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29th August 2006 Archive

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  • Microsoft Canada spills Vista pricing

    OS to join price tags one day

    Microsoft today provided the most concrete evidence to date that it will actually ship Windows Vista. It released pricing for the operating system on its Canadian web site by mistake. According to Microsoft's own site, the Home Basic version of Vista will ship at the same price as Windows XP Home edition – US$233. Customers …

    Operating Systems 29 Aug 2006, 04:17

  • Intel completes 'Operation Catch-up' with Tulsa release

    Sort of

    Intel is ready to love promote the NetBurst architecture one last time, if it means giving AMD more competition in the high-end server market. The big daddy of chips today released its "Tulsa" version of Xeon meant for high-end x86 servers with four or more sockets. Strapped with a mammoth 16MB cache, the new chip gives Intel a …

    Servers 29 Aug 2006, 06:18

  • Orange invents new word

    As kids soup up their phones

    Research provided to us by Orange supposedly shows the great new trend of “mobification” is spreading to the UK: apparently from the Far East. A release from Orange helpfully informs us that more than two million mobile phone users between 16 and 18 have succumbed to this latest trend; a massive 86.4 per cent of the age group. …

    Mobile 29 Aug 2006, 07:49

  • Google bundles software apps

    Turns up the heat on MS

    Google has announced a package that will offer email, calendar, instant messaging and web-page creation services. Google Apps for Your Domain is a free service that bundles together the US internet giant's existing services - Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator. The announcement sees Google stepping up …

    Small Biz 29 Aug 2006, 08:14

  • Guitar instruction sites shut down by music industry

    When does learning become copyright infringement?

    Music publishers are taking action against guitar fan websites which they say infringe songwriters' copyrights. Publishers have started to use copyright lawsuits to shut down sites which share notations to help musicians to play songs at home. Called guitar tablature, or tab, the notations indicate where players should put …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 08:32

  • Patent rulings could destroy open source software

    Activists denounce US courts' 'suggestion test'

    US courts are endangering the very existence of free and open source software, according to a leading digital rights pressure group. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked the US Supreme Court to reverse lower courts' patent decisions. The Federal Court of Appeals has recently used a "suggestion test" to …

    Software 29 Aug 2006, 08:54

  • Atlantis launch under pressure from Ernesto and Russia

    Old allies...

    Tropical storm Ernesto has almost menaced the Shuttle Atlantis back into a storm-proof hanger, as NASA mission managers wait for the weather to clear. Managers are preparing to roll the Shuttle off the launch pad today, unless the forecast changes dramatically. If the shuttle does have to be moved, the mission will be set back …

    Space 29 Aug 2006, 09:09

  • MS cuts UK Xbox 360 Core System cost

    Tenner off recommended retail price

    Microsoft UK has cut the price of the Xbox 360 Core System to a mere pound under £200, knocking a tenner off the console's previous price. The company itself wouldn't confirm the cut last week, but website GamesIndustry.biz persuaded a number of retail moles to reveal the price drop. Stores are able to sell the console for …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 09:21

  • Diode dearth still hindering blue-laser drive shipments?

    Roll-out to be pushed back to Q4

    Laser diodes for next-generation, blue-laser optical disc drives are still in short supply, it has been claimed. The problem: diode makers are still ramping up yields of the devices and there aren't, it's said, enough to go around. The latest allegation of tight diode supply - made by industry sources cited by DigiTimes - …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 09:44

  • Florida pirate banged up for six years

    'To the brig with ye'

    An online software piracy baron was sentenced to six years imprisonment by a US federal court on Friday. Danny Ferrer, of Lakeland, Florida, ran buysusa.com between 2002 and 19 October, 2005, when it was shut down by the FBI. He pleaded guilty on 15 June on one count of conspiracy and one count of criminal copyright …

    Applications 29 Aug 2006, 09:50

  • Samsung ships 'first' 80nm 1Gb DDR 2 chip

    Smaller chip for higher-capacity DIMMs

    Samsung has begun rolling 1Gb DDR 2 SDRAM chips off its 80nm production lines in volume, the company said today. The South Korean giant claimed it's the first memory maker to do so, five months after it began mass-producing the first 80nm 512Mb part. The good news for memory module manufacturers is that the 1Gb chip's barely …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 09:59

