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25th June 2007 Archive

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  • Google gestures German pullout on privacy principles

    Anonymity ist verboten

    Google is threatening to close the German version of Gmail if the Bundestag goes through with new laws to ban anonymous email accounts. The federal internet surveillance legislation, which comes into force next year, could compel email providers to verify real names and physical addresses in the name of fighting terrorism. …

    Law 25 Jun 2007, 08:12

  • Lotus leaps into social networking

    But will it do Web 2.0 without Notes?

    IBM is the latest big company to jump onto the social networking bandwagon, via its Lotus subsidiary which has at last released its much-hyped information-sharing and community-building software, Lotus Connections. The whole thing sounds awfully like what Lotus Notes and SameTime were already supposed to be doing for us, but …

    Applications 25 Jun 2007, 09:22

  • Mobile device mayhem, or...

    Who decides?

    In our recent mobile state of the nation survey, we asked you about what was important in a mobile device. In many respects, the results were pretty predictable in that, surprise surprise, battery life and decent voice capability were top of the list: Quite a few then highlighted the importance of high-speed data access, …

    Workshop 25 Jun 2007, 09:54

  • AMD to roll out 45nm Phenoms, Semprons H2 '08?

    Single-core Athlons for the chop sooner, it's claimed

    AMD looks set to introduce Socket AM3 processors in the second half of 2008, reports coming out of Asia suggest. Sooner, though, it will begin phasing out single-core Athlon-branded chips, the moles also allege. AMD currently offers four 90nm, one-core Athlon 64 CPUs: the 3200+, 3500+, 3800+ and 4000+, along with "energy …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 10:00

  • Jisc sees road to data curation

    Report sets out data management recommendations

    A new report has outlined the next steps in the long-term management of data for the Joint Information Systems Committee and other higher education institutions. Dealing with data reviews a variety of data, and arrangements for its accumulation, storage and use, across disciplines. It sets out 10 key recommendations and a …

    Government 25 Jun 2007, 10:04

  • New EU member states enjoy IT boom

    IT markets set to continue to grow

    The IT markets of the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 are set to stay hot for the foreseeable future according to a new report by IDC. The study, entitled EU Enlargement: Understanding the Impact on ICT Markets in the New Member States, found that these states' EU membership is playing a critical role in their current …

    The Channel 25 Jun 2007, 10:10

  • PlusNet does Pole dance for migrants

    Wygięcie nad w tył

    The UK Polish community has got its own ISP, courtesy of Sheffield-based PlusNet. The service costs the same as PlusNet in English, and is supported by Polish staff in its UK call centre. The move looks like a smart bit of differentiation by PlusNet in the increasingly commoditised UK ISP market, as it battles its way back …

    Broadband 25 Jun 2007, 10:21

  • Videogaming not addictive... for now, doctors say

    Five years' research needed to be sure

    Think you're addicted to computer games? Think again, US addiction specialists have said. More research is needed before they will classify excessive gaming as a mental illness, the American Medical Association (AMA) was told this weekend. The judgement follows a proposal that the playing of computer games for long periods of …

    Games 25 Jun 2007, 10:27

  • Sun appoints new UK and Ireland boss

    Veteran Kim Jones gets the nod

    Sun Microsystems has appointed Kim Jones as UK president after the shock departure of Trudy Norris-Grey last week. In an internal memo to staff, seen by The Register, senior EMEA vice president Peter Ryan said that Grey had left the firm "to pursue other interests" after two years at the helm. He said Jones, who has worked …

    Servers 25 Jun 2007, 10:29

  • Social networkers lack loyalty: report

    Many court other sites on the side

    Social networking users tend to get around, as they say, and not stay faithful to one network, according to a new study. The report, Web 2.0 & the New Net, by research group Parks Associates, found that MySpace users are chronically unfaithful. The survey found that nearly 40 per cent of MySpace users keep profiles on other …

    Broadband 25 Jun 2007, 10:30

  • Mugwort buys the furniture - Fytte 6...

    Why make developers comfortable? We pay them enough for them to put up with anything.

