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26th April 2006 Archive

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  • Borland wants to be a Red Hat for developers

    Lead generation

    Borland's Java and Windows application development tools will once again lead the industry, setting the pace in both quality and innovation. So says Nigel Brown, who is leading Borland's integrated development environment (IDE) business to independence and out of the shadow of Borland's other application lifecycle management ( …

    Developer 26 Apr 2006, 02:06

  • Oracle extends 'lifetime' promise

    'No forced upgrades'

    When it comes to Oracle- bought software, 'lifetime support' used to mean just support for seven years, making "software support years" run even faster than dog years. But no-longer. Oracle has had a rethink over its inherited Siebel, PeopleSoft and JD Edwards code-bases, today announcing it will release new versions into the …

    Hardware 26 Apr 2006, 02:20

  • Database and support duo take on Oracle

    Getting heavy

    Database spin-out Ingres is getting a little enterprise support from netCustomer in its unfolding strategy of challenging Oracle in the database market. Customers using the Ingres open source database will receive enterprise application and database support from netCustomer, in a deal promising to "dramatically" lower the …

    Applications 26 Apr 2006, 07:14

  • Ingram solid in Q1 despite Euro softness

    Sets Q2 guidance

    Ingram Micro beat its own financial forecasts in the first quarter despite softening economies and currencies in Europe. Sales for the three months ending 1 April were $7.6bn, up 8 per cent on the year. Weak European currencies had a three percentage point negative effect on the year on year comparison, Ingram said. Net …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2006, 07:57

  • Europe's plan to hunt down pirates

    Four years in the brig for you, me hearty

    The EU is planning a crackdown on counterfeiting and pirating of goods, with penalties including a minimum four year prison term. Brussels is looking to leapfrog the divergent legislation of its member states, Reuters reports, and has drafted legislation calling for offenders to be hit with fines of at least €100,000 to €300, …

    Applications 26 Apr 2006, 08:23

  • Forensic felonies

    New law clamps down on PIs

    A new law in Georgia on private investigators now extends to computer forensics and computer incident response, meaning that forensics experts who testify in court without a PI license may be committing a felony. In the US television show "Medium," Patricia Arquette's character uses her "special psychic skills" to help solve …

    Music and Media 26 Apr 2006, 09:08

  • Rambus awarded $306.5m in Hynix patent case

    One case down...

    Rambus has won its month-long patent infringement trial against South Korean rival Hynix Semiconductor. A San Jose, California jury yesterday awarded compensation to the US chip interface designer in the sum of $306.5m. "We are very pleased with today's result – and very thankful for the considered attention of the jury and …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2006, 09:28

  • TalkTalk slapped for 'free' calls ad

    ASA calls foul

    BT has struck a blow against fierce rival Carphone Warehouse after the advertising watchdog ruled that an ad plugging its TalkTalk phone service was misleading. The former monopoly had complained about an ad which boasted "Free Unlimited landline calls for three months". The ad, plugging its phone package, went on to say that " …

    Telecoms 26 Apr 2006, 09:37

  • British employment law challenges offshoring

    Service providers up in arms over TUPE changes

    Recent changes to rules that protect British employees when a business changes hands have angered offshore service providers who fear becoming liable to British workers who lose their jobs. An employment law expert says the concern is justified, at least in part. Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) …

    IT Director 26 Apr 2006, 09:48

  • Eleven new UK GSM mobile carriers

    Hold on, who on earth is CyberPress?

    Ofcom has announced that it will award some "thin" mobile phone franchises in May; and the winners include - beside the usual suspects, a company called CyberPress. Is that Pipex? The bidders are named in the 1781 awards list published today. Micro-cells are the most likely applications, and potential applications for these …

    Mobile 26 Apr 2006, 10:10

  • Evesham has graphic plan for notebooks

    Voyager goes dual core

    Evesham Technology has spruced up its top end notebooks by giving them Nvidia’s latest graphics processor and a liberal sprinkling of Intel’s dual-core processor technology. The Quest A620 and the Voyager C720 now both have NVIDIA’s GEForce Go 7900GTX, which Evesham says will deliver “truly Cinematic“ graphics. The C720 will …

    Reg Hardware 26 Apr 2006, 10:17

  • Council takes initiative on identity

    Rolls out regional smart cards

    Sunderland City Council is rolling out its prototype regional federated identity initiative across the north-east of England. The council, which designed, developed, and deployed the Trusted Services Infrastructure (TSI) in association with the North East Connects Partnership (NECP) - which consists of 25 local government …

