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5th June 2007 Archive

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  • Bill Gates nicks Larry Ellison's health center

    Diseased one-upmanship

    The Bill Gates-Steve Jobs rivalry may have cooled, but the Microsoft Chairman is still going to toe-to-toe with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. A year after Ellison backed out of his promise to fund a multi-million dollar public health institute at Harvard University, Gates has revived the project at the University of Washington. On …

    Biology 5 Jun 2007, 00:50

  • Flaws galore in IE and Firefox

    Equal-opportunity hacking

    Polish security researcher Michal Zalewski, known for his seemingly unending stream of browser vulnerability discoveries, has struck again. This time he's reported four flaws that are sure to get the attention of bug squashers in both Microsoft and Mozilla camps. The most serious vulnerability could make it possible for cyber …

    Enterprise Security 5 Jun 2007, 02:23

  • Flextronics falls for rival Solectron

    $3.6bn marriage made in tron

    Flextronics plans to capture rival Solectron for $3.6bn in stock and cash. Flextronics and Solectron construct a diverse range of products from computing systems such as the Xbox and high-end servers to medical devices. So, the proposed tie-up between the two companies means that a wide variety of hardware makers who prefer not …

    Channel Register 5 Jun 2007, 09:06

  • Amp'd volume fading

    Content-driven MVNO files for Chapter 11

    Amp'd, the US MVNO launched less than two years ago and targeted at da urban yoof, has filed for Chapter 11 - protecting itself from creditors while trying to sort out its finances. The company has burned through the $360m invested over the last two years, and now owes around $100m to creditors, including Verizon, which carried …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 09:12

  • Google Checkout downchecked by UK users

    Fast and easy? Er, maybe not yet

    Google's new Checkout Service debuted in the UK the month before last to the usual fanfare: "Online shopping will now be faster, easier and more secure with Google Checkout™," said the search colossus. "If you're tired of waiting online, then try Google Checkout. Online shopping is made easier, faster and safer," enthused …

    Small Biz 5 Jun 2007, 09:18

  • Norfolk schools install kid-monitoring software

    Makes children play nice on school network

    Norfolk CC is using monitoring software to fight bullying and protect children from internet grooming. It has set up a managed service for primary schools and is encouraging higher schools to use a software developed by Securus to identify threats to children coming through school networks. Andrew White, integrated services …

    Public Sector 5 Jun 2007, 09:45

  • MPs demand controls on Euro police databases

    Co-operation needs human touch

    The Home Affairs Select Committee has advised government to put its weight behind neglected European efforts to hold the rapidly emerging system of police databases answerable to human rights legislation. The committee's proposals, published today in a report on EU police and judicial co-operation, include a bar on agreements …

    Law 5 Jun 2007, 10:02

  • Carphone Warehouse coffers hit by broadband rollout

    Claims troubles behind it

    Carphone Warehouse's faltering entry into the broadband dogfight cost the firm 10 per cent of its profits compared to last year, the company said this morning. Overall pre-tax profit tumbled 9.5 per cent to £123.1m. Group revenue for the financial year rose to £3.99bn, from £3.05bn a year ago. In the 12 months to 31 March, its …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 10:06

  • MySpace seeks Judge's input on sex offenders purge

    How to hand over the details

    MySpace this week asked a Pennsylvania state court for advice on how it could hand over information about registered sex offenders without breaking US data protection and privacy laws. The firm is responding to calls from state attorneys general who last month demanded that the social networking site provide any information it …

    Law 5 Jun 2007, 10:08

  • Amazon ups spending in China

    Fastest growing market

    Online bookseller Amazon is increasing investment in its Chinese business - where sales are growing faster than anywhere else. The Chinese site sells books, watches, CDs, DVDs, and electronic gadgets. Amazon paid $75m for Joyo in 2004. Jeff Bezos, chief executive of Amazon.com, did not give figures but said he wanted to " …

    Financial News 5 Jun 2007, 10:08

  • TV ads too loud, industry watchdog says

    Moves to 'minimise annoyance', save eardrums

    Television adverts sometimes sound much louder than surrounding programme material because existing rules on sound levels are ambiguous. The rules should change to minimise annoyance to viewers, says an industry watchdog. The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) has launched a consultation on the sound levels of …

    Business 5 Jun 2007, 10:09

  • Microsoft threatens its Most Valuable Professional

    Who said you could improve our software?

