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12th March 2007 Archive

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  • What’s Your Agile Value?

    Column Agilists can miss the point

    The Agile Manifesto was put together in 2001 by a group of agilists, as they later became known, on top of a mountain in Utah. I sometimes wonder if the high altitude had something to do with the outcome. At the resultant website, the following four “agile values” are emblazoned across the front page, in letters of fire 80ft …

    Developer 12 Mar 2007, 07:02

  • i-mate SPL Windows mobile phone

    Review It ain't heavy... in fact, it's rather lightweight

    Research in Motion has proved it's possible to pull off a consumer-pleasing candybar handset that still has business-friendly features. The SPL follows in those footsteps, and for once you won't be embarrassed pulling it out of your pocket. Perhaps i-mate could have been a little more choosy with the name. Aside from the …

    Phones 12 Mar 2007, 09:02

  • SMEs urged to 'pick up the innovation ball'

    Do or die

    Innovate or die was the stark warning issued to SMEs by a University of Limerick (UL) professor at a conference in the city on Friday. Professor Eamonn Murphy told attendees at the symposium of Collaborating European SMEs that Irish SMEs risk going out of business if they fail to invest in research and development (R&D). …

    Small Biz 12 Mar 2007, 10:12

  • eXtreme methods

    Different views...

    Kevlin Henney raised an interesting point (here) about the view of eXtreme Programming in the revision to Myers' Art of Software Testing. I didn't pick up on this in my review, probably because it never occurs to me to adopt normative development processes without also applying common sense – methodology (and why not call it …

    Developer 12 Mar 2007, 10:14

  • Chinese pursue virtual sanity in online gambling

    House of Cards Funny money no longer such a joke

    Although the Chinese government recently announced a purifying moratorium on internet cafes – the same week the Communist Youth League penned a contract with leading gaming developer Playtech to provide software for large scale internet-based gambling tournaments – the cadres in Beijing know that internet cafes are only an …

    Law 12 Mar 2007, 10:31

  • EC relaxes rules for new format broadcasters

    Audiovisual without frontiers

    The European Commission has relaxed the rules on advertising for the audiovisual sector in response to the growth of media services such as video-on-demand. The commission is modernising its "Television without Frontiers" directive with the intention of creating a new "Audiovisual without Frontiers". The aim is to create a …

    Media 12 Mar 2007, 10:37

  • Pipex for sale

    Adios independent ISPs

    The UK's independent ISP market just keeps on shrinking, with Pipex hawking itself around looking for a buyer. Weekend reports said Chairman Peter Dubens has appointed bankers UBS to find a buyer for the firm, however the company itself is refusing to comment. Dubens announced a review of business in January to decide the best …

    Financial News 12 Mar 2007, 10:38

  • Intel Core 2-based Pentiums to ship 3 June?

    Celeron 400 series too

    Intel's Core 2 Duo-derived Pentium E2000 series will debut on 3 June, it has been claimed. So too will the Celeron 400 series, the Core 2-based budget processor line. Expect two Pentium Es, says Chinese-language site HKEPC: the 1.6GHz E2140 and the 1.8GHz E2160. Both contain 1MB of L2 cache and sit on an 800MHz frontside bus …

    Hardware 12 Mar 2007, 10:44

  • Oracle and Hyperion: is it really a strategic fit?

    Fusion, migration and competition

    This is a blastingly good deal for Hyperion shareholders. Hyperion's share price went up from $43 to $52 overnight, so shareholders gained 20 per cent. Since Godfrey Sullivan became CEO in 2004 he has done an excellent job of putting in place a first class management team and this is the opportunity to cash in. But what about …

    Business 12 Mar 2007, 11:05

  • Intel prices up updated Core 2 Duos, Quads

    Steering into the mainstream

    Just how much is Intel planning to charge for its revamped Core 2 Duo desktop processors, due Q3? Not as much as you might expect, it would seem, if the latest information coming from motherboard-maker moles is to be believed. We've reported before that Core 2 Duos supporting a frontside bus clock of 1333MHz are due to ship …

    Hardware 12 Mar 2007, 11:11

  • SkyNet 5 blasts into space

    Military communications via PFI

    British military intelligence satellite SkyNet5 blasted off into space this weekend from Kourou in French Guiana. The launch was originally scheduled for Saturday, but a small glitch in ground equipment prompted a 24 hour delay. Once established in orbit, the satellite will form part of a three-part constellation passing data …

    Science 12 Mar 2007, 11:16

  • T-Mobile UK posts MDA Mail smart phone

    Back in BlackBerry

    T-Mobile UK has made its BlackBerry-like MDA Mail smart phone available to buyers, pitching the quad-band, QWERTY keyboard equipped handset with its Web'n'Walk data tariff for no more than £70. The device - better known, perhaps, as the HTC S620 'Excalibur' - weighs in at 130g and measures 11.6 x 6.3 x 1.3cm. In addition to …

    Phones 12 Mar 2007, 11:47

  • W3C seeks your help

    A chance to push HTML where you want it

    If you have ever thought anything about HTML – good, bad or indifferent – and if you work as a web designer, applications developer, or a browser vendor, then here is your chance to make the next iteration more like the scripting language you'd like to use. The chance arises because W3C is re-chartering the XHTML 2 Working …

    Developer 12 Mar 2007, 11:53

  • So what are the benefits of an enterprise RSS server?

