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27th October 2006 Archive

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  • Sun turns in another Q1 loss

    But what goes up must go up

    Sun Microsystems left its Bedazzler® back at the asylum during the first quarter with financial results less spectacular than the company's recent market share gains. That said, the server vendor managed to hand in a solid enough quarter to keep investors calm - a rare feat for the Solaris crowd. Buoyed by StorageTek and …

    Servers 27 Oct 2006, 00:17

  • Acer: Vista Home Basic is a lemon

    Disguised price rise for PC builders

    Microsoft is effectively smuggling through a price hike for Windows Vista - by making the entry-level version so poor that no-one will want to use it. So says Jim Wong, senior veep at Acer, the world's number four PC maker, who told UK hack Jon Honeyball: "The new [Vista] experience you hear of, if you get Basic, you won't feel …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 00:27

  • Apple cures MacBook shutdown... maybe

    Firmware update

    The Mac press has been full of tales lately of Macbooks inexplicably shutting down. Today, Apple announced a cure for this annoying habit, known oddly enough as MacBook Shutdown. In an advisory, the Intel OEM issued instructions to owners to install SMC Firmware update 1.1. Recommended for all MacBook owners, the update improves …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 00:39

  • Orange reports on the workplace of 2016

    It might be quite grim, apparently

    Orange's Future Enterprise Coalition has released a report discussing at the place and manner of work in 2016. "The Way to Work" is the second report published by the coalition. The first, "Organisational Lives", looked at how individuals might be using mobile technologies in the future. The coalition feels the way in which …

    Management 27 Oct 2006, 01:02

  • Billing provider behind Fon de-cloaks, attacks MVNO enterprises

    Meet BlueTab

    They say that before you launch a mobile billing company, you should have customers, or nobody will take you seriously. That's presumably why BlueTab has waited a year before revealing that it is a mobile billing company. The customer is a high profile one: Fon, the Spanish "social WiFi" network created with investment by …

    Mobile 27 Oct 2006, 07:02

  • Foundry punches out 65nm GPUs for Nvidia

    Gearing up for 2007 introduction?

    Nvidia is already producing 65nm chips, the graphics specialist has revealed. We suspect it actually means it's sampling chip designs fabricated at that size. Certainly, AMD isn't expected to ship 65nm GPUs until H2 2007, and like Nvidia, it chips are made by TSMC. Yesterday, Nvidia buttered up the foundry by lauding the two …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 08:35

  • Apple to ship 15.4in MacBook next May?

    Production contract signed, analyst claims

    Apple is gearing up to launch a 15.4in MacBook next May, a year after the Intel-equipped consumer notebook first came to market. So claims a Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia analyst, who also names Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn - aka Hon Hai Precision Industry - as the manufacturer. Analyst Vincent Chen's claim was …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 08:45

  • Skype users hang on for free calls

    Promotion gone wrong

    Skype user forums are filling up with angry customers who signed up to the Voice over Internet Protocol firm's free UK calls promotion. The only trouble is they are still being charged for calls. The cock-up has done little for Skype's reputation for "customer service". Punters who bought £10 of Skype credit were supposed to …

    VoIP 27 Oct 2006, 08:47

  • Ex-Microsoft man is next space tourist

    First 'nerd' in space, he says

    The man who led the development of Microsoft's Word and Excel programs is about to be sent into space. This is not, as you might surmise, a one way trip paid for by hacked-off accountants and people who looked like they "might be writing a letter", but a voluntary trip he's paying for himself. In fact, Charles Simonyi, 58, is …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 09:18

  • Samsung all a-glow over brighter phone display

    33 per cent more light intensity, no more power taken

    Samsung has figured out how to increase the brightness of a handheld device's screen by more than 33 per cent without drawing more power: paint a blue LED white. OK, so it's a little more complicated than that: you paint it with a fluorescent material. Still, Samsung calls is a "white LED". The illumination unit based on …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 09:20

  • Bug causes another delay to Vista

    RTM slips back a week

    Vista has been delayed by a week because of a bug, according to reports. The oft-delayed operating system was due for release to manufacturers yesterday, 25 October, but this has been pushed back to 8 November because of a bug serious enough to require a complete re-install of the software. Cunning Microsoft, fed up with …

    Operating Systems 27 Oct 2006, 09:53

  • Shuttle ships gamer-friendly SFF PC

    A well-specced XPC P2 3700G doesn't come cheap, though

    Shuttle today said it had managed to squeeze all the components necessary for a top-of-the-line gaming machine into one of its XPC small form-factor PC cases, claiming the result to be the "performance winner". It should be, for the price... The XPC P2 3700G is based on Shuttle's XPC Barebone SD37P2 chassis. It comes pre- …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 10:15

