15th September 2006 Archive
Browse by publication date, or search the site.
-
Red Hat takes Xen baby step
In brief A timid little guy
Red Hat has lurched closer toward the Xen server virtualization package by including the software in a beta release of its server operating system. And now the company is begging people to test out just how well Xen functions with RHEL 5. "The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Beta 1 release contains virtualization on the i386 and …
Servers 15 Sep 2006, 00:16
-
Mistakes in identity
Breaking up your identity can be good for security
No system works perfectly all the time, but for something as fundamental as being able to prove who you are and get access to what you’re supposed to be able to do, we need to set things up so there’s a fall-back plan. Breaking your identity up into pieces is good for security as long as we have audit trails and procedures for …
ID 15 Sep 2006, 03:14
-
Milky Way's spiral was a late addition
Galactic home improvement
Scientists think they have found evidence that the middle of our galaxy formed separately and at a different time to the spiralling arms in which we reside. Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) noticed that the stars in the galactic bulge, as it is known, have a different chemical …
Space 15 Sep 2006, 06:56
-
Mobile TV, too good to give away?
Finally: a use for that unlimited data tariff
Rok, which recently launched their Bluetooth VoIP application for mobile phones, has now launched a free TV service with video content available for a range of handsets and without any charge. Users are required to sign up at Rok's website - although few details are required - and a WAP link is sent to their handset. All the …
Mobile 15 Sep 2006, 06:58
-
Broadband report highlights 'two-speed' Europe
Nothing rotten in Denmark
Sixty four million people now have broadband access across the 25 countries of the EU, but Ireland remains near the bottom of the pile in terms of penetration. That's according to the latest Broadband Scorecard, from the European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), which reveals that broadband penetration across …
Telecoms 15 Sep 2006, 07:13
-
Mobile phones drive down costs
Leeds opts for BT fusion
Leeds City Council is to pilot a new telephone device that will enable flexible working while reducing the cost of phone calls Leeds employees involved in the pilot, due to begin on 18 September 2006, will be given dual mobile phones that incorporate regular GSM and WiFi connectivity. Calls made from these phones will connect …
Mobile 15 Sep 2006, 07:18
-
Apple marches out Boot Camp update
Core 2 Duo-based Mac support
Apple has updated its Windows-on-Mac utility, Boot Camp. The latest release, version 1.1.1 and still a beta test incarnation, primarily incorporates support for the Apple's recently released Core 2 Duo-based iMacs. The 186MB download is little changed from version 1.1, released last month after Apple shipped its Mac Pro …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 08:49
-
Apple fan runs iTunes movie marathon
Comment 30-minute download? Pah!
Yesterday evening, as America finished its working day, and Europe settled in for the evening, I started to download my first iTunes movie. I'm in Gresham, Norfolk and I have a BT/Virgin broad band connection, which actually works very well. My wife Maggie selected the iTunes movie (Flight Plan) and I bought it from the iTunes …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 08:58
-
MS intros Zune music service, Wi-Fi song sharing
Tight-lipped on prices, availability
Microsoft yesterday revealed what World+Dog already knew: what it's upcoming Zune-branded digital music player will look like. Yes, the star of US Federal Communications Commission filings and blurry, amateur-look picture leaks is official. As expected, Zune will incorporate a 30GB hard drive and a 3in display. Unlike the …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 09:14
-
JVC constructs 'pulsating sphere' near-ideal audio source
Looks a bit Blakes 7 though...
JVC has developed what it claims is the "ideal sound source" loudspeaker. Well, almost - the company described its "pulsating sphere" system as "very close" to its goal of creating "a natural, near-perfect sound field". It's not a true sphere, either. Each speaker is actually a 10cm-diameter dodecahedron containing 11 …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 09:51
-
Brits ignore bloke trapped down manhole
Good show
There was a time when Britons could leave the security of their homes and venture forth safe in the knowledge that in the unlikely event of falling down a manhole, their fellow citizens would at least have the courtesy to stop and enquire: "Hello, are you from the Water Board or are you down that manhole involuntarily?" Not any …
Bootnotes 15 Sep 2006, 09:51
-
MS flirts with online Works
The rumour mill churneth
Microsoft is planning to shake up its MS Works package, possibly making it available over the web. The almost-announcement follows Google's declaration of interest in the software market at the end of last month. The move, which has been confirmed as in the pipeline by Microsoft, is a tricky one for the company. Although it …
Applications 15 Sep 2006, 09:56
-
ATI readies 80nm desktop GPUs for October?
