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12th July 2007 Archive

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  • Google hosting Frenchified Miami Vice episode

    Policy group cries foul

    Google continues to fight allegations that it's promoting video piracy. In March, entertainment giant Viacom slapped Google with a $1bn lawsuit over copyrighted videos posted to YouTube, the site Google purchased last fall, and now, the National Legal and Policy Center is asking whether the search engine cum world power is …

    Music and Media 12 Jul 2007, 06:45

  • IBM performs AIX6 peep show

    Shows Sun and HP users its goods

    Packed with pride over the release of the Power6 chip, IBM has decided to go bold with its complementary AIX6 operating system. It's putting the OS up for public beta - a first for Big Blue. Historically, IBM will hand deliver beta AIX code to thirty of forty of its largest customers. With AIX6, however, IBM has gone to the …

    Servers 12 Jul 2007, 08:34

  • MEPs back green procurement

    New regs based on Energy Star

    Public sector buyers of office equipment will have to apply strict energy efficiency criteria after MEPs passed new procurement rules. The European Parliament adopted new regulations based on its Energy Star programme on 10 July. Under the new rules, EU institutions and central government authorities in member states will …

    IT Director 12 Jul 2007, 09:14

  • Laois takes 'All Ireland eBay Champion' crown

    Snap up cars, trucks and business goods

    Laois residents are the top eBay users in Ireland, beating out neighbours Carlow to take first place, new statistics have revealed. According to the auction site's Irish figures, Laois topped the list of counties when it came to buying from eBay, coming first as both the most buyers per capita out of the 26 counties, and the …

    Bootnotes 12 Jul 2007, 09:20

  • BBC Trust to hear open sourcers' iPlayer gripes

    Exclusive Microsoft-only launch weeks away

    The BBC Trust has asked to meet open source advocates to discuss their complaints over the corporation's Windows-only on demand broadband TV service, iPlayer. The development came less than 48 hours after a meeting between the Open Source Consortium (OSC) and regulators at Ofcom on Tuesday. Officials agreed to press the trust …

    Music and Media 12 Jul 2007, 09:21

  • Resellers warn of more expensive PCs

    Germany adds levy to PCs

    An international group of resellers is warning that changes to German copyright laws are likely to mean more expensive PCs. The controversial law will add a so-called "copyright levy" to IT equipment in order to compensate authors and artists for legal copies made of their work. The International Technology Channels …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 2007, 09:24

  • Beeb reveals Kylie as Titanic waitress

    First still from Who Xmas special

    The BBC has released the first still from Doctor Who Xmas special Voyage of the Damned, showing Oz popstress Kylie Minogue as a waitress on the Titanic. Filming on the yule extravangaza - described by Russell T Davies as "ambitious" - kicked off in Cardiff this week. Minogue stars as Astrid aboard the ill-fated liner, in a …

    Entertainment 12 Jul 2007, 09:28

  • Why the iPhone is a success

    Column Not for the reasons you think

    Two weeks after the iPhone virus started spreading, the verdict has to be that Steve Jobs has got it right. The trick with launching a new phone is "keep it simple". He's done that. No, this is not the phone I want, and neither is it the right MP3 player, but it will be a success, and that success will grow as new variants …

    Networks 12 Jul 2007, 09:46

  • LG goes Goth with black Shine

    LG has introduced its latest Shine handset: a Goth-friendly dark metal machine dubbed the Titanium Black model - a phone with 'something of the night' about it. LG's Shine Titanium Black: just like the original, only blacker The update's purely cosmetic - under the hood, the new phone's just like the previous one, which …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 09:52

  • 'Smart and gets things done'

    Book review Employ the best rather than merely the good

    Smart and gets things done is a pretty apt description of the kind of people we want to recruit into our development teams. Unfortunately, this is no easy matter. And, given the consequences of a wrong choice for either party, it can often be a pretty hit and miss affair. Joel Spolsky, of VBA and Joel On Software fame, has put …

    Developer 12 Jul 2007, 09:52

  • Second-generation Sony PSP unveiled

    Slimmer, lighter; buys into Star Wars franchise

    It seems that Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) has been working out and lost some of its puppy fat, resulting in a re-designed Sony handheld console that's 33 per cent lighter and 19 per cent slimmer - as predicted almost a year ago. The PSP has now lost some of its bulk The announcement, made at the E3 games show in …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 10:04

  • Water found on extrasolar planet

    Planet with sea views? Let's move

    For the first time ever, water has been conclusively identified in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system. The presence of water on another planet is a groundbreaking discovery, and has fuelled hopes that one day we will find life somewhere out there. Water is widely regarded as being an essential ingredient for …

