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18th May 2007 Archive

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  • AMD 'Griffin' laptop CPU to integrate Turion cores

    Power consumption, not processing, targeted

    AMD's upcoming next-gen notebook processor, 'Griffin', contains rather a lot of the current generation, the 65nm Turion 64 X2, the chip maker admitted today. This despite Griffin's status as AMD's first CPU designed specifically for notebooks. Griffin - due to ship late Q4, but probably not in systems you can buy until well …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 05:02

  • AMD M780 PCIe 2 chipset to offer on-the-fly GPU switching

    Yank the power plug, flip from discrete to integrated

    AMD's upcoming M780 laptop chipset - designed to be paired with the company's next-gen mobile processor, 'Griffin' - will allow the system to flip between integrated and discrete graphics engines on the fly, the chip maker has revealed. The M780 is a mobile version of the RS780 desktop chipset, details of which leaked out …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 05:02

  • AMD readies HyperFlash cache tech

    To be built into SB700 Southbridge

    AMD's 'Puma' laptop platform, due to debut next year with the 'Griffin' processor and the M780 chipset, will incorporate the chip maker's alternative to Intel's TurboMemory Flash cache technology, as expected. AMD's M780 chipset incorporates the company's own SB700 Southbridge chip. The SB700 will feature what AMD calls …

    PCs & Chips 18 May 2007, 05:02

  • ITU to focus on ICT opportunities for young people

    Think of the children

    This year's World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which takes place on 17 May, is focused on the opportunities that ICT can give to young people. The event, which marks the anniversary of the signature of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telecommunication Union ( …

    IT Director 18 May 2007, 08:53

  • British fathers to be given six months' paid paternity leave

    DTI opens consultation

    Fathers will be allowed to take six months' paid paternity leave instead of mothers under new government proposals. The law will not come into effect until maternity cover is extended to 12 months, which will happen in April 2009 at the earliest. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has opened a consultation on its plans …

    Business 18 May 2007, 09:14

  • WPP, AOL buy into the race for online ad spend

    On your marks, get set...

    Real-world advertising and marketing agency WPP has dipped a fairly big toe into the murky world of online ads with the $649m acquisition of 24/7 Real Media. According to reports, Microsoft had been considering putting down a billion dollar offer for the company, which analysts had valued at about $600m. The deal illustrates …

    Applications 18 May 2007, 09:28

  • MS stops hacked hardware accessing Xbox Live

    Tweaked DVD drive? No thanks

    Microsoft has begun booting owners of modified-firmware Xbox 360 games consoles off of its Xbox Live online service, an array of postings on fan forums have revealed. Microsoft's message to Xbox 360 hackers who log on to Xbox Live The move appears to centre on users who've patched their consoles' firmware to allow the …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 09:33

  • GPL to undermine Microsoft's Novell deal?

    Back at ya

    Microsoft will apparently nullify its patent protection agreement with Novell, under the terms of the forthcoming GPL 3 license. That seems to be the conclusion to be drawn from remarks by Software Freedom Law Centre founding director and general counsel to the Free Software Foundation, Eben Moglen, made yesterday during a …

    Software 18 May 2007, 09:34

  • Compuware absorbs a bit more Centauri

    Another day, another bit integrated

    Another bit of Proxima' Centauri product suite has now been integrated into Compuware's Vantage Application Performance Management suite, allowing the latter to now launch Vantage Service Manager, a tool that informs IT, in real-time, on the level of service being provided to customers, while at the same time measuring customer …

    Developer 18 May 2007, 09:41

  • Gatwick gets iris recognition

    Biometric border control

    Gatwick South has started using an iris recognition system - it is the ninth UK airport terminal to roll out the system. Project IRIS(Iris Recognition Immigration System) is designed to give travellers resident in the UK, who have no black marks against their name on the immigration database, a means of avoiding normal …

    ID 18 May 2007, 09:54

  • Virgin Media piles Cable and Wireless sandbags

    Huffy manoeuvres

    Virgin Media attempted to win back some shareholder and media confidence late yesterday, by announcing a deal with Cable and Wireless to offer LLU ADSL for areas outside its cable network. Virgin already has some ADSL customers off its own network, but an LLU(Local Loop Unbundling) deal is key to delivering a bundle at a price …

    Telecoms 18 May 2007, 10:00

  • Blighty internet shopping goes ballistic

    As young women become dominant UK online group. Coincidence?

