The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

11th June 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • IBM Jazzes up Eclipse

    Open source support

    IBM expanding its backing for Eclipse with the release of an open source application lifecycle management (ALM) platform serving its Rational tools. IBM is today expected to throw open code to Jazz, a two-year internal IBM project geared towards improving collaboration between application development team members working in …

    Developer 11 Jun 2007, 04:02

  • Adobe turns Apollo into AIR

    And developers into AIR-heads

    Adobe Systems today lets loose beta code for Apollo, a software developer platform that runs web applications such as Flash, HTML and Javascript on a browser and integrates them with applications running on a desktop PC. The outcome of this software mind-meld will be, what some commentators are already calling 'WebTop …

    Developer 11 Jun 2007, 04:02

  • RIM's growth to 'outstrip Apple'

    Reg Technology Panel BlackBerry demand looks set to continue

    A little while ago, a Reg Reader poll seemed to indicate that the Microsoft threat was going to clip the wings of RIM in the enterprise mobile messaging and applications space. At that time, RIM was still suffering the effects of a legal spat over alleged patent infringements, and we were picking up a lot of anecdotal feedback …

    Tech Panel 11 Jun 2007, 06:02

  • VMWare offers Windows-on-Mac tool at half price

    Fusion due in August

    VMWare's Windows-on-Mac application, Fusion, will go on sale in August, the virtualisation technology specialist announced today. Order it now and you'll get the software at half price, the company said. VMWare announced Fusion in August 2006, though a pre-release test version has been available to Mac users for seven months …

    Applications 11 Jun 2007, 06:02

  • These LiPS are made for talking ... and texting ... and ...

    Version 1 Linux ready for mobile phone use

    Writing a software app for mobile phones can be an frustrating experience. What's sauce on one handset, may be poison on another. For compatability across phones, manufacturers and cellcos remains an elusive goal. Common mobile development was long the promise of Java, as well as Symbian. But the greater the freedom that …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2007, 07:02

  • Red Hat makes a security bundle with Symantec

    A muscular appliance

    Red Hat last week continued its appliance assault via a partnership with Symantec. The companies have crafted a pair of software bundles meant to give Linux customers easier access to high-end security features. Customers can pick from pre-tested packages that included Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the Red Hat Application Stack …

    Servers 11 Jun 2007, 07:47

  • Supermicro knocks big boys with Superblades

    They're super. Thanks for asking

    Supermicro appears to have outclassed the Tier 1 server vendors with its latest blade design. Unveiled at Computex, the SuperBlade system holds 10 blades in a 7U chassis. That compares favorably with Sun Microsystems' latest blade chassis which boasts 10 blades in a 10U chassis. It also stacks up well against HP's c-Class …

    Servers 11 Jun 2007, 09:01

  • C of E blasts 'sacrilegious' Sony shoot-'em-up

    Resistance: Fall of Man in virtual cathedral shock

    The Church of England has become rather hot under the dog collar after it learned that one of the locations aliens have chosen to launch their invasion of Earth in the PlayStation 3 shoot-'em-up Resistance: Fall of Man is modelled on Manchester Cathedral. Manchester cathedral: real and not real C of E officials will today …

    Games 11 Jun 2007, 09:05

  • Robots en route to Dublin car parks

    Droids to park your car

    Irish drivers could soon come face to face with powerful robots. There's no need to worry though, they only want to park your car. Sky Parks Projects has developed the Sky Parks Robotic Parking Systems (SRPS), a parking system that uses autonomous robots and lifts to park and retrieve cars. These car parks are designed to make …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2007, 09:05

  • Quova tracks mobile net users

    They know where we are - and it's for our own good...

    Mobile internet users can now prove their location to a website or remote network service, according to geolocation specialist Quova. Quova has developed downloadable applets which enable a laptop or smartphone to locate itself, for example by picking up the MAC addresses of local Wi-Fi APs, or the cellular base-stations in the …

    Data Networking 11 Jun 2007, 09:16

  • FCC's ban on 'fleeting expletives' ruled unconstitutional

    TV's over-zealous profanity police rebuked by court

    US television regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may not have the right to police American airwaves, a court has ruled. The ruling is a blow to a George W Bush-led clampdown on on-air swearing. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York has said that an indecency finding in 2006 against …

    Law 11 Jun 2007, 09:23

  • Shuttle docks with ISS after 'almost flawless' launch

    Torn thermal blanket not a problem

    The Space Shuttle Atlantis has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after an "almost flawless" launch last week. With the launch and delicate docking procedures out of the way, NASA has turned its attention to life aboard the ISS, and setting up for the first space walk. Atlantis, shortly after docking with the …

