The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

2nd March 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • GPS tracking Feds bust Cisco reseller 'fraud'

    The network is the sting

    A GPS tracking sting has led to accusations that a reseller defrauded Cisco of millions of dollars in networking gear by fiddling its hardware maintainance program on a grand scale. The US Attorney claims Michael A. Daly, 53, set up false identities and rented mailboxes in at least 39 states, which he used to bag Cisco parts …

    The Channel 2 Mar 2007, 00:41

  • SCO loses another $1m in Q1

    Unix biz rushes to vanishing point

    The SCO Group's revenue kept on sliding during the first quarter, although the company did reduce losses. SCO pulled in $6m last quarter – down from $7.3m in the same period last year. Thankfully for the IP defender, SCO's legal costs fell, helping it to a tidy $1m loss – an improvement over last year's $4.6m loss. Shrinking …

    Financial News 2 Mar 2007, 00:59

  • Why BitTorrent is loving the US (and not loving the rest of the world)

    Contracts my dear boy, contracts

    One of the key benefits for BitTorrrent users around the world, was the parity that it achieved in bringing US content to a global audience, albeit mostly in pirated works. Now the new legal BitTorrent service, launched with fanfare this week, received an almost unanimous thumbs down for being unoriginal and unexciting, and that …

    Bootnotes 2 Mar 2007, 01:03

  • Online ads diet planned for Adobe Photoshop

    Thinks free

    Adobe Systems is the latest boxed-product vendor to put its software online and embrace the ads-based revenue model. Adobe will launch a free version of its expensive Photoshop photo manipulation software online in the next six months, while hoping to derive income from the internet advertising boom. The service will use an …

    Applications 2 Mar 2007, 01:34

  • US Marines stomp suburbia

    War, what is it good for? The garage door industry

    Remote-controlled operated garage doors, a basic freedom held dear by every home-owning American, have become the latest innocent victims of the War on Terror. According to a report in the Washington Post, efforts by the Marines to reclaim narrow band spectrum for national security reasons has meant that garage owners around …

    Broadband 2 Mar 2007, 02:03

  • Google removes gaybashing website

    Refuses to say why

    After facing criticism for hosting a blog that advocated the killing of gays and lesbians, Google first defended the importance of free speech, then offered a banner warning the site may be offensive to the faint of heart, and then settled on removing the site altogether. And even then, representatives refused to say what …

    Media 2 Mar 2007, 02:18

  • Motorola loses Razr domain name case

    Failure to provide evidence

    Motorola has lost a battle to gain control of the domain name motorazr.com because it failed to prove when it started using the term Moto Razr. The domain name will be kept by its US owner R3 Media. In a domain name dispute resolution process overseen by the Artibration and Mediation Center of the World Intellectual Property …

    Law 2 Mar 2007, 08:02

  • Lawn mowing ex-policeman cannot claim spy breach by private eyes

    RIPA does not apply, Tribunal finds

    A former police officer filmed mowing his lawn while on a disability allowance cannot claim that the filming broke the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), according to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The former policeman wanted the Tribunal to rule against the police force under RIPA, but the Tribunal has found …

    Law 2 Mar 2007, 09:29

  • Honeybees dropping like flies

    Mystery ailment hits colonies worldwide

    British beekeepers are viewing the forthcoming opening of their hives with a certain amount of anxiety; unsure if their colonies have survived the winter. The cause of their concern is a mystery ailment which has wiped out "thousands" of honeybee colonies across the northern hemisphere. Beekeepers across 24 US states are …

    Science 2 Mar 2007, 09:55

  • Torex Retail to lay off developers

    The trouble continues

    Oxfordshire-based software company Torex Retail is laying off developers, but insists the move is not connected to the ongoing investigation into the company and its financial woes. Torex came unstuck when a trading update, which said everything was fine, was quickly followed by a profits warning last month. Shares in the …

    The Channel 2 Mar 2007, 10:01

  • Bournemouth Council routes internet through sewer

    As though there wasn't enough filth there already

    Bournemouth council offices have been connected up with fibre optic cables run through in the city's sewers. H2O Networks is responsible for the network, which was laid in seven days and will provide unprecedented connection speeds, without relying on BT infrastructure, though it will initially only operate as a backup network …

    Broadband 2 Mar 2007, 10:13

  • Companies Act timetable published

    Steady as she goes

    The Government is acting more slowly than expected in implementing the Companies Act, the piece of legislation that is completely overhauling the way companies are governed. Only a few parts of the Act are currently in force, and the remaining elements have been scheduled to become law in three stages between now and October …

    Business 2 Mar 2007, 10:20

  • Eircom will 'wipe out' Irish telcos: ALTO

    Network upgrade will 'increase digital divide'

