22nd September 2006 Archive

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Python slithers to 'significant' release

Five-year milestone

The open source community this week hailed the most significant update to Python in five years. Python 2.5 contains major improvements in reliability, performance and efficiency, according to release manager Anthony Baxter. Python 2.5 fixes 450 bugs found since the release of Python 2.4 and features 350 patches. The language …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 03:02
C++ Futures: Lambda Functions

Column Like the Lambada, only different

The use of “lambda” originates from functional programming and lambda calculus, where a lambda abstraction defines an unnamed function. Lambda functions or Lambdas in C++ are one of the more interesting things to look forward to in the next C++ standard; giving us the ability to treat functions as first class objects at last; …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 03:05
ICANN free in two years

Government oversight? What government oversight!

Internet overseeing organisation ICANN will become an autonomous body, free from any form of government control, on 1 October 2008, if plans drawn up between it and the US government go according to plan. The current agreement between ICANN and the US Department of Commerce (DoC) is due to expire next week, but speculation …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 03:19
IBM gets start-ups hooked early

To those that have, have some more

IBM is reaching out to venture capitalists by offering technology and go-to-market help for software start-ups they back. According to IBM, use of its software, servers and consulting from staff in 30 Innovation Centers worldwide will help young companies get to market quickly and reduce development costs of advanced and …

Financial News 22 Sep 2006, 04:11
Northbrook to create 400 jobs

Software firm plans £23.5m expansion

Software development and business process outsourcing (BPO) firm Northbrook Technology is to create 400 new jobs in the north as part of a £23.5m expansion. The investment is being supported by £5.6m of assistance from Invest Northern Ireland and will enable the company to significantly expand its software development function …

IT Director 22 Sep 2006, 06:02
Police fingerprint themselves

Biometric bobbies

West Midlands Police are trialing a system that controls police access to buildings and computer systems using a fingerprint scanner. Before now this technology has been used mostly in prisons, intelligence HQs, and schools. West Midlands Police support manager Fred Tracey said the pilot, being implemented by Wetherby firm …

Enterprise Security 22 Sep 2006, 07:02
Japan's Solar-B satellite ready for lift off

Space weather research

The Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) Solar-B mission is set to launch tonight from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Japan. The satellite, which will study the solar surface for clues to the causes of solar flares, will be placed into a 96 minute polar orbit around Earth. Currently, the mechanics of solar flares are reasonably well …

Space 22 Sep 2006, 09:27
3Com misses the bar in Q1

Sales up, but not enough for Wall St

3Com fell short of Wall Street’s expectations when it unveiled its third quarter results yesterday. The networking vendor turned in revenues of $300m, up 69 per cent on the year, but short of the $314m analysts were looking for. The figures were pumped up by the inclusion of figures from its Huawei-3Com joint venture, but the …

Data Networking 22 Sep 2006, 09:51
Sony adds HDMI 1.3 port to 20GB PS3

Out to counter MS' 1080p Xbox 360 update?

Sony has decided to equip the 20GB PlayStation 3 with an HDMI connector, possibly in response to Microsoft's move to bring the 1080p HD resolution to the Xbox 360. The company also cut the machine's Japanese retail price. When Sony launched the PS3 in May this year, it said only the 60GB model would ship with an HDMI 1.3 port …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 09:54
Palm feels the heat in Q1

No new PDAs likely - Colligan

Palm reported revenue of $355.8m for the quarter ending 1 September, with a slim net income of $16.5m. Measured on a non-GAAP basis, the profit was $21.5m. Revenue rose four per cent from a year ago, but was down 12 per cent sequentially. Palm had earlier warned that revenue would be lower than it originally expected, in the $ …

Financial News 22 Sep 2006, 10:06
Virgin boss pledges readies to greenies

£1.6bn for alternative energy research

Sir Richard Branson has pledged to invest the next 10 years of profits from his Virgin travel firms into developing technologies that will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. The commitment is apparently worth around £1.6bn over the period. He made the announcement on day two of the annual Clinton Global Initiative conference …

