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2nd February 2007 Archive

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  • Scottish NHS in cervical smear security blunder

    Launch put on ice

    The Scottish National Health Service has postponed the launch of a new cervical smear screening system, after concerns were raised about the security of the service during a trial of the system. According to BMA News, the house magazine for British Medical Association members, Scottish Cervical Call-Recall System (SCCRS), …

    Public Sector 2 Feb 2007, 00:02

  • Romania: Software piracy made us what we are today

    Thank-you, Mr Gates

    Romania's president delivered an encomium to software piracy during Bill Gates' world tour promoting Windows Vista. President Traian Basescu reportedly told Gates that software piracy helped build a vibrant technology industry in Romania. Appearing with Gates at the opening of a Microsoft global technology center in …

    Software 2 Feb 2007, 00:08

  • Officials sued for $3m for disciplining MySpace spoofers

    Bloodied principal, muzzled students

    The parents of three teens who impersonated their assistant principal in a MySpace profile filed a $3m suit that alleges school officials' disciplinary actions went too far. The sons of the three plaintiffs, at the time 16-year-old students at a high school in Brighton, Tenn., created an account in the name of the assistant …

    Music and Media 2 Feb 2007, 00:12

  • Mooninite terrorists brought to justice

    Comment Bostonians can sleep safely in their beds

    Neon beer sign enthusiasts beware: you're next. Two men have been arrested and arraigned for hanging the signs that started Wednesday's bomb scare in Boston. Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, have been charged with creating a hoax leading to public disorder and disorderly conduct by Boston's District Attorney. The …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 05:38

  • A PC to call your own...

    Column Now Old Grumpy goes for a (Micro)soft target

    I’m a fan of shell extensions – those plug-ins for Windows Explorer which provide easy right-click access to all manner of context sensitive actions. For example, my favourite ZIP compressor is WinZip: simply right-click on a folder and you can instantly create an archive containing everything within that folder. Magic! But …

    Developer 2 Feb 2007, 07:02

  • Yorkshire takes schools web filtering open source

    Thinking of the children

    The Yorkshire and Humberside Grid for Learning (YHGfL) has rolled out open source web filtering to 700 schools in the region. Financial details have not been released. The system, built by OS services group Sirius, should prevent more than 200,000 school kids from accessing dodgy web pages. It is thought to be the largest such …

    Public Sector 2 Feb 2007, 09:46

  • Web campaign secures Iranian teen's release

    Online donations do the trick for Nazanin Fatehi

    Well done to all those Reg readers who donated cash to the campaign to release Iranian teenager Nazanin Fatehi, who secured her freedom on Wednesday. Fatehi was in January 2006 "sentenced to death for murder by court in Iran after she stabbed one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a park in …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 09:49

  • Intel won't launch 45nm desktop CPUs until 2008?

    Fabbed in 2007, out the following year, roadmap leak suggests

    Intel may claim its 45nm processors will be in production in H2, but it appears desktop chips may not actually launch until Q1 2008, if the latest roadmap to leak out of the chip giant is to be believed. Intel has two 45nm CPUs in the pipeline: 'Yorkfield', the sucessor to today's four-core Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quad, and …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 10:37

  • Academic turns up volume on CCTV Bill proposal

    Analysis Dragging the cameras out of the data shadows

    While British bobbies and Blakeys have installed more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world, the people have been "sorely lacking" regulation that watches the watchers, according to an academic paper that proposes the outline of a CCTV bill. Existing laws give only limited protection to people caught on CCTV camera …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 10:42

  • Blogs, wikis and the 'long tail'

    Comment Channeling the wisdom of the crowd

    The social networking phenomenon is upon us, and it seems that half the world (in reality, less than one sixth) is instant messaging, blogging, wiki-ing and generally collaborating and communicating in new and exciting ways. The idea here is to capture thought processes and ideas which ensure that the pace of change towards a …

    IT Director 2 Feb 2007, 10:42

  • Vista encryption 'no threat' to computer forensics

    Who needs a backdoor when users leave the Windows open?

    Security advances in Windows Vista are unlikely to frustrate cybercrime investigation, according to a leading computer forensics firm. Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista include a feature that provides data volume encryption called BitLocker Drive Encryption. Suggestions that BitLocker contains a backdoor allowing law …

    Crime 2 Feb 2007, 10:59

  • AMD 690 chipset family 'to launch this month'

    Moles forecast

    AMD's long-awaited 690 chipset family should ship by the end of the month, Taiwanese mobo-maker moles have claimed. The 690 members will be the first chipsets to be released under the AMD brand and not simply rebranded ATI product. Late last year, it was claimed that AMD had put back the 690 series' launch from January 2007 …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 11:08

  • Internet users play tag with online content: study

    Folksonomies

    Web 2.0 pioneers are taking personal control of how online content is organised, according to new research. The study, conducted by the Pew Internet & America Life Project in December 2006, reports 28 per cent of US internet users have categorised, or "tagged", user generated content online. Tagging is effectively a new form of …

