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8th August 2006 Archive

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  • Camera phones linked to SA bank theft muggings

    Snap, bang, wallop...

    South African muggers are using camera phones to capture pictures of potential victims in banks before their accomplices stalk and rob them, according to reports. The ruse is helping street thieves in the Walmer district of Port Elizabeth to target well-heeled victims, according to police spokesman Captain Verna Brink. "This …

    Mobile 8 Aug 2006, 07:02

  • IBM gets handle on unstructured data

    Almaden incarnates search and BI

    It is perhaps easy to assume that the notion of BI (business intelligence) for the masses - or 'DIYBI', as espoused here, is most likely to involve a sawn-off version of an existing BI tool - probably a mature one where the development costs have already been recovered. In practice, this is somewhat less than likely, if only …

    Developer 8 Aug 2006, 07:02

  • Mobile internet is still a turn-off

    Give us maps not blogs

    Most punters still find mobile internet usage to be a frustrating experience they'd rather avoid. Despite investment by operators in services such as i-mode and Vodafone Live, 73 per cent of respondents to a new survey said don't access the net from their mobile. Slow-loading pages (38 per cent) and navigation difficulties (27 …

    Mobile 8 Aug 2006, 07:02

  • Drug trial guinea pig faces new medical battle

    Diagnosed with cancer

    One of the victims of the disastrous drug trial at Northwick Park Hospital earlier this year says he has now been diagnosed with the early stages of cancer. The disease is attacking New Zealander David Oakley's lymphatic system, part of the immune system. He told The BBC: "It's an early sign of cancer. The best I could actually …

    Biology 8 Aug 2006, 08:45

  • PayPal UK confirms double-dipping error

    All fixed now

    PayPal has confirmed that a technical glitch in late July meant some of its account holders had money debited from their account twice, echoing similar problems the company had in September last year. According to readers, some eBay powersellers were left with very large negative balances, and some even had their accounts …

    Financial News 8 Aug 2006, 08:47

  • Tips to prevent data loss

    Curbing the epidemic

    Public exposure of private data is becoming a regular occurrence, but the majority of these incidents can be prevented if companies implement the proper security best practices, according to analysts at Gartner. "From lost laptops to misplaced backup tapes to accidental emails filled with sensitive information, we seem to be in …

    Enterprise Security 8 Aug 2006, 08:59

  • Collaboration and communication - is more better?

    Comment It's a nasty world out there...

    In the good old days, if you wanted to communicate with someone, you met up with them and talked, or you sent round someone with a piece of paper, and that someone stayed there while the communicant responded in writing and brought the message to you. A clever guy realised that this piece of paper could be delivered on a more …

    Business 8 Aug 2006, 09:16

  • MSI preps Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT card with HDMI

    Not just an ATI gig

    MSI today lauded the successful certification of its first Nvidia-based graphics card with an HDMI port. Similar cards can't be far behind, but MSI claimed to be the first graphics card maker to pass the HDMI certification process. The card in question is the NX7600GT Diamond Plus. In addition to sporting an HDMI port, the …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 09:21

  • iSoft probe gets formal

    Evidence of irregularities for FY 2004, 2005

    Troubled software firm iSoft Plc said today it has found evidence of possible accounting irregularities for the financial years 2004 and 2005. In July iSoft commissioned an initial independent investigation into possible irregularities, which has now concluded there are grounds for “a more formal investigation.” The …

    Public Sector 8 Aug 2006, 09:41

  • Sony touts handheld Skype, Wi-Fi communicator

    VoIP, IM and web over Wi-Fi

    Sony will next month ship a handheld communications device designed for the Wi-Fi world. Dubbed Mylo, the palmtop features 802.11b wireless networking, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 2.4in, 320 x 240 colour display and comes pre-loaded with GoogleTalk, Yahoo! Messenger and Skype. And since Mylo's maker is Sony, of course the …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 09:55

  • Top 10 technoculture books for the beach

    Tech Digest Much more fun than Wayne Rooney's bio anyhow...

