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14th February 2007 Archive

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  • Hacker cracks HD copy protection

    Years to develop; days to break

    A lone hacker has unlocked the master key preventing the copying of high-definition DVDs in a development that is sure to get the entertainment industry's knickers wrapped tighter than a magnet's coil. What's more, the individual was able to defeat the technology with no cracking tools or reverse engineering, despite the …

    Music and Media 14 Feb 2007, 00:38

  • Analyst reverses stance on Red Hat threat

    Comment Reports of death greatly exaggerated

    The Wall Street analyst whose inaccurate forecasts sparked prophecies of doom for Red Hat is back, but this time she's making a much more upbeat assessment of the company. Jeffries & Co's Katherine Egbert has re-installed Red Hat as Wall Street's Linux wunderkind by saying the dire threat to Red Hat of rival support from …

    Operating Systems 14 Feb 2007, 01:24

  • Sun dims LAMP, AMPS up Solaris

    Acronym mayhem

    Sun Microsystems has come up with its own version of the certified LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) software stack. It won't take you too long to spot the difference. The company today announced Solaris + AMP, featuring Solaris 10 certified for interoperability with Apache, the MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and Perl, PHP …

    Developer 14 Feb 2007, 05:51

  • BT signs up HBO, Universal for VoD

    It's a Vision thing

    Home Box Office, maker of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm, is to supply content to BT Vision, the video on demand service from BT, along with Universal, which will provide access to their library of music videos. The content will be available from May by subscription, or per episode. IN due …

    Music and Media 14 Feb 2007, 07:02

  • Road pricing petition saved by Super SIM

    Letters While the crap is beaten out of the housing market

    Surprisingly, not much has been troubling you this week, but the trawl of the mailbag did uncover one topic that's driven you right round the bend - Tony Blair's latest online petitions website, which this week chalked up more than one million signatories protesting against the mooted introduction of road pricing. Pull over, …

    Letters 14 Feb 2007, 07:02

  • Camera phones to de-throne the digital camera?

    But will the cameraderie hold?

    Mobile phone manufacturers are increasingly looking to integrate established technology from the digital camera industry, and an Irish company is at the forefront. Digital imaging researchers at Galway-based Fotonation have not only developed a faster method for wirelessly sending image and audio files between mobile phones, …

    Music and Media 14 Feb 2007, 10:26

  • Bogus online reviews face EU ban

    Ill will for shills

    Business people who write fake reviews of their own products will fall foul of new European laws from next year. Laws banning businesses from misleading consumers will bar the act. As consumers rely increasingly on online forums and message boards for impartial advice from other consumers on products and services, business …

    Law 14 Feb 2007, 10:27

  • UK workers find love in the office

    Regardless of company policy

    As cards and flowers wind their way through office postal systems for St Valentine's Day, research has revealed that one in six workers have had a relationship with their boss. Almost 60 per cent of workers have had romantic encounters with workmates. The research reveals how open most companies are to the legal minefield of …

    Business 14 Feb 2007, 10:28

  • Nvidia lauds record-breaking fourth quarter

    Revenues, income rocket

    Nvidia last night reported a record quarterly revenenue when it posted the results of Q4 FY2007. The quarter, which ended on 28 January, saw sales rise to $878.9m, up 39 per cent on the year-ago quarter and seven per cent on the previous three-month period. Net income for the quarter reached $163.5m, up 53.5 per cent …

    Financial News 14 Feb 2007, 10:28

  • Japanese cabbies take mobile drink drive test

    3GSM NTT Go-NoGo

    Japanese transport firms are using mobile phone technology to prevent drunk drivers from starting their shifts. The system from NTT DoCoMo uses an alcohol breath analyser that sends data to a service centre rather than one that can immobolise a vehicle by connecting directly to its ignition system. Drivers starting their shifts …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 10:42

  • Bristol TV trial proves 3G won't interfere with 3G

    3GSM Unused frequencies mean even more to ignore

    IP Wireless has announced the successful end of its Bristol-based broadcast TV trial, which has been running for the last few months in conjunction with Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange, and 3. The trial demonstrated that 3G broadcasting won't interfere with existing 3G services, and that operators already own enough capacity for …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 11:01

  • HTC quietly launches classic-style PDA phone

    3GSM P3400 hides behind Athena, Vox etc

    Smart-phone maker HTC announced a trio of new devices this week... or did it? In fact, it launched four products, but for some strange reason only mentioned three of them in its document. Would you welcome, then, the 'missing' HTC 3GSM device, the P3400. It come in a classic PDA phone form-factor: the P3400 sports a 2.8in …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 11:07

  • Mobile anti-radiation - a telecoms 'inflight life-jacket'?

    3GSM column It's better to be safe than sorry

    A cynic's first response to the offer of a magic device to protect phone users from radiation is to laugh and go find someone else to talk to. Don't. You may believe that the Exradia chip will never save a single life, or even prevent a single disease, but that doesn't mean they won't sell them. To understand Exradia, think …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 11:19

  • eBayer buys penis pump, ditches Ferrari

    Effects of fast cars overinflated?

