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26th January 2007 Archive

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  • Feds charge pump and dump hacker

    Funds spree with compromised accounts

    Federal authorities brought securities fraud charges against a man they allege made more than $82,000 in a six-week scheme that used compromised trading accounts to drive up the price of thinly-traded stocks. Aleksey Kamardin, a 21-year-old with an address in Tampa, Fla., bought the shares using an E*Trade account and then …

    Security 26 Jan 2007, 00:35

  • It's Jaw-Jaw and War-War for Java and NetBeans

    New membership, old rules

    It's business as usual between Eclipse and NetBeans, despite Eclipse's decision this month to join the Java Community Process (JCP). Mike Milinkovich, Eclipse executive director, told that The Register the Eclipse and NetBeans tools environments will continue to compete as separate entities. NetBeans uses the Swing Java toolkit …

    Developer 26 Jan 2007, 00:57

  • EnterpriseDB goes after Oracle's European users

    Promises you'll be happy as Larry

    Oracle's European customers fed up with handing over huge wads of cash to purchase and support their databases will get some relief starting from next week. EnterpriseDB, the open source database company nipping at Oracle's heals in the US, is today expected to open its first European sales offices in the UK. The opening …

    Applications 26 Jan 2007, 01:02

  • OLAP and the need for SPEED

    Database myths and legends (Part 7) In another dimension

    In this series we're looking at the myths and legends of the database world; some turn out to be true, others false. This myth is about why we use OLAP. If you follow the Inmon model, you use a relational data warehouse for flexibility and OLAP cubes in the data marts for the speed. On the other hand, if you follow Kimball, …

    Developer 26 Jan 2007, 07:02

  • UK police 'not prioritising cybercrime', Microsoft says

    'Inadequate' reporting structure

    The Home Office is not taking cybercrime and related fraud seriously enough, Microsoft says. The software giant says that cybercrime reporting mechanisms in the UK have been inadequate, since the closure of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU), whose operations were folded into the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) last …

    Security 26 Jan 2007, 07:02

  • 3 X-Series not unlimited for some

    Customers complain of unexpected bills

    Customers expecting to be charged a fiver a month for unlimited data, under 3's X-Series Silver plan, have found themselves in receipt of bills topping a hundred quid for exceeding their quota - due to a billing error at 3. Several readers contacted us to report problems customers were having with unexpected bills, and the …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2007, 07:02

  • Sony's video metadata invention could be patentable in part

    Restructure and reapply

    The Patent Office has rejected Sony's appeal to patent a video recording system because it was computer software, but has said that a claim structured differently could qualify for patenting. The Patent Office originally refusal to grant a patent for technology it deemed was software. UK patent law says that a computer program …

    Law 26 Jan 2007, 10:17

  • Vista and Office 2007 spin tales from the Underground

    Comment Vision versus practicality

    Microsoft launched Vista and Office 2007 at the end of last week to a gathering of developers in its UK headquarters in Thames Valley Park, Reading, and a couple of us from Freeform Dynamics were there to hear what the Redmond software giant had to say. The event itself was typical of Microsoft, pretty slick and well …

    Applications 26 Jan 2007, 10:30

  • AMD: quad-core Opterons 40% faster than four-core Xeons

    Jam tomorrow

    AMD's 'Barcelona' 65nm quad-core server processors will lick Intel's four-core Xeon 5300 series, out-performing its rival by up to 40 per cent, the chip maker claimed this week, according to a variety of websites briefed by the company. Maybe, but since no one can actually buy a Barcelona-based machine, the point's moot. By …

    Servers 26 Jan 2007, 10:44

  • Let the battle for the mid-market commence

    We're attractive and we know it

    Enterprise software vendors have traditionally targeted large Global 3000/FTSE 250 companies with revenues of $1bn+. However, as the competitive pressures in corporates intensify and customers consolidate their suppliers, the "mid-market" is becoming an increasingly attractive target for vendors, especially as it fits well with …

    Software 26 Jan 2007, 10:47

  • Downing Street denies secret email network

    You've got Lordship

    10 Downing Street has denied allegations that it ran a second, secret email system which contained evidence of taking cash in exchange for honours. According to ITV News, police were told of the emails between political advisor Ruth Turner, who was questioned by police last week, Lord Levy, and Blair's chief of staff Jonathan …

    Policy 26 Jan 2007, 10:51

  • Siemens' profits dented by fine

    But performance still strong

    Siemens has posted revenues of €19.1bn for its first quarter of 2007, a rise of six per cent on the same three-month period last year. The European technology and utility giant also announced that new orders rose four per cent to €24.5bn. Siemens said on Thursday that operating profits rose by a whopping 51 per cent to €1.63bn …

    Financial News 26 Jan 2007, 10:54

  • School fingerprinters say they don't grab teaching cash

    Put their hands up over 80/20 rule

    Firms supplying fingerprint scanners to UK schools have put the national procurement authority in the right over whether their biometric components are being bought using funding set aside for teaching software. Parents campaigning against their children's fingerprints being taken have been worried that teaching funds are being …

    Policy 26 Jan 2007, 10:55

  • T-Mobile announces Ameo UMPC-like PDA

    HTC developing 7in-display version too?

