11th July 2006 Archive
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Fabric7 beats Sun to x86 SMP smack-down
Socket man
Fabric7 has tried to steal the high-end x86 server limelight from Sun Microsystems by announcing a number of upgrades to its gear just ahead of Sun's eight-socket server launch. Since launching last year, Fabric7 has sold two types of systems - the more conventional eight-socket Q80 and the unique fourteen-socket Q160. The …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 01:09
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Sun takes the Opteron highroad
Where blades are bloated and oddities thrive
At long last, Sun Microsystems has concocted an x86 server line that all customers can take seriously. The company today rounded out its Opteron-based gear with three, new systems that stretch from "compact" blades to bulkier eight-socket boxes. Regular Register readers will be well acquainted with the new servers. We've been …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 04:47
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Cable & Wireless likely to suspend file-sharers' accounts
Plug pull likely for P2Pers
The 42 Cable & Wireless customers accused by the music industry of unauthorised file-sharing look likely to have their accounts withdrawn in line with a demand from industry body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The BPI wrote to C&W demanding that the 42 accounts be withdrawn because users were uploading music without …
Networks 11 Jul 2006, 09:03
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Astronauts complete second space walk
Now prepping for float no. 3
The crew of the space Shuttle Discovery have completed their second space walk, spending just over six and three quarter hours outside the shelter of the Shuttle. Mission specialists Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum spent the first part of their time outdoors installing a spare thermal control system pump on the outside of the …
Science 11 Jul 2006, 09:08
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Government ready to go nuclear
Controversial policy
The government is set to give its blessing to the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants when it publishes the results of its energy review. The review is also expected to cover renewable energy sources, and to look at ways of reducing the amount of power consumed in the UK. But the government will argue that …
Science 11 Jul 2006, 09:20
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Apple moving to metal iPods?
MacBook Pro-like design?
Apple may be planning to ship its upcoming higher-capacity iPod Nanos in iPod Mini-like metal casings, it has been claimed. The move is said to be all about making the product less susceptible to scratching and to make the line-up more colourful. The claim comes courtesy of AppleInsider, which reckons the new Nanos will be …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 09:22
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Microsoft 'iPod clone' makes an appearance
Allegedly
Is this the face of Microsoft's alleged own-brand iPod clone? That's certainly what a number of gadget websites are claiming. It's said to be codenamed 'Argo' and to have the go-to-market name 'Zune', but there's little else that can said about it. There's not much to go on. Past rumours had said the machine has wireless …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 09:44
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Pebble micro MP3 player renamed 'Oomi'
Who, me?
UK digital music device specialist Advanced MP3 Players has updated its tiny Pebble player, boosting the gadget's storage capacity to 2GB, adding support for DRM-protected WMA-encoded tracks and changing the name to Datasafe Oomi. The Oomi boasts a 64 x 48 blue-on-black OLED screen and a 12-hour playback duration on a …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 10:06
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Who are you? Can you prove it?
