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15th November 2006 Archive

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  • Emulex mobilises virtual SANs

    Making SANs easier to use with Virtual Server

    Connecting a virtual machine to a SAN and moving it around is too difficult, according to Emulex, which reckons its new VMPilot software should change all that - at least as far as Windows Virtual Server is concerned. Emulex has been pushing virtualisation for over a year now, with its LightPulse 4Gig Fibre Channel host bus …

    Channel Register 15 Nov 2006, 05:30

  • Microsoft rallies friends and former foes for Interop Alliance

    What! No IBM? No Symantec?

    Microsoft has rallied recent converts and old-school fans behind a cosy alliance designed to improve interoperability with its products. The company today announced 24 software and hardware vendors have joined its Interop Vendor Alliance. The Microsoft-run forum is intended to help companies - and presumably Microsoft - …

    Applications 15 Nov 2006, 05:38

  • Longhorn Ahoy!

    All that glitters is not Zune

    Fresh from an almost missable US launch of Zune, Microsoft was back on familiar ground Tuesday touting server, security and admin software to reassure shareholders the company's future is bright. Bob Muglia, Microsoft's senior vice president for server and tools opened the company's IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain, by promising …

    Operating Systems 15 Nov 2006, 05:41

  • eBay's VeRO is no substitute for litigation, UK judges rule

    High Court sides with merchant over 'groundless threats'

    A man who stopped a Chelmsford, UK business selling children's quad bikes on eBay cannot continue to do so, the High Court has ruled. Dr Colin Campbell had used a disputes process on the eBay site to stop sales which he said infringed his design rights. eBay operates VeRO, which stands for Verified Rights Owner, a system …

    Small Biz 15 Nov 2006, 06:39

  • Oracle's Fusion Applications strategy: what the customers think

    Reg Technology Panel Not yet convinced

    Following the acquisition of PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems, only a short time after PeopleSoft had itself acquired JD Edwards, software giant Oracle became the proud owner of four ERP and three CRM product lines, all originally developed on different platforms and having different tooling to manage configuration and …

    Applications 15 Nov 2006, 07:02

  • Fujitsu Siemens services woos resellers

    Why can't we all just get along

    Fujitsu Siemens Computers put its recently acquired service division square and centre when it gave itself an image makeover at its VISIT 2005 beano this week. Describing itself as the "new" Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC), the PC vendor said it could now offer customers a full suite of products, services and solutions, with …

    IT Director 15 Nov 2006, 09:31

  • Alien invasion cancelled due to TV licence restrictions

    Letters And the greybeards revolt

    Not strictly technological, except where you get into TV by phone, and PCs with tuners in them, but TV licensing is a subject obviously close to your hearts, so we try to keep you abreast of the latest developments. Why? Well, we're just nice like that. So this week when we found out that a man's appeal against the TV …

    Letters 15 Nov 2006, 09:41

  • Developer confirms DVD-edition Wii coming H2 2007

    Nintendo to bundle DVD app or sell it separately?

    Nintendo's plan to bring DVD playback functionality to its as yet unlaunched Wii games console has been confirmed. US-based software developer Sonic Solutions this week revealed Nintendo will use its CinePlayer CE application for the purpose. The utility will be incorporated into "a future version of the Wii gaming console", …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 09:48

  • PC World rapped for ad encouraging illegal use of iPod

    Broadcast licence needed to use gadget

    PC World has been admonished by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for advertising a product which is illegal to use in the UK. An advert for an FM transmitter cannot be repeated in the same form, the ASA said. Short range FM transmitters are smaller, less powerful versions of radio masts which send a signal a distance …

    Music and Media 15 Nov 2006, 09:51

  • AMD rebrands ATI chipsets under its own name?

    ATI brand only for discrete GPUs

    AMD may be retaining the ATI brand for its discrete graphics chip products, but it's going to drop the old name from its newly acquired chipset business, it has been claimed. Out will go CrossFire Xpress, in will come AMD x80X CrossFire. The exact numbering will depend on the chipset family, DailyTech reports which cites the …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 10:01

  • Companies getting clued up about info security

    While privacy and data continue to concern

    Firms are more aware of how information security can affect business, with a rising number integrating information security with their risk management processes, according to an Ernst & Young survey. The survey, which spoke to 1,200 information security professionals from 350 organisations in 48 countries, found some 43 per …

    IT Director 15 Nov 2006, 10:04

  • Commission green lights Nokia-Siemens equipment merger

    'Consumers will still have choice'