    Quocirca's changing channels Web 2.0 has its uses

    It is easy to be cynical about many of the so-called Web 2.0 technologies – blogs, wikis, etc – and dismiss them as just another way for employees to be distracted and waste time. For resellers, this cynicism will run deeper as on the surface this is more free stuff with no opportunity for product margins and little for service …

    Applications 12 Mar 2007, 11:56

  • Hybrid vehicle attacks petrol station

    RoTM 'I could not stop the car', admits shaken victim

    The driver of a Toyota Prius had a narrow escape recently when his vehicle decided to do away with its human master by ploughing into a Tacoma petrol station "narrowly missing a clerk and sparking a fire". Shaken victim Art Robinson of DuPont told KING5.com he'd just bought the hybrid on the morning of 6 March, but "only after …

    Science 12 Mar 2007, 11:58

  • Terrorist site surfer blows up Moroccan net cafe

    Four injured in explosive tantrum

    A man who went to a Moroccan internet cafe to surf terrorist websites blew himself up when the owner's son refused him access, Morocco's official MAP news agency reports. Two men entered the cafe in Casablanca's Sidi Moumen district yesterday at 10pm. According to the Surete Nationale police, they wanted to view terrorist …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 11:59

  • Swisscom bids €3.7bn for Fastweb

    The Italian Job

    Swisscom, the former state telecommunications monopoly, has announced plans to acquire Italy's second-largest broadband operator, Fastweb, in a deal valued at €3.7bn ($4.9bn). The all-cash friendly takeover offer values Fastweb at €47 per share ($61.70), a premium of more than 10 per cent on €42.02 on their current price. In a …

    Financial News 12 Mar 2007, 12:06

  • Turkey lifts YouTube ban

    Bootiful

    Turkey lifted its ban on YouTube late on Friday after the video clip insulting Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country's modern founder, was removed. The site was banned on Wednesday for showing a video which the court decided insulted "Turkishness" and Ataturk - both serious crimes in Turkey. But a court in Istanbul lifted the ban …

    Media 12 Mar 2007, 12:19

  • Keep the lights on, the budget needs it

    Column Going green in a penny pinching world

    Lights don't turn themselves on. I hesitate to offer this bit of technological know-how to such an intelligent audience, but after last week, it has come to my attention that there may be people who don't realise this. And they may work in Accounts. The trigger for the observation was a report on the TV news last week that …

    Management 12 Mar 2007, 12:22

  • Eclipse UI gets some help

    CollabNet collaborates with new kid on the block

    Having received something of a pasting from developers at last week's EclipseCon in Santa Clara for being overly complicated, particularly in terms of the UI presented to developers, the Eclipse applications development environment now looks as though it may be getting some help. CollabNet, which already produces …

    Developer 12 Mar 2007, 12:24

  • Asus highlights super-slim wireless PDA

    Four years ago, Asus introduced what it claimed was the world's thinnest PDA, the MyPal A620. The company has just launched the device's successor in all but name: the A626, an "exceptionally thin" model with Wi-Fi wireless connectivity. The A620 still has the edge on thickness: it was just 1.3cm front-to-back, compared to …

    Phones 12 Mar 2007, 12:33

  • Vote now for 2007's oddest book title

    Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan

    The online presence of The Bookseller is running its annual poll to determine which of six splendidly-titled tomes should receive the 2007 "Oddest Titles" prize. The magazine's deputy editor, Joel Rickett, told the BBC: "It continues to celebrate the bizarre, the strange, and the simply odd. This year's shortlist shows that …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 12:47

  • EU consumer chief roasts Apple

    Rip, mix, re-rip, type

    The European Union's Bulgarian 'commissioner for consumers', Meglena Kuneva, has hit out at the Balkanised world of digital music. "Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod? I don't. Something has to change," she has told German weekly Focus. An EU spokesperson …

    Law 12 Mar 2007, 12:49

  • Intel to update gaming CPU sooner than thought?