    What's the best way to attract a pile of threatening lawyers' letters from Microsoft? Sell pirate copies of Windows? Write a DRM-busting program? Londoner Jamie Cansdale has just discovered a new approach. He had the temerity to make Redmond's software better. As a hobby, Cansdale developed an add-on for Microsoft Visual …

    Software 5 Jun 2007, 10:25

  • El Reg 'buys' acre of Brazilian rainforest

    Helping Cool Earth 'keep carbon where it belongs'

    A new online initiative has come up with a cunningly simple plan to save the world's rainforests - offer them by the acre to concerned netizens whose "purchase" allows swathes of threatened land to be preserved for future generations. UK charity Cool Earth rolled out some high-profile backers for its launch this week. Sir David …

    Biology 5 Jun 2007, 10:28

  • The growing pains of RFID

    Manufacturers issue call for help

    It is now three years since retailer Wal-Mart announced it would mandate the use of RFID by its suppliers, with the eventual intention of deploying RFID technology throughout its supply chain to improve efficiencies. And it is not the only firm to have taken such a decision, as retailers such as Metro of Germany and Target in …

    Business 5 Jun 2007, 10:36

  • Silicon offsetting - the new green saviour?

    IT's positive environmental impact

    IT, on the face of it, is not very sustainable. New products are introduced in rapid development cycles that encourage wasteful frequent upgrade and replacement. Not only do the products consume precious metals and other resources, but the manufacturing processes are energy intensive and systems or components are rarely sourced …

    Servers 5 Jun 2007, 10:45

  • Intel power PC platforms: Core 2 Extreme QX6800 and V8

    Review Blistering performance?

    Intel has been dancing all over AMD's financials with its Core 2 processors for the past year and it's keeping up the pressure, most recently with the Core 2 Extreme QX6800 and, more intriguingly, it's product-that-isn't-a-product, the V8 platform. Intel's V8: firing on all cylinders? Let's start with V8 as it's something …

    Reg Hardware 5 Jun 2007, 11:02

  • Channel 4 refuses to pull Diana crash pics

    Princes battle broadcaster over 'deeply distressing' images

    Princes William and Harry have made public a letter to Channel 4 asking the broadcaster not to air pictures taken at the scene of their mother's death "depicting the crashed car while the Princess was still in the wreckage, and an image of a medic administering emergency treatment to Diana". The photographs are due to hit the …

    Music and Media 5 Jun 2007, 11:39

  • 855,000 new phones end up in the bog

    Almost as many left in the pub

    New research from SimplySwitch reveals that while we buy 18 million handsets ever year, we're throwing 855,000 of them down the toilet and leaving 810,000 in the pub - contributing to the 4.1 million we lose or break every year. Twenty-eight per cent of men admit to breaking or losing their phone, compared to 26 per cent of …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 12:02

  • Israel deploys robo-snipers on Gaza border

    Man still in the loop...to begin with

    Israel has begun deploying stationary robot gun-and-sensor installations along its borders with the Gaza Strip, according to reports. Both Jane's Defence Weekly and Defence News reported last week that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have begun deploying automated gun stations in pillboxes along the Gaza border. The robot …

    Government 5 Jun 2007, 12:07

  • O2 trials one off the wrist for VIP access

    Wireless music festival gets crystal-studded treatment

    O2 is trialling a wristband loaded with a computer chip at this year's Wireless Festival that could act as a credit card, electronic ticket, and Oyster card. Crystal-studded wristbands will be given out to VIPs at the event in London's Hyde Park. Holding the bracelet close to electronic sensors will allow them into a backstage …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 12:38

  • Sony cuts price of Blu-ray player

    Another battle in the ongoing Format War

    Sony has cut $100 (£50/€74) off the recommended retail price of its new next-generation DVD player in an attempt to forge ahead in the Format Wars. The BDP-S300 now costs $499 (£250/€370) - half what the company's first dedicated Blu-ray player cost when it was launched six months ago. Consequently, the PS3 is now no longer …

    Reg Hardware 5 Jun 2007, 12:54

  • Boffin debunks Bush's climate claims

    Not greener than green, after all

    As he outlined the US' new plans for tackling climate change, President Bush made the bold claim that the US' carbon emissions are growing more slowly than those in Europe. This was presented not only as evidence to support the States' non-carbon cap approach to tackling emissions, but as something of a rebuke to the noisy …

    Science 5 Jun 2007, 13:25

  • Google is Europe's most visited site

    While America prefers Yahoo!

