3rd October 2006 Archive

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Sun ships 52,000 Opteron cores to Texas

Rare win against IBM and HP

Sun Microsystems continues its march toward supercomputing respectability. The company has won a deal to supply the University of Texas with a system that should easily be one of the fastest on the planet when completed in 2007. The Texas Advanced Computer Center (TACC) at UT will put a $59m grant from the National Science …

Servers 3 Oct 2006, 01:53
Share the Vista vision, Microsoft tells security rivals

Build it like you mean it

Microsoft has called on security software firms to provide more than just "basic" products for Windows Vista. Partners must deliver more than "baseline" protection and support for Windows Vista's new security architecture to address future threats to computers, it says. Its cry comes in response to a barrage of complaints …

Operating Systems 3 Oct 2006, 03:05
Cassatt and XenSource to sell ~~hype~~ software together

One stop server slicing

Normally, two virtualization companies with silly names forming a sales partnership would not capture our attention. But, people actually seem to use the software from Cassatt and XenSource, so here we are. Cassatt has secured a reselling deal with XenSource, allowing it to ship XenEnterprise alongside its own software. An " …

Servers 3 Oct 2006, 03:23
Mars HiRISE images wow the crowd

New close-up pics of the Red Planet

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has delivered its first close-up snaps of the Martian surface, courtesy of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). The images, taken during the Orbiter's first mapping orbit, include this fine view of an area of the planet's Valles Marineris canyon grabbed on 29 September from …

Science 3 Oct 2006, 08:39
Firefox JavaScript risk downplayed

Update Crash, bang but no exploit

Flaws in the way Firefox handles JavaScript code only crash the browser (at worst), contrary to earlier reports that researchers had identified a zero-day exploit that might lend itself to malware-based attacks. Researchers Mischa Spiegelmock and Andrew Wbeelsoi discussed the unpatched cross-platform vulnerability during a …

Security 3 Oct 2006, 08:48
AMD to ship K8L next-gen desktop CPUs Q3 07?

Will Altair fly?

AMD's 65nm 'Altair' processor, the first desktop chip to be based on the company's next-generation K8L architecture, will debut Q3 2007, various Asian reports claiming to be derived from the firm's roadmaps allege. Set to debut at between 2.7GHz and 2.9GHz, Altair will run on a 4GHz HyperTransport bus. Each core will have …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 08:59
Google comes up trumps in AdWords dispute

'Internal use' not trademark violation

A New York district court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Rescuecom, a computer repair firm, that accused Google of trademark infringement by selling its brand as a search term. Google's keyword advertising system is called AdWords. If a company pays for a keyword it means its text advert will be displayed alongside search …

Media 3 Oct 2006, 09:01
Stealth techniques push malware under the radar

Roots you, sir

Increased use of stealth techniques such as rootkits is leading to fewer reports of new viruses, according to a study by net security outfit VeriSign iDefense. Since 2003, VeriSign iDefense has been collecting and recording information on every uniquely identifiable malicious code, using public and private resources. Discovery …

Security 3 Oct 2006, 09:20
Netezza surprises with technical capabilities

Comment FPGAs, zonemaps, and a strong roadmap

I have recently returned from Netezza's second annual conference. This was well attended, with nearly all of the company's customers (around 75) being represented, as well as a significant number of both prospects and partners. It was very (to use a technical term) buzzy and there was a degree of enthusiasm that I have rarely …

Servers 3 Oct 2006, 09:32
ATI 80nm GPUs given PCI Express thumbs-up

ATI's upcoming RV535, RV560 and RV570 GPUs have been certified as PCI Express-compatible by the PCI SIG, a move that paves the way for the parts' release. All four chips have been said to be ATI's first products fabbed at 80nm. The RV570 is expected to ship as the Radeon X1950 Pro. It's said to contain 36 pixel processors, …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 09:34
Demon hosting back online

After a week off..