    UK shoppers are abandoning the high street and going online in droves, according to the latest figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), the industry body. April net sales were up a thumping 55 per cent on last year at £3.47bn, taking the total web-receipts count since 1995 into 12 figures. The IMRG numbers …

    IT Director 18 May 2007, 10:08

  • Spanish politicos slug it out in Second Life

    Explosions and gunfire shake Sadville

    Spain's two main political parties have been indulging in some light scrapping in the run-up to this month's local elections by attempting to burn down each other's Second Life headquarters, Reuters reports. The "bitter political wrangling" between the socialist government, represented by the PSOE, and the conservative …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 10:23

  • HTC takes a gamble with new brand and OS strategy

    Sidelines Microsoft

    Every time Microsoft scores a point in its tortuous quest to become a major mobile player, it seems to suffer a balancing setback. So while the recently announced updates to Windows Mobile made the OS look far more credible on a small device than it had before, the software giant had to endure its primary handset ally, Taiwan's …

    Mobile 18 May 2007, 10:25

  • Satellites track freak waves to Reunion

    Working on an early warning system

    The freak waves that smashed into Reunion Island last week were tracked by satellite as they raced across the Indian Ocean. As many as six people are reported to be missing in the region after the waves demolished several piers in the port of Saint Pierre. Two of the missing are coastguards whose boat was capsized as they …

    Space 18 May 2007, 10:34

  • BOFH: The revenge

    Episode 17 It's amazing what people will fall for

    >SQUEAK< ... "Impressive," our recent ex-new-Boss says nervously, edging towards the back of the room. "How did you... find us?" "Simple," the PFY says, entering from the door behind him, cattleprod in hand. "One of the laptops you took wasn't exactly what it looked like." "Bitlocker?" the ex-new-technician asks, halting …

    BOFH 18 May 2007, 10:37

  • Train driver asks passengers to get out and push

    Not in Argentina, mercifully

    We don't know what Argentinian commuters would make of it, but hundreds of Indian train passengers were apparently happy to oblige when the driver asked them to hop out and push. According to Reuters, the unscheduled jump-start happened in Patna, capital of Bihar, after "a passenger pulled the train's emergency chain and it …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 10:42

  • DirectTV turns focus to power lines for broadband

    Change of heart a blow to WiMAX

    DirectTV CEO Chase Carey said at a conference this week that the largest US direct to home satellite provider will try out broadband over power lines in a few cities later this year. And in that simple statement he may have delivered the biggest body blow to WiMAX in the US that he could have, and in particular to Craig McCaw …

    Telecoms 18 May 2007, 10:51

  • Screen stars: Ten HDTVs on test

    Group Test Time for a new gogglebox?

    The world of TV is changing, as HD hits the mainstream and digital broadcasting finally overtakes analog. There are myriad options available too, from plasma to LCD, little to gargantuan and everything in between. One for every flavour then... Evesham Alqemi 32TX Evesham's Alqemi 32TX sits at the very bottom end of the …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 10:53

  • FCO to probe visa security lapse

    Indian problem could be worldwide

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has closed its online service for visa applicants from India while it investigates a security breach that made the personal details of visa applicants available online. VFS Global, the private firm that runs the FCO's online visa application service, told the reporter who broke the …

    Government 18 May 2007, 11:00

  • Nintendo dominates April US console sales

    Nintendo's Wii continues to dominate sales of the last game consoles in the US, raining on the parades of both Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 during April, the latest market research shows. Figures from US market watcher NPD put Wii on top with 360,000 sales, followed by the Xbox 360 on 174,000 units. The PS3 brings up …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 11:01

  • London dirty-bomb tests start this weekend

    Nobody panic

    Home Office counter-terror boffins from the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) Science and Technology Programme will carry out "tracer gas trials" in London starting this weekend. Tony McNulty, the minister in charge of security spooks and special-powers cops, revealed the plans to Parliament yesterday. " …

    Physics 18 May 2007, 11:15

  • Bible heads for Hong Kong's top shelf

    Updated Residents demand X-rating for 'indecent' tome

    The Bible may be reclassified as "indecent" in Hong Kong due to its "sexual and violent content", Reuters reports. That's if the 800 or so residents who've demanded it be restricted to over-18s get their way, following an unholy rumpus over a sex column recently published in the Chinese University's Student Press magazine which …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 12:16

  • Bill Gates, Cliff Richard, and Richard Branson walk into a bar...

