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21st March 2007 Archive

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  • Adobe Q1 income up, revenue down

    Creative Suite will deliver sales fillip

    Adobe recorded a healthy boost in income despite a fall in sales, in preparation of the forthcoming Creative Suite upgrade. The web site and graphics authoring specialist saw net income increase 36 per cent to $143.8m on revenue that fell 0.9 per cent to $649.4m. Earnings per diluted share increased seven cents to $0.24. Chief …

    Financial News 21 Mar 2007, 00:53

  • Oracle beats up on BEA

    Pinch Punch

    Larry Ellison cited middleware rival BEA Systems to Wall Street as proof that Oracle can and will prevail over SAP in business applications and oRed Hat in Linux. Claiming 82 per cent middleware licensing growth during his company's recent third quarter, the Oracle CEO claimed his compay grew up to 10 times faster than BEA …

    Financial News 21 Mar 2007, 00:58

  • Anatomy of an eBay scam

    Fraudster put through the paces

    Fraudulent listings on eBay continue to pile up, and the online auctioneer appears to be incapable of proactively putting an end to them. Since Friday, we've been typing "tour with a whore" into eBay's search engine (for purely research purposes, of course) and have been returned with dozens (in one case hundreds) of results …

    Crime 21 Mar 2007, 01:02

  • CD WOW! fined for contempt of court

    Grey skies turn black for music retailer

    A group of record labels has won its High Court case against online music retailer CD WOW!, which was found to have infringed copyright and been in contempt of court over an earlier order. That offence is called parallel importing and involves a breach of copyright. CD WOW! had previously promised to a court not to engage in …

    Music and Media 21 Mar 2007, 07:02

  • Ten reasons why you should buy a Mac

    Time for a shiny white box?

    Yes, you can accept Apple's logic that "it all just works" straight out of the packaging, but there are better reasons for moving to a Mac than a factor that's just as true of modern PCs these days. Now there's an x86-based PC sitting under the hood of every modern Mac, the old battle lines are blurring. Time to reconsider …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 08:40

  • DLT tape reaching end of reel

    Quantum waves a white flag

    DLT has lost the tape war and could be replaced by the open LTO standard in as little as two years, according to Rick Belluzzo, the CEO of Quantum, which owns DLT. He said DLT would "slide out of the way", with the last generation being either the current DLT-S4 or its projected successor, DLT-S5. "There has been massive …

    Storage 21 Mar 2007, 09:47

  • SuperMicro unsheathes SuperBlade

    The energy efficient way to stuff 40 processors into a box?

    High density computing can also mean high energy efficiency, SuperMicro claimed as it announced SuperBlade, a bladeserver capable of supporting up to 40 processors in a 7U-high box. Each chassis can have up to four power supplies for redundancy, which are over 90 per cent efficient, SuperMicro marketing veep Don Clegg said. …

    Servers 21 Mar 2007, 09:50

  • Lager-swilling boffins crack secret of darts

    Gaussian probability distribution points to better 'arrers'

    Anyone wishing to give Eric "The Crafty Cockney" Bristow a run for his money at the oche has been offered a mathematical helping hand by a crack team from Aberdeen University, the Daily Telegraph reports. The group, from the Department of Plant and Soil Science, has demonstrated that while the optimum aiming point for skilled …

    Science 21 Mar 2007, 10:03

  • Mag bets on black Xbox 360 for April

    Clue in the date?

    Microsoft's rumoured black Xbox 360 will find its way into eager gamers' hands in late April. It's said to pack a 120GB hard drive and - a much-requested feature, this - an HDMI port. So claims US-based Game Informer magazine in its April issue. Maybe that month is the key here, but staffers have been reported online as …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 10:08

  • Brown's last Budget: predictions

    Hostages to fortune ahoy!