Demon Web Hosting is back online today after technical problems downed the service for a week. In a statement, the company said: We experienced a file system software failure on one of our many Demon hosting platforms and our engineers continue to work around the clock to bring this small hosting platform back into service. …

Broadband 3 Oct 2006, 09:35
Creative boosts Zen V Plus to 8GB

More tunes

Creative's Zen V Plus music player is to be upgraded to 8GB, the music player manufacturer has revealed. The colourful gadget is currently available in 1, 2 and 4GB incarnations. It sports a 1.5in, 128 x 128, 262,144-colour OLED screen for video and photo playback, and supports MP3 and WMA DRM music formats. It can take voice …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 09:49
Proofpoint and VMware team up for messaging security

Comment Virtual edition

Recently, Proofpoint Inc released the Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway Virtual Edition, an enterprise-scale virtual appliance that provides messaging security. The new solution utilises VMware's virtual appliance technology to allow simple deployment to provision new Proofpoint Virtual appliances very quickly in response …

Servers 3 Oct 2006, 09:51
Ozone layer hits new depletion record

Blame the weather

Despite optimism earlier this year that the ozone hole was stabilising and might even have begun to repair itself, scientists at the European Space Agency report that 2006 saw record losses of ozone over the south pole. Data from ESA's Envisat satellite show that although the area of the ozone hole (this year, 28m square …

Science 3 Oct 2006, 09:51
Sony Ericsson unveils text-recognition phone

Stylish meets stylus

Sony Ericsson will this month ship its first true clamshell form-factor phone with a touch-sensitive main display. Dubbed the Z558, the handset will also feature character recognition ready for what the company called "one-touch" text messaging. The Z558's touchscreen is a 220 x 176, 262,144-colour job. The phone also has a …

Phones 3 Oct 2006, 10:16
HP debuts HD DVD add-on drive

HP DVD anyone?

Erstwhile Blu-ray Disc backer HP is preparing an external HD DVD drive, it has emerged. The company's also equipping two of its consumer-oriented notebook and media centre systems with drives that support the next-gen optical disc format. The HD100 is a read-only unit aimed at folk who want to play back pre-recorded media on …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 10:44
James Martin - guru?

...or do you have a home-grown equivalent?

James Martin popped up on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week yesterday, mapping out technology futures. I go back a long way with James Martin - not personally you understand, although I met him once. His seminal book on Computer Database Organisation was largely responsible for me becoming a DBA instead of a programmer. With …

Developer 3 Oct 2006, 10:50
North Korea to test nuclear warhead

Radioactive sabre-rattling

North Korea has announced it will test one of its nuclear warheads, the BBC reports. North Korea's foreign ministry declared: "[North Korea] will in the future conduct a nuclear test under the condition where safety is firmly guaranteed." It added provocatively: "The US daily increasing threat of a nuclear war and its vicious …

Science 3 Oct 2006, 10:54
Swedish man acquitted in file sharing case

No technical evidence

A 29-year-old Swedish man suspected of sharing local movie Hip Hip Hora was acquitted by the Svea Court of Appeal yesterday. If found guilty, the man, from Västerås in central Sweden, would have been the country's first person to be convicted for file sharing, but there was simply not enough technical evidence, according to …

Media 3 Oct 2006, 11:02
Mather and Smoot collect Nobel Prize for Physics

All hail the cosmologists

The Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded jointly to John Mather and George Smoot "for their discovery of the black-body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation". The Big Bang theory predicts this radiation, first registered in 1964, as a relic of the massive explosion that heralded the birth of the …

Science 3 Oct 2006, 11:06
Breast implants save car-crash Bulgarian

40DD airbags

A Bulgarian woman driver escaped relatively unscathed from a head-on pile-up with another vehicle when her 40DD breast implants absorbed most of the impact, Ananova reports. Elena Marinova, 24, of Sofia, pranged her motor in the northern city of Ruse. Both cars were written off and the other driver seriously injured, local …

Media 3 Oct 2006, 11:07
British Museum to police eBay

There's treasure on that there online car boot sale

British Museum experts will monitor eBay antiquities sales and report illegal activity to the Met's Art and Antiques Unit in an arrangement announced today. The initiative will try and tackle the problem of potentially academically valuable artefacts being traded. Amateur treasure hunters finding precious metal objects and …

Media 3 Oct 2006, 11:12
AMD to bridge Socket AM2, AM3 with intermediate interconnect?

