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1st November 2006 Archive

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  • Kazaa pays off the music publishers

    'Substantial sum'

    And you thought Kazaa had gone completely kosher. Wrong. Months after paying $100m to the record labels and movie studios to settle piracy charges, the browbeaten P2P music service has only today come to terms with America's music publishers. In a statement, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) said Kazaa had …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2006, 00:04

  • Sun puts enterprise muscle into NetBeans

    More beef

    Sun Microsystems is backing a "milestone" release of NetBeans by expanding a year-old partner program to drive uptake for its tools environment and IDE. Sun has released NetBeans 5.5, accompanied by five "value added packs" offering tools for developers in testing, enterprise, mobile and web development, which pull in …

    Developer 1 Nov 2006, 01:01

  • Intel set to show off 'Footballers' Wives' four-core line

    Hot, pricey and too fast for their own good

    The server and PC markets will get glitzy and awful hot in a couple of weeks when Intel pushes out its four-core chips. Both Kentsfield for high-end PCs and Clovertown for servers should officially arrive on 14 November, although review sites will be freed from their NDAs on 3 November, sources tell us. The Kentsfield chip …

    Servers 1 Nov 2006, 01:06

  • Net forum produces anti-spam plan

    IGF OECD at heart of global fight against evil email

    Six of the world's largest anti-spam organisations have set up a new website aimed at killing the online menace. Timed to coincide with an anti-spam workshop at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Athens, the OECD has started StopSpamAlliance.org, along with Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), the EU Contact Network …

    Spam 1 Nov 2006, 10:00

  • Open standards group to beat Microsoft at its own game

    IGF Government lobbying, here we come

    The first "dynamic coalition" resulting from the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) has vowed to get governments interested in adopting open standards for both hardware and software. A panel, which included academics, business, and standards bodies argued its case in Athens, where one of the aims of open discussions between …

    Software 1 Nov 2006, 10:04

  • US DoJ SRAM probe turns to Sony

    European Commission gets in on the act too

    Sony has been told by the US Department of Justice to provide information regarding its SRAM business, part of an investigation into an alleged attempt to fix prices. Separately, the probe took on a European dimension when it emerged European Commission officials are engaged in a similar investigation. Sony said it had …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 10:07

  • Data failings threaten NHS payments

    Trial system blighted with inaccuracies

    The Payment by Results (PbR) system could be in jeopardy because data collected by the NHS is not accurate, a pilot has revealed. The Royal College of Physicians has published a report on a trial of the system conducted by its iLab facility. It found that clinical data entered onto the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) for …

    Public Sector 1 Nov 2006, 10:22

  • CE giants punt wireless rival to HDMI

    WiHD to tread on Wi-Fi toes too?

    Six big-name consumer electronics companies have come together to thrash out a wireless alternative to the HDMI cabling standard that may also tread on the toes of next-generation Wi-Fi technology. The WirelessHD specification is described as a "high-speed wireless, multi-gigabit technology in the unlicensed 60GHz band [with …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 10:32

  • Reid fires starting gun in spook toys arms race

    Civil society called up

    The UK Home Secretary has called on the country to back the surveillance industry at the start of a civil security arms race. Speaking to a surveillance industry conference today, John Reid described how British society must change in order to protect itself from those peoples left embittered in the wake of the cold war. He …

    Public Sector 1 Nov 2006, 10:37

  • Government turns down request for FOI data

    Access denied

    The Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) has refused a request to make public the data behind a controversial recent report. The DCA is in charge of policy for the Freedom of Information Act (FoI). The DCA commissioned a report by Frontier Economics which analysed data it had gathered on the cost of processing FOI …

    Music and Media 1 Nov 2006, 10:37

  • Intel, AMD squeeze other x86 chip makers

    Arch-rivals both grew market share in Q3

    AMD increased its share of the x86 processor market during Q3 2006, it has emerged. But fanboys hoping AMD's gain came at arch-rival Intel's expense will be disappointed: the chip giant's market share also rose sequentially. No, it's the lesser players who took the hit during Q3, according to figures posted by market watcher …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 10:48

