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6th July 2006 Archive

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  • SGI to emerge from bankruptcy cocoon in September

    Servers made with less debt

    SGI hopes to emerge as a leaner, meaner organisation by the end of the third quarter. The hardware maker this week filed an amended reorganisation plan that calls for it to finish off bankruptcy proceedings by September. If all goes as expected, SGI will trim its total debt down to $70m from $345m. Some of the debt will be …

    Servers 6 Jul 2006, 00:35

  • ICO issues first website enforcement order

    Search site breaches data protection laws

    The operator of a website designed to allow searches for people's contact details has been issued with an enforcement order by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). It is the first time the ICO has issued an order over a website. The ICO says that B4U, a Birmingham company which performs searches for information on …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 08:42

  • Yahoo! China unaware of lawsuit

    Plans music download service

    Yahoo! China has not been formally told that it will be sued by the international recording industry. The company told OUT-LAW that it only learned of the case through the press. The firm also said that it wants to work with labels to create a legal music download service on its site, and that it has not broken any laws. The …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 08:46

  • Irish IT spending to rise in 2006

    Big biz leads the charge

    IT expenditure in Ireland is set to increase across the board in 2006, a new survey from IDC has shown. According to the study, organisations across a range of industries are set to follow the public sector's example by increasing their IT spending. The public sector was one of the main drivers of the Irish IT market in 2005, …

    IT Director 6 Jul 2006, 08:53

  • Poland triumphs in Google contest

    Gratuluje Tomasz!

    The finals of the first ever European* Code Jam, based on Google US's annual programming contest, saw Pole Tomasz Czajka finish in a triumphant first place, in a final that was dominated by competitors from Eastern Europe. Although Czajka had to see off 49 competitors from 15 countries to secure the €2,500 prize money, eight …

    Software 6 Jul 2006, 09:08

  • Stem cells from dry cells

    Comment Ethics is a place east of London

    Why does my suspicious mind instantly think that there's an extra letter "i" in disgraced Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk's admission that he faked data on developing patient-specific embryonic stem cells? Was his mind more on patents, than patients, perhaps? Intellectual property law, worldwide, makes IP lawyers very rich. …

    Biology 6 Jul 2006, 09:31

  • Nat Semi tells ejected employees to return freebie iPods

    Music player for business, not pleasure

    Chip maker Nat Semi has asked 35 employees it has made redundant to return the 30GB iPod each was given last month. Many of the workers thought the music players were a gift, but no, according to their former employer, the devices were not presents but communications tools. "The iPod is another communications platform that, …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 09:31

  • England declares Cristiano Ronaldo national emergency

    True patriots rally round Ecuadorian flag

    Hot on the heels of our piece yesterday on the eBay transfer of footballing Portugeezer Cristiano Ronaldo, we can now report that what started as a mere national disaster quickly transformed itself into a genuine national emergency: Lester, Following on from the Ronaldo story, here is another link. The cheating scumbag is …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 09:42

  • AMD's Socket AM2 to support Socket AM3 CPUs

    But not vice versa, it seems

    AMD's Socket AM3 processor interconnect will be forwards compatible with Socket AM2, allowing today's AM2-based boards to host AM3-equipped CPUs, the chip maker has revealed. That said, AM3 mobos will not, apparently, accept AM2 processors. So claims a DailyTech report, citing recent communications between AMD and its OEM …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 09:55

  • Yes! It's the USB missile launcher!

    Kim Jong-il's favourite computer toy?

    What with North Korea's recent rocketry shenanigans, Reg Hardware readers' revelation of what could be the silliest USB add-on yet couldn't have come at a less tasteful time. But what the heck, here it is, the USB-powered missile launcher. Stop press! Multiple launches detected on many fronts... Read all about it! The …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 10:17

  • Wanna know how to win the mobile TV war?

    Comment Open standards and competition, Nokia says

    The Nokia representatives at the World Cup media gathering called this week by Texas Instruments, wanted us to take one thing away, that the mobile TV market will be won by open standards and a competitive eco-system. The meeting was called to use the German co-operatively built DVB-H mobile TV system as a show piece for the …

    Mobile 6 Jul 2006, 10:26

  • Cassini unravelling origins of Saturn's rings

    Cosmic hoops

    The origins of some of Saturn's rings' most enigmatic features are becoming clearer, according to scientists analysing the data sent back by the Cassini space craft. Scientists observed a bright arc of material looping around the edge of the G-ring, one of the most tenuous of all the rings around the gas giant. Researchers now …