    One eBayer seems to have provided proof of something most chaps have long suspected: that acquiring a big, red shiny car which goes very fast does not in fact make your penis bigger. Try this (unsuccessful) auction of a 1984 Ferrari Testarossa - an automobile which some say can, in addition to adding 100mph to your top speed, …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2007, 11:23

  • Don't get infected on Valentine's Day

    New versions of old scams debut today

    There's Valentine's Day worms and phishing spam doing the rounds, and they're going to give you an infection you'd rather not have. One phishing email - a new variant on an old trick - is spoofed to look like it comes from services@americangreetings.com, a well known e-card company. Click on the link, which claims you've been …

    Channel Register 14 Feb 2007, 11:27

  • Fashion world gets cyber catwalk

    Social networking makeover

    Fashionistas will be waking up and logging on this morning before heading off to the oh-so-skinny-size-zero-who-looks-the-most-ridiculous-this-season-face-off that is London Fashion Week, as they now have IQONS, their very own social networking website to play with. According to the official blurb on the website, "IQONS offers …

    Entertainment 14 Feb 2007, 11:54

  • Shuttle XPC P2-3700W Gallery

    Shuttle XPC P2-3700W Gallery

    Shuttle XPC P2-3200W

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 11:55

  • 'Your future is in your hand,' says talking urinal

    Well, quite

    Back in July last year, we reported on the latest innovation in urinal technology: the "Wizmark Urinal Communicator", designed to give forth whenever some unsuspecting bar customer points his pecker at the porcelain. Specifically, the Wizmark is a "waterproof, disposable drain cover embedded with electronics that senses a …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2007, 11:55

  • Shuttle launches 'world's first' quad-core SFF PC

    Workstation class

    Shuttle has unveiled what it claims are the world's first small form-factor computers equipped with quad-core processors. Aimed at the pro market, the two machines are fitted with Intel Xeon chips rather than the more commonplace Core 2 Quad. The XPC P2 3700W line-up includes a pair of quad-core models, both based on the 2. …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 12:02

  • HD DVD, Blu-ray copy protection cracked again

    Different method, same result

    The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) has been cracked. A contributor to the Doom9 online forum has figured out how to extract the so-called Processing Key (PK) from an HD player, allowing any currently available HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc to be copied. The trick, identified by a coder going by the handle Arnemazi, allows a …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 12:45

  • Microsoft's fat patch Tuesday

    Does this mean 40 lean days ahead?

    Microsoft pushed patches for 12 vulnerabilities out of the door yesterday, six of them classed as critical and six of them important. While it is not unprecedented for the vendor to issue a dozen patches, this is on the high side. But at least the vendor can console itself that it did not have to issue any patches for its …

    Channel Register 14 Feb 2007, 12:53

  • Good Mobile Messaging 4.9 push email client

    Review Very 'Berry?

    Whether push email really does improve office-worker productivity is open to question, but there's no doubt that it's become a must-have. There are few smart mobile devices that don't enable its delivery, whether by bundling Research in Motion's BlackBerry Connect software or one of the handful of competing applications. In …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 12:55

  • Hayabusa probe to limp back to Earth

    Ion engines might enable homecoming

    Japanese scientists will next month attempt to guide the country's sickly Hayabusa probe back to Earth, New Scientist reports. Hayabusa rendevouzed back in November 2005 with asteroid Itokawa - at a distance of 186 million miles (300 million km) from Earth - with a view to collecting the first-ever samples from the distant body …

    Space 14 Feb 2007, 13:01

  • Sony offers PS3 punters free copy of Blu-ray Bond

    Sony's desire to cash in on Casino Royale continued this week when the consumer electronics giant's Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) said it will send out half a million copies of the movie on Blu-ray Disc to the first PS3 users to register their purchase online. HD movie buffs will surely appreciate the disc's 50GB …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 13:16

  • Ringtones will always be bigger than mobile smut

    3GSM 'Dirty little secret' retains niche appeal

    Ringtones and music will always take a bigger slice of the mobile content market than games or erotica, according to an adult content aggregator. Blake Fayling of Brick House Mobile said the introduction of age verification systems had made it easier to sell what the industry calls "erotica" or adult content - and you'd call …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 13:23

  • Slingbox shrugs off video on demand

    3GSM It's good, but not that good

    The folks behind the Slingbox aren't worried by traditional broadcasters getting into video on demand because, they claim, their boxes offer a far more personalised experience. The Slingbox allows you to watch your TV from anywhere with a broadband connection. Stuart Collingwood, Sling Media's vice president of Europe, said: " …

    Telecoms 14 Feb 2007, 13:46

  • Nvidia to launch MCP73 chipset trio 'later this year'

    Three flavours

    Nvidia's upcoming MCP73 single-chip chipset for Intel processors will be offered in three versions, it has been claimed: two integrated models and one without a built-in GPU. Past reports have pointed to an integrated product supporting a 1,066MHz frontside bus and a single-channel 667MHz memory bus. According to a DailyTech …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 13:54

  • Wind and sun powered base station powers up in Africa

    3GSM Motorola's green alternative

    Motorola is trialling the used of wind and solar powered generators as an alternative to diesel power for remote GSM cell sites. MTC Namibia will run the alternative power system between April 2007 and July 2007 in what's promoted as the first-ever trial of the technology on a live network. The trial, supported by the GSM …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 14:01

  • Google ditches invites for email service

    Wanna go the cinema instead?