    IT Director 2 Feb 2007, 11:44

  • Sling seeks SlingPlayer Palm testers

    Slingbox maker Sling Media has begun inviting members of the public to sign up to test pre-release versions of the Palm OS incarnation of its SlingPlayer Mobile remote TV viewing application. The scheme is aimed at owners of the Palm Treo 700p. That said, Sling said it might bring on board a few Treo 650, Treo 680 and …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 11:48

  • Tech Data goes mobile

    Joint venture for Euro mobile market

    Distie Tech Data is setting up a joint venture with Brightstar Corp to sell mobile and wireless devices across Europe. Called Brightstar Europe Limited the company will distribute mobile phones and other gadgets to dealers, operators, and retailers. The firm will use Tech Data's logistics and Brightstar's mobile experience. …

    Channel Register 2 Feb 2007, 11:48

  • US investigators tool up as pressure on Siemens grows

    Two new investigations

    Siemens has revealed that it is under investigation by the US Department of Justice over allegations that it paid out some €420m in bribes to help it secure telecoms contracts outside of Germany. The company, Europe's largest engineering firm, is also facing an informal investigation by the Security and Exchanges Commission, …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 11:55

  • Intel unzips Java jeans

    Intel-brand Indonesian trousers off the shelves

    Intel Corp has won a legal victory over a jeans maker in Indonesia selling trousers under the Intel brand. The chip maker had its complaint against the denim vendor upheld despite the fact that trousers and computer processors are fairly different products. The decision is seen as a positive step as Indonesia is seen as …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 12:00

  • Valentine's Day Gadget Gift Round-up... for her

    Reg Hardware's second round-up of cool kit. This time, prezzies for the lady in your life...

    And now, Register Hardware is proud to present the eagerly-anticipated, desperately-sought-after sequel in our romantic round-up of Valentine's Day gadget gift ideas: this time they're for her... Nabaztag What better way to say "I love you" than with a small plastic rabbit? The curiously named Nabaztag is not of the …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 12:25

  • Blu-ray media sales set to shoot past HD DVD purchases

    PlayStation 3 driving demand?

    Blu-ray Disc is catching up with HD DVD, at least in terms of US pre-recorded media retail sales, the most recently published figures from sell-through video sales tracker Nielsen VideoScan show. In the first two weeks of January, BD media outsold HD DVD. Nielsen VideoScan's numbers come from US trade publication Home Media …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 12:40

  • Vista: did you miss it?

    A whole week of Vista, right here, right now

    If you were asleep this week, or on a nuclear sub, or trapped at the bottom on an icy crevasse, you may have missed the launch of Vista. And, more importantly the inevitable backdraft. So, for easy reference, here is a quick run down of the Week in Vista. Enjoy: Vista and music still chums A PC to call your own... Microsoft …

    Software 2 Feb 2007, 13:13

  • IPCC report: no surprises, not much hope either

    The climate is a-changin'

    Humanity is "very likely" to blame for global warming and, regardless of what action is taken now, recent increases in atmospheric carbon will have a profound effect on the planet. In the first of a series of four reports to be published this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has fingered humans as the …

    Science 2 Feb 2007, 14:10

  • Oiled up Joker crashes Vista party

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

    Gates comes to London to launch Vista Well, there was only topic on everyone's lips this week. Yes, exactly how many air miles did Bill Gates clock up touting Vista to a "whatever" world. As far as we can make out, between last Friday and Tuesday, Gates popped up in Davos, New York, London, and Scotland. Who knows, maybe he …

    Business 2 Feb 2007, 14:23

  • Torex Retail fraud investigation stool pigeon sings

    Suspended chief exec reported own firm

    The identity of the whistleblower in the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) investigation of software firm Torex Retail was revealed on Friday as its suspended chief executive. Neil Mitchell told the Financial Times he had led a group of executives which had reported the firm to authorities. He said he would be seeking protection …

    Law 2 Feb 2007, 14:34

  • Channel 4 pulls 'wank week'

    Loses wood over Celebrity Big Brother cock-up

    Aficionados of the kind of quality programming for which Channel 4 is rightly reknowned will be disappointed to learn it has pulled its planned "wank week" - a series of three late-night programmes dedicated to bashing the bishop and petting the beaver. The short season was set to feature the London "Masturbate-a-thon" event, …

    Music and Media 2 Feb 2007, 15:07

  • Programming pioneer dies

    Obituary A tribute to Ada's Jean Ichbiah

    Second acts are rare in the computer industry but Jean Ichbiah, who died this week, managed it. Not only did he revolutionise software development for military computer systems with the Ada programming language, but he also devised a widely-used fast text-entry system for handheld computers. Ichbiah was an atypical programming …

