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13th October 2006 Archive

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  • Nokia and T-Mobile USA pin their hopes on mobile Web 2.0

    Analysis Play to pay

    The US cellcos, traditionally behind their Asian and European counterparts in advanced mobile trends, are making up for all that by being the first truly to embrace the mobile internet and Web 2.0. This could, ironically, provide a major opportunity for that most European of vendors, Nokia, which is leading the charge to …

    Mobile 13 Oct 2006, 00:21

  • PalmSource name consigned to the Dustbin of History

    Access all areas

    As Palm basked in the glow of publicity surrounding its Treo 680 launch in New York today, its once co-joined software twin PalmSource slipped quietly from view. PalmSource, the brains behind the Palm OS running on 40 million mobile devices worldwide, is now to be called Access, after its new owner. And it gets a new logo too …

    Mobile 13 Oct 2006, 02:40

  • D-Link calls for Brits to help find stolen routers

    7,000 go walkies

    D-Link yesterday called on the British public to help it find 7,200 wireless starter kits stolen en route to its European logistics company. It has released no details of the theft, but it says it has evidence that the goods are being sold on the open market. Says Tahira Perveen, D-Link's boss in the UK and Ireland: "This …

    Channel Register 13 Oct 2006, 06:02

  • Red iPod Nano ships

    Updated Charity's US launch official too

    Red, the Bono-front charity that promotes the problem of AIDS in Africa, will formally launch in the US today on the Oprah show, the organisation's website has just revealed. Kicking off the campaign: the much rumoured red version of Apple's iPod. A red iPod's been talked about since April this year, though in the end it was …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 09:05

  • EU e-Borders spending to rise

    Eats into public sector IT budget

    Spending on IT for border controls is set to increase around Europe over the next four years, according to a new Kable report. Expenditure across the EU will rise from €1.2bn this year to €1.74bn in 2010, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the total IT spend for the public sector, according to The European e-Borders Landscape. …

    Public Sector 13 Oct 2006, 09:12

  • NASA to test space airbags

    Not the Bulgarian kind

    NASA is investing $600,000 in developing giant airbags that could one day replace traditional heat-shielding for spacecraft entering the Earth's atmosphere. The idea is that inflatable "ballutes" (somewhere between a balloon and a parachute) will make a good, lightweight, alternative to either permanent or ablative heat shields …

    Space 13 Oct 2006, 09:25

  • HP's Hurd appoints old mate to ethics officer

    HP ethics boss...irony-free zone

    HP has appointed a new chief ethics officer to replace Kevin Hunsaker whose role in overseeing the morality and legality of snooping on board members ended with his resignation to face criminal charges. Jon Hoak started as HP's vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer from 11 October. He will be responsible for: " …

    Financial News 13 Oct 2006, 09:30

  • Yahoo!'s pyramid scheme collapses

    Guardians of Mexican heritage say no to laser beam time capsule

    Mexican authorities have put the kibosh on Yahoo!'s plans to beam millions of text, video and picture messages into outer space. The main stumbling block for Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) was that internet giant Yahoo! wanted to set up its space-age digital laser apparatus on the ancient Pyramid …

    Music and Media 13 Oct 2006, 09:34

  • Apple in code search profanity outrage

    NSFW 'Register the f**king window class'

    Our chums down at SecurityFocus recently warned that Google's new Code Search facility could allow developers' open source repositories to be "easily mined, allowing attackers to target programs that are likely to be flawed". A chilling warning, to be sure. However, we have just been made aware that code search engines could be …

    Software 13 Oct 2006, 09:39

  • Europe's IT sector outpacing telecoms

    And growth gap may become a chasm

    The European ICT market is expected to grow by 3.1 per cent to €644bn this year, according to new research. The forecast was made by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), which previously reported that the EU ICT market reached growth of four per cent in 2005. "An overall positive business climate and …

    Networks 13 Oct 2006, 09:54

  • Sapphire out to shock with overclocked Toxic cards

    Radeon X1950 XTX on board

    Graphics card maker Sapphire today took the wraps off what it claims is the "fastest add-in board on the planet" - the water-cooled Toxic X1950XTX. It also unveiled a "limited edition" Toxix X1950 CrossFire Edition board. The X1950XTX's GPU is clocked by the bundled Automatic Performance Enhancer tool from the stock 650MHz to …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 09:57

  • Dell kills Overland storage tie-up

    Thanks for the hard work

    Dell has crushed the hopes and dreams of Overland Storage by nixing a reselling deal that had yet to get going. Overland announced its tie-up with Dell last November and hoped to ship the computer maker a pair of automated tape libraries. Dell, however, appeared frustrated with Overland's inability to ship the gear on time. As …

