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4th April 2007 Archive

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  • Phones on a Plane: FCC still says no

    Hurrah!

    The FCC today called time on discussions to unban the use of cell phones onboard planes, prompting mass rejoicing from America's airline passengers. In a statement today, the FCC said that responses to its request for comment on the use of cellphones on airplanes provided "insufficient technical information" on whether …

    Wireless 4 Apr 2007, 00:27

  • Windows Vista marketing 'deceived' consumers

    Classy action

    Microsoft has been accused of deceiving US consumers by marketing PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" when they could only run the most basic version of its latest operating system. A US lawsuit filed today claims Microsoft overstated the ability of PCs to run Windows Vista, and that an upgrade program added insult to injury by …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2007, 01:02

  • Police data sharing plan faces the chop

    Confusion over database plans

    A major chunk of the plan to improve police databases in the wake of the Bichard enquiry into the Soham murders is expected to be dropped by the Home Secretary within weeks. Doubt also remains about the final deadline of the Police National Database (PND), the final aim of the Bichard reforms, dubbed collectively as Impact, …

    Government 4 Apr 2007, 07:02

  • Most SMBs will be virtual by 2020

    Reality is overrated, says Rackspace report

    Outsourced business services and hosted applications will be the norm for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) by the year 2020, according to a report by the Social Issues Research Centre. While 2020's always-on Generation C – C for content, connectivity, creativity, collaboration and/or communication, says SIRC - will be more …

    Small Biz 4 Apr 2007, 08:42

  • Home Office rethinks call data plans

    Proposes 12 month retention period

    The Home Office has published draft regulations to require the retention of certain call data by phone companies for 12 months. Internet telephony and internet access data will not be covered for the time being. The regulations will apply to phone providers by September of this year, subject to Parliament's approval. To comply …

    Government 4 Apr 2007, 09:07

  • PS3 UK sales rocket... then plummet

    Official sales monitor charts console's curved trajectory

    Sony's PlayStation 3 has been on a rollercoaster ride here during the past two weeks, rising to an incredible peak - then plunging rapidly back toward the ground. At least, that's what the next-gen consoles sales figures have done. The PS3 arrived here on 23 March. During its first weekend on sale, some 600,000 consoles were …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 09:09

  • IBM donates Arabic translation devices and software to US gov

    Aims to get Iraq talking

    The experiences of IBM staff who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq have prompted the tech giant to donate language translation technology to the US military. IBM said it is making a humanitarian donation to the United States government of 1,000 two-way translation devices and 10,000 copies of linguistic software. This system …

    Government 4 Apr 2007, 09:18

  • Who's the fastest mobile user in town?

    Take aim at mobile quick draw

    BlackBerry users may rate the speed with which they can respond to an email, but an experimental application from Mobile Radicals aims to test just how fast competitors can draw their mobiles against each other. Mobslinger runs in the background and uses Bluetooth to scan for other players in the vicinity. On discovering …

    Mobile 4 Apr 2007, 09:26

  • Intel to launch 'Steeley' UMPC CPU on 18 April?

    'McCaslin' mobile platform too

    Intel will formally announce 'Steeley', its new ultra-mobile PC-oriented processor, at Intel Developer Forum in Beijing in two weeks' time, it has been claimed. It will also unveil 'McCaslin', its UMPC platform. Intel employees let slip the existence of Steeley last September, but it's a part the chip giant has kept very …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 09:33

  • Accessibility: the benefits and challenges of Web 2.0

    Design, design, design

    The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has created opportunities for the visualisation of much information on the web. For example, a dashboard showing the current state of a business can summarise a great deal of information on a single page and highlight areas of interest or concern. Unfortunately, the way this information …

    IT Director 4 Apr 2007, 09:44

  • Patientline ups charges

    Bleeding patients dry

    Patientline is more than doubling the price paid by patients making phone calls from hospital. Calls from a hospital bed currently cost 10p a minute, but this is going up to 26p. Patientline provides internet access, televisions, and phones for hospital patients. Patientline claims the cost is justified because of its …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2007, 09:47

