network 3 will be enough to get them into the charts. Planet Funk are releasing their single "Stop Me" exclusively for 3's UK customers to download. The song is out 8 May and 3 is setting up a marketing campaign, a microsite, …

Mobile 10 Apr 2006, 14:56
Logitech unrolls cylindrical iPod-friendly speaker unit

Audio on the move or on the shelf

Logitech will next month fill out its iPod-oriented portable speaker line-up with a mid-range set designed to provide up to ten hours' playing time using four AA batteries, though it's bundled with an AC adaptor for on-shelf playback too. The one-piece mm32 set places a pair of cylinder-enclosed speakers either side of a …

Reg Hardware 10 Apr 2006, 15:02
Databases in academia

University research isn't always up on the latest in business IT

Last week I was at Cambridge, learning what Henslow taught Darwin (Kohn, Murrell, Parker and Whitehorn, Nature, vol. 436, 4 August 2005, p643 – available online if you subscribe/register). Henslow, elected Professor of Botany at Cambridge in 1825, was a careful scientist, the first university lecturer to illustrate his lectures …

Developer 10 Apr 2006, 15:26
CSC UK bodycount to hit 1200

Any volunteers?

Following Computer Science Corporations's (CSC) announcement last week that it would be slashing 5,000 jobs, mainly in Europe, a Reg reader has forwarded us a company email that went round on Friday. Take it away Keith Wilman... Dear Colleague Following my meeting with staff representatives yesterday, I can now confirm that we …

Financial News 10 Apr 2006, 15:57
Fear sells. Read the report

Infosec blog Hackers grapple with Mephistophelean plumbing

The Infosecurity Europe show is almost upon us again. I've personally attended the show every year since 1997, man and boy, making this year's event my tenth attendance. Over the years the dress code has changed from jeans and t-shirt to business suits and the agenda has shifted towards the business impact of information …

InfoSec 10 Apr 2006, 16:27
IBM bakes security into chips

In brief Secure Blue

IBM has developed a technology - dubbed Secure Blue - that's designed to increase the security of consumer products, medical devices, defence systems and digital media. The technology protects the confidentiality and integrity of data on a device using encryption. IBM plans to license the technology, which is optimised for low- …

Enterprise Security 10 Apr 2006, 17:02
'Red Hat wraps Linux in sh*t,' says new exec

JBoss CEO lobotomized

With the sale of his company JBoss to Red Hat, Marc Fleury will be going to work for an open source pretender that has never done much in the way of innovation. Or, at least that's what Fleury used to think. An archived blog post from September of 2004 reveals Fleury's candid opinion of Red Hat. You will, however, struggle to …

Operating Systems 10 Apr 2006, 20:46