    Storage 13 Oct 2006, 10:04

  • Telefonica Germany gears up for quad play assault

    Scene set for VoIP invasion

    Telefónica in Germany is gearing up for a full scale assault on the German IPTV market and said it will upgrade its core network using Siemens Communications to expand its inner-core backbone. Siemens will use routers from Juniper Networks and metro Ethernet switches from Extreme Networks and integrate them in the backbone …

    VoIP 13 Oct 2006, 10:07

  • Taliban monster dope plants defy Canadian military

    Fireproof Afghan marijuana

    Afghanistan's fun-loving Taliban have deployed a hitherto unknown tactic in evading detection in their war against allied forces: take refuge in 10-foot high, fireproof marijuana forests. Despite Canadian troops' best efforts to burn down the monster dope plantations, the weed continues to offer excellent cover for the …

    Biology 13 Oct 2006, 10:09

  • SMC seeks Cloud cover for Euro Skype phone

    Free calls from any Wi-Fi hotspot

    Pub based UK Wi-Fi network The Cloud has agreed a deal with Skype that it says will deliver the first mobile roaming Skype service on Wi-Fi handsets, at all 8,500 public Cloud Wi-Fi hotspots across Europe. The idea is that Wi-Fi phone owners can use Skype when they are within range of a Cloud hotspot using a phone from SMC …

    VoIP 13 Oct 2006, 10:21

  • BOFH: Let the games begin

    Episode 34 'Building the perfect games beast on the company dime'

    "Mmmm?" the PFY asks as the Boss hovers for another stretch in front of his desk. "It's this purchase order," the Boss says. "Mmmm?" the PFY repeats. "You spent 400 quid on your desktop to buy a...er...graphics card...with ...dual...head capability." "Yes, a Tasmanian graphics card, that's right." "I was under the …

    BOFH 13 Oct 2006, 11:02

  • Sony launches Walkman, wireless accessory cornucopia

    Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to beam out music

    Rather overshadowed by Sony's Walkman S700 series launch yesterday were a set of wireless accessories pitched at the company's music player line-up, including a Bluetooth dongle and earphones, and a Wi-Fi hi-fi unit. The DR-BT30Q is a pair of round-the-back-of-the-head Bluetooth stereo earphones ready, said Sony, to connect …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 11:06

  • Sun turns to EMC and HP for help selling storage

    Virtual tape good to go too

    Long troubled by the art of selling storage, Sun Microsystems has decided that buttering up rivals might help it move gear. The company this week celebrated a new partner program with the likes of EMC and HP and finally announced its heterogeneous tape management plans. The Sun StorageTek Ready program looks more fluff than …

    Storage 13 Oct 2006, 11:10

  • Sportingbet flogs US arm for $1

    But keeps European and Australian businesses

    Following "a comprehensive legal and strategic review" Sportingbet has ditched its US betting, casino, and poker business. The business has been bought by Jazette Enterprises Limited for $1. Jazette also takes on debts of $13.2m. Sportingbet reckoned the cost of shutting the business down would have been $14m in severance …

    Financial News 13 Oct 2006, 11:13

  • Norwegian museum champions gay animals

    'It is not against nature'

    A new exhibition at Oslo Natural History Museum confirms what Aussie bovine lesbianism experts have known for some time: the animal world enjoys a bit of girl-on-girl or boy-on-boy as much as the next man - or woman. Geir Soeli, the organiser of "Against Nature" (the world's first museum exhibition about homosexuality among …

    Biology 13 Oct 2006, 11:14

  • EU launches online gambling restrictions probe

    Jeux sans frontiers

    European Commission competition officials are crying foul over plans by some European states to restrict foreign sports betting and gambling services from operating in their countries. Brussels is considering legal action against protectionist barriers planned by France, Italy, and Austria that effectively ban foreign online …

    Financial News 13 Oct 2006, 11:17

  • Hubble pictures an emerging super galaxy

    Little galaxies trapped in the Spiderweb

    Hubble has sent back an image of the Spiderweb Galaxy sitting at the centre of what will become a huge galaxy. Hundreds of smaller galaxies are congregating around the Spiderweb Galaxy in what astronomers describe as "an emergent galaxy cluster". The image, according to NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), provides the …

    Space 13 Oct 2006, 11:22

  • Siemens Business Services rejigged again

    It's like Trotsky's permanent revolution...

    Siemens Business Services (SBS) is reorganising and renaming itself again, as it bundles all its IT and software activities into one company. SBS becomes SIS - Siemens IT Solutions and Services - which will be made up of four groups: program and system engineering (PSE), Siemens Information Systems Ltd (SISL), development, …

    Channel Register 13 Oct 2006, 11:38

  • Sony Ericsson 'Q's up Bond-branded camera phones

    'You expect me to talk?'