  • Smart loses battle with ComReg

    As firm is sold for €1

    Smart Telecom has lost its High Court battle with ComReg, with the court ruling that the troubled telecoms firm should not have been offered a 3G mobile licence. The ruling from Justice Peter Kelly states that the regulator was right to withdraw the offer of the 3G licence from Smart. The offer of the licence was withdrawn …

    Music and Media 1 Nov 2006, 10:55

  • European expansion on the cards for 3V

    £20m investment puts disposable credit on the High Street

    Pay-as-you-go Visa voucher firm 3V is preparing to launch its product in the UK and Europe, raising €20m to fund the expansion and creating new jobs. The vouchers were launched in the UK on Tuesday, backed by a £2m marketing campaign. Other European markets will be added in 2007. "Following the successful pilot of 3V Voucher …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2006, 11:11

  • Mystic mixes media player and VoIP phone

    All-in-one

    Say hello to the Rimax Mystic a 7mm-thick music and video player - that's a 1.5in, 65,536-colour OLED on the front - that doubles up as USB-connected VoIP phone. There's an FM radio on board too and a sufficient battery capacity for up to eight hours' music playback time. Available in 512MB, 1GB and 2GB capacities, the Mystic …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 11:16

  • AMD releases ATI Catalyst update

    Tweaks galore

    AMD's ATI division has released the latest version of its Catalyst drivers package, implementing the usual array of tweaks to boost game framerates and benchmark scores: gains of 6.7-15.8 per cent can be seen in 3DMark06 and 9.7-10.5 per cent in 3DMark05, the company claimed. ATI also pointed to a speed boost for folk doing …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 11:33

  • S&P updates ratings method for exchanges and clearing houses

    Technology jumps up the analysis rankings

    Exchanges and clearing houses have changed almost beyond recognition over the past 10 years. They have been transformed from private mutual, member types of organisations in many instances with monopoly powers and business franchises to public and, in many cases, listed organisations. The old membership category has for the …

    Business 1 Nov 2006, 11:37

  • Welcome to RTFM: the Reg audio experience

    Download your pilot programme here

    Welcome to RTFM: a new audio service from sci-tech world superpower The Register. We at Vulture Central have been talking for some time about doing a pilot for a possible monthly broadcast, and we finally got out of the pub long enough to put together a 14-minute sonic burst for your listening pleasure. The RTFM cast of …

    Radio RTFM 1 Nov 2006, 11:37

  • Samsung squashes 16 Flash chips into one

    Multi-die stacking enhanced for cheaper MP3 players

    Samsung has worked out how to stack up to 16 memory dies in a single package, allowing a standard-sized chip to contain rather more storage capacity than is currently the case. A chip that might have once held 10GB of Flash memory can now hold 16GB. Samsung's technique is to narrow the thickness of each memory wafer to 30µm, …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 12:08

  • Chinese democracy campaigner attacks Yahoo! snitchers

    Stop! Ratting! Out! Dissidents!

    Yahoo!'s snitching to Beijing over pro-democracy activity on the internet refuses to go away. Leading campaigner Wei Jingsheng sigled out the portal on Monday for actions which directly led to a journalist being imprisoned in 2004. He made the attack on Monday at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Computerworld reports …

    Music and Media 1 Nov 2006, 12:23

  • Level 3 floored by robbery

    Trick or treat? OK, trick it is...

    Level 3, the supposedly secure back bone provider, has lost all services at its Braham Street data centre thanks to a robbery. The company refused to speak to The Register this morning, but many of its customers have been in touch. According to Level 3 customers thieves got into the building on Braham Street, E1, and stole …

    Networks 1 Nov 2006, 12:40

  • VXers target online video

    Contaminated codecs

    Virus writers are tapping into the popularity of online video sites to spread their malware. As well as posting spyware and adware infected files that pose as video clips onto P2P networks, hackers are booby-trapping Windows codecs that are needed to play some video formats with Trojan code or posting viruses that pose as codecs …

    Malware 1 Nov 2006, 12:55

  • Stupid aul' Reg hack has tin ear

    Correction Irish PM does talk like Lucky the Leprechaun

    In a recent article about electronic voting in Ireland, I claimed that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had been misquoted in a Sunday Times article by Mark Tighe on the same topic. Speaking in the Dáil, Bertie had advocated resurrecting Ireland's electronic voting terminals whilst decrying the insult to Irish sophistication implied by …

    Bootnotes 1 Nov 2006, 13:31

  • PayPal claims 15m UK users

    Lots of eBayers

    PayPal now has 15m accounts in the UK - a third of the adult population and more than half of active internet shoppers. Figures from Datamonitor estimate there are 24.9m online shoppers in the UK, spending an average of £600 each a year. UK chief executive Geoff Iddison told the Reg: "We are growing faster than ecommerce in …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2006, 13:33

  • Sony launches 'world's lightest' laptop in Japan

    Well, lightest 12.1in machine...

