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8th December 2006 Archive

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  • Nintendo Wii videogames console

    Review Revolutionary?

    It's midnight and all over the country videogames fans are freezing their butts off while they wait in line to get their mitts on Nintendo's newest - or maybe not, if they haven't pre-ordered. Yes, the Wii goes on sale today, though Reg Hardware has been lucky enough to have enjoyed the company of Zelda and co. in its warm, dry …

    Reg Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 00:02

  • Sun donates Hewlett and Packard to museum

    Now you can too

    Ever generous, Sun Microsystems has donated the Hewlett and Packard figure it purchased in August to San Jose's Tech museum. Now, the Tech has put out a call for the rest of you to help purchase the three remaining Silicon Valley "hitchhikers." No clue what's going on? Well, here we go. Earlier this year, famed Michigan artist …

    Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 02:34

  • EU to take UK lead on violent video games

    John Reid says 'do as we say'

    Franco Frattini, the reactionary EU commissioner leading a campaign against violent and "perverse" video games, is expected to push for the UK's ratings laws to be applied across Europe. Frattini wrote to the interior ministers of European member states last month calling for them to do something about violent video games after …

    Music and Media 8 Dec 2006, 07:02

  • Unheralded Larrabee plots AMD and Nvidia takedown

    Intel by any other name

    A shadowy organization called Larrabee Development Group has set a most ambitious goal: unseating AMD/ATI and Nvidia as the largest producers of high-end graphics chips. And it might just succeed. It may seem unfathomable for an unknown such as Larrabee to knock off two of the most powerful processor companies. That is until …

    Servers 8 Dec 2006, 08:23

  • Shuttle launch delayed by cloudy skies

    Or, why the UK will never launch spaceships

    The wrong kind of cloud (too low) over Florida has prompted NASA's shuttle mission managers to postpone the next launch until Saturday. It was due to blast off yesterday, but the bad weather meant the launch could not go ahead. Although NASA says the weather should improve by the weekend, the news that the launch date has …

    Space 8 Dec 2006, 09:35

  • Apple's iPod roadmap said to list three new models for '07

    Emphasis on video playback?

    Apple is planning to launch three new iPod designs next year, it has been claimed. The new models include the long-awaited widescreen video-centric iPod and possibly a recently rumoured 16GB Flash-based video player. According to AppleInsider, citing a source with a handle on what Apple's up to, indicated the widescreen iPod …

    Reg Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 10:21

  • Court rejects class action status for Wall Street lawsuit

    Banks breathe sigh of relief

    A lawsuit aiming to hold Wall Street banks accountable for alleged manipulation of technology stock prices in the dotcom boom has failed to win class action status. The ruling could save the banks billions of dollars in payouts. The suits accused Wall Street banks of colluding with investors to buy shares once a company floated …

    Financial News 8 Dec 2006, 10:26

  • What can on-demand software do for your business?

    Avoiding shelf-ware

    In a study last year Quocirca looked at the degree to which organisations were wasting time and effort on badly planned, procured and implemented on-premise (as opposed to on-demand) business applications. One particular area looked into was the prevalence of shelf-ware; that is software that is purchased but never used. As …

    IT Director 8 Dec 2006, 10:37

  • Extradition appeal due in weeks, says McKinnon

    Pentagon hacker could face Guantanamo Bay

    Gary McKinnon expects that his appeal against extradition to the US could be heard in a matter of weeks. McKinnon told weekly technology law podcast OUT-LAW Radio that he expected his appeal to be heard in December or January. McKinnon is the hacker who broke into the US military and NASA computer systems in 2001 and 2002, …

    Enterprise Security 8 Dec 2006, 10:47

  • UK plans 'real-time' no-fly lists plus fingerprint ID for air travel

    'No finger, no fly' to commence at Heathrow

    As has been illustrated all too frequently in the past, they don't tell immigration ministers anything - and, if what he had to say this week at the official unveiling of Heathrow's biometric trial is anything to go by, current incumbent Liam Byrne is no exception. Quoted here in the Telegraph, Byrne observes that he does not …

    Music and Media 8 Dec 2006, 10:49

  • Microsoft broadsides African laptop

    Prepares Windows for OLPC

    Microsoft has challenged an altruistic scheme to get pared-down computers into the laps of African school children by preparing its own software for sale on the machine. One Laptop Per Child, intended to help bridge the digital divide between rich and poor parts of the world, is soon to release a trial version of a computer …

