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26th May 2006 Archive

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  • Freeview will push UK DVRs as Playback devices

    Consortium to set industry standard, secure market share

    The UK has had its TV services changed forever by the early introduction of a 30 channel digital terrestrial service called Freeview, which has driven over eight million customers in two and a half years, and now that service will come out with a Digital Video Recorder specification using the Freeview Playback brand. The …

    Entertainment 26 May 2006, 06:02

  • Italy to get mobile TV in time for World Cup

    But is it two systems or one?

    This week, Silvio Berlusconi's Italian broadcasting empire Mediaset and Europa TV finalised their agreement, set at the end of last year, to sell broadcasting infrastructure and spectrum for the Mediaset imminent launch of a DVB-H network. The two companies received regulatory and merger authorisations allowing Elettronica …

    Mobile 26 May 2006, 06:02

  • BEA to go organic on SOA tools

    Déjà vu?

    After a string of middleware and tools acquisitions, BEA Systems expects to build its own SOA composition environment for the fledgling AquaLogic product line. Mark Carges, executive vice president for BEA's business interaction division, said BEA should be expected to "build something organically" to fill the current hole in …

    Developer 26 May 2006, 08:41

  • The myths and legends of the holy land of the database

    The first myth explored and exploded

    The database world has more myths and legends than the court of King Arthur. The current myths tend to be less about dragons and dungeons and more about features and performance, such as: Oracle can't do MOLAP. Oracle is as easy to tune as a cathedral organ. DB2 only runs on mainframes. SQL Server doesn't scale. Oracle …

    Developer 26 May 2006, 09:02

  • Microsoft Identity workshop

    A rough and tumble affair

    I've just been at a Microsoft Identity Workshop - Exploring Digital Identity. It was a good rough and tumble session, with a lot of the (pretty well-informed) attendees asking some searching questions. As a result, I remain unconvinced by Microsoft's Digital Rights Management - for business documents, at least (I'm also not …

    Developer 26 May 2006, 09:11

  • Red Hat leans on JBoss for middleware

    Call in the management

    Red Hat is to junk its application server in favour of a competing offering from its latest acquisition, JBoss. According to Red Hat, it was important to own an application server because it "gives you the footprint to radiate out from". And JBoss gives Red Hat an application server with immediate brand recognition among users …

    Developer 26 May 2006, 09:20

  • Berners-Lee applies Web 2.0 to improve accessibility

    Pushes vision of the Semantic Web

    Accessibility seminars often begin with a quote by Tim Berners-Lee: "The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." It's an old quote, but the web's inventor offered fresh ideas yesterday. Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee presents his vision of the web's future …

    Applications 26 May 2006, 09:34

  • Intel to push Core 2 CPUs across the board

    Mainstream price-points targeted from day one

    Intel's upcoming 'Conroe'-based Extreme Edition Core 2 Duo processor will ship with the model number X6800, it has emerged, courtesy of the latest roadmap leak from the chip giant. And it will be pushing the Core 2 series at the same price as current Pentium processors. According to slides posted on Chinese-language site …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 09:46

  • z9 BC: A mainframe for the mid tier

    Specs released

    IBM recently announced details of the IBM System z9 BC. The new platform is designed with all of the key characteristics with which the mainframe is deservedly associated: namely reliability, security, availability, and flexible virtualisation. In addition, it provides a new entry point and greatly increased upwards growth …

    Servers 26 May 2006, 09:55

  • SOCA saves UK high-tech crime unit - offline

    Not gone, merely in storage...

    Concerns that the work of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) could be lost in the transfer process to SOCA, the newly formed Serious Organised Crime Agency, are clearly misplaced, if an answer to a Parliamentary question earlier this week is to be believed. Granted, mentions of the NHTCU on SOCA's new site might tally up …

    Security 26 May 2006, 10:03

  • So there is 'community'

    Capitalists go touchy-feely

    One of the strong undercurrents to be heard at the recent JavaOne conference in San Francisco is to be broadly welcomed. It hinged around the use of the word `community’. The Java community (around which Sun has even built a Process to exploit and formalise it) is just one example as software vendors at last realise that …

    Developer 26 May 2006, 10:23

  • For you, Tommy, ze warez is over

    Letters German filesharers' collars felt

    Filesharers beware: the German authorities this week kicked in a few doors as part of the ongoing war against the illegal dissemination of music. For you, Tommy, ze warez is over: The German state prosecutor this week claimed it has searched 130 homes all over Germany and identified 3,500 suspects who have been offering up to …