ATI will unveil Radeon X1950 Pro and X1650 XT graphics chips and add-in cards on 17 October, according to reports from Taiwanese moles and leaked documents intended for the company's customers. The cards are expected to be the first to sport ATI's new internal CrossFire connector, which differs from Nvidia's SLI link by …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 10:06
-
Virgin Galactic goes Starck raving bonkers
LogoWatch 'Earth to Richard Branson, over...'
We at the Vulture Central LogoWatch Soviet have a shameful admission to make this morning: we've been holding off on reporting on the new Virgin Galactic logo in the hope that, in return for our silence, Sir Richard Branson would call and offer us the free space-flight ticket which William Shatner recently turned down. Well, …
Space 15 Sep 2006, 10:26
-
Trolltech prices up coder-friendly Linux phone
Greenphone not cheap
Trolltech's Linux-based handset, the Greenphone, will set curious coders back at least $695, the company has revealed. The device, announced in August this year, it pitched at software developers rather than consumers or businesspeople. Trolltech said the device itself costs $695. The company plans to ship the Greenphone …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 10:33
-
Line up for parallelism
It could be the way of the future
While doing some research for another project I came across an arguably old idea being re-visited - or perhaps that should read "disinterred". Parallel processing is, a growing number of people believe, not just the way of the future but the only way real development progress is likely to be made in future. Parallelism is not …
Developer 15 Sep 2006, 10:37
-
Censorship, naughty teens, biometrics and butt-plugs
Letters Intriguing, no?
This one just isn't going away. To recap, for those who did not fingerprint themselves into earlier lessons: The information Comissioner's Office rules that schools can fingerprint pupils without parental consent. You are all outraged. Next, a headteacher explains that he's quite happy and so are the parents. Then, the NUT …
Letters 15 Sep 2006, 10:58
-
Apple iPhone 'on track' for early '07 intro, mole claims
Echoes analyst's allegation
The Apple iPhone displayed on a French news magazine this week may not be the Real McCoy, but behind the scenes the development of the Mac maker's first foray into phone hardware is continuing apace with a view to an early 2007 introduction, it has been claimed. According to a source "with direct connections to [Apple's] …
Mobile 15 Sep 2006, 10:59
-
Why does natural selection take so long to get results?
Survival of the fittest
Also in this week's column: Why isn't pubic hair the same colour as hair on your head? Are there people with no sense of smell? Why does natural selection take so long to get results? Asked by Colin Jackson of Telford, UK The reader further asks, "when controlled breeding programs can get results in a relatively much …
Biology 15 Sep 2006, 11:02
-
Why isn't pubic hair the same colour as hair on your head?
Got you by the short and curlies
Also in this week's column: Why does natural selection take so long to get results? Are there people with no sense of smell? Why isn't pubic hair the same colour as hair on your head? Asked by Hannah Swain of The Hague, The Netherlands Just as with skin, the colour of hair is determined by the amount of melanin in the …
Biology 15 Sep 2006, 11:02
-
eBayer lays claim to net's dullest video
For sale: one washing machine, working...
