5th July 2007 Archive

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UK gov: Galileo must deliver value for money

But we aren't really sure how

Troubled Euro satnav initiative Galileo took something of a beating during a UK Parliamentary debate on Monday. Galileo was originally planned as a civilian public-private partnership between the European Union and various European contractors. It was thought that heavy private investment might be recouped by charging satnav …

Government 5 Jul 2007, 08:46
Enraged reader savages iPhone fanboys

FoTW 'What a bunch of f***ing morons'

Well, it's been quite a week. The release of Apple's long-awaited, eagerly-anticipated and much-hyped iPhone saw a level of fanboy hysteria matched only by the 1632 demonic possession of the Ursuline convent in Loudun - a sorry affair later attributed to a nasty case of mass hysteria. A provocative parallel, we're sure you'll …

Mobile 5 Jul 2007, 08:50
O2 gets UK iPhone deal

Over-hyped and over here

Mobile network O2 is close to getting the exclusive right to sell Apple's ludicrously-hyped iPhone in the UK. The handset has gone on sale in the US with one network partner, AT&T, and Apple is looking to set up similar exclusive deals across Europe. Citing people "familiar with the matter", the Financial Times reports that …

Mobile 5 Jul 2007, 09:01
Tibco ties BPM to SOA

Eclipse-based tools to automate the SOA revolution

Hot combinations of three letter acronyms (TLAs) can set the pulse racing, and the current top pair have to be BPM and SOA (that's business process management and service oriented architecture for any visitors from Alpha Centauri). With the latest release of its iProcess Suite, Tibco Software has succeeded in bringing these two …

Developer 5 Jul 2007, 09:18
Sleek and stylish - ladies and gents, please welcome the iAudio 7

It's got the dimensions of a mobile phone and even some similar looks, and now Cowon's latest digital music player, the iAudio 7, is available in to UK-based buyers. Cowon's iAudio 7: %-style control, anyone? The iAudio 7 comes with a choice of 4GB or 8GB Flash song storage and tracks are loaded onto it via USB. Measuring …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 09:26
Direct Line squashes esure's mouse on wheels

Wheels come off esure's ad icon

Direct Line Insurance has won the High Court's backing in a bid to block a rival's application to trademark a representation of a computer mouse on wheels. Direct Line said esure's mark was too similar to its own, a red telephone on wheels. The court ruled that the trademark application should be refused because its use would …

Law 5 Jul 2007, 09:28
Teens using M-rated games to vent anger

But playing in 'social situations'

Teenagers are using violent video games to vent their stress, a new study has found. According to the Massachusetts General Hospital's (MGH) Centre for Mental Health and Media, many young people play video games to manage their feelings, such as stress and anger, and those who play violent video games are among those more …

Entertainment 5 Jul 2007, 09:40
CSA IT 'a turkey from day one'

And MPs sceptical about rescue body

The Child Support Agency computer system has cost millions and created chaos, but MPs remain sceptical about its replacement. A Parliamentary committee has concluded that reforms of the troubled Child Support Agency (CSA) have been "one of the greatest public administration disasters of recent times". Despite £539m of …

Public Sector 5 Jul 2007, 09:50
Dublin college introduces video game degree

Play Xbox, get Masters

Video game fans may now have a legitimate excuse to spend all day hooked up to their PlayStations and Xboxes - thanks to a new video game masters degree at Trinity College Dublin. Trinity has just added a one-year full-time Masters degree in "interactive entertainment technology" starting in October this year. The course has …

Entertainment 5 Jul 2007, 09:56
MS makes date for Xbox Elite Japanese debut

Having a tough time competing with Wii, PS3

There's still no word on the Xbox 360 Elite's UK debut - we know nothing, the reps claimed again - but the none-more-black games console will be coming to Japan on 11 October to give - Microsoft hopes - a much needed boost given its June sales performance there. Xbox 360 Elite: big in Japan? The Elite was launched in the …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 10:01
Blades carve up Top 500 supercomputers list

Comment Climbing the totem pole

With much anticipated fanfare, the Top500 Supercomputer list was announced last week at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany. For the fourth time, the BlueGene/L System development by IBM and DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration that is installed at DOE's Lawrence Livermore National …

Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 10:23
2P Slim-Mouse

Exclusive Review Freakish or functional: is this credit card-sized mouse worth its cheese?