    Sony Ericsson has announced a pair of silver-look limited edition version of its K800 and X790 camera phones to cash in on upcoming Bond flick Casino Royale. Both are pre-loaded with a wealth - it says here - of Bond ringtones, pictures and even the movie trailer. Both 3G handsets sport a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto- …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 11:38

  • Moto ships battery-based battery recharger

    Recharge your mobile on the fly

    It sounds like a solution waiting for a problem, but Motorola's P970 battery-powered battery recharger has begun shipping, four months after the curved, PEBL-like gagdet was announced at the Singapore-hosted CommunicAsia 2006 show. The P970 is essentially a 1700mAh rechargeable battery with a USB port on top. It weighs just …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 11:48

  • The Danes are coming...

    And they're looking for resellers

    Danware is opening a UK subsidiary under the name NetOp Tech Ltd and is looking to recruit resellers. The company makes remote controls, teaching software and security products. It has already opened an office in Reading, Berkshire and got eight staff on board. Mark Kibblewhite, an ex-Microsoft channel manager, joined as …

    Channel Register 13 Oct 2006, 12:04

  • Why do we doodle?

    Senseless scribbling or individual insight?

    Also in this week's column: Can stun guns and tasers cause death? Why do we doodle? Asked by Leanne Ward of New York City We often do it. We often don't realise it. Often, when caught doing it, we are embarrassed to have to explain it. Surprisingly, these nonsense scribbles we leave behind on notepads, paper margins, …

    Biology 13 Oct 2006, 12:14

  • Can stun guns and tasers cause death?

    Danger: high voltage

    Also in this week's column: Why do we doodle? Can stun guns and tasers cause death? Asked by Ian Leonard of London The chance of dying after being shot by a taser or stun gun is about one in 870. Dr William P Bozeman, professor of emergency medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North …

    Biology 13 Oct 2006, 12:17

  • US DoJ probes SRAM pricing cartel claim?

    Cypress, Samsung say they'll co-operate

    The US Department of Justice's antitrust division is to probe the SRAM market, it has emerged. Yesterday, Cypress Semiconductor announced it was co-operating with the enquiry, and would "make available employees, documents and all other relevant information" to DoJ investigators. And today Samsung was quoted by the South …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 12:37

  • MS to pull security teams under Windows umbrella

    After Vista

    Microsoft has moved its key security division into its Windows group as part of an ongoing reorganisation due to come into effect after the completion of development work on Windows Vista. Redmond's security, trustworthy computing, and engineering excellence teams will be amalgamated into a single trustworthy computing group …

    Security 13 Oct 2006, 12:56

  • Microsoft tells EC it will ship Vista

    EC says: On your head be it

    Microsoft is going ahead with launching Vista in Europe and South Korea, in spite of fears the software could be delayed because of concerns from European and Korean competition regulators. Reuters reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes that it is going ahead with the worldwide …

    Operating Systems 13 Oct 2006, 13:07

  • HMRC poo-poos tax on BlackBerries

    Shame...

    Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) today dismissed claims in The Sun and The Times that changes to employee benefit rules mean BlackBerries are likely to be taxed as a personal benefit. A spokesman for HMRC was blunt: "It's garbage." He explained: "If an employer loans a BlackBerry to an employee so they can do their job …

    Mobile 13 Oct 2006, 13:09

  • Sony Ericsson deaf to P990i woes

    Updated Complaints outsourced to limbo

    Aside from the questionable user interface features we've already discussed, some of Sony Ericsson's P990is seem to be suffering from stability issues - including random crashes and rebooting - so a complaint through the mobile company's website doesn't seem unreasonable. But if you go to Sony Ericsson's website and fill out …

    Mobile 13 Oct 2006, 13:18

  • This Goo is on You, or at least some call centre worker

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

    You Goobers Few people in these parts doubted that a second helping of internet hysteria, venture capitalist madness and fiscal incontinence had come in to play. Now there's been a mega buy to confirm our fears. Cash-fat dandy Google gobbled up YouTube for $1.65bn. The deal gives Google a fat pipe to millions of users and lets …

    Business 13 Oct 2006, 13:31

  • Can you pimp an inflatable sex doll?

    South Korean cops ponder plastic prozzie poser

    South Korea's finest have a bit of poser on their hands: does the pimping of inflatable sex dolls breach the country's anti-prostitution laws? We should explain that, according to news site Chosun.com, Korean punters have developed a taste for "doll experience rooms", paying 25,000 won per hour (a tad over 14 quid, by our …

    Music and Media 13 Oct 2006, 13:36

  • Bombless dirty bomber pleads guilty, press spreads the fallout

    Major terror probe nets improbable mastermind...