    Irish telcos have reacted angrily to Eircom's plan to upgrade its network infrastructure, with one industry group claiming it could eliminate competition. Eircom has confirmed it intends to invest €60m on upgrading its central telecommunications network. The upgrade will bring increased bandwidth to 240 Eircom exchanges, …

    Networks 2 Mar 2007, 10:29

  • IT suppliers overcharging UK.gov

    Says recruitment firm that wants its share of the pork

    IT firms are ripping off the government by charging more than twice the market rate for staff, according to a recruitment company. ReThink Recruitment said in a statement that IT outsourcers hire staff for about £700 a day before posting them to work on government contracts at a charge of up to £2,000 a day. Managing director …

    Policy 2 Mar 2007, 10:49

  • Reclaiming a different legacy

    It isn't just COBOL you know...

    What is "legacy"? It's worth remembering that a lot of systems were written in RAD (Rapid Application Development) tools such as PowerBuilder and Visual Basic in the nineties and this is now often undocumented legacy in small companies (and some not-so-small ones) - just as COBOL systems are in large enterprises. In fact, …

    Developer 2 Mar 2007, 11:10

  • Sony showcases new video MP3 player

    Walkman for the next generation

    Sony has launched a super-slim Walkman video MP3 player that's less than 1cm thick. The NW-A800 series features a 2in colour LCD screen and supports the widely-used MPEG 4 video format. Sony claims the player also boasts a battery life of up to 30 hours for music and eight hours video playback. Music and videos can also be …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 11:34

  • Mercury Telecommunications feels Ofcom's wrath

    But complains of impossible operating conditions

    Mercury Telecommunications Ltd has been slapped down by Ofcom for incorrectly invoicing a customer in a dispute investigation run by Otelo. The process has left the company not only kicked out of Otelo (the investigating body), but unable to trade legally. Under the Communications Act 2003, all telecommunications companies are …

    Broadband 2 Mar 2007, 11:38

  • Samsung ships 60nm 1Gb DDR 2 DRAM chip

    Two years in the making...

    Samsung has begun punching out 60nm 1Gb DDR 2 DRAM chips in volume, the company announced today, claiming it's the first memory maker to do so. It's offering the chip on 512MB, 1GB and 2GB DIMMs, it said. The South Korean giant first created the chip in 2005, spending the intervening time getting the design ready for mass- …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 11:46

  • Irish donkey sex case shocks net

    Updated Galway court invokes Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act

    Netizens have reacted with a mixture of horror and disbelief to a story which recently appeared on Galway First entitled "Lonely man brought donkey to hotel room, court told". We say recently, because the stampede of surfers rushing down to check the outrage for themselves appears to have brought down galwayfirst.ie. No matter …

    Bootnotes 2 Mar 2007, 12:18

  • EC balks at MS pricing, loses Swift to the US

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

    The Register Weekly Digest has been put together to make your life easy. It gives you a buffet of all the week's news in one easy-to-swallow email. It also comes as a PDF so you can print it out and take it away with you. We serve it up every Friday. The links to the full news stories are there if you've got the time to read …

    Business 2 Mar 2007, 12:43

  • Maynor reveals missing Apple flaw

    And claims underhand play

    Security researcher David Maynor got some measure of vindication at the Black Hat DC Conference this year. Six months after he and his colleague Jon Ellch claimed that Mac OS X wireless drivers were vulnerable to attack, Maynor on Wednesday revealed the code he used to exploit a native flaw in the platform as well as emails …

    Security 2 Mar 2007, 12:44

  • The rise of zero-day patches

    Interview The experts speak

    Zero-day exploits were once the realm of just underground and elite hackers, but their increased prevalence is bringing a positive new trend: unofficial patches from members of the community, offered for protection before official vendor patches appear. Federico Biancuzzi interviewed Landon Fuller, who wrote Mac OS X patches …

    Security 2 Mar 2007, 13:01

  • PingWales says hwyl

    That's goodbye...

    PingWales, the source for independent IT news in Wales, has been forced to shut up shop just before celebrating its three year anniversary. Editor and publisher Basheera Khan told the Reg: "When we started, just less than three years ago, many people said that Wales did not have a large enough IT industry to support a news …

    Media 2 Mar 2007, 13:20

  • Intel 'Bloomfield' to intro 1,366-pin socket?

    HyperThreading back too, apparently

    Intel will next year begin shipping processors with a 1,366 pins, it has been claimed. The interface will use the same land grid array (LGA) as the chip giant's current LGA775 process, but with almost twice as many pins. According to a report on Chinese-language site HKEPC, the interface will be called Socket B and ups the …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 13:32

  • Nokia E65 mobile phone

    Review Looks good. Feels good. But how does it actually perform, hmm..?