Science 22 Sep 2006, 10:08
Riding the Mustang

JSE 6.0 – more than 'bling generation' Java

The Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 JDK (variously called JSE 6.0, Mustang and, by many, J2SE 6.0; and, by some at least, JDK 6) has been in Beta 2 release format for some months and is nearing its actual release date (work started on this release around July 2005 and it is currently expected to be delivered in autumn/fall …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 10:15
Apple intros 5.5G U2 iPod

Hello, hello, hello

Apple has quietly updated its U2-edition iPod to match the specification of the 5.5G model it announced earlier this month. As before, the 30GB machine sports a red Clickwheel and comes with the band members' signatures laser-etched on the back, but now its battery life stretches to 14 hours for music, 3.5 hours for video. The …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 10:17
Online manuals enable ATM reprogramming scam

Money for nothing and your gas for free

Reprogramming an ATM to dispense more cash than it ought to is far easier than anyone imagined. Last week CNN screened a video of a man suspected of reprogramming an ATM to dispense $20 bills that it thought were $5 notes, so fraudsters and the unscrupulous were able to withdraw four times more money than was debited from their …

ID 22 Sep 2006, 10:39
'First' GSM, VoIP dual-mode Windows Mobile handset launched

Paragon Wireless pitches SIP-friendly phone at corporates

US-based VoIP handset maker Paragon Wireless has launched what it claims is the world's first Windows Mobile 5.0 phone designed for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) VoIP calls that also operates as a regular quad-band GSM/GPRS handset. Dubbed the Hipi 2200, the device is primarily pitched at corporates who want to provide …

Mobile 22 Sep 2006, 10:43
BOFH: Unconventional interview

Episode 31 How many pints did you say you can drink?

"Ah, could we borrow you for a couple of minutes?" the Boss asks quietly, interrupting the PFY's riveting (if somewhat longwinded and one-sided) discussion of RS6000 boot flags. "Of course," I yawn, getting up quickly for fear that the PFY will mistake my patience for interest and tell me what each of the hundreds of …

BOFH 22 Sep 2006, 11:02
Today is OneWebDay

Drink to the internet at events across the world

Today has been designated One Web Day - a day of celebration of the internet - with a number of celebrations planned across the world tonight, including the appearance of the man that invented the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, expected in London. The holiday is the brainchild of net luminary and law professor Susan Crawford …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 11:24
A practical guide to JAXB 2.0

Take a peek at its new features

JSR222 specifies the Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0. JAXB 2.0 specification is implemented in Java Web Services Developer Pack (JWSDP) 2.0. JAXB 2.0 has some new features that facilitate the marshalling and unmarshalling of an XML document. I have used both JAXB 1.0 and JAXB 2.0 and have found that JAXB 2.0 …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 11:40
AMD favours Socket F for 4x4 Athlon FXs?

Roadmap said to show trio of gamer-friendly CPUs on the way

AMD is set to launch three Athlon 64 FX processors for its upcoming 4x4 gaming platform, sources who claim to have seen the chip maker's roadmap claim. All three CPUs will use AMD's 1207-pin Socket F interconnect, they add. According to a report in Dutch-language site Tweakers.net, AMD's trio of 4x4 FXs will ship as the FX-70 …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 12:02
HTC and O2 split over XDA future

Carrier seeking new suppliers for smart-phone line

UK carrier O2 this week confirmed it is looking for new handset maker partners to push its XDA smart phone family forward following a parting of the ways with its original XDA supplier, HTC. Long-time HTC customer i-mate may also be for the chop, if comments from the manufacturer are to be taken at face value. It was the …

Mobile 22 Sep 2006, 12:26
BT's Movio lurches into existence

Comment With ZTE phone and terrestrial channels

Movio, the impending disaster that is British Telecom's approach to mobile TV, announced it has signed up ZTE to make 3G phones for the service. It also said its strategy would be largely built on showing existing UK TV channels – BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4 and E4, on the phone. We have discovered in the past that this shortcut …