Forget YouTube: eBay is the hip place to be if you want no-holds-barred video entertainment, as the vendor of this NEFF Washing Machine can prove: WTF, we hear you cry? An eBay washing machine auction challenging the mighty home of all that is great and good in homegrown visual entertainment? Have you gone mad? Well, try …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 11:10
-
Jealous ex used MySpace to plot hit: police
New tools, old jobs
An American woman has been accused of trying to hire someone to kill her ex-boyfriend's new lover after finding her details listed on his MySpace page. According to Arizona police, 22-year Heather Kane old paid an undercover officer $400, promising a further $600 once the job was done. "Basically, we got a murder for hire. A …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 11:16
-
Canadian shootings linked to website, videogames
The blame game
The task of apportioning blame has begun in earnest in the wake of the Montreal college shootings as Canada and its media try to digest the incident. Scrutiny has fallen on website vampirefreaks.com and gunman Kimveer Gill's favourite videogame Super Columbine Massacre. Gill, 25, maintained a profile on vampirefreaks.com, a …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 11:23
-
Witchdoctor orders Serb to have sex with hedgehog
Sonic pin ball
A Serbian man who went to a witchdoctor in search of a cure for premature ejaculation rather foolishly took the shaman's advice, viz: have sex with a hedgehog. You know the rest: Zoran Nikolovic, 35, from Belgrade, ended up in the hospital with severe lacerations to his wedding tackle, according to Ananova. A hospital spokesman …
Bootnotes 15 Sep 2006, 11:34
-
Man makes Xbox 360 laptop
First mod that's actually useful?
Xbox 360 buffs who think their next-generation games console is just too darned bulky for gaming on move - not to mention the TV you'd have to lug around - should take heart from fellow fan Ben Heckendorn who decided enough was enough and re-configured his console into a laptop form-factor. Not that you'd necessarily want to …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 11:36
-
Nominet solves rogue domain seller problem
Transfer price reduction removes incentive.
Nominet has gone a long way toward solving the problem of rogue domain sellers in the UK by reducing transfer fees. From 1 October, the company that oversees the .uk registry will slash the cost of moving .uk domain names both between agents and actual owners. The result will not only improve competition within the domain name …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 11:55
-
Reg hack 'retarded and needs help'
FoTW 'All you UK fags are like that'
There are times we at El Reg feel like laying down our quill pens, extinguishing the gas lamps and exiting the gloom of Vulture Central, never to return. And here's why: try this response to Chris Williams' recent Steve Irwin obit... Exactly what are you referring to when you say hacks? Your paper states "Register readers and …
Letters 15 Sep 2006, 11:59
-
Little Murdoch's 'scary' warning to BT
Who's the Daddy?
James Murdoch has put the willies up BT with his don't mess with us, you'll end up "in a scary place" warning. Quite where this "scary place" can be found is uncertain, but something akin to a walk in the woods. At night time. With only the Murdochs and a shovel for company is one image that immediately springs to mind. James …
Telecoms 15 Sep 2006, 12:09
-
Are there people with no sense of smell?
Scentsory loss
Also in this week's column: Why does natural selection take so long to get results? Why isn't pubic hair the same colour as hair on your head? Are there people with no sense of smell? Asked by Lucy Altmann of St Kilda, Victoria, Australia People who cannot smell suffer from some form of nasal dysfunction. Anosmia is the …
Biology 15 Sep 2006, 12:16
-
Anti-spam crusaders slapped with $11.7m judgement
Spamhaus unfazed by 'unenforceable' ruling
A US court has ordered anti-spam organisation Spamhaus to pay $11.7m in damages for "illegally" listing email marketing firm e360insight as an affiliate of a known spammer, an entry that meant users of Spamhaus's mail filtering advisory system would not have received email from e360insight. The Illinois court also imposed an …
Spam 15 Sep 2006, 12:20
-
Investors betting against Sportingbet extradition
Chairman falls on his sword
News the arrest of Sportingbet chairman Peter Dicks may not lead to a court case has caused a sustained rally in the UK-based online gambling sites shares. Stock closed at £1.53 Wednesday, and at time of writing Friday had climbed to £1.85. Dicks was collared by New York customs officials who spotted his name on a Louisiana …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 12:24
