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28th December 2006 Archive

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  • Mobile network operators roll over and die

    2006 in review And "communications companies" are born

    2006 saw the death of the UK mobile network operator. The wireless industry seemed to realise that it had come of age and it was time to get serious with a round of consolidations and expansions which turned mere operators into "communications companies" able to operate over any kind of connectivity. As specific connectivity …

    Mobile 28 Dec 2006, 00:02

  • How the net changed the ancient art of the con

    Comment The art of deception

    It's called a confidence game. Why? Because you give me your confidence? No. Because I give you mine, House of Games As well as creating new forms of criminal activity, such as spamming, the rising importance of computer networks has witnessed many forms of traditional crime reappearing under slightly different guises. …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 08:02

  • Stock scammer gets coal for the holidays

    Illicit use of victims' brokerage accounts

    The US Securities and Exchange Commission put a suspected Russian brokerage-account thief's money on ice last week, after he allegedly used illicit access to people's online portfolios to drive up stock prices. The SEC charged Grand Logistic SA, a Belize corporation located in Estonia, and its owner Evgeny Gashichev of Russia …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 08:58

  • The Vulture's Mobile Awards 2006

    Heroes and villains, vapourware and clunkers. They're all here

    Villain of the Year Everyone All of the operators, for their rip-off roaming data charges. For much of the past decade, operators have made excessive profits from voice calls between networks, and from roaming calls in Europe. Roaming voice is now cheaper, but roaming data users can expect to pay a pound for a typical page ( …

    Mobile 28 Dec 2006, 08:59

  • TomTom wins (or loses) Garmin US lawsuit

    Battle of the press releases

    TomTom, the Dutch maker of GPS navigation devices, says it has emerged victorious in the latest round of the acrimonious patent dispute with Garmin, its American rival. Or did it? Garmin says it is the winner. From where we are sitting, it looks like TomTom has the better claim to victory: US District Judge Barbara B. Crabb of …

    Mobile 28 Dec 2006, 09:16

  • Intel to intro Core 2 Quad at CES?

    Vegas gamble

    Intel will formally launch its already announced four-core Core 2 Quad processor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in less than two week's time, it has been claimed. The allegation - made by industry sources cited by IDG - comes as no surprise. Intel announced the quad-core Q6600 chip for mainstream desktops at …

    Hardware 28 Dec 2006, 09:53

  • Sony preps video store to fill hole in PSP film revenues

    Comment What took it so long?

    According to recent headlines, Sony is somehow going to challenge Apple iTunes with a film download service straight for the PSP. Instead those headlines should have asked why it has taken so long. Sony is uniquely placed to offer a film download service in that it has a music download service in its Connect system, it has a …

    Financial News 28 Dec 2006, 10:21

  • The Bastard's guide to airport security

    Episode 44 PFY plays guinea pig

    Ah, the strange twists of fate which conspire both for and against us. Against us when I believed that my trusty co-worker would treat me with the respect I deserved from my years at the coal face of IT and cut me a little slack when it came to me stealing his Christmas presents. And locking me in a lift. And for us when The …

    BOFH 28 Dec 2006, 10:46

  • HD DVD anti-rip encryption cracked

    First test of AACS key-switching system

    Has the HD DVD next-generation optical disc format's anti-rip technology been cracked? That's certainly what's being claimed by a programmer going by the name muslix64 who has posted a Java-based app he maintains will free the video on a disc from its encryption shackles. HD DVD used the AACS copy-protection system to encode …

    Hardware 28 Dec 2006, 10:46

  • Mastering Regular Expressions

    Book review Not just a text book – a real guide

    Like SQL and XML, regular expressions are an essential tool in every developers’ toolbox. Processing text, which is pretty much what most programs do when you think about it, is so central a concern that even without regular expressions most developers quickly build up a library of functions and idioms for text matching, …

    Developer 28 Dec 2006, 10:52

  • Wireless chess cheat banned for 10 years

    Checkmate for bluetooth headset scam

    An Indian chess player has been banned from competing for 10 years after seeking the assistance of a computer via a bluetooth headset. Umakant Sharma was caught during a "random check" in a New Delhi tournament on 4 December, Information Week reports. The headset was sewn into a cap which he "typically pulled down over his ears …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 10:57

  • US to approve cloned meat

    Lack of variety is the spice of life

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will declare today that meat from cloned animals is safe to eat. A safety assessment released on Thursday is expected to approve the entry of products from genetically identical cattle and other livestock into the human food chain. The FDA indicated which way the wind was blowing back …

    Science 28 Dec 2006, 11:00

  • Elgato EyeTV Diversity dual-tuner digital TV dongle

    Review When one antenna won't do, use two...