    Today sees what most people believe will be Gordon Brown's last Budget before he ascends to Tony Blair's throne. Brown's eleventh Budget speech is expected to be a bit of a barnstormer. He is predicted to use the speech to focus on education and alleviating child poverty. The Guardian predicts he will commit to spending £1bn in …

    Government 21 Mar 2007, 10:22

  • Charity offers 'life size' virtual whale on web

    Blue screen of extinction

    The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WCDS), "the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins and their environment", has launched a "life size blue whale interactive banner", which can be seen here. It is an approximately one-to-one scale map of a whale, as if seen through unrealistically clear water, movie-style …

    Biology 21 Mar 2007, 10:35

  • NZ plans four-nippled sheep

    Too many lambs, not enough teats

    New Zealand scientists plan to tackle the thorny problem of ewes producing more lambs than they have nipples to accommodate, by simply upping mum's teat-count, Stuff.co.nz reports. Apparently, NZ's ovine population has become more fertile over the past 10 years and females often drop triplets. AgResearch Invermay scientist …

    Biology 21 Mar 2007, 10:37

  • RFID chips will force changes to ePrivacy Directive

    Widespread adoption causes a rethink

    The European Commission will make changes to the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive to take account of the exploding market in radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, it has said. Amendments will be proposed by the middle of this year. The commission has published a Communication (PDF), intended as "a step …

    Law 21 Mar 2007, 10:38

  • Palm purchased by Friday?

    Nokia, Moto among potential owners, it's said

    Nokia is on the verge of buying Palm, with an announcement said to be due tomorrow, the day the PDA pioneer is due to report its latest quarterly financial results. Or maybe the buyer's Motorola. Or venture capitalist Texas Pacific Group. Or maybe Silver Lake Partners. Those are the scenario suggested by website Unstrung.com …

    Financial News 21 Mar 2007, 10:40

  • US wants all 10 fingerprints on entry

    Surrender your digits

    The US will increase the amount of information it holds on foreign visitors when it takes all 10 fingerprints from air travellers rather than the usual two. Currently foreign travellers must have their index fingers scanned into a database when they enter the US by agents of the Department of Homeland Security. Those prints can …

    ID 21 Mar 2007, 10:45

  • Samsung conjures up Gold, Brown Magic phones

    Metal phones are all the rage - at least in South Korea, where local handset maker Samsung this week introduced a freash pair of alloy-clad phones into its Magic family. Joining the Magic Silver: Magic Gold and Magic... er... Brown. Samsung's Magic models - and... er... some handsets... Any metallurgists out there able to …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 10:59

  • Arc completes MBO

    Heading for the City?

    Arc Technology Distribution has completed a management buyout (MBO) of its majority shareholder Owen Dukes. The company's senior management team, including sales director Stuart Reay and finance director Robin Draper, funded the MBO. Dukes, now CEO of server-based software provider Propalms, was previously managing director …

    Channel Register 21 Mar 2007, 10:59

  • Nexsan shrink-wraps archiving

    A Centera for the rest of us...

    Storage subsystem developer Nexsan Technologies has introduced two standardised file archiving appliances, aimed at helping small and mid-sized businesses store their digital documents online. The Assureon NX is 3.7TB of content-addressable storage (CAS) and allows archived data to be retrieved using a file manager. The …

    Storage 21 Mar 2007, 11:02

  • Gateway denies talks with Acer

    Cows not going to market

    Tawain's Acer is not in talks to acquire Gateway, the California-based computer maker said yesterday. Shares in Gateway surged by up to eight per cent over the past few days as analysts speculated over comments made by Acer's chief executive, JT Wang, who said the company was looking at a possible PC industry acquisition. …

    Channel Register 21 Mar 2007, 11:03

  • The Federation goes soft on file sharing

    Piracy group casts net towards corporates

    The Federation, the UK trade association that prosecutes people for copying software, is letting individual file sharers off the hook and going after corporate software pirates instead. It used electronic surveillance techniques last year to track down bedroom file-sharers in a £100,000, 10-month investigation it called " …

