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30th November 2006 Archive

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  • App posted to cut PC power draw, help save planet

    Local Cooling targets global warming

    Want to make your PC a little more eco-friendly? Keen to cut your electricity bills and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions? Uniblue Research Labs has launched Local Cooling, a Windows XP app that, it claims, allows you to limit how much energy key PC components consume. The Local Cooling app essentially provides a greater degree …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 06:02

  • Samsung opts for TV with everything – in Korea

    The haunted goldfish bowl goes mobile

    Samsung is going TV crazy and adding terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) receivers to a wide range of its products. The latest product to appear in South Korea with a TV capability is the Q1, Samsung's ultra-mobile PC (UMPC). Samsung digital media vice president David Steel said: "Television is proving to be …

    Mobile 30 Nov 2006, 07:02

  • Going, going, Goggin

    One of ComReg trio bites the dust

    Chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation Isolde Goggin in effect resigned her position on Wednesday. Goggin's four-year term as one of the three ComReg commissioners was due to end in December, and it is understood Goggin has written to Communications Minister Noel Dempsey to request that she is not …

    IT Director 30 Nov 2006, 09:33

  • Eircom kick starts network upgrade

    €10m investment in biz and broadband

    Eircom has secured a deal with Siemens and ADVA Optical Networks that will see the telecoms firm begin upgrading its network. As part of a three-year, €10m contract, the incumbent plans to increase its core telecoms network capacity to help support business and broadband growth in Ireland. According to Eircom, the investment …

    Telecoms 30 Nov 2006, 09:46

  • Hotel Chocolat wipes up mess

    Part deux

    An online choccy emporium has defended its response to a privacy glitch that left customer details unwrapped and exposed to the world. Hotel Chocolat head of customer experience Lynn Setchell said she was "absolutely appalled" to learn of the potential data protection problem that occured because of a security flaw on the …

    Security 30 Nov 2006, 09:46

  • Number plate cameras could be illegal, says surveillance chief

    Covert use may breach RIPA

    The Home Office is reviewing the legal status of automatic number plate surveillance cameras after the chief surveillance commissioner advised they could be operating unlawfully. OUT-LAW has also discovered that the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) advises forces that warnings about the use of the cameras can be …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2006, 09:54

  • Europe says 3G auction inflates UK mobile prices

    Proposal could slash call costs by a third

    The European Commission has called on Ofcom to discount the massive costs paid by operators for 3G phone licences when calculating call costs. The proposal could cut mobile call charges by up to a third. Ofcom has set target prices for mobile calls of 5.3 pence per minute for networks with second and third generation networks …

    Mobile 30 Nov 2006, 10:11

  • Vista creeps over the Horizon

    OS, Office and Exchange hit corporates today

    Microsoft finally launches Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange today. Sort of. Businesses who have locked themselves in to the vendor’s corporate licensing programs will be able to download the products from today apparently. The rest of you are going have to wait till the New Year. In fact, some customers have been in touch …

    IT Director 30 Nov 2006, 10:17

  • Hawking given oldest science award

    Ceremony today

    Renowned, brilliant, and increasingly eccentric astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is to receive the oldest award for scientific achievement today, in recognition of his huge contribution to our understanding* of the universe. The Copley Medal, inaugurated in 1731, predates the Nobel prize by some 170 years. It was first awarded to …

    Physics 30 Nov 2006, 10:26

  • Nvidia takes $127m stock-option probe charge

    Won't affect operating results, apparently

    Nvidia has said it will take a $127m non-cash hit as a result of the past stock-option irregularities the company earlier this year announced it had discovered. This month the graphics chip maker said the impact could be as much as $150m. The company also restated its FY2006 financial results and those of the first two …

    Financial News 30 Nov 2006, 10:35

  • Kim Jong Il loses his Segway

    Wheels come off Axle of Evil

    US commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez is banning the export of Segways, iPods, and other luxury goods to North Korea in response to Kim Jong Il 's apparent nuclear test last month. The action is line with UN Security Council Resolution 1718 imposing sanctions on North Korea. The US is banning exports of luxury goods to the …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2006, 11:11

  • Intel 65nm-to-45nm crossover coming in 2008

    45nm CPUs to raise clock frequencies once again?

