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12th June 2007 Archive

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  • Video download site ordered to spy on users

    Yes, it's really called TorrentSpy

    When the founders called the site TorrentSpy, this isn't what they had in mind. In a recent court ruling, made public last week, a federal judge ordered TorrentSpy.com to track the behavior of its own users - a means of gathering evidence in a lawsuit against the site by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). On …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 00:59

  • Google goes spear phishing on MySpace

    Short-lived spike in phishing traffic

    If it seems like every Tom, Dick and Harry with a MySpace account was getting his account hijacked a couple of months ago there's a reason. Starting in mid-March, the number of page views generated on phish sites increased five-fold, with almost all (95 per cent) targeting the popular social networking site. The revelation, …

    Security 12 Jun 2007, 02:06

  • Jobs: one more thing... a browser war

    WWDC Safari comes to Windows

    Steve Jobs has re-kindled the browser wars - only this time Firefox is in the firing line, as well as Microsoft. Apple's CEO today opened his company's developer conference in San Francisco, where he outlined an ambitious target to take over Firefox's 15 per cent market share. How? By releasing a Windows version of Apple's less- …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 03:42

  • Microsoft demos mind-bending photo app

    Puts Google to shame

    If you haven't seen the demo, see it now. In March, at the annual Technology, Education, Design (TED) conference in Monterrey, California, Microsoft Live Labs took the wraps off a mind-bending digital photo app called Seadragon, and you can now stream a video of this not-to-be-missed demo from the TED website. Coupled with …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 04:36

  • Jobs chucks Leopard titbits to Apple masses

    WWDC MacOS X 10.5 feature set fleshed out

    Steve Jobs opened Apple's annual developer conference by going back in time one year - in more ways than one. As well as harking back to the announcement of his company's ground-breaking relationship with Intel and taking trademark swiped at Microsoft, the Apple CEO talked up features in Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, mostly …

    Operating Systems 12 Jun 2007, 05:54

  • Intel EOLs Celeron Ds

    Last call for NetBurst-based budget chips?

    Come 6 October Intel's customers won't be able to order any more Celeron D 300 series processors. Company documents reveal what we believe are the last remaining Celerons, the 347, 356, 360 and 365 are for the chop. The chip giant's latest product discontinuance notice covers both tray-packed and boxed versions of the …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 2007, 08:34

  • Sony carries in portable DVD player

    Some might prefer a low-cost 14in laptop for cheap on-the-move DVD playback, but if you fancy a more dedicated device, how about Sony's latest portable DVD player, the DVP-FX850, that's ready to go without Windows. The unit is based around an 8in widescreen display that can open out through 180°. The optical drive can read …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 2007, 09:02

  • UK foreign language teaching hits all-time low

    Report laments 'phrase book' standards

    Foreign language teaching in the UK's state schools has been reduced to "the sort of thing you find in a 'get by' phrase book", claims a doom-and-gloom report published yesterday. That's the conclusion of The Corruption of the Curriculum by Shirley Lawes, which indicates that the government's decision in 2004 to allow GCSE …

    Government 12 Jun 2007, 09:09

  • MP proposes stronger FoI

    Seeks to remove ministerial veto

    A 10 minute rule bill will press for tougher Freedom of Information legislation. The Freedom of Information (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, to be introduced on 12 June, will seek to remove the veto which permits ministers to overrule decisions of the Information Commissioner's Office and Information Tribunal. The bill will aim to …

    Government 12 Jun 2007, 09:24

  • Better privacy policies can make money, finds P3P study

    Privacy guaranteed? Sure, I'll cough up

    Ecommerce businesses could charge more for their wares if they implemented an established privacy technology, an academic report (pdf) has found. The study showed that online shoppers are prepared to pay more at sites that guarantee their privacy. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in the US armed a number of shoppers …