Mobile 22 Sep 2006, 12:38
AMD to ship 65nm Athlons in December - report

Slotting into existing product line

AMD looks set to introduce its first 65nm processors in December this year, a quartet of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 CPUs, if a report citing sources who've seen the chip maker's latest roadmap are to be believed. A story published today on Dutch-language site Tweakers.net highlights for 65nm Socket AM2 dual-core Athlon 64 X2s due …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 12:39
Riverbed dredges up $86m in IPO

Investors rush to ride the latest bandwagon

Riverbed Technology has become the first storage company to go public in around two years - it's also one of the first WAN acceleration start-ups to go public. Riverbed, whose Steelhead boxes act as local file caches and can also speed up WAN connections between offices, opened on Nasdaq yesterday at $9.75 per share. The price …

Data Networking 22 Sep 2006, 12:41
Germany proposes hacker law update

Fear of a Black Hat

The German government this week published proposals to modernise the country's computer hacking laws. The proposed update makes denial of service attacks and hacking assaults against individuals clearly criminal. Previously, only attacks against companies and government organisations were indictable offences. Gaining access to …

Enterprise Security 22 Sep 2006, 12:43
AMD opens up, HP's waving not drowning

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AMD opens up, Intel follows suit AMD is to open up access to the specs for its Opteron socket set so other companies can make chips and accelerators that will fit straight onto the board. The decision means it won't be too long before you'll be able to stick AMD and Intel chips onto the same motherboard. AMD already gives some …

Business 22 Sep 2006, 13:02
In search of the Caspian Sea Monster

Strange sightings on Google Earth

Caveat: some historical details and aircraft specifications in this piece are based on a variety of sources - not all of which agree. We've done our best to provide what we believe are the right facts and figures, but some aspects of the ekranoplan story are still open to debate. During the mid-1960s chilly height of the Cold …

Science 22 Sep 2006, 13:14
Sun faces leak crisis in the Low Countries

Taking the p*ss out of Belgium

Pity poor Sun Microsystems - not only is staff morale crushed by huge losses and puzzling fat cat bonuses - news has now reached Vulture Central of a flood of lavatorial mischief at its Belgium tentacle. Cue an internal email with the subject "Respect for others". Take it away, Sun Belgium and Luxembourg managing director Paul …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 13:27
California's anti-car fortnight causes concern

Letters As does HP's new snowballing habit. Ew

Take a deep breath in. Breathe out and congratulate yourself. You have made it to Friday, and are soon to be rewarded with a weekend (unless you work on Saturdays or something). Regardless of all that, the one remaining challenge is to make it through the good old letters page round-up. Here are the things that have been …

Letters 22 Sep 2006, 13:40
How can you relieve mobile device frustration?

Mobile Workshop Reg reader poll

It seems like we struck a nerve with the recent mobile workshop article on email devices. With other subjects, such as security and push email, there has been a discussion around the various approaches and their pros and cons, but on the device front it seems that there is a high degree of frustration. Reading through the …

Mobile 22 Sep 2006, 13:49
Why are we not irritated by the volume of our own voice?

WHAAAAAAAAT??

Also in this week's column: Why are so many humans near sighted? Is there a speed or stride where running is more efficient? Can you be addicted to the internet? Why are we not irritated by the volume of our own voice? Asked by Vincent Rot of Heemstede, The Netherlands How can we stand our own shouting? After all, we're …

Biology 22 Sep 2006, 13:54
Why are so many humans near sighted?

Myopia linked to modern life?

Also in this week's column: Can you be addicted to the internet? Why are we not irritated by the volume of our own voice? Is there a speed or stride where running is more efficient? Why are so many modern humans near sighted? Asked by Alan Harper of Oakland, California, USA The eye receives rays of light and bends them …

Biology 22 Sep 2006, 13:54
Is there a speed or stride where running is more efficient?