    Public Sector 26 Apr 2006, 10:22

  • Space Muslims face weightless search for Mecca

    ISS prayer poser

    Here's a poser for our Muslim readers: if you're aboard the International Space Station and it's time to pray - how do you pinpoint Mecca? That's the problem facing Malaysia's space agency as it prepares to send the country's first astronaut into orbit in 2007, Reuters reports. According to Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid of …

    Space 26 Apr 2006, 10:34

  • PGP unfazed by MS disk encryption

    Infosec 'C'mon then!'

    PGP says the whole disk encryption kit Microsoft will bundle with Vista is no threat to its position as the first port of call for forgetful laptop luggers. At its InfoSec press briefing, Microsoft was pushing its BitLocker software as peace of mind for firms wanting to sling old HDDs. In contrast, PGP marketing manager …

    Enterprise Security 26 Apr 2006, 11:10

  • Plusnet in cut-price broadband bundle

    Matches Carmoan, kinda

    Plusnet has unveiled the details of a new bundled phone and broadband product that attempts to match the cut-price offer recently announced by the Carphone Warehouse. From 4 July, all Plusnet customers will be able to bundle their existing broadband package with a voice line rental and calls offer for £11 per month. The ISP is …

    Telecoms 26 Apr 2006, 11:41

  • MDM may change your life…or not

    Comment Breakthrough technology or just another acronym?

    According to (the normally more readable) Wikipedia, Master Data Management (MDM) “focuses on the management of reference or master data that is shared by several disparate IT systems and groups. MDM is required to warrant consistent computing between diverse system architectures and business functions”. Great. An example may …

    Applications 26 Apr 2006, 12:08

  • Chinese clone BSE-resistant calf

    Unmad cow

    Chinese scientists have successfully cloned a cow "with gene cells resistant to mad cow disease", reports Xinhua news agency via Reuters. The 55kg calf, born in the eastern province of Shandong, was cloned from cells of an adult cow and carries transplanted genetic material conferring the resistance to bovine spongiform …

    Biology 26 Apr 2006, 12:18

  • Hoberman packs his bags

    Moves away from Lastminute.com

    Brent Hoberman - chief exec of Lastminute.com - is giving up the day to day running of the business he helped create eight years ago with dotcom pin-up Martha Lane Fox. Hoberman will become the part-time chairman of the firm - which was snapped up by travel group Travelocity last year for £577m - advising on the strategy and …

    Financial News 26 Apr 2006, 12:29

  • Aussies to get pseudo-ID Card

    Monkey see, monkey do

    It looks like an ID Card. It smells like an ID Card. Heck, it even spooks you like an ID Card. But, as Australia's carbon copy Commonwealth Prime Minister says, "it ain't no ID card". The "homeland security" strategy in Australia appears to be slowly, slowly catchee monkey. Or rather, dupee monkey with platitudes, then nab 'im …

    Music and Media 26 Apr 2006, 12:40

  • We'll buy smut if you send us the spam

    Infosec Users get dirty

    Spammers get more response from smutty emails than any other form of junk email. While penis pill offers and pharmacy drugs continue to bring in a small percentage of punters, as many as one in 20 recipients visit porno websites after receiving lewd come-ons by email. Response rates for pharmacy drugs (0.02 per cent) and " …

    Spam 26 Apr 2006, 12:52

  • Microsoft talks up interoperability

    MS v EC Day three: MS describes world where everything works

    Microsoft took the stand today to try and overturn the European Competition Commission’s decision to force it to improve server interoperability. The commission case looked at three aspects - file, print, and user directory functions. Microsoft QC Mr Forrester told the court there were clear parallels between the previous two …

    Operating Systems 26 Apr 2006, 13:15

  • Getting off the UK DNA database: ACPO explains how

    Or not...

    The UK is something of a DNA record kleptocracy, with a national DNA database now well in excess of three million records, and with new sampling opportunities available to the police on remarkably easy terms. These days it's ever so easy to get onto the UK database, but how do you get off? What's that you say? You don't? Well, …

    Music and Media 26 Apr 2006, 13:42

  • Phishing goes international

    Infosec The lingua franca of fraud

    The number of phishing attacks targeting non-English speaking financial institutions is on the rise. Attacks targeting countries outside the English-speaking world now represents almost 40 per cent of worldwide phishing targets, according to data processed by RSA Security's Anti-Fraud Command Centre. RSA said it has shut down …

    Spam 26 Apr 2006, 13:46

  • Airbus proposes cost-saving 'standing class', says NYT

    How do you get 853 people into an A380?