  • BitTorrent man jailed for five months

    D-Elited

    A US man has been jailed for five months and sentenced to a further five months of home detention for his role as a leading participant in the BitTorrent tracker site Elitetorrents. US District Court Judge James P Jones also sentenced Grant T Stanley, 23 of Wise in Virginia, to a $3,000 fine and three years supervised release …

    Media 27 Oct 2006, 10:41

  • Naomi Campbell bailed over alleged assault

    WSA Ten hours in the cells for battling supermodel

    Naomi Campbell was yesterday released on bail after spending 10 hours in Belgravia police station following an alleged assault on her drugs counsellor, The Independent reports. Campbell was arrested on Wednesday at her London home "on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm" after her counsellor reported the alleged attack to …

    Bootnotes 27 Oct 2006, 10:52

  • Extra anus kills four-legged chicken

    'I think he got glugged up'

    New Zealanders are today trying to come to terms with the tragic death of Forzie the four-legged chicken, stuff.co.nz reports. However, it was not the surplus legs which did for the month-old chick, owner Marlene Dickey believes. Rather, an extra anus has been fingered as the cause of his demise. Dickey said: "He developed two …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 10:54

  • UK to expand battery recycling scheme

    Drop-off points to be opened in 33 stores

    UK recycling quango WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) is to widen is battery collection programme. The scheme is still in a trial phase, but the expansion will see battery drop-off points placed in a number of high street shops and by post in partnership with the Royal Mail. Next month, 33 Argos, B&Q, Currys, Currys …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 10:57

  • BitTorrent embeds download manager

    P2P that bypasses the PC

    There are a lot of assumptions that have to be made about the news that BitTorrent has cut deals with three consumer electronic companies that will embed the BitTorrent download manager client directly into their devices. The devices include home routers and networked attached storage farms. We assume that the old BitTorrent …

    Storage 27 Oct 2006, 10:58

  • UK promises care record 'opt-out' - again

    Doctors will explain it to patients

    UK health minister Lord Warner has outlined how people will be able to "opt-out" of having their NHS medical records shared on a national database. Speaking at a Health Service Journal conference in London yesterday, Lord Warner said: "Patients will be informed in advance about new ways in which their information will be held …

    Management 27 Oct 2006, 11:00

  • BOFH: Goes virtual

    Episode 36 Why not to put all your blades in one basket

    "Why," the boss asks us early one morning, looking thoughtful "don't we use virtual servers?" "What do you mean?" I ask, dreading the possible problems the Boss is about to bestow on us. "Virtual Servers - you know, ones which aren't real." "Oh, we've got a stack of those," the PFY adds. "Downstairs in the virtual bunker, …

    BOFH 27 Oct 2006, 11:02

  • BT promises to improve local loop services for rivals

    Ofcom acts...

    BT has been given permission by Ofcom to draft in extra engineers to help improve service levels at Openreach - the division charged with helping rival telcos get equipment into local exchanges. The telco is bringing in 150 engineers from another division - BT is restricted by regulators to stop it unfairly favouring its own …

    Broadband 27 Oct 2006, 11:12

  • Can you judge someone's personality by the shape of their ears?

    You know what they say about big ears...

    Also in this week's column: Does drinking alcohol really keep you warm? What is a post-lumbar puncture headache? What is a fistula? Can you judge someone's personality by the shape of their ears? Asked by Ronnie Lathrop of Evanston, Illinois A century ago the pseudo science of phrenology was flourishing. According to …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 11:20

  • What is a post-lumbar puncture headache?

    Spinal tap blues

    Also in this week's column: Does drinking alcohol really keep you warm? Can you judge someone's personality by the shape of their ears? What is a fistula? What is a post-lumbar puncture headache? Asked by Liz Downes of Las Vegas, Nevada, USA There are all sorts of unusual forms of headaches that most people have never …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 11:20

  • What is a fistula?

    Abnormal connections

    Also in this week's column: Does drinking alcohol really keep you warm? Can you judge someone's personality by the shape of their ears? What is a post-lumbar puncture headache? What is a fistula? Asked by Terry Cardner of St Louis, Missouri The body grows all sorts of things. Parts of the body are connected in all sorts …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 11:21

  • Does drinking alcohol really keep you warm?

