24th April 2006 Archive

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Death of the apps installer?

Look mama, no apps

One of the great bugbears for developers is the issue of fitting their splendid new applications code to the requirements demanded by applications installers. But could this be about to disappear as a problem? According to David Greschler, co-founder and VP of corporate marketing with Softricity, the answer is a soundly …

Servers 24 Apr 2006, 00:02
Microsoft, EC take positions

MS v EU: Day one Anti-trust appeal begins

Microsoft is back in court today to try and get the Court of First Instance to overturn the record fine imposed on it by the Competition Commission. At hearings all week it will try and convince judges that it has opened up access to server protocols in a meaningful way and made life easier for makers of rival media players. …

Operating Systems 24 Apr 2006, 08:36
New regulations to make porn sites warn at every page

Ambitious law 'fatally flawed'

Every page on a commercial website that contains sexually explicit material will be required to include a warning label to protect web users inadvertently finding it, under proposals announced by US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday. A new piece of legislation, the Child Pornography and Obscenity Prevention Amendments …

Music and Media 24 Apr 2006, 08:56
Can BlackBerry stop RedBerry in China?

Market awaits RIM's move

If Orange launched a push email service called OrangeBerry in the UK, BlackBerry's maker could shut it down. But China Unicom is launching RedBerry this month, and there may be little Research In Motion (RIM) can do. "China Unicom's RedBerry brand not only incorporates people's familiarity with the BlackBerry brand name, but …

Reg Hardware 24 Apr 2006, 09:10
MS Word causes academic dust-up

Researchers RTFM, discover back-stabbers

Microsoft Word is causing problems in the catty world of peer reviewing, which ensures research is properly carried out, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. Academics are wising up to a relatively inconspicuous feature that allows authors to find out which of their rivals have rubbished their work, raising the …

Applications 24 Apr 2006, 09:13
Email authentication gaining steam

Sender ID and DomainKeys pushed at anti-spam summit

A host of software companies, security firms and internet service providers met in Chicago on Wednesday to urge corporations and bulk message senders to adopt email authentication technologies. The technologies, known as Sender ID and DomainKeys, aim to allow email recipients to positively identify the sender of an email …

Security 24 Apr 2006, 09:37
Text to speech is getting emotional

WAKE UP!!!

In the early days of text to speech (TTS), the requirement was just that the listener could understand. One of the best known examples is Professor Stephen Hawking, the author of A Brief History of Time, who has used a speech synthesiser for many years that sounds Dalek-like. The other well known example, although many fewer …

Applications 24 Apr 2006, 09:56
Voda eyes Tiscali, Bulldog

Is it really?

Vodafone is looking to snap up a UK ISP as the giant mobile phone company seeks to move into fixed line telecoms. The Sunday Telegraph reported that Vodafone has already popped Tiscali UK (which has a million broadband punters) on its shopping list, alongside Cable & Wireless-owned Bulldog. Vodafone's eagerness to expand its …

Telecoms 24 Apr 2006, 09:59
Earnings down at Insight Enterprise

Sales up

Insight Enterprise saw earnings slip year-on-year on in its first quarter figures released last week revealed.. Sales for the quarter ending March 31 were $806m, up 3.4 per cent, delivering net earnings of $14.2m, down 8 per cent on the year. The IT direct marketer’s UK operations saw sales rise 1.1 per cent, while operating …

Channel Register 24 Apr 2006, 10:36
Intel pins hopes on new business product

Averill to replicate Centrino's success?