    Law 21 Mar 2007, 11:14

  • Second LG Shine phone to fold... literally

    LG has taken the tin-foil off a clamshell version of its metal-clad slider phone, Shine. It also introduced a new version of the original Shine with an added digital satellite TV receiver. The clamshell is dubbed Shine Folder TV. It too has a DMB tuner on board and a 2.2in, 320 x 240, 262,144-colour display to watch …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 11:30

  • US Navy refuses sonar details in whale lawsuit

    Opts for 'state secret' defence

    The US Navy on Tuesday played its "state secrets" joker in ongoing attempts to resist a whale-saving lawsuit by an environmental group. The group bringing the lawsuit, the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), believes high-powered naval sonar can distress, injure, or kill whales and dolphins. It is also suggested that …

    Science 21 Mar 2007, 11:38

  • Archaeologists sniff out world's oldest perfumes

    Chanel No. 4,000BC

    Archaeologists have unearthed the world's oldest perfumes on the island of Cyprus - 4,000-year-old sweet smelling concoctions brewed from lavender, bay, rosemary, pine or coriander, the Daily Telegraph reports. The discovery was made at a 43,000 sq ft site at Pyrgos, on the south of the island, where the Italian team believes …

    Science 21 Mar 2007, 11:40

  • Skype users to get PayPal

    Payments by VoIP

    Skype will soon offer users the ability to transfer money using PayPal. Both companies are owned by eBay, so integrating the two isn't the biggest surprise. eBay paid $1.5bn for PayPal in 2002 and bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2005. Skype chief executive Niklas Zennstrom told Reuters: "You can send money over Skype. This is …

    Mobile 21 Mar 2007, 11:40

  • Italian consumers taking PS3s home already

    Retailers ignore official launch schedule

    Italian gamers have got their hands on Sony's PlayStation 3 two days before anyone else in Europe as local retailers flipped the finger at the consumer electronics giant's launch target of first thing this coming Friday. The retailers appear to have been forced into the move by a single competitor. According to Trade …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 12:18

  • Orange broadband down, but up again

    Yoyo fault fixed, ISP says

    Orange experienced broadband problems over the weekend, but says only a small percentage of customers were affected and the service is now up and running again. The Reg received several irritated emails yesterday from Orange punters who had been unable to get online since Sunday. The usual message boards were silent on the …

    Telecoms 21 Mar 2007, 12:20

  • Does MySpace really help artists?

    Column Doing the maths

    The Long Tail theory posits that the infinite shelf space made possible by the internet enhances the market value for "niche products". In the case of the music, that means indie artists. Unfortunately, the real benefit of the Long Tail flows to the distributor, not the artist. MySpace's plan to allow indie artists to sell …

    Music and Media 21 Mar 2007, 12:28

  • Virgin Media 'front runner' in Pipex bidding war

    Ahead by a beard and some big teeth

    Away from its high-profile battle with the Murdoch empire, Virgin Media is preparing to swallow second division ISP Pipex, according to reports. An unattributed Daily Telegraph tip claims Virgin is the front runner in deal broker UBS' tender process, which closes on Friday. Pipex invited bids last week, following a review of …

    Telecoms 21 Mar 2007, 12:34

  • LG software update to fix frozen Aussie TVs

    Engineers to be sent door to door

    LG has admitted its code caused some of its LCD and plasma TVs to freeze during certain digital broadcasts transmitted by Australia's Nine Network. The South Korean giant apologised for any inconvenience caused and pledged to fix the troubled tellies. As we reported yesterday, LG has been monitoring the problem and promised …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 12:44

  • Aspiring Capgemini workers fight for more pay

    HMRC profits not trickling down

    Unionised IT workers on HM Revenue & Customs £8bn Aspire contract have voted to take industrial action in protest at a below-inflation pay offer from their employer, Capgemini. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee heard in December how Capgemini's expected profits on Aspire had doubled to £1.1bn, in line with rising …