    Intel expects to begin shipping more 45nm processors than 65nm chips - the so-called 'crossover point' - in 2008, a company staffer revealed this week. According to Rob Willoner, an analyst with Intel's technology and manufacturing group, cited by DigiTimes, Intel's D1D fab in Oregon will be the first to begin volume …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 11:17

  • GeCube preps single-card CrossFire board

    Two Radeon X1650 XTs, one add-in card

    Graphics card maker GeCube this week announced a single-card, dual-GPU product that packs in a pair of AMD's ATI Radeon X1650 XT 80nm chips connected in CrossFire mode. The Star Twin X1650XT is intended to drive a single display, but GeCube said the card's twin dual-link DVI ports can also be used to feed four screens …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 11:39

  • Amazon.com mixes Marmite with .Mac

    Yeast extract and Apple's online service 'better together'

    Amazon.com's collection and analysis of what its customers buy yield some curious connections. Who would have imagined, for instance, that US Mac users, well known for how seriously they support their favoured computing platform, are equally keen on England's most famous brand of yeast extract. How else to explain Amazon's …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 12:01

  • Google drops answers

    Q falls out with A

    Google has decided to close its answers service after four years in operation. From the end of this week it will no longer respond to questions submitted to the Google Answers site. The project started as a “rough idea” by Google founder Larry Page. A team of more than 800 people regularly contributed on a diverse range of …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2006, 12:31

  • HP revamps iPaq for UMPC era

    Japan sees first Travel, Mobile Media Companions

    HP has released its anticipate iPaq revision that sees the one-time enterprise-friendly PDA recast as a line of three consumer-oriented media players and GPS satellite navigation systems. The iPaq rx4240 and rx 4540 are both styled Mobile Media Companion products and sport a 2.8in, 320 x 240, 65,536-colour display. Both run …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 12:40

  • Polonium-210 found on British Airways jets

    The world's favourite poison

    The agitation surrounding possible polonium-210 contamination following the apparent assassination of Alexander Litvinenko has spread to the skies. British Airways staff and customers are being contacted after traces of radioactive polonium-210 were found on three of its jets. Despite minimal health risks, BA is contacting 33, …

    Physics 30 Nov 2006, 12:48

  • NASA greenlights shuttle, gets on with ISS construction

    Must be home for the new year, though

    NASA's next Shuttle mission is to blast off next Thursday, the space agency confirmed yesterday. The mission, which will last for 12 days, will see the NASA astronauts undertake yet more of the much delayed construction work on the International Space Station. This time they will "install a new segment of the station's girder- …

    Space 30 Nov 2006, 13:08

  • Vista - hot or not?

    Letters Updated: Warm, but very pretty

    The people have spoken. Vista seems to be a success, of sorts. While some of you are experiencing teething problems, the majority agree it is very pretty. Which is nice. This reader was particularly flattering… I read one of your articles "Vista creeps over the Horizon" where you asked for emails from people who have …

    Software 30 Nov 2006, 14:04

  • O2's 3G PDA phone to debut Jan '07

    'Mars 2' landing due early next year

    O2 will launch its Asus-made 3G PDA phone, the XDA Zinc, in January 2007, the carrier has revealed. Zinc is the device most recently known by its codename, 'Mars 2', and which appeared on the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website in October this year. O2 compares Zinc to the XDA Mini S but "with added 3G power …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 14:34

  • Writing the Script: Java SE 6

    A standard Java scripting engine API to play with

    Over the years there have been several times where I've had to implement a mini-language and language processor for some specific requirement or another. In one case, it was to provide a simple scripting language to allow for customisation of a Management Information System, in another to provide support for a Decision Tree …

    Developer 30 Nov 2006, 14:42

  • UK2 victim of IP hijacking

    Indonesians blamed

    Web hosting company UK2 has apologised for problems some customers may have experienced yesterday. UK2 managing director Ditlev Bredahl told the Reg: "At around 11.49am yesterday we started to see our mail and web traffic from outside Europe suddenly increase and not route correctly. We found one of our IP addresses had been …

    Security 30 Nov 2006, 14:43

  • eBay shopkeepers locked out

    Who stole Christmas?

    eBay has nothing to say today on why many subscribers to its Manager Pro service are unable to access the service. A statement on the website says: We have received reports from members that some of your Selling Manager Pro subscriptions are no longer available in My eBay. We are aware of this problem and are working hard to …

    Financial News 30 Nov 2006, 14:46

  • Linux web PC makers tout Linutop-like wares

    Rivals speak out

    Linutop's recently announced Linux-based ultra-compact PC may have grabbed the hardware headlines earlier this week, but its rivals didn't take long to start shouting about their own take on the web-oriented unit. First up, NorhTec's MicroClient Jr., an 11.5 x 11.5 x 3.5cm box based on SiS' 200MHz SiS550 x86-compatible system …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 14:47

  • EU waves through €54bn science funding package

    Lots for IT in there

    As anticipated, technology research is the major beneficiary of a massive research funding plan approved yesterday by the European Parliament. The funding, released under Framework Programme 7 (FP7), is supposed to support several priority areas in science until 2013. It will be formally adopted by the EU on December 5. In …

    Science 30 Nov 2006, 16:12

  • 'Successful' Zune launch no threat to iPod?

