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8th September 2006 Archive

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  • IBM greenlights Eclipse paid support

    Wants your huddling masses

    IBM is introducing paid support for users of development tools using Eclipse, while expanding its own products running on the open source framework. IBM will charge $400 per developer each year for tools running on Eclipse. The deal will apparently extend beyond IBM's own Rational suite to software distributed by Eclipse.org …

    Applications 8 Sep 2006, 08:08

  • Red Hat heads security initiative

    Government-backed

    Red Hat is leading an initiative allowing software companies to brief users of a US government-backed security database on how far vulnerabilities affect their products. The Linux vendor has asked that companies can now comment on security holes listed by the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), in order to provide deeper …

    Operating Systems 8 Sep 2006, 08:12

  • Researchers scale world's tallest tree

    378-foot coast redwood

    Researchers in California have found what they reckon is the world's tallest tree - a coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) standing at a mighty 378.1 feet (115.2 metres), Reuters reports. The giant, dubbed "Hyperion", is one of a trio of monsters discovered in dense forest in the Redwood National Park near Eureka. The …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 08:53

  • Russian ICBM test ends in premature splashdown

    Sub-based Bulava palaver

    A test launch of a next-generation, submarine-launched Russian ICBM ended in failure yesterday when the missile crashed into the White Sea shortly after launch, news agency Novosti reports. The Bulava was fired from Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine the Dmitry Donskoi. Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo confirmed the …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 08:55

  • Global mobile phone connections hit 2.5bn

    Emerging markets spark growth

    The total number of mobile connections in the world reached 2.5bn on Thursday, having passed the two billion mark just 12 months ago. That's according to estimates from Wireless Intelligence, a body set up by research firm Ovum and the GSM Association. "The cellular industry took 20 years to reach one billion connections, …

    Mobile 8 Sep 2006, 09:12

  • HP phone log black op tapped nine reporters

    Hurd silent on growing scandal

    HP's spy fiasco went from bad to catastrophic yesterday, as the company admitted to having tapped the phone logs of nine reporters. So far, two reporters from CNET and one from the Wall Street Journal have disclosed that their phone records were obtained by the company HP hired for its investigation into boardroom leaks. Six …

    Financial News 8 Sep 2006, 09:17

  • Tech companies oppose WIPO treaty on TV rights

    Signal piracy clampdown 'unnecessary'

    Dell, HP, AT&T, Sony and others have joined forces to oppose a plan that would give broadcasters a whole new set of intellectual property rights over television programmes. They will fight to stop the UN proposal being adopted internationally. The plan being opposed is a new broadcast treaty from UN agency the World …

    Media 8 Sep 2006, 09:20

  • When open source is not enough

    The case for open development

    There was some interesting buzz about the state of open source going around ApacheCon in Dublin. On one hand, Apache is - and is widely seen as - a moderate, pragmatic voice in the FOSS world: the Apache license is explicitly business-friendly, and the conference was very happy to welcome the arch-enemy of more dogmatic FOSS …

    Developer 8 Sep 2006, 09:38

  • Flexispy release causes legality debate

    Trojan row

    A piece of software which allows a user to track another person's mobile phone use would be almost impossible to use in the UK without breaking the law, according to a surveillance law expert. Flexispy is the controversial software being sold by Thailand and UK-based Vervata. Vervata's Flexispy.com site says that it is the " …

    Security 8 Sep 2006, 09:53

  • Earth-like planets could litter the galaxy

    Lots of places to escape to

    Would-be galactic colonists got a boost this week when a paper in the journal Science suggested that Earth-like planets might be more common than previously thought. Despite the fact that almost all of the extra-solar planets we have detected have been gas giants - often much bigger than Jupiter - research from the US suggests …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 10:03

  • Galaxy of saboteurs trashes 'Save the Blair' petition

    'Imaginative proposals for developing the supporters network' - T Blair

    What does the embattled loyalist do when the Dear Leader is on the ropes, bombarded by round-robins from party and former friends demanding his head before the local elections, before Christmas, now, if sooner than that isn't possible? Why, set up a supporters site and get people to sign a petition, of course. A petition that …

    Media 8 Sep 2006, 10:09

  • BT and Virgin announce broadcast TV over DAB

    October launch for Lobster 700TV handset

    Virgin has announced an October launch for its Lobster 700TV handset, which can receive video and radio over the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) network. BT has been trying to generate interest in broadcasting video to mobile phones over DAB for a few years now, but the logistics of designing a compatible handset and …

    Mobile 8 Sep 2006, 10:11

  • Just how buggy is Firefox?