    Four for the road

    Also in this week's column: Can you judge someone's personality by the shape of their ears? What is a post-lumbar puncture headache? What is a fistula? Does drinking alcohol really keep you warm? No! So says the Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems. If the legendary St Bernard finds you stranded …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 11:24

  • 'Mars', 'Jupiter' launches planned by O2, Asus

    Carrier's new XDA partner revealed

    Cellco O2's new smart phone design and manufacturing partner is Taiwan's Asus, it has emerged after details of the upcoming XDA Zinc and Graphite - aka 'Mars 2' and 'Jupiter' - appeared, ahead of their launch, on the US Federal Communications Commission's website this week. The carrier's decision to part ways with the …

    Phones 27 Oct 2006, 11:44

  • Meizu's marvelous Mini Player is Europe-bound

    Small and sexy

    The Meizu Mini Player, the oh-so-cute iPod-esque tiny PMP that surface early last summer, is coming to Europe courtesy of French memory specialist Dane-Elec. The 8 x 5 x 1cm unit packs in a 2.4in, 262,144-colour display and up to 4GB of Flash storage. It handles all the usual media file formats, and works with Windows PCs and …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 12:09

  • Tandberg's troubled third quarter ends surprisingly upbeat

    Three week turnaround

    Tandberg Television finished what was supposed to be a troubled third quarter delivered revenues of $80.7m in 3Q06, up nine per cent compared to $74.4m in 3Q05. Three week's earlier it has warned that its revenues would be a full 20 per cent under expectations, due to losing out on two deals unexpectedly, so it would register …

    Broadband 27 Oct 2006, 12:21

  • Verisign scraps padlocks and Larry storms into Linux

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

    Free as in...bier Larry Ellison used Oracle's Openworld show in San Francisco to kneecap leading enterprise Linux distro Red Hat. Oracle will resell Red Hat's Linux - with the latter's trademarks removed - and offer three tier support starting at $99 per year, a third or more below Red Hat's rates. Support contracts are Red Hat …

    Business 27 Oct 2006, 13:04

  • Hacker hijinks impinge on US mid-term elections

    Kissing babies, spreading worms, and linking to dodgy MySpace profiles

    Forthcoming US mid-term elections have been disrupted by hackers. The website of Ted and Fran Gianoutsos, a husband and wife team running for governor and lieutenant governor in Alaska, was infected by a computer worm last week. The website of the write-in candidates, tedandfran.com, was infected by the Gedza-A worm in an …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 13:10

  • Evesham Mini PC

    Review Tiny desktop powered by Core 2 Duo

    Ever fancied a black Mac Mini? Well, the Evesham Mini PC isn't quite a Mac mini, nor is it exactly black, but on both points it comes close. Evesham's box is based on the tiny MP945-VXR chassis from AOpen, which has been out to out-Mini the Mac Mini for a couple of years now. The Mini PC measures 17 x 17cm and stands 6.1cm tall …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 13:12

  • Altiris makes security location-aware

    Lock up your ports and limit your apps

    Location-awareness will be the next big thing in device security, claimed Altiris as it became the latest vendor to jump into the increasingly crowded market for endpoint security software this week. As well as all the usual capabilities to control USB and wireless usage, block keyloggers and spyware, and so on, the Altiris …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 13:52

  • TomTom to track phones for real-time traffic info

    More responsive, better coverage than RDS?

    Vodafone and route-planning specialist TomTom will next year deploy what they believe will be the world's first commercial traffic data system based on tracking thousands of mobile phones in real-time, the pair said today. The system uses standard signalling data sent back and forth between mobile phones and cellular base- …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 14:10

  • Anti-scam website hit by DDOS attacks

    Help needed...

    A website set up to help spread information about alleged scammers is suffering so many denial of service attacks that its current host has asked the site to find a new home. We wrote about stopecg.org when it was hit by a flurry of legal threats. Luckily, MEP Richard Corbett stepped in to help. But now the site has been hit by …

    Media 27 Oct 2006, 14:10

  • Australian spammer fined A$5.5m

    Fair dinkum

    An Australian firm and its director have been fined a total of A$5.5m (£2.2m) after it was held responsible for sending out more than 230 million spam emails, 75 million of which were successfully delivered, during a two year spamming blitz. Wayne Mansfield, and his company Clarity1, of Perth in Western Australia, fell foul of …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 14:26

  • Vista vouchers, a Reg round-up

    We make the calls so you don't have to

    Any Reg reader considering their Christmas purchases and worried about what operating system they'll be cursed with can relax. We've rung round some of the major vendors and retailers. First up for vacuous marketing puff is Dell who gave us this statement: "Dell is very excited about Windows Vista. The new operating system is …

    Management 27 Oct 2006, 14:51

  • Wrinklies find Sadville

    Third Age seeks Second Life

    The relentless hype promoting the online game for sad people, Second Life, has unsurprisingly caused a spike in traffic for the site. And wrinklies are the demographic group that's most curious about the virtual landscape populated by giant penises and cross-dressing Guardian journalists. Traffic monitor HitWise reckons that …

    Bootnotes 27 Oct 2006, 14:53

  • Kim Jong-Il: 'mad as cheese'

    Patten spills beans at security conference

    Pity poor Kim Jong-Il. Back at the dawn of the decade he was all ready to be bezzie mates; having visits from Madeleine Albright, talking food aid, expecting Big Willie Clinton himself to drop by at any moment. For an idea of how things have changed since then, try this from the CNN archives dated May 14 2001: "North Korea …

    Media 27 Oct 2006, 15:04

  • Dozy drivers fail to notice rudery

    Do visitors to Crawley expect to be insulted?