Manufacturer Power Positioning - aka 2P - describes the G4 Slim-Mouse as "the thinnest laptop mouse ever invented". That's not entirely true - Newton Peripherals' MoGo Bluetooth-connected rodent is just as thin as the Slim-Mouse and has been around for a little longer. The Slim-Mouse also suffers in comparison with the MoGo …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 10:47
Hyperion harbours building blocks of life, says NASA

And a bunch of weirdo craters

Hyperion, one of Saturn's many moons, is covered in the raw material necessary for life to form, according to new data from NASA's Cassini space craft. The probe identified water and carbon dioxide ices, as well as dark material that fits the spectral profile of hydrocarbons, NASA said. Dale Cruikshank, a planetary scientist …

Space 5 Jul 2007, 11:01
Sidekick-style Motorola handset spied on web?

But alleged specs rather sus

Speculation surrounding the release of Motorola's alleged Sidekick -style handset, aka Zante, took a leap forward this week, following the release of some glamorous pictures and - it has to be said - a somewhat iffy spec sheet. According the Zante spec sheet currently doing the rounds online, the handset looks set to be …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 11:09
US reclaims world hotdog scoffing crown

Japanese glutton licked in 66-dog thriller

US forces in Iraq can today console themselves that if all is not going exactly according to plan in that sun-kissed land astride the Tigris, the Land of the Free has at least reestablished world domination where it really counts - in the sport of stuffing your fat face with hotdogs. Indeed, in a much-anticipated showdown …

Bootnotes 5 Jul 2007, 11:10
Simpsons mobile content to sell direct

Network operators bypassed. D'oh!

As hype for the Simpsons movie builds up, Jamba has announced that mobile content to go with the film will only be available from its subscription portal. The so-called "Yellow Plan" will be available in the US in the next few days for $10 a month, for which punters get credit for six downloads from a selection of voice tones, …

Mobile 5 Jul 2007, 11:11
BlackBerry gets green light for China

Regulator approval at last

The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry has given permission for BlackBerry to start selling its addictive email devices in China. The company got approval last month and expects to have handsets in shops by the end of August. Research In Motion (RIM), BlackBerry's parent company, has already received 5,000 pre-orders for …

Mobile 5 Jul 2007, 11:16
Britain gets shiny new science minister

Fresh from changing the climate in Defra

Ian Pearson has been named as the new minister in charge of science in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS). The MP for Dudley South comes to the role from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs where he was minister of state for climate change and the environment. He replaces Malcolm …

Science 5 Jul 2007, 11:17
Toshiba sues DVD duplicator

Alleges patent infringement

Another day, another vendor fires off a lawsuit alleging another company has violated its DVD patents. Yesterday it was LG going for Quanta; today, it emerged Toshiba is taking on German disc replication company EDD Bizz GmbH. Toshiba yesterday filed a complaint against EDD with the Düsseldorf Regional Court claiming the …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 11:31
Finance sector still the disk backup leader

Shorter backup windows pushing tape aside, says Infortrend

More than half of British companies now prefer disk-based backup over tape, and in the financial services industry the margin is even greater, with almost two-thirds opting for spinning storage, according to a survey commissioned by RAID developer Infortrend. The big drivers for disk-based backup are the shortening of the …

Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 11:48
Accused web terror trio change pleas to guilty

Fiendish net-cell masterminds or bonehead warez d00Dz?

Three men accused of inciting terrorism via the internet have all now changed their pleas to guilty. Younes Tsouli, 23, originally from Morocco and lately of Shepherd's Bush, native Briton Waseem Mughal, 24, of Chatham in Kent, and Tariq Al-Daour, 21, were on trial at Woolwich Crown Court. The three were said to have used …

Crime 5 Jul 2007, 11:51
Sky torches Sony over HD TV campaign

Ready for the tech that never arrives?