    Code analysis row after tool identifies 611 defects

    Security researchers that carried out a code analysis of popular open source browser Firefox using automated tools, have discovered scores of potential defects and security vulnerabilities despite coming to the conclusion that the software was generally well written. A former Mozilla developer has criticised the methodology of …

    Applications 8 Sep 2006, 10:14

  • Exhausted panda mum crushes cub

    Chinese zoo tragedy

    A giant panda at a zoo in China's Chongqing municipality is inconsolable after she nodded off and crushed one of her two-day-old twin cubs to death. A zoo official told Chongqing Morning Post: "She had been devoting all of her attention to the baby for about 56 hours since its birth without any rest." Chongqing Business News …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 10:18

  • BenQ launches compact camera duo

    Unidentical twins

    BenQ has launched two very similar compact digital cameras. Apart from the CCD megapixel ratings and price - the C740 is 7 megapixel camera retailing at £139.99, and the C540 offers 5 megapixels for £89.99 - the models appear to be identical. The pair sport a 2.5inch LCD screen and a Pentax lens with 3x optical zoom. The …

    Hardware 8 Sep 2006, 10:24

  • Reg readers give forth on mobile email

    Debate round-up

    Thank you to all who took the time to comment on the recent article "Mobile email: Let's have a heated debate." Although there are some differences of opinion, nearly all our commentators felt that mobile email is a valuable tool. There's clearly a sentiment in some circles that the BlackBerry and its cousins are ego tools …

    Mobile 8 Sep 2006, 10:45

  • IBM takes 'Broadway' to the Nintendo stage

    Wii processor ready to roll

    IBM is to start shipping its "Broadway" PowerPC processor to Nintendo for use in its Wii games console. Broadway uses a 90 nm SOI CMOS process and is manufactured at IBM's East Fishkill, NY, fabrication facility on 300mm wafers. The press release doesn't provide any new information about the technology behind Wii and we …

    Games 8 Sep 2006, 11:02

  • SMART-1 smashes into moon mountain

    Possibly

    The first grainy images of SMART-1's lunar crash landing have been released by the European Space Agency, and suggest that the probe ended its days on the side of a lunar mountain. The mosaic (right) is composed of fifteen infrared images taken by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) 3 September 2006. The sequence shows …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 11:04

  • Foxconn enters the graphics card market with a bang

    Announces complete Nvidia range

    Taiwanese component manufacturer Foxconn has announced a range of Nvidia chipped cards that stretch from a GeForce 7950 GX2 down to a 7100GS, with the whole gamut of 7900, 7600 and 7300 models in between. While it may be tempting to write this off as yet another company joining a graphics market that is straining at the …

    Hardware 8 Sep 2006, 11:08

  • BOFH: Retirement plan

    Episode 30 It's as easy as ones and zeros

    So the PFY and I are having a quick three hour lunch at the pub across the road when George, our faithful cleaner, walks in looking a little bit despondent. "Everything all right George?" the PFY asks, noticing his unhappy visage. "What? Oh, no, not really." "What's the matter?" "They're, uh, forcing me to retire," he …

    BOFH 8 Sep 2006, 11:25

  • T-Mobile pushes into email

    Adds BlackBerry Pearl and Nokia E61 to list

    T-Mobile has expanded its range of email devices with the addition of the Nokia E61 and BlackBerry Pearl. T-Mobile will supply the E61 with web'n'walk internet on the move, with Co Pilot Live 6 satellite navigation software as an option. The E61 will be on sale in T-Mobile stores from free up to £159.99, depending on price …

    Phones 8 Sep 2006, 12:00

  • Government dummies and HP's black ops

    To subscribe to The Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of IT in a single hit - click here

