15th February 2007 Archive

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SCO bloodhounds search for Groklaw author

Which PJ is the real PJ?

The sequel to the 2005 Linux mystery thriller concerning the identity of the Groklaw blogger going by the name Pamela Jones has hit the street, and despite some fresh intrigue, it's as rough a slog as the original. Since splashing into the blogosphere in 2003, the author has written some 3,000 articles, the vast majority of …

Law 15 Feb 2007, 02:07
Microsoft accuses IBM of an 'ulterior' standards agenda

Chicken hawk

Microsoft is crying foul against IBM in its campaign for fast-track approval of XML Office file formats as an international standard. Microsoft has accused its former web services buddy of ulterior motives in orchestrating a global campaign using standards groups and governments to shoot down and stymie its Office Open XML …

Developer 15 Feb 2007, 02:08
Firefox hands out cookies from strangers

Be careful, kids

Firefox suffers from a flaw that allows attackers to manipulate the authentication cookies of virtually any website, a vulnerability Bugzilla has deemed severe. It's the second major security lapse for the open-source browser in as many days. The defect, which stems from the way Firefox writes to the "location.hostname" …

Enterprise Security 15 Feb 2007, 02:08
Bored Roddick pounds Canadian

SAP Open 'Federer is almost always on my mind'

A bored Andy Roddick clobbered Canadian Frank Dancevic during his opening match here at the SAP Open. Roddick rolled through the first set 7-5 in just thirty minutes and then put the finishing touches on an unmoving match with a 20-minute 6-1 drubbing in the second set. Both the American and Dancevic struggled early on to deal …

Entertainment 15 Feb 2007, 04:53
Yankee Blake flattens young Russian

SAP Open 52 minutes at the office

James Blake pushed aside Russian Igor Kunitsyn during two uneventful sets tonight here at the SAP Open. The American used his all-court game, a strong serve and quick legs to dismantle Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-2 in just 52 minutes. The performance boosted the spirits of a weary Blake fresh off the plane after defeating the Czech …

Entertainment 15 Feb 2007, 08:34
Glu and Codemasters get stuck in

3GSM A football manager for your pocket...

Mobile games developer and publisher Glu has done a deal with Codemasters to get its games onto mobile phones. It is not the first collaboration between the two - last year Glu put Brian Lara cricket game on mobile phones. Titles will include Colin McRae Rally, TOCA Race Driver and LMA Manager, which will be the first game …

Mobile 15 Feb 2007, 09:46
T-Mobile says mobile VoIP will not hit revenues

3GSM I see no ships

Mobile VoIP (voice over internet protocol) will not hit mobile telephony revenues, but will have more of an impact on fixed line services, according to T-Mobile International AG chief executive Hamid Akhavan. Akhavan said mobile VoIP would only take "a small share" of mobile revenues. He said takeup of the technology would be …

VoIP 15 Feb 2007, 10:00
Hubble snaps death throes of sun-like star

Fast forward five billion years

Our sun will probably look very much the same for the next few billion years, plodding happily along the main sequence, bathing our solar system in its friendly yellow rays. All very nice for us living on Earth, of course, but not terribly exciting. Happily for anyone who doesn't have a spare five billion years to wait for …

Space 15 Feb 2007, 10:04
Apple preparing '15.4in MacBook for Q2'

More likely a 15.4in MacBook Pro update

Apple will ship 15.4in widescreen MacBooks next quarter, Taiwanese notebook-manufacturer moles have claimed, stating the new models will fill the gap between the 13.3in MacBooks and the 15.4in MacBook Pros. The claims should perhaps be treated with some scepticism. Such sources - cited by DigiTimes - have in the past been …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 10:13
Emails can infringe copyright, ruling

Think twice before hitting forward

Business letters can be protected by copyright and forwarding them to others can be an infringement, the High Court has ruled. The decision could have implications for email communication because the same principles will apply. In a dispute over roofing slates, the High Court said that a business letter can qualify for …

Law 15 Feb 2007, 10:22
'Pull European data from the US'

Europe's solution to the SWIFT problem

The European Parliament has recommended that the only logical way to stop US anti-terrorist investigators from illegally snooping on European financial transactions is to get the firm handling them to remove its data from US shores. Investigators at the US Treasury have been poring over private European finances since a little …

Law 15 Feb 2007, 10:27
GSMA endorses wireless mobile payments

3GSM Slow crawl towards near field comms

Demonstrations of proximity payment systems, allowing users to pay for products with wave of the phone, have been around for years, and every year we're promised that this time it's really going to happen. Developments at 3GSM this week might show more progress in that direction, but there's still a long road to be travelled. …

Mobile 15 Feb 2007, 10:33
Nvidia 'delays' key Vista driver release ten months

That's what the website said...