The British 'HD for All' campaign, designed to promote hi-def TV, drew a withering blast from Sky yesterday. BSkyB public affairs head Martin Le Jeune described it as a "shabby alliance between a group of public service broadcasters who should know better [and] vendors who sell expensive product". It was "genuinely silly", he …

Music and Media 5 Jul 2007, 11:55
It's a long way from Cupertino to Roswell, but we'll get there

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For those of you who may have missed it, a Cupertino-based company called Apple launched a mobile phone in the US last Friday and sold an awful lot of them over the weekend. It would be hard to miss the iPhone, of course, because it seemed not a single story about mobile phones has gone by without a reference to it - at last …

Channel Register 5 Jul 2007, 12:51
German courts demand no more Gmail squabbling

Google's trademark beef canned

German courts have banned Google from further attempts to wrestle the rights to the "Gmail" trademark away from a businessman who registered the name several years before it launched a webmail service. In the latest decision - the fourth against Google in Germany over the trademark - a regional court rejected the search giant's …

Financial News 5 Jul 2007, 12:54
Scouse builders nab six millionth .co.uk domain

That's Klass that is

Merseyside building and shopfitting outfit Klassik Builders has registered the six millionth .co.uk web address. The earth-shattering internet tidings were brought by Nominet, the not-for-profit which is in charge of promoting and administering the .co.uk top level domain. It passed the five million mark in May last year, and …

Small Biz 5 Jul 2007, 13:02
iPhone hack project aims to open up device

Unlocked and loaded

Efforts to open up the functionality of Apple's iPhone to users disinclined to sign up to expensive two year contracts with AT&T are growing. Following the publication of a technique to get the iPod and Wi-Fi features of the device working without signing up to AT&T by reverse engineer DVD Jon, a new group has picked up the …

Software 5 Jul 2007, 13:04
Thin clients catch VDI for VMware access

Remote PCs are challenging Citrix and WTS, claims IGEL

Server-based computing schemes such as Citrix and Windows Terminal Server now have a serious rival in the shape of VDI, claimed German thin client developer IGEL Technology, as it added VDI support to its desktop devices. VDI, or virtual device infrastructure, is a relatively new scheme pushed by VMware, among others. It runs …

Servers 5 Jul 2007, 13:08
HMRC could seize late taxpayers' cash from bank accounts

Revenue and Customs want more power

Tax dodgers could soon see money owed to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) taken automatically from their bank accounts, if the revenue get their way. If proposals made by the HMRC are given the go ahead, officials would be able to seize cash immediately, eliminating the need to chase people through the courts. The HMRC said …

Channel Register 5 Jul 2007, 13:10
Collaborators offered pre-built SharePoint app

Software house targets teamwork, not Quislings

A British software company is claiming that it can deliver a basic but fully working Microsoft SharePoint collaboration system in as little as an hour, and without the customer needing to buy SharePoint client access licences (CALs). "We have built over 100 SharePoint projects and found that 70 to 80 percent was common - …

Servers 5 Jul 2007, 13:19
Spanish telco defiant over huge broadband anti-trust fine

Telefónica claims clear conscience

O2 parent company Telefónica has protested innocence after it was slammed by European anti-trust regulators for gaming the broadband market in its Spanish home territory. The firm was yesterday hit with a €152m fine, the second largest in EU competition history after Microsoft's €280m wrist slap. Brussels said Telefónica's …

Telecoms 5 Jul 2007, 13:35
EU Commission probe HD DVD and Blu-ray backgrounds

Movie studios backing the rival HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc optical formats have until tomorrow to tell the European Commission about how they chose which of the two to back and why. The move to request information from the studios follows the EC's demand, made a year ago, that hardware vendors provide similar details. The EC …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 13:36
Danes tout flamethrower-packing robot 'farmworker'

Droid-peasantry deadlier than old school torch'n'pitchfork yokels

Danish agro-boffins have developed a robot which appears at first sight to be a welcome diversion from the ongoing parade of deadly military slaughter machines. "Hortibot", brainchild of Scandinavian scientists led by Dr Rasmus Nyholm Jørgensen of Aarhus University, is supposedly a peaceful robot farmworker. It uses GPS to …

Science 5 Jul 2007, 13:50
Wireless access - Is it just ~~size~~ speed that matters?

