5th December 2006 Archive

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New Dell servers blow . . . cool

PowerEdge gets its Energy Smarts

Dell today entered the green data center wars with a pair of PowerEdge servers tweaked for improved performance per watt. Customers can now purchase Energy Smart versions of Dell's two-socket 1950 and 2950 boxes. The systems include low voltage flavors of Intel's Xeon chip, more energy efficient power supplies and fans and some …

Servers 5 Dec 2006, 00:59
Teen shot dead by police over stolen PS3

It was only a matter of time

An 18-year-old North Carolina man, suspected of stealing two PlayStation 3 consoles, was shot dead by police executing a search warrant at his residence. Peyton Strickland was gunned down in his house by deputies as he answered the door, the Wilmington Star News reports. . He was unarmed, according to witnesses. University …

Media 5 Dec 2006, 09:58
Film pirate gets seven years

Third time unlucky

A man convicted of recording films using a camcorder in cinemas has been sentenced in the US to seven years in jail. The man was the first to be charged in a nationwide campaign against video piracy. "It is hoped the sentence will deter further unlawful conduct and protect the public," the judge in the case, Dean Pregerson, …

Media 5 Dec 2006, 10:02
NASA outlines moon base construction plans

Lunarcy

NASA has outlined its plans for a moon base. The space agency says it will start work on the project after it has started flying astronauts to our largest satellite again in 2020. After a wide-ranging international consultation, NASA decided the base should be solar powered, and most likely situated at one of the moon's poles. …

Science 5 Dec 2006, 10:26
AMD debuts 65nm dual-core processors

Athlon 64 X2 line extended

AMD this morning rolled out its 65nm Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors, as expected. The chips are pitched as "energy efficient" products, and come in at the same price as their 90nm equivalents. Four 65nm were added to AMD's public price list today: the Athlon 64 X2 4000+, 4400+, 4800+ and 5000+, clocked at 2.1GHz, 2.3GHz, 2 …

Hardware 5 Dec 2006, 10:33
Toshiba intros 'world's most capacious' 1.8in HDD

Bigger iPods in January?

Toshiba has unveiled what it claims is the world's most capacious 1.8in hard drive, a tiny unit that nonetheless packs in 100GB of unformatted storage space. To achieve that capacity, the company used perpendicular recording. The drive, the MK1011GAH, contains two 50GB platters, and four read and write heads. The drive …

Hardware 5 Dec 2006, 10:48
Linux adoption - it's the ecology stupid!

Comment The recipe for a mobile Linux-based application ecosystem

Why should an operating system be important for a mobile phone? It shouldn't, but of course mobile phones are no longer simple voice communicators, they are smart devices capable of many methods of communication and other sophisticated applications. Capable and complex, with a high degree of variety required to meet different …

Developer 5 Dec 2006, 10:49
Swiss set back luxury Windows smart phone

Nice look, so-so spec

Swiss phone maker Zenum will bring its Windows Mobile 5.0-based slimline BlackBerry-like handset, the Opus, to market in March 2007, having missed its planned November 2006 release window, the company has announced. The Opus prototype required "some improvement", the company explained. Still, the spec sounds fine, if …

Phones 5 Dec 2006, 11:05
HTC QWERTY candybar smart phone to ship as Vox?

US version as Libra

HTC looks set to market its upcoming candybar smart phone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as the Vox, leaked roadmap slides reveal. The Taiwanese handset maker showed off the device in September as carrier UTStarcom's Libra. According to slides published in a report on Arabic-language webside CE4Arab.com, Vox is due to ship …

Phones 5 Dec 2006, 11:20
Sony exec says 'yes' to PS4

Management shuffle won't prevent it, apparently

Panic ye not - you will have the opportunity to spend hours in the freezing cold queueing overnight to get your hands on a PlayStation 4, risking a cap in the a**, a Sony executive has revealed, but not before 2010. Just as well - Europeans haven't got their hands on the PS3 yet, let alone its successor, and won't until March …

Games 5 Dec 2006, 11:46
Social sites' insecurity increasingly worrisome

'Fertile ground for malicious coders'

Personal web spaces on MySpace, videos on YouTube, and blogs - community sites hosting user-created content - have become increasingly popular. While the web has always been about publishing digital information, the stunning popularity of hubs for content created by the audience has attracted more people to the world of quick …