    Storage standards ahoy! An array of storage stories this week, sorry, – thanks to Storage Networking World in Frankfurt. There are mutterings over specifications which are meant to make more storage kit interoperable. Who could object to that you say? Well, if two people agree in the computing world it's either an industry …

    Business 8 Sep 2006, 12:51

  • Intel plotting vPro for Apple

    New business platform coming soon to a Mac near you

    Intel's brand new vPro desktop platform started shipping in business PCs yesterday and could already be on its way for Macs. At the launch of the Core 2 Duo-based chipset yesterday in Antwerp, Intel digital office division general manager Greg Bryant said plans were being discussed to bring the Advanced Manageability …

    Management 8 Sep 2006, 13:14

  • Massive lands ad deal with EA Games

    Need for Speed, Carbon first to the starter's block

    It didn't take long before Microsoft's ownership of in-game advertising network Massive has opened a few doors and the company has landed its first game deals with gaming giant Electronic Arts Games (EA). The Xbox and PC versions of four new EA game releases will have Massive software included in them, which means that Massive …

    Bootnotes 8 Sep 2006, 13:21

  • The box that broke Enigma code is rebuilt

    Turing Bombe replica goes on show

    Enthusiasts have succeeded in rebuiling a Nazi code cracking device, signaling the culmination of a 10-year project. The replica Turing Bombe, a recreation of an electromagnetic machine used by British codebreakers to help decipher Nazi codes used during World War Two, was unveiled on Wednesday at Bletchley Park, the centre of …

    Security 8 Sep 2006, 13:23

  • Samsung Telecom plays unwilling host to Trojan

    Stowaway spyware alert

    The Samsung Telecom's site is inadvertently hosting malware, according to web security firm Websense. The US-based site contains a number directories and files which, if downloaded and run, install malicious code on end-users' machines. Among the nasties currently housed on the site is a Trojan horse designed to log data …

    Security 8 Sep 2006, 13:50

  • MySpace music deal poses multiple threats

    Comment Rivals iTunes and record labels

    News Corp's MySpace may just have found a way around the piracy laws that dog the sale of online music, and may, as a result, throw up the most likely candidate to challenge iTunes. The answer seems to lie in the fact that both the bands and the buyers are all members of the same social networking service. What MySpace has …

    Media 8 Sep 2006, 13:53

  • Terrorists could attack aircraft with gel-filled bras

    KY Jelly: al-Qaeda's new weapon of fear?

    In the time-honoured Register tradition of offering terrorists top tips* on how to bring down airliners, we'd like this afternoon to draw al-Qaeda's attention to two possible ways of getting binary liquid explosives through security: gel-filled bras and KY Jelly. Both, according to the US's Transport Security Administration …

    Security 8 Sep 2006, 13:56

  • Stuff your own ballot with children's fingerprints

    Letters Top reader tips

    The government confirmed this week that schools can fingerprint children without asking parents for consent. This is such hideous news that Brown and Blair had to stage an immediate "coup attempt" to divert media attention from the issue. Didn't work though, and you lot are none too pleased about the plan: Sooner or later …

    Letters 8 Sep 2006, 14:30

  • Welsh company makes crap greetings cards

    Sheep Poo Paper

    A Welsh company has won a £20,000 Millennium Award for turning sheep droppings into "greetings cards and gifts", the BBC reports. The secret of Snowdonia-based Creative Paper Wales's "Sheep Poo Paper" is that your ovines only digest half of what they eat. Accordingly, the company scours the nearby mountains for the raw material …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 14:33

  • Formac adds Performance trio

    3ms response TFTs

    Formac has added three 19inch TFT displays to its range. These fall under a new category of Performance models which is added to the existing range of Professional models. The Gallery 1900 TNX is available in black, white or silver, or rather the bezel and two tabs on the stand are in the stated colour, but the overall …

    Hardware 8 Sep 2006, 14:51

  • MPs condemn NHS IT

    Local health systems for local people

    Two members of the Public Accounts Committee have condemned the centrally-run management of the National Programme for IT and called for a return to local decision making and procurement. Conservative MP for South Norfolk Richard Bacon and Liberal Democrat MP for Southport John Pugh picked the programme to pieces in a paper …

