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7th June 2007 Archive

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  • eBay goes for broke with Radio ads

    Just like Google

    After its online efforts to broker off-line television ads were spurned by the major cable networks, eBay is trying the same trick with radio ads. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was allowing more than 2,300 radio stations to sell ad time via the eBay Media Marketplace—the same marketplace where the …

    Media 7 Jun 2007, 00:00

  • Apple to use Sun's ZFS in Leopard

    A file system loved by all

    Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz may have let the cat out of the bag on Apple's plans for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard's file system. While showing off the Zettabyte File System in Sun's 'Thumper' hybrid storage/server platform at a company event in Washington today, Schwartz let it drop that Apple too has big plans for the open source file …

    Hardware 7 Jun 2007, 00:18

  • Intel updates multi-core tools

    Embrace the future

    Intel has followed Sun Microsystems by releasing development tools to optimize the performance of applications running on multi-core, multi-threaded chips. Fresh off promising more focus on software during last month's JavaOne Conference, the chip giant has updated its C++ Professional Edition and Fortran Compiler Professional …

    Servers 7 Jun 2007, 00:48

  • US House passes another anti-spyware bill

    The cure could be worse than the sickness

    The US House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation designed to protect PC users from spyware despite the strong objections of internet-based businesses that warned the measure could interfere with many legitimate online activities. House members passed the Spy Act by a margin of 368-48. It is …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 02:26

  • Brazilians go nuts for grid computing

    HP gives Latin lessons in building P2P grid software

    Brazilian boffins have developed a peer-to-peer grid computing system called OurGrid, which enables members to freely donate and use spare compute cycles. Now stable, the open source software been picked up by SegHidro, a government-backed research project in north-west Brazil which is using compute power from OurGrid for …

    Servers 7 Jun 2007, 02:32

  • Apple TV made for the mass market, bits breakdown reveals

    Apple's Apple TV costs $299 in the US - and not much less to make, according to a price list of the parts that has been produced by market watcher iSuppli. The cost of materials and manufacturing: $237. That yields Apple no more than $62 in profit - rather less on Apple TVs sold through third-party retailers. That's a gross …

    Hardware 7 Jun 2007, 07:54

  • Delivery is all, says Citrix

    Application delivery to define future IT

    The ability to deliver usable applications to employees anywhere they happen to be will define the future of IT says Mark Templeton, chief executive officer of infrastructure software specialist Citrix. Kicking off Citrix's annual iForum event in Edinburgh, Templeton warned IT departments that they had to meet the challenge …

    Applications 7 Jun 2007, 08:02

  • Hitachi ships Travelstar 7K200 encrypted hard drive

    Please, please, please say I didn't hit 'Quick Erase'...

    Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has begun volume shipment of the Travelstar 7K200, a high-capacity, high-performance laptop hard drive with new optional data encryption technology. The new drive features up to 200GB capacity, a 22 per cent overall performance improvement over its predecessor, and improved shock tolerance, …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 08:02

  • Nintendo Wii widens sales gap with Sony PS3

    5:1 sales ratio

    Sony's PlayStation 3 is falling further behind Nintendo's Wii in the Japanese sales stakes, the latest figures from local market watcher Enterbrain have revealed. Nintendo's Wii: outselling PS3 5:1 In April, Nintendo sold around four times as many Wiis as Sonys sold PS3s. The following month, that ratio had increase to 5:1 …

    Games 7 Jun 2007, 08:17

  • OGC appoints new chief executive

    Transforming the transformation agenda

    The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has appointed a new chief executive to lead its transformation agenda. It announced that Nigel Smith, president of Invensys Rail Systems, will take on the role. Smith replaces John Oughton, who stepped down at the end of March to allow his successor a full term in office to implement …

    Policy 7 Jun 2007, 08:57

  • Directgov publishes online wish list

    Child truancy alerts and virtual uni tours demanded

    Child truancy alerts and virtual tour of colleges or universities for teenagers are among the most wanted online services, according to a survey commissioned by Directgov. The Central Office of Information said the study, which questioned more than 2,000 adults and a representative sample of 14 to 18-year-olds, will be used to …

    Government 7 Jun 2007, 09:05

  • Intel discrete GPU due Q2 08?