  • Getting to grips with Callisto

    Inside the Eclipse release

    Eclipse is not just a Java IDE, it is a tools platform, which supports an increasing number of projects. The broad scope of these was apparent in Callisto, the code name for a set of simultaneous project releases earlier this summer. There are 10 projects in Callisto, including Java and C++ development tools, visual editors, …

    Developer 29 Aug 2006, 10:08

  • Wheelie bin bugging foreshadows 'rubbish tax'

    Bin Brother is watching you

    Electronic spy chips have been surreptitiously planted in household wheelie bins by many councils in an attempt to gauge how much rubbish we're chucking out. The RFID-based chips are being hidden under the lip of bins used for non-recycled waste. Transponders fitted on rubbish trucks read the chip's serial number when household …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 10:13

  • China struggles against online game bloodbath

    Gore-free 'traditional' alternative delayed

    A Chinese online game designed to counter the growing addiction of young citizens to blood-spattered foreign imports is still not ready for release after a year's development, Reuters reports. According to Xinhua news agency, Chinese Heroes will dispense with the gore and offer a roster of traditional role models such as "Lei …

    Entertainment 29 Aug 2006, 10:16

  • Finn triumphs in mobile chucking contest

    Nokia flies 89 metres

    A local man has triumphed against strong international competition to take gold in the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship in Savolinna, Reuters reports. Showing a field including Belgians, Canadians, and Russians exactly how it's done, Lassi Etelatalo lobbed a scrapped Nokia 89 metres to secure the crown. After his world …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 10:19

  • LG confirms Nvidia HDCP-native GPU plan

    Korean PC to ship with HD-ready GeForce 7900 GT

    LG has tacitly confirmed Nvidia's plan to roll out a revised version of the GeForce 7900 GT graphics chip with built-in support for the HDCP anti-piracy technology. The South Korean company today launched a PC fitted with the Nvidia chip and the 'world's first' 4x Blu-ray Disc writer. LG's internal Blu-ray burner is dubbed …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 10:32

  • Firemapping system put on back burner

    Terror fears blamed

    Terrorism has delayed the launch of a new system for monitoring wild fires in the US, according to NASA engineers. Tighter rules, prompted by heightened fears over the security of flying from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were among "several factors" cited by the NASA researcher in charge of the project for the …

    Science 29 Aug 2006, 10:43

  • CNN to rerun 9/11 coverage online

    Free feed to mark anniversary

    CNN has decided to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11 by rerunning its news coverage of that day on its CNN Pipeline service, Yahoo! reports. The blow-by-blow account, running from 8.30am until midnight, will be accompanied by another feed showing live coverage of memorial services. CNN.com general manager David Payne …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 10:48

  • Corsair to cool high-speed DDR 2 DIMMs with clip-on fan

    Heat dissipation

    Memory maker Corsair has launched a pair of high-performance memory modules that not only ship with a specially design heat sink but can also be supplied with a clip-on cooling fan. The DDR 2 DIMMs run at 1,111MHz. Dubbed the XMS 2 Dominator, the Corsair product line comprises two 2GB modules, one clocked at 1,111MHz, the …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 10:53

  • Louisiana rejects ban on violent video games

    An 'invasion of First Amendment rights', judge declares

    A Louisiana judge has declared that a proposed state ban on sales of violent video games to minors "violates free speech rights and cannot be enforced", Reuters reports. US District Judge James Brady ruled last Thursday that the state "had no right to bar distribution of materials simply because they show violent behaviour". …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 11:14

  • AOpen mobile-on-desktop PCs enter Core 2 Duo era

    Intel's 'Merom' not just for notebooks, you know

    AOpen has equipped its MiniPC line-up with Intel's mobile Core 2 Duo processor - aka 'Merom' - the company said today, neatly avoiding World+Dog's announcements yesterday of notebooks based on the chip giant's latest next-generation part. AOpen said its MiniPC MP945-X and MP945-VXR small form-factor systems would be offered …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 11:19

  • eBay dials Google for 'click-to-call' advertising

    Giants team up for high-tech QVC

    Google will give eBay a taste of its lucrative advertising business when the two companies team up to plaster the online auction site with advertising from early 2007. For its trouble, Google will get to trial "click-to-call" marketing in a heavy traffic environment through the joint venture. VoIP-enabled eBayers will be able …

