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19th December 2006 Archive

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  • Ain't testing finished yet, Ma?

    Making the most of seminar breaks

    A week or so ago I met Geoff Brace, a Director of Owldata Ltd, at a BCS CMSG (Configuration Management Special Interest Group) seminar on ITIL - yes Matilda, ITIL is relevant to developers. We got into a discussion about testing, sparked by this article. It reminded Geoff about some attempts he'd made to predict defect rates in …

    Developer 19 Dec 2006, 00:28

  • Oracle's Q2 leaves Wall Street wanting more

    Close those deals

    Oracle today learned that buying double-digit growth doesn't impress investors like it used to. The insatiable software maker did its best to wow shareholders with a 26 per cent rise in second quarter revenue to $4.2bn. Net income surged as well, hitting $1.17bn on a 20 per cent year-over-year rise. The results were aided by …

    Financial News 19 Dec 2006, 01:19

  • Los Alamos 'is still the Titanic' - politico

    Repetitive sinking syndrome

    The recent security lapse at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has inspired congressional critics to pipe up once again. "No matter how many times you rearrange, re-design, retire or replace the deck chairs, Los Alamos is still the Titanic," representative Ed Markey told CBS News. "Superficial attempts to demonstrate that …

    Policy 19 Dec 2006, 02:19

  • DoH sticks to 'opt out' for patient e-records

    Patients have a 'realistic' period to opt out

    The Department of Health (DoH) has stuck by the "implied consent" model for the central collection of electronic patient records in England, but will provide support for those who want to opt out Health minister announced the plan along with the publication of a taskforce report on the Care Record Service on 18 December 2006. …

    Policy 19 Dec 2006, 05:02

  • Irish IT licensing investment falling short

    Five per cent just ain't enough

    Irish companies are increasingly recognising the value of technology licensing but are not investing enough in the process, according to Enterprise Ireland. Irish companies invested roughly €1.4bn in research and development in 2006, but only five per cent of this was spent on licensing. "Enterprise Ireland has some €60m to …

    Small Biz 19 Dec 2006, 06:02

  • Marijuana is US's biggest cash crop

    $35.8bn pot bonanza

    A report into illicit marijuana cultivation in the US says it is now the country's biggest cash crop, having seen a tenfold increase in production over the last 25 years. DrugScience.org's Marijuana Production in the United States puts the annual harvest at 10,000 tonnes, worth a cool $35.8bn (£18.4bn). Corn, meanwhile, weighs …

    Science 19 Dec 2006, 07:51

  • HSBC's anti-phishing dept takes 44-year holiday

    'I will be out of the office starting...'

    Ta very much to the anonymous reader who reported a suspicious email to HSBC's anti-phishing department and then forwarded us the result. Although he or she got a fairly comprehensive rundown on what to keep an eye out for in those dodgy "HSBC security alert" emails, the automated reply makes it clear that any personal feedback …

    Security 19 Dec 2006, 07:52

  • El Reg terminates filth-peddling NHS website

    Updated Kiddies protected, society saved

    Our shock report yesterday into the Worcestershire Health Authority's Sexual Health Online website has had the desired result. The site is now down "due to a sudden upsurge in bandwidth use", so our kiddies will no longer be exposed to this kind of outrage: There's a link at the bottom of the page inviting visitors to …

    Media 19 Dec 2006, 07:53

  • Captain Cyborg pays homage to El Reg

    The mind boggles

    You've got to hand it to Kevin Warwick, aka Captain Cyborg: the bloke's got more front than Blackpool. In an interview this week with itwales.com, the cybernetic futurologist actually thanks El Reg for the extensive coverage we've dedicated to his groundbreaking work. The interview is all pretty bog-standard Captain Cyborg …

    Science 19 Dec 2006, 07:54

  • Net Vikings pillage Hamleys website

    Voucher scheme error provokes festive carnage

    UK toy retailer Hamleys website was ransacked over the weekend after sharp-eyed web shoppers spotted "a glitch in a voucher scheme which allowed customers to claim a cumulative 60 per cent discount if they bought goods from the Hamleys online store", and moved in for the kill. According to The Guardian, the error was spotted by …