    Mid-year speed bump

    Intel will update its four-core Core 2 Extreme line-up sooner than expected, if the latest roadmap reports coming out of Asia are to be believed. They claim the successor to the 2.66GHz QX6700 will ship in Q3. The new chip is the 2.93GHz QX6800, which will run on an 1066MHz frontside bus and contain 4MB of L2 cache, according …

    Hardware 12 Mar 2007, 13:00

  • Nigerians launch fake Met Police site

    Updated c/o New Scotland Yard, Lagos, 419

    Nigerian scammers have launched a fake London Metropolitan Police website, which includes a fake anti-terrorist hotline number. According to anti-advance fee fraud organisation Ultrascan Advanced Global Investigations, the scam refers victims to an "official" website that sells so-called "anti-terrorist certificates" which …

    Security 12 Mar 2007, 13:28

  • Corn-fuel demand drives meat off America's plate

    Enforced diet

    Corn shortages pushed the price of corn to such a high in Mexico last month that thousands marched in protest. Now, the price soaring of corn feed means the US might just find itself on an enforced diet too, as the farm industry reports a second significant fall in the output of beef and chicken. Last year, the US petrol …

    Science 12 Mar 2007, 13:37

  • Israeli envoy to El Salvador found naked in street

    Gagged, with rubber ball in mouth

    The Israeli ambassador to the sun-kissed Central American paradise of El Salvador is for the high jump after being found "in a street, drunk, wearing only bondage gear", the BBC reports. Tzuriel Refael - on his first ambassadorial assignment following elevation from "a foreign ministry position" - was apparently discovered by …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 13:46

  • 'I was angry', Naomi Campbell tells anger management class

    'I was angry all day really'

    Battling supermodel Naomi Campbell last Saturday did the first of two anger management classes she was ordered to attend as part of the punishment for chucking a mobile phone at housekeeper Ana Scolavino, the New York Post reports. In January, 36-year-old Campbell pleaded guilty in a New York Court to a reckless assault rap and …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 15:12

  • Put down the internet and go get some fresh air

    Indian students told to get a life

    A leading Indian technology college is switching off internet access to try and get its students involved in a bit of real-world socialising. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai (Bombay) will turn off hostel students' free internet access from 11pm until 12.30pm. Authorities hope the decision will get students …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 15:16

  • UK.gov not ready to share on data sharing

    Should they call it something else?

    Six months after the government announced it would review whether data protection laws were a "barrier" to its information sharing plans, it is still not ready to share its views on the matter. In September, government announced its Information Sharing Vision Statement - plans to share information across different government …

    Law 12 Mar 2007, 15:40

  • McAfee maps malware risk domains

    Neighbourhood watch

    A global road map of the riskiest and safest places to surf online found Russian and Romanian sites among the top-level domains most commonly hosting malicious downloads, browser exploits, and scams. A survey of 265 top-level domains by McAfee, dubbed Mapping the Mal Web, revealed large differences in safety from one domain …

    Security 12 Mar 2007, 16:04

  • Call goes out for open source teledildonics work

    SXSW NSFW Free Software Poundation

    The computational dildo liberation army (CDLA) has called out device makers for creating boring old kit that just doesn't get the job done. The dildo patrol want to see more creative devices and an influx of open source effort around sex toys. Attendees at the SXSW conference here listened for over an hour on Sunday as so- …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 16:12

  • Blogebrities campaign for fair treatment

    SXSW Want to have their cake and blog about it

    Professional bloggers have demanded to be taken still more seriously by mainstream media and have current measures of their blog-induced fame reassessed. In a session at SXSW entitled "The Rise of Blogebrity", a panel including Valleywag's fired gossip funnel Nick Douglas and self-confessed "die hard feminist" and ex- …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 16:17

  • BenQ punts post-BenQ Mobile handset

    BenQ is clearly putting the BenQ Mobile bankruptcy debacle behind it if it's willing to put out a new handset under the BenQ-Siemens brand. Enter the E81, described as an "sleek, ultra-compact [and] affordable" 3G handset.   The curvy E81's just 10cm tall and weighs a mere 90g. The screen's a 1.8in, 176 x 220, 262,144-colour …

    Phones 12 Mar 2007, 16:18

  • Dodgy food science: eating press releases is bad for you

    Chocolate pilchards, anyone?