    Financial News 29 Aug 2006, 11:22

  • Dog crashes car during driving lesson

    Chinese Fido fails steering challenge

    A Chinese dog owner who allowed her mutt to take the wheel of her car promptly crashed headlong into an oncoming car, Xinhua News Agency reports. Mrs Li from Hohhot, the capital of Chinese Inner Mongolia, admitted her dog was "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive". Accordingly, she decided it …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 11:31

  • Nokia 8800 Sirocco to blow in next month

    A mighty wind

    Nokia will next month ship an enhanced version of its Nokia 8800 luxury slider phone, upping the handset's camera to two megapixels and re-naming its the 8800 Sirocco. Like its predecessor, the wind-themed 8800 sports a 208 x 208, 262,144-colour display, 64MB of Flash memory, tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE cellular radio, Bluetooth …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 11:45

  • Europe temps cause icy chaos in the US

    Gigantic butterfly blamed

    The Butterfly Effect theory has it that a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world could cause a hurricane on the other side of the globe. Now, we're not suggesting the reported 1777°C high in London a couple of weeks ago was a matter in any way belittled by comparison to a butterfly, but energy has to come from …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 11:59

  • Wi-Fi Alliance to certify 802.11n ahead of IEEE standard

    Compatible. Maybe.

    The Wi-Fi Alliance is to start certifying 802.11n products in March 2007, despite the fact the standard won't be completed until the following year, according to CNet. Devices will be tested for conformance to the draft standard, and for interoperability, which have been the major concerns of buyers to date. Anyone buying 802. …

    Data Networking 29 Aug 2006, 12:01

  • Brazilians unearth new monster dino species

    Maxakalisaurus topai, come on down

    Brazilian paleontologists who have spend the last four years piecing togther fragments of a monster dinosaur have declared it a new species of the Titanosauria group - a 13 metre, nine-tonne beast snappily dubbed Maxakalisaurus topai, Reuters reports. The herbivorous giant - dating back 80m years and characterised by "large …

    Biology 29 Aug 2006, 12:50

  • Wireless Brits just want to do it in the garden

    While stealing bandwidth

    An AOL survey of more than 2,000 UK internet users reveals the popularity of wireless surfing: more than a third have wireless access and 84 per cent of those use it at home. However, the vast majority of those (75 per cent) only got wireless in the last 18 months, and almost half (39 per cent) in the last six. When it comes …

    Wireless 29 Aug 2006, 12:56

  • AOL software labelled as 'badware'

    Health inspectors find fault with client code

    Privacy watchdogs have slapped a health warning on the latest version of AOL's client software, AOL 9.0. StopBadware.org, an academic project supported by the likes of Sun and Google that aims to establish a neighbourhood watch-style scheme to put pressure on purveyors of unsavoury programs, has taken the unusual step of …

    Malware 29 Aug 2006, 13:01

  • Gang robs eBay car buyer at gunpoint

    Auction scam relieves victim of £5,500

    A gang which set up a fake eBay car auction robbed the would-be buyer at gunpoint when he met to close the deal, The Daily Mirror reports. Shahzad Ali Shah, 23, agreed to meet the "seller" in Dagenham after successfully negotiating to buy the Mercedes Benz Kompressor C180. Shah felt "assured" by the vendor's 92.3 per cent …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 13:08

  • Car industry must cut CO2 or face legislation

    EC preps new page in statute books

    The European Commission has warned car makers that they need to do more to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of the vehicles they produce, or they risk EU-wide legislation being drafted. The commission announced that CO2 emissions from cars have fallen 12.4 per cent since 1995, but said this was not enough if the industry is …

    Science 29 Aug 2006, 13:39

  • London school to fingerprint students

    But only to monitor attendance, school claims

    A London school is to embark on a trial to fingerprint children when they return to school. Holland Park School is believed to be one of the first schools in the UK to seek to fingerprint every pupil in an effort to monitor their attendance. The school said it will test the system, costing about £4,500, on pupils who are late …

    ID 29 Aug 2006, 14:28

  • Free legal music downloads in time for Christmas

    Advert-powered 'iTunes killer' takes to the stage

    It had to happen. A new legal music download service will be launched in December which will offer MP3s free at the point of delivery. New York-based Spiralfrog says its site will be fully funded by advertising. The firm has some heavyweight backing in the shape of Vivendi Universal Music Group. Research apparently revealed …