Security 5 Dec 2006, 11:56
LaCie marries Firewire, USB for Huby designer hub

Ikea-friendly

Will anyone buy Lacie's new designer USB hub - or is it destined to appear only as an on-shelf accessory in Ikea catalogues? It certainly looks the part, and wouldn't seem out of place next to an iMac. Styled by French designer Ora-Ito, the Huby provides an array of five USB and three Firewire plugs and sockets, along with a …

Hardware 5 Dec 2006, 12:09
Qualcomm prepares for a cell-less future

Filling in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi integration

Qualcomm has spent well in excess of $40m readying itself for a world beyond CDMA. The purchase of RF Micro Devices and Airgo Networks Inc gives Qualcomm experience and technology in cutting-edge Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communications, enabling it to compete in a world where phone handsets support a variety of radio technologies. …

Financial News 5 Dec 2006, 12:11
Antarctica's amazing disappearing, reappearing ice shelf

It comes and goes, say boffins

The Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica has melted and reformed many times in geologically recent history, scientists have found. A research team has spent the last few weeks drilling 600 metres down into the giant ice slab to extract and analyse samples from the seabed below the ice, the BBC reports. The long term goal of the …

Science 5 Dec 2006, 12:35
Bogus anti-spyware firm fined $1m

Scareware tactics backfire on Secure Computer

A firm accused of marketing bogus anti-spyware software has paid $1m to settle a lawsuit brought by the US State of Washington. New York-based Secure Computer (not to be confused with legitimate security firm Secure Computing) is accused of using spamming and pop-ups in an aggressive and allegedly deceitful marketing campaign …

Security 5 Dec 2006, 13:52
AWOL satnav system leads to ambulance joyride

12 mile transfer turns into 240 mile debacle

Two ambulance drivers' unswerving obedience to their satnav system ended up turning a 30 minute hospital transfer into an eight hour, 430 mile wild goose chase. The crew were supposed to be moving a male mental patient from King George hospital in Ilford to Mascalls Park hospital near Brentwood, a 12 mile journey, but a faulty …

Mobile 5 Dec 2006, 14:05
Handhelds beat shirt cuffs in cheating stakes

0845 and all that

Mobile phones can replace anything these days: diary, address book, TV, and radio, and now they are substituting for the scrawled notes on the inside of the cuff which have been so important to a generation of students. A new study commissioned by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, and carried out by Nottingham Trent …

Mobile 5 Dec 2006, 15:02
Motorola unveils iTunes-less ROKR

E6 pitched as PDA-like music phone

Motorola will ship its latest ROKR music phone later this month, the company announced this week. It entirely failed to mention Apple's iTunes, the software the original ROKR was launched to support, pushing instead the handset's PDA-like styling and functionality. The ROKR E6 is still a media phone: the slimline, 1.5cm-thick …

Phones 5 Dec 2006, 15:18
Philips loses interest in navigation

Steers clear of crowded market

Philips has gone into reverse on plans to enter the market for personal navigation devices because of fears the sector is getting too crowded. Consumer electronics division chief executive Rudy Provoost confirmed the U-turn to analysts today. Philips demonstrated its navigation products at the IFA fair in Berlin a couple of …

Hardware 5 Dec 2006, 15:26
Britney wallops Shakira in search tussle

Clicks don't lie

Talent-lite genitalia-flasher and mother-of-two Britney Spears has topped Yahoo's list of the year's most popular search terms. The demure Ms Spears beat nearest rival, Columbian pop she-devil Shakira, to the 2006 crown. Spears, who released not one note of music this year, bolstered her campaign by birthing a celebresprog and …

Media 5 Dec 2006, 15:48
Sony to ship major PS3 firmware update next March

Patch to coincide with console's European debut

The Sony PlayStation 3 European debut - due to take place in March 2007 - will be accompanied by a major firmware update, a senior Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) Europe executive has revealed. Alas, SCE Europe VP of Technology Paul Holman, cited by Australian website Smarthouse, didn't say what the update will contain, …

Games 5 Dec 2006, 15:53
Sony Ericsson reflects upon mirror-finish phone

Caller-specific lighting effects too

Sony Ericsson today launched its latest clamshell handset hoping to pull in the punters with the phone's mirror-finish casing, its choice of black, bronze or pink hues, and ability to colour-code contacts with lighting effects. The Z310's a tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone with a 128 x 160, 65,536-colour passive-matrix main …