    Science 11 Jun 2007, 09:27

  • HTC Touch Window Mobile 6 smart phone

    Review Look but don't - despite the name - touch

    Apple's iPhone: still unavailable but nonetheless casting an enormous shadow over the smart-phone business. How, rival manufacturers ask, can we possibly respond? If HTC's new flagship phone, the Windows Mobile 6-based Touch, is anything to go by, the answer is imitation, not innovation. HTC's Touch: slick looks You can …

    Phones 11 Jun 2007, 09:30

  • AMD 'Bobcat' to challenge Intel next-gen UMPC platform

    Rival for 'Silverthorne'

    AMD will next year launch a processor specifically designed for ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), the chip maker revealed last week at the Computex show in Taipei. Details remain scarce, but the chip is currently codenamed 'Bobcat', a feline moniker that perhaps aligns it with 'Puma', AMD's upcoming notebook platform. Puma comprises …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2007, 09:43

  • Keep backup simple and do it well

    Comment A storage vendor lesson

    There is really nothing much to backing up data - or there shouldn't be. The trouble is there is so much of it to back up these days and, with 24/7 working, no longer an opportunity just to shut down until the job is finished. Then, for a large enterprise at least, there is the possibility of gathering data across a large …

    Storage 11 Jun 2007, 10:04

  • Congressman seeks exemption for games that mix skill and chance

    GIGSE 2007 Skill games redux

    Two more pieces of legislation designed to reform the American gaming market found their way into Congress last Thursday. Although the testimony on Friday in support of Barney Frank's Internet Gambling Regulation Act (IGRA) garnered more attention, the introduction of legislation known as the Skill Game Protection Act (SGPA) …

    Law 11 Jun 2007, 10:07

  • Large-scale DOS attack menace continues to grow

    Cyber warfare's collateral damage

    You may or may not have picked up the news that Estonia came under cyber-attack in early May. Cyber attacks, usually consisting of multiple denial of service attacks, are pretty bloodless really. You don't see buildings reduced to piles of rubble or dead bodies strewn across the street. There's nothing to take photos of. There' …

    Security 11 Jun 2007, 10:11

  • Next-gen Palm Treo spied on web... twice

    Offspring of union twixt phone and Creative Zen media player

    Pictures of what is claimed to be Palm's next-gen Treo smart phone have begun to appear on the web to reveal a device that looks a lot like Creative's Zen Vision:M media player. Ironic that, given Palm earlier this year hired one of the key minds behind the design of the original iPod - which the Zen would latter attempt to …

    Phones 11 Jun 2007, 10:12

  • Iran releases detained telecoms workers

    Gulf fishing trip goes Pete Tong

    Iran has released three Nokia Siemens workers who were briefly detained by the country after they went on a fishing trip near a disputed island in the Arabian Gulf. The three Finnish nationals arrived safely back in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, where they live and work, after their weekend fishing trip strayed into …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2007, 10:17

  • Scotland ranked 'worst small country'

    Gloomy conclusion of business probe

    Scotland's life expectancy rate was "a major factor" in it being rated Western Europe's worst-performing small country, the BBC reports. That's according to the The Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) annual Index of Wealth, which cast an eye over 10 countries - including Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, and Norway - with …

    Small Biz 11 Jun 2007, 10:18

  • Thailand sacks randy sniffer dogs

    Mounting trouble for Mok and Lai

    Two "ace" sniffer dogs who have performed sterling service combating drug trafficking in Thailand's Chiang Rai airport have been given their marching orders for urinating on luggage and "sexually harassing" female passengers, the Bangkok Post reports. Mok and Lai had apparently been "plucked from obscurity" as part of a cunning …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2007, 10:22

  • Chinese reporter targets Yahoo! from prison cell

    Court! action! against! collusion! with! Beijing!

    The mother of Shi Tao, the Chinese journalist and democracy campaigner who was jailed after Yahoo! handed over server logs to authorities, has joined a US court action against the internet firm. Shi Tao was locked up for 10 years in 2005 when Beijing accused him of leaking state secrets to foreigners. Yahoo! provided crucial …

    Law 11 Jun 2007, 10:52

  • BrainAcademy 2007: are you smart enough?