    Financial News 29 Aug 2006, 14:31

  • Home Office coughs to five database breaches

    The internal menace

    Security at the British Home Office's Identity and Passport Service (IPS) database has been compromised four times, with individuals' data used inappropriately by Home Office employees and contractors. A fifth breach has hit a Prison Service database. In three of the cases workers were able to access data they had no authority …

    Public Sector 29 Aug 2006, 14:43

  • NBC aplogises for Emmys plane crash skit

    Conan O'Brien spoof lands in hot water

    NBC has apologised for a sketch in its Emmy Awards programme which showed presenter Conan O'Brien aboard a private jet that crash landed on a desert island. The pre-recorded skit - meant as a spoof on "some of television's most well-known scenes", according to an NBC statement - was shown on the same day as a Comair CRJ-100 jet …

    Entertainment 29 Aug 2006, 15:07

  • World of Warcraft fingered in iPod aircraft terror alert

    Gamer accidently flushes device down toilet

    A World of Warcraft aficionado travelling from Chicago to Canada earlier this month to hook up with fellow gamers sparked an airborne terror alert after accidently flushing his iPod down the toilet. A short report in the Ottawa Citizen states: "A suspicious package found in an aircraft washroom on a flight from Chicago on …

    Music and Media 29 Aug 2006, 15:17

  • Botnet herder jailed over hospital attack

    Hacker gets three years for adware assault

    A California man has been jailed for three years and one month over a botnet attack that floored tens of thousands of computers including systems at a Seattle hospital, a California school district, and US Department of Defence machines. Christopher Maxwell, 21, of Vacaville, California, was also sentenced to three years …

    Enterprise Security 29 Aug 2006, 15:22

  • TrendNet ClearSky Bluetooth 2.0 Skype handset

    Review Cordless VoIP calls

    The time will surely come when someone ships a really sexy Skype-friendly handset. Until then we'll have to make do with gadgets like TrendNet's ClearSky. But what this device lacks in looks it makes up for in functionality: not only good integration with the Skype service itself but also a Bluetooth wireless connection for …

    Reg Hardware 29 Aug 2006, 15:24

  • Cassiopeia A gets papped by Hubble

    Pretty pictures

    Hubble has snapped yet another stunning picture of a not-too-distant part of the galaxy. This time, the relatively nearby supernova remnant known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A) poses nicely for the camera, revealing intricate details of the remains of the star. The picture has been built from 18 separate images taken by Hubble's …

    Space 29 Aug 2006, 15:50

  • Footballers harvest babies for stem cell 'repair kits'

    But what do the WAGs think?

    Premiership footballers have apparently swapped their copies of The Beano for Nature and jumped on the stem cell bandwagon. The Sunday Times reported this weekend that the overpaid sportsmen are having their newborns' umbilical cords cryogenically frozen in a bid to preserve cells they could later use to repair their knackered …

    Biology 29 Aug 2006, 15:55

  • Analog Dylan kidnapped, replaced by digital Dylan?

    Judas!

    Last week, you may recall, Rolling Stone reported Bob Dylan's views on modern digital production technology. It was so bad, the great man suggested, he that he couldn't blame people downloading it for free on the internet. That was all it was worth, he said. But what's this? In a commercial promo over on Apple's iTunes site, …

    Entertainment 29 Aug 2006, 18:45

  • IBM sends Power5+ downstream

    With four cores

    IBM last week took care of its low-end System P Unix gear by outfitting the systems with new Power5+ chips and multi-core modules. Customers will now find a 2.1GHz version of Power5+ available across IBM's entire Unix system line. Back in July, IBM started offering the same 2.1GHz chip with its high-end Unix boxes - the p5 590 …

    Servers 29 Aug 2006, 18:57

  • Microsoft extends legacy products support

    Forward looking statement

    Microsoft is breathing more life into older versions of its products by offering businesses extended coverage for fixing security problems and bugs. Large companies running old favorites Windows NT 4.0, Exchange Server 5.5 and Windows XP Service Pack 1 can expect at least three more years of support from Microsoft after it …

    Operating Systems 29 Aug 2006, 20:09

  • Google's CEO picks up side gig as Apple board member

    Gets paid for Jobs worship

    Google today revitalized its attempt to make the company in Apple's image by sending CEO Eric Schmidt over to Apple as a board member. The good doctor can now pal around with other Apple board members, including Al Gore, Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson and, of course, Steve Jobs. Schmidt already sits on Google's board and on the …

    IT Director 29 Aug 2006, 23:38