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1st June 2006 Archive

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  • IBM's Silicon Valley research mecca turns 20

    Almaden nears drinking age

    IBM's famed Almaden Research Center today celebrated twenty years of blood, sweat, research and development. The Almaden facility sits atop a hill in San Jose, providing hundreds of IBM researchers with one of the more idyllic corporate R&D venues. Over the years, the lab has churned out some of IBM's key storage, software and …

    Science 1 Jun 2006, 00:46

  • Compensating for SOA errors

    I did it iWay

    John Schlesinger is director of integration Solutions for iWay Software (part of Information Builders Inc) and has a long history in our business. He’s been working on developing middleware since 1985, both at IBM (he worked on the CICS development team) and at iWay Software, where he’s now responsible for the iWay Business …

    Developer 1 Jun 2006, 08:42

  • Changing BT makes 'good start'

    So far so good

    BT has made "a good start" meeting new regulatory obligations to provide the UK telecoms industry with equal access to its network. So says the Equality of Access Board (EAB), an independent body set up last year to monitor and scrutinise BT's organisation and to ensure that the incumbent telco meets 230 legally binding …

    Telecoms 1 Jun 2006, 08:43

  • Apple nears XServe, Mac Pro Intel switch

    Woodcrest, Conroe inside

    Apple will use Intel's upcoming 'Woodcrest' server processor - due to ship as the Xeon 5100 series - in the x86-based version of its XServe rackmount server, an online report has claimed. The upshot: the Power Mac G5 will become the last Mac to get the Intel treatment, shipping with a Core 2 Duo chip inside a month after the new …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 08:59

  • Nominet warns on Whois data mining

    US firm caught harvesting personal information

    Nominet has issued a warning about commercial companies that are swiping copyrighted information on domain name owners from its Whois database. Several weeks ago, the UK internet registry owner noticed a sharp increase in the number of people accessing its Whois service, an online searchable database that provides ownership …

    Enterprise Security 1 Jun 2006, 09:09

  • Tesco IT boss makes £2.2m

    Has he got a Clubcard?

    Tesco's IT director 44 year old Philip Clarke is paid £2.2m for his work at the supermarket. Clarke has been on the board of directors since 1998. Clarke is responsible for Tesco international expansion, mainly in eastern Europe and south-east Asia, as well as its computer systems. The supermarket has more than 800 stores …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 09:11

  • Bird rescuers find alien in duck

    Then sell it on eBay, naturally

    Forget Area 51: welcome to Area H5N1 - otherwise known as the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in Fairfield, California - and location of the first confirmed sighting of an alien secreted within the body of a duck: Here's the background: On Sunday, May 21st, an adult male mallard was brought to the …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 09:20

  • Spam deluge eclipses email virus threat

    Penis pill pandemonium

    May witnessed an all-time low for virus-laden emails and a record high for spam, according to stats from email filtering firm BlackSpider Technologies. Emails containing malware made up just 0.73 percent of all emails scanned by BlackSpider last month while junk emails represented 87.74 per cent. By comparison, the number of …

    Malware 1 Jun 2006, 09:25

  • Analyst touts AMD-ATI tie-up

    Run up flagpole, see who salutes...

    AMD wants to buy ATI, a financial analyst has suggested, though he provides no direct evidence that such a move will take place or when it may happen. According to RBC Capital Markets analyst Apjit Walia, writing in a note for investment clients, it's all about the synergies between the two firms: ATI is priced right and AMD …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 09:27

  • BBC survey damns NHS IT system

    Connecting for Health moves to limit damage

    Connecting for Health (CfH) has defended the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) against the negative results of a new survey. The Medix survey, carried out for BBC programme File on 4, concludes that a "significant minority" of doctors were questioning whether the current route is the most effective. It shows that over a …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 09:40

  • Intel to lay off 16,000 workers?

    Heard on the grapevine...