    No winners last year, the gauntlet is down

    BrainAcademy, the competition that hands out bursaries to promising computer science students, is kicking off again this summer. Last year the challenge proved too tough for the entrants: no one managed to survive all three elimination rounds to claim the prize. The contest runs on three levels: postgraduate, undergraduate, …

    Business 11 Jun 2007, 10:56

  • eBay jewellery store fined $400,000 for shill bidding

    eBay reports offender to authorities

    A jewellery company which allegedly bid on its own eBay auctions to "illegally drive up prices by as much as 20 per cent" will pay $400,000 (£204,000) in "restitution and penalties", Reuters reports. The New York state attorney general's office said Ezra Dweck of EMH Group and his employees made over 232,000 bids on auctions in …

    Law 11 Jun 2007, 11:17

  • Divine Essex pebble aids Venezuelan kiddies

    eBay silliness with a purpose

    It's hardly an image of Our Lord in a Romanian wardrobe door, but one eBayer is punting what he believes is the UK's mineralogical equivalent to the sheet metal Messiah - the Essex God pebble. The seller's rather hopeful pitch explains: "This pebble was found at Thorpe Bay beach, near to Southend. It actually says "GOD" on it …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2007, 11:23

  • Can intelligence really help business get out of a hole?

    Whitepaper BI want to break free

    Business Intelligence (or BI) is often promoted as a “get out of gaol free” card – surely, intelligence in business is a good thing (although perhaps we wouldn’t know, we haven’t met much of it), so paying lots of money for a BI package is a no-brainer? Well, “Only up to a point, Lord Copper”. Obviously, fact-based decision- …

    Applications 11 Jun 2007, 11:54

  • Privacy International accuses Google of smear campaign

    Bottom for privacy, but top for smearing

    Privacy International's (PI) research into privacy practises at internet service companies put Google in last place. However, the search giant hit back by briefing journalists that PI was in the pocket of Microsoft. The figures are a preliminary view, with the full research due to be released in September. Results are colour- …

    Law 11 Jun 2007, 12:00

  • Skype goes out to mobile phones

    Assuming you know who you're going to call

    Skype Pro customers can now make international calls from their mobiles or any other phone at Skype Out rates, provided they've pre-registered the numbers they want to call. When an international number is registered with the newly-launched Skype To Go service, a local number is provided as a proxy. The user can call that …

    VoIP 11 Jun 2007, 13:29

  • Puddles on Mars, aerospace boffin claims

    NASA to allocate wellies budget?

    Pictures taken two years ago by Mars rover Opportunity might show puddles of liquid water on the Martian surface, according to New Scientist. The possibility was raised in a report, not yet seen by El Reg, detailing a fresh analysis of the images. Along with Michael Hecht from NASA's Jet Propopulsion Laboratory, Ron Levin, a …

    Science 11 Jun 2007, 13:35

  • Marks & Sparks to sell iPod suit this weekend

    Retailer Marks & Spencer will be bringing suit-maker Bagir's iPod-friendly executive outfit this coming weekend to celebrate Father's Day, it has emerged. Pssst, want an iPod? Fell of the back of a lorry, squire The suit not only incorporates handy iPod-sized inside pockets but also features a stitched-in touch-sensitive …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2007, 13:40

  • Virgin Media tech support goes premium rate

    'How do I send an email?'

    Virgin Media will slap a 25 pence per minute charge on calls to its broadband technical support line from 1 July because it says it gets too many off-topic questions. The firm angered its investors last month by posting a shaky-looking first set of financial results. Customer care MD Steve Stewart said: "Over half the calls we …

    Broadband 11 Jun 2007, 13:42

  • Sony brings bold colours to latest laptops

    Sony has rolled out a range of laptops based on Intel's latest 'Santa Rosa' Centrino Duo technology, sheathed in a range of "bold... eye-popping... fashion-forward" (eh?) colours and equipped with a "pulsating" light that shines through the chassis to tell you what the machine's up to. Sony's blue Vaio CR: nice... " …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2007, 14:20

  • MPs to cast closer eye on broadband ripoffs

    Interview Luff gets tough

    As chair of the Trade and Industry commons select committee, Peter Luff MP is one of most influential figures in telecoms. He sat down with Ofcomwatch editors Luke Gibbs and Russ Taylor recently to talk about the increasing politicisation of the regulator, his broadband concerns, and the recent phone scandal. He had some …

    Networks 11 Jun 2007, 14:27

  • Anti-spam sites weather DDoS assault

    Storm Trojan fingered in tempest

    Prominent anti-spam services came under a sustained denial of service attack late last week. The assault targeted Spamhaus, Spam URI Realtime Blocklists (SURBL), and Realtime URI Blacklist (URIBL). The URIBL (which, like SURBL - filters junk mail based on spam sites mentioned in their message bodies) website was rendered …