    The European Commission has given the green light to the proposed merger of Nokia and Siemens' network equipment business. The commission said the €25bn deal would not adversely affect the competitive landscape. The deal creates a joint venture company, Nokia Siemens Networks, which will be equally held by Nokia and Siemens. It …

    Mobile 15 Nov 2006, 10:18

  • Study looks to mobilise local gov

    Nomad on the road again

    Two public sector bodies have joined the Mobile Data Association (MDA) in commissioning a study on how local government can use mobile technology. Project Nomad, the former national project now owned by Cambridgeshire CC, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are backing the research. The first phase is a research …

    Public Sector 15 Nov 2006, 10:43

  • Networking millionaire guilty of kidnap and rape

    Micromuse founder pays from the grave

    The High Court ruled yesterday that the estate of Chris Dawes, the founder of networking company Micromuse, should pay damages to a woman he attacked before his death in 1999. The Court awarded Amanda Lawson £259,000 for the three day incident in 1998. Lawson sued Dawes's estate for pyschological damage she suffered and her …

    Data Networking 15 Nov 2006, 11:03

  • LG brings 4x Blu-ray burner to UK

    Double-speed but not dual-layer capable

    LG has begun punting its GBW-H10N Blu-ray Disc burner at UK buyers, pitching the product's 4x 25GB BD-R write speed - double the more commonplace 2x speed provided by rival suppliers' drives. There's a catch, alas. The GBW-H10N writes rewriteable BD-RE at the standard 2x speed and won't burn dual-layer Blu-ray media, either …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 11:19

  • AMD 2007 roadmap plots course to the stars?

    Cosmic, man

    How is AMD planing to follow next month's debut of the 65nm Athlon 64 X2 processors it's codenaming 'Brisbane' - the 3800+, 4400+, 4800+ and 5000+? Let's have a peek at what's its roadmap is being claimed to state. Q1 2007 will see the arrival of 'Lima', the 65nm single-core Athlon 64. According to roadmap details reported by …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 11:29

  • Microsoft given nine day interop deadline

    Sort it out by Thanksgiving

    Competition commissioner Neelie Kroes has given Microsoft nine days to comply with court requirements that it provide rival firms with interoperability information. Kroes said yesterday: "I don't have eternal life." She told The Guardian newspaper that the information should have been available a couple of months ago. She said …

    Software 15 Nov 2006, 11:42

  • Five critical vulns mark November Patch Tuesday

    0day + one

    Microsoft delivered six patches on Tuesday, five of which address critical vulnerabilities, as part of its regular patch Tuesday update cycle. Two of the five critical patches address flaws that have been actively exploited by hackers this month - a flaw in XML Core Services (MS06-071) and an Internet Explorer remote code …

    Security 15 Nov 2006, 11:44

  • Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player

    Review The first consumer Blu-ray machine lands in the UK

    Around a decade ago I witnessed my first demo of a DVD player. I stupidly then proceeded to tell a room of fellow journos that it would never take off as a format until it was recordable. Well, as you can imagine, certain people have never let me forget that indiscretion. So when faced with the first sample of Blu-ray - the next …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 11:52

  • Toshiba puts back UK HD DVD roll-out

    Delayed models make Japanese debut

    Toshiba has been forced to put back the UK release of its HD-E1 and HD-XE1 HD DVD players thanks to what it called a "minor reliability issue" with one of the machines' internal components. Due to ship this month, the HD-E1 will now arrive in December. Likewise, the HD-EX1, originally scheduled to ship before Christmas will …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 12:24

  • Dell unveils quad-core XPS gaming PC

    Latest CPU - not the latest GPU

    Dell finally went public with its XPS 710 gaming machine yesterday, equipping the follow on to its XPS 700 with a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor. Beyond the CPU, the 710 has the same basic spec as the 700: Nvidia nForce 590 SLI chipset, up to 4GB of dual-channel DDR 2 SDRAM and up to 2TB of RAIDable hard …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 13:44

  • Free software developers get protected

    Legal advice for all

    Free software developers now have a "legal guardian" they can turn to for advice and guidance on GPL copyright law and patent infringements. As the SCO case rumbles on, Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) hopes the launch of the Freedom Task Force (FTF) will help to safeguard free software projects. FTF co-ordinator Shane …

    Software 15 Nov 2006, 13:57

  • Carphone Warehouse rescued with AOL buy

    Analysis There's method behind the madness

    Mobile phone operator Carphone Warehouse (CPW) has now moved into fixed line telecoms and broadband. Originally, the company's phone offerings were based on a system known as IDA (Indirect Access) whereby customers dialled a prefix and then the number they actually wanted. All the real work was done by another provider and …

