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11th December 2006 Archive

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  • O2 and 3 bubble trade mark dispute sent to Europe

    A lot more than bubbles at stake

    A long-running dispute between mobile phone networks O2 and 3 has been referred to the European Court of Justice for clarification. The dispute centres on a series of 3 adverts which O2 says infringed its trade marks. A trade mark protects the use of images and words in commercial communications, but the Comparative Advertising …

    Mobile 11 Dec 2006, 07:02

  • Web designers get grouchy over Getty

    Copyright lawyers put them in picture

    Web designers are becoming alarmed that Getty Images is coming after them for using its copyrighted images on their websites without a licence. A Reg reader complained to us about the "school bullying tactics", by which Getty charges people for using its images and fines them for doing so without prior permission. The reader …

    Small Biz 11 Dec 2006, 10:15

  • Shuttle launch lights up the night sky

    Docking with the ISS today

    Shuttle blasted off from NASA's Kennedy space centre this weekend, in the first night launch for four years. Discovery was due to take off on Thursday, but was delayed by bad weather. Night launches have been avoided in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster, while NASA has been gathering data on the safety of the launch …

    Space 11 Dec 2006, 10:17

  • Councils to miss child database deadline

    'Supplier' issues slowing progress

    Ninety-two out of 150 councils will miss a government deadline to implement systems for sharing information about vulnerable children. The Department for Education and Skills (DfES), in a letter to councils, confirmed two thirds of councils will miss the 1 January 2007 deadline. Some of the delayed councils may not be able to …

    IT Director 11 Dec 2006, 10:18

  • Sony, SanDisk devise 32GB-capable Memory Stick

    Pro-HG offers faster read, write speeds too

    Sony has turned to SanDisk to help it develop the next incarnation of its Memory Stick memory card format: the Memory Stick Pro HG. The Memory Stick Duo-sized card ups the maximum storage capacity to 32GB, though it may be some time before 32GB cards come to market. Sony and SanDisk claimed the new card has a maximum data …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 10:31

  • Pharma industry could benefit from elephant man report

    First-in-man trials to be conducted in hospital

    The recommendations published in the wake of the disastrous drug trial that left six young men hospitalised could actually benefit some parts of the UK pharma industry, according to one expert. A report by the Expert Scientific Group into the trial has just been published. Though the report has been called a whitewash by …

    Biology 11 Dec 2006, 10:42

  • MP3-to-FM transmitters unbanned in UK

    iTrip, iCast etc legal - provided they're CE certified

    It's official - it's now legal in the UK to use the iTrip and other low-range FM transmitters to send songs from your MP3 player to a radio. The once banned products can now not only be sold over here but connected to iPods without the owner being nabbed by engineers sniffing out pirate radio stations. The devices were …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 10:50

  • iSoft shares up on news of six month loss

    Losing £14.3m better than £300m or so

    iSoft, the troubled and much investigated medical software provider, has delivered on its promises of widening losses for the six months ending October 31. The company has reported a pre-tax loss of £14.3m for the period, compared to a profit of £8m for the same period a year ago. This still seems tiny compared to the £343.8m …

    Financial News 11 Dec 2006, 10:52

  • SMEs to embark on 2007 VoIP love-in

    How green is your network?

    Concern for the environment and a recognition of the potential cost benefits will see small businesses turn to Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony in their droves next year, according to InClarity. The broadband telephony provider, which says its VoIP sales have grown 750 per cent in the last 12 months, says smaller firms will ditch …

    Small Biz 11 Dec 2006, 10:55

  • Ofcom helps inflate the WiMAX hype bubble

    Prime real estate up for grabs

    Ofcom, the UK's the broadcast regulator, has tagged WiMAX mobile wireless as a likely source of revenue for the public purse. It has announced "the UK's largest single release of radio spectrum, which could be used for a range of new services such as mobile broadband and advanced wireless services". The spectrum auction is …

    Data Networking 11 Dec 2006, 11:07

  • Greenpeace: Apple still needs to green up its act

    Stamping all over Jobs' carbon footprint

    Greenpeace Netherlands targeted Apple shops in Amsterdam on Saturday with flyers claiming the company has made absolutely no improvements to its environmental policies or practices. The green pressure group started an Apple campaign in September, complete with Apple-style page design and Mac vs PC ad. Last week Greenpeace …

    IT Director 11 Dec 2006, 11:11

  • Sun speaking in tongues for Java 6

    Java scripts Web 2.0 response

    Sun Microsystems released an updated version of Java today, featuring integrated support for scripting languages and providing a migration path to enterprise Java. Java Standard Edition (SE) 6.0 introduces a standard interface to plug-in scripting languages and engines, including JavaScript, PHP, Python and Ruby, with the …

    Developer 11 Dec 2006, 11:22

  • Quantum lands early de-duplication punch

    EMC, NetApp lurk in their corners

    Tape survivor Quantum today ramped up its efforts in disk storage with the release of kit aimed at the primed market for de-duplication. Quantum's pitch is that as a backup appliance, its new DXi-series should slot into established backup setups more easily than wholly software-based solutions. The boxes can be implemented as …

    Storage 11 Dec 2006, 11:29

  • Nintendo sued over alleged Wii Remote patent violation

    Point and click

    Nintendo has found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit alleging the company ripped off a US patent that California-based plaintiff Interlink Electronics was granted back in February 2005 as a result of a September 1997 application. Interlink's patent, 6,850,221, details a "trigger-operated electronic device", which is …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 11:31

  • NASA wants to fill your stocking with Postcards from Mars

    Snaps from the red planet

    Jim Bell, the lead scientist on NASA's Mars Rover photography, has put together what is surely the perfect Christmas gift for the space geek in your life*: a book of 150 of the best images the rovers have sent back from the Red Planet. The images have been hand selected from the more than 150,000 pictures that the two rovers …