    Security 11 Jun 2007, 14:37

  • UK importing Army spy-drones to replace losses

    Can't wait for British-badged ones

    The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has moved to rapidly acquire more surveillance drones, placing an urgent order for Hermes 450 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Israel. The robot aircraft are needed for ongoing operations in southwest Asia. The Hermes 450 drone aircraft. The Hermes 450 is a large, capable 450 kg spy drone …

    Government 11 Jun 2007, 14:45

  • Latest Artix model grows flexibility

    SOA without a stack of stacks

    Iona's recent acquisitions of C24 and Logicblaze has already borne fruit with the arrival of the latest version of its SOA infrastructure suite, Artix 5. According to the company's chief scientist, Sean Baker: "This is the closest yet that the company has come to producing a suite, yet remains totally technology neutral. It is …

    Developer 11 Jun 2007, 14:51

  • US gov rejects Google's Microsoft complaint

    Pot calls kettle...

    The US Justice Department has urged state authorities to reject Google's anti-trust claim against Microsoft. Google complained to regulators that Microsoft's Vista operating system discouraged use of Google search. Thomas O Barnett, assistant attorney general, sent a memo to state attorney generals encouraging them to drop …

    Software 11 Jun 2007, 15:50

  • Robot gender-bending reptile is a lover, not a fighter

    Animatronic droid lothario goes undercover to help breeding programme

    New Zealand boffins have deployed an undercover robotic reptile into the wild in order to boost the success of gender-bending creature breeding programmes, it has emerged. The National Geographic reports that the tuatara lizard-like reptiles, a prehistoric species which is the sole survivor of a family dating back 200 million …

    Science 11 Jun 2007, 15:52

  • Euro patent workers have no faith in their masters

    Hell is examining EU patents

    European Patent Office (EPO) staff have "worryingly low" levels of trust in the organisation's highest governing bodies, according to a leaked internal document entitled Governance of the EPO: a staff perspective. The administrative council, which is the EPO's main governing body, is populated by representatives of the member …

    Software 11 Jun 2007, 15:54

  • Big Blue buys Swedish software firm

    'Complex systems' push

    IBM is buying Sweden's Telelogic for $747m, further boosting the Rational business it bought five years ago. The software company, based in Malmo in the South of Sweden, primarily serves the aerospace and defense, telecommunications, and automotive industries. IBM says the buy will allow it to refocus on complex systems …

    Developer 11 Jun 2007, 15:57

  • CITES bans international trade in sawfish

    Snouts and fins off the menu

    A meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in the Hague has banned the international trade in sawfish - threatened by demand for their attractive snouts, or rostra, and fins. According to the BBC, the rostra are used as novelty items, in traditional medicine, and (animal lovers look away …

    Science 11 Jun 2007, 16:07

  • Citrix eats dead NAC vendor assets

    Tastes like chicken, SSL and IPSec VPN functionality

    Citrix will scavenge the carcass of belly-up vendor Caymas Systems, purchasing assets of the NAC (network access control) start-up for an undisclosed sum. San Jose-based Caymas has been shopping around for a company to pick its bones since closing its Petaluma offices in March. Caymas's IP is a mixture of remote and local …

    Data Networking 11 Jun 2007, 18:50

  • Google Maps aids terrorists, NY lawmaker warns

    'It's only a matter of time'

    Adding to the chorus of critics who say detailed images on Google Earth can aid and abet terrorists and snoops, a New York state lawmaker is calling on the company to blur potential terrorist targets. The plea from Assemblyman Mike Gianaris follows the alleged discovery earlier this month of a plot by a Muslim terrorist cell to …

    Policy 11 Jun 2007, 20:24

  • One billion PCs in use in 2008

    Landfill operators of the world, rejoice!

    There will be over one billion PCs in use worldwide by the end of 2008, according to a new report by Forrester Research. And with PC adoption in emerging markets growing fast, there will be more than two billion PCs in use by 2015, Forrester predicts. It took 27 years to reach the one billion mark, but Forrester expects the …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2007, 21:46

  • IBM's beefy Power6 boxes slaughter Java

    While low-end Dellintel trumps IBM's 4.7GHz heater

    Pop quiz. You're in desperate need of making Java fly and have the coin to prove it. Do you shell out on IBM's new 4.7GHz Power6 eye candy or keep on replacing Unix kit with x86 systems? For the moment, it looks like you will want to saunter into the 4GHz realm if you're a midrange server type. IBM has just released SpecJbb …

    Servers 11 Jun 2007, 22:38