The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

22nd December 2006 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD player

    Review High definition for less

    The shops are jam packed with HD tellys in the run up to Christmas, but there's surprisingly little HD content available in the UK at the moment. Sky and Telewest customers are sorted - for a somewhat large fee - but other than that there's little else to show off your brand spanking new set for a reasonable price. Until …

    Games 22 Dec 2006, 08:02

  • El Reg presents the great End of Year Quiz

    Quiz of the year Test your memory while you've still got one

    The party's over, the lights are dim, and you're wondering whether to buy that bumper pack of Alka Seltzer. What to do with those last precious moments of the year? Just cast your mind back over the last 12 months and give your brain a workout in the Great Register Quiz. No deadlines, no prizes, no stamped addressed envelopes. …

    Bootnotes 22 Dec 2006, 09:02

  • Online criminals threatened with sex offenders' register

    Web of offences widened

    Internet and email users can be added to the sex offenders' register for a whole slew of new offences after the Home Office drastically increased the number of relevant offences. An unspecified range of offences related to internet and phone use has been added. Now people committing a crime that involves improper use of public …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 09:32

  • ORDB bids a long goodbye

    Spam fighter calls it a day

    The Open Relay DataBase, the spam fighting organisation that lists open relays historically exploited by spammers to send junk mail, is to close down at the end of the year, five and a half years after it was first established. Spammers' increased use of networks of compromised PCs has made its work less relevant while its …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 09:34

  • VMware opens Mac virtual machine tech to public

    Parallels updates VM code too

    Virtualisation software specialist VMware has posted a pre-release version of 'Fusion', the Mac version of its desktop virtualisation software. The public availability of the beta release was accompanied by VMware competitor Parallels' posting of a update to its own Mac virtualisation tool. VMware announced Fusion in August …

    Hardware 22 Dec 2006, 09:34

  • Glu Mobile files for $92m IPO

    Eyes up European expansion

    Mobile phone games publisher Glu Mobile has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq; looking to raise up to $92m in the new year. The money will be used to pay off $12m of current debt, with the rest funding European expansion. Glu purchased UK publisher iFone in March this year for $23.5m, and has been attracting attention as a …

    Mobile 22 Dec 2006, 09:36

  • The Screwpole emails

    Episode 1 It's hell in the world of project management

    This is the first in a series of articles tracking the attempts of demonic senior consultant Screwpole to steep his naive young nephew Mugwort in the ways of IT project failure. Failure equals unhappiness, a significant Project Objective in the lower circles, and Mr Screwpole has just been handed control of a new division …

    Developer 22 Dec 2006, 09:42

  • Revenues up for loss-making 3Com

    H3C venture spurs reversal of fortunes

    3Com has reported a second-quarter net loss of $4m for its second fiscal quarter. This equates to $00.1 per share during the quarter, down from $11m or $0.03 per share a year ago. The network equipment manufacturer said on Wednesday that revenue for the three-month period ended 1 December was $333m, an 81 per cent increase …

    Financial News 22 Dec 2006, 09:48

  • Venice Project nears liftoff

    While BBC's iPlayer ambles into another trial

    Reports are beginning to come in thick and fast from the beta program for the Venice Project, the code name for the P2P streaming TV player designed by the same people that wrote Kazaa and Skype. All those that have seen it say Skype designers Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis and a handful of partners are almost ready to launch …

    Broadband 22 Dec 2006, 09:57

  • AMD opens next-gen chip tech think-tank

    Do we know anyone else based in Redmond, Washington?

    Come 2013, AMD will start to leverage the efforts of the chip maker's Advanced Architecture and Technology Lab (AATL) in its processor and chipset products. AMD announced the foundation of the forward-looking technology team yesterday, locating it in Redmond, Washington - the home of a certain software giant... The AATL's …

    Hardware 22 Dec 2006, 10:07

  • 2006: The year of broadband, PSP and PS3

    2006 in review Were we on the money?

