22nd June 2007 Archive

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Hacker breaks into Pentagon email system

DoD shuts down 1,500 computers

The Pentagon took as many as 1,500 computers offline yesterday to stamp out a security breach in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told reporters in a news briefing today that a hacker had penetrated an unclassified OSD email system, prompting the shutdown. The system reportedly does …

Enterprise Security 22 Jun 2007, 00:20
Bush official goes nuclear in Net Neut row

Supernova 2007 Shouting match with delegates

A San Francisco tech show degenerated into a shouting match today, after a pugnacious Bush commerce official squared off with heated supporters of net neutrality. John Kneuer, the assistant secretary for communications and information, quickly lost his temper and began shouting back at Supernova 2007 attendees after taking …

Telecoms 22 Jun 2007, 01:00
How to counter premature optimisation

Is optimisation the root of all evil - or, at least, many bugs

There was a time in my career, in the 1960s, when optimisation wasn't optional. System memories were measured in kilobytes, instruction times in tens or hundreds of microseconds. We planned our programs around those limited resources. No longer. In fact, program optimisation is rarely needed these days despite programs that are …

Developer 22 Jun 2007, 08:48
Internet users living secret lives online

Irish users 'fess up to their web shame

As many as 17 per cent of Irish males and 13 per cent of females claim to be secretly ashamed of things they have done online, a new study indicates. According to research carried out by BT Ireland, 56 per cent of Irish adults now use the internet each day, with a further 30 per cent of males and 26 per cent of females going …

Bootnotes 22 Jun 2007, 09:14
Intel chip boffins in litho brainstorm

Intel R&D Day Let's gets pixelated

Your digital camera is more powerful than you think. Using the basic concepts of digital photography, Intel researchers are reinventing the art of silicon lithography – the technique used to etch circuit patterns onto PC microprocessors. The company's new "pixelated masks" method - showcased this week at Intel's annual R&D day …

Bits 'n' Chips 22 Jun 2007, 09:16
Manhunt 2 shut out by Sony and Nintendo

Refuse to release game unless it gets a lower rating

Both Sony and Nintendo have confirmed that they will not authorise the release of controversial video game Manhunt 2 on their games consoles - the PS2, PSP and the Wii - in the US. The news comes in the same week that the game was refused certification in both Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Italy. Manhunt 2 is the first …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 09:28
'Shut your head and be pheasant'

FoTW A friend of Rufus writes

It appears that the now-legendary Rufus - he of Gadspot.com's battling tech support who called one customer a "a pain in the butt" then reserved the right to "server" him "for being mean" - has has become a torchbearer for obstreperous dictionary-dodgers worldwide. Yes indeed, try this anonymous recent comment to our original …

Letters 22 Jun 2007, 09:30
Rufus fights back

Battling tech support hero's right to reply

Our recent piece on battling tech support operative Rufus, who called one customer a "pain in the butt", provoked a heated debate as to whether he should be put up against the wall and shot or appointed head of the United Nations. Well, Rufus himself was eventually moved to offer his two bits' worth, which we reproduce here in …

Letters 22 Jun 2007, 09:32
Wii gets wee add-on screen

What, no telly?

If you didn’t see the point of the tennis racket shaped add-on to the Wii Remote, then you definately won’t see the point of a 7in clip-on screen from Japanese computer peripherals manufacturer Century. Century's wee Wii screen The display clips onto the Wii’s side and allows you to play all the games you usually would on …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 09:34
Orange and Littlewoods breach Data Protection Act, says ICO

Not keeping customer information secure

Mobile operator Orange has breached the Data Protection Act's security requirements and home shopping giant Littlewoods has breached the Act's marketing rules, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has ruled. Today's announcement indicates that the commissioner is increasing his leverage against data controllers, …

Law 22 Jun 2007, 09:42
Sling tosses in Windows Mobile 6 player app

Sling Media has brought its SlingPlayer mobile TV viewer application into the Windows Mobile 6 era with a version of the code that supports Microsoft's latest smart-phone system software. Its pre-release Palm OS app has been tweaked too. Sling's SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile 6 The new version will run on both smart …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 09:55
Britney's album: Hair Of The Dog or Revulva?