    Letters 26 May 2006, 10:43

  • Dell launches XPS 700 gaming rig in UK

    New-look casing

    Dell has begun offering its new gaming-oriented PC design to European buyers, branding the machine the XPS 700 and equipping it with a top-end Pentium Extreme Edition processor and a pair of Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS SLI graphics cards. The £1,375 baseline system's a more basic 3GHz Pentium D 930; 1GB of 533MHz DDR 2; a 7, …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 10:49

  • BOFH: Blast from the past

    Episode 18 Old flame ignites trouble

    "That's...odd..." the PFY says early one morning, looking at his screen distractedly. "What's odd?" I ask, coming to the point quickly so that I can get back to recounting the story about myself, some raspberry vodka and a handful of female reps from an anti-virus show booth... "The Financials Database - it's just sent me an …

    BOFH 26 May 2006, 11:02

  • Danger Hiptop 3 pic pops up on web

    T-Mobile Sidekick III ready for primetime?

    No one knows the spec - well, anyone who does isn't saying - but pictures of Danger's eagerly anticipated Hiptop 3, more likely to ship as the T-Mobile Sidekick III, are slowly starting to appear. The latest matches the much smaller shot posted earlier this month, which in turn looked like a blurry phone camera-grabbed image …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 11:08

  • How long does it take the body to...

    Part two The speed of nature

    Also in this week's column: How long does it take the body to...(Part one) Do our ears grow longer with age? Do we still remove the appendix as often as we used to? Part Two: How long does it take the body to... It takes time for everything, including what happens in the human body. On average, nerve regeneration takes …

    Biology 26 May 2006, 11:26

  • Do our ears grow longer with age?

    Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro...

    Also in this week's column: Part One: How long does it take the body to... Part Two: How long does it take the body to... Do we still remove the appendix as often as we used to? Do our ears grow longer with age? Asked by Judith Berry of Staffordshire, United Kingdom As we see others age or as we see ourselves age, we …

    Biology 26 May 2006, 11:28

  • Do we still remove the appendix as often as we used to?

    Are surgeons reluctant to reach for the scalpel?

    Also in this week's column: Part One: How long does it take the body to... Part Two: How long does it take the body to... Do our ears grow longer with age? Do we still remove the appendix as often as we used to? Asked by Peter Fletcher of Sydney, Australia Dr Dean Edell, the famous physician on US radio and television, …

    Biology 26 May 2006, 11:30

  • How long does it take the body to...

    Part one Ready, steady, grow

    Also in this week's column: How long does it take the body to...(Part two) Do our ears grow longer with age? Do we still remove the appendix as often as we used to? Part One: How long does it take the body to... It takes time for everything, including what happens in the human body. Fingerprints form six to eight weeks …

    Biology 26 May 2006, 11:33

  • HD DVD to incorporate region-coding restrictions

    China to get own disc format too

    HD DVD is to get region coding after all, if the DVD Forum, the industry organisation that maintains the DVD format, has its way. This week, the Forum decided to put in place a team to create a region-coding scheme for the next-generation optical disc technology. At a meeting held in Seattle earlier this week, the DVD Forum's …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 11:47

  • Dell Googles itself

    Tells Microsoft 'It's been great, but...'

    Dell broke the heart of another long time amour this week, ditching Microsoft in favour of Google as the pre-installed search engine on its machines. According to a rash of US reports, Eric Schmidt told an investor conference yesterday that Dell PCs are to be Googled, with the search giant's desktop, toolbar, search engine, and …

    Small Biz 26 May 2006, 11:54

  • Cambodia bans 3G phones

    Mobile porn clampdown

    Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has responded to a complaint from his wife that she'd received pornography on her 3G mobile in a manner befitting his Khmer Rouge past - by banning the technology altogether. According to Reuters, Hun Sen announced the clampdown today to an assembly of Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh, with: "I …

    Mobile 26 May 2006, 12:00

  • 3M Laptop Privacy anti-peek filter

    Review A blow to glancing?