    Financial News 19 Dec 2006, 07:55

  • Currys price promise refusal backed by High Court

    Identical kit not identical

    A court case over Currys' terms and conditions has exonerated the retailer over its refusal to honour a price promise. The shop argued that a tumble dryer offered for sale was different to an identical model in another shop which came with a vent kit. Though the case was lost in the District Court by Currys, a crucial set of …

    Financial News 19 Dec 2006, 09:42

  • Vista's accessible attitude

    Ease of Access Centre gets thumbs up

    Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system has just been released for corporate consumption. I have had an initial look at it from an accessibility perspective. There are a variety of new functions that aid accessibility but the big change is really one of attitude toward accessibility for users. Microsoft commissioned a …

    Management 19 Dec 2006, 09:58

  • Information Risk Management MD in cartwheel crash-and-burn

    NSFW Little risk management evident in YouTube vid

    It has come to the attention of Vulture Central that Charles White, MD of Information Risk Management shows a more fluid awareness of risk management when he's feeling particularly relaxed. Cue obligatory YouTube video, which we should note contains more than its fair share of effing and blinding: Good effort. Fair play to …

    Media 19 Dec 2006, 10:00

  • Astronauts fix ISS solar panel on spacewalk four

    Home for Christmas?

    The crew of the space shuttle Discovery have managed to unjam a solar panel on the International Space Station during a record-breaking fourth and final spacewalk of the mission. Mission Specialist Robert Curbeam became the first astronaut ever to complete four spacewalks during a single mission. The outing was not part of the …

    Science 19 Dec 2006, 10:31

  • Intel expects small quad-core desktop sales until Q4 07?

    Core 2 Duo to dominate through Q3 2007

    Intel does not expect quad-core processors to make any major impact on the desktop PC market through to the end of Q3 2007 if a presentation slide allegedly leaked from the chip giant is to be believed. The slide, posted by Chinese-language website HKEPC, shows Intel's forecast sales percentages for each of its desktop …

    Hardware 19 Dec 2006, 10:55

  • Man boots Mac OS X on Asus UMPC, shoots video

    Too slow to be a tablet Mac?

    Apple's Mac OS X has been successfully used to boot up an Asus R2H ultra-mobile PC (UMPC), which runs the operating system slowly but surely. To minimise claims that all the still photography is faked, the start-up process has been captured on video. You can see the action over at OnlyUmpc.com. The video shows one of the …

    Hardware 19 Dec 2006, 11:26

  • Sharp boosts blue-laser diode production

    Blu-ray, HD DVD component dearth coming to an end?

    Sharp has begun mass-producing blue-laser diodes, a move that may help alleviate the current dearth of this critical component for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD drives. Sharp began volume production last month, shipping 150,000 diodes from its factory in Japan, the company said yesterday, according to a Reuters report. Sharp also …

    Hardware 19 Dec 2006, 11:55

  • Sony posts movie playback patch for Blu-ray burner

    Sony has finally posted a patch for the CyberLink PowerDVD playback software it bundles with its internal Blu-ray Disc burner, the BWU-100A, to allow the drive to play pre-recorded BD media. Sony announced the drive in Europe in September. A month later it promised a BD playback update. And now, Sony Europe said today, it's …

    Hardware 19 Dec 2006, 12:08

  • NASA shares space with Google

    Planet information

    NASA has called on the omnipresence of Google to help it manage the profluence of data it expects to splurge forth from its Moon and Mars missions. The Space Act Agreement, signed yesterday, will see Google brought in on an array of NASA computing headaches, including storage, massively distributed computing, and human- …

    Storage 19 Dec 2006, 12:13

  • Planning to eBay those unwanted Xmas gifts? Think again

    Angry Brits take offence to present on-selling

    Women in their 20s from the South East are most likely to take umbrage at seeing their lovingly-selected gifts up for auction, though in the North East the majority of the population (88 per cent) will take offence. The survey of 431 people comes from The London Gift Consultancy, and shows that only 1.6 per cent of respondents …

    Media 19 Dec 2006, 12:17

  • Ingram reaches for the Startech

    Hard-to-find-R-US

    Ingram Micro has expanded its deal with the intriguing StarTech.com into the UK. Why intriguing? Because StarTech specializes in “hard to find” computer parts. Of course, it depends what you mean by hard to find. A quick trot across the StarTech.com site shows lots of cases, removable storage, switches, etc. All pretty standard …

