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19th September 2006 Archive

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  • Open source software still growing up

    Never mind the width...

    When it comes to software, "quality" seems to be winning over "free" if Evans Data Corp's latest sampling of the development community's pulse is anything to go by. BEA Systems' WebLogic Server has taken top overall honors in a poll of 700 developers evaluating nine Java application servers plus .NET from Microsoft. WebLogic …

    Developer 19 Sep 2006, 06:02

  • ATI RD600 to support three GPUs for science apps?

    Next-gen chipset coming next month, report claims

    ATI's RD600 chipset for Intel processors will launch next month, it has been claimed. Whether motherboard makers will back the product now that ATI is on the verge of being subsumed into Intel competitor AMD remains to be seen. The chipset had originally been scheduled to debut in August, a DigiTimes report claims. Certainly …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 08:05

  • HP investigation went further than previously thought

    Reporters followed, say leaks

    Officials at Hewlett-Packard have been asked to testify to the House of Representatives which is investigating the company's media leak investigations. Chairwoman Patricia Dunn and General Counsel Ann Baskins have been asked to testify. The firm has already admitted to hiring private investigators who obtained phone records of …

    Financial News 19 Sep 2006, 08:46

  • De Montfort mixes arts and science research cocktail

    Institute opens tomorrow

    In a bid to encourage more collaboration between the Arts and Sciences, De Montfort University Leicester is launching a new research institute it says will "defy the traditional boundaries of computer science, digital arts and humanities". Howard Rheingold, something of an internet guru, will be opening a small curtain at the …

    Science 19 Sep 2006, 09:09

  • Intel quad-core Core 2 Extreme to ship mid-November?

    Regular desktop CPUs to be Core 2 Quadros, apparently

    Intel's quad-core desktop processors will be branded Core 2 Quadro and Core 2 Extreme, Taiwanese motherboard maker moles have alleged. The chip giant's roadmaps have, in the past, indicated that the first quad-core desktop will be an Extreme-branded part. What's new is the name of the Extreme part, which is based on ' …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 09:12

  • Groping your way around the mobile device maze

    Mobile Workshop Too much choice?

    As part of our series of articles on mobile email, this week we’re tackling the subject of the mobile devices themselves. As the actual user interface of a mobile email solution, as well as a potential replacement or substitute of (for some at least) a very personal item, a number of interesting discussion points are raised. We’ …

    Mobile 19 Sep 2006, 09:32

  • El Reg scuttled by anti-piracy blockade

    Blackbeard, red faces

    There's a meeting of the film and music industry's anti-piracy captains in London today. The Fraud Advisory Panel's (FAP) conference has an interesting roster of speakers. There's Met anti-piracy DCI, the deputy director of technology for the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the British Phonographic …

    Music and Media 19 Sep 2006, 09:42

  • Beer trumps satellite comms on the Ionian Sea

    Blog Well, the Cook has a black belt

    Make your choice! What's more important - a cold beer, or a satellite communications system? Here we are, four of us on a Sunsail flotilla boat in the South Ionian Sea. Yes, yes, I know, it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it, and all that... but the thing is, the whole point of the trip is to gain some sailing …

    Data Networking 19 Sep 2006, 09:47

  • Toshiba recalls 340,000 Sony-made batteries

    Performance problems only - no fire risk, company says

    Toshiba has joined Dell and Apple, and asked its customers to send back their Sony-made laptop batteries currently sitting in Dynabook and Satellite machines. The notebook maker's recall extends to some 340,000 customers worldwide. The recall does not appear to have been formally announced - details of the programme come via …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 09:48

  • Nvidia hit with patent infringement lawsuit

    Whose Ball Grid Array is it anyway?