Ready, steady, go

Also in this week's column: Can you be addicted to the internet? Why are we not irritated by the volume of our own voice? Why are so many humans near sighted? Is there a speed or stride where running is more efficient? Asked by Ville Herva of Espoo, Finland Optimal stride What makes an optimal stride? It seems that …

Biology 22 Sep 2006, 13:55
Phone box attacks man with broken bottle

Updated Telecoms terror, Manchester style

Forget the threat to humanity posed by Spaniard-swallowing cyberkiosks: it's evident the Lizard Army has deployed a far more dangerous version of the murderous telecoms cubicle, viz: the bottle-wielding Mancunian attack phone box: Chilling stuff indeed. Fellow neoLuddite Resistance Army members in Manchester are advised to …

Rise of the Machines 22 Sep 2006, 13:56
Could you be addicted to the internet?

I can't live without IE

Also in this week's column: Why are we not irritated by the volume of our own voice? Is there a speed or stride where running is more efficient? Why are so many humans near sighted? Can you be addicted to the internet? Asked by Ian Anderson of Aberdeen, Scotland Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is one of the new …

Biology 22 Sep 2006, 13:58
Twenty-three dead in German maglev crash

Major setback for flying-train technology

A high-speed magnetic levitation train has crashed on a test track in north-west Germany, killing 23 and injuring 10 others. The Transrapid train crashed into a maintenance vehicle this morning, about one kilometer after leaving a station, according to a local police spokesman. The train was left hanging off the elevated track …

Science 22 Sep 2006, 13:59
Video downloads: destroying British high streets

...or not?

The days of high street DVD sales are numbered, if new poll figures are to be believed. Video download gremlins are holding growth back, however. The poll of 1,008 internet users said 39 per cent have been scuppered by poor quality. Users expect downloads to be cheaper too, but as we saw with the launch of Disney movies on …

Financial News 22 Sep 2006, 14:22
'You are a bunch of d**kheads', declares Canadian

FoTW And 'the worst kind of a**holes' to boot

Last Friday we ran a revealing piece on the unfortunate tale of an old timer in Dorset who fell down a manhole and whose cries for help were duly ignored by his fellow Brits. A damning indictment on UK society today, to be sure, and one which had this Canadian reaching for the angry tablets: Having read this article, I am …

Letters 22 Sep 2006, 14:23
Snoop-happy HP promotes privacy award

Who'd have pretexted it

HP - which faces US federal and state investigations for spying on board members and journalists - is co-sponsoring an award for "privacy innovation". The annual awards, now in their fourth year, are jointly sponsored by HP and the Maine-based International Association of Privacy Professionals, and aim to honour "strong and …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 14:43
Asus Lamborghini VX1 laptop

Review Zoom, zoom, zoom?

It seems that having a laptop stamped with an Italian sports car brand is the in-thing these days. Acer has been hanging around the pit-lane with Ferrari, and Asus has teamed up with Lamborghini to create the VX1. It comes in a choice of black or yellow trim - Lamborghini's corporate colours - although there's more to the VX1 …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 14:45
Customs jumps on carousel fraudsters' favourite bank

Follow the money...

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is claiming a major victory over carousel fraudsters after discovering they were all using the same bank. Every fraudster who had his collar felt in the last two years for carousel fraud had an account with the First Curacao International Bank (FCIB). The Caribbean bank was shut down …

Channel Register 22 Sep 2006, 15:11
Cisco catches green fever

Saving the world one packet at a time

Cisco says it will cut its corporate carbon emissions by 10 per cent within the next year. The company plans to achieve most of the reduction by cutting back on air travel for its employees and investing $20m into alternatives to travel, such as collaborative technologies. The move is an aggressive commitment that will be "a …

Data Networking 22 Sep 2006, 15:16
Naomi Campbell assistant recalls BlackBerry assault trauma

WSA 'She got really, really upset'

The personal assistant allegedly attacked with a BlackBerry by battling clotheshorse Naomi Campbell has appeared on US TV to give the full, gory details. Amanda Brack, 20, entertained The Tyra Banks Show earlier this week with claims that the supermodel attacked her three times, spat in her face and threw her passport in a …