    T-Mobile has confirmed it will ship HTC's Athena UMPC-like PDA phone in the UK and Germany as the Ameo. Meanwhile, HTC is working on a version with a 7in display, it has been claimed. Ameo/Athena has a 5in touch-sensitive display, T-Mobile said. The device also has an 8GB hard drive, HSDPA 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth …

    Phones 26 Jan 2007, 11:10

  • HMRC splurges on IT consultants

    Skills shortage costs £130,000 a day

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is spending about £130,000 a day on IT consultancy fees because of internal skills shortages, a Treasury sub-committee has heard. Acting chairman Paul Gray admitted to the parliamentary committee that HMRC was spending about £650 per day on approximately 200 consultants and secondees at its …

    Policy 26 Jan 2007, 11:16

  • Nokia N800 internet tablet

    Review It's a phone... but not as we know it...

    The original Nokia tablet, the N770, was something of a departure for the Finnish phone maker: here was a device without cellular connectivity, running a Linux-based OS, and generally unlike anything Nokia had produced before. So here we have an updated version, the N800. But is it a phone or not, that is the question? The …

    Phones 26 Jan 2007, 11:16

  • Immigrant ID card to recruit employers as UK border police

    Home Office preps UK pass laws

    Immigration minister Liam Byrne has taken the wraps off the long-predicted (in these parts, at least) plan to hit immigrants in the first wave of ID cards, and to force employers to police the system. David Blunkett first trailed this scheme in November 2004, while an IPPR report last year recommended hitting immigrants with ID …

    Government 26 Jan 2007, 11:44

  • Moto sees red with Ferrari phone

    Ferrari fans will next week be able to get their merchandise-mad mitts on Motorola's latest limited edition handset: a RAZRmaxx V6 dedicated to the sign of the prancing pony. The RAZRmaxx V6 Ferrari Challenge handset is a 3G phone with HSDPA high-speed data download technology. Beyond the famous Ferrari logo on the outside …

    Phones 26 Jan 2007, 12:00

  • BOFH: Immortalised in print

    Episode 4 A little white lie never hurt anyone...

    "I...uh...was wondering if you'd check this over for...uh...accuracy," the head of IT says, handing over a stack of about two inches of paper. "What is it?" I gasp, fearing the worst - that it's a business case for a new and inventive way for the company to flush its IT spend down the proverbial crapper. "It's a personal …

    BOFH 26 Jan 2007, 12:02

  • Online conferencing - an opportunity for resellers?

    Quocirca's changing channels Meet and greet from the comfort of your desk

    One technology fits the software as a service (SaaS) model so neatly that even Microsoft – according to some, the devil incarnate of on-premise software delivery – only provides its product as an on-demand service. That technology is online conferencing. If you would like to spend less time queueing at airports to board a …

    The Channel 26 Jan 2007, 12:15

  • Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net

    We're all MyDoomed

    Networks of of compromised PCs are threatening the smooth operation of the internet, the World Economic Forum was told this week. Up to a quarter of online computers are virus-infected components in botnet networks of PCs under the control of hackers, according to net luminary Vint Cerf. Cerf, who co-developed the TCP/IP …

    Security 26 Jan 2007, 12:22

  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre hacks into Doctor Who DVD

    'Manufacturing problem'

    Fans settling down to enjoy a Doctor Who US rental DVD were treated to scenes from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, UK tabloid The Sun reports. According to the paper, "a manufacturing blunder led to footage of a maniac hacking off limbs appearing midway through an episode seen by hundreds of families". The Doctor …

    Bootnotes 26 Jan 2007, 12:22

  • Brando comes clean with Soap media player details

    It's called Soap. It looks like a bar of soap. Sort of. It's an iPod Nano wannabe. It's Hong Kong gadget maker Brando's latest media player. There's 2GB of song and video storage on board, an FM tuner, a bright 1.8in, 65,535-colour OLED screen and a clickwheel-like controller. Brando offers the 45g, 7.5 x 3.9 x 0.8cm device …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2007, 12:28

  • WTF has my Wi-Fi network gone?

    Hardware Headaches WLAN standard reaching its limits?

    I own a Linksys WRT54G wireless router, and in the four years I've had it, I've connected it to two Macs, two PCs, a Nintendo Wii and a host of handhelds. It's been a joy to use, more so than the Proxim box I used to own. Until now. Over the last month or so, it's begun to drop connections randomly and without warning. Parts of …

    Hardware 26 Jan 2007, 14:13

  • Jokers, roamers, and the human sardine can

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

    Mobile phone roaming costs – up, up and away... Ever dreamt that roaming abroad with your mobile might actually be a financially viable concept? That dream may be about to come true. UK company Awayphone is selling subscribers a SIM card which routes over the internet whenever possible and offers a local phone number in foreign …

    Business 26 Jan 2007, 15:20

  • China net purification efforts shot down by Silent Guardian

    Letters Dressed in a tinfoil suit

    We all love to complain about the state of the railways, so when last week's weather chaos brought services to a standstill, we all had a bit of a moan. Things got even worse in the aftermath when one rail bigwig came out and said packed commuter trains are safer. Cue outrage. You lot were very vocal on this issue (see here), …

    Letters 26 Jan 2007, 15:48

  • Davos leaders face education challenge

    Analysis Can audio blogging change the world?