Reader Poll Have your say

Modern wireless network technologies for remote access are increasingly offering greater bandwidth. But is it just speed that's important when considering the requirements of different types of application from a mobile connectivity point of view? If you have ever tried to run interactive applications over a traditional 3G ( …

Workshop 5 Jul 2007, 13:59
D-Link to simplify wireless networking

D-Link has created two wireless modem router starter kits, which it claims have been designed to bring wireless connectivity to those not so familiar with the wireless internet revolution. The vendor reckons its Click'n'Connect wizard will allow anyone with no networking knowhow to install both the router and USB Wi-Fi …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 14:31
Defra appoints new top boffin

The seriously qualified Dr Robert Watson

As the Gordon Brown reshuffle continues, we bring you news of at least one non-political job-swap. Defra (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has appointed Dr Robert Watson (pictured), a former aide to the White House on climate change, as its new chief scientific advisor. Defra's new chief scientific …

Science 5 Jul 2007, 14:59
Sole competitor comes second in cake-baking contest

UK granny in Victoria Sponge snub

A grandmother whose Victoria Sponge was honoured with runner-up spot in a village fete cake-baking contest was rather disappointed to discover she'd actually been the only competitor, the BBC reports. Jenny Brown, 62, recounted: "My friend came over to me at the fete and said I had come second. I asked her how many more entries …

Bootnotes 5 Jul 2007, 15:01
Electric Cloud creating a Build storm

Interview And forecast looks similar for European expansion

Electric Cloud supplies software to speed up the Build process that's such an important part of modern "agile" software delivery. It uses a sophisticated approach to running the components of a Build in parallel. And now the company is in Europe. As its CEO Mike Maciag says: "Software build management and acceleration have …

Developer 5 Jul 2007, 15:07
El Reg to bite hand that feeds ICT?

Reader poll Will TLA shocker join ~~mobe~~ and ~~lappy~~?

It's come to our attention that some of you are none too keen on the term "ICT" - the bastard offspring of IT and an apparently pointless exercise in augmenting a perfectly functional acronym to endow the term with more gravitas and import. Well, that's according to readers who've been bemoaning the increasingly common use of …

Bootnotes 5 Jul 2007, 15:08
Sky is 'silly' to whine about HD for All

Comment Putting technology before content

Satellite broadcaster Sky's public affairs chief, Martin Le Jeune, is correct: HDTV is not a fundamental human right. Neither is standard-definition TV. But that doesn't mean it should be limited to two providers, his own company and cable broadcaster Virgin Media. That's what he implied when he lambasted the HD for All …

Reg Hardware 5 Jul 2007, 15:26
Dell trips over printer cable

Ads watchdog says firm breached 'truthfulness code'

Computer maker Dell has been rapped by the UK advertising watchdog after failing to include an essential cable in one of its PC and printer bundle ads. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from a reader who spotted the ad in a Dell newspaper insert. The advert in question claimed that the Dell Photo …

Channel Register 5 Jul 2007, 15:53
Tories offer record industry cash for righteousness

Dangerous Dave

In an extraordinary quid pro quo, Dave Cameron has promised cash-strapped record industry execs an extra £3.3bn over the next five decades in exchange for less sex and violence in music. The Conservative leader pledged that if elected, he will move to extend the copyright term on sound recordings from 50 to 70 years, gifting a …

Government 5 Jul 2007, 15:59
Torchwood sends inspection team to CERN

Brief Checking for ghosts or aliens?

