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8th November 2006 Archive

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  • Armchair downloaders want it all

    But only if it’s free …

    Downloading movies, music and other media content onto computers in the comfort of your own home is more popular than ever, but people are simply not prepared to pay for it. Olswang, an entertainment and media law firm, surveyed 1,500 people and found a third of this group downloaded media content from the internet, but very …

    Networks 8 Nov 2006, 05:02

  • Microsoft bankrolls Novell to tune of $348m

    Hey big spender!

    Microsoft is spending less than $500m on its ground-breaking deal with Novell to promote SuSE Linux and shut Red Hat out of Windows accounts. Microsoft is to pay Novell $240m for 350,000 subscription coupons of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES, to be released in annual batches of 70,000, according to a Novell regulatory …

    Operating Systems 8 Nov 2006, 05:08

  • Fast24 customer? Here's how to recover your domain

    Letter Reg reader at your service

    Fast24, the UK broadband ISP and domain registrar, went missing recently. Fast24 customer Jim Howe has crashed through the pain barrier to regain control of his domains. Here he offers us the benefit of his experience for others in the same boat. I am but one of many customers of Fast24's domain name service offering, …

    Telecoms 8 Nov 2006, 08:02

  • Samsung shows wireless-tastic sub-notebook

    WiBro, HSDPA, Wi-Fi - you name it, the Q40 can connect to it

    It's got a 12.1in screen, weighs a mere 1.18kg, supports all the official Wi-Fi standards, picks up digital satellite TV broadcasts, supports WiBro wireless broadband and - here's the killer - has a shiny red lid. Yes, it's Samsung's latest sub-notebook, the svelte Q40. The unit's powered by an ultra-low voltage Intel Core …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 09:02

  • YouTube and Micropayments

    Comment Thoughts from an aging rock fan

    I was listening to Radio Five Live today and they were interviewing Andy Summers, a much travelled guitar virtuoso, best known as 1/3 of the Police. During the discussion (he’s pitching his autobiography) there was quite a lot of chat about how the band came to break up, and how they are actually still good friends, having …

    Financial News 8 Nov 2006, 09:57

  • Privacy chiefs vow to fight surveillance together

    Call for global cooperation

    A group of international data and privacy protection commissioners has decided to act together to challenge the surveillance society which they claim is developing. Commissioners from the UK, France, Germany and New Zealand will adopt common policies. At the annual Conference of Data Protection and Information Commissioners, …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 10:30

  • A glimpse inside the real IGF

    Nice snaps with childish captions

    You've seen the show, read the reviews, bought the t-shirt, but now it's time to reveal the real Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the kind of IGF that only photographs with pleasingly childish captions can provide... The two special guests (aside from the Greek PM and EC rottweiler Viviane Reding) at the inaugural Internet …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 10:36

  • Census teams go head to head in round one of testing

    My data capture is better than yours

    UK census authorities have selected two teams to bid for the 2011 UK Census programme contract. Lockheed Martin UK and T-Systems Ltd, a business unit of Deutsche Telekom, have been given tasks to capture and manage paper data and run technology and service tests under the 2007 Census test led by the Office for National …

    Public Sector 8 Nov 2006, 10:44

  • Big Blue cloud over event processing performance

    The march of the big guns

    The march of the big guns into event processing continues. Microsoft, SAS and Sybase have all got point solutions that address this space in one way or another, while it may have escaped your notice that IBM has now got two offerings in this area. The first of these is WebSphere Front Office for Financial Markets, which is …

    Developer 8 Nov 2006, 10:54

  • "I have nothing to hide" - or the Sainsbury's Lesson

    Comment Guilt by association

    How frightened would you be if you were secretly planning to get pregnant, without telling your husband, and discovered that someone had written to him telling him about it? Or, put the other way, how would you feel if you discovered your wife was pregnant only when someone dropped you a letter? And who would that person be? …

    Public Sector 8 Nov 2006, 10:56

  • Protests target Yahoo! snitching

    Down! With! Internet! Enemies!