    Mugwort has been getting less and less favoured by the iteration. However, there is hope following an isolated period of success for the young demon. Several key members of his victim’s development team have left and, due to inadequate training, this means that Mugwort’s intended victim, our young project manager, has struggled …

    Developer 25 Jun 2007, 10:38

  • Don't be evil

    Third party data dangers

    A series of developments raise the specter that remotely stored or created documents may be subject to subpoena or discovery all without the knowledge or consent of the document's creators (pdf). I have been playing around recently with Google's Documents and Spreadsheets. What Google documents and spreadsheets allows you to …

    Security 25 Jun 2007, 10:56

  • MEPs give rejected bidders on public contracts new rights

    In national law in three years

    The European Parliament has voted to give businesses new powers to challenge public procurement decisions when they consider that a public authority has awarded a contract unfairly. National laws are expected to change within three years. The European Commission proposed the Directive (pdf) last year, which seeks to improve …

    The Channel 25 Jun 2007, 11:07

  • Bluetooth speaker set slices all wires

    UK retailer Advanced MP3 Players has brought out what it claims the world's first pair of truly portable, truly wireless Bluetooth speakers. So if people playing their music too loudly on the bus already annoys you, then get ready for the next step... Wireless speaker units are nothing new, but the Samsin SBS-6600 set are …

    Broadband 25 Jun 2007, 11:17

  • UK Ltd not bovvered by green blether

    All mouth, no organic hemp trousers

    Companies in the UK are doing little more than paying lip-service to the idea of reducing their environmental impact, and will continue in the same vein until they are forced to do otherwise. According to research from the Green Technology Initiative, 70 per cent of firms in the UK have no plans to reduce their carbon …

    Data Center 25 Jun 2007, 11:22

  • Yahoo! loses! sales! head!

    Oh! Noes!

    Yahoo! is using the departure of its US head of sales to reorganise its sales department. In future display and search ad sales will be run from one department. Yahoo! says this is because companies increasingly want to run both campaigns together. But the search and portal company has seen a stream of departures from senior …

    Financial News 25 Jun 2007, 11:31

  • Pure digital radios to get music download tech

    Cliq coming

    Imagination Technologies, the company behind the Pure Digital radio brand, is to build music download technology into future products to allow listeners to buy copies of songs they've just heard. And since Imagination makes DAB digital radio components for other manufacturers too, there's a good chance the download system, …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 11:48

  • Acer TravelMate ProFile 6292 business laptop

    Review Acer's... um... ace up its sleeve?

    The Acer TravelMate 6292 is the first of the company's new ProFile range, which promises to be "concrete, protective and productive", apparently. Designed for a hardy life on the road it features a magnesium alloy cover that's supposedly 20 times stronger yet considerably lighter than plastic. Would you like to know more? …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 12:10

  • Two year old's IQ on a par with Hawking

    Just short of Vorderman though

    Mensa, the club for people too clever to sign up for a social network, has recruited its youngest member, a two year old girl from Hampshire Georgia Brown's IQ has been measured at 152, according to the Beeb. This puts her in the top 0.2 per cent of the population, and on a par with Stephen Hawking. An “average” IQ, by …

    Science 25 Jun 2007, 12:17

  • eBay resumes Google advertising

    But AdWords ain't all that, tat house snipes

    After their bust up over a spolier party earlier this month, eBay and Google are back in bed together, albeit with less cash changing hands. eBay got huffy when the search strumpet, which is going after PayPal's online payments dominance with its cheaper Checkout system, tried to pimp itself at a party on the fringes of a …

    Financial News 25 Jun 2007, 12:21

  • Comet goes head-to-head with Geek Squad

    Push-up support

    Comet has bumped up its eagerness to offer IT support to UK home users and small businesses, with the nationwide launch today of its "Comet On Call" service. The electrical retailer, which has 250 stores throughout Britain, has been quietly operating the service since March 2007 in Bristol, Oxford, Banbury and Hereford. But …

