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21st February 2007 Archive

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  • HP profits propagate

    Puts pressure on pesky pensions

    HP reported a 26 per cent hike in quarterly profits on Tuesday, underscoring its advantage over Dell. The printer and PC units in particular cranked net income to $1.55bn, or $0.55 per share, on revenues of $25.1bn, for the three months to January 31. For the same period a year ago revenues were 11 per cent lower at $22.7bn, …

    Financial News 21 Feb 2007, 00:32

  • CodeGear polishes Delphi jewels

    RAD scripting, man

    CodeGear, Borland Software's tools subsidiary, has added support for Windows Vista and PHP to Borland's Delphi integrated development environment for Windows. The new Delphi for PHP marries the open source Visual Component Library (VCL) for PHP 5 with Borland's object oriented language to bring RAD-like component-based …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 00:52

  • Dell hits Rollins with $5m slap to the face

    Golden umbrella

    Dell's executive compensation committee has proved the cruelest of masters, handing ex-CEO Kevin Rollins a piddling $5m on his way out of Round Rock. The company today revealed the embarrassing payout in a SEC filing, detailing its parting of ways from Rollins. The former CEO will stay on until May 4 as an advisor and continue …

    Financial News 21 Feb 2007, 00:56

  • Vista: Gates backs Ballmer against confused analysts

    Only Disconnect

    Bill Gates has defended sales of Windows Vista after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer chided analysts for being "overly aggressive" on the company's effect on the PC market. According to Ballmer there's a "disconnect between what people think is the growth of the PC market and what they think is Vista growth. People have to …

    Operating Systems 21 Feb 2007, 05:57

  • Iraqi sniper claims soldiers' lives on Google Video

    Warning: Graphic content Google Video serves up anti-American propaganda

    Islamic militants may not approve of the West's way of life, but they seem to have no qualms about using the information technology it perfected to spread propaganda. The latest reminder of this sad observation comes in the form of a video being circulated on Google Video that appears to provide graphic footage of US-led …

    Music and Media 21 Feb 2007, 06:01

  • Blog: Kalido updates MDM tool

    MDM, what's that all about?

    Kalido announced the latest release of its master data management solution, MDM 8 Release 3, today. Now, I have real problems with MDM, because in my old-fashioned way, I expect product codes, customer numbers and the like to be subject to data analysis like anything else and stored in databases or data warehouses as appropriate …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 06:30

  • SNIA promises new push for IP SANs

    iSCSI seems to be the hardest word...

    The Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA) says it will put more effort into promoting IP-based storage area networks, or SANs. That means iSCSI, although you might not realise it from reading the trade group's statements on the topic. Planning the IP SAN push are two SNIA sub-groups - the IP Storage Forum (IPSF) in the US …

    Storage 21 Feb 2007, 07:02

  • Microsoft relaxes virtual SQL Server terms

    Flexible friend

    Microsoft has updated the licensing terms and conditions of its popular database for the benefit of virtualized computing environments. Users can now run an unlimited number of SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition virtual instances on servers, following Tuesday's release of a second service pack. Servers must already be fully …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 07:02

  • CBS and YouTube decide against marriage

    Proposed content deal collapses

    A proposed deal which would have seen clips of CBS shows posted on YouTube has collapsed, Reuters reports. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and CBS had been agreeing a "multi-year" contract but finally "could not agree on issues such as how long the deal would run". Accordingly, YouTubers will now not be able to ( …

    Entertainment 21 Feb 2007, 09:41

  • Email addicts offered 12-step detox

    First up: admit you have a problem

    A Pennsylvania "executive coach" is offering hopeless email addicts a 12-step detox programme "designed to tackle their obsession", Reuters reports. Marsha Egan, who claims email "abuse" can cost US business millions in lost productivity, cites the chilling cases of "a golfer who checked his BlackBerry after every shot" and a …

    Bootnotes 21 Feb 2007, 09:50

  • AirMagnet bids to analyse Cisco

    'Vell...Cisco's just zis guy, y'know?'