    Nvidia has been accused of patent infringement. Minneapolis-based Scanner Technologies claims it owns techniques that the GPU maker uses in the manufacture of ball grid array (BGA) chip-pin layouts without its permission. It said the alleged infringement was "willful and deliberate". Scanner said yesterday it has filed a …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 09:52

  • Intel readies low-voltage Core 2 Duos

    Merom-based Celeron M CPUs too

    Intel will ship its first Core 2 Duo-derived Celeron M budget notebook processors in Q1 2007, Taiwanese industry sources have claimed. At the same time, the chip giant will offer low-voltage versions of its current 'Merom' line-up, they say. The Merom-based Celeron M series will debut with the 520, a 1.6GHz single-core part …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 10:12

  • Royal Mail launches e-stamps service

    Buy online, print, post

    The Royal Mail has launched an online service allowing customers to buy and print postage in the comfort of their own homes, Reuters reports. Payment can be made by prepay account, credit card or debit card and thereafter you simply print a "unique barcode" onto a label or envelope. Prices are the same as for normal stamps. …

    Small Biz 19 Sep 2006, 10:13

  • O2 unwraps latest XDA smart phones in Germany

    HTC's new line-up rebranded

    Carrier O2's German division has announced a pair of new XDA smart phones, both quad-band GSM/GPRS devices with built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and running Windows Mobile 5.0 on 200MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processors. The XDA Cosmo is better known as the HTC S260 - aka 'Excalibur' - which the manufacturer …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 10:52

  • HP shrinks StorageWorks

    SME too

    HP's press office has taken a break from fending off journalists wanting to know why their phone records haven't been pretexted to trumpet some new small and medium enterprise (SME) storage kit. The lowest end of the All-in-One (AiO) range is aimed at real tiddlers; for your $5,000 you get 1TB of networked storage in four SATA …

    Storage 19 Sep 2006, 11:07

  • Intel preps four-chip four-core Xeon Q4 debut

    Low-voltage and "extreme" versions too

    Intel will follow up Q4's quad-core Xeon DP debut with a low-voltage part in Q1 2007, it has emerged. The four-core server processors - codenamed 'Clovertown', will ship as the Xeon 53xx family, reports coming out of Asia claim. Borrowing from the naming scheme introduced with the Core Duo mobile processor line back in …

    Servers 19 Sep 2006, 11:36

  • Most 10-year-olds now packing mobiles

    Apron strings are now wireless

    “A generation ago, an 11 or 12-year-old who lost their bus money would have used their own resources to sort it out - now they simply call their parents” The info comes from Carphone Warehouse's Mobile Life survey, based on interviews with over 16,500 people in the UK on how they use and perceive mobile communications. The …

    Mobile 19 Sep 2006, 11:47

  • Building websites with PHP-Nuke

    Community websites explained

    Building a configurable, flexible and highly interactive community web site from scratch is no mean feat. Get the technical implementation right and you might have a vibrant and active community coalesce around your site. Get it wrong and you’re left with dead web real-estate that’s dressed right but is going nowhere. However, …

    Developer 19 Sep 2006, 12:00

  • CfH rejects computer failure claims

    Not dead, just sleeping

    Connecting for Health (CfH) has hit back at claims that the NHS computer system has almost one "major incident" a day In a statement released on 19 September 2006, the organisation responsible for implementing the National Programme for IT (NPfIT) said the term "major incident" has been misconstrued. News reports said more …

    Public Sector 19 Sep 2006, 12:20

  • Gefen 4x4 HDMI Matrix audio-visual interconnect

    Review Multiple input, multiple output

    Gefen has announced an HDMI four-by-four crossover unit. Though it can be used as a straightforward HDMI switch for linking multiple players to a single display, it's actually more advanced than that: any of the four inputs can be switched to any of the four outputs... That means a signal, say on input one, can be …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 12:27

  • Sony to take Apple's MacBook laptop head on

    Vaio N10's inspiration is clear

    Sony has rolled out its latest Core Duo-based consumer-friendly notebook, a compact unit with a footprint the size of an A4 sheet of paper, a 15.4in widescreen display and more than a hint of the Apple MacBook about it. The Vaio N10 can be configured with one of a number of dual-core Core Duo processors, 80-100GB of hard …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 12:35

  • MSI declares CrossFire on Intel P965 chipset 'first'

    Driver jiggery-pokery?