  • VESA adds anti-piracy tech to DisplayPort

    Digital monitor connector updated

    The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has posted DisplayPort version 1.1, almost a year after the digital monitor connection standard was first published. DisplayPort is pitched as the successor to not only DVI external monitor connections but also LVDS, used to hook up notebook panels. Heck, it'll even replace …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 10:06

  • Boy Scouts to model for UK ID checks

    CRB gets first dib dib dibs

    The Scouts are prepared to help the Identity and Passport Service design a model procedure for checking people's identities against the ID database. A pilot in June will help the IPS decide how to incorporate passports and ID cards into the identity checking process used by authorised agents of the Criminal Records Bureau, …

    Public Sector 4 Apr 2007, 10:11

  • The Twitterati - ten Twitter spin offs and mash ups

    Micro blogging mania starts here

    1. Twitterrific Mac OS X application that's sleek and minimal and lets you check on friends' posts ("tweets") and post your own, without cluttering your desktop. 2. Twitterlicious Basically, Twitterrific but for Windows, offering the same blend of easy reading/updating for PC users. 3. Twittervision/Twittersearch Two …

    Applications 4 Apr 2007, 10:28

  • Children to nag adults through CCTV

    Grown-ups to be 'pestered' with kindergarten morality

    CCTV cameras will bark orders at people who misbehave in the streets of eight major British cities as part of a government scheme to cajole people into respecting authority. Faceless bureaucrats will tell people off when they are being "anti-social" by dropping litter, behaving drunkenly, fighting, and, presumably, smashing up …

    Government 4 Apr 2007, 10:32

  • O2 confirms XDA Zinc zapped

    HTC-made XDA Trion the replacement?

    It's official: mobile phone network has canned the XDA Zinc, the 3G PDA phone the carrier originally planned to release in January but delayed to March. The Zinc failed to pass the carrier's network tests, an O2 spokeswoman confirmed today. March has gone and it's April now, of course, and Register Hardware readers keen on …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 10:33

  • Carphone Warehouse leaves caller hanging on telephone

    Updated And bills him for the privilege

    Punters calling the Reading branch of Carphone Warehouse (CPW) to find out the status of their phone repairs are being routed to a socket with no phone attached and charged for the privilege of listening to it fail to ring. After several months of trying to get through one punter got so annoyed he went down to the store to find …

    Mobile 4 Apr 2007, 10:40

  • Timico snaffles KeConnect

    IPswiched up

    Ipswich-based business ISP KeConnect has been bought by larger Nottinghamshire outfit Timico. Financial details of the deal have not been released. Privately-held KeConnect has about 6,000 subscribers to its ADSL service. Its two directors will continue to run it as a standalone subsidiary. Timico hopes to use its latest …

    Telecoms 4 Apr 2007, 10:41

  • Official: Powerpoint bad for brains

    Menace of slideware

    Anyone who's been a victim of "death by Powerpoint" - that glazed and distant feeling that overwhelms you when some sales droid starts their presentation - will be reassured by Aussie researchers who've discovered biological reasons for the feeling. Humans just don't like absorbing information verbally and visually at the …

    Applications 4 Apr 2007, 10:46

  • D-Link first to offer 802.11n ExpressCard for laptops

    Single-band only

    D-Link has begun shipping one of the first pre-standard 802.11n wireless networking adaptors that will slip into a notebook's ExpressCard slot. The Xtreme N-branded DWA-643 is an ExpressCard 34 device so it should also fit into laptops with ExpressCard 54 bays. Alas, the the device only operates with Windows, so MacBook Pro …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 11:06

  • Teachers left blubbing by cyber abuse

    Forum posts devastate beak's self-image

    Cyber bullying has been perceived for some time as a growing problem in British classrooms. An increasingly tech-savvy yoof generation are using the web to ridicule and harass their hapless victims. Self-esteem is being crushed, once confident personalities left tearful in the lavs. The human cost is high. But it's no use the …

    Law 4 Apr 2007, 11:13

  • Quantum gets NASty with shared SAN software

    De-cluttering through clustering

    Quantum is targeting the high-end NAS market with version 3 of its StorNext data management software, which now includes client software for PCs and workstations to give them heterogeneous and shared access to files stored on a SAN. The basis of StorNext 3.0 is a shared file system for the SAN, similar in approach to Acopia, …