    WLAN analysis outfit AirMagnet has brought out software designed to work with Cisco's Unified Wireless Network. AirMagnet already has a version of the tool, which is called Enterprise Analyzer, for Aruba's Mobile Edge Architecture. Enterprise Analyzer for Cisco uses existing Cisco lightweight access points as sniffers to …

    Telecoms 21 Feb 2007, 09:54

  • eBay gives Britney's hair the chop

    $1m locks delisted

    The shaved locks of "troubled" US chanteuse Britney Spears have been removed from eBay, according to the official "Buy Britneys [sic] Hair" website. For those of you who've been up a tributary of the Amazon for the past couple of weeks, our Brit recently hit Esther's Haircutting Studio in Tarzana, California, and demanded staff …

    Entertainment 21 Feb 2007, 10:00

  • Whitehall should share digital dialogues

    e-Democracy

    Government departments need to share their experience of online dialogues with the public, according to a new report. The assertion has come with the publication of an interim report (PDF) on the Digital Dialogues initiative, which is promoting the use of online technology in promoting public engagement in policy making. It …

    Government 21 Feb 2007, 10:05

  • Hornet death squads menace France

    Honeybees massacred by oriental assassins

    The French honey industry is under threat from hordes of bee-massacring oriental hornets, the Daily Telegraph reports. The forests of Aquitaine, in south-west France, now play host to swarms of the the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is believed to have arrived there "from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in …

    Biology 21 Feb 2007, 10:48

  • EC unveils strategy for spectrum liberalisation

    Industry given more proactive role

    Improved management of Europe's airwaves could boost electronic communications industry revenues by billions of euros per year, according to Brussels. European Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding unveiled her strategy for radio spectrum use last week and called for the opening up of certain spectrum …

    Wireless 21 Feb 2007, 11:01

  • Mac or PC? You've seen the ads, how do you choose for business?

    Comment Practical issues

    I was asked if I, as a Mac user, would recommend one to a business user who is buying a personal machine for business use. I am the proud owner of an iconic Mac PowerBook G4, an eye-catching brushed metal effort that I purchased back in 2004. I have never owned a Mac desktop, being strictly Intel/Microsoft, but I travel enough …

    IT Director 21 Feb 2007, 11:11

  • Ticket-dodging Oz boy racer boasts of exploits online

    Chat room crowing ends in court

    A 22-year-old Aussie driver who decided to ignore a "major defect notice" on his Nissan 200 SX was busted after rather brilliantly boasting of his escape from cops in an internet chat room. Maurice John was pulled at a roadblock in Melbourne's South Yarra district at 11pm on 12 August 2006. Police issued said major defect …

    Bootnotes 21 Feb 2007, 11:11

  • Lexar launches 45Mbps UDMA cards

    Promise of less transfer time

    Lexar has launched a range of Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) cards that write data at 45MB per second potentially reducing download time for digital photos considerably. If paired with a UDMA-enabled device, the card can reduce the time needed to download captured images to a computer. The cards, speed-rated at 300x, are …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 12:04

  • UK wiretap watchdog wants MPs tapped

    Report casts spotlight on surveillance Britain

    Official figures have revealed that UK law enforcement agencies and other government agencies made 439,000 requests to tap telephones and email addresses in a 15 month period between 2005 and 2006. A report from the Interception of Communications Commissioner, the UK surveillance watchdog, reports that 4,000 "errors" were made …

    Law 21 Feb 2007, 12:22

  • US drones to pack crowd controlling strobe beam

    Flying robots impose peace and tranquility

    The US military has taken another step forward with its research into "non-lethal crowd control systems" after reaching back into the disco era for inspiration. The US Army is looking to deploy a powerful strobe searchlight mounted in a pilotless drone aircraft. The strobe is intended to cause "immobilisation to all those …

    Science 21 Feb 2007, 12:37

  • Blair spams road protesters

    Petition answer pops up in inboxes

    The petition opposing Tony Blair's proposal to introduce road pricing and vehicle tracking closed last night and the 1.8 million signatories all received an email, supposedly from the Prime Minister, explaining why their opposition is misguided. The email thanks people for taking part in the exercise and promises: "Before we …

    Public Sector 21 Feb 2007, 12:38

  • HTC P4350 Communicator

    Review Simplicity seems to be the selling point

    The P4350 is a modest device, containing already-proven technology. There's no HSDPA or 3G, just GPRS EDGE; no 802.11n WLAN, just 802.11b/g, leading one to hope that the user concerns of previous models has been ironed out. Herald attempts to deal with a basic conundrum facing mobile device designers: reading documents is …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 13:07

  • New Zealanders flock to AdultSheepFinder.com

    'The World's Largest Sheep Sex Personals Community'

    New Zealanders are flocking to an exciting new online initiative aimed at connecting sheep fanciers with their perfect date - AdultSheepFinder.com (NSFW). The ovine-lovers resource is evidently a big hit down there in NZ, with around 100 per cent of the current worldwide membership of 20,333 coming from the set of Lord of the …

    Bootnotes 21 Feb 2007, 13:38

  • Whopping widescreen Wii

    Games played on 388in cinema screen

    You might have a 38in widescreen HDTV...you might even have a 50-in plasma display...you might even have a projector system set up as your source of home entertainment...but it's extremely unlikely you'll be able to top this... A YouTube video showing a couple of resourceful individuals hooking a Wii up to a 388in cinema …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 13:43