    A survey of internet usage across Europe reveals that Google is the region's most popular website in every country except Sweden and Norway. The average European spent 24.1 hours online during the month of April. Most visited sites were Google, Microsoft, then Yahoo!. Russia's most visited sites were YANDEX.ru, MAIL.ru, and …

    Telecoms 5 Jun 2007, 13:26

  • Porton Down bio-terror tech re-used in odour-proof pants

    Defending against the enemy within

    It's well known that military projects can sometimes yield valuable spin-off technologies for civilian markets. For instance, missile programmes played a key role in early integrated-circuit production, laying the foundations for today's digital hardware. Likewise, Pentagon-funded researchers were instrumental in setting up the …

    Science 5 Jun 2007, 13:34

  • BBC shows Olympic logo the door

    More reader-generated merriment

    It might not be as unpleasantly suggestive as the Goatse-inspired effort offered yesterday by one wag on the BBC's website, but another reader-generated suggestion as to how the new 2012 Olympic logo might be improved just about sums up public reaction to what is now officially known as the "Lisa Simpson bj graphic": …

    Entertainment 5 Jun 2007, 13:38

  • Chinese user sues Symantec over dodgy updates

    Unpalatable

    A Chinese user's attempt to sue Symantec for damage caused as a result of dodgy anti-virus signature update files is unlikely to succeed, according to security experts. Liu Shihui, a solicitor based on Southern Guangdong Province, is suing Symantec for 1,644 Yuan ($215) for damage caused by a signature update of Norton Anti- …

    Security 5 Jun 2007, 13:44

  • Pirate Bay founders host paedophilia site

    It's a freedom of speech thing

    A Swedish company owned by the founders of controversial torrent tracker site The Pirate Bay is hosting a site that defends paedophilia. PRQ, co-owned and operated by Fredrik Neij and Gottfried Svartholm Warg, has refused to take the web page down, citing the principle of freedom of speech. The company says it doesn't share …

    Law 5 Jun 2007, 13:59

  • Editors' Blog Perforce collaborates with open source

    Subversion is a very popular open source Software Configuration Management (SCM) tool and I've heard someone unkind say "Perforce is good too, but it's just like paying for Subversion when you don't need to". This paragraph already opens up several cans of worms: are these tools really "configuration management" or simply " …

    Developer 5 Jun 2007, 14:09

  • UK gov skills shortage jeopardising IT projects

    PAC issues damning report

    MPs have said poor skills at senior level are jeopardising ICT projects. Senior civil servants with poor experience and little time are threatening the success of critical technology enabled programmes. Key government ICT programmes are being put at risk because senior civil servants lack the experience to run them and often …

    Government 5 Jun 2007, 14:22

  • Vendors lining up to meet APACS challenge

    We're all going contactless

    As London starts the migration towards country-wide acceptance of contactless payments, vendors are starting to pitch the equipment UK retailers are going to need to get the technology up and running. Last month, APACS (the UK banks clearing house) announced that retailers in central London (City to Canary Wharf) would start …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 14:35

  • HTC jumps on touch-screen phone bandwagon

    New handset could be the iPhone spoiler

    Today in London, HTC showed off its latest mobile phone handset, simply known to as the Touch - referring to its main feature, the fact that functions are accessed and operated through a touch screen...rather like that much-hyped other touch screen mobile phone soon to hit the shores of the US - Apple's iPhone. Until …

    Reg Hardware 5 Jun 2007, 14:36

  • Pipex clings on to former customer data

    Ex-Pipexers discover banking details on new website

    Pipex's new account management website has angered its former customers by revealing that the ISP has retained personal details, including banking information, for up to 11 months after they quit their contract. Mypipex.net opened for business late last week, and users on ISP forum thinkbroadband.com quickly noticed that …

    Telecoms 5 Jun 2007, 15:07

  • BMA calls for unity amidst MTAS fallout

    Watch out, the men in white coats are coming

    The new president of the British Medical Association (BMA), Parveen Kumar, has penned an open letter outlining what the organisation will do to try and sort out the mess of the online application system for doctors. Previous president James Johnston resigned after a letter he wrote to The Times failed to reflect the anger felt …

    Public Sector 5 Jun 2007, 15:15

  • High-flying Nokia now dependent on cheapies

    Exclusive Phones? They're what phones will become

    Nokia is one of the world's best known brands, and spends a lot of money keeping it that way. The Finnish giant splashed out £175m ($340m) on advertising alone last year. Much of this advertising is designed to remind us that we're inadequate unless we have one of its latest high-end pieces of gadgetry, which grow ever more …

    Mobile 5 Jun 2007, 16:05

  • Melting glaciers race for Antarctic shores

    Speedy ice flow

    They are not noted for their speed; quite the reverse. But over the last decade the glaciers in Antarctica, clearly upset by their reputations as laggards, have been accelerating. The boffins at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) say that on average the white continent's glaciers were heading for the sea 12 per cent faster …

    Science 5 Jun 2007, 16:06

  • Mobile Comms: 'out of the office' or out of ideas?