    Storage 4 Apr 2007, 11:15

  • 419er miners go for gold

    African chief seeks sponsor with shovel

    At a loose end? Own a shovel? Fancy becoming fabulously rich? Read on: Subject : From Chief Nana Mensah, II of Tarkwa Village. Date : Tue, 3 Apr 2007 21:41:00 +0100 From : Chief Nana Mensah <chief_nana7@yahoo.com> FROM CHIEF NANA MENSAH THE 2nd OF TARKWA VILLAGE, GHANA DEAR,SIR/MADAM, In my villiage there is a land that …

    Bootnotes 4 Apr 2007, 11:17

  • Register Books' Easter sweetener

    Site offer 40% off tasty titles

    The Easter holiday is upon us, and for many it is the first chance since Christmas to get away from work, put your feet up, and take a break. Register Books thought it'd give you a break as well and slash the prices of masses of titles in our range by up to 40 per cent for this week only*. We've got thousands of titles with …

    Site News 4 Apr 2007, 11:24

  • MS releases emergency cursor bug fix

    Double-plus critical update triggers glitches

    Microsoft has released an out-of-sequence patch designed to address a Windows vulnerability involving the handling of cursor animation files, as well as a number of other flaws. The prime focus of the update is a stack buffer overflow flaw involving Windows' handling of animated cursor (.ANI) files. The flaw, first reported …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2007, 11:25

  • Samsung pitches 'ultra-silent' HDD

    Ring my deciBel

    Samsung may be keenly promoting Flash memory as the future of computer storage, but that hasn't stopped it developing magnetic media: today it said its 3.5in SpinPoint S166 line of "ultra-silent" hard drives will go on sale later this month. The family comprises 80GB and 160GB models, both with 8MB of cache and a spin-speed …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 11:27

  • Orange SPV M700 Windows Mobile smart phone

    Review Is it really any different to the M600?

    Orange has updated its Windows Mobile PDA phone and whacked another 100 onto its name. At first glance, the only difference is a shinier finish. So what else has been souped up to turn an M600 into an M700? Well, for starters, the 10.8 x 5.8 x 1.8cm, 150g SPV M700 can now handle 3G connections, as well as the EDGE and GPRS …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 11:28

  • Channel biz in good health, says survey

    Smiling dealers flash ring of confidence

    The European IT market is in a confident, bullish mood with sales growth predicted to be strong and revenue expected to rise. These were the highlights of the findings in this year's European Technology survey (ETech 2007), which was published by IT Europa yesterday. Over 70 per cent of channel distributors and resellers …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2007, 12:02

  • Thailand blocks YouTube

    NSFWIT Google declines to remove royal skit

    Thailand today blocked access to YouTube when Google refused to remove a clip "mocking the country's revered monarch", Reuters reports. The 44-second video, showing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has offended Thai Buddhists due mostly to "the juxtaposition of a pair of woman's feet, the lowest part of the body, above his head, the …

    Law 4 Apr 2007, 13:00

  • Kenneth Williams tops funniest film one-liner poll

    'Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!'

    Kenneth Williams has topped a Sky Movies Comedy poll for the funniest film one-liner with his immortal "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!" from 1964's Carry On Cleo. The survey tapped the opinion of 1,000 "comedians, industry figures and film fans", according to Sky. Film critic Bob McCabe said of the result: "I …

    Entertainment 4 Apr 2007, 13:05

  • Swedes battle to name daughter Metallica

    Authorites unrocked by 'inappropriate' moniker

    A Swedish couple is battling the country's National Tax Authority for the right to call their daughter "Metallica", the BBC reports. In Sweden, both first names and surnames have to be officially approved. On the banned list are "offensive, unsuitable or inappropriate" titles, as well as those which might "cause discomfort for …

    Entertainment 4 Apr 2007, 13:13

  • Vantage edges closer to Proxima

    Centauri not in Vantage till Q3

    Measuring what users are up to, particularly in any web-based business application where the users can be anybody "out there", is getting to be one of the more important aspects of managing the performance of business systems. Giving users the best possible experience when dealing with a web-based application is one of the …