    As part of an expansion to its business-orientated E Series, the Nokia E65 has been styled to give off the persona that it's designed specifically to attract a higher class of user – the modern and remotely connected business executive. The E65 has a sliding front fascia and the soft leather backing is reminiscent of a …

    Phones 2 Mar 2007, 13:46

  • UK councils in email meltdown madness

    New Forest without mail as Cambridge launches spam blizzard

    Email systems and local councils in Britain just don't seem to mix. Council bosses in the New Forest called in the assistance of Microsoft after a glitch in its email system prevented staff from either sending or receiving email for a week. System failure on 20 February was followed by a secondary (unrelated) problem which …

    Policy 2 Mar 2007, 13:47

  • AMD chipset roadmap does include Intel

    ATI acquisition changes nothing

    AMD will continue to develop chipsets for Intel processors, the company has apparently claimed, although it also admits it's not shooting for marketshare dominance. So said AMD sales and marketing VP Jochen Polster this week, according to a DailyTech report. Polster said the company wants a decent share of the third-party …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 13:53

  • Reg hacks scorched in nuclear flame blitz

    FoTW 'You are such an anti-semitic turd'

    Regular readers will be aware of the Vulture Central tradition which dicates that you're not a fully-fledged Reg hack until you've been subjected to a vicious outburst of e-anger from some reader with steam coming out of his or her ears. Well, we're delighted to report that Bill Ray this week passed this milestone in fine style …

    Bootnotes 2 Mar 2007, 14:06

  • Cassini eats Saturn

    How else to explain the pictures?

    The Cassini spacecraft has moved into a new orbit around Saturn, soaring to ever higher latitudes and greater distances from the planet. The result is that the craft has been able to capture some truly unusual new pictures of the ringed planet. "Finally, here are the views that we've waited years for," said Dr Carolyn Porco, …

    Science 2 Mar 2007, 14:11

  • Armed robber offers bank customers loans

    Surrounded blagger mans the phones

    An armed blagger who was surrounded by cops in an Austrian bank filled an idle five hours before his arrest by offering phone customers loans, Ananova reports. According to Austrian police, Guenther Baum "stormed into the Bawag bank on the main shopping street in Vienna waving a gun". His choice of target, however, proved ill- …

    Security 2 Mar 2007, 14:21

  • Blindside to mull potholes in road to e-government

    What can go wrong?

    What can go wrong with e-enabled government? A consultancy team has set up Blindside to find out. The twist: anyone can post comments to the blog, and anyone can edit the wiki. Blindside was created by Kable, a consultancy specialising in the public sector, in conjunction with Vega, a specialist in information assurance. Kable …

    Policy 2 Mar 2007, 15:19

  • Morse all smiles despite turnover slide

    Post-tax profits looking healthy

    Despite a fall in turnover and profits, Morse says it is pleased with its financial results for the six months ending 31 December, the first since the group split into two six months ago. The company saw group turnover fall to £132.2m, against £187.4m for the same period a year earlier. Profit, before tax, was also down at £3. …

    The Channel 2 Mar 2007, 15:51

  • Take That menace UK comms infrastructure

    Websites crash, phone lines go dead

    Reformed pop combo Take That - currently enjoying a bit of a renaissance while ex-member Robbie Williams mopes about counting his money - have proved the biggest threat to UK communications networks since the Luftwaffe tried unsuccessfully to bomb the Chain Home radar network in 1940. But where the Germans failed, Take That …

    Broadband 2 Mar 2007, 16:06

  • UK.gov probes foreign IT workers

    After allegations the industry imports cheap labour

    The Home Office has said it will review the way it awards work permits to foreign IT bods following an accusation that Work Permits UK was bending the rules to let outsourcing firms import foreign workers on the cheap. Union Amicus said last month it had a Home Office survey that showed one in six foreign IT workers were …

    Government 2 Mar 2007, 16:11

  • British porn domain mastermind fights US Government

    .xxx blocked by US Gov, Lawley claims

    The British man behind the proposed .xxx internet domain believes the US Government has intervened to thwart his plans. Stuart Lawley is fighting a court battle to retrieve the documents he says would prove his case. Lawley made dotcom millions with web design and hosting firm Oneview.net which was floated then sold before the …

    Law 2 Mar 2007, 16:14

  • BBC promos go GooTube

    Trailer park

    The BBC played down a new agreement to license content to Google's YouTube website today. Corporation executives admitted that the initial scope of the deal doesn't expand on what the Beeb already offers through its website. Three branded YouTube "channels" will show promotional clips and news clips from the BBC, the BBC's …

    Media 2 Mar 2007, 16:16

  • Bruce Willis ousts Deep Purple for Eurovision title

    Letters But which is more of a threat to humanity?