    IT Director 12 Jun 2007, 09:34

  • SanDisk 4GB Micro SDHC memory card

    Review Tiny form-factor, big storage capacity

    Micro SD memory cards are tiny - less than a ¼ of the size of a regular SD card and ½ as thick - but to date, their storage capacity has remained fairly small too. The SDHC - SD High Capacity - specification is about to change that, as it has with regular SD cards...and Register Hardware this week received one of the first Micro …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 2007, 10:02

  • UK mulls blanket ban on unfair commercial practices

    Asks retailers for input

    The Government has asked retailers to comment on draft legislation that will force them to "deal fairly" with customers and other businesses. Two new regulations are proposed, scheduled to come into force on 6 April 2008. The new rules implement an EU Directive, the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCP). That directive …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 10:03

  • Ericsson snaps up Drutt

    Content mangling offers new revenue opportunities

    Ericsson has bought 100 per cent of content management company Drutt for an undisclosed sum. The Swedish based firm, with an estimated annual turnover of between £7m and £8m, provides software to manage the delivery of content to mobile phones - handling the billing and making sure the right version of content gets delivered to …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2007, 10:09

  • 140mph YouTube boy racer facing jail

    Toyota MR2 vid stunt ends before the beak

    An 18-year-old who filmed himself gunning it at over 140mph in his dad's motor and posted the footage on YouTube is facing jail, The Sun reports. Nathan Campbell yesterday 'fessed up to dangerous driving to Burnley magistrates for his escapade which saw him overtake on the hard shoulder of the M65 in Lancashire "while music …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 10:16

  • Tosh talks up Flash chip stack tech

    Through-silicon vias to boost storage capacities

    Toshiba has applied the through-silicon via (TSV) technique - chip makers' flavour-of-the-month technology - to boost the capacity of NAND Flash chips with only a "minimal" increase in chip size and no need for a new fabrication node. Announced today at the VLSI Symposium, held in Kyoto, Japan, Toshiba's new Flash structure …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 2007, 10:20

  • LoveHoney in toothbrush vibrator trademark rumpus

    NSFW Oral-B sex shocker

    Online sex toy outfit LoveHoney has got itself into hot water over the promotion of its Brush Bunny Electric Toothbrush Rabbit Vibrator after deciding the best way to punt the product was to picture it beside the pleasure delivery platform of choice - an Oral-B electric toothbrush. According to LoveHoney's sober report into the …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 10:21

  • NASA schedules fourth spacewalk for Atlantis crew

    One down, three to go

    Almost as soon as the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis completed their first spacewalk, NASA announced that the mission to the International Space Station will be extended by two days to make time for a fourth excursion into hard vacuum. Although John Shannon, head of the mission management team at NASA, did not elaborate, …

    Space 12 Jun 2007, 10:22

  • Flickr goes multilingual

    ¿No hablas inglés? Haz click aquí

    Photo-sharing outfit Flickr yesterday announced it was finally addressing the issue of non-English-speaking users by launching new versions in seven major languages, Reuters reports. Uploaders will now be able to choose from traditional Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, or Spanish - acknowledgment of the …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 10:24

  • Ironing down the JBoss Seam

    Book review Not just another Java framework

    We might as well get this over and done at the outset. Yes, JBoss Seam is another Java framework. I know, you thought there couldn't possibly be any room for another one, but you're wrong. What's more, it's another Java EE framework, built to make life for the enterprise developer more productive, more efficient, more …

    Developer 12 Jun 2007, 10:38

  • Apple's Safari 3: a crashing experience for non-US users

    International issues bugging customers

    Apple's Windows version of its Safari web browser is creating havoc on localised versions of Windows. Several international users who have downloaded the beta version noticed problems with loading bookmarks. When opening or importing bookmarks, Safari crashes. It also shows error messages such as: "Safari is missing important …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 11:03

  • YouTube, Disney to trial copyright takedown software next month

    Mickey Mouse rollout?