    Drivers into the West Sussex town of Crawley were told to F*** off by council car park signs yesterday morning - and hardly anyone noticed. The signs normally say how many spaces are free in each car park, but were defaced by a hacker who broke into their control system at around 6.45am, substituting the rude message and a tag …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 15:05

  • Identity, voting and missing fingers

    Letters With added nuclear zing

    There is a bit of a fingerprinted theme to today's letters page, but we have plenty of other stuff too, so let's get started. The government, having consulted with as many agreeable people as it could find, decided that it has a plan for dealing with our nuclear waste. Simple, and ingenious, we're sure you'll agree. Let's …

    Letters 27 Oct 2006, 15:29

  • UK students get 10Gig backbone

    Just think how many MP3s you could get over that...

    UK academia's new 10Gbit/s national backbone is up and running, and could be connecting schools and universities at up to 160Gbit/s within four to five years. Part of the Joint Academic Network, JANET - and imaginatively named SuperJANET5 - the fibre optic network core links 19 regional educational networks and 18 million …

    Policy 27 Oct 2006, 15:42

  • Appeal court ruling sets marker on UK software patents

    Kicked into touch

    The three judges of the UK Court of Appeal have ruled decisively that patents on pure computer programs may not be granted in the UK. The ruling came in the case of Macrossan vs the UK Patent Office (UKPO). Mr Macrossan, an Australian, was appealing against the UKPO's rejection of his patent application. He wanted patent …

    Software 27 Oct 2006, 15:44

  • How to make your MacBook Pro run cooler

    smcFanControl to the rescue

    Love your oh-so-quiet MacBook or MacBook Pro but hate the heat it puts out? Quite apart from the sheer discomfort of it, an overly hot MacBook may be to blame for the random shutdowns quite a few users have reported, now hopefully fixed with Apple's latest SMC Firmware update. Enter utility smcFanControl, a tool to help you take …

    Hardware 27 Oct 2006, 16:02

  • Security firm punctures Vista's Patchguard

    Analysis Bun fight over kernel protection lumbers on

    Security vendor Authentium has discovered a mechanism to get around Microsoft's controversial Patchguard kernel protection technology, which is due to ship in the 64-bit version of its forthcoming Windows Vista operating system. Microsoft has criticised the move, claiming it puts Windows customers at risk, and vows to modify …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 17:12

  • EU moots 'deep background' checks for racist-free border controls

    The biometric meritocracy

    Europe plans to avoid the routine discrimination against foreigners at border controls by using deep background checks of individual people to manage immigration. The EU hopes the plans will appease US doubts about the visa waivers it doles out almost indiscriminately to citizens of allied countries. The US approach, as …

    Security 27 Oct 2006, 17:39

  • Is Google legal?

    Analysis Big in Belgium

    A Belgian court ruled against Google’s use of newspaper stories in early September. If you believe Google, it did nothing wrong and failed to defend itself because it was unaware of the publishers’ lawsuit. If you believe the publishers, Google is lying and infringes copyright on a colossal scale. The parties return to court on …

    Media 27 Oct 2006, 17:57

  • Red Hat promises to keep charging customers double

    Take your fork and shove it, Oracle

    Red Hat has struck out against Oracle's Linux support move by reassuring customers that it won't lower its prices. "Our actions and our strategy remain intact," Red Hat CEO Matt Szulik, told reporters. Oracle this week vowed to create its own version of Linux by peeling the Red Hat label off the company's server operating …

    Management 27 Oct 2006, 19:19

  • BBC abandons science

    TV And falls into singularity-shaped hole

    BBC TV's venerable science flagship, Horizon, has had a rough ride as it tries to gain a new audience. It's been accused of "dumbing down". That's nothing new - it's a criticism often leveled at it during its 42 year life. But instead of re-examing its approach, the series' producers have taken the bold step of abandoning …

    Science 27 Oct 2006, 21:03

  • Takeover gossip boosts Marvell shares

    Spreading rumors for fun and profit

    The rumor mill helped Marvell buck a down day on the US market. Shares of the the chip maker jumped close to 5 per cent on speculation that it could be a takeover target via either TI or a leveraged buyout. "I've heard lots of things," BWS Financial analyst Hamed Khorsand told the AP. "I've heard there may be a leveraged buy- …

    Financial News 27 Oct 2006, 23:34