Findings from the Reg reader study
You've probably heard the stories of employees who are prepared to part with logon and password information for a free café latté, Easter egg or some other form of instant gratification. It makes for some fun headlines, but highlights the serious point that security of information systems is not just about technology, the human …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 10:23
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Seagate readies SOHO-friendly 1TB NAS box
Shared storage
Seagate will ship a 1TB version of its twin-drive, RAID-enabled Maxtor Shared Storage II network-attached storage (NAS) box later this month, the company announced yesterday. The box contains a pair of 500GB 7,200rpm disk drives which can be configured either as a 1TB data store or as a 500GB RAID 1 array for greater data …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 10:37
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Patent litigation treaty renews software patents battle
Fears of spiralling costs
A new battle over software patents in Europe is set to begin this week as the European Commission begins hearings into the establishment of a new European Patent Court. In 2002, the commission proposed a directive on computer-implemented inventions which critics feared would open the floodgates to software patents in Europe. …
Software 11 Jul 2006, 10:39
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LG, Samsung clamshells coming for O2's i-mode
Low-end handset line-up extended
Two more handsets - from LG and Samsung - are coming to bolster UK carrier O2's i-mode phone line-up later this month, Reg Hardware has learned. LG's offering first: its L343i is a clamshell device with a 262,144-colour screen, Bluetooth, a 300,000 pixel camera, speakerphone and tri-band network connectivity. The Samsung SGH- …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 10:59
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Home Office stands by ID cards
Says project is not on the rocks
The Home Office has denied claims that the national identity card programme is on the skids. This followed reports in The Sunday Times that the plan could be scaled down as part of a face saving exercise after a realisation that aspects of the programme are not feasible. A Home Office spokesperson told GC News: "Any suggestion …
ID 11 Jul 2006, 11:03
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More Carphone CRM goes online
NetSuite snaffles some more
Following on from last year's deal with the Opal Telecom division of Carphone Warehouse, online business management provider NetSuite has snaffled a bit more work from the UK telecoms company. Business Solutions, the business-to-business arm of the Carphone Warehouse, has opted for NetSuite's CRM+ to provide Sales Force …
Applications 11 Jul 2006, 12:18
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Anti-Hacker’s Toolkit
Book review How they do it, so you can stop them
Sometimes it just pays to think bad thoughts. And, sometimes, it might even be a good idea to act on those bad thoughts. No, that doesn't mean you go out and shoot your boss. It does mean thinking bad thoughts about security. It means thinking like a hacker (no, not that sort of hacker, the sort that attacks your software/server …
Developer 11 Jul 2006, 12:30
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Lucent to cull 9,000 staff
And warns on profit
Lucent is to cut some 9,000 jobs from its global workforce following its planned merger with French telecoms firm Alcatel. However, Irish workers will have to wait to find out if they will be affected by the plans. A spokesperson for Lucent in Ireland said there was no indication of where the job cuts would hit, and there was …
Data Networking 11 Jul 2006, 12:34
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Hitachi goes virtual
Ta-ta to tape
Hitachi has launched a new virtual tape solution for large scale enterprise storage. Hitachi Virtual Tape Library is based on Israeli R&D from Diligent Technologies. Hitachi says its de-duplication technology, which it claims compresses by a factor of up to 25 by stripping out data blocks present more than once as it is moved …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 12:42
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i-Steroid 2 valve amplifier and speakers
Review Old-style sound for your new-look iPod
The i-Steroid promises the warm sound quality you only get with old-style valve amplification, and there, clear for all to see, plugged in and powered up is the speaker set's single valve, glowing with sheer thermionic joy. The question is, does it make a difference to the sound, or is it simply there for show? The i- …
Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 13:09
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Mobile search is the new battlefield for Google
Comment Wanted: mobile partner for long-term relationship
The debate over net neutrality rumbles on in the US, with Google firing the latest shot, saying it would not hesitate to file anti-trust complaints against broadband ISPs. If, as seems increasingly likely, Congress fails to pass effective neutrality legislation - which would bar ISPs from charging to carry unaffiliated content …
Mobile 11 Jul 2006, 13:17
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BT merges networking dealers
Step forward, BT iNet
BT has folded two data networking resellers, bought last year, into one company. The new company, called BT iNet, merges BT's TNS and Skynet dealerships, and does all the usual stuff that you would expect - installation, IP telephony, wireless networking, managed services and security services. Dave Carrington, former MD of BT …
Channel Register 11 Jul 2006, 13:30
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Datatec makes BEEline for SA merger
Critical mass
Datatec, the South African-owned networking dealer, is merging its home country operations with a black-owned business, African Legend Technologies (ALT). The enlarged group is to be called African Legend Indigo (ALI) and has pro forma annual revenues of R800m (c. £61m)- of which Datatec contributes 500m (£38m) and ALT the rest …
Channel Register 11 Jul 2006, 14:08
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Passports and car tax go offline
Bring on ID cards, things can't get worse...