Only a week after reporting a drop in quarterly earnings, Intel is today expected to launch a fresh bid to capture market share in the business computing segment. Based on reports in the New York Times, the microchip manufacturer's newly branded line of processors is designed for companies which manage and maintain a large …

Small Biz 24 Apr 2006, 11:26
Carmoan Warehouse hits out at ad critics

'Competitors moaning already' says Dunstone

The boss of Carphone Warehouse has hit out at "moaning competitors" who have complained about the firm's ads plugging its "free broadband forever" service. Last week El Reg reported how the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had received more than a dozen complaints about ads promoting the cut-price phone and broadband combo …

Telecoms 24 Apr 2006, 11:43
PC IQ collapses

Kettle of potential buyers circle

Computer service network PC IQ Ltd went into administration last week after running out of cash. A large number of potential buyers have been sniffing about, however. So many, in fact, that the administrator, James Tickell of Portland Business and Financial Solutions Limited, has not had a chance to count them all since the …

Channel Register 24 Apr 2006, 11:50
Sony directs pros to portal

Your choice

Sony is jacking up its efforts to attract business customers with the launch of a portal aimed at professionals. Sony Style Business Direct will carry everything from Vaio laptops to the vendor’s projectors. It will also push Sony’s credit, service and warranty deals and offer trade-in and try-before-you-buy offers. The …

Channel Register 24 Apr 2006, 12:13
Time up for atomic clocks

Every second counts

Scientists are plotting a new era of hyper-exact timekeeping, spelling the end of the atomic clock in its current form. Very accurate clocks are vital in telecommunications, GPS, and other modern technological applications. Traditional Caesium-based atomic clocks have been around since the mid-50s. They work by detecting …

Security 24 Apr 2006, 13:23
How many copies of XP without media player have you seen?

MS v EU: Day one 1,787 copies in the wild

The first day of "l'affaire Microsoft" started with comedy when the audience stood up with the entry of assorted wigged and gowned figures. An usher told us, with some disgust, to sit because it was "only the lawyers". The panel of fourteen judges* entered next, wig-free but wearing dark robes and strange white cravats that …

Operating Systems 24 Apr 2006, 13:29
Futile rally for HCI victims

Tax break's last stand

Supporters of the Home Computer Initiative tax break will tonight stage a last ditch attempt to save those computer suppliers that depended on the scheme. But The Register has learned that neither the Treasury, which scrapped the scheme, and the Department for Trade and Industry, which ran it, has any intention of resuscitating …

Channel Register 24 Apr 2006, 13:43
Blackstar: the US space conspiracy that never was?

Two-stage ultrasecret vehicle wows the crowds

Those among you who like their skies filled with black helicopters, or indeed secret space launch vehicles, might have already caught a quite remarkable March report in Aviation Week & Space Technology which claims that the US has successfully developed and tested a "two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military …

Space 24 Apr 2006, 13:58
Doncaster West NHS explains meaning of 'clacker'

NSFW Handy smut guide for foreign doctors

In case you were wondering what the phrase "Rotherham are at home" means up north, then look no further than a handy PDF guide to local slang published by Doncaster West NHS and purportedly aimed at "doctors who do not speak English as a first language". The document notes that while phrases such as "floo", "fluzie" and "number …

Bootnotes 24 Apr 2006, 14:28
AOL, MS join forces to combat child abuse

UK govt launches child protection centre

AOL and Microsoft have joined together to back a new centre dedicated to tackling child abuse online. They are just two of the companies behind the UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre unveiled today, which is drawing together law enforcement officers, specialists from children's charities, and industry …

Music and Media 24 Apr 2006, 14:36
Gay flamingos strike long-term relationship

Carlos and Fernando: model pink parents

Regular readers will know that we have an occassional thread running regarding homosexuality in animals - purely, of course, in the interests of informed scientific debate. We're obliged then, to our old mate Rose Humphrey for alerting us to a pair of gay flamingos who have successfully raised three generations of "adopted" …

Bootnotes 24 Apr 2006, 14:44
Sonos ZonePlayer ZP80 and digital music system

Review Multi-room wireless digital audio. Yum, yum.