    Is Intel about to rid itself of 16,000 workers - just over 16 per cent of its global workforce - later this month? So suggest whispers doing the rounds among Silicon Valley's technology community at the moment. That's what blogger Omid Rahmat claims at least. It's certainly no secret that Intel is examining every part of its …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 09:48

  • UK bloggers also likely to be Apple-proof

    'Strong protection' for online hacks

    California's Court of Appeal ruled last week that staff at web magazines qualified for journalistic protection. While there has never been a test case in the UK, a Solicitor Advocate says bloggers are likely to enjoy similarly strong protections here. Apple Computer took a number of news website operators to court in the US …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 10:13

  • Telia boss charged with not attending Abba musical

    Do you plead not guilty? I do, I do, etc

    The chief exec of pan-Scandy telco TeliaSonera has been charged with bribery, along with the company's Swedish boss, over a planned, but aborted, trip to Abba musical Mamma Mia. The trip nearly took place in early 2005 but Swedish prosecutors only decided yesterday to charge the two. Anders Ingel, CEO of TeliaSonera, and Marie …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 10:25

  • Asus readies Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme mobo

    Pitched at digital lifestyle PCs

    Intel has yet to ship either its Core 2 Duo or its Core 2 Extreme processors, but that hasn't stopped Asus from announcing a motherboard that will support both of the upcoming CPUs. The P5W DH Deluxe motherboard is based on Intel's 975X North Bridge and ICH-7R South Bridge. Asus' board will host an 800MHz or 1066MHz frontside …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 10:26

  • First StarOffice malware sighted

    Mostly harmless

    Virus writers have created the first virus to affect StarOffice. Stardust uses macros to attack Sun's alternative office suite. The malware was written as a proof-of-concept code to show what might be possible rather than as a serious attempt to create a new attack vector. Macro viruses usually infect Microsoft Office …

    Malware 1 Jun 2006, 10:28

  • The time has come to ditch email

    Comment Fair enough, but what's the alternative?

    Back in 1972, by some accounts, a new form of communication known as email was born. It was a practical implementation of electronic messaging that was first seen on local timeshare computers in the 1960s. I can only imagine how much fun and revolutionary it must have been to use email in those early years, to have been at the …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 10:54

  • 3G BlackBerry 8707 debuts

    Acts as a modem for laptops, too

    Research in Motion's 3G-enabled BlackBerry finally made its debut this week, initially in Germany on the Vodafone network. As expected, the BlackBerry 8707 is based on the 8700 RIM launched in November 2005. The older model supports EDGE-equipped GSM/GPRS networks. The new model will also work across 2100MHz UMTS …

    Mobile 1 Jun 2006, 10:55

  • DoJ pushes data retention on ISPs

    Plan-B if CALEA falls short

    Anticipating a court defeat for the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) bid which would extend the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to make Internet service providers wiretap friendly, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller have launched a PR campaign pitching Internet …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 11:06

  • Samsung readies TV, 3G phones for Europe

    High-end handsets ahoy

    Samsung will this month ship Europe's first digital TV phone capable of receiving programmes broadcast on a terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) network, the company said yesterday. It also pledged to ship its latest 3G phone in Europe soon. The DMB handset, the SGH-P900, will initially be sold in Germany where …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 11:21

  • LiveJournal tells lactating mums to put 'em away

    Userpic nip kerfuffle

    LiveJournal has allegedly put a stop to breastfeeding mothers proudly displaying milk-packed jubs in their default userpics after the voluntary Abuse Team deemed such images "inappropriate". According to pro-breastfeeding outfit ProMoM, the guidelines for said pics now prohibit "nudity or graphic violence", having previously …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 11:30

  • Motorola parades D&G-styled gold RAZR

    Absolutely fabulous...

    Motorola today began shipping a gold-coloured version of its RAZR V3i clamshell handset. The gaudy article is co-branded by Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. The sound you can hear in the background is a million chavs clamouring for the gilt-like device. Apart from the D&G logo and the tasteless colourscheme, the phone's …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 11:47

  • Be Unlimited 24Meg broadband review

    Tech Digest Is it really that quick?

    Veteran TechDigest readers may recall this news item about Be’s Unlimited 24mbps broadband – then as now the fastest available in the UK -  back in August of last year. Like a good little guinea pig I signed up in early Spetember as a regular subscriber – no special favours here (yet!) – and waited for activation. And waited …

    Telecoms 1 Jun 2006, 11:58

  • Police offered robot eye

    Intelligence gets 'intelligent'

    A firm that produces surveillance software used by numerous British police forces is looking for one of them to test its latest wheez, a programme that automatically scans CCTV footage for suspicious behaviour and matches it with other intelligence such as mugshots. The new software, by Nice Systems, can alert police when it …

    Public Sector 1 Jun 2006, 12:30

  • Microsoft-led coalition bands against Apple iPod

    Can't have someone else dominating the market, can we?