    Space 6 Jul 2006, 10:41

  • Commissioner says MS fines inevitable

    €2.5m a day still pending

    Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told reporters yesterday that fines against Microsoft for failing to comply with 2004's anti-trust judgement were inevitable. Asked if she would fine Microsoft, Kroes said: "I can't imagine any other way." The commission ruled in 2004 that Microsoft was abusing its monopoly position. It …

    Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 10:51

  • A postcard from Citrix iForum

    Citrix devoteees experience Edinburgh

    Many of the attendees at Citrix iForum in Edinburgh had probably been aware of much of the content of Citrix CEO and president Mark Templeton's keynote already (Centralis had shared much of it with its customers a month or so back, for example, which makes its seminars good value). Citrix is reinventing itself as an Access …

    Developer 6 Jul 2006, 10:57

  • GeCube ships HDCP-compliant graphics cards

    HD TV ready

    Graphics card maker GeCube this week announced it as started shipping ATI Radeon X1300- and X16090-based boards with full HDCP support to ensure HDMI-connected HD TVs will display content at the maximum resolution. Both HV series boards ship with 256MB of GDDR 2graphics memory - they can grab a further 256MB of system memory …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 11:09

  • Northgate expects education bonanza

    Even after its HQ exploded

    Northgate posted bullish results yesterday, despite its HQ going up in a ball of flames last December. As well as destroying Northgate's head office and main data centre, the Buncefield oil depot fire also razed its emergency services division to the ground. It still managed to generate 62 per cent more revenue in the year to …

    Business 6 Jul 2006, 11:43

  • Microsoft dragged into accepting ODF

    Keeps its distance

    Microsoft is reluctantly lending its name to a project for interoperability between Office 2007 and desktop productivity software using a non-Microsoft supported file format. The Open XML Translator Project will allow desktop productivity applications saved using the industry backed Open Document Format (ODF), which Microsoft …

    Software 6 Jul 2006, 12:00

  • Malware targets security research tool

    The curious case of the Gattman virus

    Virus writers have created a proof-of-concept virus, dubbed Gattman, that targets an analysis tool widely used by anti-virus researchers. Only the most inept anti-virus researchers are likely to become infected, according to one expert, so the interest in the malware is its curiosity value rather than any threat it poses, which …

    Security 6 Jul 2006, 12:06

  • Cops spot-fine Goth £80 for upsetting weapons detector

    Worried of Arsenal...

    Metal detectors have feelings too, apparently. Last Friday a team of crack (are you sure about this? - Ed) coppers leapt to the defence of one being verbalised by a Goth at Highbury & Islington station, and spot-fined the miscreant £80. According to a report of the incident, the Goth in question, Phil, had observed to the …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 12:22

  • Does IPTV need more technological miracles?

    Comment Or is customer service the answer?

    The New York Times ran an enchanting piece about a cable engineer this week, deserting a 20 year career in cable to go and work for AT&T's new IPTV U-Verse service. They asked him why he's switched and he served the reporter a lot of platitudes about how AT&T's proposition is going to work out. "We're on the ground floor of …

    Telecoms 6 Jul 2006, 12:57

  • O2 to slash monthly prices

    Step away from the new contract...'til next week

    O2 will overhaul its monthly tariffs next week for the first time since 2002. The new plans will be launched on 13 July and offer better value than the current range, The Register has learned. The operator seems to be responding to pressure from rivals. T-Mobile's Flext campaign is known to have scored big with consumers and …

    Mobile 6 Jul 2006, 13:18

  • Men to lose battle with robots

    Women will be fine, though

    BT's crystal ball-gazer-in-chief is warning that machine intelligence is going to make men redundant over the next 10 or 20 years. Ian Pearson, resplendent in the job title Futurologist, says machine intelligence is going to take over many traditionally male jobs, that is "jobs that require intellect", such as programming. …

    Rise of the Machines 6 Jul 2006, 13:32

  • Malware crosses 200,000 milestone

    Fear of a bot planet

    Anti-virus firm McAfee released protection for its 200,000th ever malware threat this week1. While bots are still the leading cause of this dramatic growth, exploits and downloaders are a close second (see breakdown here). Email worms saw significantly smaller growth over the last two years compared to types of malware. McAfee …

    Security 6 Jul 2006, 13:39

  • Borland CFO quits

    Predicts better Q2

    Borland Software's chief financial officer is quitting running the company's books, and is being temporarily replaced by Segue Software's ex-CFO Michael Sullivan. Borland said CFO Kenneth Hahn was leaving the firm "to pursue another opportunity". The company is currently looking for a buyer for its software development tools …