    Campaigners have projected a huge world map showing areas where internet speech is suppressed onto the Yahoo! France building in Paris to highlight the portal's snitching against cyber-dissidents in China. The action yesterday by media rights organisation Reporters Without Borders fingered Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 11:08

  • Giant iPod user rocks Google Earth

    Strange simulacrum in deepest Canada

    Here's a nice one for the Google Earth fans among you: a strange simulacrum lying just west of Canada's Alberta-Saskatchewan border, around 40km east of Medicine Hat: The Google Earth community has suggested that he's either Native American or Mayan, but all agree he's plugged straight into his iPod. It's pretty conclusive …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 11:10

  • Attackers end-run around IE security

    Backwards compatibility a breeding ground for holes

    The dependence of Internet Explorer on other Windows components has allowed online attackers to work around the shored-up security of Microsoft's latest browser. Last weekend, security researchers discovered a website using an previously unknown, or zero-day, vulnerability in a relatively unused ActiveX component of Windows …

    Security 8 Nov 2006, 11:13

  • Dell delivers Quads

    Gives birth to high performance servers and workstations

    Dell is selling its servers and workstations with Intel's Quad-Core Xeon processors on board. The company is the first to announce availability of the new processors which become an option for all ranges currently offering Intel dual-core processors. There are two processor versions available, the 1.6 GHz E5310 at £470 and …

    Servers 8 Nov 2006, 11:34

  • Avnet buys Access Distribution

    Distie buys Sun shop

    Avnet has bought Access Distribution from its parent General Electric for $412.5m. Access has 600 staff worldwide and is expected to bring in some $2bn in revenues this financial year - 90 per cent of this from the US and the rest from Europe. It specialises in security, storage, enterprise applications, and Sun kit. Avnet …

    Channel Register 8 Nov 2006, 11:40

  • SMEs fall foul of cold-calling firm

    Warning: Rogue online directory on the loose

    Be on your guard for rogue internet firms - that's the warning from Northern Ireland's Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's Trading Standards Service. A number of local businesses in Northern Ireland have fallen foul of a cold-calling internet firm which promises internet directory services and website services and …

    Small Biz 8 Nov 2006, 11:57

  • Radio RTFM episode 1: The London cabbie

    Analysis of the HP scandal from our favourite Hackney Carriage operator

    The mp3 for Radio RTFM episode 1: The London Cabbie should be shown as an enclosure on your RSS aggregator. It's also available below, along with the full episode and other sketches. Radio RTFM: The unexpurgated episode 1 The London Cabbie Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks The Strategy Boutique

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 11:57

  • Radio RTFM episode 1: Brinfinger

    World domination, Google style

    The mp3 for Radio RTFM episode 1: Brinfinger should be shown as an enclosure on your RSS aggregator. It's also available below, along with the full episode and other sketches. Radio RTFM: The unexpurgated episode 1 Our favourite London cabbie gives forth on HP scandal Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks The …

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 11:58

  • Radio RTFM episode 1: Space wurzel

    Professor Pillinger ruminates on matters of scientific import

    The mp3 for Radio RTFM episode 1: Space wurzel should be shown as an enclosure on your RSS aggregator. It's also available below, along with the full episode and other sketches. Radio RTFM: The unexpurgated episode 1 Our favourite London cabbie gives forth on HP scandal Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks The …

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 11:58

  • Radio RTFM episode 1: Trainspotting geeks

    'I think you'll find that according to Heidelstein's Probability Vortex theory...'

    The mp3 for Radio RTFM episode 1: Trainspotting geeks should be shown as an enclosure on your RSS aggregator. It's also available below, along with the full episode and other sketches. Radio RTFM: The unexpurgated episode 1 Our favourite London cabbie gives forth on HP scandal Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks …

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 11:59

  • Radio RTFM episode 1: The Strategy Boutique

    Multiple energies, thrust, synergy, fusion and evolution

    The mp3 for Radio RTFM episode 1: The Strategy Boutique should be shown as an enclosure on your RSS aggregator. It's also available below, along with the full episode and other sketches. Radio RTFM: The unexpurgated episode 1 Our favourite London cabbie gives forth on HP scandal Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks …

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 12:00

  • Xbox to go Live with movie and TV downloads

    Pre-empting Apple's iTV

    Microsoft will begin offering movie and TV downloads via Xbox Live from 22 November. Gamers whose bones have dissolved to the point where a trip to Blockbuster is out of the question will be able to grab the likes of South Park direct to the Xbox 360 hard drive. Redmond has inked deals with MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 12:02

  • NTL Telewest reborn as Virgin

    And trials 50Mb

    NTL Telewest is rebranding to Virgin Media and will start a commercial trial of 50Mb broadband in Kent this month. Announcing its third quarter results, for the period ended 30 September 2006, the company said revenues had grown to £1,0249m but it made a loss of £104.2m, up from £53.2m in the third quarter of last year. …

    Networks 8 Nov 2006, 15:19

  • Dating site hacker avoids jail

    No love lost

    A Nottinghamshire man who attacked the website of London dating agency loveandfriends.com has avoided imprisonment. Matthew Byrne, 38, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, was given a suspended sentence of eight months imprisonment, suspended for two years, at a sentencing hearing at London's Southwark Crown Court on …