    YouTube says it's now really close to trialling the video fingerprinting technology it has reckons will put an end to its status as a copyright renegade, which won it a $1bn lawsuit from Viacom. The long-delayed system, built by Google engineers, was plugged again on Monday by YouTube marketing wonks, who told reporters it'll …

    Music and Media 12 Jun 2007, 11:05

  • MBO splits Star and MessageLabs

    Catch a shooting Star

    Managed security services firm MessageLabs and Star Technology Services, the business-focused ISP that gave it birth, are to become separate companies via a management buyout of Star. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Star Technology Services will now operate independently under a management team already in place. As well …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 2007, 11:08

  • Europe's R&D 'stagnant', says report

    We're being left behind, people

    If Europe wants to be at the forefront of a global "knowledge-based economy", it needs to seriously up its spending on R&D, according to a report published yesterday. The European Commission warns that unless member states act to increase the proportion of their gross domestic product they invest in basic R&D, the EU will …

    Financial News 12 Jun 2007, 11:12

  • Google opens up AdWords for scrutiny

    Advertisers get peek under the hood

    Google is offering advertisers more information on where their adverts are appearing and how they are performing. The Placement Performance report shows where the adverts have appeared, what the different click-through rates are, and how much they are costing. The service goes live in the US today and will roll out worldwide …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 11:14

  • TeleNav brings user-generated content to GPS

    Share your bad restaurant experiences with the world

    TeleNav has added extra functionality to its latest version, just launched in the US, to allow users to rate restaurants and other businesses, as well as tell everyone how much, and where, they just paid for their petrol. Version 5.2 should be available in the UK over the summer. The current version already allows searching …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2007, 11:19

  • Private equity snaps up two more UK firms

    CSG and IRIS, sold, merged

    Private equity group Hellman and Friedman has bought CSG and Iris Software from HgCapital - the firm's previous private equity owners. The newly-combined firm will trade as Iris Software Group with turnover of more than £100m. Iris specialises in accounts software, while CSG provides software to lawyers and not-for-profit …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 2007, 11:21

  • IGF 2007: Rio here we come

    What if we threw a party for the internet and it didn't turn up?

    The first UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF), held in Athens in November last year, was widely hailed as a success. It was an undeniably huge achievement to get the Chinese government in the same room as Amnesty International, and then to get them talking. The IGF is unique in the UN's history, designed to grant governments, …

    Networks 12 Jun 2007, 11:33

  • Nokia folds Wibree into Bluetooth

    One standard not two

    Nokia launched its Wibree personal area network technology in October 2006 as an extension to Bluetooth. Today, Wibree became Bluetooth. The Nokia-led Wibree Forum is to merge with the Bluetooth SIG, the body that oversees the wireless standard. Wibree, which has been under development within Nokia since 2001, was established …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 2007, 11:42

  • Hasselhoff, paedophiles, and a digital Animal Farm

    Column Why David Cameron's e-petitions scheme needs rebooting

    David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, last week recommended that online "e-petitions" should be given formal recognition within Britain's constitution. The Prime Minister's controversial e-petitions website, which forms part of the 10 Downing Street official website, allows users to start campaigns on specific …

    Government 12 Jun 2007, 11:42

  • Boffins put encrypted bio-copyright watermarks in beer DNA

    No knocking off Blade Runner pleasure replicants

    German boffins believe they have developed a computer algorithm which can be used to hide encrypted "watermarks" within the DNA of living genetically-modified organisms. The procedure has been successful in simulated tests on live beer ingredients. Dominik Heider and Angelika Barnekow of the Department of Experimental …

    Biology 12 Jun 2007, 11:59

  • MPs question Capgemini's HMRC profits

    But they're still below target

    The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has recommended that HM Revenue and Customs "rigorously benchmark" its 10-year deal with Capgemini after a steep rise in its revenue and profits from the deal after only three years. The contract HMRC awarded Capgemini in 2004 allowed the department to consider price changes if additional …