    Intel appears increasingly set to challenge AMD and Nvidia's dominance of the discrete desktop graphics chip arena with an alternative to ATI Radeon and GeForce GPUs. So claim various sources from different graphics card makers, all of whom say their companies have been approached by Intel, according to a DigiTimes report. …

    Hardware 7 Jun 2007, 09:13

  • Toyota Prius is not so green, says ads watchdog

    Ad's CO2 claims go up in smoke

    A TV advert for the Toyota Prius has been banned for misleading viewers about the car's green credentials. The Saatchi and Saatchi-produced ad has been taken off air by regulators over its misleading claim to emit one tonne less CO2 than other cars. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint made about the ad' …

    Law 7 Jun 2007, 09:21

  • WD puts 250 gigs in pockets

    Western Digital has rolled out a bus-powered pocket hard drive that provides a whopping 250GB - pretty big for a product of this kind. WD Passport: 250 gig in your pocket Part of WD's Passport range, the piano-black shiny drive connects to a USB 2.0 port. It'll happily connect to Windows 2000/XP/Vista PCs and Macs - Linux …

    Hardware 7 Jun 2007, 09:38

  • Employers should follow the Scots' lead on vehicle smoking ban

    Different laws could cause headaches

    Companies should order all employees not to smoke in any work vehicle and should follow the Scottish "no smoking" sign requirements because they are the most stringent when the English smoking ban comes into force one month from today. On 1 July all four UK nations will have anti-smoking laws in place, but businesses will face …

    Business 7 Jun 2007, 09:58

  • Dell to counter carbon with Euro tree-planting plan

    Greenhouse gases bagged

    Dell has brought its carbon-confounding Plant a Tree For Me scheme to Europe, allowing buyers to make a small donation to help counter the emissions arising from keeping their computers powered up. The scheme gives buyers of notebook, desktop and server Dells the chance to donate, respectively, £1/€1.50, £3/€4.50 or £20/€29. …

    Hardware 7 Jun 2007, 10:00

  • Kids get early start in electronics

    Yep, your 7-year-old knows more than you

    Children are becoming tech-savvy from a younger age, a new study has discovered. While most adults long suspect their children could programme a DVD recorder more easily than them, this latest research appears to back it up. According to the study from NPD, children begin using consumer electronic devices at the average age of …

    Bootnotes 7 Jun 2007, 10:00

  • UK companies floundering with no IT strategy

    Survey says firms working to 'loose informal plans'

    Nearly a third of medium-sized companies in the UK have no IT strategy and a further third work to an "informal loose plan". That's according to a survey released Tuesday by market research firm Dynamic Markets, which was commissioned by IT service management firm Partners in IT. The survey, entitled IT Service Management - …

    Management 7 Jun 2007, 10:09

  • Samsung celebrates 'emotional design' phone

    Samsung has turned to one of the world's leading - apparently - industrial designers to remould its latest handset as a "pragmatic work of art" rather than a run-of-the-mill candybar. The designer is Jasper Morrison, the phone is the SGH-E590. No, we hadn't heard of Morrison either, but the UK's Design Museum describes the …

    Phones 7 Jun 2007, 10:19

  • Buggy ActiveX controls menace Yahoo! Messenger

    Webcam! library! peril!

    ActiveX controls - so often the source of Internet Explorer flaws - are the font of two newly discovered flaws in Yahoo! Messenger. Buffer overflow-related security bugs in the Yahoo! Webcam Upload (ywcupl.dll) ActiveX control and Webcam Viewer (ywcvwr.dll) ActiveX control allow hackers to inject malware onto Windows PCs …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 10:24

  • Big Brother housemate canned for racist slur

    N-word provokes summary eviction

    Student Emily Parr was this morning removed from the Big Brother house for using a "racially offensive word" to a fellow housemate, the BBC reports. The 19-year-old from Bristol got her marching orders at 3.30am BST after saying "Are you pushing it out, you nigger?" to Charley Uchea "while they were dancing in the living room …

    Bootnotes 7 Jun 2007, 10:32

  • Google pleads with politicos for more foreign labour

    Goolag understaffed

    Google has added to calls for immigration authorities to allow more skilled foreign labour into the US, as the Mountain View firm struggles to keep pace with its own expansion. The Googleplex despatched Laszlo Bock, its VP of People Operations (HR manager), to a congressional hearing on Wednesday to plead for more H1-B visas. …

    Management 7 Jun 2007, 10:57

  • Low-energy server hosting goes underground

    Smartbunker digs deep for zero-carbon data centre

    Centrinet is claiming zero-carbon energy emissions and military-grade security for its Smartbunker underground managed hosting service. Built in what was a NATO command centre, 100 metres below the wilds of Lincolnshire, England, Smartbunker runs on wind and water-power and uses power-efficient kit such as IBM bladeservers - …