    The Channel 25 Jun 2007, 12:23

  • Senate Frankensteins bid to revive dead wearable-tech gear

    Land Warrior axed by Pentagon but may live again

    The US Army's controversial wearable-tech programme for foot soldiers, known as "Land Warrior," may not be dead after all. Land Warrior was removed from the Army budget in February, which would normally means its imminent demise. However, the decision to cut off funds came just as the first American combat unit received the …

    Government 25 Jun 2007, 12:29

  • UK Gov boots intelligent design back into 'religious' margins

    Not science, not likely to be science

    The government has announced that it will publish guidance for schools on how creationism and intelligent design relate to science teaching, and has reiterated that it sees no place for either on the science curriculum. It has also defined "Intelligent Design", the idea that life is too complex to have arisen without the …

    Government 25 Jun 2007, 12:35

  • Bluetooth bikini sews up iPod apparel market

    Nike's iPod Bluetooth add-in for your trainers was a nice idea. On paper at least. Marks & Spencer gave a new twist to the suit by stitching in iPod controls. But the iPod bikini is now ready to take beaches by storm this summer. Korean company JWin has developed a bikini top with controls sewn in, allowing the wearer to …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 12:42

  • Sweaty spooks feel the heat as NSA runs short of juice

    Sweeping powers yes, electrical power no

    The National Security Agency (NSA), America's ultrasecret electronic spy agency, may be on the verge of a disastrous power overload at its Maryland headquarters. According to the Baltimore Sun, energy supplies to the NSA's Fort Meade head-shed have been under strain for some time, with problems reaching a critical level last …

    Servers 25 Jun 2007, 12:47

  • DVD ripping to be rendered impossible?

    DVD Copy Control Association ponders further restrictions

    Buying a DVD and then copying it for use on your PSP, iPod or laptop could soon become impossible, if the DVD Copy Control Association gets its way. The association wants to amend the licence underpinning the use of its DVD copy-protection technology, CSS (Content Scrambling System). This would, if successful, oblige you to …

    Media 25 Jun 2007, 12:52

  • Euro Roaming Tariff into law by the weekend?

    Ruled not to be uncompetitive

    The much-awaited Euro Tariff cap for mobile phone roaming took one more step towards becoming law today, with approval from the EU ministers in charge of competitiveness. With the measure already formally approved by the member states, approval by the competitive ministers was just a formality; but one that means the measures …

    Mobile 25 Jun 2007, 12:57

  • CERN plans LHC switch-on for May next year

    Warm up tests are for wimps

    CERN's new particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, will start up in May 2008, the facility's director general announced on Friday last week. Low energy runs on the LHC were supposed to begin this year, but the project has been beset by niggles, technical hitches and other delays. The catastrophic failure of a magnetic …

    Science 25 Jun 2007, 13:14

  • Spanish police arrest moby virus writer

    No one expects the moby-virus police

    Spanish police arrested a 28-year old man on Saturday they suspect of involvement with a mobile phone virus. He is suspected of distributing malware which targetted Symbian phones. The arrest follows a seven month investigation. AFP said it was the first time a mobile virus creator had been arrested in Spain. Spanish police …

    Security 25 Jun 2007, 13:18

  • Terracotta cracks Oracle pricing

    An antidote to through-the-roof pricing

    A tiny open source company is lining up to become the latest roadblock to database vendors happily charging enterprises fat software licenses. High-availability specialist Terracotta is today expected to significantly expand the addressable market for its low-priced software appliance with support for IBM's WebSphere, WebSphere …

    Software 25 Jun 2007, 13:29

  • IBM looks for nano solutions with BASF

    Teaming up to go down to 32nm

    IBM and BASF have announced a partnership to create materials to help Big Blue manufacture the next generation of computer chips. The partnership deal will see the two working together to find chemical solutions to production problems posed by making 32nm chips. The move to ever smaller chips requires increasing use of new …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 14:23