-
Toshiba readies revised HD DVD players
Samsung plans Blu-ray machine update too
Toshiba is to update its North American HD DVD player line-up, the company said yesterday, bringing the US-oriented products launch in March this year into line with the European models announced earlier this month. Separately, it emerged this week that Samsung will update its BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player's firmware next …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 12:34
-
SWIFT stalled EU probe of US snooping
Stuck between a rock and a hard place
European authorities squaring up to the US over its secret surveillance of international financial records were caught off-guard when the firm caught in the middle of the tussle failed to volunteer key evidence. The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) was called before EU privacy watchdog the …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 12:43
-
Macs in better service than PCs shocker
And everyone better than PC World
The three biggest home computer names are the ones consumers are most likely to recommend to friends, a Which? survey said today, suggesting branding has as much power in the consumer PC market as it does for sports shoes. Perhaps surprisingly, given Dell's recent record of marketing incendiary devices as laptops, both they …
Channel Register 15 Sep 2006, 12:46
-
Lite-On to ship HD DVD drive next year
Blu-ray Disc supporter backs rival format too
Optical drive maker Lite-On has decided to support the HD DVD next-generation optical disc format as well as rival technology Blu-ray Disc. Lite-On's first, half-height HD DVD drive will come to market in March 2007, it said. To date, Lite-On has been a strong supporter of Blu-ray. Not that you'd know it from today's …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 13:08
-
PC market slows but outlook positive: IDC
Q2 forces down full year forecast
Growth in the worldwide PC market dipped below 10 per cent in the second quarter of 2006, according to latest figures from IDC. Over 52 million units were shipped globally, representing growth in the quarter of 9.8 per cent. This is 0.6 per cent below expectations and slower than in recent quarters. In light of the results …
Servers 15 Sep 2006, 13:18
-
Nintendo: Wii to come to Europe on 8 December
Pricing, games details announced
Nintendo will ship its Wii console in Europe on Friday, 8 December, six days after the machine's Japanese debut and three weeks after the next-generation gaming system ships in the US. Wii will retail for around £179/€249, Nintendo said. European Wiis will bundle Wii Sports, Nintendo revealed. Other titles will cost between £ …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 13:24
-
Spies, Big Brother and sweaty cops' fingerprints
To subscribe to The Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of IT in a single hit - click here
Do you ever get one of those weeks where nothing seems to have happened, yet it’s been incredibly busy? Puzzling, isn’t it? Nothing and everything seems to have happened this week. So where to start? Well, if you thought that Big Brother finished last month you were wrong. Everyone from Welsh school kids to HP execs has come …
Business 15 Sep 2006, 13:45
-
Spammers feel the pinch from Feds
Sanctions against botnet operators
The Federal Trade Commission, the US consumer rights watchdog, has succeeded in shutting down four illegal spamming operations judged to have breached federal anti-spam laws. Targets of the lawsuits included an operation that offered the supposed chance to "date lonely wives" and two outfits that allegedly bombarded unwilling …
Spam 15 Sep 2006, 13:53
-
The iPod's Achilles Heel? It's er... Reader's Digest
Analysis Zune, eMusic, and subscriptions
One of the most interesting aspects of Microsoft's would-be iPod-killer Zune isn't technical at all. It has nothing to do with colour screens, codecs or disk capacity. But someone at Microsoft thinks they've found what may be the Achilles heel of Apple's end-to-end music delivery system, of which the iPod is simply the best …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 14:07
-
Shuttle XPC SD37P2 CrossFire-ready SFF PC
Review Small yet powerful?
The SD37P2 is the first Core 2 Duo-ready small form-factor XPC from Shuttle, but it has far more than support for Intel's latest processor on offer. For anyone looking at building a high-end SFF system, the SD37P2 supports ATI's CrossFire - the first SFF PC to do so - although you're limited to single slot cards. Is this the …
Reg Hardware 15 Sep 2006, 14:13
-
JK Rowling holds on tight to Harry
Where’s a Nimbus 2000 when you need one?