Socket AM2+ may be key to AM3 backwards compatibility

AMD looks set to implement a Socket AM2 revision spanning the processor interconnect's current specification and the upcoming Socket AM3 due in 2008. That at least is what reports coming out of Taiwan citing local motherboard-maker sources claim. According to a Chinese-language HKEPC report, the intermediate interconnect is …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 11:14
Unofficial patches defend against further IE flaw

Take two

Two groups of security researchers have released unofficial patches designed to protect surfers against an outstanding Internet Explorer vulnerability in the absence of available security updates from Microsoft. The Zeroday Emergency Response Team (ZERT), a new ad-hoc group of security pros that came to prominence with the …

Security 3 Oct 2006, 11:20
Nokia touts low-cost, low-power wireless tech

Wibree an 'extension' to Bluetooth, apparently

Nokia today invited hardware and software makers to join it and implement a new wireless data transfer technology designed to operate over very short distances. Yet the Finnish phone giant insisted the technology, dubbed Wibree, is complementary to Bluetooth. Like Bluetooth, Wibree operates in the 2.4GHz band of the spectrum …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 12:10
Big Blue unwraps packaged networking services

But this parcel is passing partners by

IBM is developing off-the-shelf service products covering real-time collaboration, unified messaging and SOA, after launching a pair of networking packages last week. However, it looks like its channel partners will have a limited role in actually selling the products. Big Blue unveiled its Networking Convergence Services …

The Channel 3 Oct 2006, 12:18
Blue Coat claims super-secure remote access

What do you call a secure overcoat?

Blue Coat reckons its new SSL VPN appliance could be the most secure remote access device yet. Not only does Blue Coat RA encrypt the traffic between the client and the host, it also blocks keyloggers and framegrabbers, and encrypts the files it caches onto the client's hard disk. The device derives from Blue Coat's takeover of …

Data Networking 3 Oct 2006, 12:50
The land that GPRS forgot

Ionian Blog Technology gives way for swimming lessons

To the bat-cave! You were wondering what happened to the sailing blog? Answer: I found a place in the Ionian islands where no wireless works. None. Well, that's probably not entirely true; I'm sure that if I could have found a mains power socket to charge the BGAN satellite modem up, and another to power the PC, I'd have been …

Data Networking 3 Oct 2006, 12:59
UK and US plan realtime police database links

Dry run on immigration databases

UK and US immigration databases have been linked in an intelligence sharing experiment that could lead to permanent trans-Atlantic data stores of wanted and suspected people. Data is already shared in an ad-hoc fashion between London's Metropolitan Police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigations, but direct links between …

Policy 3 Oct 2006, 13:19
Fuel cell-powered phones still years away: Nokia

Supply chain issues, apparently

If the supply chain was ready, we could have fuel cells in our mobile phone handsets tomorrow, according to handset manufacturer, Nokia. Early last year, the company said it was calling time on developing the technology which it then described as "immature". But 18-months later, Nokia research centre head Tapani Ryhanen told …

Mobile 3 Oct 2006, 13:27
Microsoft buys DesktopStandard

Keeps financial terms under wraps

Microsoft says it is to acquire software developer DesktopStandard for an undisclosed sum. DesktopStandard develops tools for Microsoft's Group Policy technology, part of the Active Directory in Windows Server that aids centralised management of computers and users. Under the terms of the deal, DesktopStandard will operate as …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 14:04
BT courts SMB IT outsourcing

Avoiding DIY disasters

BT is promising to makes small businesses' IT headaches all better as its Business IT Manager outsourcing service gets a nationwide rollout today. The service offers hardware and software installation and maintainance options tailored to tiddlers' needs. A package of PCs, a server, and all other necessary hardware costs from …