    Chocolate is not just (possibly) good for your brain, it can ward off strokes, dementia, heart disease and cancer. Marvellous news, indeed. But as before, it has been brought to you by a scientist partially funded by Mars. The chocolate company. Such a shame, because until then we were quite enjoying the thought of heart …

    Science 12 Mar 2007, 16:23

  • Lights go out at colo centre

    TelecityRedbus suffers power failure

    TelecityRedbus's colocation centre on Marsh Wall in London's Docklands has apparently suffered a power failure and back-up generators have not kicked in. Telecity is refusing to comment, but The Reg has been contacted by several irritated customers. The problems seem to have started at about lunchtime today - as one Reg reader …

    Servers 12 Mar 2007, 16:29

  • UK airline pilot sacked for sightseeing tour

    Ignored 'Pull Up' warning in Shetland jaunt

    The pilot of a passenger plane who flew fives miles off course in bad weather to "show his co-pilot the scenery" has been sacked, the Daily Telegraph reports. Captain Roger Old, 61, was flying from Aberdeen to Shetland's Sumburgh Airport with 17 passengers aboard a Dornier 328-100 when he took the unscheduled detour. He ignored …

    Bootnotes 12 Mar 2007, 16:39

  • IBM and Cisco send Global alliance worldwide

    The World Series of networking services

    IBM and Cisco are expanding their Global Services Alliance, er globally. The firms have a wide-ranging alliance that spans support, maintenance, industry solutions, and server and storage products. The companies have been working together on services in the US for three years. The Maintenance Services tie-up for IBM and …

    The Channel 12 Mar 2007, 17:11

  • Intel 'Robson' Flash cache reborn as USB unit

    Updated Not just for laptops now, too

    Intel has become the latest chip maker to offer a Flash-based solid-state hard drive, though it's pitching the part not as a replacement for magnetic hard disk storage but as an adjunct to it. The unwieldy named Z-U130 Value Solid-State Drive will be offered in 1, 2, 4 and 8GB capacities. Each card connects to the host …

    Hardware 12 Mar 2007, 17:51

  • Fraud, not incompetence, to blame for Nortel's accounting fiasco

    SEC charges four execs

    The SEC today threw the book at four former Nortel execs for cooking the books. Frank Dunn, ex-CFO and CEO at the Canadian telecoms equipment maker, Douglas Beatty, ex-controller and CFO, Michael Gollogy, ex-controller, and MaryAnne Pahaphil, ex-assistant controller, are accused of manipulating secret cash reserves and …

    Financial News 12 Mar 2007, 18:34

  • Y2K7 bug fails to bite

    Aclockalypse Not

    Panic over: America survived Sunday's onslaught of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on Sunday unscathed. For a while, Bug-watchers thought that GoDaddy, the domain registrar, might have mismanaged the time-change, after customers reported outages. But a good old-fashioned DDOS attack was the culprit. DST was moved to the second …

    Data Networking 12 Mar 2007, 18:53

  • Three more charged for pump-and-dump hacking

    Fed cracking down on securities manipulation

    US authorities have charged three Indian nationals for an elaborate pump-and-dump scheme that used hijacked brokerage accounts to manipulate the prices of 14 securities including Sun Microsystems and put options for Google. The men were charged criminally in a 23-count indictment for conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, …

    Security 12 Mar 2007, 19:23

  • Blog Nation embraces Rather after flaying him

    SXSW First we destroy, then we love

    Grizzled Texan newsman Dan Rather received the warmest of welcomes from the grand blog felch that helped end his CBS career, during a speech today here at the SXSW conference and festival. The blogger nation found Rather's call for better US journalism inspirational, particularly when he chastised the candy ass reporters …

    Media 12 Mar 2007, 21:10

  • Etilize catalogs antitrust suit against CNET

    Patent suit over reseller data feeds

    CNET today turned from newsgather to newsmaker when it got a lawsuit accusing it of anti-competitive behavior. The complainant, a fellow Californian company, called Etilize Inc, produces online catalogs for resellers to incorporate into their websites – as does CNET through its CNET Channel subsidiary. This enables computer …

    The Channel 12 Mar 2007, 21:53

  • Gross, glorious Las Vegas – a model for web designers

    SXSW The good, the bad and the chubby

    Those web designers obsessed with their mashed up, CSS, AJAX injections may want to book a trip to Las Vegas and learn some lessons from fat people chowing down in the all-you-can-eat buffet. San Francisco-based web designer Dan Saffer has turned to Vegas in its all its brilliance and blandness as a model for fixing up websites …

    Media 12 Mar 2007, 22:02

  • MacBook goes up in flames

    Suitable for BBQ marshmallow roasting

    In the latest episode of The Laptop Infernos, a MacBook user is reporting his laptop came close to burning his house down after the battery exploded and burst into flames. The MacBook, which was less than a year-old, was charging with the lid shut when it spontaneously ignited at about three in the morning while the user and his …

    Hardware 12 Mar 2007, 23:34

  • What's Green for Wal-Mart is Green for America

    Scorecards for consumer electronics makers

    The Greening of Wal-Mart, America's least popular popular retailer, continues apace. This time it is putting the squeeze on consumer electronics suppliers, with a scorecard to assess the "sustainability of their products". Products are to be marked for hazardous materials, packaging, durability, upgradability and …

    The Channel 12 Mar 2007, 23:35