    Space 12 Jul 2007, 10:09

  • Belkin builds download 'speedometer' into next-gen Wi-Fi box

    Accessory specialist Belkin will this month connect consumers with the latest incarnation of its shiny black N1 802.11n Wi-Fi router - a slimline system with a built-in download speedometer. Belkin's N1 Vision: download-o-meter The product is called the N1 Vision, the download meter is a total gimmick. However, Belkin …

    Wireless 12 Jul 2007, 10:33

  • South Dakota rejoins the execution club

    Elijah Page first to die in 60 years

    South Dakota yesterday executed its first prisoner in 60 years, 25-year-old Elijah Page, who succumbed to a "lethal combination of three drugs at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls", the local Argus Leader reports. Page was convicted, along with Darrell Hoadley and Briley Piper, of the murder of Chester Allan Poage in 2000 …

    Crime 12 Jul 2007, 10:33

  • Stopping integration as an 'accident'

    Progress semantically

    Look at any schematic diagram of the integration needed to ensure good communications between different collaborating applications and you instantly see the meaning behind the phrase "accidental architecture". Add in the complexities inherent with the introduction of SOA environments, however, where a large number of …

    Developer 12 Jul 2007, 10:40

  • Brit troops release badger plague on Basra

    Forces deny responsibility for musteline black op

    British forces in the lively Iraqi city of Basra are denying claims they are responsible for a "plague" of "vicious badger-like creatures which have attacked livestock - and even humans", the Telegraph reports. Shaken locals have recounted chilling tales of rampant "ratels" - feared desert carnivores who normally dine on …

    Biology 12 Jul 2007, 10:52

  • If no news is good news, why do we have so many stories every week?

    To subscribe to Channel Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of channel news in a single hit - click here.

    A failure to communicate Big news of the week is that Reg readers have decided communication is not something they want in their world. When given the option of changing the term for our industry from IT (information technology) to ICT (information communications technology), 57 per cent voted to consign ICT to the fires of …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 2007, 11:09

  • Logitech launches Wii Mote-like 'in-air' mouse

    Updated Wave it around or put it on a desk, the choice is yours

    With a rather ostentatious claim that "the future of PC navigation starts now", mouse-maker Logitech today unveiled an input device that's as at home being waved around in the air as it is being pushed around a desk. Logitech's MX Air: you point, it clicks Called the MX Air, this mouse owes more than a little to Nintendo's …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 11:13

  • Nintendo to let Wii gamers go for their guns

    Bang

    With a look that's a little reminiscent of the Austrian Steyr Aug 9mm assault rifle, Nintendo's Wii Zapper is set to help gamers dive into the melee, lock 'n' load, lay down suppressing fire and, it's hoped... survive. Nintendo's Wii Zapper: I'd like to introduce you to a personal friend of mine... Mind you, it's taken …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 11:35

  • Netgear Storage Central Turbo SC101T network storage box

    Review SAN not NAS, OK 4 U?

    Storage for digital documents has never been cheaper, but what's the best way to make it available to all the computers in your home or office? You've got a network - why not use that? Enter the network-connected storage box...and to tempt you to spend your hard-earned this week is Netgear's Storage Central Turbo SC101T. …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 11:42

  • What's al-Qaeda's take on the iPhone?

    In-depth analysis Resolute silence on the paradigm-redefining device

    In a fortnight during which just about everyone on the planet, excluding naturally those in a coma or temporarily indisposed up some tributary of the Amazon, has offered their two bits' worth on the launch of Apple's iPhone, it comes as a bit of a surprise that al-Qaeda has dismally failed to contribute to the brouhaha. We …

    Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 11:44

  • Plods to get helmet cams

    Successful trial leads to nationwide rollout

    Police officers are to be equipped with head cameras under the government's latest crime fighting initiative. The Home Office is to provide £3m to equip police forces across the country with head camera technology, following successful trials in Plymouth. It said an evaluation of the pilot run by Devon and Cornwall …

    Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 12:01

  • EU info group probes UK.gov IT strategy

    Issues call for evidence

    A parliamentary organisation is planning an inquiry into the Transformational Government strategy. The European Information Society Group (Eurim) will formally launch the exercise on 18 July, with a call for evidence and plans to hold three hearings in October and November, after the publication of the next round of …