The Channel 3 Oct 2006, 14:23
Nokia extends Bluetooth into low power applications

New handsets to feature six radio technologies

Nokia has launched a new wireless standard to add to the short-range wireless mix. Wibree borrows much from Bluetooth including frequencies and antennas, but lowers the power consumption to make it more applicable for devices with low-bandwidth requirements such as embedded sensors and user interface devices – mice and …

Mobile 3 Oct 2006, 14:29
Western Digital ships 1TB RAID-able external HDD

Max capacity or max data security

Western Digital has beefed up its My Book Pro line of external hard drives with a RAID-equipped model that packs in two HDDs to yield a whopping terabyte of unformatted storage capacity. The My Book Pro Edition II sports a trio of Firewire ports - one 400Mbps connector and two 800Mbps ports - and a USB connector of the kind …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 14:38
Flight disaster phishing scam lands in Brazil

Conmen latch onto tragedy, again

Pond-dwelling scammers are seeking to exploit interest in last weekend's Brazilian airline disaster to tempt potential victims onto a site hosting a Trojan downloader. The malware attempts to install a banking keylogger onto the PCs of potential marks. The attack, written in Portuguese, targets online banking customers in …

Security 3 Oct 2006, 14:38
Mobile sales set to fall

Bell tolls for handset makers

Sales of mobile handsets will decline to single digit growth, but not before annual sales break the billion barrier. Analysts Informa reckon we'll see sales rise this year to 943 million units - up 16 per cent from 814.4 million last year. In 2007, they predict, total unit sales will reach 1.03 billion. Between 2002 and 2005 …

Mobile 3 Oct 2006, 14:41
Tandberg's tapeless tape drive

Another way to back up to hard disk

Tandberg Data is the latest storage vendor to bring out a removable-disk backup product. It says the RDX QuikStor combines the portability and simplicity of tape - its cartridges are tape-sized and plug in just as easily - with the speed of hard disk. The idea is that you use it like a tape drive, with the same backup software …

Storage 3 Oct 2006, 14:59
Ireland exits British Isles

Geographical shenanigans

Irish publisher Folens has announced that in future Ireland will not be included in the British Isles, The Evening Standard reports. The decision apparently came as a result of a complaint to Ireland's Education Minister Mary Hanafin from one disgruntled parent that the Emerald Isle was still effectively classified in a Folens …

Media 3 Oct 2006, 15:12
Microsoft to appeal second EC fine

Like it said it would...

Microsoft confirmed today that it will appeal the second part of the fine imposed on it by the European Competition Commission. In July the commission fined Microsoft €280.5m for not complying with its anti-trust decision. The company had until 2 October to file an appeal. This is on top of the €498m fine which Microsoft is …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 15:21
Asus guarantees pre-n kit will meet 802.11n standard

Free software or hardware upgrades if not

Asus has put its money where its mouth is and pledged to provide free upgrades to its pre-802.11n wireless products should changes to the final version of the specification require software or hardware changes for compatibility. The guarantee, which covers Asus' WL-500W Super Speed N wireless router and WL-100W Super Speed N …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 15:52
Sony punching out PS3s 'full swing', claims analyst

On target to ship 2m units by year's end

Sony's PlayStation 3 production programme is "in full swing", market watcher American Technology Research (ATR) has claimed. Crucially, this means the consumer electronics giant will meet its target and ship 2m of the next-generation consoles by the end of the year. According to a report written by ATR analyst PJ McNealy, …

Games 3 Oct 2006, 16:01
Elonex phoenix crashes to Earth

Administration again

Elonex Ltd has gone into administration, just three months after it was formed from the ashes of Elonex Plc by Staffs-based stationer Afic. Administrators from Vantis were called into Elonex Ltd yesterday. Afic had bought the services and warranty business of Elonex Plc in July, after the Northwest London-based PC vendor …