    It's always good to know you take us seriously, and this reader's practical application of the recent ban on the word solution made all hacks at Vulture Central sit back and sigh with a collective 'Aw, bless'. I have followed your proposed banning of the word "solution" with some amusement recently... Although amusing, I hadn …

    Letters 2 Mar 2007, 17:00

  • Scotsman wins £1,300 settlement against spammer

    Website shows how you can hit back, too

    An Edinburgh man has obtained damages of more than £1,300 from British-based spammer. Gordon Dick was granted the order against Transcom Internet Services Ltd of Henley-on-Thames at a January hearing in Edinburgh's Sheriff Court. Although he hasn't received any money yet, even after sending a debt collector around to Transcom's …

    Law 2 Mar 2007, 17:31

  • Blu-ray backer Samsung shows HD DVD laptop

    Onto the format fence?

    Samsung may be a fully paid up member of the Blu-ray Disc supporters club, but that hasn't kept it out of the HD DVD camp, and today it showed off a 17in widescreen notebook that's key component is a HD DVD drive. The M55's display is a 1,920 x 1,200, ideal for 1080p HD content. The screen's driven by an Nvidia GeForce Go …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 17:36

  • MacRumors vigilantes nail UK teen scammer

    'Max on Macs' took cash, didn't stump goods

    A British teenager who tried to scam fellow MacRumors members learned the hard way that when enraged fanboys get up a head of indignant steam, you'd better run for cover. The story of "Max On Macs" began with this post by member skoker on 23 October 2006, and ended recently with Max on Macs interviewed by Thames Valley police …

    Hardware 2 Mar 2007, 18:00

  • Bogus Wikipedia Prof. was blessed then promoted

    The Counterfactual History Man

    It's been a busy week for the pipeline that connects the consensus-reality wonderland of Wikipedia with Planet Earth. You won't believe what's just tumbled out at this end. Wikipedia's Maximum Leader Jimmy Wales, it transpires, has blessed an identity fraudster who bamboozled journalists last year, by rewarding him with a full …

    Media 2 Mar 2007, 18:08

  • Novell posts drop in revenues and profits

    Pleased with Linux progress

    Novell has recorded a $12m drop in revenues for the first quarter of 2007. The networking software firm reported net revenues of $230m for the period ending 31 January, (Q1 '06: $242m). Novell posted net losses of $19.9m for the quarter, resulting in a loss per share of $0.06, compared with net profits of $1.8m and flat …

    Financial News 2 Mar 2007, 18:28

  • EMI rejects Warner bid

    'Too slow, too low'

    EMI's board today rejected an approach by Warner Music Group, saying the price was too low and the format of the bid too cumbersome. "WMG’s proposal was considered by the Board which concluded that it is not in the best interests of EMI shareholders to entertain a pre-conditional offer which would entail prolonged regulatory …

    Financial News 2 Mar 2007, 19:15

  • There is life beyond .NET, says Microsoft (really)

    Rest of world discovered

    The acceptance of new abstract concepts can sometimes be harmful to entrenched philosophical (and marketing) positions. Microsoft's announcement this week that it is to bolster the business process management (BPM) software market is an admission that there are parts of the world which are not wholly Microsoft. The nature of …

    Developer 2 Mar 2007, 19:28

  • Wanted: social workers (Klansmen preferred)

    Council needs racism coordinators

    A chilling illustration of the perils of copywriting by committee comes to us from West Sussex County Council human resources department. The engine of UK south coast municipal governance is advertising for two "enthusiastic and committed" individuals to coordinate racist incidents across the county. The council's …

    Bootnotes 2 Mar 2007, 20:27

  • Vista product activation unpicked

    Broken by brute force and swiped from shelves

    The activation method used by Microsoft to protect Vista from piracy is under attack on multiple fronts. According to Keznews, activation codes for Vista can be obtained by brute force using key generator software that randomly tries a variety of 25-digit codes until it finds one that works. With a powerful enough PC, users …

    Operating Systems 2 Mar 2007, 20:28

  • eBay plugs hole in sign-on page

    Persistence pays off

    A week or more after it was brought to its attention, eBay has plugged a hole in its sign-on page that was being exploited by phishers. The vulnerability was noteworthy because it led users to eBay's official login page first, unlike most phishing attacks, which direct victims to a spoofed URL. Once a user entered a valid user …

    Security 2 Mar 2007, 20:35

  • Office 2007 bug delights Francophiles everywhere

    Others less amused

    Much to the delight of Francophiles everywhere, Microsoft's Office 2007 switches Outlook Express spell-checkers to work only in French. Those disposed to communicate in other languages are being advised to use third-party programs. Microsoft has confirmed the problem here, and explains it comes about when the Office 2007 …

    Applications 2 Mar 2007, 21:52