    The Channel 19 Dec 2006, 12:39

  • Google axes search API

    And nobody notices

    Google has quietly axed the web services API to its eponymous search engine. The stealth move was made without any announcement, but visitors to the page now receive a blunt message, backdated to 5 December, advising them that the SOAP API is no longer supported. The service was launched in spring 2002, giving developers a …

    Applications 19 Dec 2006, 12:42

  • Opera adds tech to foil phishers

    Thar she blows

    Opera has added third-party fraud protection components to the latest revision of its web browser software, Opera 9.1. The fraud protection includes technology from GeoTrust, the digital certificate provider, and PhishTank, a clearing house for data on phishing scams. By including the technology alongside its existing …

    Security 19 Dec 2006, 13:02

  • Microsoft settles counterfeiting suit

    ...against its own disk replicator

    Microsoft has agreed to let bygones be bygones with The MPO Group, an authorised disk replicator which it says made thousands of unauthorised copies if its server software. Under the settlement, France-headquartered MPO Group has admitted it was a very naughty boy by breaching the replication agreements it had in place with …

    The Channel 19 Dec 2006, 13:05

  • IT maintenance burden stifles innovation

    Am I BOHFered?

    Keeping systems up and running is holding back European IT managers from contributing to business improvement as much as they could. A shock survey reveals the majority of IT managers' time is taken up with "making IT work". For the hard of thinking, Benchmark Research associate director Paul Watts hammered the point home with …

    Management 19 Dec 2006, 13:15

  • Brits are gadget addicts, says green think-tank

    Sod the planet, I must have a juicer...

    Britain is a nation of gadget addicts, according to a report from the Energy Saving Trust (EST). The environmental think tank says over the next six months Brits will buy around 30m electric or electronic gadgets, with many describing their purchases as "essential". The shopping list is composed of 2.5m digital cameras and …

    Hardware 19 Dec 2006, 13:17

  • Want to sound like Madonna?

    Sing Tones won't do miracles, but it'll give it a go

    A new service from Synchro Arts, better known for its professional audio work in the film industry, will take your voice and attempt to change the pitch, tone, and timing to match a wide range of popular songs. The idea is to have a popular song reproduced with your own voice as your phone ringtone, and the technology is …

    Mobile 19 Dec 2006, 16:04

  • Second time lucky, Check Point marries intrusion prevention firm

    Feds raise no objection to second bride

    Check Point Software has agreed to buy threat prevention firm NFR Security for around $20m. The deal, announced Tuesday, is expected to close by the end of the year. NFR, established in 1996, is based in Rockville, Maryland, and has 22 employees. Its flagship product is a piece of intrusion detection and prevention software …

    Security 19 Dec 2006, 16:20

  • Amazon set to flood digital music market

    DRM-free at last?

    Amazon looks set to plough into the digital music market next year. The retailer started romancing music labels last week. We talked to an Amazon spokesman today, who said the company was positive about the "massive growth" in the download market. He confirmed that providing digital music was "definitely an area of interest" …

    Bootnotes 19 Dec 2006, 16:45

  • The CSC Grinch who stole Christmas

    UK staff feel the squeeeeze

    CSC will not be paying its employee bonuses in the UK this year. The enterprise software and outsourcing giant has cited poor financial performance. Employees normally get a 10 per cent salary bonus for the financial year, only half of which is meant to be based on the financial performance of the firm, we're told. Back in May …

    Management 19 Dec 2006, 16:52

  • HP battens down HP-UX

    Securing the Itanic

    HP this week moved to bulk up the security tools available with its HP-UX operating system. The company has released an assortment of additions for HP-UX 11i V2 - including server-side encryption, a security chip and fortified data containers - that give customers some nice, high-end options. HP officials bragged that a number …

    The Channel 19 Dec 2006, 18:34

  • UK ditches single ID database

    Swaps Big Brother for fraternal triumvirate

    The UK government has ditched plans to put all our identities on one big database, saying that sticking with existing systems will help cut fraud and save money. But this is not a U-turn. Home Secretary John Reid was very clear about that. The system will now be built using existing data, with additional information being …

    Security 19 Dec 2006, 19:09