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

    FUD, glorious FUD We have the excellent combination of Fortune magazine and the Microsoft PR ubergoblin to thank for a lively start to the week. They conspired to crystallise Redmond's patent claims against open source software ever so slightly, by putting a number on how many times they had wronged: 235. Cue cries of "show us …

    Business 18 May 2007, 12:50

  • Net censorship growing worldwide

    Control freaks

    Censorship of internet content is growing across the world. A survey by the Open Net Initiative (ONI) across 41 countries found that 25 applied content filtering to block access to particular websites. Web applications such as Google Maps and Skype as well as "subversive" websites featured on content blocking lists. Five …

    Malware 18 May 2007, 12:59

  • Cane toad hitches lift to southern Australia

    Toadzilla menaces Melbourne

    Australia may be on the verge of total subjugation by cane toads which locals fear have now developed the ability to hitchhike on lorries. According to The Scotsman, an example of the monster toad turned up in a Melbourne drain - quite some distance from their northern stomping ground where they have, since their ill-advised …

    Biology 18 May 2007, 13:03

  • Southern Ocean calls time on carbon sinking

    Just had enough, thanks

    The Southern Ocean, one of the planet's biggest carbon sinks, is almost totally saturated, according to research published in the journal Science. Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) joined forces with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Max Planck institute for a four year study of the ocean around the …

    Physics 18 May 2007, 13:08

  • India to deploy tethered blimp radars

    Worried about Tamil Tiger air force

    The Indian armed forces are using radar-carrying static balloons to provide an early warning of terrorist air strikes, according to reports. Much interest has been aroused in defence circles during recent months by the air raids mounted in Sri Lanka by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or "Tamil Tigers"). The conflict …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 13:20

  • Euro consumers don't trust IP for TV

    Scepticism is closing the window of opportunity

    Public scepticism over the reliability of broadband and the internet could sink IPTV - unless European service providers can develop hybrid or blended services that deliver more than "just TV", and unless they wean themselves off competing solely on price and speed. That's according to a survey of European consumer attitudes …

    Networks 18 May 2007, 13:41

  • Elijah Wood to play Iggy Pop

    Reader poll Hobbit gets lust for life

    We're not sure quite what to make of this, but according to Variety, Hobbit Elijah Wood is to play Iggy Pop in a forthcoming biopic entitled The Passenger. The $8m project - slated for release in 2008 - will follow Pop's early career with The Stooges. Nick Gomez of Drowning Mona, er, fame will direct from a script by Eric …

    Entertainment 18 May 2007, 13:45

  • Project Hybrid: Dell's transformation begins

    Hunting the Butterfly Effect

    Dell now hints with muscularity around its future data center plans. We give you Project Hybrid. Company executives, most notably CEO Michael Dell, have spent the last few weeks positing the notion that Dell will revamp its server and storage hardware. On Thursday, Dell added the faintest touch of concrete detail to these …

    Servers 18 May 2007, 14:26

  • Belgian politico to orally pleasure 40,000

    NSFW Senate hopeful's election campaign really sucks

    A Belgian senate hopeful is offering voters something a bit more tempting than a one per cent cut in VAT and better rubbish collections - 40,000 free blow jobs to anyone who signs up at her campaign website. Tania Derveaux represents NEE, an "impartial protest movement running for senate in the Belgian elections of June 10 …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 14:58

  • HMRC claims IT successes

    VAT fraudsters still as slippery as eels, though

    HM Revenue and Customs revealed today how joining up its IT systems has contributed to falling costs in the merged departments. However, the annual report also said losses to missing trader VAT frauds had been creeping up above one of its key targets. Revenue and Customs' financial accounting systems were merged and their …

    Government 18 May 2007, 15:05

  • Paris and Lara share a cell with rude speeder

    Comments Bubba the Kid still at large

    We recently rolled out comments pages to most stories on the site, and it seems we opened a bit of a floodgate. You guys just won't shut up. And in the best traditions of appeasement we are announcing a new regular feature: a Best of Comments article. We may just be crazy. First up, a speeding motorist made a rude gesture at …

    Bootnotes 18 May 2007, 15:13

  • Post Office to resell BT broadband

    Lost packet experts of the world unite

    The circle of history completed yesterday, when BT announced it had signed up the Post Office as the first big customer for its nascent white label managed services venture. The Post Office will cough £750m over four years for BT Wholesale to provide the hardware and customer support grunt for it to become an all-out broadband …

    Networks 18 May 2007, 15:16

  • Naked doctors eat vultures in front of Freeview

    Letters Was that a Yeti?

