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26th October 2006 Archive

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  • Think tank calls for new data laws

    Who shares wins

    Government needs a more clearly defined legal framework for data sharing, says the Social Market Foundation (SMF) The think tank has made the proposal in a report, "Who Shares Wins? Transforming the public services with intelligent information", published today. It says citizens should be placed at the heart of any government …

    Public Sector 26 Oct 2006, 08:45

  • Does accessible product = assessible vendor?

    Comment Evaluating usability

    When evaluating how accessible a product is, I do not just look at the product itself but at the whole sales lifecycle. It is not much point having a wonderfully accessible product if the user cannot find out about it or effectively use it. Also looking at the whole cycle gives me a view as to how committed the company is to …

    Business 26 Oct 2006, 09:09

  • ERP vendor, eight, seeks partners

    NetSuite hunting developers

    Hosted ERP provider NetSuite has announced an open source developer platform to attract new partners and increase its uptake in vertical sectors. NetSuite chief executive Zach Nelson unveiled SuiteFlex across the road from Oracle's OpenWorld in San Francisco, California, where thousands of Oracle partners had been getting the …

    Developer 26 Oct 2006, 09:20

  • 101 put on hold

    'Inappropriate' calls delay wave two roll-out

    The Home Office is to delay the roll-out of the 101 non-emergency number due to complaints from police forces about its misuse. The decision was made at a meeting after police forces complained that two out of every three calls were deemed inappropriate. Hampshire Constabulary's deputy chief constable Ian Readhead told the …

    Public Sector 26 Oct 2006, 09:23

  • STEREO blasts off from Cape Canaveral

    At last!

    NASA's twin solar observatory, STEREO, launched successfully last night, blasting off from Cape Canaveral just before 9pm, local time. The launch was originally scheduled for August, but was put back several times. The STEREO mission (short for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatories) will provide the raw material researchers …

    Space 26 Oct 2006, 09:48

  • Viruses, phishing, and trojans for profit

    Comment Malware is big money

    Following the 2006 International Virus Bulletin Conference, Kelly Martin takes a look at the profit motives of the cyber criminals behind modern viruses, targeted trojans, phishing scams, and botnet attacks that are stealing millions from organisations and individuals. Virus Bulletin 2006, the international virus conference, …

    Security 26 Oct 2006, 10:03

  • Cool Fusion: AMD's plan to revolutionise multi-core computing

    Different cores for different chores

    AMD's Fusion CPUs will not be mere system-on-a-chip products, the chip company's chief technology officer, Phil Hester, insisted yesterday. Instead, the processor will be truly modular, capable of forming the basis for a range of application-specific as well as generic CPUs, from low-power mobile chips right up to components for …

    Reg Hardware 26 Oct 2006, 10:31

  • Home Office thumbs up for Yeovil pub fingerprint plan

    But crime stats raise questions

    The extent of interest among local authorities to install fingerprinting security in pubs and clubs around the country has been revealed by the police brains behind the pilot scheme in Yeovil. Yet there are still doubts about how well it discourages drunken violence after the latest statistics from Yeovil showed this week that …

    Public Sector 26 Oct 2006, 10:43

  • Mission Impossible 3 becomes mission possible

    ...when you buy a new Nokia handset

    From next week, anyone buying a Nokia N93 handset on the Vodafone network will receive a free copy of Mission Impossible 3 loaded onto a mini SD card for viewing on the phone. The film is full-length and encoded for perfect viewing on the N93's screen, though if it will generate quite the same atmosphere as a cinema viewing is …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2006, 10:45

  • Cisco spends $31m to improve mobile presence

    Let us present....Orative

    Cisco has paid $31m to boost its Unified Comms pitch by sucking up 33 person Orative. Orative has an on-device client, and associated server, which manages presence information for mobile users, enables instant messaging for call scheduling, as well as integration with company address books. All of which fits well with the …

    Hardware 26 Oct 2006, 10:54

  • IE7 spoofing bug pops up

    Phisherman's friend

    Security researchers have identified a pop-up address bar spoofing weakness in Microsoft's newly released Internet Explorer 7 browser. The flaw, first reported by security notification firm Secunia, might lend itself to phishing attacks and remains currently unpatched. The security bug creates a means for hackers to display a …

    Applications 26 Oct 2006, 10:57

  • IBM taps veins for novel chip-cooling trick

    How to spread your paste more thinly

    IBM has turned to nature to develop a technique that will significantly improve the efficiency of the thermal paste used to plug the gap between hot chips and cooling systems, the company announced today. Its approach: carve a network of channels into the surface of the chip's packaging. The clever bit is the layout of the …