    Reg Technology Panel Over-specced, over budget and over here

    The continued evolution of the mobile business has made terms like "out of the office" almost feel redundant. Employees have, or at least want, the ability to communicate wherever and whenever the need arises, and if you believe the marketing campaigns that accompany these developments, each step brings us closer to "enhanced …

    Tech Panel 5 Jun 2007, 16:08

  • Lack of database trip-wires gives crooks an easy run

    No alarm. No idea

    Leaked information from databases is becoming an increasingly serious concern, yet when it comes to plugging the holes many organisations are running so many databases they hardly know where to start. Only six in ten of 600+ senior IT execs quizzed in a recent survey by the Ponemon Institute said they monitor their databases …

    Developer 5 Jun 2007, 16:19

  • Google shivs server crowd with PeakStream buy

    Exclusive Keeps performance gains to itself

    Google has stunned the server world by acquiring superstar start-up PeakStream, The Register can confirm. PeakStream's website and phone lines mysteriously crashed yesterday, indicating that the software maker was struggling to pay its bill or had been gobbled. As it turns out, Google has purchased the start-up for an …

    Servers 5 Jun 2007, 17:35

  • Joost replaces CEO with Cisco veteran

    Mike Volpi usurps YouTube rival

    Joost, the internet video start-up, has tapped Mike Volpi, the former Cisco crown prince, to head the company. Volpi succeeds Fredrik de Wahl, who remains at Joost as chief strategy officer. Speculation on the executive shuffle began last week when several sources caught wind of the deal. Joost recently closed a $45m round of …

    Financial News 5 Jun 2007, 18:30

  • Tribler takes P2P to the ' Web 2.0 generation'

    Single click porn, blockbusters, and TV shows

    Here comes BitTorrent 2.0. Researchers at the Delft University of Technology and De Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam recently unveiled the latest version of a new-age BitTorrent client known as Tribler, part of an effort to "move P2P to the next generation". Tribler 4.0 lets you search YouTube, as well as offering a revamped …

    Telecoms 5 Jun 2007, 20:11

  • Salesforce bolts on Google ad management utility

    So what was all the fuss about?

    Salesforce.com and Google have announced an online ads and CRM alliance that'll have some in Silicon Valley feeling deflated this morning. The result of the tie-in is Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords. This will combine the creation and management of campaigns using Google AdWords with Salesforce.com's dashboard …

    Applications 5 Jun 2007, 20:22

  • AMD, Cray and reporter in Barcelona caper

    Colonel Mustard in Q4 with a processor

    An uncomfortable war of speculation over the ship date for AMD's four-core Barcelona processor has broken out between the chipmaker, supercomputer vendor Cray and the Dow Jones newswire. Cray started this mess yesterday by saying that component delays would cause it to miss the planned fourth quarter ship date for a revamped …

    Servers 5 Jun 2007, 20:25

  • Sharp Europe boss resigns

    Personal reasons

    CEO Hans Kleis has resigned from Sharp Europe, citing "personal reasons". He leaves next month. Kleis, a Dutchman, joined Sharp in 1992, starting his career as sales director at Sharp Electronics Benelux. After several management positions he was appointed as CEO Europe in October 2004. Sharp pioneered LCD TVs, also in …

    Channel Register 5 Jun 2007, 20:34

  • Siemens shows 1Gbit/s over plastic fibre

    Alternative to glass and copper appears in a POF of light

    Siemens researchers have demonstrated a data rate of 1Gbit/s over plastic optical fibre, a speed ten times higher than is possible with current products. Sebastian Randel, the Siemens project manager, said the team sent an IPTV signal at 1008Mbit/s over a 100m connection in the lab, without errors or any flickering on the TV …

    Data Networking 5 Jun 2007, 20:38

  • Google's Street View could be unlawful in Europe

    Analysis Private, in these parts

    Like a trigger-happy tourist, Google has shot almost every street in five US cities and added its pics to what might be the world's biggest holiday album. But if Google ever starts shooting the streets of Europe, courts here could fight back. Google Maps Street View is the latest service from the search giant. Vehicles with …

    Law 5 Jun 2007, 23:29