Caught up in the airline security scare last month, JK Rowling won an argument with New York airport officials to allow her to fly with her latest Harry Potter manuscript. Speaking on her website about being allowed on board with the manuscript, Rowling said: “I don’t know what I would have done if they hadn’t; sailed home, …
Entertainment 15 Sep 2006, 14:47
-
Legend Docklands sinks customers
Legendary snafu
Customers of Legend Communications have been scuppered by a series of mishaps at the hosting, VoIP and broadband provider this week. Email, IP telephony and domain name servers have all hit the skids, and service is still reported to be shoddy. A catastrophic power outage at Legend's Docklands IP House at 3am on Wednesday …
Data Networking 15 Sep 2006, 15:22
-
Universal to upload lawsuits to YouTube, MySpace?
Royalties, please
The chief of the world's biggest record label, Universal Music Group, has hinted that the company will sue the video sharing site YouTube for copyright infringement. "We believe these new businesses are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars," UMG boss Doug Morris told a conference this week. "How we deal …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 15:32
-
Journalists’ society condemns HP snooping
Hacked off
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) has blasted Hewlett-Packard after it was revealed that a private investigator was hired to obtain phone records of conversations between journalists and HP board members. In an official statement the SABEW said: “Such actions have a chilling effect on the journalistic …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 16:13
-
Mozilla security takes axe to redundant code
Slim is in
Mozilla Corporation has hired a former security strategist from Microsoft as part of its efforts to improve the security of its software, in particular its flagship Firefox web browser software. Window Snyder (sic), Mozilla's new Chief Security Something, an unusual job description but one not out of keeping for an organisation …
Security 15 Sep 2006, 16:24
-
Tired of linking, Yahoo! starts! making! the! news!
Scooportal
In case you didn't notice, Yahoo! is now a full participant in the journalism profession. The portal has a scoop. Earlier this week, Yahoo! reporters Charles Robinson and Jason Coles broke a story alleging that star footballer Reggie Bush and his family received financial perks while the running-back was still in school at USC …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 17:08
-
What the anarchist blogger case means to the rest of you globules
Valley Justice Gonna burn this city
The good times just keep rolling for blogger Josh Wolf. A panel of the Ninth Circuit has upheld, in an unpublished ruling, a contempt order against him for refusing to comply with a grand jury subpoena calling for the production, among other things, of a video he shot during an anarchist rally in San Francisco last July. Wolf …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 17:40
-
Digital rights activists take aim at EU data laws
See you in court
An Irish lobby group aims to dismantle Europe's laws forcing telecoms firms to retain phone and internet data on citizens. The group, Digital Rights Ireland, is taking a case both against the Irish Government and the European Directive on data retention. The action will begin in the High Court but is likely to be heard in the …
Music and Media 15 Sep 2006, 18:12
-
50 years of the hard drive
Comment Amazing, but ...
This week I attended an event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View that celebrated the golden anniversary of the IBM RAMAC 305, the first hard disk drive storage system. While the event seem well attended by various industry luminaries and at a least one TV station van, having my nine year-old son alongside me that …
Storage 15 Sep 2006, 18:32
-
Toshiba puts Lexar royalties spat to bed
Cost: $288m
Toshiba has settled its rancorous NAND flash memory lawsuit with Lexar, but at a hefty price. It is coughing up $288m to Micron, Lexar's new owner, and in return getting some semiconductor patents and licenses previously owned by Lexar. In a press statement announcing the ending of pending litigation between the two firms, …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 20:24
-
Freescale sells itself for $17.6bn cash – or more
Who knows, maybe something better will come along
Freescale Semi has accepted a $17.6bn offer from private-equity investors to buy the company. But there is a peculiar twist: the chip maker has reserved the right to seek a higher offer from other suitors over the next 50 days. Also, "Freescale may, at any time, subject to the terms of the merger agreement, respond to …
Financial News 15 Sep 2006, 22:35
-
Arnie terminates drivers with hands-on cell phones
Keeping California safe - but not yet
California is to ban the use of cell phones by drivers in a moving vehicle unless they are using a hands-free device. But not yet. Gov. Schwarzenegger today signed the bill which comes into force in July 2008 for private drivers and July 1, 2011 for drivers of commercial vehicles who use push-to-talk handsets. The fines for …
Mobile 15 Sep 2006, 23:56