    Plays For Sure players need to watch out

    Interest in Microsoft's Zune media player appears to be diminishing, if Amazon.com's sales charts are anything to go by. This despite grabbing the number two slot in the US retail market immediately after its 14 November launch, according to figures from market watcher NPD. NPD's numbers - published yesterday, according to …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 16:13

  • Vista, Office and Exchange 2007 to help struggling Brits

    You've never had it so good

    Microsoft has pitched its first operating system in five years plus updates to productivity and collaboration tools as key to solving an apparent UK malaise. Launching Windows Vista, 2007 Office System and Exchange Server 2007 in London, MGordon Frazer, Microsoft's UK managing director, claimed improvements to its software …

    Software 30 Nov 2006, 16:28

  • Marvell ships Intel's gigahertz-capable XScale CPU

    'Monahans' debuts at long last

    Marvell has begun shipping 'Monahans', the ARM-based processor originally developed by Intel and introduced in August 2005 and originally due to debut toward the end of that year. The erstwhile XScale chip is now known as the Marvell PXA3xx family, a line-up that comprises three members: the PXA300, PXA310 and PXA320. Intel …

    Reg Hardware 30 Nov 2006, 16:46

  • D-Day for Orange SmartGroups

    It's now or never

    Users of Orange's SmartGroups are being booted off the service today, as we reported earlier this month. The SmartGroups were a free communication lifeline to communities including a uterine fibroids support group and, er, a Porsche owners group. In its infinite generosity group provider MailSpaces.com has offered to scoop up …

    Mobile 30 Nov 2006, 17:05

  • VoIP regulation could 'put lives at risk'

    Ofcom may not allow 999 access

    VoIP users could soon feel the pain when it comes to contacting the emergency services via their internet connection, according to a speculative report by the Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association (ITSPA). ITSPA said that the telecoms regulator Ofcom is to change the regulations on VoIP providers which provide …

    VoIP 30 Nov 2006, 17:07

  • Dell makes server software simple, simple, simple for slow admins

    Ser - ver

    While rivals keep banging on about their inventions, acquisitions and flashy gear, Dell insists that it's keeping server management simple - so simple that even the simplest simpleton could simply administer a server in a simple fashion. Dell this week used the word simple or some variation on it five times in the first eight …

    Servers 30 Nov 2006, 17:17

  • Wal-Mart online film service has more method than madness

    Comment One step at a time

    We have to say we are a little baffled by the trial film download service the Wal-Mart has launched, tied as it is to the purchase of a DVD from the store. The price is right, just $1.97 for a file that will play on a portable device (except which portable device, not another Windows device surely). It’s $2.97 for PCs and …

    Financial News 30 Nov 2006, 19:10

  • The mobile web: in praise of conv ... divergence

    Hands on Mini-Opera

    Opera says it's served up 2 billion web pages through its Mini service, bringing the web to phones previously incapable of running an http browser. This week the Norwegian software company rolled out the third version of Mini, adding features and performance improvements. And we took a look. Mini is really a service - it's a …

    Mobile 30 Nov 2006, 19:15

  • AllofMP3.com hires violinists to underscore plight

    'We're fighting the good fight here'

    Allofmp3.com pulled out its hired violins today to woo the press with a sad song about a hard done-by web site just trying to make its way in a temporarily legal world. An attorney and PR representative for the Russian music site claimed, during a press conference, that the world has ganged up on Allofmp3.com. The site remains …

    Music and Media 30 Nov 2006, 21:51

  • Microsoft's field of dreams

    Comment The Arsenal Stadium Mystery

    Hmm. How to decide where to stage your biggest product launch, actually your only product launch as far as most people are concerned, for over five years. Microsoft chose the Arsenal FC football stadium in North London for the UK business launch of Vista, Office 2007 and the new Exchange. Tick the boxes - much anticipated, …

    Bootnotes 30 Nov 2006, 22:01

  • Is 'GNU/Solaris' emerging from Microsoft-Novell deal?

    NSFW 'It's just a f*cking kernel...'

    Richard M. Stallman has never had much truck with the re-branding campaign that gave the world the phrase "open source". Stallman, who authored the original General Public License to give legal muscle to his desire to ensure software freedoms are not curtailed, has always declined to count himself as a member of any "open source …

    Operating Systems 30 Nov 2006, 23:36