    Data Center 7 Jun 2007, 11:00

  • Planning a drunken stag night? Avoid Slovakia

    Two months' jail for nude fountain stunt groom

    A Worcestershire builder's bride-to-be looks likely to be walking up the aisle alone after her other half was jailed for two months for jumping naked into a fountain during a drunken stag night in Slovakia. Stephen Mallone, 25, flew into Bratislava on 25 May determined to make merry with his chums. According to the Telegraph, " …

    Bootnotes 7 Jun 2007, 11:03

  • DSG hires Tesco man as new chief exec

    Plans afoot to improve firm's online empire

    Retail giant DSG has poached Tesco's operations development boss John Browett who is to join the firm as its new group chief executive. He will fill the hole left by John Clare who announced last week that he will be retiring in September after 22 years with the retailer, which owns Currys and PC World. Browett was …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 11:05

  • US patent system braced for a shake-up

    Still handing out daft patents, though

    The US patent system is set for a thorough review, according to reports, with the aim of improving the quality of patents awarded, and thus reducing the number of patent lawsuits. The New York Times says the Bush administration wants better information from applicants, and is considering opening patent applications to public …

    Developer 7 Jun 2007, 11:13

  • NHS IT boss tells iSoft and CSC to sort it out

    Granger rattles sabre

    Richard Granger, the director general of NHS IT, is warning iSoft and CSC that if they don't sort out their differences he will consider ripping up contracts and finding alternative suppliers. Regardless of how possible this would be, the comments will increase pressure on the two to get talks settled quickly. iSoft has put …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 11:28

  • South Africa mulls reining in roaming

    Your personal details, or else

    The South African justice committee is considering making foreign travellers register their name, passport number, and address with a local provider before being allowed to use the local GSM services. The requirement is part of the "Regulation of Interception of Communication Amendment Bill". The bill also requires anyone …

    Mobile 7 Jun 2007, 11:52

  • Elton John menaces Ukraine

    Orthodox church objects to muso's 'untraditional sexual orientation'

    Elton John is once again taking some stick from true believers in the run-up to his planned 16 June charity gig in Ukraine's capital Kiev, Pravda reports. Sir Elton will tickle the ivories in support of local kids suffering from HIV/AIDS, but this generous gesture has not stopped Orthodox Ukrainians slamming the concert as " …

    Bootnotes 7 Jun 2007, 11:56

  • Atari's Portfolio: the world's first palmtop

    Forgotten Tech 18 years before Palm's Foleo...

    There's nothing new under the sun, some folk say, and that's certainly true of Palm's recently announced Foleo. It's the palmtop reborn in a slightly sexier, slightly larger form. Even its name is reminiscent of that bygone arena - it's rather like the Atari Portfolio, the world's first palmtop PC, released in June 1989. …

    Phones 7 Jun 2007, 11:59

  • Dell takes Cameron path to success as McCain likes bull for a China job

    To subscribe to Channel Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of channel news in a single hit - click here.

    Dell is looking more and more like David Cameron's Tories. Like the Tories, Dell used to be popular but has recently been in the doldrums, and CEO Michael Dell is busy ripping up some of the direct seller's articles of faith (just like Dave and his recent pronouncements on grammar schools) to get back in everybody's good books …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 12:04

  • CA in malformed archives malware risk

    Anti-virus protection turned against users

    CA has updated its anti-virus software to guard against a brace of flaws that created a means for hackers to turn the security protection software against its users. Both bugs involved problems in processing malformed CAB archives. Successful exploitation of the vulnerabilities potentially allows execution of arbitrary code ( …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 12:47

  • Vodafone says VoIP is 'expensive' and 'unsafe'

    Shhh, don't tell the terrorists

    Vodafone is telling customers that VoIP services are insecure - even as Sky News is reporting that VoIP calls threaten our war on terror because such calls can't be intercepted. Several El Reg readers have been in communication with Vodafone about their VoIP policy, and one sent us a received email from Vodafone Customer …

    VoIP 7 Jun 2007, 13:48

  • Google UK gags gambling ads

    No more bets please

    Google UK has extended its ban on adverts from gambling sites to include non-cash games and gambling tutorials. Casinos were always banned from bidding for AdWords but this policy now applies to fun sites which offer gambling type games for no money and those offering other gambling-related content. The search behemoth sent us …

    Law 7 Jun 2007, 14:11

  • Paris Hilton released for 'medical reasons'

    Remains under house arrest

    Paris Hilton has been released from chokey after just three days of her 23-day sentence for violating probation on a drink-drive rap, TMZ.com reports. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told a press conference the early uncaging was due to medical reasons, but declined to elaborate on the "health- …