Nvidia inadvertently - we hope - yesterday told its customers they will have to wait until 6PM Pacific Time on 30 December for a crucial Windows Vista driver update for its GeForce line of GPUs. Reg Hardware readers looking for the software last night were presented with the following screen... Click for full-size screen …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 10:35
YouTube X-rates breast examination vid

NSFW Kiddies protected from UK cancer-busting footage

YouTube has moved to protect kiddies from "potentially offensive" footage of a UK sawbones performing breast and testicular examinations, The Sun reports. Two videos of Dr Chris Steele - as seen on ITV's This Morning and host of TheFamilyGP.com - have been rated "adults-only" lest wide-eyed innocents stumble across their …

Bootnotes 15 Feb 2007, 10:55
Europe demands say on US data trawling

Wants to rein in war on terror

The European Parliament is demanding a say on the computerized front of the US anti-terror war and pressing for a global agreement on inter-government data sharing. The Parliament has adopted a resolution that conceded governments should do what they could to prevent terrorists attacking their people, yet stressed that anti- …

Law 15 Feb 2007, 11:38
ICO issues data protection guidance for SMEs

It's just run of the mill business

Small companies should try to answer data protection queries in the normal course of business rather than treat them as formal requests, according to advice published by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO has issued guidelines (PDF) to help small companies deal with requests for information under the Data …

Small Biz 15 Feb 2007, 11:40
Readers rate Nokia's free Smart2Go satnav app

Reader Review Have your say

When Reg Hardware covered the no-show and then the late appearance of Nokia's free navigation software, Smart2Go, we invited readers to download the code and give it a test drive. Rather a lot of you did, and here's a selection of some of your experiences with the app on a range of handsets... Steve Smith First thing to get …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 11:59
'Pentagon hacker' plays joker on US authorities

Discloses plea offer, pleads human rights

Gary McKinnon, the hobby hacker who is fighting against a US extradition order, has pulled a legal wild card on his accusers in bid to face trial at home. In the court of appeal yesterday, McKinnon's lawyers made reference to discussions that have been kept secret since 2003 when a plea bargain was considered, said Karen Todner …

Law 15 Feb 2007, 12:09
3GSM 2007: The works

All the news, right here

No time to go barking in Barca this week? Don't worry, El Reg was there in force, battling flakey networks, congested cells, and aggressive locals to give you the broadest coverage possible. And, just to make your life even easier, we've collected our collective output together, to help you relive the tears, the laughter, and …

Mobile 15 Feb 2007, 12:25
Xploder PlayStation 2 HD TV up-scaler

Review Play your PS2 games in HD

Packaged in a very nice, neat, little tin box – which could no doubt find a dozen different uses around the home after the contents are removed – the Xploder PS 2 HDTV Player certainly looks like it means business. You may remember we previewed it back in August 2006, well now we've got our hands on one... Said box's …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 12:34
Darwin Mr Popular again in Kansas

Intelligent Design voted off school curriculum

The battle for the hearts and minds of American school children took another turn this week. The infamous Kansas school board that voted to banish Darwin from the science curriculum has welcomed him back with open arms, spurning instead the language of intelligent design. The school board has voted, 6-4, to remove the language …

Science 15 Feb 2007, 12:52
CoPilot Live to get shareable stuff upgrade

ALK Technologies will next month ship the latest incarnation of its CoPilot Live navigation software for Windows Mobile-based handhelds and handsets, the company announced this week. The app's key addition: support for social networking-style community services. By that, we don't mean it'll guide your round to the home of …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 13:01
Crew flees Japanese whaling ship blaze

One missing in Antarctica's Ross Sea

Japanese whaling ship the Nisshin Maru - currently in Antarctica's Ross Sea - has been partially evacuated following a fire, the BBC reports. Around 120 crew members of the 8,000-tonne processing ship were moved to other vessels just before dawn today, while 30 stayed on board to fight the blaze in the ship's engine rooms. One …

Biology 15 Feb 2007, 13:44
Amazon.co.uk PS3 pre-order offer pops up over four hours late

No-show at 9am as promised

Amazon.co.uk disappointed eager buyers today when its pledge to begin offering its entire launch allocation of 60GB PlayStation 3 consolea to pre-order customers first thing this morning went awry. The firm was supposed to start taking advance orders for the PS3 from 9am this morning, but the sale didn't commence until 1:35pm …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 13:45
Voda boss: Operators moving too slow

3GSM 4G or not to be

Mobile carriers risk been leapfrogged by new entrants unless they work together to speed up the development of technologies such as mobile payments, according to Vodafone chief exec Arun Sarin. "It takes us too long to deliver a new service. We have been talking about things like mobile payments for years...it's time to start …

Mobile 15 Feb 2007, 14:30
Editor's Blog: Quality Management

A path through the mire...