    MSI has managed to get Intel's P965 chipset to support ATI's CrossFire, enabling the system on its P965 Platinum motherboard - an industry first, the company claimed today. So far, the multi-GPU technology has been limited to ATI's own chipsets and to Intel's 975X chipset. The P965 Platinum ships with a pair of x16 PCI …

    Reg Hardware 19 Sep 2006, 13:08

  • Google News to appeal Belgian copyright decision

    Name 10 famous Belgian legal precedents

    Google will challenge a Belgian court ruling against Google News, worried the judgement might set a precedent which could impinge on its role as a content aggregator and the online advertising sold on the back of it. As we reported yesterday, an action by Belgian newspapers demanded under national copyright law their content be …

    Music and Media 19 Sep 2006, 13:38

  • 10Gig Fibre Channel is dead, says Emulex

    But keeps pushing SAN virtualisation

    Attempts to converge data networking and storage networking on a single 10Gig physical base have failed, according to a veep at at SAN technology supplier Emulex. Mike Smith, executive veep of worldwide marketing, was speaking as Emulex announced its latest forays into SAN virtualisation, adding support for Cisco VSAN (virtual …

    Storage 19 Sep 2006, 13:57

  • Moto buys Symbol Tech

    Beep beep beep - $4bn please

    Motorola is acquiring industrial mobile-device specialist Symbol in a cash deal worth almost $4bn. Symbol launched in 1975 and thanks to its low-cost handheld scanners, rode the introduction of barcodes. It subsequently invested heavily in making the scanners wireless, with recent growth coming from RFID readers and …

    Financial News 19 Sep 2006, 14:03

  • Satellite broadband users left high and dry again?

    Ouranous follows Aramiska into silence

    Users of the Ouranous satellite broadband service found themselves cut off last Wednesday without explanation or warning. Ouranous took on many of Aramiska’s customers when that company unplugged itself in January. Though the details of Aramiska's withdrawal of service remain unclear, at least they were able to give subscribers …

    Telecoms 19 Sep 2006, 14:16

  • Compel takes solutions to new heights

    Result

    Compel has increased the "value-quotient" of its solutions as part of a strategy to do more high-margin business. On publishing its preliminary results for the year ended 30 June 2006, chief executive Neville Davis said in his review of the year, that the group had proven its strategy of developing a stable of solutions …

    Channel Register 19 Sep 2006, 14:25

  • Space, Segways and biostratification

    Letters And alternatives to Donkeys

    eDonkey got its, er, ass kicked in the New York courts last week. And the RIAA owns its front page. And any visitor's IP addresses, it reckons. So, what to do, for the determined downloader? > For instance, offer PC lessons to an elderly neighbour, preferably very old and very deaf in return for some internet time. Or use …

    Letters 19 Sep 2006, 14:53

  • MX-Sweep creates new jobs in Trim

    Puts its money where its Meath is

    Irish e-security firm MX-Sweep is to create 10 new jobs as it positions itself to expand in both the Irish and international markets. The firm, which has its offices in Britain, has decided to open a European sales headquarters in Trim, Co. Meath. MX-Sweep currently employs four staff primarily in executive roles. This latest …

    Spam 19 Sep 2006, 14:59

  • Information Commissioner rules Ofcom must share data

    Cell site locations not a matter of national security

    Comms regulator Ofcom is squaring up against fellow regulatocrats at the Information Commissioner's Office over just how much Britons should be allowed to know about their local cell phone base stations. Sitefinder is a utility which enables concerned British locals to find out what cell phone base stations are nearby, and …

    Mobile 19 Sep 2006, 15:14

  • Astronomers ID earliest recorded supernova

    Anno Domini 185, no less

    Astronomers think they have identified the remains of the first ever supernova recorded by people on Earth. The remnant, RCW 86, was thought to be around 10,000 years old, but new data is forcing the stargazing community to revise this figure quite considerably downwards. They now believe it is around 2,000 years old, and that …