    Bootnotes 7 Jun 2007, 14:56

  • Hackers load malware onto Mercury music award site

    Security nightmare for DreamHost

    Hackers have been able to load malware onto the official Mercury music awards site, as well as hundreds of other sites, after breaking into the systems of US-based hosting firm DreamHost. DreamHost blamed a security flaw in its web control panel software for an attack that allowed hackers to compromise a "very small subset" of …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 15:04

  • Green technology is VC money magnet: report

    Investment skyrockets

    Clean (read green) technology is the new investment hot spot, according to a report on US venture capitalist spending in 2006. The sector is benefiting from a better awareness of environmental issues, changes in policy, as well as rising fuel costs. The survey, published by Environmental Entrepreneurs and CleanTech Ventures …

    Financial News 7 Jun 2007, 15:15

  • EU member states give Euro tariff the nod

    Cheap holiday calls - if you holiday in October

    EU member states have approved the introduction of the Euro tariff for mobile roaming. The decision follows a year of wrangling and discussion, and numerous committee examinations and rounds of voting. Network operators have three months to implement the tariff, from 12 July. For anyone too bored to work it out, SimplySwitch …

    Mobile 7 Jun 2007, 15:16

  • Amnesty's spy in the sky for Darfur

    Help stop genocide

    Amnesty International is asking web surfers to get involved in monitoring genocide in Darfur by checking images of villages taken by satellite cameras. Google Earth has already been cited as providing evidence of gun running to Sudan, where the government is accused of supporting Janjaweed militias in their attacks on towns and …

    Government 7 Jun 2007, 15:18

  • Xerox: Web 2.0 coming to a grey box office soon

    Banging the solutions drum on a rain-soaked Lyon river

    Xerox has climbed on board the crowded Web 2.0 ship with the introduction of solutions-based document management for its customers. Coming very late to the party, the photocopier giant has finally created its own HTML web-based, "IT friendly" product for office users. The step Xerox has taken into the software solutions …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 15:19

  • Bank of Scotland blames human error in data screw-up

    Unencrypted disc lost in post

    Bank of Scotland (HBOS) is telling 62,000 customers they could be at risk of identity theft after it stuck an unencrypted disc in the ordinary post, which was subsequently lost. The disc, containing information on mortage customers, should have been encrypted before being sent, the bank said, and should have been sent via …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 15:22

  • PSP patent gets gadget geeks guessing

    Game console as mobile phone?

    We're not sure who found it first, but a patent has been issued in the US (numbered 20070123309), which highlights just how Sony might allow the PlayStation Portable to become a cellular handset. The news is all over gadget sites this week and is accompanied by the drawings below. In essence, it is a simple way to rotate the …

    Mobile 7 Jun 2007, 15:29

  • US Navy CIO tells purchasers to consider open source

    Pentagon picks up a Penguin

    The US Navy has recently affirmed support for open source software, in pursuit of "an interoperable net-centric environment...which will improve the warfighter's effectiveness through seamless access to critical information". Navy CIO Robert J Carey laid out new guidance in a memo, downloadable here. In it, he says "the …

    Applications 7 Jun 2007, 15:32

  • Video and web access to keep comms healthy

    Comment To the tune of £4 trillion, TIA review says

    The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) report makes fascinating reading every year, mostly because it points to the sheer scale of the industry, but also because it highlights just how big the trends we have been following have already become and how big they are likely to become in a few more years, projecting out to …

    Networks 7 Jun 2007, 16:03

  • Friction.tv: a virtual soapbox for the online masses

    Coffee shop debate without the froth?

    Those with stuff they just have to get off their chests now have a new venue: Friction.tv. The site has been running in public beta, but had its official launch this week. The site's creators, Omar Shaikh and Andy West, hope to make the site a virtual Speaker's Corner, where anyone can speak freely about the things that matter …

    Media 7 Jun 2007, 16:13

  • Hackers blamed for Illinois agency server hack

    ID theft fears blow through Chicago property market

    Hackers rather than an inside job are being blamed for an attack on an Illinois state agency's server that left thousands of property market workers potentially exposed to identity theft. Attacks on the systems of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, carried out in January but not discovered until …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 16:21

  • Israeli boffins bring life to human neuron culture

    Plan to install bottled brains in 'cyborg machines'

    Israeli boffins may be on the road to building artificial, living human brains which can function without a body to support them. Honest. According to an article in yesterday's Scientific American, Tel Aviv university researchers led by biophysicist Eshel ben-Jacob have manipulated cultured human brain cells so as to "imprint …

    Science 7 Jun 2007, 16:41

  • Amazon to buy NetFlix?