Reader poll The people must decide

The recent and resolutely non-IT-related news that Britney "Short Back and Front" Spears is asking fans to vote for a title for her forthcoming album provoked a flurry of creative activity among you, our beloved readers. Well, we know that Brit's a busy girl, what with looking vainly for her underwear and getting her hair cut, …

Entertainment 22 Jun 2007, 10:06
NASA to unleash 'mind meld' intelligent machines

RoTM neoLuddite Resistance Army to Defcon 'Armageddon'

All members of the neoLuddite Resistance Army are hereby ordered to go to Defcon "Armageddon"* and prepare to battle a new breed of mind-melding intelligent machines and systems under development by NASA's Ames Research Center and the Machine-to-Machine Intelligence Corporation (M2Mi). According to the NASA's chillingly frank …

Rise of the Machines 22 Jun 2007, 10:12
BOFH: Printer cartridge? What printer cartridge?

Episode 22 Framed

"Simon, Stephen, this is David and uhh... " the Boss says, petering out as his memory fails. "Carl," David says. "Carl. And they'll be running the new Multifunction Printing Device rollout." "I... What multifunction printing device rollout?" the PFY asks. "The Multifunction Printing Device Project? There was a whole …

BOFH 22 Jun 2007, 11:02
Open sourcers rattle EU sabre at BBC on demand player

Anti-competitive DRM accusations ramped up

The BBC is being threatened with an anti-trust challenge in Europe over its use of the Windows Media format in its on demand service, iPlayer, which is in the final stages of testing. Advocacy group the Open Source Consortium (OSC) will raise a formal complaint with UK broadcast and telecoms watchdog Ofcom next week, and has …

Music and Media 22 Jun 2007, 11:25
Icebergs collect mini ecosystems, lock up carbon

Nifty

Icebergs, released by global warming from the icy embrace of Antarctica, have surprised scientists by playing host to many forms of life. According to new research published in the journal Science, the bergs also act as floating carbon sinks, net accumulators of carbon dioxide. Now drifting through the Weddell sea, the bergs …

Biology 22 Jun 2007, 11:26
Evesham poised for buyout as senior execs walk

Exclusive: Boss says 'every man has his price'

Evesham Technology has parted company with its managing director and financial director as several firms look to buy the PC manufacturer, The Register has learned. Owner and chairman Richard Austin told us that MD Brad Walker and FD David Hards had left on good terms and that there had been no dispute over the future of the …

Channel Register 22 Jun 2007, 11:37
Business.com: yours for $400m

Party like it's 1999, multiplied by 53

A piece of prime web real estate, which set a price record at the height of the dotcom bubble, is being punted to potential buyers for up to $400m. Jake Winebaum and Sky Dayton, the two entrepreneurs who bought the business.com domain for $7.5m in December 1999, are ready to cash in, according to the WSJ. The price tag is …

Financial News 22 Jun 2007, 11:38
AMD's Phenom to arrive in time for Christmas?

Schedule tweaked, moles claim

AMD is on track to release four processor models under its eagerly anticipated Phenom brand during Q4, it has been claimed. That's a quarter later than previous reports had suggested. Reports by DigiTimes and VR-Zone have released speculative roadmaps that indicate Q4 will see the release of the Phenom FX-80, the dual-core …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 12:08
Making a splash in academia with open access

Let them read journals

Boffins at the University of Southampton will next week announce plans to develop a new tool for evaluating the effect of self archiving on scientific research. Professor Steve Harnad says he will also reveal new research into the causes of a positive correlation between self archiving and research impact. Harnad, a real …

Science 22 Jun 2007, 12:16
Web users get a finger language class

Say more with your fingers than just 'Up yours!'

Fancy learning a new language - with no need to go abroad to use it? And no, it's not Welsh... Sense, a charity for the deafblind, is using YouTube and its own Website to encourage others to learn the "manual alphabet" that it calls Finger Lingo, and which works by spelling words out on the hand. It has put an instructional …

IT Director 22 Jun 2007, 12:19
Here comes the summer - holiday kit on test

Round-up The gadgets you shouldn't leave home without

Packing your bags for the annual sojourn overseas is getting more complicated every year, as the lines of what is and isn't essential gadgetry blur ever further. Which is why we've rounded up some of the tastiest travelling technology currently on offer. Something for everyone, in fact... Sony CDX-HDR70MW MP3/CD player …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 12:26
UK Gov seeks 'scientific' basis for nationality

Didn't we hear that one somewhere before?

Attempts to define race through science haven't had an entirely positive press subsequent to the collapse of the Third Reich, but the Weird Science Department of the UK Government could well be skittering on that very patch of thin ice. Lord Triesman, the Prime minister's Special Envoy for Returns, this week said that work on …

Government 22 Jun 2007, 12:56
US gov in Bill Gates inspired robot probe

Is sex with robots legal if they aren't turned on?