    Operating Systems 8 Dec 2006, 10:53

  • Big or small, black holes are all the same

    When it comes to matter, anyway

    Blackholes all gobble up matter in the same way, whatever their size, new research has found. UK astronomers say that the same processes are at work inside all black holes: the only difference is that of scale. The researchers, led by Professor Ian McHardy, from the University of Southampton, began by looking for similarities …

    Space 8 Dec 2006, 11:15

  • Irish industry groups react to Budget 2007

    R&D help, seed funding

    Reaction to the Budget from technology and business organisations has been largely positive although inadequate funding for IT in schools is a concern. Among the key measures introduced in Budget 2007 was an extension and enhancement of the Business Expansion and Seed Capital Schemes, a €200m increase in government spending on …

    Small Biz 8 Dec 2006, 11:19

  • Samsung to tempt developing world with $50 phones

    if it works for Motorola...

    Samsung's war with Motorola to become the world's second most successful seller of mobile phones looks set to extend to another front after an executive at South Korean giant claimed it will soon begin offering handsets priced from $50. To date, Samsung has focused on feature-rich, expensive handsets to be sold to affluent …

    Reg Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 11:22

  • Microsoft opens digital library

    Takes on Google Book Search

    Microsoft is gearing up to launch a new online book search service enabling internet users to find content from books, periodicals and other print resources. The digital archive, which is due to go live on Thursday, will include books from the British Library, the University of California and the University of Toronto. Other …

    Applications 8 Dec 2006, 11:25

  • HD TV in the UK

    Buyer's Guide Everything you need to know... fully revised and updated

    Christmas is a-coming and the consumer electronics industry is out to sell you a brand spanking new HD TV. But is now the right time to buy? In this fully revised and updated report, Reg Hardware guides you past the gotchas... Analogue to digital The digital switchover starts in 2008 when the Border region has its analogue …

    Reg Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 11:35

  • Oracle hikes i-flex offer

    Hold out investors squeeze Larry

    Oracle has upped its offer for Indian firm i-flex to about $1.3bn, sending shares in the financial software provider rocketing on the Mumbai stock exchange. It's now dangling 2,100 rupees ($46.9) per share at i-flex investors, 42 per cent more than the 1,475 it punted earlier. The offer is 20 per cent higher than i-flex's …

    Financial News 8 Dec 2006, 11:48

  • D-Link's Gig wireless box forgets the 'and'

    Gigabit wireless? Surely some mistake...

    D-Link's announced a Gigabit wireless router - but don't get too excited, as it's not some ten-fold breakthrough in radio bandwidth. Sadly, the Gigabit bit is only on the wired side, with the box having a four-port Gig switch built in. What it does show is how fast Gigabit Ethernet is reaching the desktop - in smaller …

    Data Networking 8 Dec 2006, 12:12

  • NASA crushes lunar real estate industry

    Moon base will not be a squat

    NASA has confirmed its moon base will not illegally occupy other people's land. The news deals a crushing blow to the dreams of thousands of idiots, who coughed the cash for their very own patch of dusty countryside on the moon. NASA announced earlier this week it would start building a permanent lunar outpost in 2020. A NASA …

    Space 8 Dec 2006, 12:15

  • Telefonica admits customers don't understand mobile TV

    ...and don't want it either

    Telefonica is to delay the worldwide launch of its mobile TV service citing difficulties with the service format and customer understanding of the value proposition - basically the customers don't see the point. Speaking at ITU Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong, Jose Maria Alvarez-Palette, Telefonica's executive president of the …

    Mobile 8 Dec 2006, 12:18

  • Ecma embraces MS Office OpenXML standard

    Along with 6,000 pages of notes

    International tech standards body Ecma has approved the Office Open XML document format. The announcement came at the organisation's General Assembly in Zurich yesterday, where the vote went 20-1 in favour of the standard. The dissenting voice was that of an IBM representative. The next step is to submit the standard to ISO …

    Developer 8 Dec 2006, 12:19

  • Wii takes off as Sun's grounded

    To subscribe to The Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of IT in a single hit - click here

    You say privacy, we say give us your biometric data Europe and the US have long had different attitudes to data protection and privacy. And US enthusiasm for information on air passengers has led it to set up various programmes to grab passenger details and make automatic decisions on their fitness to enter US airspace. Details …

    Business 8 Dec 2006, 12:28

  • Sadville 'causes global warming'

    The carbon emissions of a furry penis

    This week, Richard Posner made a bid to be the Saddest Judge in the World, as he addressed an audience of "several aliens, mutants, babes in six inch stiletto heels, and a human-sized raccoon" in the Virtual Reality environment Second Life. But the glorified chatroom comes at a price, we now learn. The giant furry penii are …

    Servers 8 Dec 2006, 12:49

  • Indian call centres in VoIP clampdown

    Hold the line

    Foreign IP Telephony firms such as Skype and Yahoo! will not be able to sell their services to Indian businesses under a proposed government clampdown, The India Times reports. Outsourcers and other IT businesses in India will be obliged to supply the details of the telcoms services (either bandwidth or IP Telephony minutes) …

    Networks 8 Dec 2006, 12:51

  • Competition Dear Santa...

