The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

1st August 2006 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Red Hat bids XenSource adieu

    Not just now, thanks

    One week after receiving Microsoft's blessing, the open source Xen project has been slapped with a heavy dose of criticism from groups who charge the software isn't data center ready. Xen has enjoyed a two-year run as the server virtualization darling of the open source set. The software for carving up servers into numerous …

    Servers 1 Aug 2006, 01:22

  • SanDisk flashes $1.6bn for M-Systems

    A NAND in the hand

    SanDisk has started flashing even more shine following its pledge to buy Israeli rival M-Systems for close to $1.6bn. Analysts and many customers already adored SanDisk. The company has built up a leading position in the market for flash memory products. SanDisk now looks to strengthen that position with M-Systems on its side …

    Financial News 1 Aug 2006, 04:24

  • Microsoft – it’s only marketing

    So that's all right then

    An interesting set of responses have already come in to the article here about Microsoft charging for Office beta downloads. The comments already attached to it I will let stand for themselves, but a couple of emails I have received are of interest: one because it appeals to the naturally occurring improbable-conspiracy- …

    Developer 1 Aug 2006, 08:57

  • One Laptop Per Child gains ground

    Thailand, Brazil and Argentina all place orders

    The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme is just one million laptops away from beginning production, as the group confirmed that Brazil, Argentina and Thailand have each placed orders for a million machines, according to DesktopLinux.com. OLPC says it will begin production when it has orders for between five million and 10m …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 09:09

  • Betonsports boss pleads not guilty

    No bail...

    David Carruthers, the ex-CEO of Betonsports, appeared in court in St Louis yesterday and pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges. Carruthers, wearing a prison-issue white T-shirt and khaki trousers, spoke only to confirm his name, age, and plea. He was returned to custody, although his lawyers are believed to be close to a …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2006, 09:12

  • CafePress for wall art?

    Review ImageKind beta hits the web

    ImageKind, a site that offers users the ability to upload art (which can be in the form of digital photography, digital/computer generated artwork and scanned traditional artwork) and then have it professionally printed/framed/mounted, has launched in beta. Real humans do the printing and do their utmost to ensure the prints …

    Odds and Sods 1 Aug 2006, 09:23

  • AMD grabs a quarter of the x86 server market

    More share swiped from Intel in Q2

    AMD now commands more than a quarter of the x86 server processor market, the latest figures from Mercury Research reveal. As of Q2 2006, the chip maker's market share stands at 25.9 per cent, up from 22.1 per cent in Q1. Those numbers mark a big increase over Q4 2005's 16.4 per cent figure, up from 12.7 per cent in Q3, again …

    Servers 1 Aug 2006, 09:26

  • Oops, it's Java EE

    There's a lot in a name, it seems

    Old habits die hard, it seems. After several years of referring to Java as simply "J" in names such as J2EE, it seems that Reg Developer has allowed itself (OK, me) to slip back into referring to the latest iteration – Java Enterprise Edition – as simply "JEE", as here. Well, the old habit is wrong, as Sun Microsystems has …

    Developer 1 Aug 2006, 09:29

  • Bomb Earth's atmosphere with sulphur, researcher says

    Shock and awe campaign on global warming

    Firing artillery shells into the stratosphere to release sulphur particles could defeat global warming, climate researcher Paul Crutzen says. In a paper to be published in the journal Climatic Change in August, the professor will explain his scheme in greater detail. So far we have learned, from this press release, that …

    Science 1 Aug 2006, 09:36

  • Tackling Apache zombies

    Myths and legends laid to rest

    The net is full of Apache knowledge. Tips and tricks, discussion fora, experts of all kinds, and innumerable "how-tos" and tutorials on a range of subjects. Some of these are worth reading; others may be otherwise. Among all this wisdom are some myths and half-truths that are so well known as to be "common knowledge". They …

    Developer 1 Aug 2006, 09:54

  • EVGA unveils water-cooled GeForce 7950 GX2

    Quad SLI-ready

    Graphics card maker EVGA has formally announced its Black Pearl-branded water-cooled GeForce 7950 GX2-based board. The product runs at 600MHz with its 1GB of DDR 3 memory clocked to 700MHz (1.4GHz effective). That compares with EVGA's now-shipping e-GeForce 7950 GX2 'Superclocked' card, which clocks the GPU to 550MHz and the …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 10:06