    Space 19 Sep 2006, 15:33

  • EU denies Vista vendetta

    Red tape vs Redmond...the never ending story

    The European Commission has hit back at suggestions it has got it in for Microsoft over security features built into the heavily-delayed Windows Vista. In a letter to the Financial Times, competition commissioner Neelie Kroes protested: "I have seen it suggested that the Commission may seek to prevent Microsoft from improving …

    Financial News 19 Sep 2006, 15:36

  • KPN scoops up Tiscali's Dutch biz for €255m

    Pay to triple-play

    Tiscali has sold its Netherlands subsidiary to KPN for €255m. KPN gains 200,000 broadband and 126,000 dial-up subscribers, taking its ISP market share in the Netherlands to 45 per cent, Ovum analyst Dan Bieler estimates. Perhaps surprisingly, competition authorities have nodded through the deal. Bieler says the acquisition …

    Telecoms 19 Sep 2006, 16:56

  • Business Objects buys ALG

    Comment Debunking the debunker

    Business Objects is buying ALG, which may be better known to some readers as Armstrong-Laing (I never quite understood the rationale behind changing the name, especially as ALG was likely to be confused with ASG but that's another story). Anyway, ALG is one of the leaders in the market for activity-based costing (ABC) and …

    Developer 19 Sep 2006, 17:12

  • Terrorism no excuse for privacy breaches, says EU regulator

    No need to change laws

    Terrorism and organised crime should not be used as excuses for passing laws which undermine people's privacy and data protection rights, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Existing laws do not need changed, he said. In an update on data protection in Europe, EDPS Peter Hustinx said that security …

    Music and Media 19 Sep 2006, 17:22

  • Microsoft enters 'Soapbox' derby

    YouTube wannabe

    In the US a soapbox derby is a go-kart race, and with Microsoft's launch of its Soapbox video service it's certainly racing to catch up with YouTube. Microsoft has launched a beta version of Soapbox on the MSN Video service which allows internet users to upload and share homemade films. Aside from far and away market leaders …

    Financial News 19 Sep 2006, 17:32

  • Microsoft sets attack dogs on 20 'illegal' dealers

    Lawsuits galore

    Microsoft today revealed lawsuits in nine US states against 20 resellers accused of selling counterfeit software or engaging in hard-disk loading. We are unfamiliar with the term hard-disk loading, but Microsoft is on hand with the following definition: "The installation of unlicensed software on computers that are then sold …

    IT Director 19 Sep 2006, 19:00

  • New technology is scary, says Cisco CTO

    But don't just blame Vista

    New technology such as Windows Vista and IP v6 may solve some security problems but will bring new security threats as well, according to a senior Cisco security expert. "When we deploy new technologies, what's scary is we never know what problems they might bring," said Bob Gleichauf, the CTO of Cisco's security technology …

    Data Networking 19 Sep 2006, 19:56

  • Q3 doubts torpedo Yahoo! shares

    CFO signals advertising slowdown

    A little excitement in the US markets today, what with a military coup in Thailand and Yahoo! sharing its concern over advertising revenues in Q3. Sue Decker, Yahoo!s chief financial officer (CFO), today noted a slowdown in the growth (our emphasis) of auto and financial advertising, Reuters reports. Upshot: Q3 revenues will be …

    Financial News 19 Sep 2006, 20:12

  • Pre-AMD, ATI preps novel server charge

    GPGPU for U and me

    Even before its merger with AMD closes, ATI plans to charge the server market with a new type of graphics product that could shake up the high performance computing scene. Advocates of ATI's technology say it could create a lucrative new revenue stream for the company and add some weight to the ATI/AMD marriage. ATI has …

    Servers 19 Sep 2006, 20:47

  • Sprint dons Mobile Armor for security gig

    Thick skin for cellco customers

    Sprint claims it is the first US cellco to deliver end-to-end wireless security for enterprise customers. The boast was made today on the back of a white-label deal with Mobile Armor, of St. Louis, which is powering the cellco's new Sprint Mobile Security service. This packages encryption and authentication services for …

    Mobile 19 Sep 2006, 22:15