    Space 11 Dec 2006, 12:00

  • Palm Treo 680 smart phone

    Review Bringing the price-fight to Windows Mobile

    Palm's Treo 650 smart phone has spearheaded Palm's smart-phone business since its debut in the US in October 2004. Still, it's looking long in the tooth, especially after Palm shipped the Windows Mobile-based 700w and its Palm OS sibling, the 700p, earlier this year. But rather than ditch the older product, Palm's re-modelled it …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 12:02

  • Trojan targets unpatched Word flaw (again)

    Double trouble

    Microsoft has warned of another unpatched vulnerability in Word. The unspecified code execution flaw means hackers can load malware onto targeted machines providing users are tricked into opening maliciously constructed Word files. The latest vulnerability in Microsoft's ubiquitous Office application software follows the …

    Security 11 Dec 2006, 12:17

  • Japan gets fug-fading USB ashtray

    The Universal Serial Bus has come to the rescue of smokers who want to partake of a crafty ciggie but ensure the boss doesn't get a whiff that office regulations are being so flagrantly transgressed. Yes, it's the USB ashtray, disguises when closed as a car. Opening the gizmo triggers a fan which, the product's Japanese …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 12:25

  • BEA adopts virtual strategy with VMware

    Now I see it...

    BEA Systems has teamed up with VMware to deliver the first instalment of a Java virtualisation strategy to rollout in 2007. The middleware vendor is planning a version of its WebLogic Server - WebLogic Server Virtual Edition - that will run on VMware's ESX hypervisor. The application server is due for release in March. The …

    Servers 11 Dec 2006, 12:29

  • Doom celebrates 13th birthday

    Forgotten Tech The definitive first-person shooter?

    Doom, the game that defined the first-person shoot-'em-up category, turned 13 yesterday - an appropriate anniversary to mark the debut of the SCI-FI and horror-themed title. The game was made available to the public, via an FTP site, on 10 December 1993. Developed by Id Software, Doom wasn't the first first-person shooter - Id …

    Reg Hardware 11 Dec 2006, 13:52

  • Nokia's 'hero' phone trapped in phone booth

    N95 slips

    The phone that Nokia described as its "hero product for Q1" has got its Superman knickers in a twist. According to Nokia, the N95 won't be available in the US until Q2 2007, this official N series comparison page reveals. Nokia had touted the N95 as a Q1 product when it unveiled the slider in the summer. The N95 packs in a …

    Mobile 11 Dec 2006, 14:26

  • Fujitsu buys German reseller

    Snaps up TDS

    Fujitsu Services is taking a majority stake in German reseller TDS AG. Fujitsu will pay General Atlantic Partners for its 74 per cent share in the company. Fujitsu will pay €2.8 per share for the firm - 14 per cent higher than they were trading at close on Friday. Other shareholders are also selling out, so Fujitsu should …

    Channel Register 11 Dec 2006, 14:28

  • Hitachi Data Systems gets into NAS

    Pumps up BlueArc for high performance computing push

    Hitachi Data Systems has bought a stake in network-attached storage specialist BlueArc. The pair will flog each other's kit worldwide in a bid to snatch leadership from NetApp in the $1bn high performance computing storage market. The 5-year plan is for Hitachi to get access to vertical markets which are reliant on high …

    Channel Register 11 Dec 2006, 14:39

  • Electricity price surges could boost solar market

    Putting the greens back in the green

    Rising electricity prices could be good news for the UK's fledgling solar power industry, according to a report from ENF, a solar power broker and market research group. In the catchily named The New Emerging UK Solar PV Feed-in Tariffs - Transforming the economic case for domestic solar PV systems, ENF identifies recent …

    Business 11 Dec 2006, 15:15

  • Vista creates twice the wealth in US as in Europe

    Bigger help desks, good news all round

    The launch of Microsoft's Vista will create 100,000 jobs in the US, the same as that claimed for Europe, but will bring in almost twice as much cash - some $70bn. Figures, from IDC, but funnily enough commissioned by Microsoft, were released in Europe back in September which showed European regulators they would cost the …

    IT Director 11 Dec 2006, 15:45

  • Firefox 3 alpha unleashed

    Testing times

    Mozilla is calling on developers to help it ensure that the next version of the open source web browser is solid. And it has released an alpha version of Firefox 3 for developers to play with. The superstructure of Firefox 3 alpha is built around Gecko 1.9, an updated layout engine. The browser, tentatively scheduled for …

    Applications 11 Dec 2006, 16:18

  • Cassatt grabs hold of VMware and Xen

    One-stop server slicer

    Software start-up Cassatt this week continued its virtualization march with a new release of its flagship product that adds more support for server partitioning software. Customers can now test out Collage 4.0. Like its predecessors, the software helps companies treat all of their servers as one large computer. This format …

    Servers 11 Dec 2006, 19:41

  • iTunes sales 'collapsing'

    Digital flatline looks ominous for music labels

    The leading DRM digital download service, Apple's iTunes, has experienced a collapse in sales revenues this year according to analyst company Forrester Research. Secretive Apple doesn't break out revenues from iTunes, but Forrester conducted an analysis of credit card transactions over a 27-month period. And this year's …

    Financial News 11 Dec 2006, 19:49

  • HP goes fresh with Labs and CFO posts

    Turns out Lampman, Wayman goes away

    CEO swaps, stagnant shares and scandal behind it, HP appears to have reached retirement age for some of its veterans. Last week, HP Labs director Dick Lampman announced that he would depart in 2007, and this week CFO Bob Wayman said that he'll vanish at year end. Lampman - "Nightlight" to his friends - has been beavering away …

    IT Director 11 Dec 2006, 21:35