    The terrorist "mastermind of a major conspiracy" yesterday entered a guilty plea in Woolwich Crown Court to a charge of conspiracy to murder. Dhiran Barot admitted planning a radioactive "dirty bomb" explosion which it was claimed would have caused "injury, fear, terror and chaos", and/or "fear, panic and social disruption". …

    Music and Media 13 Oct 2006, 14:49

  • Students protest balluting Vista?

    Letters Getting bibilical on blogs

    Gartner issued a report this week saying that Vista is going to shake us all up like nothing since, er Windows 2000. You'll be shocked, shocked, to learn that not all El Reg's readers have not reacted with universal positivity to this news: "users will increasingly own their own equipment" Wait a minute - does that mean …

    Letters 13 Oct 2006, 15:02

  • Oracle to provide clearer vulnerability ratings

    In at number one it's the latest Buffer Overflow...

    Oracle is to start ranking the severity of security bugs it fixes using an industry-standard scoring system starting with its next quarterly patch update, due on 17 October. The database giant will grade the threat posed by the bugs it fixes using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). It has also promised to give an …

    Applications 13 Oct 2006, 15:12

  • Vietnamese death row prisoner escapes the chop

    By getting pregnant

    A convicted Vietnamese heroin trafficker has avoided an appointment with the firing squad - by getting pregnant while on death row. Thirty-nine-year-old Nguyen Thi Oanh was found guilty of possessing more than one billion dong ($63,000) of heroin, the BBC reports. An appeal against a death sentence had failed, and she was being …

    Music and Media 13 Oct 2006, 15:26

  • Ireland off the hook

    As EC ponders action against other Euro telcos

    The European Commission is set to drop proceedings against Ireland for infringing European Union telecoms rules. Ireland was facing action due to the unavailability of automatic caller location information for emergency services when someone dialed them on the single European emergency number: 112. It is expected the …

    VoIP 13 Oct 2006, 15:44

  • Rooney scores!

    Sadly only his domain name

    Wayne Rooney has won back his domain namesake, WayneRooney.com, from disgruntled Everton fan and Welsh soap actor Huw Marshall. The World Intellectual Property Organisation decided that Marshall registered the domain in bad faith and ordered it handed over to the England and Manchester United football star and his agent's …

    Networks 13 Oct 2006, 16:16

  • Florida judge orders copy of Bully for review

    Free speech implications

    A US judge has ordered developer RockStar Games to hand over a pre-release copy of its controversial title 'Bully' for review. The judge will assess its content in a move that civil liberties activists say breaches free speech rights. The decision is the result of a legal action brought against the publishers by veteran anti- …

    Music and Media 13 Oct 2006, 16:57

  • Netgear SPH101 Wi-Fi Skype phone

    Review VoIP without a PC

    To date you've been very much PC-bound if you wanted to use Skype for making VoIP calls, something that has limited its appeal to a degree. Not so any more, as the first set of Wi-Fi phones for Skype has hit the market and Netgear was the first to submit one to Reg Hardware for review... The not so imaginatively named …

    Reg Hardware 13 Oct 2006, 16:59

  • Migrating Access to SQL made (almost) easy

    Very useful, apart from the dumb bits

    Access dominates the PC platform and, over the years, has been used to create vast numbers of departmental databases. In their turn, many of these have slowly become mission critical and now need to be upgraded to a secure client-server engine. In Microsoft's grand plan for world domination, it would prefer that engine to be …

    Developer 13 Oct 2006, 17:03

  • Collective intelligence consultants feel Reg readers' lash

    Letters Culling recommended

    MIT's news Center for Collective Intelligence faces an uphill battle getting its cosmic crap turned into viable management consultancy. Or so say Reg readers, who have their own remedies for the New Age junk science crowd. The "collective intelligence" crowd now wants to unleash the power of consultancy on companies, and …

    Letters 13 Oct 2006, 17:05

  • FCC pulls AT&T-BellSouth merger vote (again)

    Political hot potato

    The Federal Communications Commission today postponed voting on the AT&T BellSouth merger until November. The FCC represents the last regulatory hurdle for the two telcos to jump over before their $78bn marriage is sealed. The FCC had intended to vote on the matter yesterday and then again today; but the merger has proved to be …

    Telecoms 13 Oct 2006, 20:26

  • AMD waves the Maple Leaf for Canadian regulators

    O ATI, we stand on guard for thee

    The Canadian government has approved AMD's proposed takeover, of ATI, the home-grown graphics processor company. AMD may hail from California, but it played the Canadian card before the country's regulators. It says it will expand R&D expenditure and hire more R&D employees, compared with ATI's spend in previous years, and it …

    Financial News 13 Oct 2006, 21:23