    One of the themes at this year's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, was social media. Business types and politicians struggle to get a handle on whether they should employ another special advisor to get to the mission critical task of Twittering their activities into the ether. In a session today entitled "The …

    Media 26 Jan 2007, 15:58

  • Diebold disclosed e-voting key on website

    Security by diesign

    Electronic voting machine firm Diebold is once again the subject of an embarrassing security gaffe after hackers created keys capable of opening voting machines from pictures posted on its website. Two of three keys crafted by Ross Kinard of SploitCast were capable of opening a voting machine obtained by Princeton University …

    Security 26 Jan 2007, 16:00

  • Samsung skinny smart phone to ship February

    Samsung's BlackBerry-like SGH-i600 Ultra Edition 'super 3G' slimline smart phone is coming to the UK at the end of February, handset retailers suggest. The i600 was unveiled at the Berlin-hosted IFA consumer electronics show in September 2006, though at the time Samsung was unable or unwilling to say when the Windows Mobile 5 …

    Phones 26 Jan 2007, 16:08

  • Satellites enable GSM anywhere

    'I'M IN THE DESERT. NO, I SAID DESERT!!'

    Two wireless networking companies have banded together to develop a private GSM network backhauled over satellite. Satellite operator DigitalSkys is adopting GSM-to-IP technology from Private Mobile Networks to build its hybrid network, which will be hubbed out of Cyprus and aimed at customers in Africa, Europe, the Middle East …

    Data Networking 26 Jan 2007, 16:09

  • O2 punters in Humberside back in touch

    And O2 staff get a grand bonus

    O2 has fixed the problem which meant customers in Hull and Humberside were struggling to make or receive mobile calls. The problem began Friday morning, according to Reg readers. A spokeswoman for O2 said: "It's all fixed now - it was a cabling problem at one of our base stations." In unrelated news O2 is paying eligible …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2007, 16:12

  • Carphone Warehouse courts iPhone

    Wanted: exclusive relationship

    Charles Dunstone, CEO of Carphone Warehouse, Europe's largest retailer of mobile phones with 2,070 stores, wants an iPhone - lots of them - under his Christmas tree, and his alone, this year. While giving the company's quarterly results, Dunstone said he's after an exclusive deal with Apple to sell iPhones in the UK. On the …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2007, 17:51

  • XM and Sirius dance towards a merged US satellite monopoly

    Comment Let's get together and feel all right

    First it's on, then it's off. The potential merger of the two US satellite radio companies XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, has been the talk of the US digital media community this week, with the FCC pointing out that it would breach both sets of existing licenses, and then hinting that perhaps that's not too much …

    Media 26 Jan 2007, 17:58

  • LiMo arrives for mobile Linux

    Third time lucky for Linux on phones?

    The duopoly of Windows Mobile and Symbian is to face its biggest challenge yet, with six big names in mobile telephony backing the development of a new Linux-based software platform for mobile phones. The founders of the LiMo Foundation are handset makers Motorola, NEC, Panasonic and Samsung, plus two big operators - NTT …

    Mobile 26 Jan 2007, 18:12

  • MS fast-tracks Vista service pack

    Redmond hunts for crash test dummies

    The consumer version of Windows Vista ships next week but the firm is already planning a schedule for its first major update. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 appears in the second half of 2007 and will feature security fixes and quality improvements, according to letters sent this week by Microsoft to corporate customers, …

    Operating Systems 26 Jan 2007, 18:25

  • EU antitrust welcome for Vista

    XAML lacks interop information, critics says

    Microsoft will launch Vista on Tuesday to a fresh wave of antitrust concern. The Brussels-based pro-interoperability group ECIS issued a statement today which condemned the new release of Windows for embodying bad practices. "Vista is the first step in Microsoft‘s strategy to extend its market dominance to the Internet," said …

    Operating Systems 26 Jan 2007, 18:29

  • Intel clock blocks IBM, HP, Dell and Sun with Google win

    Oh, and AMD

    Super-secretive Google had its insides exposed this week by Intel's amateur blogger and server chief Pat Gelsinger. The executive claims that Intel's server division has won back Google's business from AMD. IBM, HP, Dell, Sun Microsystems and Rackable must find this revelation curious. Intel's white box server business …

    Servers 26 Jan 2007, 20:22

  • SF Wi-Fi 'elephant' tramples Google, mayor

    Faster than a speeding sloth - but only just

    San Francisco's showcase Wi-Fi project is turning into a quagmire for both city mayor Gavin Newsom, and Google. Newsom announced the project in October 2005, and Google showered the mayor with affection: a trip to Davos in Larry and Sergei's private jet, and the company offered him campaign contributions. Not surprisingly, …

    Broadband 26 Jan 2007, 21:44