    Public Sector 12 Jun 2007, 12:16

  • EU slaps 'Davros tax' on mobility scooters

    RoTM Import duty contains battery-powered pensioner menace

    The EU has moved to restrict the number of mobility scooters available to a machine uprising on the UK streets by slapping import duty on the vehicles, the Telegraph reports. The ruling means a £250 price hike on the average £2.5k cost of the mostly Taiwanese and Chinese vehicles, which are "exempt from VAT for disabled …

    Rise of the Machines 12 Jun 2007, 12:36

  • US lawyer ranking site raises attorney's hackles

    Avvo pushes limits of web immunity

    Avvo, the brand-new lawyer-ranking upstart run by some top US legal professionals and scholars, has only had its shingle hanging for a few days, and already faces a possible lawsuit over its core ranking practices. John Henry Browne, a Seattle-based criminal law attorney, has told Avvo in a letter that he has retained counsel …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 13:02

  • Disney plays a shot, scores Cricinfo

    Six runs for cricket fans

    ESPN, Disney's sporting arm, is paying an undisclosed amount for Cricinfo the much-loved, and visited, cricket website. A statement from Cricinfo editor Sambit Bal welcomed the takeover by an established sports broadcaster. After being honest about the stress of doing the deal, Bal said: "Yes, a few things could change. We …

    Music and Media 12 Jun 2007, 13:06

  • Start-up ISP in launch shocker

    Brave or foolhardy?

    It's an at best courageous move to set up a new ISP in the current market climate of commoditisation, consolidation, and titsuppery. Step forward Jungle247, which is pitching itself into the bearpit from both a small business and consumer angle. The firm is headed by Hugh Logan, the former MD of Your Communications, which was …

    Telecoms 12 Jun 2007, 13:10

  • Two cuffed for harassing Dave the dolphin

    Kent police move to protect local cetacean celeb

    Two men were cuffed on Saturday for allegedly "harassing" Dave the dolphin - a lone cetacean who's been wowing the crowds at Sandgate in Folkstone since taking up residence in Kent waters a year ago. According to Reuters, officers arrested the pair, aged 25 and 26, following "numerous emergency calls from the public" that they …

    Biology 12 Jun 2007, 13:14

  • Wobbly G8 Sarkozy delights YouTubers

    'Hadn't only drunk water', insinuates Belgian TV

    French TV declined to show a clip of French big cheese Nicolas Sarkozy looking a bit worse for wear at the G8 conference, but that didn't stop the Belgians broadcasting a press conference which, inevitably, has found its way onto YouTube: As the presenter explains, Sarko "hadn't only drunk water". For his part, le grand …

    Entertainment 12 Jun 2007, 13:31

  • BAE to call in Woolf-led ethics pack

    May find it difficult to sell weapons as a result

    BAE Systems plc, the arms colossus at the centre of a decades-long stink over allegedly corrupt arms deals in Saudi Arabia, is to call in Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice, to validate its business practices. The BBC reports that the weapons biz goliath - which says it is the fourth largest defence company worldwide - …

    Financial News 12 Jun 2007, 13:32

  • Physics GCSE: 'insultingly easy, non scientific, and vague'

    UK science education flushed away

    Physics GCSE papers are full of questions that are vague, stupid, insultingly easy, political, and non-scientific. So says secondary school physics teacher Wellington Grey in an open letter to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the AQA exam board. Grey writes: "I am a physics teacher. Or, at least I used to be …

    Physics 12 Jun 2007, 13:44

  • UK.gov wants to ramp up, co-ordinate anti-terror investment

    Fragmentation is just one of our enemies

    The UK government's chief scientific advisor painted a depressing picture of an ever-evolving terror threat that had to be be met with an ever agile investment in science and technology for security. Launching the Home Office's Security and Counter-Terrorism Science and Innovation strategy, Professor Paul Wiles echoed its …