  • Microsoft files documents with European Commission

    The final countdown

    Microsoft has submitted its final set of documents in the ongoing anti-trust case with the European Commission. The documents are being analysed by commission experts. The documents were due to be handed over in July, and the commission has confirmed that it has received them. Microsoft is seeking to prove that it is making its …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2006, 10:06

  • US social networking ban could unfairly block some sites

    'Loose' law draws criticism

    The US House of Representatives has voted by an overwhelming majority to ban social networking sites in schools and libraries. Critics have warned that the ban could apply to a wide variety of sites, some of them of vital educational value. The House passed the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) by 410 votes to 15. The Act …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2006, 10:15

  • Dell's AMD-based notebooks coming Q4, moles claim

    High- and low-end offerings planned

    Dell will extend its support for AMD processors to notebook machines in early to mid-Q4, it has been claimed. The line-up will encompass 15.4in and 17in models based on Turion 64 X2, Mobile Sempron and Mobile Athlon 64 CPUs. So say sources close to Taiwan's contract manufacturer community, cited by DigiTimes. Quanta, they …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 10:18

  • Astrophysicist speeds up radioactive decay

    Other boffins sceptical

    A German physicist thinks he may have found a way to accelerate the process of nuclear decay, dramatically shortening the half life of dangerous nuclear waste. Claus Rolfs, chair of experimental physics at Ruhr University, and his team suggest that embedding an alpha emitter in metal and cooling it to just a few degrees Kelvin …

    Science 1 Aug 2006, 10:45

  • ATI to fit digital TV chip into GPU for Blu-ray/HD DVD

    RV550 to introduce 'universal video decoder'

    ATI's upcoming RV550 GPU will integrate the company's Xilleon digital TV image processing chip to bring once high-end 1080p HD output to its mainstream graphics cards, it has emerged. According to presentation slides leaked by Chinese-language site HKEPC, ATI is calling the Xilleon-sourced video engine its Universal Video …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 10:48

  • NHS recovery crank-started

    Suppliers' disaster relief promised

    CSC Alliance, the supplier responsible for the outage of patient administration systems across 80 NHS bodies, has promised it will have 50 of them up and running again by midday, over two days after they went down. Problems with a storage area networking system at a data centre in Maidstone, Kent, at 10am Sunday morning left 72 …

    Business 1 Aug 2006, 10:48

  • Motorways chosen for message trial

    M5 and M6 get real-time journey info

    Drivers on parts of the M5 and M6 will be the first to receive real time information on the expected lengths of their journeys The Highways Agency released details of the trial, which it first announced two weeks earlier, on 31 July. About 160 miles of road will be covered, taking in sections between Stoke and Bristol on the …

    Public Sector 1 Aug 2006, 11:17

  • Worm targets Windows PowerShell script

    Fresh target. Usual dialogue

    Virus writers have created an experimental form of malware written in Windows PowerShell script, the command line and scripting language used by Windows. Cibyz was developed by the same Austrian VXers who developed proof of concept malware targeting Microsoft Command Shell (MSH) technology, later renamed PowerShell. Cibyz …

    Malware 1 Aug 2006, 11:20

  • HTC 'Blackberry beater', Excalibur, surfaces on web

    Chop, chop

    Ladies and gentlemen, will you welcome please HTC's up-coming BlackBerry-like Windows Mobile-based smart phone, 'Excalibur', rumoured to be in the works for a while now, but this week finally appearing in the flesh in a piccy posted on the web. According to details sent to website Smartphone Thoughts, Excalibur's a quad- …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 11:23

  • Zune 'final design' slips out, sort of

    Putting the 'mock' in 'mock-up'

    Microsoft's first Zune-branded device will launch in the US just ahead of the Thanksgiving break, rumour-mongers are claiming on the web. Oh, and it's going to have a 60GB hard drive. Or maybe a 30GB job. Or maybe both, in different configurations. And there'll be different colours... And... And... Enough already, here's what …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 12:18

  • That's debugger

    Do Linux apps bidirectionally

    It is a brave company that claims it can slash debugging costs, but that is precisely what Undo Software is saying about its bidirectional debugger, UndoDB. Undo is a 2005 UK-based start-up that has decided to take the principles of bidirectional debugging already used within the Java community and build a tool that provides …

    Developer 1 Aug 2006, 12:24

  • Diebold voting machine hack exposed

    Switch toggle tampering

    Much has been written (in these pages and elsewhere) about the shortcomings of Diebold's electronic voting technology, but researchers at the Open Voting Foundation have come up with what they argue is the most serious flaw in electronic voting technology yet documented. Open Voting found that by toggling a single switch it's …

    Security 1 Aug 2006, 13:20

  • Stupidity reigns, except in sunny Islington

    Letters And swastikas pop up all over the place

    There were probably some interesting news stories this week, but judging from the volume of mail we received, the most important thing that happened in the last seven days was a collapse in Reg hack intelligence. Yes, we have been pounded as being daft for running a story about a faux meteor hit, and for our inability to …

    Odds and Sods 1 Aug 2006, 13:48

  • Xploder to blow up PS2 games to HD resolution

    GTA@1080i, anyone?