    Sony has launched what it today claimed is the world's lightest 12.1in notebook, an 898g machine constructed out of carbon fibre, though the weight pushes past 1kg if you want a machine with a bigger battery capacity and an optical drive. The Vaio G series comprises more than half a dozen models aimed at different segments …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 13:50

  • Vista delayed by 18,000 years

    Official

    Microsoft's mythical operating system looks set to remain a thing of legend. The oft-delayed Windows Vista is facing an epic setback, having been pushed back 18,000 years. According to Manchester-based IT supplier Aria.co.uk, don't expect to run Redmond's new beast on your PC until 30 January, 20007. The site says: Don't hold …

    Operating Systems 1 Nov 2006, 14:44

  • Hitachi punts Frankenstein storage

    Flash memory hybrids for 2007

    Hitachi's hard drive division today outlined its strategy for the next year, pushing encryption and flash memory hybrids at notebooks. It'll be increasing capacity on its cash cow 2.5-inch notebook drives too. A 2.5in 7,200rpm effort will lead the charge in the first half of next year with 200GB of storage. Later in the year a 5 …

    Storage 1 Nov 2006, 14:50

  • HP slices into storage

    In Brief Punting direct attached 'blades'

    HP has shoehorned its Storageworks brand into the c-Class server blade systems it announced in June. The StorageWorks SB40c will attach into c-Class server blades and provide up to 876GB of additional capacity from a maximum of six HDD slots. The modularity of the blade system is the filip for HP's marketing wonks; it'll fit …

    Storage 1 Nov 2006, 14:56

  • Fearmeister Reid fakes his terror figures

    Unfit for arithmetic...

    Quality control issues at the Ministry of Truth & Fear? To shore up his speech to the Society of Spookgear Suppliers yesterday Home Secretary John Reid produced some impressive (but strangely implausible) numbers showing the devastating effect the UK security services are having on terrorism. But by bizarre coincidence (?), on …

    Music and Media 1 Nov 2006, 15:04

  • Softek signs distie agreement

    Brief Authentication is us

    Security distributor Softek has been appointed a distie for authentication company Deepnet Security. Mike Bienvenu, technical director at Softek, welcomed the deal and said: "Two-way authentication is absolutely essential in these days of phishing and identity theft. "The old hardware security token will now start to be …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2006, 15:26

  • Logicalis gets new boss

    Brief Ian Cook gets the job

    Logicalis is promoting Ian Cook, currently head of European operations, to chief executive officer. Previous CEO Jens Montana is being kicked upstairs, becoming chairman of Logicalis. Cook joined the firm in 2003 and will take over in March 2007 - for the new financial year. He will be based, poor fellow, at Logicalis's …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2006, 15:28

  • HIS targets Radeon X1300 card at pre-Express PCI users

    Passive cooling

    Last week, Reg Hardware reported PowerColor's plan to bring AMD's ATI Radeon X1950 Pro to consumers with older, AGP-based motherboards. This week, it's Hightech Information Systems' turn. It's just announced an ATI-based board for users languishing in the PCI era. Hightech's HIS X1300 Silence is a passively cooled card fitted …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 15:37

  • AOL Europe gets new head

    Thompson steps down after eight months

    AOL Europe president Karen Thompson has resigned, leaving the job open for AOL France CEO Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, who starts today. Thompson has been with AOL for 11 years, becoming CEO of AOL UK in 2001, and chairman in 2005, before taking on the role of president in March this year. Four months after starting as president she …