  • Don’t play whack the gopher

    Requirements management exciting - shock

    Who would have thought that some 50 people, from CIOs to developers, would feel strongly enough about anything to do with business to turn up at 7.30am in a London hotel, just to suffer a seminar. But that is what they did to witness a presentation by Luke Barrett, a senior analyst at Thoughtworks. What was even more perverse …

    Developer 25 Jun 2007, 14:27

  • US dial-a-warrant spy judge: don't trust President, feds

    But you can trust me

    The judge who used to sit in charge of the American star chamber secret court issuing surveillance warrants says that his organisation should not have been sidestepped by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11. Royce Lamberth was head of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 1995 to 2002. As such, he was …

    Government 25 Jun 2007, 14:51

  • Symantec showers free software on bug-afflicted Chinese

    Con-pensation

    Chinese PC users whose machines were crippled by a dodgy software update from Symantec have two weeks to apply for compensation. The company has announced that the 50,000 users affected by the error are entitled to some free Norton anti-virus licenses. Symantec says the offer is a "gesture of goodwill". We're not sure it'll …

    Security 25 Jun 2007, 14:56

  • Do you have a licence for that sporran, sir?

    EU to demand Highlander's credentials

    Legislation designed to protect endangered species will require sporran-wearing Scots to be able to prove their fur-pouch was legally killed, according to reports on the BBC. The rules also apply to items made from other vulnerable animals, including hedgehogs, bats, dolphins and wildcats, though anyone who sports a sporran …

    Bootnotes 25 Jun 2007, 15:05

  • IBM waves green magic wand

    Meanwhile, Dell plants some trees...

    IBM has beefed up its data output while apparently watching its carbon footprint step by adding a new $86m "green data centre" space to its Boulder site in Colorado, USA. The computer behemoth, which announced the 80,000 square feet expansion of data centre space late last week, said it was responding to customer demand for …

    Servers 25 Jun 2007, 15:09

  • Patientline results prompt share meltdown

    Debt restructure ahead

    Patientline saw its share price nearly halve today after it released prelimary financial results for 2007. Shares fell over 40 per cent to 2.07p after opening at 4.10p. Results for the year were disappointing and the company warned restructuring its debt burden was the number one priority for the year ahead. For the year …

    Broadband 25 Jun 2007, 15:15

  • Strong laptop demand drives Apple US retail share to 13%

    Shift from PowerPC to Intel paying off?

    Apple's share of the US retail computer business grew faster than the rest of the market last month to grab 13 per cent, market watcher NPD has revealed. Between May 2006 and May 2007, notebook retail sales rose 40 per cent, NPD said, driven by a strong consumer shift to portable computers. Apple's share of the market hit 14. …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 15:26

  • Plaxo looks to social networking market

    Reinvents self to be more competitive

    Online address book provider Plaxo has introduced a major overhaul in an effort to catch up with networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Plaxo has released Plaxo 3.0, an online address book and calendar that synchronises services from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AOL, Mac OSX, and Thunderbird. "This is much more than …

    Applications 25 Jun 2007, 15:38

  • Samsung punches out 64GB SDDs

    Samsung now purports to be the largest producer of high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) in the world, following a decision to push its 1.8in 64GB unit into mass production. The manufacturer has been touting SSDs for over a year now, but this is the first time it has mass produced the 1.8in drives. The production ramp-up …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 15:45

  • TIBCO buys Spotfire: why?

    Does it really need interactive visualisation?

    TIBCO recently announced that it had acquired Spotfire, the business intelligence vendor. Since this is not an immediately obvious acquisition, the question is why? According to the press release issued by TIBCO, "the Spotfire acquisition is a natural extension of TIBCO's Predictive Business strategy, by offering customers …

    Developer 25 Jun 2007, 16:00

  • Jock Stirrup: Eco apocalypse will mean more wars

    Luckily, most vulnerable countries already aflame

    The head of the British armed forces said today that Western armed forces must be ready to deal with the consequences of global warming. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, chief of the defence staff, addressed the Chatham House talking-shop in London. He said that military planners needed to factor in the results of global …