    Why spend 600 quid PS3 when you can pump out HD-resolution pictures from your old PS2 for a fraction of the price? That's the question Xploder.net asked today after announcing an HD upscaler product for Sony's current but soon to be displaced top-of-the-range console. Dubbed the HDTV Game Player, the gadget coverts the PS2's …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 14:45

  • Blackjacking and RFID passport exploits star at DEF CON

    Via Las Vegas

    All eyes in the information security world will be on Las Vegas this week as the desert city plays host to Def CON 14 and the Black Hat briefings. Last year's DEF CON will be most remembered for the controversy over the presentation on security vulnerabilities in Cisco's networking kit by security researcher Michael Lynn. This …

    Security 1 Aug 2006, 15:14

  • Microsoft canvasses opinion on eGov services

    Bit like Marmite, really

    Almost one person in 10 thinks council services available online are "old fashioned" and "inefficient", according to a new survey. The latter we've no particular quibble with, but surely online services can't already be "old fashioned"? This statistic is just one of many that will surely follow as we head into the August silly …

    Business 1 Aug 2006, 15:15

  • Nvidia unwraps 64x SLI monster GPU rig

    Render unto Caesar

    What do you get for the graphics buff who has everything? How about Nvidia's Quadro Plex 1000, a racked collection of GPUs in their own box, together capable of rendering 80bn pixels every second and powering monitors with a combined resolution of up to 148 megapixels. It doesn't come cheap, mind - prices start at $17,500. …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 15:45

  • Vodafone preps 'super 3G' modem for MacBooks

    HSDPA over USB

    Vodafone has responded to calls from MacBook and MacBook Pro owners for a compatible version of its 3G Mobile Connect Broadband Datacard with a USB version of the gadget which it pledged to ship in the autumn. Vodafone's HSDPA-equipped Mobile Connect 3G Datacard does feature Mac support, but since it's a PC Card device, it's …

    Reg Hardware 1 Aug 2006, 15:58

  • IBM falls in love with Opteron all over again

    More servers this time

    Like a big blue knight, IBM has come to AMD's rescue once again. The company today revealed plans to ship five new Opteron-based servers. This odd shift in strategy comes just as Intel has released Xeon server chips that best Opteron on many fronts. In April of 2003, IBM was the lone Tier 1 server vendor brave enough to back …

    Servers 1 Aug 2006, 16:19

  • CA reveals decade of options miscues

    Accounting challenged

    CA has admitted it held on to employees' shares for up to two years after awarding workers the options, helping the company boost its profitability for Wall Street. The software giant has been forced to wipe $342m off its profits for the years 1996 to 2006 following a re-statement of earnings in the wake of an internal review. …

    Financial News 1 Aug 2006, 20:24

  • Microsoft files final documents with European Commission

    Is it enough?

    Microsoft has submitted its final set of documents in the ongoing anti-trust case with the European Commission. The documents are being analysed by Commission experts. The documents were due to be handed over in July, and the Commission has confirmed that it has received them. Microsoft is seeking to prove that it is making its …

    Operating Systems 1 Aug 2006, 20:42

  • US chat sites ban could hit all kinds of sites

    Catch-all

    The US House of Representatives has voted by an overwhelming majority to ban social networking sites in schools and libraries. Critics have warned that the ban could apply to a wide variety of sites, some of them of vital educational value. The House passed the Deleting Online Predators Act by 410 votes to 15. The Act forbids …

    Music and Media 1 Aug 2006, 20:54

  • Red Hat's affair with XenSource is back on

    Misquote won't keep them apart

    Red Hat today scrambled to repair its relationship with XenSource after a report from ZDNet Australia presented a major technological rift between the two companies. Yesterday, ZDNet Oz had Red Hat VP Alex Pinchev saying, "XenSource is not stable yet, it's not ready for the enterprise. We don't feel that XenSource is stable …

    Servers 1 Aug 2006, 21:31