    Developer 2 Feb 2007, 15:44

  • Shuttle shouts up Vista-friendly SFF PCs

    Small form-factor PC specialist Shuttle hopped on the Windows Vista bandwagon with a trio of pre-configured systems that bundle Microsoft's latest offering. Shuttle said all three are compatible with Vista's Aero UI. The three Shuttles ship with 32-bit editions of Vista. Interestingly, two of the three, the XPC P2 3700GC …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 16:15

  • Florida chucks touch-screen balloting

    Learns that technology is no panacea

    Florida, the epicentre of hopelessly confused US elections, is chucking touch-screen ballot machines in favour of optical scanners, the Associated Press reports. Governor Charlie Crist (Republican) announced the new initiative on Thursday, and called on the legislature to authorise the needed $32m in extra funds that the …

    Government 2 Feb 2007, 16:23

  • Giant babies kill the floppy disk

    Letters And rocket-powered cars

    Sad news this week as California coastguards were forced to call off the search for Microsoft researcher Jim Gray who has been missing since setting out in his yacht last Sunday. A respected IT personality and database developer, Google chipped in with an offer to use its high resolution satellite imagery to aid the search: …

    Letters 2 Feb 2007, 16:23

  • Broadcom squeezes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM onto one-die phone chip

    Broadcom has begun sampling what it claims is the first ever mobile phone chip to cram not only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but also an FM tuner onto a single die. The part is fabbed at 65nm. The BCM4325 supports 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, incorporating the MAC, baseband circuitry and the radio on the one die. The chip includes Broadcom's …

    Reg Hardware 2 Feb 2007, 16:38

  • Vista and music still chums

    PR spin starts FUD about FUD

    Buried deep in the bumf for Microsoft's new Vista release is a line that says it handles sound very differently. This kind of jolly PR spin is enough to chill the blood of those who rely on Windows running their audio production software reliably. Whenever a new version of Windows hits the street it tends to roil up the murky …

    Operating Systems 2 Feb 2007, 16:59

  • School fingerprinter repents

    "We should address parents' concerns"

    The managing director of one of the firms supplying fingerprint scanners to British schools has vowed to come clean to parents about the arguments against the use of such biometric technology on children. In an interview with The Register Alisdair Darrock, managing director of Softlink, a firm that sells fingerprint scanners to …

    Public Sector 2 Feb 2007, 17:01

  • Wikipedia defends Reality

    Let's have a show of hands

    TV wit Stephen Colbert has had more fun at the expense of Wikipedia with another deeply ironic prank. Last year Colbert satirized the project's dependence on the consensus theory of truth - which for Wikipedians is a feature, not a bug. The project's guideline "WP:V" states, "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is …

    Music and Media 2 Feb 2007, 17:03

  • Michael Robertson on VoIP wars and Net Neutrality

    Backpackers rejoice

    Serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson extended his Gizmo Project this week with a Flash-based browser plug-in. This means no installation is required, and the service offers five-minutes free calls to anyone in the world, or 10 if you register with an email address. A big "so what?" you might think - in which case you probably …

    VoIP 2 Feb 2007, 17:12

  • Dutch botnet herder fined €75K for sending 9bn spams

    X marks the pest

    A Dutch spammer who used compromised PCs to spamvertise web sites has been fined €75,000 ($97,000) by Opta, the Netherlands telecoms regulator. The man - named only as Mr X - used 600-700 compromised PCs to send about nine billion spam messages promoting penis pills, pornographic websites and other assorted tat. X's 14-month …

    Spam 2 Feb 2007, 17:20

  • Investors hammer Rackable back near IPO level

    All yesterday's parties

    Super-volatile shares of Rackable Systems dived more than 18 per cent during Friday's trading after the company disappointed investors with its fourth quarter results. Rackable notched its first ever $100m quarter with revenue rising 29 per cent to $107m. Investors, however, fixated on Rackable's year-over-year net income dip …

    Servers 2 Feb 2007, 17:52

  • Bull lets out NovaForge

    Users get a DIY option

    It might sound like a heavy metal band but NovaForge is actually European IT company Bull's internally-developed solution to manage distributed software development – and it’s now available to customers. As the self-styled 'architect of an open world', Bull has brought together a set of tried-and-tested open source tools under …

    Developer 2 Feb 2007, 18:28

  • Congressmen flaunt Los Alamos Lab bashing comedy routines

    Why did the classified paper cross the road?

    New Congress - same old spanking of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Members of the House of Representatives grabbed LANL as a whole, its leaders and government overlords by the throats and didn't let go during a Tuesday hearing. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that LANL - the birthplace of the atomic bomb and one …

    Physics 2 Feb 2007, 19:15

  • The Bastard guide to work from work

    Episode 5 Like working from home, but different

    "What's your opinion of this?" The Boss asks, handing over a brochure for a laptop. "Seems OK to me," the PFY says "Reasonably cheap, good enough specs. I'm surprised you're looking at getting one though as there's no fancy bells as whistles." "Oh it's not for me!" The Boss gasps, digging out yet another brochure from his …

    BOFH 2 Feb 2007, 21:29