    Government 12 Jun 2007, 14:33

  • Nokia lobs another legal grenade at Qualcomm

    I'll see you in court. Oh, you're already there

    Nokia has filed another lawsuit against Qualcomm in their ever-growing list of patent spats. This time, Nokia claims that Qualcomm's MediaFlo and Brew technologies infringe its patents. Qualcomm's last filing against Nokia covered software download and execution environments. The filing was made at the US District Court for …

    Mobile 12 Jun 2007, 14:35

  • DiData gets Avaya contract

    Engineer teams are go

    Dimension Data has set up a team of 32 Avaya field engineers. This makes DiData one the UK's largest Avaya support teams. The team can provide hardware diagnosis and replacement across the UK. The company is also holding spare parts at seven UK locations. The managed services will be available under DiData's service level …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 2007, 14:48

  • Collabnet does Subversion for Mac

    A version by any other name

    It would not be too surprising if fans of Apple's Macintosh felt that, outside of those market sectors where the machine is the platform of choice, they are second class citizens. Mac implementations of PC software often appear many months after the PC versions, if at all, and in the world of developer tools things are little …

    Developer 12 Jun 2007, 15:27

  • US troops to scatter crawling Wi-Fi mini-droids

    DARPA gives new meaning to the term 'bot net'

    DARPA*, the occasionally eccentric American death-tech hothouse, has come up with a scheme to develop "LANdroids", small crawling radio-relay robots the size of a deck of cards. The idea is that the diminutive, cheap, expendable droids would be scattered about by US troops on foot. They would then link up to form a wireless …

    Science 12 Jun 2007, 15:32

  • Security researchers poke holes in Safari

    Hot Fuzz

    Security hunters have discovered numerous bugs in a Windows version of Safari, hours after Apple released a beta version of the browser into the wild. Both Windows and Mac OS X versions of Safari 3 were released at a developer conference in San Francisco on Monday as part of Apple's plans to grow its market share from 4.9 per …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 2007, 15:37

  • Kilted Debian lovers to overrun Edinburgh

    Help! The geeks are coming!

    Here's a poser for you: could there be anything more frightening than a bunch of open source geeks (proud ones, at that) milling around the mean streets of Edinburgh? Well, yes. How about if you put some of them in special Debian kilts? Yes, those wags behind the worldwide Debian conference have designed a tartan especially for …

    Software 12 Jun 2007, 15:42

  • Albanians swipe Bush's wristwatch

    Goddamn thieving former Commies

    The White House has denied reports that enthusiastic Albanians greeted President Bush to their sun-kissed land by swiping his wristwatch. The alleged incident, captured by Albanian TV on Sunday and now featuring on YouTube, appears to show thieving former godless Commies relieving El Prez of his timepiece: A White House …

    Bootnotes 12 Jun 2007, 15:54

  • Porn mag ed sacked for inadequate smut

    Men Only 'artistic differences' kerfuffle

    The former editor of Men Only has won an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal after being shown the door for refusing requests to use younger models and "bigger and more graphic photos", The Evening Standard reports. Pierre Perrone, 49, fell out with owner Paul Raymond's nephew, Mark Quinn, over the former's decision to …

    Bootnotes 12 Jun 2007, 16:18

  • EMC Avamar extends to NAS and virtual machines

    Virtual circle

    EMC Corporation has announced new data deduplication capabilities in EMC Avamar version 3.7, which now also supports VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) for the protection and reduction of backup times within and across virtual machines. Avamar backup and recovery software features unique global data deduplication technology …

    Storage 12 Jun 2007, 16:21

  • Spyware hackers raid Calif. city coffers

    Wild Wild West

    Hackers attempted to swipe $450,000 after stealing login credentials associated with bank accounts run by the city of Carson, California. Police are working on the theory that the password for the general fund account was stolen after miscreants planted key-logging spyware onto a PC used by city treasurer Karen Avilla. All but …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 2007, 17:52

  • Windows recovery loophole lets hackers in

    Who do want to own today?