    Aircraft manufacturer Airbus has come up with a cunning plan to cram 853 unfortunate passengers into its new A380 - make them all stand up strapped to a padded backboard, the New York Times reports. The new "live veal calf export class" has been proposed to Asian carriers, but none has taken up the sensational idea, the paper …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2006, 13:51

  • Vonage hooks up with The Cloud

    VoIP does Wi-Fi

    Vonage has inked a deal with Wi-Fi outfit The Cloud to enable its VoIP users to use their service on the move. Vonage customers who have a Wi-Fi handset (the pocket-sized Wi-Fi UTStarcom F1000 phone currently featured on Vonage's website costs £90) will be able to make VoIP calls whenever they drift into any of The Cloud's 7, …

    VoIP 26 Apr 2006, 14:05

  • US clamps down on violent supermodels

    Air rage Dane expelled

    Danish supermodel May Andersen was unceremoniously expelled from the US yesterday after allegedly "slapping and wrestling" a flight attendant on a plane from the Netherlands to Miami last week. The unlucky Andersen also fell foul of US immigration authorities, AP reports, with officials deciding she was "inadmissable" under the …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2006, 14:09

  • Suffolk becomes 'face of government IT'

    Job description: Watmore's instrument on earth

    John Suffolk, currently the head of Criminal Justice IT, is to take over as the government's chief information officer. His appointment was announced by Cabinet Office minister Jim Murphy. Suffolk will lead the work of the CIO Council in implementing the Transformational Government strategy and head up the e-Government Unit. A …

    Public Sector 26 Apr 2006, 14:54

  • Where have all the dolly birds gone?

    Infosec blog Show stopper

    Infosec's second day witnessed the departure of most of the promotion girls that made the show more colourful than it otherwise might have been. This is a shame because many people only come to the show for one day and spend that lugging their luggage around from stand to stall. That's not to say Olympia is without its …

    Security 26 Apr 2006, 15:08

  • NY subway w*nker gets two years' probation

    NSFW Flashing perv gets off lightly

    Dan Hoyt, the New York subway perv who exposed himself masturbating to a 22-year-old web developer, has avoided a jail sentence, the New York Post reports. Hoyt had previously pleaded guilty to a public lewdness rap after victim Thao Nguyen snapped his self-love on her mobile and posted the pic on the web. He was quickly …

    Bootnotes 26 Apr 2006, 15:15

  • BT hits back at Carphone dig

    It's getting ugly

    BT has hit back at jibes by Carphone Warehouse boss Charles Dunstone that the UK's dominant telco should "spend a little more time looking at their own expensive call charges and a little less time reading our ads". Dunstone's comments followed a ruling today by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which ticked off …

    Telecoms 26 Apr 2006, 15:16

  • Esteem buys Scots ACCESS

    Sun in the North

    Esteem Systems has jacked up its Scottish business by taking over Livingstone-based Sun house ACCESS Computing Ltd. Yorks-based Esteem said the deal meant it could enhance Access’ existing offering in Scotland. The target company’s turnover should be around £7.5m this year. ACCESS founder and MD John Livingstone will retire …

    Channel Register 26 Apr 2006, 15:36

  • Arms hawks land on EU security board

    Subsidies unleashed for civil surveillance

    Arms manufacturers have been put in charge of forming civil European policies as agents of an unaccountable coterie of big business interests, civil liberties campaigners Statewatch claimed in a report yesterday. They have used their power to recommended giving themselves €1bn of subsidies, in addition to existing arms …

    Music and Media 26 Apr 2006, 16:29

  • Commission rejects MS server claims and demo

    MS v EC Day three: Commission puts the boot in

    The Court of First Instance reconvened this afternoon to hear the commission’s defence of its anti-trust decision imposed on Microsoft in 2004. The commission’s barrister Mr Whelan, in a blistering performance, told the court the two sides agreed on one thing - that the hearings of the last two days on Media Player had …

    Servers 26 Apr 2006, 17:54