    Developer 4 Apr 2007, 13:24

  • Apple announces octo-core Mac Pro

    Last month's AppleStore cock-up comes true

    Apple has upgraded is Mac Pro desktop with a pair of 3GHz quad-core Intel Xeon processors, less than a month after a website cock-up revealed such a machine was in the offering. It doesn't come cheap. The basic Mac Pro costs $2,200. Replace the two dual-core 2GHz CPUs with the two quad-core chips and the price almost …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 13:49

  • Mobile survey uncovers staff ignorance

    Dozy workers fall into knowledge gap

    A survey from OneCompare.com has highlighted how little networks know about their own tariffs. Price comparison service OneCompare.com called mobile phone operators 100 times each, asking a range of pretty basic questions about their call costs and roaming charges. The results were surprising, with up to 40 per cent of calls …

    Mobile 4 Apr 2007, 13:58

  • Google thwarts al-Qaeda kamikaze strike on US embassy

    London consulate cunningly disguised

    Google has quite brilliantly denied al-Qaeda the possibility of using Google Maps UK to identify the US embassy in London and subsequently launching a devastating kamikaze assault on the building. Indeed, were Ozzie bin Laden to search for "US embassy London", he'd be directed here: Quite what the Post Office boys down on …

    Bootnotes 4 Apr 2007, 14:18

  • Cisco goes for small, small business

    Product bundles and reseller certs

    Cisco is increasing its small business focus with the launch of a new suite of products and certification for resellers going after small business customers. Select Certification is an entry point for Cisco resellers. After training and exams, resellers also get access to Easy Lease, Cisco's leasing programme, to provide small …

    Small Biz 4 Apr 2007, 14:21

  • MS pulled over for 'dangerous driving' Xbox ad

    Political correctness gone Mad Max

    UK advertising watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority has rapped Microsoft on the knuckles for fielding a TV ad for the Xbox 360 which "gave the impression that reckless street car racing was exciting and fun". Reckless street car racing is indeed exciting and fun - well, we assume so on the basis of playing Carmageddon …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 14:22

  • Brando hogs limelight with pig-shaped card reader

    Carnivorous computer users with a taste for pork will undoubtedly find Hong Kong-based accessory maker Brando's latest memory card reader a toothsome treat: it's pig-shaped. Whether it's modelled on a Saddleback, Lop, Old Spot, Large Black or Tamworth, we can't rightly say. Middle White, possibly, by the look of it... …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 14:55

  • Avoiding the 'rogue power user' problem

    Reg reader workshop Have your say

    The question of how to manage power users' use, misuse, and abuse of access to corporate data through powerful reporting, query and desktop productivity tools was the topic of the latest Reg Workshop discussion (here). A whole range of issues have been raised by readers, from keeping track of what users are doing, though the …

    Business 4 Apr 2007, 15:27

  • WEP key wireless cracking made easy

    Gone in 60 seconds

    Code breakers have discovered a technique for extracting a 104-bit Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) key in under a minute. Cryptographic weaknesses with the first generation wireless encryption standard have been known for years, but the latest attack requires the capture of just a tenth of the number of packets required by …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2007, 15:43

  • Why I won't buy a Dell next time

    Comment Or, Reason #11 to buy a Mac

    I recently bought a "Vista capable" desktop PC from Dell. It was a good opportunity to play the secret shopper and report the experience as an ordinary consumer, instead of reporting as a tech journo reviewing hardware supplied by the maker and tweaked to perfection before delivery. I had bought a PC from Dell years ago and …

    Reg Hardware 4 Apr 2007, 16:33

  • Orbitz TLC campaign leads to online booking bloodbath

    Product review Reg hack in serious condition as inscrutable itinerary blows up in face

    Who knew that the online booking crew recently threw their throwback jerseys on? In a bizarre series of events that brought back the flying nightmares of yesteryear, the Register's ICANN Lisbon correspondent found himself living out of an airport hotel in Dakar, Senegal, on a flight path only Google Maps could love. The …

    Music and Media 4 Apr 2007, 16:50

  • Virtual FBI jackboots to march into Sadville?