    Elgato's made-for-Mac EyeTV Hybrid analogue and digital TV tuner is an impressive add-on for a media centre, but it runs into trouble when you take it out on the road. The UK's terrestrially transmitted Freeview digital network isn't broadcast as powerfully as it could or should be, and the Hybrid's tiny antenna has a job …

    Hardware 28 Dec 2006, 11:40

  • Europe's planet-seeking satellite blasts off

    COROT on its way

    Europe's "Convection Rotation and planetary Transits" (COROT) satellite yesterday successfully blasted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on its mission to seek out strange new exoplanets and "probe the mysteries of stellar interiors". Specifically, COROT will use its 30-cm telescope to study "the acoustic waves that ripple across …

    Science 28 Dec 2006, 12:15

  • Congressional aide fired after trying to hire hackers

    D’oh

    The press attaché of a Montana Congressman has been left red faced after "hackers" he was trying to hire to change his lowly college grades published his email exchanges instead. Todd Shriber, 28, a press officer for US Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg, was looking to persuade hackers to break into the systems of Texas Christian …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 12:45

  • Apple 'falsified' share documents

    Steve Jobs's options fingered

    Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs was given share options on the basis of falsified documents which claimed to show the board of directors had approved the stock grant, the FT has claimed. Apple admitted back in June that it had incorrectly accounted for share options between 1997 and 2001. The SEC is investigating dozens of …

    Business 28 Dec 2006, 12:57

  • Cloaking device makes invisible progress

    Light-emitting objects problem whacked

    Mathematicians have proposed improvements to cloaking technology to hide objects which emit their own electromagnetic radiation. In October, a transatlantic team of scientists demonstrated the world's first working invisibility cloak, which uses metamaterials to bend electromagnetism around an object as if it weren't there. …

    Science 28 Dec 2006, 12:58

  • Building a data warehouse on parallel lines

    Kognitio ergo something-for-nothing?

    Never look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if there are many of them running in parallel… There are various structures we can use in a data warehouse – each with its pros and cons. For example, if you use a relational structure for the core of the warehouse then you gain very high flexibility but lose out on speed. …

    Developer 28 Dec 2006, 13:00

  • Tories spin Web 2.0 to out-Fox Ofcom

    Comment Meet the new gang - same as the old gang

    The internet has always offered a stage for dramatic reinvention. Corporate lobbyists have found it a suitable theatre for AstroTurfing, given the willingness of a net audience to suspend its disbelief. Now, internet television lets professional politicians play the role of citizen-reporter. 18DoughtyStreet Talk TV launched in …

    Media 28 Dec 2006, 15:33

  • MS sees out year with another Vista attack

    Privilege elevation

    Hackers have posted an exploit which might be used by local users to gain admin privileges on Windows boxes, including machines running Vista. However the bug is not as serious as it might be because initial analysis suggests it can only be exploited locally and not remotely across the internet. The flaw, such as it is, …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 16:39

  • Frankenstein's cure for ageing - botulism

    Chemical Alley Scammers show it is easy to buy botulinum online

    How easy was it to buy an eye-popping 3,081 vials of research botulinum toxin, the deadly neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum, always found on jihadist terror wish lists? Very easy in 2003 - unlike so many other things alleged to be simple to do by designated evil-doers in the war on terror. Two Arizona scammers in …

    Science 28 Dec 2006, 17:18

  • Vista's Suicide Bomb: who gets hurt?

    Analysis Mostly Wintel, we reckon

    So have fun fighting the battle against CPRM and alike but please do not be surprised when you fail, after all the war has been lost, long live the new world order: proprietary devices, proprietary interfaces, copy protection, limited functionality, and prepare you credit card accounts for all those monthly rental and service …

    Security 28 Dec 2006, 17:41