    Government 25 Jun 2007, 16:08

  • Blinkx raises the stakes in online video

    Video search AdHocracy

    Blinkx ('blinks'), the transatlantic video search engine, has beaten Google, Yahoo! and MySpace to a big technology punch by going live with a system that "listens" to speech in clips in order to allow advertisers to target users more specifically. The launch - a concerted attempt to make online video work as a business - …

    Applications 25 Jun 2007, 16:13

  • Underwater MP3 player washes ashore

    Century, the Japanese IT peripherals manufacturer, which has already brought you such innovations as the 7in Wii clip-on screen, has unveiled its latest must-have gadget: the underwater MP3 player. But before you start shouting: "This is nothing new, MP3 waterproof cases have been around for years," think again. This is an …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 16:22

  • Social networking: Now it's CDW's turn

    Publish and be damned

    So you are a small business and you buy your PCs from CDW? Need customer support? Why don't you get support from customers instead? CDW, America's biggest computer dealer, is getting into user-generated publishing, with today's launch of ConduIT@CDW. Top of the features check list are tech forums - "peer-to-peer …

    The Channel 25 Jun 2007, 17:47

  • ICANN goes to the Caribbean

    ICANN Puerto Rico 2007 Over 1 billion served

    0 The ICANN Puerto Rico meeting kicked off this morning with the usual platitudes and words of gratitude for the host nation and sponsors, but it did give us an overview of what to expect from ICANN in the next few months. Dr. Paul Twomey, ICANN's president, described the internet as the most empowering technology he had ever …

    Law 25 Jun 2007, 18:30

  • Seagate joins 1TB HDD battlefield

    Right click —> save-as this story. You've got the room

    Seagate is releasing a big fish into its Barracuda product stream, with the company's first foray into the 1TB disk drive market. The 1TB drive comes in two flavors; business and pleasure — identical cousins, yet different as night and day. Indeed, if Seagate's new ES.2 disk drive for enterprise were to be played by popular …

    Storage 25 Jun 2007, 18:45

  • Dell cleans up crapware

    No I don't want to register any E-Monkey Assistants DAMN IT!

    Dell's tradition of shoveling bloatware into newborn PCs may be coming to a close. All it took was a few years of outrage. Previously, only Dell XPS systems had the privilege of shipping with a "no software preinstalled" option. But vigilant e-coniptions on Dell's IdeaStorm feedback site has prompted Dimension desktops and …

    Hardware 25 Jun 2007, 21:11

  • Google abstains from blades, VMware and the rest of the hype

    Analysis Should you?

    Blade servers, virtualization software and fancy accelerators might be all the rage in the server business, but Google doesn't want any part of the hype. Google will continue crafting its own low-cost, relatively low-performing boxes to support its software-over-the-wire plans. The ad broker looks to focus on lowering energy …

    Servers 25 Jun 2007, 21:36

  • Appeal judge moots 'middle ground' in Vonage patent flap

    Asks if provisions for 'workaround' are appropriate

    The black clouds that for the last three months have been hanging over VOIP service provider Vonage parted ever so slightly today, allowing through the tiniest sliver of sunshine as a federal appeals judge raised the possibility of a compromise in its patent war with Verizon. Those following the dust-up will remember that a …

    VoIP 25 Jun 2007, 23:15

  • Jury spanks Lexmark in toner refill case

    The stink about ink

    Lexmark must rue the day that it elected to sue a small components supplier, which had developed a chip to enable toner recartridge manufacturers to produce printer clones. In the latest round of its fight against Static Control Components SCC), a jury in Kentucky - Lexmark's home state - ruled the printer giant "unreasonably …

    The Channel 25 Jun 2007, 23:54

  • IBM gives Cluster 1350 an Opteron nudge

    3.0GHz hot box

    IBM has regussied the System Cluster 1350 with some new servers just ahead of the International Supercomputer conference in Dresden. The ins and outs of the hardware upgrade follow along familiar lines. IBM has made its latest and greatest x86-based machines available for the pre-packaged 1350. For example, customers will …

    Servers 25 Jun 2007, 23:57