    Channel Register 21 Mar 2007, 12:47

  • Fortran developer John Backus dies

    Obituary Another founder of modern computing passes away

    John W Backus, team leader of the original FORTRAN development team at IBM, died on 17 March at the respectable age of 82. I never met John Backus, but he was responsible for changing my life – and probably that of many other scientific programmers of my generation. I was at the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian …

    Developer 21 Mar 2007, 12:53

  • Security flap as Scottish council loses USB key

    Red faces after local paper returns lost memory stick

    Pay details of scores of workers of Perth and Kinross Council has been found on a memory stick left in the street. The security lapse could have exposed workers to ID theft, the Perth Advertiser reports. The breach emerged after a USB key containing 59 documents, many from the council's Environmental Services Department, were …

    ID 21 Mar 2007, 13:04

  • TV's cyber-jihad slot exposes al Qaeda's web ops. Or not

    Analysis Time for a 'losing to e-Qaeda' re-run, says 60 Minutes

    Depressing evidence that the US news big deals have jumped the rails flows daily in the war on terror. Take 60 Minutes' recent special on "jihad.com." Reported by Scott Pelley and produced by Harry Radcliffe, the 800lb gorilla of US journalism led with the tired story of al Qaeda in cyberspace. It was so poor one could easily …

    Security 21 Mar 2007, 13:15

  • Falcon 1 finally claws way into space

    PayPal founder's budget rocket is go

    The Falcon 1 "budget" rocket developed by PayPal founder Elon Musk finally made it to space early this morning (GMT) - a tad under a year after a previous launch attempt ended in disaster. The 21-metre Space Exploration Technologies rocket blasted off at 2110 EDT yesterday (0110 GMT Wednesday) from Omelek Island in the Marshall …

    Space 21 Mar 2007, 13:23

  • Star Wars exhibition to land in London

    Our children must be told Greedo did not shoot first...

    Having already proved popular in Japan, France and Portugal, Star Wars: The Exhibition will be shown in County Hall, London from 5 May this year. Running until 1 September, the exhibition presents a respectable collection of memorabilia, including 280 original film props, vehicles, costumes and models covering the entire Star …

    Entertainment 21 Mar 2007, 13:50

  • Brown's Budget: cuts basic rate

    The man who would be king

    Gordon Brown's last Budget speech laid out the achievements he claims to have made since 1997 and cut the basic rate of income tax from 22 pence in the pound to 20 pence. The threshold for the top rate of income will increase in April 2009 to £43,000. In a flamboyant performance Brown also cut the rate of mainstream corporate …

    Government 21 Mar 2007, 13:58

  • MoD to stop using 'dumb' cluster weapons

    Self-destruct mechanisms now count as smart

    The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) made a push for the moral high ground yesterday, announcing that the British forces would cease to use “dumb” cluster munitions with immediate effect. "This is an important decision,” said Defence Secretary Des Browne. “We are doing this because it is the right thing to do – but we hope that …

    Security 21 Mar 2007, 14:03

  • A monkey hanger's guide to Net Neutrality

    El Reg goes Westminster

    Yesterday, Westminster eForum staged the first debate in the UK on "Net Neutrality" - chaired by former DTI minister Alun Michael and Shadow DTI Charles Hendry. El Reg gave a brief presentation. Here it is, with selected highlights, and a collection of external links for further reading. Good morning. For seven years, until …

    Telecoms 21 Mar 2007, 14:14

  • Hungarians demand ejection of Piresan immigrants

    Hold on a minute...