    Dear Santa, I have been very good this year, and did not once remark upon Auntie Flo's unfortunate affliction. For Christmas, then, I would like a... Well, what hardware would you ask the jolly red gent to leave under your tree this Yule? Drop us a line listing the three gadget goodies you'd most like Santa to bring and tell us …

    Reg Hardware 8 Dec 2006, 13:16

  • Gov IT procurement talks enter third year

    Meeting next week to thrash out contracts

    The government is expected to concede some precious ground to the IT industry over difficult contractual negotiations that have just entered their third year. The contentious new (now not so) model contract terms that were introduced in November 2004 against staunch industry opposition might be watered down to reflect the …

    Channel Register 8 Dec 2006, 13:17

  • IBM snubs MSN with Sametime gateway

    AOL, Yahoo! and Google count as business IM, but MS doesn't

    IBM's Lotus Sametime instant messaging (IM) system got a boost this week when the company announced that it can now provide what it's been promising for some months, namely interoperability with AOL's assorted IM communities, including ICQ and AIM, and with GoogleTalk. Yahoo! Messenger will be added to the compatibility list …

    Data Networking 8 Dec 2006, 13:23

  • IPTV/VoD – Let's inject a little rock 'n' roll

    Industry comment If dreams could come true...

    Even 10 seconds of the ridiculously over-valued X-Factor and American Idol make me want to vomit. They are so frighteningly mediocre, vacuous, and repetitive that I invariably find myself staring into a worrying abyss of creative bankruptcy that's pumped into millions of people's homes every night through their TV screen. On the …

    Networks 8 Dec 2006, 14:02

  • Malware gangs using 'KGB-tactics' to recruit tech grads

    Hacksplotation

    Organised crime is "grooming" a new generation of would-be cybercriminals using tactics which echo those used by the KGB to recruit operatives at the height of the cold war, according to a new blockbuster study by net security firm McAfee. McAfee's second annual Virtual Criminology report sensationally claims that crime gangs …

    Malware 8 Dec 2006, 14:02

  • Qualcomm sets cat among Wi-Fi pigeons with Airgo purchase

    Political pawn or technology asset?

    This week Qualcomm announced two acquisitions in the non-cellular wireless arena, at least one of them bringing it significant intellectual property rights in WLans. This is Airgo, the heavily backed start-up whose advanced MIMO smart antenna technology has been the basis of many products preempting the draft 802.11n fast Wi- …

    Data Networking 8 Dec 2006, 15:02

  • Tinsel takes out Wi-Fi Dalek

    Letters Cheats!

    Let's get right to it. This week, there was terrible news for sleepy people on rush hour trains: Mobile phones are safe to use. Can't you somehow combine this story with http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/06/no_wifi_for_xmas/ to produce a seasonal scare story entitled "No 'evidence of risk' of cancer from Xmas decorations" …

    Letters 8 Dec 2006, 16:02

  • Yahoo! press reports are 'full of sh*t' - CEO Semel

    No need to be so polite, Terry

    Yahoo! has become leakier than a sieve. Typically this is a sign of an unhappy place to work - which Yahoo! may or may not be, we hesitate to judge. But two recent important leaks springing from the world's former favourite dotcom darling show different motives at play. Last month, the WSJ published the incomprehensible Peanut …

    Telecoms 8 Dec 2006, 18:36

  • Unboxing: the new geek porn

    Look at the bubble-wrap on that!

    A YouTube video of a man opening a box has been downloaded more than 73,000 times since it was uploaded on November the eleventh, the WSJ reports. So what's so special about this cardboard box? It holds a PlayStation 3, and its owner, a guy called David Abrams who runs a website called Cheap Ass Gamer, supplies a running …

    Bootnotes 8 Dec 2006, 19:44

  • Antigua files injunction against American overkill

    While Patriots beg for their billions

    While the jurisdiction of the United States government over BETonSPORTS is questionable, by virtue of being the holder of an Interactive Gaming and Interactive Wagering license issued by the Antiguan and Barbudan authorities, BETonSPORTS has acquiesced to our International jurisdiction over the company and its assets. It is …

    Financial News 8 Dec 2006, 20:22