    Policy 8 Sep 2006, 15:12

  • Foghorn McLeghorn threatened with Asbo

    Scottish council attempts to slap cock

    A Scottish council is pursuing a cock with the threat of an Asbo if it refuses to cap its ear-splitting doodle-dooing. Borders council says three-year-old Charlie's crowing exceeds a 30 decibel limit set by the World Health Organisation, beyond which kip is made difficult, The Scotsman reports. Charlie lives in the town of …

    Bootnotes 8 Sep 2006, 15:16

  • Why can't I remember my own birth?

    Perhaps we actually can...

    Also in this week's column: Why don't we suffer from e. coli all the time? Why do some people feel the cold more than others? Can you become intoxicated by the power of suggestion? Why can't I remember my own birth? Asked by Jon Bovard of London, United Kingdom The subject of birth memory is very controversial among …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 15:31

  • Why do some people feel the cold more than others?

    Some like it hot

    Also in this week's column: Can you become intoxicated by the power of suggestion? Why can't I remember my own birth? Why don't we suffer from e. coli all the time? Why do some people feel the cold more than others? Asked by Mick Higgins of Toronto, Canada Human body temperature is a measure of the body's ability to keep …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 15:32

  • Why don't we suffer from E. coli all the time?

    Beneficial bacteria?

    Also in this week's column: Can you become intoxicated by the power of suggestion? Why can't I remember my own birth? Why do some people feel the cold more than others? Why don't we suffer from E. coli all the time? How soon does E.coli colonise in the intestines of a newborn baby, and how does it get into the intestines …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 15:32

  • Can you become intoxicated by the power of suggestion?

    Mind over matter

    Also in this week's column: Why can't I remember my own birth? Why don't we suffer from e. coli all the time? Why do some people feel the cold more than others? Can you become intoxicated by the power of suggestion? Asked by Jeff Johnson of Sheffield, United Kingdom Mind over matter goes a long way. Reports of …

    Science 8 Sep 2006, 15:34

  • Albatron takes off with speedy graphics card

    GeForce 7950GT

    Albatron has been quick off the mark with its new GeForce 7950GT. The core is clocked at 550MHz and the 512MB of DDR3 memory runs at an effective 1.4GHz, so it's a reference design through and through. Albatron is pushing the fact that the card has a DVI connector and Dual Link DVI connector for HDTV and TV-out connectivity …

    Hardware 8 Sep 2006, 15:42

  • Trekkies hit Seattle for show's 40th birthday

    Stars rub shoulders with hoi polloi

    Star Trek fans and cast members are assembling in Seattle for a three-day shindig to celebrate the show's fortieth Birthday. The first episode of the cult space adventure franchise was shown in the US on 8 September 1966. Among the stars rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi are Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhuru), George Takei ( …

    Bootnotes 8 Sep 2006, 15:47

  • Akasa Integral P2 LAN

    Review Easy to use networked storage

    Network attached storage – or NAS as it’s widely known – isn’t the easiest thing to set up, but it can be very useful, especially if you want to be able to share data between several computers in an easy and affordable manner. Enter NDAS - Network Direct Attached Storage – a much simpler way of getting shared storage onto your …

    Hardware 8 Sep 2006, 15:53

  • Facebook mods controversial 'stalker-friendly' feature

    About face

    User protests have forced social network site Facebook to radically re-design its controversial News Feed feature, which critics argue is a Godsend for stalkers. As originally launched earlier this week, News Feed appears automatically on every user's home page, updating members about recent Facebook activities by that person's …

    Media 8 Sep 2006, 22:24

  • CEO Hurd responds to spy scandal with HP ad

    Piling it on

    HP today released a message from CEO Mark Hurd that vaguely addresses the company's ongoing spy scandal. The missive serves more as an advertisement than a real confrontation with the issues affecting HP. Hurd has still failed to disclose whether his phone records were tapped as part of HP's spy investigation. In addition, he …

    Financial News 8 Sep 2006, 23:20