    Google will drop the invite system for signing up to Gmail service as of tomorrow. Since the launch of Gmail (known as Google Mail in the UK) in April 2004, the service had allowed users to sign up by invitation only. It seems to have quietly opened up the service to all this month, and the decision to drop the invite …

    Applications 14 Feb 2007, 14:14

  • Nationwide fined £980,000 over stolen laptop

    Details on 11 million customers went awol

    The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined The Nationwide Building Society £980,000 for the loss of a laptop which contained "confidential customer data" on 11 million customers. The laptop was stolen from a Nationwide employee's home. Although he quickly reported the theft, according to the BBC, he didn't tell his …

    ID 14 Feb 2007, 14:25

  • Nokia-Intel 'super 3G' laptop module romance over

    Add-in canned, flowers sent back

    Intel and Nokia will not now produce an add-in module for laptops to provided connectivity to 3G cellular networks, the Finnish phone giant admitted today, less than six months after the product was announced. Neither firm could work out who'd pay for the gadget, a Nokia spokeswoman said, according to the Reuters newsagency …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 14:29

  • Vista first look: Bugs and confusion

    Review A massively multiplayer beta test

    The most prominent feature of Windows Vista is its cost. So, before we get into the nuts and bolts of how it behaves, let's talk about value for money. Because at these prices, it had better be good. The stand-alone version of Vista Ultimate retails for €600, or $780 here in Ireland. Amazon.com is selling this $780 version to …

    Operating Systems 14 Feb 2007, 14:50

  • Google mislays 'L' for Luuurv

    Updated Happy Vaentine's from Googe

    Google has continued its tradition of offering themed logos on days of international import, and is currently sporting a Valentine's Day effort featuring a chocolate-dipped strawberry in place of the usual "g". Tasty. However, in its enthusiasm for the annual festival of romance-based capitalism, it appears to have mislaid the …

    Bootnotes 14 Feb 2007, 14:52

  • Neonode announces 'iPhone Nano'-esque N2

    Tiny

    Swedish phone maker Neonode launched its latest handset this week, touting its baby's compact 7.7 x 4.7 x 1.5cm size and 70g weight. Dubbed the N2, the phone's a quad-band GSM/GPRS device based around a 2in, 176 x 200, 65,536-colour display. It has a two-megapixel camera and Bluetooth. Neonode claims a four-hour talk time …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 15:03

  • 3GSM 2007: all the stories, all the goodies

    3GSM brought a bumper crop of handsets and hype to Barcelona. Here are all of Reg Hardware's 3GSM 2007 stories, brought together for your reading pleasure...   The Big Names Nokia turns on N series TV phone Nokia raves about new E-series phones Motorola RIZR slider becomes 'fit-to-face' banana-phone Moto's banana beats …

    Reg Hardware 14 Feb 2007, 15:32

  • Was Julie Amero wrongly convicted?

    Comment Mouse-trapped

    Substitute teacher Julie Amero faces up to 40 years in prison for exposing kids to porn using a classroom computer, but the facts strongly suggest that she was wrongfully convicted. Many issues remain, from the need for an independent computer forensics investigation and the presence of spyware and adware on the machine, to bad …

    Law 14 Feb 2007, 15:35

  • Blair ready to spam Britain

    Preps mass email shot in road pricing petition row

    Tony Blair is planning to put even further strain on Number 10’s creaking IT infrastructure, by emailing everyone who’s signed the infamous petition against road charging. Over 1.4 million Brits have signed the online petition so far, with the servers handling the petition site buckling under the strain. Apparently there have …

    Public Sector 14 Feb 2007, 16:42

  • Warner chooses Telenor for mobile content deals

    3GSM Welcome to Toon town

    Warner Music Group (WMG) will deliver music content to mobiles in both Europe and Asia in a deal with Norwegian mobile operator, Telenor. The agreement will mean that WMG's large catalogue, including songs, ringtones and music videos, will be available through Telenor's network of mobile companies. The deal currently covers …

    Mobile 14 Feb 2007, 17:05

  • Microsoft and Iowa dream up settlement

    Corn fed

    Microsoft has settled a lawsuit alleging it exploited its dominant position to overcharge Iowa state consumers $453m in the last 12 years. In a standard settlement deal, local schools are set to benefit with Microsoft providing funds to low-income institutions for the purchase PCs and software - probably Windows. Litigants in …

    Law 14 Feb 2007, 18:20

  • SF's Google-Earthlink quagmire deepens

    Key vote delayed

    San Francisco's bid to work with Google and EarthLink to provide city-wide WiFi access has faced another setback, as supervisors opted to delay a key vote. The 6-5 decision is the latest obstacle Mayor Newsom has faced over the past few weeks. First, his affair with the wife of a trusted aide spilled onto the front pages of …

    Wireless 14 Feb 2007, 19:45