    From the UK's leading gadgets blog Tech Digest Okay, maybe not the beach - if you're spending a couple of weeks sunning yourself abroad you might want a break from technology, even in paper form. But if you're on the lookout for some more weighty reading matter on where all this technology is leading (or just want to make your …

    Entertainment 8 Aug 2006, 09:57

  • IBM wins in US pensions plan appeal

    Big Blue didn't discriminate against old greys

    A Federal Appeals Count has cleared IBM of discriminating against older employees when it overhauled its pension scheme in the late 1990s. The ruling reversed an earlier verdict by a lower court. From IBM’s point of view, the appeal court ruled that the pension scheme IBM put in place in 1999 was both “lawful and age-neutral …

    IT Director 8 Aug 2006, 10:52

  • Nokia buys Loudeye to kickstart iTunes rival

    New owner for Peter Gabriel's old download company

    Nokia is to buy Loudeye, the US digital music company that owns On-Demand Distribution (OD2), the European music download supplier started by Peter Gabriel. The Finnish mobile phone giant is paying $60m in cash for the company. Nokia described the deal as the foundation for its own music service with which it will target …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 11:00

  • Out of the (C++) loop

    Stob Goto considered risible

    Hi Verity, are we up for some more frolics and fun? Nope. It's a spot test today. Using your neatest handwriting, write out a standard C++ loop on the nursery blackboard. No copying. This will count towards your final grade. Joy. What brought this on? Oh, ok – gimme the chalk, let's get it over with: for (int i = 0; i < …

    Verity Stob 8 Aug 2006, 11:05

  • Monstermob confirms takeover bid

    Tumbling shares bounce on approach

    Monstermob Group's shares have been boosted by confirmation it has received a takeover approach. The UK mobile content provider has issued three profits warnings this year, and has seen its stock tumble from 446.5 pence in January to just 41.5 pence on Friday. At time of writing, shares were changing hands for just over 67 …

    Mobile 8 Aug 2006, 11:07

  • Imagine and Nortel team up in telecoms deal

    SMBs to benefit from combined offering

    Telecoms equipment firm Nortel and telecommunications provider Imagine have teamed up to provide an all-Ireland communications package for small businesses. The two firms said they will begin immediate recruitment for 40 resellers to market the combined product. This comprises Nortel's Business Communications Manager (BCM) …

    Telecoms 8 Aug 2006, 11:26

  • Asus and Gigabyte to merge mobo manufacturing ops

    Unnamed JV to go into action early next year

    Asus and Gigabyte have formally announced a plan to create a joint-venture to market their motherboards and graphics cards under the Gigabyte brand. The JV's own name has yet to be decided, the partners admitted today. Whatever it's called, it will go into action on 1 January 2007. Gigabyte will own 51 per cent of the new …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 11:41

  • AOL apologises over search data 'screw-up'

    So sorry

    AOL regrets publishing the search logs of 658,000 US users on a research website. The data was anonymised and covered only around 20m search queries of users of its client software. But it set off an internet firestorm of criticism. So AOL has done the PR-savvy thing and 'fessed up to making an error of judgement in releasing …

    ID 8 Aug 2006, 12:14

  • Microsoft pulls plug on Virtual PC development

    Not seen as rival to BootCamp, VMware et al

    Microsoft is to end development of Virtual PC for Mac, the company admitted this week. While an x86 emulation app makes little sense in a world of Intel-based Macs, the move means the software giant has rejected the chance to turn the tool into a true virtualisation utility. Microsoft's decision, relayed by a Macworld UK …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 12:19

  • Broadband makes e-potatoes of us all

    Webstreaming to kill the video star?

    The average web-enabled Brit spends 23 hours a week in cyberspace with time online split between an increasingly diverse range of activities. A survey by internet pollsters YouGov has found, suggest the internet is replacing the television as the nation's preferred way of accessing content. According to communications watchdog …

    Telecoms 8 Aug 2006, 12:25

  • Brocade chomps McData

    Swallows $713m McNugget whole

    Brocade will acquire fellow storage switch maker McData in a $713m all-stock deal. Under the terms, McData shareholders will control 30 per cent of the new combined company. Based on Brocade's $6.14 closing price yesterday, McData's shareholders will get 0.75 Brocade shares for each McData share they own, valuing McData's stock …

    Storage 8 Aug 2006, 13:04

  • Sony's first Mylo

    Forgotten Tech Who remembers the Clié-friendly My Life Online?