    Telecoms 15 Nov 2006, 14:13

  • Sony to ship '150-200k' PS3s for US launch

    Rather more Wiis than that, analyst forecasts

    Sony will ship rather fewer PlayStation 3 consoles into the US than it previously said it would, a US analyst has claimed. The allegation comes just days after the PS3's Japanese launch and just ahead of Nintendo's pledge to ship 400,000 Wii consoles in Japan early next month. According to Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 14:19

  • Vodafone says biz email is fixed

    Email interrupted

    Vodafone said full service should be restored to business email customers today after problems earlier this week. The Register got an email last Saturday from a customer who said: "the vodafone business email system (the push system one powered by vista) is out nationwide; and has been fluctuating since wednesday." Vodafone …

    Data Networking 15 Nov 2006, 14:56

  • Apple orders '12m iPhones', paper claims

    Top candidate for Macworld Expo unveiling

    Apple has awarded an 12m-unit manufacturing contract for its much-rumoured iPhone product to Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision - aka Foxconn - if unnamed industry sources cited by Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial Times are to be believed. The paper's report, relayed by the AFX newswire, claims the iPhone will launch in the …

    Reg Hardware 15 Nov 2006, 14:58

  • Firefox outshines IE in phish fight

    Dodgy URLS at dawn

    Anti-phishing features in Firefox 2.0 perform better than equivalent security technologies in IE7, according to a study commissioned by the Mozilla corporation. The tests, performed by testing firm SmartWare and audited by iSEC partners, looked at how each browser responded to known phishing URLs as identified by community anti …

    Security 15 Nov 2006, 14:59

  • Netservices cuts off another ISP

    Updated V21 calls in the lawyers

    Netservices has confirmed it cut off its wholesale broadband supply to V Two One and terminated the contract between the two firms. Register sources tipped us off about the problems at V Two One late last week. On Monday, Netservices refused to confirm claims the firm was three months behind on payments. V Two One was known as …

    Telecoms 15 Nov 2006, 15:07

  • VAT fraud claims seven more

    Crime convergence in action

    Seven men have been imprisoned for a total of 16 years for their role in a £3.7m VAT fraud and related money-laundering offences. Three of the men would have faced private prosecution from Microsoft had Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs not got there first. The three were Alexander Bell of Walton-on-Thames, his brother Jonathan …

    Music and Media 15 Nov 2006, 15:13

  • Dublin's Googleplex swells

    Adwords spurs creation of 500 jobs

    Ireland's Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheal Martin is expected to announce 500 new jobs at Google's European headquarters in Dublin. It is understood the new positions will be concentrated in Google's increasingly successful Adwords programme, as well as at the internet giant's finance, engineering, and …

    IT Director 15 Nov 2006, 15:26

  • Dell swallows reseller minnow

    Main course still to come?

    Dell has bought a small Scottish reseller for an undisclosed sum in order to get hold of its consultants. The $57bn PC giant has snapped up ACS, a minnow that turned over £11.6m last year. The deal marks a big change for Dell which doesn't usually make such acquisitions. Analysts said Dell had resorted to acquisitions in …

    Business 15 Nov 2006, 16:19

  • Tiscali questions new BT charges

    Tiscali responds to BT's cease charge

    Tiscali complained today that BT's decision to charge ISPs which do not provide MAC numbers to departing customers was unfair. As we reported yesterday, BT will introduce a cessation charge of £33.75 from May next year which will be issued to any ISP failing to volunteer migration authorisation codes (MAC). The number helps …

    Telecoms 15 Nov 2006, 16:57

  • Broadcom flaw spawns wireless risk

    Duck and cover

    Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Broadcom wireless device drivers. Flaws in handling 802.11 probe responses containing a long SSID field mean that systems that use the Broadcom BCMWL5.SYS wireless device driver are left open to buffer overflow attacks. The flaw might be used by hackers within radio range …

    Enterprise Security 15 Nov 2006, 17:11

  • Queen's speech omits violent sex

    Comment But includes plenty of domination

    The Queen delivered a speech designed to appease the sado masochistic lobby today with a raft of proposals to give people in uniforms more power to punish those boys and girls who get caught doing something naughty. But she disappointed the naughtiest of all, who had been waiting on the edges of their seats for her to mention …

    Music and Media 15 Nov 2006, 17:18