Phones 5 Dec 2006, 16:10
SAP goes modular on ERP

Small is the new big

SAP has released its first incremental update to its application suite under a rewritten roadmap that will not see another major update to its ERP until 2010. The mySAP ERP 2005 enhancement package delivers new capabilities in SAP's financials, HR, manufacturing and retail software that the business applications giant said …

Applications 5 Dec 2006, 16:12
Virtual and Mac worlds turn fiery wrath on El Reg

Letters Careful, we're armed with doughnuts

An anti-poverty campaign has set up its stall in Second Life, the online virtual world game that is so popular with so many. Our short, and somewhat cheeky, story on this collision of the most and least real of places to live (poverty vs. Second Life, for those only on coffee no. 1) has provoked quite a storm: Yes there is …

Letters 5 Dec 2006, 16:22
Sage brings compliance software inhouse

ACT!s now to avoid disappointment

Newcastle-based business software firm Sage has bought compliance and document tracking technology from Virginia developer VerticalFalls Software. Sage now owns the intellectual property which it says will enable it to better meet the needs of financial services customers. It'll be integrating the code into its ACT! range, …

Financial News 5 Dec 2006, 16:24
The Electro-pulse of Doom that threatens America

So we need a continent-sized Faraday cage, right? And lots of candles...

Be afraid. The recent election removed a stalwart defender of the United States against one demonical menace among many, the electromagnetic pulse attack, the one that will fry our electronics. The spiritual leader of the cause, Republican Congressman Curt Weldon, was endorsed by Frank Gaffney, right wing defender of the faith …

Media 5 Dec 2006, 16:43
No let up in Big Blue's software buying spree

IBM going Christmas shopping

The year may be coming to a close, but IBM keeps the acquisitions coming with this week's purchase of risk management specialist Consul. IBM said the acquisition of privately held Consul would strengthen its service management initiative by adding capabilities in data governance, compliance monitoring, auditing, and reporting …

Financial News 5 Dec 2006, 16:46
Christmas gifts for geeks

Site offer Your pressie search is over!

Christmas is coming and even geeks leave their machines, indulge in a little turkey, maybe a mince pie or two, and rejoice in the euphoria created by a few appropriately chosen pressies. Computers, games, and other such fun are the order of the day and the titles below will appeal to any geek who has taken the Christmas period …

Site News 5 Dec 2006, 16:51
Database in depth

Book review A plea for a return to Relational basics

Readers have probably noticed that I was a DBA (Database Administrator) in a former life and I'm an enthusiast for the Relational Model. However, I must confess that I've always taken my Codd re-digested by Chris Date (I have two editions of his work An Introduction to Database Systems on my shelves, both of which I actually …

Developer 5 Dec 2006, 16:56
Phishing worm hooks MySpace users

In Brief Zango and cash

A worm exploiting Javascript support within Apple's embedded QuickTime player has spread across the MySpace network. The worm is being used in conjunction with a MySpace vulnerability recently reported on a security mailing list to replace legitimate links on a user's MySpace profile with links pointing towards a phishing site …

Security 5 Dec 2006, 18:26
Malware wars: Are hackers on top?

A view from the trenches

The money made from malware is eclipsing the revenue of anti-virus vendors, a leading net security vendor claims. Raimund Genes, CTO of anti-malware at Trend Micro, cites FBI figures that IT security problems cost the economy $62bn last year against IDC estimates that the anti-malware market was worth $26bn in 2005. The FBI …

Security 5 Dec 2006, 18:33
Concerns mount over missing SCO web admin

Cluster collapse

Our SCO cluster watch has officially shifted from threat level "amusement" to "concern." It's day five of the SCO High Availability Clusters link fiasco, and there are no signs of life from the Unix vendor. SCO's homepage link to the HA Clusters software remains down, despite our plea for the company simply to add "ing" to the …

Servers 5 Dec 2006, 19:15
IBM plumps up blades for telcos

I want my IPTV

An eager IBM has fired up some new blade servers and complementary bits and pieces for the teclo set. Leading IBM's charge is the fresh BladeCenter HT chassis. The case has stretched to 12U from the standard 9U BladeCenter chassis in order to gear the system more for the teclo marketplace. In addition, IBM has shifted the power …

Data Networking 5 Dec 2006, 22:07