    Government 12 Jul 2007, 12:28

  • Samsung extends snapper series

    Samsung has launched four digital cameras, all aluminium-clad and ranging between 7- and 8-megapixel models. The S85 offers 8-megapixel quality and a 5x optical zoom. It has a maximum ISO of 1600, a 2.5in LCD and 20MB of internal memory, although it does support MMC, SD and SDHC memory cards. Samsung's S85 Its features are …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 12:33

  • Etymotic touts 'world's first' Bluetooth earphones

    Congratulations to Etymotic for creating Ety8, the world's first Bluetooth in-the-ear earphones - the antidote, it reckons, to the bulky Bluetooth cans we've seen on the market to date. Got a light? The earphones are compatible with dockable iPods - for which a transmitter is supplied - and Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 12:46

  • UK2.net hack cuts off email

    Pulling the plug

    Cut-rate internet host UK2.net has become the subject of a hacking attack, leaving customers temporarily unable to access their email. UK2.net customers were greeted by this screen instead of their email. Customers turning up to the site this morning were confronted by a defaced page, apparently posted by an Islamist …

    Security 12 Jul 2007, 13:03

  • Sybase tools up for enterprise drive

    Data no longer satisfies 'hungry' Sybase

    US software tools builder Sybase plans to move beyond its database roots and challenge the leaders in enterprise software development. The company says the latest release of its PowerDesigner modelling tool transforms what is traditionally thought of as a data modelling tool into a full-blown enterprise modelling tool. "We …

    Developer 12 Jul 2007, 13:07

  • Parliament's sci-tech committee faces permanent recess

    Science orphaned in Whitehall overhaul

    The Science and Technology Committee is fighting a rearguard action to save itself after Gordon Brown’s overhaul of government departments terminated the Whitehall tentacle it was covering. Gordon Brown had barely got his key in the lock at number 10 before he carved up the DTI, with the result that the Office for Science and …

    Government 12 Jul 2007, 14:05

  • Lib Dems call for NPfIT review

    Slam 'botched from start' system

    The Liberal Democrat Party has repeated its call for a review of the NHS National Programme for IT. The party's shadow health secretary Norman Lamb used a recent interview with soon-to-be departing NHS IT chief Richard Granger in CIO UK magazine as ammunition to push for an independent inquiry. In the article, Granger admits …

    Government 12 Jul 2007, 14:43

  • 'Suspicious looking' man hauled off translatlantic flight

    'Middle Eastern' passenger provokes American Airlines divert

    An American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to London this morning made an unscheduled stop at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport after a member of the flight crew "alerted security on the ground that there may be a suspicious person on board, and the decision was made to divert the flight", Flight International …

    Government 12 Jul 2007, 14:49

  • Experian rejects ID theft notification proposal

    Don't call us, and we won't call you either

    Credit rating giant Experian has rejected the notion of automatically informing UK citizens when their ID details may have been hijacked. Experian’s hardline stance came at a conference on “Big Brother Britain” in London today, where a number of speakers said that more severe penalties and obligations should be imposed on …

    Security 12 Jul 2007, 14:58

  • Lightweight Java security app aims to pep up m-commerce

    Good things come in small applets

    UK mobile application developer Masabi has launched a lightweight Java security package for mobile phones in a bid to make m-commerce applications more user-friendly and secure. Masabi's EncryptME Java mobile security component is the only such application to use officially validated implementations of RSA and AES encryption …

    Security 12 Jul 2007, 15:07

  • Oz watchdog accuses Google of misleading public

    Organic

    The Australian competition watchdog has accused Google of "misleading and deceptive conduct". The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken action against Google Inc, Google Ireland Limited, and Google Australia Pty Ltd in the Federal Court, Sydney, saying Google has breached the Trade Practices Act by …

    Law 12 Jul 2007, 15:21

  • Salesforce.com takes corp-anthems into the developer ghetto

    Can you handle Dylan and the Devsters?

    The barrel-scraping netherworld of corporate anthems is agog at Salesforce.com's groundbreaking new hip-hop opus, "Dev Life". The CRM firm's late entry into El Reg's worst corporate anthem in the world - ever! competition is an undeniably shocking cultural artefact. For the weak of stomach, here's the chorus, as transcribed …

    Developer 12 Jul 2007, 16:04

  • Evesham re-packs e-box for HD era

    Evesham has given its 'black box' e-box Windows Media Center system a technology face-lift with the addition of hi-def its multimedia capabilities. That means a single HDMI port for connecting it up to an HDTV. Nope, there's no HD optical disc support. Is it a PC? Is it a DVD player? The e-box HD is a home entertainment …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jul 2007, 16:14