Robots, robots everywhere. That's the way of the future, according to US legislators. And American robotics-policy issues need a damn good probing. Congressmen Mike Doyle (Democrat, Pennsylvania) and the superbly-named Congressman Zach Wamp (Republican, Tennessee) announced the formation of a cross-party Congressional Robotics …

Science 22 Jun 2007, 13:03
Fake flash player site used to spread malware

Shockwave horror

Hackers have developed a new ruse that attempts to trick users into downloading malware from a fake Adobe Shockwave Player download site. Prospective marks who stray onto lure sites - such as a game site related to RuneScape - are presented with broken icons in an attempt to convince them that their copy of Shockwave (if …

Security 22 Jun 2007, 13:07
Cornish separatists torch abandoned brewery

CNLA 'apologises for the inconvenience'

The Cornwall National Liberation Army (CNLA) has claimed a disused Redruth brewery gutted by fire on Sunday was "a training camp for setting off incendiary devices", the Cornish Guardian reports. The incident, which follows two similar fires at the site this year, comes hot on the heels of threats to target businesses belonging …

Law 22 Jun 2007, 13:10
3 looks to Brew up applications

Qualcomm finally gets Brew apps into the UK?

Qualcomm has proudly announced that UK operator 3 is intending to sell handsets incorporating Qualcomm's Brew technology, though it's not saying when, or which handsets exactly. A full Brew deployment by a network operator is much more than a handset application environment, requiring considerable server-side infrastructure to …

Mobile 22 Jun 2007, 13:11
Japanese firm exhibits droid construction worker

Features 'cantilevered crotch joint', potential for bot-crack in future

Japanese developers have produced a robot intended for manual labouring, which they reckon will be ready to sell to the construction industry by 2010. In a press event yesterday, the new HRP-3 Promet Mk II from Kawada Industries walked on a slippery floor, shrugged off a drenching under a shower and "used a screwdriver just as …

Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 13:49
Harry Potter, the NHS, e-voting and Amazon

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

Good news, bad news for NHS A mixed week for the NHS, starting off with the bizarre departure of Richard Granger. His exit leaves the world's largest civil IT project looking for a boss. Meanwhile, the fight over the future of iSoft - a key supplier for the project - looks a little rosier. CSC, which was blocking the deal, …

Business 22 Jun 2007, 14:22
For sale: Herman Munster's MasterCard number

ID thieves duped by TV fan

ID thieves apparently not au fait with US 1960s TV series The Munsters attempted to sell Herman Munster's MasterCard number and personal details in an "underground chat room", AP reports. The attempted transaction - which correctly gave Munster's home address of 1313 Mocking Bird Lane and a DOB of 15 August 1964, " …

ID 22 Jun 2007, 14:27
Welcome to Xanadu-on-Thames

O2's big wireless tent

This Sunday the wraps come off what used to be the much-unloved Millennium Dome, and is now the really-hopes-to-be-loved O2. When El Reg fluttered in this week it looked like the opening event was an audition to play the construction worker from the Village People. But it's just that it's not finished yet. It's no surprise …

Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 14:29
BlackBerry squeezes MS on security, management, and control

Poll results The benefits of maturity?

Mobile email is a hot topic on enterprise agendas at the moment, with many already investing in this area or planning to invest, as we have previously seen. While there are numerous options open as organisations look to implement and/or scale up their installations, there are some obvious choices to make. One of these, …

Workshop 22 Jun 2007, 14:34
Ohio data leak was 'accident waiting to happen'

Warning unheeded as thousands of records exposed

A stolen backup tape containing personal data on Ohio state workers also contained the names and Social Security numbers of around 225,000 state residents. A mounting privacy brouhaha is building over the purloined tape, stolen on 10 June from the back of an unlocked intern's car. At first it seemed that the data contained on …

Enterprise Security 22 Jun 2007, 14:46
Unmanned aircraft rubbish, says senior US pilot

And don't waste my time with your roadside bombs

One of the US air force's most senior pilots has cast doubt on the usefulness of unmanned aircraft. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, USAF general Ronald E Keys, chief of Air Combat Command, made negative remarks about drone aircraft survivability on Wednesday during a keynote conference speech. General Keys, who …

Science 22 Jun 2007, 15:00
Microsoft strips Office from charity PC scheme

App-free Windows coming to a poor community near you...