    Two thirds of Hungarians polled for their opinion of dole-scrounging immigrants from Piresa demanded "absolutely no asylum" for the parasitic newcomers, Ananova reports. This came as a bit of a surprise to opinion research institute Tarki, which carried out the probe, since the country of Piresa is fictional. Tarki said: "We …

    Bootnotes 21 Mar 2007, 14:20

  • Apple TV goes on sale

    Not just for the HD buffs

    Apple has at last confirmed what pre-order customers already knew: its Apple TV set-top box is flying out of the warehouse doors straight to buyers. It'll arrive in Apple's offline stores in the US this week, it said. Pitched as a device for the HD era, the Apple TV is also capable of pushing video content onto the screens …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 14:45

  • Vodafone.net says 'sorry'

    Email down for five days

    Vodafone.net's email service is finally up and running after long-suffering users were forced to wait at least five days to access their mail. Late last night the website was still down, by which point Vodafone.net had been unavailable since mid-afternoon Friday 16 March. We reported yesterday that the site had been floored by …

    Mobile 21 Mar 2007, 14:54

  • Judge boots out Google delisting suit

    Parenting link dump told to lump it

    A US federal judge has thrown out a defamation suit against Google, brought after the advertising firm's PageRank search engine relegated parenting links site KinderStart.com. A Northern California District Court ruling, which emerged on Tuesday, threw out the case which had been brought in March last year. The judge also …

    Law 21 Mar 2007, 14:59

  • Kensington unpacks breast cancer benefit mouse

    Accessory specialist Kensington has lent its support to charity Breast Cancer Campaign by offering ten per cent of the money it makes selling its new pink Si750 wireless optical mouse. Aimed at notebook users, the Si750 comes with a travelling pouch, and the USB receiver tucks safely into a bay built into the back of the …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 15:02

  • Most UK companies ignoring WEEE directive

    But so is the government so that's ok

    The majority of companies who should have signed up to WEEE directive schemes last week have failed to do so. But that's all right because the Environment Agency is not taking enforcement action even though the deadline has passed. All companies producing electronic equipment should have joined a scheme by last Thursday 15 …

    Channel Register 21 Mar 2007, 15:48

  • Segways to invade Netherlands

    Promised land set to open gates

    Oppressed Dutch Segway enthusiasts have seen the light at the end of their winter anguish, with the Dutch transport ministry promising to review its ban on their use in the flat-as-a-pancake arcadia. A November ruling classified the walk-shy devices as motor scooters, which meant their use on public roads was banned from 1 …

    Bootnotes 21 Mar 2007, 15:58

  • Euro roaming charges to fall 70% by summer

    Damn, I just dropped my phone in the Med

    European mobile phone roaming charges should collapse as much 70 per cent by the summer, following a vote in the European Parliament today. The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee voted in favour of a proposed European Commission regulation to reduce roaming charges by 70 per cent. Wednesday morning’s …

    Mobile 21 Mar 2007, 17:16

  • HP installs Barre as EMEA channel chief

    PSG re-shuffle

    Antoine Barre has taken over as vice president of Hewlett Packard's channel organisation in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Barre is not a completely new face to the channel. He previously headed up HP's Personal Systems Group in both Europea and the US, and brings with him 15 years of Compaq and HP sales and marketing …

    Channel Register 21 Mar 2007, 17:25

  • Two sailors die on UK nuclear sub

    Arctic accident aboard HMS Tireless

    Two sailors were killed this morning in an accident on nuclear submarine HMS Tireless, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed. The Trafalgar-class attack submarine (seen here on the surface following the accident) was submerged on a joint UK-US exercise in the Arctic when the incident occurred. It did not involve the …

    Science 21 Mar 2007, 18:36

  • US Patent Office says P2P threatens national security

    Drags kids into life of crime, too

    The US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched a stinging attack on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing services, publishing a report (pdf) from its Office of International Relations earlier this month. "A decade ago, the idea that copyright infringement could become a threat to national security would have seemed …

    Music and Media 21 Mar 2007, 18:58

  • Say hi to the internet-controlled car

    Knight Rider-style tech redefines war driving

    Technology has been developed which allows motorists to control and track their cars on the internet. Knight Rider-style systems from Inilex permit drivers to unlock their car doors, start their vehicle, disable the engine or display a car's location. Those who've lost their vehicle in a multi-story car park or who find it …