    Reg Hardware 26 Oct 2006, 11:05

  • VIA, Everex claim 'world's most energy efficient' laptop

    Green machine, apparently

    Taiwan's VIA today touted its eco-credentials once more, this time claiming the use of its C7-M mobile processor in US OEM Everex's NC1500 notebook makes the machines the most "energy efficient" laptop on the planet. VIA based the claim on the C7-M's "best performance-per-watt operation in the industry" - at 1.5GHz, the clock …

    Reg Hardware 26 Oct 2006, 11:26

  • Exceptional C++ and More Exceptional C++

    Book review Two essential aids for the C++ Interviewee

    This pair of books brings together a variety of small but annoying puzzles mediated by Herb Sutter through the news:comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup. However, any irritation is in a good cause. Each puzzle illustrates an important point in C++ that many of us still get wrong. An early example is exception safe programming, …

    Developer 26 Oct 2006, 12:02

  • UK gov plans to bury nuclear waste

    Not to praise it

    The government said today that it plans to bury Britain's nuclear waste. Speaking in the House of Commons, environment secretary David Miliband told MPs that waste will not be forced on communities, instead, local authorities will be invited to volunteer sites, the BBC reports. "We have made it clear that we are not seeking to …

    Science 26 Oct 2006, 12:14

  • Motorola looking to own Sagem?

    VP points to acquisition

    Shares in Safran, owner of mobile phone manufacturer Sagem, surged almost seven per cent this morning after the head of Motorola's mobile devices business said it was interested in buying the loss-making concern. "We have a serious interest in Sagem. It's an option in a sector that is in the process of consolidating...I do not …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2006, 12:31

  • CapGemini waves $1.25bn at Kanbay

    Expanding in the US and India

    Services firm CapGemini has made a $1.25bn bid for Kanbay, the US-based IT consultants, in a bid to expand its footprint into the US and Indian markets. The offer of $29 per share, represents a 16 per cent premium on Kanbay's closing price, yesterday. The firm said the deal was part of its growth strategy, and that once …

    Channel Register 26 Oct 2006, 13:24

  • Bell to boost reselling

    And redo its accounts

    Bell Micro Products wants to double its reselling business to £1bn in two years, said the firm's president on the announcement of its third quarter results. Acquisitions were in the offing, said John Bell. But the firm has been tangled up in some accounting problems with its last batch of acquisitions - and it may have to …

    Channel Register 26 Oct 2006, 13:52

  • Aspect oriented programming with Java

    A practical introduction

    Writing software is a complex business - not only do you have to get the enterprise logic of the application correct, typically you also have to deal with multiple other concerns at the same time, such as "what should happen if something goes wrong", "how should I make sure we know what is happening during execution", "how to …

    Developer 26 Oct 2006, 13:56

  • ID thieves pumped then dumped on brokerage houses

    $22m losses

    US-based online brokerage houses have been hit by losses of $22m after an attack by a sophisticated gang of identity thieves. Rather than using key loggers to snatch the bank account credentials of prospective marks, fraudsters targeted account holders of online brokerage accounts. Using hijacked accounts (or fraudulently …

    ID 26 Oct 2006, 14:06

  • Crashed Armadillo rocket means no lunar X-Prize this year

    Landing: trickier than it looks

    Just one challenger entered the now-annual X-Prize Cup's Lunar Lander challange, and sadly, that mission ended in pieces on the desert floor. Well, there were two entries, but both were submitted by John Carmack's Armadillo Aerospace. The company's Texel rocket didn't fly at all, and Pixel crashed, but not before some pretty …

    Space 26 Oct 2006, 14:39

  • Amnesty calls for action on internet freedom

    Bloggers united, will never be defeated...

    Amnesty International is calling on the bloggers of the world to unite to defend the freedoms of their brother bloggers in countries such as China, Iran, and Tunisia. The group says freedoms are under threat and the blog community should "get online and stand up for freedom of expression on the internet". Ahead of next week's …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2006, 14:48

  • AllofMP3 hit by Danish court ruling

    iTuneski is cutov

    Much reviled Russian music site allofmp3.com has been hit by a Danish court ruling which forces internet service provider Tele2 to block access to the site. The Copenhagen City court ruled that Tele2 must do its best to ensure its subscribers cannot access the site. AllofMP3, or iTuneski as its known round here, insists it is …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 14:57

  • Orange joins 3 in Windows Live Messenger deal

    Companies get hot and bothered about mobile messaging

    Orange has announced that its customers in France would be able to access the Microsoft Live Messenger service (formally MSN Messenger) on some models of mobile phone from December. The UK and Spain are scheduled to follow next year. But the software giant remains vague on who exactly will be able to use the service. The …

    Mobile 26 Oct 2006, 15:14

  • What DVD Jon's iPod crack means for you

    Analysis Everybody's happy nowadays

    As we reported three weeks ago, reverse-engineering specialist "DVD" Jon Johansen has decoded the encryption that locks down iTunes-purchased music - and he's formed a company to license this to all-comers. Now Johansen has reverse-engineered rival DRM formats, permitting encrypted songs purchased from Apple rivals to play on …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 15:21

  • Wee ferry threatened by giant US warship

    Help ma Boab!