Software giant Microsoft is to abruptly ditch the use of Office through its popular global community refurbishment scheme. An El Reg reader alerted us to the firm's decision to unexpectedly withdraw the software from the Microsoft Authorised Refurbishment (MAR) program. Under a special licence agreement (pdf) with Microsoft …

Channel Register 22 Jun 2007, 15:23
EU privacy watchdogs extend search engine probe

Equal treatment for all our big brothers

EU privacy worrywarts will expand their investigation into Google to other search engines' data retention policies. According to IDG, European Data Protection Supervisor Peter Hustinx said on Wednesday that his Article 29 working group had decided to write to Google's competitors to ask about the information they keep. The …

Applications 22 Jun 2007, 15:56
Pump-and-dump scammers issue German prospectus

PDF ruse attempts to smuggle junk past spam filters

The fraudsters behind pump-and-dump stock spams are trying a new technique in a bid to fool spam filters. Junk mails promoting worthless stocks seen this week are appearing with an attached PDF file. Typically titled "German Stock Insider", these PDF files purport to offer insider tips and contain more detail than is …

Security 22 Jun 2007, 16:08
Vibrating cube brings music to your ears

Despite sounding like a raunchy Ann Summers product, the Nimzy Vibro Max is actually the successor to a gadget designed to turn any flat surface into your very own Wembley Arena. The Vibro Max builds on the success of the Nimzy Vibro Blaster, a small camera lens shaped device, which uses patented electro-acoustic technology …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 16:30
DLO mix'n'matches iPod FM transmitter and remote control

DLO's TuneStik wwith Remote could be the in-car iPod accessory to top all others. The product combines a dock-on FM transmitter to beam your songs to your car stereo, and a radio remote you can clip to your steering wheel. So no more groping for your ipod to change channels and no need to install a price direct-to-stereo …

Reg Hardware 22 Jun 2007, 16:48
ITC upholds Qualcomm phone ban

Blockage remains blocked

The US International Trade Commission has denied Qualcomm's appeal against a ban that could stop millions of the company's phones from entering the US market. The ITC issued the ban on June 7, which blocked the import of phones using Qualcomm chips that it says violates a patent held by Broadcom. The commission issued the …

Wireless 22 Jun 2007, 19:22
Unplugged life supports and padlocked manhoods abound

Comments Rival wiki smackdown slated on World of Warcraft

Happy Friday, everyone! It's time for another round of comments. Anxious for sleep in an intensive care ward, a German teenager unplugged the funny, beeping machine that his immediate neighbour didn't seem to be using for much. It was a pity that it happened to be the patient's life support system, but heroic hospital staff …

Letters 22 Jun 2007, 19:23
IBM launches MySpace for mainframes

Discuss your addiction to Big Iron here...

IBM aims to leverage social networking by building an online meeting place for users of its System z mainframes. It says the Web-based portal, called Destination z, gives customers a place to discuss and debate mainframe usage, exchange ideas and seek technical advice. The company also announced software to improve System z's …

Servers 22 Jun 2007, 19:52
Windows Vista aligned with good management practice

No, really!!

Calling all BOFHs We got a survey that wants filling in. Help us out and we'll make sure to demand that your bosses give you lots of goodies next month when we write our annual sysadmin appreciation day article. Sounds like a deal? So if you have anything to do with systems management and/or support, form an orderly line to …

Reg Technology Panel 22 Jun 2007, 20:08
Of the Sun Blade 6000

Switch blade

Sun Microsystems has introduced the Sun Blade 6000 Modular System, which offers a choice of blades powered by the UltraSPARC T1 processor with CoolThreads technology, Intel Xeon processors, or AMD Opteron processors and supports Solaris, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Its increased memory capacity and I/O bandwidth …

Servers 22 Jun 2007, 20:57
Atlantis touches down in California

Brief Safely back after two-week mission

The space shuttle Atlantis touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 15:49 local time (19:49 GMT) today after bad weather forced a diversion from the planned landing at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The safe homecoming ended a two-week mission to the ISS, and a return to Mother Earth for Sunita Williams, who'd …

Space 22 Jun 2007, 21:13
Digital data can bite you in the ass, researcher warns

Usenix Beware of those contributions on Flickr and Myspace

When security consultant Dan Klein was culling decades-old snapshots for his digital scrap book, he specifically omitted photos taken during his college years, when some of his behaviors weren't exactly role-model material for his offspring. Left unscanned, for instance, was the picture of him wearing a tee-shirt bearing a …

Security 22 Jun 2007, 22:21
Day-of-silence protest hits Net radio

Stations battle royalty hike

On Tuesday, more than 10,000 U.S. web radio broadcasters will participate in a nationwide "day of silence", canceling their usual programming in protest of an impending royalty hike that threatens to put most of them out of business. Members of the SaveNetRadio coalition - including everyone from Yahoo! to WebRadioPugetSound - …

Music and Media 22 Jun 2007, 23:16