    Mac owners peeved that Apple has only just introduced glossy notebook displays - products the rest of the laptop industry have long since adopted - have a saviour, of sorts, in the Post-it company 3M. So too do notebook users fed up of folk peering over their shoulders to sneak a peek at their screens. 3M has solved both …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 12:03

  • Mobiles now the target for developers

    For 'nomadic' think cellular, not tents and camels

    When it comes to targeting the highest of high volume applications markets, developers have now only one place to look, according to Rob Shaddock, corporate vice president and chief technology officer of Motorola. That place is the mobile phone and its growing range of expanded derivatives. Just one throw-away line during his …

    Mobile 26 May 2006, 12:04

  • Network equipment - get surveyed, win 60Gb iPod Video!

    Reader survey Prize draw excitement beyond human endurance!

    We're running a special survey this week for all those of you who like to get down and dirty with network equipment and would also like the chance to win a 60Gb iPod Video: the "Network Equipment 60Gb iPod Video Prize Draw Survey", as we've rather brilliantly decided to call it. Regular surveyees will know the score: complete …

    Site News 26 May 2006, 12:11

  • Invisibility cloak moves a step closer

    Light steer

    After generations of being effectively invisible to the opposite sex, physicists have finally laid down blueprints for a functioning invisibility cloak. Light or other electromagnetic radiation could be bent around objects covered in exotic materials, making it appear as though they aren't there, a team reports in Science …

    Physics 26 May 2006, 12:21

  • LG touts 4x Blu-ray Disc recorder

    Only handles single-layer media, though

    LG has announced what may be the world's first Blu-ray Disc recorder to run at 4x speeds. The catch: it doesn't support dual-layer, 50GB media, only single-layer, 25GB discs. LG has shown the GBW-H10N drive off a number of times during 2006, first at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, back in January. This week, …

    Reg Hardware 26 May 2006, 12:26

  • Ofcom chief exec to quit

    Comment Sits Vacant

    Stephen Carter is to stand down as chief exec of Ofcom after more than three years in the job. The former NTL boss will continue to be in charge of Ofcom until 15 October, but will cease to be involved in economic, competition, and policy decisions from the beginning of August. He will also be unable to scout around for a new …

    Networks 26 May 2006, 12:48

  • Viewers 'confused' by HDTV

    Do what?

    TV viewers are confused about high definition TV (HDTV) with one in five not realising they need to buy an HD ready TV set to receive the crystal clear pictures. Half of those quizzed didn't realise they would also need a new HD set top box, while two thirds failed to twig they would also have to shell out for a monthly …

    Telecoms 26 May 2006, 13:09

  • eBayer driven to edge by email quippery

    Web wags target defenceless car vendor

    It's a simple enough prospect: you've got a second-hand silver Ford Galaxy Ghia automatic you want to offload, so where better to get rid of it than on eBay? Here's the plan - set up auction, post nice pictures, include full details and wait for the bids to roll in. Or rather, wait for the emails to roll in. Hundreds of 'em, …

    Music and Media 26 May 2006, 13:47

  • World Cup and 24 in red button face-off

    Geek TV Pimp my TV programme

    What's bigger than Tom Cruise's ego and scarier than Gillian McKeith on X Factor: Battle of the Stars? Your Summer 2006 TV To-Do list. There's Doctor Who to watch, Lost to watch, Big Brother to watch and pretend you don't, McKeith to peer at over your bleeding knuckles, 24 to watch, and some unavoidable men playing football. In …

    Entertainment 26 May 2006, 15:01

  • Symantec coughs to security hole in its AV software

    eEye, eEye, D'oh

    Symantec disclosed this week that researchers have discovered a software vulnerability that could allow hackers to take remote control of a PC and that it is working to verify the hole and provide a patch. And the software in question? Symantec's AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.x. Oops. The security giant said it had been …

    Malware 26 May 2006, 15:03

  • Web 2.0 opens can of worms for Cork

    David and Goliath-style legal battle

    American technical publishers O'Reilly Media has formally requested Irish non-profit group IT@Cork not to call an upcoming discussion "Web 2.0". A letter dated 24 May from a lawyer acting for the O'Reilly partner company CMP, claims to have a pending application for the term "Web 2.0" as a service mark for arranging IT …

    Music and Media 26 May 2006, 15:37

  • Bichard reports widespread errors in Police data

    Still flakey after all these years

    Almost half of all police forces that have have been audited by the police database team of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary have been pulled up for duff data management, said the third report of the Bichard enquiry yesterday. Sir Michael Bichard's enquiry into the intelligence failures leading up to the murders of Soham school …

    Public Sector 26 May 2006, 15:49