    Money man spreads wild rumor

    Yes, Amazon already offers a movie download service, but that won’t stop the world’s most famous web retailer from buying NetFlix, the movies-through-the-mail company that recently built an online service of its own. At least, that’s what the Associated Press is reporting. According to the AP, a Jackson Securities analyst named …

    Financial News 7 Jun 2007, 17:41

  • Project over-runs make US IT workers scared for their jobs

    Europeans are much more chilled

    The majority of European IT professionals say that a failure to finish projects on time would not pose a risk to their job. Under a quarter of IT workers in the US felt safe enough to say the same. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Hewlett-Packard conducted an investigation into the delivery of large scale IT projects …

    Management 7 Jun 2007, 18:16

  • VMware slaps SWsoft with hosting play

    Rent-A-VM

    In a clear shot at rival SWsoft, VMware has started hyping a new pricing model for its VMware Infrastructure software suite aimed at hosting service providers. Hosting companies appear to have balked at VMware's rather expensive per processor/socket licensing model. So, the company will now sell hosters its highest-end …

    Servers 7 Jun 2007, 18:25

  • IBM and HP fight over EMC's scraps in Q1

    Internal disk eats away at DAS

    IBM and HP are neck-and-neck for the second place position in the external disk storage market but remain well behind EMC for top billing, according to the latest report by research house IDC. EMC leads the pack, ringing in $912m worth of sales during the first quarter and taking 21.2 per cent of the market. Although EMC …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 19:58

  • Lawyer admits tampering in MSN, Best Buy case

    Falsified docs on his own. Honest

    A Best Buy lawyer has admitted to falsifying court documents in the longstanding racketeering case against Microsoft and Best Buy, which recently reached a Superior Court in Seattle. A nationwide class-action suit, filed in 2003, accuses the two companies of conspiring to secretly register thousands of Best Buy customers for …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 21:23

  • Fishermen Sea DOS Vietnam

    Oops, were you guys using that?

    Vietnam telecom officials estimate it will take at least a month and cost over $5.84m to fix damaged undersea fiber-optic cables stolen by fishermen for salvage. Viet Nam News reports an 11km section of the 560Mb/s cable that connects Vietnam with Thailand and Hong Kong was stolen by copper-hungry fishermen last March. The …

    Data Networking 7 Jun 2007, 21:41

  • Fujitsu Services to create 400 NI jobs

    From London to Derry

    There was good news on the jobs front this week for Northern Ireland, with the announcement that Fujitsu Services is to create 400 new jobs in Derry and Belfast. The positions are the result of a planned £18m investment in the region by the company and Invest Northern Ireland. The IT services company is establishing a managed …

    The Channel 7 Jun 2007, 21:58

  • Vista and IE 7 to receive 'critical' fixes on Patch Tuesday

    Six high priority updates, in all

    Microsoft is to issue four critical security fixes for this month's Patch Tuesday. Three of these affect either Windows Vista or Internet Explorer 7, which the software maker holds out as a paragon of its conversion to secure computing. In all, Microsoft will push six high-priority updates this Tuesday, the company announced …

    Security 7 Jun 2007, 22:14

  • PA Semi finds a friend in Mercury

    Low-power kit for the military

    Ultra-fancy chip start-up PA Semi today revealed a rather predictable customer - Mercury Computer Systems. Mercury loves to experiment with cutting-edge silicon, as evidenced by its hearty push around Cell-based servers. The company enjoys a unique relationship with IBM that lets it sell blades and other boxes using the multi- …

    Servers 7 Jun 2007, 23:09

  • Juniper sued over firewall patents

    IP defences tested

    GraphOn, the Santa Cruz, CA software maker has filed a lawsuit against Juniper Networks, alleging infringement of three patents related to firewall technology. The complaint, filed in US District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, claims the patents protect GraphOn's fundamental network security and firewall technologies …

    Data Networking 7 Jun 2007, 23:18

  • US bans import of Qualcomm 3G phones

    Comeuppance from Broadcom

    The US International Trade Commission has barred the import of new cell phones that use chips made Qualcomm, following a legal determination they infringe a patent held by competitor Broadcom. The ban includes the import of Qualcomm chips and chipsets, but doesn't affect handsets and PDAs on the market prior to today's ruling, …

    Mobile 7 Jun 2007, 23:42