  • AMD wants to be seen as green

    Chip maker rolls out energy-efficient processors

    AMD is to sell low-wattage processors in a bid to join the campaign of many IT companies to be seen to be green. The manufacturer, which says the chips are for "energy-conscious [people] or high-performance computing", has launched two 45-watt AMD Athlon 64 single-core processors, (3500+ and 3800+) and the AMD Athlon 64 X2 …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 14:03

  • Committee blasts delays to new UK armoured vehicles

    Chaos at MoD continues

    In the latest blow to a beleaguered MoD, the influential Parliamentary Defence Committee has release a stinging review of the ongoing Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) project. FRES is a potentially colossal programme intended to replace much of the British army's current combat vehicle fleet. The MoD estimates final costs at …

    Public Sector 21 Feb 2007, 14:36

  • IBM/PSI legal wrangle may give Itanium new life

    Way to go

    Leaving aside the arm-wrestling practice IBM's legal department is currently getting with Platform Solutions Inc (PSI) and its ability to run IBM mainframe applications on any reasonably spec'd Itanium-based server, the availability of such software tools marks a development that could interest developers. But first, a bit of …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 15:05

  • MSN punts 'scareware'

    Updated Rogue banner ads pulled

    Microsoft has admitted its Windows Live Messenger client displayed banner ads for several days punting an application blacklisted as a security risk. Shortly after Microsoft made the admission, other outlets reported that MSN Groups displayed ads for a separate piece of software widely regarded as rogue. Redmond has pulled the …

    Malware 21 Feb 2007, 15:12

  • Vivianne Reding named 2006's 'villain of the internet'

    .eu palaver tipped the scales

    European Commissioner Vivianne Reding is the internet's biggest villain of the year, according to UK internet service providers. She was given the title by the ISP Association (ISPA) in protest at the rules for registering a .eu domain name. Every year the ISPA anoints a hero and a villain of the internet, and Reding and the …

    Bootnotes 21 Feb 2007, 15:39

  • Alienware upgrades to warp speed

    Area-51 7500 desktops to ship with Q6600 processor

    PC manufacturer Alienware today announced that the Area-51 7500 desktop will now feature the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor. According to senior vice president Brian Joyce, "…customers will instantly see a performance increase on processor-intensive applications such as gaming, video editing and encoding." In addition …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 16:09

  • Cisco books up for grabs

    Site offer Get Cisco certified

    Cisco is one of the leading names in global networking and is a recognised force in the areas of hardware, software, and service provision. There is hardly a company in the world that does not use a Cisco product in some way, and as a result Cisco certification is considered a powerful asset in IT around the world. Register …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 16:40

  • Viacom boost for Joost

    SpongeBob SquarePants snubs Google

    Viacom is playing divide and rule with the internet TV wannabes. After issuing 100,000 take down notices to YouTube contributors, the media giant has signed a deal that allows Joost to distribute its content legitimately. Joost is an on-demand TV over broadband service that offers media companies a proprietary alternative to …

    Music and Media 21 Feb 2007, 16:42

  • Dutch demand ban of virtual child porn in Second Life

    'School for paedophiles'

    The Dutch prosecutor's office is considering legal actions to test the law against child porn in the popular virtual game Second Life. With no clear litigation, it is difficult to act against perpetrators. Kitty Nooij, who is in charge of the sex offences portfolio at the prosecutor's office in the Netherlands, told Dutch news …

    Law 21 Feb 2007, 16:45

  • Microsoft shakes up the UK channel

    One day, my son, we'll all be Microsoft resellers

    Microsoft is shaking up its channel strategy to better support existing partners and to add new companies. Microsoft UK director of channel development Karl Noakes told The Reg: "There's two parts to this: it's a message to existing partners that there's change in the wind and they need to change too. And it's a message to new …

    Channel Register 21 Feb 2007, 16:47

  • ASA slams 'misleading' eBay ad

    Testy bargain-hunter unable to find specified tat

    eBay has been rapped over the knuckles by the UK advertising industry regulator for a misleading web ad. The ad, which ran on various websites for two weeks in early December, suggested that top-line coffee machines could be purchased on eBay for less than £100, designer chairs for £50 and Le Creuset pots for under £80. An …

    Small Biz 21 Feb 2007, 16:48

  • MoD auction site looks to spice up couples' sex life

    Peddles 'His 'n' hers' uniform sets

    A cash-strapped UK Ministry of Defence is resorting to increasingly desperate measures in the struggle to get its finances back on track. The latest of these is the setting up of an eBay-style online auction site to flog the military's surplus gear, already reported in these pages. Most of the wares on offer are relatively …

    Public Sector 21 Feb 2007, 17:15

  • iPhone: A walk down Memory Lane

    What's in a name?