    Sony's upcoming Wi-Fi-equipped, VoIP-oriented communications gadget isn't the first of the consumer electronics giant's products to be called Mylo, short for 'My Life Online'. Reg Hardware readers with long memories may recall a Sony PDA-friendly online service of the same name. Launched in June 2001 for Sony's Clié Palm OS- …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 13:04

  • AOL releases free anti-virus tool

    Helping Joe Public avoid the pox

    AOL is giving consumers a free anti-virus software package, dubbed Active Virus Shield, powered by technology from Kasperesky Lab. No AOL membership is required to use the service, though users are obliged to submit their email details in order to activate the technology. Although free anti-virus packages already permeate the …

    Malware 8 Aug 2006, 13:18

  • Time to tap the Tech Barometer

    Reg Reader Studies Forecast is for goodie bags

    The mercury's been rising all summer, which surely means it's time to consult the old tech barometer. Yes, we want you, beloved readers, to tell us in detail what's been getting under your skin these last few months, just by working your way through our latest reader survey here. To make it even easier, we've carefully …

    Tech Panel 8 Aug 2006, 14:13

  • Reg saves doctored war pics for posterity

    Shocking photos exposed

    On news that Reuters has pulled all 920 of Lebanese freelancer Adnan Hajj's photos after two were found to have been doctored in Photoshop (see New Zealand Herald story), we received this email from scam-busting reader Mark: These images have come into my possession from a "reputable news source". My crack team of uber-geeks …

    Music and Media 8 Aug 2006, 14:29

  • Mavizen Blueye mobile phone adaptor for iPod

    Exclusive Preview Auto-pause your music when you take a call

    Nokia says we should all be playing music on our phones, but some of us like having a separate music player. But it's a problem is when a call comes in and we're left frantically trying to pause the player and pull out the phone before the caller rings off. Assuming, with earphones in, we've heard the mobile ringing in the first …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 14:30

  • NTL:Telewest blames customer losses on competition

    Revenues up:losses up too

    NTL's merger with Telewest helped boost Q2 revenues 83 per cent to £884.3m, the network reported today. Losses from continuing operations were up too though, hitting £206m, from a £56.3m loss in 2005. Net loss was £195.8m compared to income of £73.5m a year ago. After 25,800 new cable punters came to NTL in Q1, 18,900 upped …

    Networks 8 Aug 2006, 15:04

  • Phishing Trojan plays ping-pong with captured data

    Hide and seek

    Security researchers have identified a new Trojan which sends data back to attackers via an unconventional communications protocol (for malware) in a bid to escape detection. The as-yet unnamed phishing Trojan transmits stolen information back to hackers via ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packets instead of email or …

    Malware 8 Aug 2006, 15:06

  • Designer punts 'perfect' portable workstation

    Fold-up unit with 17in screen, keyboard, graphics tablet

    Portuguese industrial designer João Pedro Carneiro has come up with this intriguing design for a portable computer created specifically for content creators that incorporates not only a keyboard but a graphics tablet too. The concept is based around a free-standing 17in monitor with a flip-out stand. The tablet is mounted …

    Reg Hardware 8 Aug 2006, 15:08

  • MP says NHS IT should be flushed

    Leaked report backs sceptics

    A conservative MP has called for the £12.5bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) to be scrapped after he saw a leaked report that said the NHS was better off without the computer system. On Sunday, The Observer reported the contents of a leaked report by David Kwo, who had been in charge of implementing the scheme in London. Kwo …

    Public Sector 8 Aug 2006, 15:18

  • Southern pansies tool up with Harrier purchase

    Letters The better to get refunds from PayPal?

    Just a short tour of the letters bag today, to make sure we cover the important stuff. Like whether or not Southerners (in the UK - calm down Texas) are pansies. But first, we'll mention a few issues you have with PayPal's double dipping. Your story is indeed correct - they are currently fixing the problem by refunding the …

    Letters 8 Aug 2006, 15:52

  • Whatever happened to... Mac OS X Leopard?

    Comment Spotty debut - but what's to come?

    Steve Jobs' minimal contribution to his annual WWDC keynote yesterday amounted to little more than handing over the proceedings to his lieutenants. Jobs himself concentrated on doing something we already know he does quite well: bash Microsoft. "You know, our friends up north spent over $5 billion on R&D," said Jobs, "but …

    Operating Systems 8 Aug 2006, 18:22

  • Borland enlists Turboman for Windows tools

    Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's a brand strategy!

    Borland Software is resurrecting a face from its long-forgotten past as it prepares to launch new tools for Windows developers. Turboman - the impossibly blond comic strip hero whose ads promoting Borland's Pascal, C and Basic fast RAD tools and languages ran in Dr Dobbs - has been brought back from his 1980s exile. The move …

    Developer 8 Aug 2006, 19:59