Torchwood's Captain Jack has been sighted at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. Does this mean that when it is switched on it is likely to open a rift under Cardiff from whence all manner of spooky things shall spring? Or is it a shameless publicity stunt designed to raise the profile of the particle accelerator by tying it to a …

Physics 5 Jul 2007, 16:07
Firmware snub: Sony Ericsson relents

Sort of

Owners of Sony Ericsson smartphones released last year now have some hope of seeing some bugs fixed. Last Tuesday, Sony Ericsson confirmed that owners of the P990i, W950 and M600i models would not see any further firmware updates. Yesterday morning, however, the company relented, in the face of a wave of angry feedback from …

Mobile 5 Jul 2007, 16:17
Google gives away FeedBurner

Doesn't want your money

You knew this was coming. Weeks after it paid $100 million for news-feed management company Feedburner, Google has removed all price tags from the company's services. That's right: Bloggers, podcasters, and other publishers can now use Feedburner's "PRO" tools - TotalStats and MyBrand - without paying a penny. Google has a …

Applications 5 Jul 2007, 18:14
Belgium judge orders ISP to clean up network

'Common Carrier' claim melts away

A Belgian legal victory by authors and composers means that the country's third-largest ISP has six months to clean up its networks of copyright infringing material distributed by P2P. The long-running case was brought by the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM) against ISP Scarlet, formerly Tiscali and …

Telecoms 5 Jul 2007, 18:21
Olympics minister email spoofed

No hacking in 'schoolboy prank'

Newly demoted Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has fallen victim to pranksters who sent spoof messages in her name. Contrary to reports in The Independent a spokesman for the minister said the emails came from a bogus account set up with Gmail and not as a result of a hacker breaking into any account she controlled. Late on …

ID 5 Jul 2007, 18:24
Dell chats up Asian retail stores

Less-than-direct activities

Dell continues to cheat on its twenty-year relationship with the direct sales model. Having fallen behind HP in the worldwide PC market, the Texas manufacturer earlier this month began selling selected desktops through WalMart stores in the U.S. and Canada. It's flirted with indirect sales in Europe. And now, it's in talks with …

Channel Register 5 Jul 2007, 20:22
Microsoft tells Ultimate Extras fans to 'hang on'

Trust us

Microsoft has offered little satisfaction to Windows Vista Ultimate users frustrated by the dearth of goodies used to justify the operating system's premium price. The company has committed to finally deliver on an original, limited set of four Ultimate Extras promised at the start of the year, but won't yet commit to further …

Operating Systems 5 Jul 2007, 20:30
IBM Almaden ready for storage spin-off

Video specialist Seval Systems is born

IBM Almaden Research Center has been doing R&D in silicon valley for 21 years, but it's not too old to learn new tricks. All signs point to the center prepping for its very first spin-off, Seval Systems, centering around so-called brick storage meant to help with delivering video over the internet. Palo Alto-based Seval …

Storage 5 Jul 2007, 20:37
Is Red Hat doing its part to win the 'open source' war?

Analysis Confusion at Club Badgeware

Should you believe Red Hat's claims that its new Exchange marketplace for "open source business applications" contains nothing but open source business applications? We say "no" - since not even Red Hat appears to have a good answer for this question. So far, Red Hat has filled its Exchange, also known as RHX, with software …

Servers 5 Jul 2007, 21:09
MS Patch Tuesday to include trio of 'critical' fixes

You've been warned

Next week's Patch Tuesday will see Microsoft issue three updates that fix "critical" security vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and the .Net framework. The critical designation is Microsoft's most severe rating and usually applies to flaws that can allow a computer to be hijacked with little or no interaction on the part of the …

Enterprise Security 5 Jul 2007, 23:24
Bladelogic seeks $45.4m IPO

To trade under 'BLOG'...hey wait a minute

BladeLogic has revealed intentions to raise about $45.4m in an initial public offering of common shares later this year. The server provisioning and management software company will put 3.9 million shares on the block, while stockholders sell an additional 1.1 million shares, according to an amended filing with the US …

Servers 5 Jul 2007, 23:44