    The iPhone has been with us for many years, in a variety of forms, and its slow and painstaking development has taken many twists and turns before reaching its forthcoming destination. Originally known as Eyephone, the band was formed as a follow-up to the techno-project The Feedback Bleep, in 1994, and went on to have several …

    Mobile 21 Feb 2007, 18:17

  • Sticky tape USB stick holder

    Keep clutter at bay with a Sellotape dispenser/USB hub

    Reminiscent of something you might find in the workshop of a mad inventor, the latest in the equip-everything-with-USB craze, according to Akihabara News, is the USB hub Sellotape dispenser, made by a Hong Kong-based company called Earth-Trek. According to the manufacturer's website a variety of different colours are …

    Reg Hardware 21 Feb 2007, 18:32

  • TSA makes a hash of 'no-fly' redress site

    I'm not a terrorist and you know zip about net security

    The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website has not been hacked by identity thieves, despite appearances to the contrary. The TSA recently created a website to enable people wrongly listed on its infamous "no-fly list" to establish that they were not a security threat. They were invited to submit detailed and …

    Enterprise Security 21 Feb 2007, 18:55

  • Google patches critical desktop flaw

    Integrated attack

    Google has fixed a security flaw in its desktop search software that created a means for hackers to rifle through personal files on users' PCs. A failure in Google Desktop to "properly encode output containing malicious or unexpected characters" created a means for hackers to cross from the web environment to the desktop …

    Enterprise Security 21 Feb 2007, 19:07

  • Gutenberg comes to mobile

    Wattpad pads out copyrighted material

    Wattpad has added a significant chunk of the Gutenberg Project catalogue to its mobile phone application. It is making 17,000 books available for easy download to most mobile phones. Wattpad is a user-generated content service, focused on making written material available to mobile phone users; users are invited to upload their …

    Mobile 21 Feb 2007, 21:58

  • Linux breakthrough for Visual Basic developers

    Mono choice

    Windows developers can now port Visual Basic applications to Linux without modifying their code, using an open source project backed by Novell. The Mono project has built a compiler that lets developers code using Visual Basic inside Visual Studio or other preferred tools environments and run the Visual Basic code on non- …

    Developer 21 Feb 2007, 22:14

  • IBM preps UK job cuts

    Exclusive Global services for global people

    IBM is expected to announce redundancies in at the UK arm of its service delivery business, Integrated Technology Delivery. The firm refused to comment this afternoon. A spokesman said: "IBM is constantly rebalancing its workforce to meet evolving client needs." "No redundancies are being announced at this time," he added …

    Channel Register 21 Feb 2007, 22:23

  • Microsoft's SAM carrot

    ello ‘ello ‘ello, save some money

    In an interesting twist in the battle against software piracy, Microsoft UK is promoting the benefits of Software Asset Management (SAM) under a scheme which rewards honesty - richly. It says the voluntary self-start SAM programme it introduced last November can save businesses a significant sum on licensing fees - in addition …

    Small Biz 21 Feb 2007, 22:32

  • NASA spies on dry, dusty worlds

    Tooling up in the hunt for aliens

    For the first time, astronomers have measured the composition of a planet outside the solar system, in what NASA says is a key step in its quest for extraterrestrial life. NASA pointed its Spitzer Space Telescope at two gas giant exoplanets in the Vulpecula and Pegasus constellations, 370 and 904 trillion miles away, for long …

    Space 21 Feb 2007, 22:38

  • MS dirty tricks archive trickles back to life

    Good hosting men needed

    The 3,000 document archive from the Comes antitrust trial, which disappeared from the web abruptly when Microsoft settled the case last week, is beginning to trickle back into view. A week ago the site was placed under password protection, Microsoft withdrew its own account of events, and so-called internet "archive" archive. …

    Software 21 Feb 2007, 23:08

  • Police bust 300-strong 'paedophile ring'

    Members based in UK, Australia, Canada and US

    A worldwide undercover police operation infiltrated and shut down an online network of 300 paedophiles, police said on Wednesday. The swoop involved police in the UK, Australia, US and Canada, and was coordinated by the the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) in London. An undisclosed number of children were …

    Crime 21 Feb 2007, 23:09

  • Sun unsheathes mysterious multi-threaded NIC

    100-man team working on name

    Sun Microsystems has moved to slice and dice I/O operations with a new – albeit unnamed – network interface card (NIC). The company has started selling the Sun x8 Express Dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet Fiber XFP Low Profile [sic] for close to $1,000 a pop. At the most basic level, you're looking at a dual channel 10GbE NIC that …

    Servers 21 Feb 2007, 23:26