    Windows Vista may be Microsoft's most secure operating system to date, but researchers are still finding some glaring loopholes for hackers to exploit. Here is the latest: all you need is a Vista Install DVD to get admin level access to a hard drive. The loophole arises because the Command Prompt tool in Vista's System …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 2007, 17:56

  • Symantec back ups backup software

    Vision 2007 NetBackup 6.5 leads new initiative

    Symantec fleshed out its storage software portfolio today, and wheeled in CEO John Thompson to big up the launch during his keynote at the Symantec Vision conference in Las Vegas. Thompson pushed a new version of NetBackup to lead the charge in a new corporate initiative aimed at consolidating data protection, storage …

    Storage 12 Jun 2007, 18:11

  • Google adds PowerPoint viewer to Gmail

    Heightens battle with Microsoft

    The Office wars continue. Today, Google stepped up its challenge to Microsoft Office, adding a PowerPoint viewer to its online email client, Gmail. Google users can now open mind-numbing business presentations inside their browsers – without opening Microsoft software on the desktop. Using Google’s browser-based word …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 18:18

  • Intel and Google go Bono over power supplies

    Pay more to pay less

    Intel and Google have taken it upon themselves to lead yet another "green computing" project. Executives from the two companies today unveiled the Climate Savers Computing Initiative at the Gulag in Mountain View, California. At its most basic level, the program will focus on encouraging consumers and businesses to buy …

    Servers 12 Jun 2007, 19:35

  • Spammer faces 11 years in prison

    Admits to sending junk mail to 1.2m AOL subscribers

    A New York man who was snared in federal investigators' sting operation targeting senders of junk email pleaded guilty to spamming 1.2m AOL subscribers. Adam Vitale, 26, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to violations of the CAN-Spam Act. He faces 11 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 at his …

    Spam 12 Jun 2007, 19:38

  • Newegg turns to tech publishing

    Community values

    Newegg.com, the California-based online computer products retailer, is getting into tech publishing. The company aims to build a tech community around support and discussion forums at Eggxpert.com. The goal is for it to become a "well-frequented meeting space for a community that will exchange ideas on a broad range of topics, …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 2007, 20:51

  • Microsoft adds clustering and VSS to Virtual Server

    SLES 10 and Solaris welcomed too

    Viridian remains Microsoft's virtualization priority, but that hasn't stopped the software maker from refining the existing Virtual Server package. Microsoft this week dumped a number of new virtualization tools in the final version of Service Pack 1 for Virtual Server 2005 R2. First off, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 boasts host …

    Servers 12 Jun 2007, 20:58

  • Users attacked by mysterious AIM buddies

    Updated AOL denies then claims responsibility

    This afternoon, someone was surreptitiously adding unauthorized chat buddies to AOL instant messaging clients running across the Web. Three separate Register employees noticed the offending buddies, which show up under the "AIM Bots" portion of the AOL buddy list, carrying the names "Prof Gilzot," "sharethisdotcom," "Spleak," …

    Applications 12 Jun 2007, 21:03

  • YouTube - uTube showdown stays alive in federal court

    Silicon Justice A website by any other name

    What's in a name, right? For the Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corporation, operator of uTube.com, its domain name means cash - and with a federal court's recent refusal to dismiss the company's suit against YouTube, the possibility of even more cash in the future. The company has operated uTube.com as a means to sell …

    Law 12 Jun 2007, 22:14

  • Leopard gets dose of Solaris ZFS

    Apple u-turn on denial

    Apple has apparently admitted its next operating system will utilize Sun Microsystems’ ZFS encrypted file system, contradicting earlier denials. In a display of corporate left-hand/right-hand syndrome, Apple has reportedly confirmed comments made by Sun’s chief executive Jonathan Schwartz last week that Sun’s 128-bit ZFS for …

    Storage 12 Jun 2007, 22:24