  • MS update sends PCs 'haywire'

    .NET patch trips up systems

    Early reports are suggesting problems after users apply one of the six patches issued by Microsoft on Tuesday. Applying the MS07-040 patch for the .NET framework, which as luck would have it is probably Redmond's most important security fix this month, can lead to systems going "haywire", the SANS Institute's Internet Storm …

    Security 12 Jul 2007, 16:15

  • Microsoft's software IP prophylactic

    Protect your IP - but not with our stuff

    Microsoft told delegates at its Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver this week that it would deliver new software protection technology for developers and ISVs in October. But it won't be the same technology it currently uses to protect its own software. The new Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) services product is …

    Software 12 Jul 2007, 17:07

  • Microsoft pushes Office 2007 with 'try-before-you-buy'

    WPC Limited use, certain risk

    Microsoft is shipping limited-use copies of Office 2007 with PCs in a try-before-you-buy scheme to seed the market with its latest suite and drive Windows server and client software sales. The company has revealed its Office Ready PC Program, where partners pre install images of Office 2007 on new machines and allow end-users …

    Channel Register 12 Jul 2007, 17:44

  • Aussies face the threat of Robo-Pacinos

    Don't panic

    If reporting from The Age newspaper is to be believed, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner, Mick Keelty, briefed a Parliamentary Inquiry into the future impact of organised crime that Australians would be facing the threat of part-robot humans involved in organised crime in the future. Without access to the …

    Rise of the Machines 12 Jul 2007, 18:11

  • Student's suspension for IM buddy icon upheld by US court

    Ready . . . AIM . . . censor!

    Student speech in the US continues to take a beating. The Supreme Court, in the infamous "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case decided last month, signaled to the federal judiciary that it was open season on student speech. Indeed, Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion, argued that students should have no free speech rights …

    Law 12 Jul 2007, 18:15

  • Court denies stay of internet radio execution

    Three days and counting...

    The internet radio death watch continues. Late yesterday, a federal appeals court denied an emergency stay petition from webcasters, refusing to delay the arrival of massive royalty hikes that threaten to bring down online radio as we know it. The new royalty rates - which could mean a 300 per cent payment increase for large …

    Music and Media 12 Jul 2007, 18:50

  • 75-year-old has world's fastest private internet connection

    Let me show you my grandchildren at 40Gb/s

    75-year-old Sibritt Löthberg from Karlstad Sweden just got her first computer, but it didn't take her long to download all the necessary patches. Swedish news site The Local reports that Löthberg's home has been tricked-out with a record-breaking 40 Gb/s connection - the first time a private residence has tapped into the …

    Data Networking 12 Jul 2007, 19:32

  • Dell promises 'radical,' two-year metamorphosis

    Analysis Angst removal for fun and profit

    IBM has its On Demand, we'll-service-the-hell-out-of-you thing. HP has its Business Technology, we'll-ink-the-hell-out-of-you thing. Sun Microsystems has its Participation Age, red-shifting, we'll-network-the-hell-out-of-you thing. And now Dell has the we're-tired-of-direct-modeling-the-hell-out-of-you Dell 2.0. Whereas the …

    Servers 12 Jul 2007, 20:44

  • Whole Foods CEO went after rival as a message board troll

    'I never intended those postings to be identified with me. Gosh, I'm cute'

    Court documents reveal that organic grocer Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was an internet forum troll intent on undermining his main competitor through chatter. Using the pseudonym Rahodeb (a variation of Deborah, his wife's name), Mackey posted on Yahoo! Finance's bulletin board over an eight year period, claiming to be a huge …

    Financial News 12 Jul 2007, 22:51

  • Warner rescues imeem from indie-music hell

    Goodbye, litigation. Hello, partnership

    Just two months after Warner Music Group sued online media-sharer imeem, claiming copyright infringement, the two companies have announced a rapprochement. That's French for "the big record labels are beginning to like this Web 2.0 thing." Warner has dropped its suit, allowing users to share its entire audio and video catalog …

    Music and Media 12 Jul 2007, 23:09

  • Fujitsu Siemens makes tiny, quiet, green tower server

    For the Al Gore in your remote office

    Fujitsu Siemens says it has launched the world's smallest, quietest and most cost efficient tower server. The Tower Server Primergy TX120 is aimed at small businesses and branch offices that do not have a separate server room. According to FS, running on its highest configuration, the TX120 consumes 40 per cent less energy …

    Servers 12 Jul 2007, 23:56