    It's almost like MSX all over again. Microsoft, Toshiba, JVC, NTT DoCoMo, Creative, iRiver and three other firms have banded together in a bid to prevent Apple's iPod from completely dominating the Japanese portable music player market. The nine companies yesterday said they would co-operate to promote Windows Media-based …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 12:35

  • Swiss firm touts medical USB key

    Your health history on a stick

    Here at last is a good reason to keep a USB Flash drive around your neck at all times: it's got your medical history stored on it. That's the idea Swiss company Medistick is touting. It launched its first product today. So if you're involved in an accident and incapacitated or unconcious, doctors and surgeons will be able to …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 13:28

  • Griffin TuneBuds iPod lanyard-earphone combo

    Review Dangle your Nano

    Apple's lightweight iPod Nano would be ideal for dangling around your neck had Apple bothered to bundle a lanyard with the player as it did with the screen-less iPod Shuffle. It will sell you one, of course, neatly fitted to a pair of standard white iPod earphones, but that's not much use if you want something in black, or you …

    Reg Hardware 1 Jun 2006, 13:32

  • Cingular to offer 'world's smallest' flip phone

    Pantech's compact clamshell

    Pantech has announced what it claims is the world's smallest clamshell GSM phone is now on sale in the US, courtesy of North American carrier Cingular. The C300 was unveiled back in April. It measures just 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.9cm when closed and weighs just 70.9g, Pantech said. Open it up and you'll see the 1.52in, 262,144-colour …

    Mobile 1 Jun 2006, 13:56

  • O2 brings BlackBerry 7130 to Blighty

    RIM's latest debuts in UK

    Mobile operator O2 today marked the first appearance of Research in Motion's smart-phone styled BlackBerry 7130 series - the follow on to the 7100 series - in the UK. The 7130g is based on a 312MHz Intel processor backed by 64MB of Flash and 16MB of SRAM. It has the 'two letter, one key' SureType QWERTY keypad launched with …

    Mobile 1 Jun 2006, 14:58

  • EC backs UK tax man on VAT fraud

    HMRC to spin carousels into reverse

    The European Commission has strengthened HMRC’s hand against VAT fraudsters by backing a “reverse charge mechanism” for VAT payments. The backing for the reverse charge approach was announced as part of a “coherent European strategy” announced by Brussels yesterday. A reverse charge system would mean VAT is accounted for only …

    Channel Register 1 Jun 2006, 14:59

  • Swedish court says PCs used for gambling need permit

    But you can still play Minesweeper

    An internet café in Örebro in Sweden has been closed after the local council argued that its twelve PCs were occasionally used for gambling and it therefore needed a gaming permit. When protesting didn't help and both the country administrative board and the administrative court ruled in favor of the cafe, the case was taken to …

    Music and Media 1 Jun 2006, 15:12

  • BBC to broadcast World Cup online

    'Has this pub got Wi-Fi?'

    The BBC will broadcast all its World Cup games live on broadband, it has announced. The adventures of Wayne “Roo” Rooney, David “Becks” Beckham, Frank “Lamps” Lampard, and Michael “Michael” Owen, and other nations' top footballists will be available for UK users' desktop delectation when the tournament starts next week. The …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 15:48

  • AMD pegs mid-2007 for complete chip overhaul

    Quad-core and how

    AMD today dangled a couple of key dates in front of customers, hoping to keep them sweet in the coming years instead of defecting back to Intel. The chip maker has long promised to ship a four-core server processor in 2007. At its analyst conference here, AMD solidified that date by saying that the four-core product will arrive …

    Servers 1 Jun 2006, 17:48

  • HP grabs 90 per cent of 'industry standard' Itanic market

    By 'standard' Intel means 'dismal niche'

    Any claims by Intel that the Itanium processor is an "industry standard" will look more than foolish now that HP has captured an astonishing 90 per cent of the Itanium server market. A fresh set of first quarter sales figures from Gartner show that HP now owns 90 per cent of Itanic server shipments and 82 per cent of Itanic …

    Servers 1 Jun 2006, 19:45

  • Ernst & Young laptop loss exposes 243,000 Hotels.com customers

    Exclusive Sun, IBM, BP, Cisco and Nokia commiserate

    Ernst & Young's laptop loss unit continues to be one of the company's more productive divisions. We learn this week that the accounting firm lost a system containing data on 243,000 Hotels.com customers. Hotels.com joins the likes of Sun Microsystems, IBM, Cisco, BP and Nokia, which have all had their employees' data exposed by …

    IT Director 1 Jun 2006, 23:14