Sonos wasn't the first company to tempt consumers with a wireless audio system designed to stream a computer-stored music archive to living room hi-fi equipment, but it was the first to figure out an easy way to get songs into all the other spaces in your home too... The company shipped its in-room unit, the ZonePlayer ZP100 …

Reg Hardware 24 Apr 2006, 15:02
Apple's MacBook gets bigger and bigger

Must be something Inside

Apple launched its 17 inch screen dual core MacBook Pro today, claiming the new machine bests the performance of its PowerBook G4 by a factor of five. The £1,999 laptop runs a 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo processor, and comes with a gig of 667MHz SDRAM, which can be ramped up to 2GB. Video is via an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 …

Reg Hardware 24 Apr 2006, 15:24
eBay buys Swedish auction outfit

Going, going...

eBay is spending around $48m on Swedish online auction outfit Tradera.com as part of a move to expand its business in Scandinavia. Tradera.com began life in 1999 as a marketplace for auctions on items such as watches and jewellery, computers, electronics, and leisure gear. eBay, on the other hand, has only been in Sweden for 12 …

Financial News 24 Apr 2006, 15:28
Docs find 12 nails in man's skull

Complained of headache

Doctors in a Portland hospital were rather surprised when they examined a man who turned up on their doorstep complaining of a headache, only to find he had twelve nails embedded in his skull courtesy of a failed suicide attempt with a nail gun, AP reports. The unnamed 33-year-old was "suicidal and high on methamphetamine" when …

Biology 24 Apr 2006, 15:34
Cybercops and zero day vulns

Infosec blog Don't believe the hype

The start of the Infosec conference tomorrow will witness one of the first public appearances of the new Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). Dubbed the UK's FBI by Britain's tabloids, SOCA will tackle drug trafficking, immigration crime, money laundering and identity fraud by developing intelligence on organised crime and …

Security 24 Apr 2006, 15:44
Toshiba maps quantum future

Disentangling crypto

Physicists at Toshiba's Cambridge research labs have mapped out their vision of the next three generations of IT security. Speaking at an event put together by the Cambridge-MIT partnership, Toshiba scientist Andrew Shields described how current quantum key distribution systems like MagiQ will be superseded. Though it …

Data Networking 24 Apr 2006, 16:19
AMD, NetLogic get together for deep sniffing

Layer 7th heaven

AMD and NetLogic have announced a partnership to target that old corporate bugbear, network security, by combining the two firm’s silicon. The firms will work together on products which Netlogic will pitch to vendors such as Cisco, Juniper and Foundry, according to Investors Business Daily. Their initial production will be a …

Data Networking 24 Apr 2006, 16:49
Commission solves Windows XPN mystery

MS v EU: Day one, round two...

The afternoon began with a robust defence of the commission's position. The commission barrister solved one mystery - who bought those copies of XPN - Windows without Media Player. The court was shown a high definition video trailer for Harry Potter played using Real Player running on Windows XPN - despite Microsoft's claim …

Financial News 24 Apr 2006, 17:28
Libel lawyers descend on Usenet

Comment My name is mud

Tony Blair is, he says, concerned about the failure of the legal system to deal with the real, everyday problems faced by citizens. Tony Blair should start posting on Usenet. Even his budget would struggle to fund all the libel cases that would result. Suppose (just for fun) that you discovered a trend - the rise of libel …

Music and Media 24 Apr 2006, 17:58
Apple argues that blogger can't protect source

It would, wouldn't it?

A US appeals court has been hearing arguments in a case that tests the right of a blogger to protect his sources. Apple Computer wants to know who leaked details of a product called 'Asteroid' and expects bloggers to reveal the names. ADetails of Asteroid, a music device, were leaked two years ago by PowerPage.org and other …

Music and Media 24 Apr 2006, 18:41
Scott McNealy steps down

CEO Schwartz

Scott McNealy is stepping down as Sun Microsystems' CEO after 22 years at the helm. McNealy will retain the role of chairman, and described his new role as one of "chief evangelist". Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's president and Chief Operating Officer, assumes the chief executive's responsibilities. Schwartz had been tipped for the …

Hardware 24 Apr 2006, 22:12