    Telecoms 1 Nov 2006, 15:40

  • Virgin USA launches new audio services

    Fun, but not world changing

    Virgin USA has launched its Cyclops phone, so called thanks to a lens mounted on the front of the clamshell. The phone is pretty enough, but its support for two new Virgin services is what's really interesting. TXT Tones enable the user to change the alert which goes off when they get a text message, while VAM (Virgin Audio …

    Mobile 1 Nov 2006, 15:43

  • Windows Firewall exploit overhyped

    Nothing to see here, please move along

    The release of an exploit that means a hacker, who happens to be on the same local area network, can knock over Windows Firewall on machines running XP has created a lot of publicity, despite being not much of a threat. By using the exploit, an attacker could disable Windows Firewall on a fully patched machine running Internet …

    Reg Hardware 1 Nov 2006, 15:46

  • Azzurri buys virtual network firm Sirocom

    Brief Convergence

    Communications firm Azzurri has acquired UK-based virtual network operator (VNO) Sirocom for an undisclosed sum. Sirocom, which specialises in the design, installation and operation of voice and date networks, has an annual turnover of £31m and employs 110 staff. Customers such as HSBC, STA Travel, Cadbury Schweppes, and …

    Data Networking 1 Nov 2006, 15:56

  • Apple sinks its teeth into Scotland

    City of Smiles and Chelsea grins gets Apple shop

    Glasgow is getting an Apple store, the company's first Scottish store and one in the eye for Edinburgh, Glasgow's east coast rival. The computer company has applied to make internal alterations to 147 Buchanan Street - one of the city's top shopping spots. Glasgow's Apple store will be run by reseller Scotsys and is opening …

    Channel Register 1 Nov 2006, 16:43

  • United Nations Internet forum goes titsup

    It's a dog's life online

    The website of the United Nations' Internet Governance Forum has been suspended and replaced with a cartoon dog pulling wires out of a PC. The site at igf2006.info was taken down with 20 minutes left of the main speaking session after the hosts complained that demand from a collaborative website set up to elicit views from the …

    Bootnotes 1 Nov 2006, 17:08

  • MySpace tries to block unauthorised tunes

    You and whose army?

    MySpace will use filtering software to block copyrighted music hosted without permission on members' pages, the site said. It will permanently delete the accounts of people who upload tunes a number of times. MySpace will use the Gracenote audio identification technology to identify audio recordings uploaded by its members. …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2006, 17:15

  • A policies primer

    You may think you won't need them, but you probably will

    The suggestion that the next upgrade of the major applications suites such as Oracle and SAP will force users into adopting systems and business management policies that they may not realise are necessary has met with something of a mixed reception. Companies that sell the technology required to implement and manage such …

    Developer 1 Nov 2006, 17:23

  • Halloween bomb thrown at PayPal's HQ

    Shattered Windows, no-one hurt

    San Jose's firefighters, bomb squad and hazardous materials team last night descended on PayPal's headquarters to investigate what appears to be a 'minor' bombing. The safety squadrons were sent in to investigate reports of explosions at PayPal's 2211 North First Street location. PayPal's security company told investigators …

    Financial News 1 Nov 2006, 17:48

  • Image-conscious IBM wants to service thin clients

    Put your fat PC on a virtual diet

    Without a PC albatross hanging around its neck, IBM can now zero in on the thin client market. Big Blue this week rolled out a fresh services package to do just that by helping customers move away from their tubby PCs toward "virtualized" setups that include thin clients, servers and a wide variety of software. The Virtual …

    Servers 1 Nov 2006, 20:10

  • Eleventh-hour name change for Microsoft database

    Vista-style clarity

    Microsoft has made a quiet, last-minute name change to a planned version of its Windows database which was unveiled amid much corporate fanfare this Spring. Just weeks ahead of launch, Microsoft has binned the planned SQL Server Everywhere brand and is adopting SQL Server Compact Edition (SQLce) in a sleight of hand designed …

    Applications 1 Nov 2006, 23:50

  • IBM targets Microsoft .NET developers

    Collaboration battle

    IBM is drawing on some Web 2.0 weaponry to push developers into dumping Microsoft as a collaboration and messaging platfrom and adopting Java and Lotus. The company has announced Lotus Expeditor, an Eclipse-based environment for building what IBM has called a "universal" client spanning current Lotus products and the planned …

    Developer 1 Nov 2006, 23:52