    House of Cards FBI probing virtual gambling in virtual world

    Virtual regulation of the avatar community from the DOJ could be on the way, as Linden Labs has invited the FBI to probe gambling in Linden Dollars on the popular avatar playspace, legitimizing concerns expressed on Sadville blogs after the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) last year. According …

    Law 4 Apr 2007, 17:23

  • TIBCO open sources testing

    Not all testing, of course, just a bit

    TIBCO's GITAK (General Interface Test Automation Kit) has now been open sourced by the company. This gives developers a free tool for building automatic quality assurance testing routines for enterprise applications components. Not any or all of them, sadly, but asynchronous communications, JavaScript, AJAX and RIA (Rich …

    Developer 4 Apr 2007, 17:26

  • Sun breaks omerta for UltraSPARC IV+ speed bump

    Server chief still hiding under Rock

    Sun Microsystems spends very little time talking up its UltraSPARC servers these days. The lack of chatter, however, doesn't mean Sun has ignored the kit. This week, Sun released faster versions of the UltraSPARC IV+ chips for its flagship SunFire line. Customers will now find 1.95GHz and 2.1GHz iterations of the processor …

    Servers 4 Apr 2007, 18:01

  • Researchers unpick Vista kernel protection

    From boot kit to 'root kit'

    Security researchers have found a way to subvert the load-up procedure for Windows Vista and bypass its code-signing security checks. Indian researchers Nitin and Vipin Kumar of NV labs have developed a tool called VBoot kit, a custom boot sector loader, which launches from a CD. Once loaded, the tool allows hackers to make …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2007, 19:01

  • Microsoft calls on UK public to raise the Office standard

    Sign our petition

    Microsoft is calling on the Great British public to join its campaign to get the XML Office format adopted as an international standard. The company has launched an online petition encouraging the British Standards Institute (BSI) to vote for ratification of the Open XML Format, used in Office 2007, 2003 and XP, as an official …

    Applications 4 Apr 2007, 19:15

  • Seagate ships hardware-encrypted notebook drives

    Analysis Should be popular

    Seagate Technology has announced that it is now shipping its Momentus 5400 FDE.2, an encrypting 2.5in hard drive for notebooks, to ASI Computer Technologies. The Momentus 5400 FDE.2 (Full Disc Encryption) hard drive offers up to 160GB of capacity, Serial ATA interface, and hardware-based AES encryption. The encrypting hard …

    PCs & Chips 4 Apr 2007, 19:30

  • AMD kicks dual-core Opteron to 3GHz

    Trades apples with Intel

    AMD has started handing customers its fastest dual-core Opterons to date. Server makers and channel sellers have gained access to the 3GHz Model 2222 SE and Model 8222 SE chips, which will slot in just above the already shipping 2.8GHz processors. A similar 3GHz chip for the 1000 Series line should arrive in a few weeks. AMD …

    Servers 4 Apr 2007, 20:51

  • UCSF computer security breach affects 46,000 (maybe)

    Stable door, horse, bolted

    A UCSF computer server containing confidential information on about 46,000 people may have been hacked into, the University warned today. And the word is "may" - UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) says that there is no evidence "at this time" that any specific information was accessed. The server lives in the UC …

    Enterprise Security 4 Apr 2007, 20:52

  • Wall Street grossed out by Rackable's dwindling margins

    Feeling the competitive strain

    Shares of Rackable Systems began an all too familiar downward march, following a first quarter profit and gross margins warning. Well, profit isn't the best word to use since Rackable revealed that it will likely report a first quarter loss for the period that closed March 31. The loss stands as just one item in a long list of …

    Financial News 4 Apr 2007, 22:30

  • Best Buy amps up Apple volumes

    Plants seeds in 200 stores

    Best Buy is to start selling Apple PCs in 200 stores, the electronics retailer said today. This follows successful trials conducted in 50 stores. Best Buy sold Apple computers once before but axed the line in 1998 because of slow sales, the AP reports. That was at a low ebb for Apple. Soon afterwards the company axed most of …

    Channel Register 4 Apr 2007, 23:19