26th February 2007 Archive

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Oracle puts low-price on information

Storage assistant

Oracle today makes its Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) Assistant available for free download. ILM Assistant is Oracle database-specific and will help database administrators (DBAs) plan and automate storage of data in email, content management systems and corporate applications. Previously, DBAs had to implement …

Developer 26 Feb 2007, 00:02
Rosetta warms up for comet with Martian flyby

More gorgeous snaps

Comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta has sent back pictures of its closest approach to Mars after it completed its flyby of the planet this weekend. The stunning pictures are the first taken by the Philae lander's instruments operating independently of the main craft. This shot was taken just four minutes before the craft reached …

Space 26 Feb 2007, 10:37
DfES to run first procurement review

Assessing value for money

The Department for Education and Skills is to run a pilot for the new Whitehall Procurement Capability Reviews. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which will own the reviews, announced the pilot last week. It will run during March with results being evaluated in April. The Procurement Capability Reviews were initially …

Public Sector 26 Feb 2007, 10:38
James Cameron finds grave of Jesus & Son

Titanic director rescripts Christianity

Hollywood giant James Cameron has set himself his biggest challenge yet – rewriting the bible after discovering that Jesus sired a son before being buried outside Jerusalem. Cameron claims to have found the, now empty, tomb of one Jesua, son of Joseph. The sepulchre also apparently contained the bodies of Mary. As well as …

Science 26 Feb 2007, 10:55
WD ups My Book network drive capacity to 1TB

Adds RAID too

Western Digital has bumped its My Book World Edition remote-access ready network-connected external hard drive to 1TB, adding the extra storage capacity with a second disk inside the casing. So not only is there more room for information, the unit's RAID-able for better data security. The 1TB My Book is dubbed the World …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 11:17
Industrial security - it's not the same as IT security

Niche market potential

In the past, equipment control for manufacturing processes on the shop floor tended to be carried out by discrete systems running arcane real time operating systems controlled by proprietary management systems that had no connection through to other systems. In essence, this meant that the systems were secure, being "air locked …

Security 26 Feb 2007, 11:42
Sharon Stone schlock-fest scoops four Razzies

Basically, it Stinks, Too

Sharon Stone's who-dunnit Basic Instinct 2 won the worst picture gong at this year's Golden Raspberry ceremony, Hollywood's annual celebration of what's worst in film. The film known to Golden Raspberry Award Foundation voters as Basically, it Stinks, Too took earned four "awards", among them Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay, …

Entertainment 26 Feb 2007, 11:45
iPhone ad appears at Academy Awards

I'd like to thank my producer... and my director... and... and...

A video showing the first ever TV advert for the Apple's iPhone has popped up on YouTube. Simple, but quite stylish, the advert shows a number of actors – 28 in total, old and recent – from a multitude of different films just saying... "hello". It finishes with an image of the handset and the text "Coming in June". The 30 …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 11:48
Get your jaws into Java 6

Site offer Master the latest edition

Another week, another offer. This week the techies at Register Books thought we'd offer a helping hand to all those who ply their trade in Java, the OO, platform independent programming language. We've selected the best selling titles of the genre, slashed the prices, and offered them up for your perusal as valued readers of El …

Site News 26 Feb 2007, 12:09
UK Open Source think tank opens doors

Great and good say Huzzah!

The UK now has its own national think tank for open source and open standard policy. The National Open Centre, which its backers hope will make for better working relationships between the open source community and government, business, and education, launched today (Monday) at the Houses of Parliament. The centre will carry …

Software 26 Feb 2007, 12:12
Windows for Warships nears frontline service

Analysis The real blue screen of death

Everyone knows the differences between Windows and other operating systems. Steve Jobs has recently spent colossal sums telling us that most malware is written for Windows; also that using Windows is no fun and, even worse, seems to involve wearing a tie. Those acquainted with the more foam-lipped Linux fanciers will also be …

Software 26 Feb 2007, 12:15
Swansea councillors don't like outsourced IT

Boo, hiss etc

Councillors in Swansea are reportedly ruing the day their cabinet voted to outsource their IT supply and support. Local paper The Evening Post reports that councillors are now complaining that the system costs more and does less since being outsourced to Capgemini. IT staff at Swansea protested vigorously over plans to …

Public Sector 26 Feb 2007, 12:31
Iran launches space rocket

Definitely not a missile. Honest.

Iran distracted attention from its nuclear programme this weekend, by announcing it had shot off a rocket into space. Or, according to who you believe, it had tested a dirty great missile. The Islamic Republic definitely launched something over the weekend. Iranian media described the device as a rocket capable of reaching …

Space 26 Feb 2007, 13:09
Firefox fix lances memory corruption bug

Unload update stars in weekend patch release

Firefox users need to update their browser software following the discovery of multiple vulnerabilities. The flaws might be exploited to bypass security restrictions, conduct cross-site scripting or spoofing attacks, pinch sensitive information, or even gain control of vulnerable systems. The flaws affect both the 1.5 and …

Enterprise Security 26 Feb 2007, 14:09
Denon offers DVD-to-HD upscaling player

Denon's pitching its DVD-2930 HD-capable DVD player as an "affordable" upscaling machine. You might think that's a cheeky word to use in association with a player that costs £650, but Denon said its machine provides pro-grade video processing for which it usually charges £2,700. In short, the DVD-2930 contains the same …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 14:09
Eircom to invest €60m upgrading network