    We discovered this week that you, our dear readers, are really quite keen on your TV watching. How did we find this out? Well, call it an educated guess, based on the volume of letters we had in response to Kewney's column about the horrors that have befallen him and his Virgin TV account: Guy, If you really can't cancel your …

    Letters 18 May 2007, 15:26

  • US company touts Windows Vista fridge magnet

    California-based Ricavision has thrown itself into the spirit of Windows Vista SideShow technoology - you know, the mini display that operates as an adjunct to main screens, even when host computer its powered down. This week, the company should three gagdets it hopes to bring to market. Ricavision MK140 digital 'fridge …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 15:32

  • Tandberg touts VXA to Euro channels

    Fighting over the tape drive crumbs?

    The market for tape drives may be declining, but that doesn't mean it's dead or unprofitable, declared Tandberg Data as it launched a European version of the VXA Alliance, its vehicle for convincing resellers to adopt the ex-Exabyte VXA tape format. Tandberg corporate marketeer Marije Stijnen claimed that a reduced emphasis …

    Storage 18 May 2007, 16:04

  • Nokia launches, doesn't show 'traditional' talk phone

    Nokia's 3109 Classic, announced today, has been on the cards since its presence was discovered in hidden Nokia XML files back in April. The mystery phone was launched without any indication as to what it might look like. The handset's a basic boy aimed at folk who want to talk and business that don't want to spend too much …

    Reg Hardware 18 May 2007, 16:07

  • Hatchling stars revealed in new Spitzer snap

    Check out the polycyclic aromatic compounds on that one...

    Gorgeous new pictures from the Spitzer space telescope show newborn stars "hatching" from the head of the Orion constellation. NASA says it is likely that the wave of star formation we are witnessing here was triggered by a shockwave from a star that exploded more than three million years ago. The region in the picture is …

    Space 18 May 2007, 16:09

  • Mobile blocking helicopter to trail Bush in Sydney

    Fighters, SAS on alert as 'Blue Luminary' goes Down Under

    US President George Bush will be followed about by a helicopter which jams mobile phone signals during an upcoming visit to Australia, it has emerged. According to reports in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, train stations will also be temporarily shut down and parts of the city will "become restricted areas". The Age speculates …

    Mobile 18 May 2007, 16:14

  • Microsoft squares up to Google with $6bn buy

    Bill's most expensive ever purchase

    Microsoft today opened a new front in its war with Google for online advertising dollars, with a $6bn cash offer for the Seattle-based online advertising group aQuantive. This is Microsoft's biggest acquisition to date, and boy, does it want the company: the $66.50 per share offer is an 85 per cent premium on aQuantive's …

    Software 18 May 2007, 16:48

  • Adware firm sues over adware classification

    Zango fights spyware software again

    Adware company Zango is taking another crack at suing a desktop-security software firm for deeming its software undesirable. Zango filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court in Seattle Tuesday, against PC Tools and its free Spyware Doctor program bundled with Google Pack. The filing claims that Spyware Doctor illegally …

    Malware 18 May 2007, 21:43

  • Indian dealers are squealers over Microsoft piracy raids

    Feel OS vendor has them by their Rupees

    Computer dealers in Gujarat, India held a one-day strike to protest ongoing anti-piracy raids from Microsoft. India news portals itVARnews and CIOL report about 350 dealers joined in a statewide bandh (that's a general strike) initiated by Surat-based South Gujarat Information Technologists Association (SITA). This month, …

    Developer 18 May 2007, 21:47

  • HP garage becomes national landmark

    So you'll just have to park in the street

    The renowned garage in Palo Alto which birthed PC titan Hewlett-Packard has been upgraded from merely state recognized landmark to getting nationally certified. That's the landmark big leagues. The garage and accompanying house at 367 Addison Avenue (pic here) has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the …

    Hardware 18 May 2007, 23:50