    Just over a year ago, Faultline made some of what we described as outlandish predictions. Partly this was tongue in cheek because we hear so many predictions from research outfits that appear ludicrous, and partly these were trends we were genuinely expecting. Some of them weren't particularly outlandish, so we admit they were …

    Broadband 22 Dec 2006, 10:21

  • US town bans Santa

    'Zero tolerance' for illegal worker

    The Pennsylvania town of Hazleton has declared its intention to enforce controversial illegal immigration legislation by banning Santa from its boundaries this Xmas. The "No Santa for Hazleton" campaign is the latest manifestation of the town's "Illegal Immigrant Relief Act", passed earlier this year, which "attracted national …

    Media 22 Dec 2006, 10:33

  • Intel anticipates Vista-led IGP sales boost

    965 shipments to jump ahead of 'Bearlake' debut?

    Intel appears to be anticipating strong demand in the next quarter for its 965 chipset driven by the demands imposed upon PC hardware by Microsoft's Windows Vista. Certainly, Taiwanese industry moles claim the chip giant plans to boost shipments by 50 per cent in Q1 2007. So suggests DigiTimes, alleging Intel wants to use …

    Hardware 22 Dec 2006, 11:01

  • Nintendo denounces Wii Remote lawsuit

    'Without merit,' claims videogames pioneer

    The class action lawsuit launched in the US this week against Nintendo is entirely meritless, the videogames pioneer has claimed. The lawsuit alleges Nintendo breached its own product warranty by shipping its Wii games console with a Remote wrist-strap that breaks even when used as directed. In a statement, Nintendo said that …

    Games 22 Dec 2006, 11:03

  • IPTV/VoD: Fast forward to Christmas future

    Industry comment A day in digital heaven

    It's the Friday before Christmas. The very first thing I hear at 6am is the latest Crazy Frog jingle at full volume that's been remotely programmed into my alarm clock as a hilariously mischievous prank by my girlfriend. I'm tempted to smash the thing, but that would mean buying the fifth one this year. At least it's nice and …

    Data Networking 22 Dec 2006, 11:07

  • Access isn’t a relational database

    Database myths and legends (Part 6) We're all related somehow

    This is a great example of a myth/legend that is both true and false; it all depends on how you define relational. Ted Codd produced one of the first attempts to define exactly what the term relational Database Management System (DBMS) means. Since Dr. Edgar Codd is regarded as ‘the Father of the Relational Database’, most …

    Developer 22 Dec 2006, 11:37

  • Websites fog up as office passions rise

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

    So the rest of the team are battling their way to Euston or Paddington, or sitting somewhere on the M40. You're the last one in the office – again – you know someone's left a crucial project unfinished, and you've got four hours to nail it down before you get to enjoy your Christmas. Still, it could be worse. Your website could …

    Business 22 Dec 2006, 11:59

  • BOFH: Looting Christmas treasure

    Episode 43 Foiled

    "Check it out!" the PFY gasps, pointing at a large basket of goodies sitting on the secretary's desk. "Bonus!" I cry, looking for a card. "Is it for us?" "No, it's for the Boss," Cathy the secretary sighs before putting the basket into a large cardboard box beside her desk. "The third present he's got today." "But he's only …

    BOFH 22 Dec 2006, 12:02

  • Red Hat drops profits

    They'll need every penny

    Linux distributor Red Hat made a $15.5m GAAP profit in the last quarter, well down on the profit of $24.6m it made for the same period last year. Revenues were up though, and slightly outpaced market expectations, climbing 45 per cent on the firm's fiscal Q3 2006 to $105.8m. Red Hat said it added 12,000 net new customers in the …

    Financial News 22 Dec 2006, 12:05

  • Compo winners Dear Santa...