Good news for broadband customers

Eircom has confirmed it is to invest €60m over the next three years on upgrading its central telecommunications network. A spokesman for the former incumbent confirmed to ENN on Monday that reports on the investment in last weekend's Sunday Business Post were accurate. The spokesman said the upgrade will see 1GB of bandwidth …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2007, 14:17
VIA launches digital media chipset

Certified for Vista... er... Basic

VIA has launched its latest integrated desktop chipset, touting the part's Windows Vista friendliness and support for the chip maker's own power-efficient x86 processors. Well, it works with the various Basic versions of Vista, at least. The CN896 can drive a 16x PCI Express slot so it's possible to add a high-performance …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 14:33
EMI: DRM stays

Talks break up

EMI has broken off talks with digital music download services about providing a DRM-free repertoire. EMI was always tipped as the most likely of the "Big Four" to break ranks with its peers and supply music unencumbered by DRM. It's the smallest of the four major labels, the only one that isn't part of a major entertainment …

Financial News 26 Feb 2007, 15:07
Reg Hardware Samsung HD TV winner 'well chuffed' with prize

More compos coming

Register Hardware reader Dave Page dropped us an email this week to show us just how good his brand new Samsung PS50Q7 50in plasma HD TV looks in his living room. Dave was the winner of last month's Register Hardware Samsung HDTV Competition, and we're pleased to report he's as pleased as punch with his plasma beast. "Just …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 15:13
Biscit barrels out of ISPA

Talkin' bout a resolution...service

Troubled internet service provider Biscit has left ISPA - the industry association which among other things provides membership of dispute resolution service CICAS. It is a legal requirement for any company providing electronic communication services to be a member of a dispute resolution service - members of ISPA are …

Telecoms 26 Feb 2007, 16:08
Asus W5Fe Windows Vista laptop

Review Asus has produced the first laptop with a Windows Vista SideShow screen

We already teased you not too long ago about the Asus W5Fe and now we’ve got our hands on an engineering sample of this innovative, compact Windows Vista laptop and an opportunity to put it through its paces. Asus has produced the first laptop in the world that makes use of Windows Vista SideShow to support a secondary screen …

Reg Hardware 26 Feb 2007, 16:19
BitTorrent Inc offers legal downloads

'Poacher' turned gamekeeper

BitTorrent Inc, the firm that maintains development of the popular file sharing protocol historically associated with illegal movie downloads, has launched a website designed to sell licensed downloads of films and television shows. The BitTorrent Entertainment Network (BEN) launched on Monday with films from studios including …

Entertainment 26 Feb 2007, 16:24
Microsoft's 'dirty tricks' archive turns into hot Torrent

Oscar-contender

Microsoft lawyers who believed they'd buried the most embarrassing collection of documents about the company's murky past for good, without any one noticing, were in for a surprise this weekend. The archive has become a mainstay of the Bittorrent P2P file sharing networks. A healthy 20+ seeds have been distributing the files …

Operating Systems 26 Feb 2007, 18:28
Vague and ambiguous use cases

Column How abstract should your specs be?

Programmers are often frustrated when well-meaning managers or architects attempt to introduce some OOAD [note that the process in my link isn't necessarily the same as the Iconix process Matt alludes to - Ed] into their projects. Often the reason for this frustration is subtle, and has nothing to do with OOAD as such - it's …

Developer 26 Feb 2007, 18:52
Delphi - or not Delphi

Borland spinoff does RAD for PHP

Borland’s wholly-owned spinoff CodeGear is releasing Delphi for PHP, claimed to be the first RAD visual PHP development environment. PHP 5.0 is required. The product is jointly developed by CodeGear and qadram software and is essentially the first production version of qadram’s qstudio, which never made it past pre-beta. The …

Developer 26 Feb 2007, 18:56
Indies at war over music mega merger

Merlin waves magic wand

Independent labels are in a public row over whether to back Warner Music's bid for ailing British major EMI. The merger would see the 'Big Four' consolidate into a Big Three. Impala, which represents indie trade groups worldwide, has spent much of its seven year-life fighting antitrust issues, and was originally formed to help …

Music and Media 26 Feb 2007, 19:25
BenQ Mobile dismembered

Buyers pale at huge debts

German administrators have given up in their efforts to find a buyer for the cellphone maker BenQ Mobile, which went bankrupt at the tail end of last year. Almost all jobs will go at the former Siemens outfit, which Taiwanese electronics group BenQ picked up in 2005. BenQ Mobile's insolvency administrator Martin Prager told …

Mobile 26 Feb 2007, 20:14
VMware wallops Microsoft with white paper

Pots and kettles go flying

With an IPO and a major server virtualization battle looming, VMware has turned aggressive in its fight with Microsoft. The EMC subsidiary has published a white paper detailing its issues with Microsoft's virtual server software. Microsoft has restrictive support policies that make it difficult for customers to move virtual …

Servers 26 Feb 2007, 23:09
Vonage: patent smackdown won't bring shutters down

We will survive

Vonage today moved to reassure its two million customers that their internet phone service will not be disrupted and investors that their cash will be safe if it loses a patent lawsuit to Verizon. A US District Court in Eastern Virginia last week heard Verizon claim that Vonage owes it at least $197m in licensing fees and …

VoIP 26 Feb 2007, 23:57