    A tiny ferry making its way across the Clyde river got caught up in a NATO naval exercise and ended up being threatened by a large US battleship, it emerged this week. The 70-year-old boat was starting the 15 minute crossing from Gourock to Kilcreggan when it received a radio message: "Unidentified vessel approaching on my …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2006, 15:22

  • Sonnet quadruples iPod video playback time

    You just can't volt it

    Sonnet is a little coy about just how much extra playtime the 2,100mAh battery in its Volta add-on for the 5G iPod - and its recent update. It provides a set of "estimates" that don't quite add up. If it adds an extra 50 hours' audio playback time to a 30GB iPod, why does it add 60 hours more to a 60GB or 80GB model? But what …

    Reg Hardware 26 Oct 2006, 15:26

  • MacExpo evicts environmentalists

    Updated Greens left boiling

    Greenpeace campaigners have been booted out of MacExpo in London after other exhibitors complained about their activities at the show. The environmental pressure group paid for a stall at Kensington Olympia under its "Green My Apple" campaign, which aims to encourage Apple to clean up its environmental record. A special spoof …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2006, 15:32

  • Intel to close Cambridge research centre

    Exclusive and updated Streamlining

    Intel is to close its UK research centre in Cambridge, The Register understands, just three and a half years after it was first opened. The move is part of the streamlining of the company outlined by CEO Paul Otellini earlier this year. The lab was the first research centre Intel established outside the US, and is one of four …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 15:46

  • Ellison's venomous tongue devastates Red Hat shares

    Thanks a lot, Larry

    Investors seem to be taking Oracle chief Larry Ellison as seriously as he takes himself. They've crippled Red Hat shares today simply because Oracle rolled out discounted support for Red Hat's server operating system. Shares of Red Hat were down 26 per cent, at the time of this report, to $14.35. That's a hell of a drubbing, …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 17:30

  • Demon Internet on the market again

    For sale: one ISP, slightly worn but still surprisingly active

    Thus, which bought Demon Internet in 1998, has never really known what to do with the venerable internet service provider. Demon were one of the first ISPs in the UK, and many early internet users have fond memories of Turnpike configurations and text-based communities. This legacy has meant an IT infrastructure which is …

    Telecoms 26 Oct 2006, 17:52

  • Fedora servers are that big

    Letters Download Your Way

    Yesterday's article on Fedora's FC6 download travails prompted a torrent of emails, not all abusive. Much to our surprise we stirred up something of an ontological debate, as readers attempted to answer that age-old question: how big is big? Choice cuts below. The Fedora project has apparently been subject to a sustained DDoS …

    Operating Systems 26 Oct 2006, 20:04

  • Paralysis! will! save! Yahoo! CEO's! job!

    Opinion Doing nothing and liking it

    Terry Semel's worst quality may just save his job at Yahoo!. That's because the real winners to emerge from the mini-boom haunting Silicon Valley will be those with the most paralytic management styles. And, when it comes to paralysis, Yahoo! is king. Conventional wisdom has Yahoo! hoping to buy college networking site Facebook …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 20:17

  • HP's services chief outsources himself

    Resignation week continues

    It's resignation week at HP where the company has lost another executive to the scourge that is "personal reasons." HP's short-time services chief Steve Smith is out. He worked as SVP and GM of HP services since July of 2005, and joined HP in January of 2005 to head up its managed services (aka outsourcing) operations. Before …

    IT Director 26 Oct 2006, 20:32

  • The, case, of, the, million, dollar, comma

    Canadian dollars, so that's all right, eh

    The position of a comma in a 14-page contract is at the heart of a dispute that could cost cable TV company Rogers Communications one million Canadian dollars. A five-year contract with Aliant Telecom gave Rogers access to thousands of poles that carried its cables to homes across Canada. Aliant didn't own the poles; it only …

    Music and Media 26 Oct 2006, 20:49

  • Assault by battery: Sony's profits go up in flames

    Sets aside $432m to pay for recall

    Sony's quarterly profits plunged 94 per cent following fall-out from its exploding battery woes. The consumer electronic giant's predicament is there for all to see as it posted net profits of just 1.7bn yen ($14.3m €11.3m) for its second financial quarter on Thursday. Sony also reported an operating loss of 20.8bn yen ($175. …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 22:14

  • Microsoft steamrollers through Q1

    License to print money

    Who needs new product when you knock out results like this: Microsoft may be late with Windows Vista and late with Office 2007, the upgrades for its two biggest revenue spinners - but it still produced a stellar September quarter. Revenue in its fiscal Q1, ended September 30, was $10.8bn, 11 per cent up on same time last year …

    Financial News 26 Oct 2006, 22:37