Quality management often looks very different from the perspective of the pointy haired manager who sees it as a noble edifice like an East Anglian church, gleaming in the early morning sunlight under a spring sky. Whereas the Dilbertia/Dilbert in charge of actually making it work feels as tough s/he's lost in the wilds of East …

Developer 15 Feb 2007, 14:34
Michael calls in Michael to sort out Dell

Solectron boss to head ops

Battered Dell has moved to get its act together by drafing in a tech manufacturing veteran to oversee its global operations. The vendor has had a terrible year, what with exploding laptops, service complaints, HP taking the number one PC spot, and Michael Dell having to jump back into the CEO seat. Michael Dell is looking to …

Channel Register 15 Feb 2007, 15:45
T-Mobile halves roaming charges

Depending where you're roaming

T-Mobile has cut by more than half charges for business customers who transmit data over its mobile networks in countries where it operates its own network. Sending and receiving data over a T-Mobile network would now cost £3 per megabyte of data transmitted instead of £7.50, the firm said in a statement. Business travellers …

Small Biz 15 Feb 2007, 16:05
Gear4 touts teen-friendly iPod speaker set

Hip and, if we may say so, hop

The name HouseParty III may call to mind iffy sequels to naff teen comedies, but iPod accessory specialist Gear4 wants you to think home speaker system, 30W amplification and good times to be had by all. The set comes in at £80, which buys you retractable ipod dock connectivity, an FM radio, a remote control, a USB port for …

Reg Hardware 15 Feb 2007, 16:18
Infected PCs spew malware over 3G connections

3GSM Backhaul badness

Much has been written about malware capable of infecting mobile phones, but infected PCs spewing regular malware over 3G connections might be a more serious problem. More firms are using 3G networks for internet backhaul. Corporate machines connecting to these expensive networks often turn out to be infected, according to …

Enterprise Security 15 Feb 2007, 16:35
Turkish hacker strikes Down Under

iskorpitx brings down 600 NZ sites

Legendary Turkish hacker iskorpitx has turned his attention Down Under with an attack that grounded the websites of nearly 600 Kiwi businesses and about 300 international sites hosted by the same US-based web server. As stuff.co.nz reports, "in each case the content of a site's homepage was replaced with an animated medieval …

Enterprise Security 15 Feb 2007, 16:38
Workplace smoke ban a 'gift' for hackers

When is a backdoor really a backdoor?

Workplace smoking bans may be good for workers' health, but could open the back door to hackers. In a recent social engineering test undertaken by UK-based security consultancy NTA Monitor, a tester was able to easily gain access to a corporate building through a back door that was left open for smokers. Once inside, the …

IT Director 15 Feb 2007, 16:46
Apple's iPhone haunts 3GSM

3GSM Smell of vapourware

It must be a little galling if you go all the way to Barcelona to present a shiny new range of phones, many with music players, only to be asked questions about a competitor who has yet to show anyone an actual product. But that is just what most of the handset makers faced at the 3GSM show. Nokia's chief executive Olli-Pekka …

Bootnotes 15 Feb 2007, 18:52
Broadband routers welcome drive-by hackers

JavaScript-enabled DNS chicanery

Still using the default password that came with that nice broadband router you installed at home? Time to get off your butt and change it: visiting the wrong website is enough to have key settings changed on the most popular models. Symantec warns attackers can employ a simple piece of JavaScript to modify a router's domain …

Enterprise Security 15 Feb 2007, 20:27
HP trumpets HP-UX release and Itanium kit

Say it with us - 'Mission Critical'

HP today gave its Unix business the big squeeze with a new release of HP-UX and a pair of compact Itanium-based servers. The company has talked up Version 3 of HP-UX 11i for several months, leaving little surprise for hardcore HP fans. You'll find improved virtualization technology, support for enormous quantities of storage …

Servers 15 Feb 2007, 20:58
Court smack down for Russian piracy epic

Perspective regained

A tiny Russian software piracy case that ended up pitting Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin against Bill Gates has been thrown out of court. The judge in Perm, one of Russia's larger cities, dismissed the case against schoolteacher Alexander Ponosov as "trivial". Ponosov, who told AP he was going to celebrate the …

Software 15 Feb 2007, 21:11
Super hi-res camera reveals Mars water bleaching

AAAS Case closed

Yet more evidence of liquid erosion on Mars from the high resolution camera aboard the Reconnaissance Orbiter has further bullet-proofed claims that there was once water on Mars. The findings, released on Thursday, reveal patterns of light and dark minerals around fractures in 3km-deep bedrock exposed to the surface of the …

Space 15 Feb 2007, 21:20
Microsoft probes new Office vulnerability

No end in sight

Just when the world thought it was safe to resume use of Microsoft Office, there's word that a new zero-day attack may be targeting the popular productivity package. Like so many of the others, it's capable of all kinds of mischief, including the execution of malicious code on a victim's machine. It's been a busy few months …

Security 15 Feb 2007, 21:38
Super Bowl feeds illicit gambling

House of Cards Massive windfall

The biggest betting day of the year - Super Bowl Sunday - has come and gone, and the numbers are in. Legal wagers in the State of Nevada totaled $93.1m, down slightly from last year's figure of $94.5m. The Super Bowl is the holy of holies for sports books, and the real money was pulled in by the online and back alley bookie …

Music and Media 15 Feb 2007, 22:45
UN rebrands radiation

Danger for dummies

In an apparent acknowledgment of the plummeting standard of public scientific education in the West, the UN's nuclear tentacle today unveiled a new danger sign for radiation which must approach the nadir of literalism. The International Atomic Energy Authority said its new sign, developed in collaboration with the …

Biology 15 Feb 2007, 22:53