    IT Director 6 Jul 2006, 13:50

  • LG readies pink, white Chocolate phones

    Numerous 'unique' flavours planned

    White Chocolate, anyone? That's what LG today said it will offer around the world later this year. It will also offer a pink version of the popular slimline slider phone, and it has plans to ship a range of "unique" colour schemes too. To date, the Chocolate handset - aka the KG800 - has shipped in a signature black casing …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 13:50

  • MasterCard succumbs to rebranding madness

    LogoWatch Whalesong, joss-sticks, etc etc

    It's been pretty quiet of late on the corporate rebranding front - or at least that sector of the front manned by elite Strategy Boutique divisions facing the allied forces of reason and sanity across a no man's land littered with the casualties of previous whalesong and joss-stick driven corporate frontage paradigm shifts. We' …

    Bootnotes 6 Jul 2006, 14:01

  • Drowning in data - complexity's threat to terror investigations

    Analysis Knowing everything, except what happened?

    A Home Affairs Committee report into police detention powers, published earlier this week, concludes that police powers to hold terror suspects without charge will need to be extended from 28 days to 90 days - and, once the flimsier justifications (e.g. time needed for prayers) have been stripped out, technology is largely to …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 14:03

  • EasyMobile.nl flops

    Sir Stelios packs his clogs

    EasyTycoon Stelios Haji-Ioannou has cut and run from his Netherlands EasyMobile virtual network operation. Customers were notified by no-frills email this morning they have until 1 August to find a new provider. EasyMobile somehow managed to buck the growth trend in virtual operators in the Netherlands. According to …

    Mobile 6 Jul 2006, 14:25

  • MS Xbox PMP won't make iPod RIP

    Analysis Can MS succeed where Creative, Sony, iRiver et al have failed? Er... No

    World+Dog is relaying news originally posted on Bloomberg that Microsoft's rumoured 'iPod killer' could be out in time for Christmas. But the question the reports don't address is how, if even the likes of Sony are unable to hinder the iPod's market domiance, Microsoft is going to do so with what could very well be a me-too …

    Reg Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 15:30

  • Apple sued in widening stock option probe

    Dot.com scandal claims more scalps

    Apple is being sued over its awarding of stock options. Two separate suits have been started by shareholders which make claims against current and former officers of Apple, the company announced. The California computer maker has been caught up in a widening Silicon Valley controversy over the awarding of stock options during …

    Music and Media 6 Jul 2006, 15:36

  • Oz Big Brother outrage prompts law change

    TV rules extended to webcasts

    Australia is to change its broadcasting laws to encompass webcasts in reaction to general outrage over an alleged sexual assault on the show which was "streamed online and not shown on television", the BBC reports. Two men were recently ejected from the Oz BB house "after a female contestant claimed a man held her down while …

    Odds and Sods 6 Jul 2006, 16:05

  • Sun to replace excuses with loads of Opteron gear

    Exclusive Meet the new servers

    Sun Microsystems next week will introduce the world to its latest gamble. The hardware maker is set to dish out a number of new Opteron-based systems – some of which will be like nothing else on the market from a Tier 1. All told, Sun's grand hardware release caps off a three- to four-year effort meant to revitalize sales and …

    Servers 6 Jul 2006, 20:03

  • Sun eyes open source 'stacks'

    Solaris and PostgreSQL love in

    An integrated suite of open source middleware stacks featuring Solaris and PostgreSQL, potentially offered to developers as a service, are on Sun Microsystems' radar. The company is starting to assess customer demand for, and ways it can maintain, a set of stacks that would potentially remove the pain for developers trying to …

    Applications 6 Jul 2006, 20:06

  • Stolen VA laptop sold off 'back of a truck'

    Data recovery

    More details of how a stolen laptop containing the personal details of up to 26.5m US veterans was recovered have emerged. A thief stole the laptop from the home of a worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in early May during the course of a burglary. At the time, VA officials were quick to blame the data analyst …

    ID 6 Jul 2006, 20:11

  • HP trims real estate holdings in favor of IP-enabled cafes

    Looking and feeling common

    HP today issued a proud but vague press release, saying it has plans to save money by cutting back on real estate sprawl. The shift to more centralized campuses has become a common approach of technology giants that bloated up through acquisitions over the past few years. HP carries more baggage than most with the remnants of …

    Hardware 6 Jul 2006, 22:35