    Enterprise Security 8 Nov 2006, 15:30

  • Radio RTFM: Those separate sketches in full

    Bite-sized fun for all the family

    As promised, we've broken the first episode of Radio RTFM into separate mp3s so listeners can savour their favourite bits in fun-sized portions. Here they are: The London cabbie Brinfinger Space wurzel Trainspotting geeks The Strategy Boutique Those of you who've already pointed your news aggregator in the direction of …

    Radio RTFM 8 Nov 2006, 15:30

  • Java databasing with Derby

    Java's own open source database

    It sometimes feels as if open source databases are a dime a dozen. There are the big names like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Ingres. There are plenty of other lesser known but no less powerful open source databases: Firebird, SQLite, HSQLDB, Apache Derby, IBM Cloudscape, and Java DB. Actually, I cheated there at the end, those last …

    Developer 8 Nov 2006, 15:32

  • Nuclear war worm fails to explode

    Protect and survive

    VXers have created an email-aware worm that offers outrageous, and bogus, news stories about the supposed the outbreak of nuclear war and the fictional deaths of either George W Bush and Vladimir Putin as bait. The Dref-N worm, whose payload comes in emails with subject lines such as 'White house news!', 'Incredible news' and ' …

    Malware 8 Nov 2006, 15:37

  • NetApp wraps up 4Gig SAN-in-a-box

    Midrange NAS/SAN hybrid targets EMC and HP once again

    Network Appliance has released its first systems with native 4Gbit Fibre Channel, filling out what it said was a gap in its line between its mid-range FAS3000 and high-end FAS6000 families. Priced from just over €97,000 (around £65,000), the FAS3070 is an upgrade to the 2Gbit-equipped FAS3050 - you can move from the latter to …

    Storage 8 Nov 2006, 15:45

  • Americans choose Democrats

    Another long national nightmare over?

    Americans have chosen to send Democrats to Capitol Hill in hopes that they will restrain the the bumbling and imperious Bush administration and correct its many blunders. According to exit polls, nearly 40 per cent of voters said they were consciously voting against the President and his numerous failed policies and national …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 15:52

  • Apple updates MacBooks to 'Merom'

    Core 2 Duo inside

    Apple has upgraded its MacBook consumer notebook line, dropping the range's Core Duo processor for a more up-to-date Core 2 Duo chip. Once again three models are on offer: two white ones and a black version. This time, the 2GHz black model has a 120GB hard drive as standard, so the extra $200 it costs doesn't entirely go on …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 16:00

  • Deutsche Telekom shuns WiMAX

    Nein

    Deutsche Telekom has ruled itself out of the WiMAX business in its home country for the forseeable future. German regulator BNetzA wants WiMAX to serve the country's rural areas as a backup to DSL, with a quarter of the country covered by 2011, and it's put spectrum in the 3,400-3,600Mhz frequency up for auction. So far the …

    Data Networking 8 Nov 2006, 16:08

  • Directors' pay growth accelerates

    'Nothing succeeds like excess'

    Directors' pay outstrips that of employees by almost three times as much as it did in 2000. Directors now earn 98 times more than full-time workers, compared with 39 times their pay in 2000, according to new research. The latest boardroom pay survey by Incomes Data Services shows that the average total earnings of chief …

    Business 8 Nov 2006, 16:11

  • One quad-core will do nicely

    IBM ponders what users want and what they need

    The race to be the first server vendor to announce systems running Intel's quad-core Clovertown processor may have been won by Dell but it is something of a pyrrhic victory. It is a racing certainty that most vendors in the x86 server market are likely making similar announcements in the very near future. But while Intel and …

    Servers 8 Nov 2006, 16:37

  • NetApp punts $160m for Topio

    Duplicates EMC's de-duplication buy

    NetApp has announced the acquisition of Topio, a California-based data de-duplication and protection software firm for $160m cash. Topio software is able to create a data clone from several different storage sources within an enterprise, consolidating as it goes. It's a buy that fits with NetApp's own recently upgraded virtual …

    Channel Register 8 Nov 2006, 16:48

  • Bogus YouTube clip installs Zango Cash

    Mucky video

    Security researchers have discovered a number of user pages on MySpace containing what appear to be YouTube videos that come bundled with a Zango Cash adware installer, an application that loads intrusive pop-up advertising software onto infected PCs. Users curious about the Windows Media videos are directed to a site called " …