The Channel 3 Oct 2006, 16:06
McAfee erects Citadel

Security compliance play

McAfee has agreed to buy a majority stake in security policy compliance firm Citadel Security in a deal valued at $60m. The deal is designed to bolster McAfee's capabilities in the area of policy enforcement and vulnerability remediation. The deal will allow McAfee to compete more effectively with competitors such as Symantec, …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 16:15
Eircom pulls plug on Smart customers

Dispute over unpaid bills

Smart Telecom suspended trading on the AIM on Tuesday in order to protect its falling share price after infrastructure owner Eircom disconnected around 45,000 of its customers. It's feared that an additional 17,000 Smart Telecom customers could be left without any broadband or phone services - including emergency calls - as …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 17:07
Powered switch unifies wired and wireless LANs

All managed through one interface, says 3Com

3Com claims it's the first to properly unify wired and wireless networking for small and medium businesses (SMBs). Its snappily-named Unified Gigabit Wireless PoE Switch 24 - or Unified Switch to its friends - provides power-over-Ethernet on every port and has a built-in controller for up to 24 wireless access points, the …

Data Networking 3 Oct 2006, 17:11
Party Gaming axes interim dividend

US gambling ban reverberates through sector

Party Gaming, the world's biggest online gambling business, is axing its interim dividend, worth $115m, previously due to be paid on 31 October. It is making the move in response to the prohibition of online gambling in the US, where most of its customers live. The ban was smuggled unexpectedly through Congress late last week, …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 17:35
FTC pokes stick at Brocade-McData buy

Answers, please!

The Federal Trade Commission has asked Brocade to give it more information over its proposed acquisition of enterprise storage rival McData. The FTC made its request under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act to examine the deal for potential anti-trust implications, but this looks pretty much par for the takeover course. Brocade today …

Storage 3 Oct 2006, 20:23
IBM sweats acquisitions for bumper SOA rollout

Work hard for the money

IBM today rolled out 23 updated product and 11 professional services offerings for service oriented architectures (SOAs). Some use technology from recent and recent-ish acquisitions, Webify, BuildForge and Bowstreet. Upgrades and launches include WebSphere Business Services Fabric, based on Webify and partners' software, that …

Developer 3 Oct 2006, 20:37
A look at Apache modules

Column Now for some real Apache code

As I write this, I'm on the Eurostar train, just returning from O'Reilly's OSCon (Open Source Conference) in Brussels. Some fascinating insights there; and even my own talk generated some interesting discussion. Some of the delegates, including O'Reilly himself, are promoting opensource ideas going beyond software and into …

Developer 3 Oct 2006, 21:03
Sprint tools up with Razr

Throws fish to analysts

Sprint is to start retailing the Motorola Razr handset for the first time in November. The US cellco is also playing catch-up with competitors by carrying the next gen update of the Razr, the Motorola Krzr and its equally unpronounceable sister, the Moto Slver. You can see pics and read stuff about Sprint's spiffy mobile data …

Mobile 3 Oct 2006, 21:13
'Don't spy on Verizon chair' - warned HP spooks

Beware the Babbio

The executives willing to testify about their roles in the HP spy scandal have claimed a blissful ignorance around the legal ins and outs of obtaining phone records. Their defense has hinged on the idea that they were assured by hired investigators that any phone snooping was legal and that they did not become really concerned …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 22:23
Mandriva Linux 2007 outed

Big bundle

Mandriva has opened its download doors for business the latest version of its desktop Linux operating system. Mandriva Linux 2007 is bundled with loadsasoftware, including Skype, Kaspersky anti-virus, a desktop DVD player, a music player, some computer games, virtualization software and, in one edition, an in-house developed …

Hardware 3 Oct 2006, 22:50
HP told WSJ to, 'Go say nice things'

;-), barked reporter

We've always wondered how elite reporters at publications such as the Wall Street Journal handle their communications with public relations drones. Thanks to HP's savvy investigators, we must wonder no more. An HP spy probe document released by investigators shows a lovely February 2006 chat between HP spokesman Michael Moeller …

Financial News 3 Oct 2006, 23:47