    Earlier this month, we asked you to tell us about the ideal gadget you'd like to wake up to on Christmas morning - and explain why. Here are the technologies that tickled us the most... Reader Richard Bryant of Glasgow wants a "a wireless router capable of running Skype and plugging into a DECT phone". How come, Richard? My …

    Hardware 22 Dec 2006, 12:26

  • Germany jails €12m porn Trojan scam duo

    Mucky business

    Two members of a German gang who infected more than 100,000 PCs as part of a premium rate telephone scam that netted fraudsters €12m ($15.8m) have been jailed. An Osnabrück court this week sentenced one of the two men to four years imprisonment, and the other to a 39 month sentence, for their part in planting malware on …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 13:09

  • Japanese boffins hook giant squid

    Kraken snared

    Scientists from Japan's National Science Museum are highly pleased with themselves after hooking a 3.5-metre, 50kg "giant squid" specimen, Reuters reports. In 2005, the same team got the first snaps of the elusive Architeuthis, which can grow up to 18-20 metres. The team snared the female "Kraken" on 4 December using a baited …

    Science 22 Dec 2006, 13:15

  • Partying Miss Nevada stripped of title

    Wild net snaps undo Katie Rees

    Miss Nevada 2007 was yesterday stripped of her title after pictures appeared on the internet showing 22-year-old Katie Rees "kissing other young women, exposing one of her breasts and pulling down her pants to show her thong underwear at a party in Tampa", AP reports. Miss Universe Organiaation prez Paula M Shugart, declared: " …

    Bootnotes 22 Dec 2006, 13:20

  • BMA may seek NHS records system boycott

    DoH 'unlawful'

    Doctors will be advised to refuse to use the NHS's computer system unless the Department of Health (DoH) changes its mind on behaviour which the British Medical Association says is unlawful. The DoH has refused to allow a large number of patients to opt out of its controversial computerised patient records system, which is …

    Policy 22 Dec 2006, 14:07

  • Self abusing operators fail to offset emissions

    Letters Sort of NSFW, if you try hard

    Wikipedians have been illustrating some of the online encyclopedia's pages with some charming photography of things they made themselves. While it is always nice to see people being creative, we're not sure if home-made tosspots were strictly neccessary: You obviously haven't had a chance to check out Ejaculate on Wikipedia …

    Letters 22 Dec 2006, 14:16

  • Enraged locals drive blogger from Barrow-in-Furness

    'S***-hole' residents turn on chocolate shop manager

    Enraged locals have driven a chocolate shop manager from Barrow-in-Furness after he branded the town a "s***-hole" on his Myspace blog, the Online Press Gazette reports. Steve Beall, 20, had been relocated from Whitley Bay by choc outfit Thorntons to run a new "Cafe Thorntons" in the sun-kissed Cumbrian paradise. The firm put …

    Media 22 Dec 2006, 15:41

  • YouTube clip leads to arrest in Canadian murder hunt

    Mounties get their man

    A video clip posted on YouTube has helped Canadian police in the investigation of a nightclub murder. Police in the southern Canadian city of Hamilton posted a clip from club surveillance cameras onto the popular naff clip sharing site in an appeal for information. The clip was subsequently viewed by more the 34,000 people. …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 15:48

  • Lost laptops, zero-day vulns and RFID chips

    2006 in review The year in information security

    If 2006 had an information security epitaph it would probably be the year of the missing laptop. Security breaches that resulted in the disclosure of confidential data, already a trend in recent years, grew alarmingly - to the point where security watchers noted that 100 million personal records had been compromised in the …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 15:55

  • CafePress wilts under DDoS assault

    Hackers play grinch

    CafePress.com, the site which allows users to open up their own online store selling customised merchandise such as t-shirts and mugs, has been hit by a denial of service attack. In a statement to store owners, Jill Ambrose of CafePress.com said the targeted attack had resulted in "significant service interruptions". "As of …

    Security 22 Dec 2006, 16:15

  • Reg vulture collides with flying reindeer

    Site news Christmas message

    The Reg Vulture has got his funny hat on and is telling us it’s time to evacuate Vulture Towers for the duration. We’ll be dimming the lights until December 27, when we’ll probably be publishing a sack load of letters from unhappy e-commerce site buyers. Until then, we’d like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas.®

    Site News 22 Dec 2006, 16:19

  • Merry Christmas to all our readers

    Blah!

    The Reg Hardware are powering down our PowerBooks and preparing to tuck into the vast pile of mince pies awaiting us at home. Or going down the pub. Or daydreaming about the Hardware Widow. Take your pick. We'll be back on 27 December but until then we'd like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas. But careful with those …

    Hardware 22 Dec 2006, 18:38