    Malware 8 Nov 2006, 16:54

  • Skype 3.0 beta is go

    What's that coming over the hill? It's a Ballmer

    Skype released the beta of the third iteration of its VoIP software today, as Microsoft turns its roving eye towards the free net call market. The biggest innovation in Skype 3.0 is click-to-call, which eBay will be hoping will justify the $2.6bn it splurged on Skype. With the help of Google it means a single click on an ad …

    VoIP 8 Nov 2006, 16:57

  • Intel targets SMEs with Web 2.0 software

    Which is nice

    Intel is collaborating with several software companies to launch SuiteTwo, an integrated package of Web 2.0 software aimed at small and medium enterprises. The SuiteTwo package, launched yesterday, will include software from NewsGator, SimpleFeed, Six Apart and Socialtext. These small software companies provide applications for …

    Applications 8 Nov 2006, 18:13

  • Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card

    Review GeForce 8800 GTX = 2 x Radeon X1950 XTX

    Are you ready for DirectX 10 gaming under Windows Vista? No? Didn't think so. Today Nvidia finally unveiled its new DX10-capable graphics chip, the GeForce 8800 - aka 'G80' - but is it worth forking out for one now, or should you wait until Windows Vista ships? Read on to find out how good the GeForce 8800 GTX really is... …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 19:02

  • Nvidia rolls out nForce 6 series for Intel CPUs

    Next-gen chipset, anyone?

    Overshadowed it may be by the GeForce 8800 GTX's debut, but the nForce 6 chipset series was launched today too. Nvidia unveiled three models: the 650i Ultra, 650i SLI and 680i SLI. All three are designed to support Intel processors - hence the 'i'. The 680i - seen in released-too-early pics last month - runs the range of …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 19:46

  • Microsoft becomes master of others' domains

    Respect it

    Microsoft has joined the list of organizations authorized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to sell top-level domain names. Previously it had relied on Australia-based registrar Melbourne IT for wholesale domain services. A Microsoft domain service is not guaranteed: Google and Amazon are …

    Financial News 8 Nov 2006, 19:52

  • Hurd commits Teradata infanticide

    Exclusive HP's CEO goes after old company with Neoview line

    HP's CEO Mark Hurd has okayed a hush-hush plan to undermine his former employer, The Register can reveal. HP spent much of October briefing analysts about its Neoview line of high-end, data warehousing systems. These products will go up against similar gear from NCR's vaunted Teradata division and kit from IBM. Mysteriously, HP …

    Servers 8 Nov 2006, 19:56

  • Download your Blue Screen of Death - from Microsoft

    Wizard wheeze of a sysadmin tease

    Who says Microsoft has not got broad shoulders. Witness this neat little app - BlueScreen Saver 3.2 - available for download from Microsoft's very own website. As the blurb says… One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something …

    Music and Media 8 Nov 2006, 20:05

  • Euro demand for PDAs has 'evaporated'

    Wireless or nothing

    Who wants to buy a PDA? No one in Europe, according to market watcher IDC. They want smart phones and other wireless devices instead. Now, you might well assume the old-style PDA was dead, but IDC's figures, for Q3, will make very bad reading for PDA-based GPS system providers too. During Q3, some 3.84m handhelds shipped into …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 20:10

  • Nvidia sails to Cuda in bid to stem ATI's Stream

    Revolutionary?

    First AMD/ATI introduced Stream Computing, a scheme to accelerate scientific, engineering and other non-gaming apps using GPU parallel processing technology. And now here's Nvidia's version, CUDA. Not that it's clear what CUDA stands for - Nvidia didn't provide a solution to the acronym in its press release. Computationally …

    Reg Hardware 8 Nov 2006, 20:50

  • January 30: Window Vista's date with destiny

    Broad appeal, says Allchin

    Microsoft has confirmed "broad" availability for Windows Vista on January 30, with only business customers on volume contracts receiving product before hand. Jim Allchin, co-president for platforms and services, today told press that Windows Vista is feature-complete and ready to ship. OEMs will get code in advance of …

    Operating Systems 8 Nov 2006, 21:09

  • Will SOA kill the idea of applications?

    Let’s get real

    As SOA begins to gather momentum in the market, there has been a great deal of speculation about whether we will see the concept of an application disappear. The reasoning goes that a natural consequence of SOA is that systems will no longer be implemented as single monolithic structures, but as a series of component parts …

    Developer 8 Nov 2006, 21:18

  • We come to praise DMCA, not bury it ...

    Letters I want my takedown notice now

    Recently we recounted our experience with our first takedown notice (How to gag your enemies using the DMCA). This prompted an outburst of anti-American email, which is par for the course these days, and so to be discounted, and also some outbursts against The Reg. Choice cuts served to you on a plate: As a web software …

    Letters 8 Nov 2006, 22:07