    Data Networking 21 Mar 2007, 19:08

  • SanDisk and Hynix buddy up

    Friendship made in Flash

    SanDisk and Hynix Semiconductor have reached a patent cross-licensing agreement covering Flash memory products from both companies and have come to terms over production supply. The collaboration, announced late Tuesday, included a signed memorandum of understanding - and possible pinky swears - between Milpitas-based SanDisk …

    Financial News 21 Mar 2007, 19:27

  • Sportingbet set free in Louisiana

    Dicks at ease

    Online gambling giant Sportingbook announced today in a statement that the State of Louisiana had canceled all outstanding arrest warrants issued against current or former employees, including ex-CEO Peter Dicks. Dicks was arrested last year in New York on a warrant issued by the State of Louisiana and was subsequently released …

    Law 21 Mar 2007, 19:43

  • Guilty plea in alleged internet steroid ring

    Drug sales over the net a booming business

    A former doctor from New York state has pleaded guilty to a charge related to a multistate ring that allegedly used the internet to sell $40m worth of steroids to professional athletes. Ana Maria Santi, 68, of New York city faces a minimum prison sentence of two to four years and a maximum of three to six years. She copped to …

    Crime 21 Mar 2007, 19:51

  • Fighting torture with copyright

    Column Moral musos work to rule

    For the French, the business of exploiting available laws, directives and other rules is an art form. One such inventive use of the constraints is the 'greve du zele' ('working to rules' strike action) where those on strike work more, not less. When on greve du zele workers observe all rules - however archaic or unsuitable they …

    Music and Media 21 Mar 2007, 19:59

  • Neteller to pay up as feds ease up

    Hippie founders not quite off the hook

    In more good news for the online gambling industry, Neteller today announced that it has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to return funds belonging to American players that had been frozen at the DOJ's request . Neteller, the online ewallet company that at one time provided payment processing …

    Law 21 Mar 2007, 20:47

  • UK cops clamp down on midnight PS3 launch

    Sony's big day faces disruption

    London's Oxford Street Virgin Megastore will be the only shop in the centre of the capital to offer Sony PlayStation 3s at midnight tomorrow - thanks to the actions of Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police. The reason? Local government and law enforcement officials fear they won't be able to cope with the crowds. …

    Reg Hardware 21 Mar 2007, 20:51

  • Man hijacks 90 eBay accounts

    Lax security, careless users

    An Australian man pleaded guilty to breaking into eBay and a local bank to steal AU$42,000 (about $34,000), in a case that demonstrates the problem of account takeovers on the auction site. Dov Tenenboim, 21, of the Sydney suburb of North Bondi, stood accused of breaking into at least 90 different eBay seller accounts last year …

    Crime 21 Mar 2007, 21:24

  • Six individuals suspected of using stolen TJX data

    Gaming consoles and big-screen TVs

    Six individuals have beendetained in Florida for suspicion of fraud by using credit card information stolen from TJX. It is the first arrests connected with the theft of customer details from the company, which owns retail outlets including TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods and A J Wright. At least 10 people are suspected of using …

    ID 21 Mar 2007, 22:30

  • Alaska and Dell team on $38bn bungle

    When storage specialists attack

    A database service call went rather awry when a network specialist accidentally wiped a hard-drive containing Alaska's $38bn Oil Fund. The multi-billion-dollar boner was performed under the watchful eyes of a Dell storage specialist working on a remote desktop session, a report obtained today by The Register has revealed. In …

    Storage 21 Mar 2007, 22:41

  • Novell's tiny regret in Microsoft deal

    Not invented here

    If Novell's chief executive has any regrets about slipping between the sheets with Microsoft, it's around Microsoft's push for IP protection. Ron Hovsepian's alliance with Microsoft, announced last November, saw Microsoft agree to sell SuSE Enterprise Linux (SLES) coupons, while the companies worked on interoperability between …

    Operating Systems 21 Mar 2007, 22:49