Entertainment 22 Sep 2006, 15:27
Google loses Belgian news appeal

Don't publish and .be damned

Google has lost its appeal to Belgian courts to ditch part of the ruling in a copyright case against its news service which it lost earlier this month. The case was brought by newspaper group Copiepress, which said Google News should have asked its permission and agreed financial terms. In the original judgment, the court …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 15:45
Software patents back to haunt Europe

Brussels braces for the next battle

Intellectual property lobbyists are warning that new plans to shake up Europe's policy on patents could put patentable software back on the menu, as well as upping legal fees and putting small businesses in jeopardy. Last year, the European parliament spectacularly voted to reject the proposed directive on Computer …

Software 22 Sep 2006, 15:59
Macs get globetrotting 'super 3G' modem

GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA included

Germany's Nova Media has launched Globesurfer ICON, an all-on-one GPRS, EDGE, 3G and HSDPA wireless data modem for the Mac. The €339 ($432/£yy/€228) box hooks up to a spare USB port - it's bus powered - and comes pre-loaded with connection settings for 300 carriers around the world, courtesy of the company's own Launch2net …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 16:04
IBM's Power7 chip going into Opteron motherboards

Exclusive Sun to follow?

AMD has secured yet another major partner win thanks to Opteron. Starting with the Power7 processor, IBM will give up on making its own Unix/RISC box motherboards. Instead, it will plug the Power chips directly into slightly modified Opteron boards in an effort to save money. Neither IBM nor AMD would comment for this story. …

Servers 22 Sep 2006, 17:28
Virgin eases in-flight Apple, Dell laptop battery limits

Exclusive Only machines unaffected by vendors' recalls

Virgin Atlantic has updated its restrictions for the use of Apple- and Dell-branded notebook computers on its flights. The good news: the ban on battery use is no longer total - the company is now restricting only those batteries whose serial numbers are covered by the vendors' product recalls. Says Virgin: "If the battery is …

Reg Hardware 22 Sep 2006, 19:11
Developing for Vista

Will it work with my app?

The imminent arrival of Windows Vista is a mixed blessing for developers. The good bit is lots of new features to play with, along with better security and an updated user interface. The downside is compatibility problems, and with the challenge of meeting expectations for well-behaved, good-looking Vista applications. There is …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 20:10
Adobe, Symantec press EC to remove Vista tanks from their lawns

The feature creeps

Symantec and Adobe have raised objections to the inclusion of security software and electronic document technology in Windows Vista. Adobe has asked the European Commission to prevent the bundling of PDF document creation and reading tools that compete with its software. Microsoft has developed a fixed-layout document format …

Operating Systems 22 Sep 2006, 20:20
UK Attorney general backs legalising of phone-tap evidence

Cites US wire-tapping success

Phone-tap evidence could be admitted as evidence in court as the attorney general signals a change in UK Government policy. Lord Goldsmith told The Guardian newspaper that phonetap evidence is a "key tool" that should be used. Goldsmith, the Government's senior law officer, indicated that the current laws banning wiretap …

Music and Media 22 Sep 2006, 20:34
webMethods acquires Infravio

Comment A bit of a coup

BEA's acquisition of Flashline in late August left me wondering why the company had not opted for Infravio. A partial answer was revealed on 11 September with the announcement that Infravio had been acquired by webMethods. The acquisition of Infravio does not come as a great surprise. There is broad agreement that SOA …

Developer 22 Sep 2006, 20:44
HP's CEO: 'I'm so sorry' ~~that this got out~~

Dunny flushed

Patricia Dunn has not survived the HP spy scandal – a turn of events that everyone except HP saw as inevitable long ago. Dunn today resigned from HP's board, elevating CEO Mark Hurd to the Chairman role. Hurd announced the executive shifts during a tense press conference at HP's headquarters in Palo Alto. Voice trembling at …

IT Director 22 Sep 2006, 20:53