The Passport Service's online application system has been suffering technical problems which have delayed 5,000 passports. The trial of the replacement EPA2 system ran into problems, and staff have had to go back to using the old system for processing applications. Of 18,000 applications made using the new system, some 5,000 …
Public Sector 11 Jul 2006, 14:34
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Microsoft ends support for Windows 98
Time for an upgrade
Microsoft is to end customer support for its Windows 98 and Millennium Edition operating systems from Tuesday as part of its product lifecycle policy. IDC analysts estimate 70m users of Windows 98 alone will no longer be able to avail of telephone customer or technical support from Microsoft, and the firm will also cease …
Operating Systems 11 Jul 2006, 14:54
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PlusNet obliterates customer emails
Exclusive Punters cut-off by bungling storage update
PlusNet has deleted hundreds of gigabytes of its customers' email during a storage update. The blunder also left about half its 140,000 punters unable to send and receive new email until this morning. Data recovery engineers have been called in to try and retrieve the more than 700GB of data that was lost by the Sheffield-based …
Telecoms 11 Jul 2006, 15:08
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Register men defy machine IQ threat
Letters And we ponder the hygiene issues of iPods
Last week, we ran a piece based on a chat we had with futurologist-in-chief at BT Group, Ian Pearson. It provoked quite a response - unsurprising, since Pearson was suggesting that men (specifically programmers) would be put out of work by the Rise of The Machines: Sorry you got the story wrong... Women will lose to robots …
Odds and Sods 11 Jul 2006, 15:12
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DCC Sercom trading picks up
Err, that's it
DCC, the Irish distie conglomerate, had its AGM yesterday. It says it's too soon since the last announcement in May to add much to market guidance, but it is "pleased with trading results in the first quarter and in particular the continuing pick up in the results of DCC SerCom", its IT wholesaling arm. DCC is a big player in …
Channel Register 11 Jul 2006, 15:35
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Reg reporter pledges to sort out internet
McCarthy 2006 Kieren McCarthy stands for ICANN board
Worried about the way the internet is going? Frustrated at secret deals done behind closed doors? Well, worry no longer because The Reg's very own Kieren McCarthy has pledged to sort it out by standing for one of the three board positions that have opened up at internet overseeing organisation ICANN. Having followed ICANN …
Music and Media 11 Jul 2006, 15:53
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IBM begins third phase of Power5+ journey
Fewer cores, more options
IBM appears set to underwhelm customers once again with a sprucing of its Power5+ - based server line. The vendor has put customers on notice that its Power 285 workstation is now available with 1-core and 2-core versions of the Power5+ chip. Both versions run at 2.1GHz and ship with - wait for it - 36MB of Level 3 cache. We …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 17:43
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Tunnel of death interrupts Ballmer
But Microsoft's partner show must go on
Seven thousand people sat in a Boston conference centre listening to a live band play soft rock while they waited for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to deliver his opening speech at the MS Worldwide Partner Conference this morning. He was running half an hour late because a woman had sadly died in a Boston road tunnel last night …
Channel Register 11 Jul 2006, 19:14
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PowerSellers slam eBay 'ballsup'
No chance for NOCHEX
British traders have slammed an unexpected move by eBay to prune the range of payment methods it accepts. On Friday morning, Pacific Time - Friday evening in Europe - eBay declared that Nochex, a Leeds-based payment gateway, was no longer acceptable as a payment mechanism. Google's new Checkout service also found itself in the …
Financial News 11 Jul 2006, 19:35
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Half of mobile data virgins say never again
No thanks
Almost half of the people who used mobile phone data for the first-time during the 2006 World Cup say they won't use mobile data again, a survey has found. Mobile operators certainly had some success in luring newcomers to try their data services, the numbers suggest. But converting them into regular data junkies is going to be …
Mobile 11 Jul 2006, 19:38
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Microsoft finally puts date on hosted CRM
Devil's in the lack of detail
Microsoft will next year launch a hosted customer relationship management (CRM) service while insisting it's not competing with Salesforce.com, SAP and Oracle. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, told 7,000 partners Tuesday that Microsoft plans to unveil Dynamics CRM Live in the second quarter of 2007 as an online …
Applications 11 Jul 2006, 21:03
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Dell hands out plug for Sun CEO
That'll keep you, er, loud
One of the few redeeming qualities Dell had left was its home base in Central Texas. The Lonestar State angle backed up Dell's hard-nosed, direct model approach to selling computers. The Texas toughness helped explain Dell's behavior over the years when the vendor ignored namby-pamby customer complaints in favor of always …
Hardware 11 Jul 2006, 22:45
