13th July 2007 Archive

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Verizon condemns FCC wireless move

To the surprise of no one

As you might expect, Verizon isn't too happy about recent news from FCC. A day after Federal Communications Chair Kevin Martin called for open-access to the U.S. wireless spectrum, the company's general counsel told Congress that giving consumers the freedom to control their own wireless destiny is a bad idea. Laying down draft …

Wireless 13 Jul 2007, 00:02
Golf and Intel Inside China threaten life as we know it

And Ninthly Losing all faith in your putter and PC

The decadence of the new age crushed Johnny Stumpy's spirit. He'd always thought of himself as a noble vagabond, a street-licker with virtue. Then, the old man pounded him in the head with a mallet made of gold, and Johnny's dreams died. Stumpy got stumped. - The Devil Wears Sleeveless Ts by Julio Stantore Alright. It's time to …

Bootnotes 13 Jul 2007, 04:37
Oracle 11g’s new toys

It may be Oracle, but it is shiny

Oracle has just announced onto a suspecting world the latest release of its flagship database engine. It is packed full of additional features. If you are an Oracle DBA and/or developer, then you will be keen to find out what’s coming because, for good or ill, these will be the features you will work with in the coming years. …

Developer 13 Jul 2007, 07:02
Canadian iPod user struck by lightning

Burns, ruptured eardrums, broken jaw

A 37-year-old Canadian jogger suffered "multiple injuries to his head" after ill-advisedly standing under a tree during a thunderstorm while listening to his iPod, the Vancouver Sun reports. The unnamed victim, reportedly an active church musician and enjoying "religious music" at the time of the incident, was struck by …

Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 07:42
Health watchdog issues toxic toothpaste alert

Diethylene glycol hits the UK

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) yesterday issued a health warning that fake 50ml tubes of Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Mint containing "toxic levels of...diethylene glycol" may have found their way into consumers' bathrooms via "markets or car boot sales". The MHRA said: "The fake …

Science 13 Jul 2007, 08:39
HP launches 'virtual beauty consultant'

Paint by PC

HP Labs is launching new technology aimed at helping women find the right shade of make up to suit their skin tone. The firm, which is better known for more conventional IT applications, has developed colour matching technology that could potentially change the way women buy cosmetics. Using a digital camera, such as one found …

Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 08:48
Sony Ericsson dials up revenue and profits jump

Walkman phones prove leader of the pack

Sony Ericsson saw its profits jump 55 per cent year-on-year in its results for the second quarter of 2007. The results, announced on Thursday, saw the group record pretax profts of €327m for the quarter, compared to €211m for the same period in 2006. The growth in profits reflected strong sales, which were up to €3.1bn for …

Financial News 13 Jul 2007, 08:54
British customers miffed at email response times

Nine out of ten driven to defect

British consumers are unhappy with the time it takes for email queries to be answered, according to a new report. The study, by hosting firm Fasthosts Internet, showed that 78 per cent of British consumers have been disappointed by a slow response to a customer service email enquiry, with the average consumer sending three …

Business 13 Jul 2007, 09:13
Olympic planners left IT out of the budget

D'oh

The government failed to account for the costs of IT when putting together its budget for the 2012 Olympic Games, according to the bean counter watchdogs of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In its 39th report, the PAC said the Olympic Delivery Authority had neglected to include additional costs of £400m, which would cover …

Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 09:21
Europe goes mad over outsourcing

Accounts for half of global deals

Demand for outsourcing in Europe has increased dramatically in the first half of 2007, compared with the same period last year, according to the latest Quarterly Index from labour sourcing advisers TPI. The total value of new outsourcing contracts in the €40m plus bracket, where most significant outsourcing activity occurs, …

Business 13 Jul 2007, 09:36
Tiscali swallows Pipex broadband and voice

Updated Bridesmaid scores usher

Tiscali will cough £210m for Pipex's broadband and voice businesses later today, according to reports. The deal, which we revealed was being finalised in mid-June, will bag Pipex 570,000 broadband punters. It'll take Tiscali's total UK ADSL base to about two million. Pipex has been pimping itself since March in an attempt to …

Telecoms 13 Jul 2007, 09:55
US ocelots on the brink

Last stand in corner of Texas

The US's population of ocelots - estimated at "100 or less" - came one step closer to extinction this week with the unexplained death of a breeding age male in southeast Texas's Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Reuters reports. The refuge is home to just 30 to 40 breeding adults, and since the colony is cut off from …

Biology 13 Jul 2007, 09:59
EMC and Oracle buckle up for joint integration ride

Comment Relationship hots up

EMC Corporation and Oracle have announced a broadened investment in joint engineering testing and integration and solutions development to support customers who are deploying EMC Information Infrastructure in Oracle environments. EMC's Information Infrastructure offerings provide a range of hardware, software, and services …

Storage 13 Jul 2007, 10:01
El Reg seeks ultimate 'nom de sex'

Click here to submit your pornstar name

Our recent piece on the shocking case of former porn actress Laura Madden, who stole a former classmate's name to appear in grumble flick classics such as Irresistibly Delicious and Dominance, provoked a few reader comments about how to select the ultimate "nom de sex". Here's a traditional method, as detailed by Rick: I was …

Bootnotes 13 Jul 2007, 10:11
Sony says no to Euro PS3 price cut

Updated Starter Pack bundle instead

Sony has left its European PS3 fans bewildered (again) after over its decision to launch a 60GB PS3 Starter Pack bundle over here instead of cutting the console's price. There was no mention of a European 80GB model, either. The double-whammy was announced at an event in Venice Beach and is likely to anger European gamers who …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 10:26
Datawind PocketSurfer 2 handheld web browser

First look Mobile internet for free - or just like the proverbial lunch?

Canadian company Datawind unveiled its second-generation PocketSurfer handheld gadget for web browsing, and while its pledge that the device brings with it fast wireless access for free stretches the meaning of the word, it comes pretty close. Datawind's PocketSurfer 2: eBay on the move? First, the hardware. The …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 10:43
Virgin Media seeks sanctuary in telco buyer

Anyone out there actually interested in the business?

Virgin Media has appointed an investment bank to court potential telco buyers as an alternative to private equity carpetbaggers, who are targeting the cable firm. The Financial Times reports that UBS was hired yesterday to canvass "strategic buyers". US giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and European cable group Liberty …

Telecoms 13 Jul 2007, 10:50
BOFH: A question of urgency

Episode 24 Coffee's pretty important, ya know...

"How's that job going?" the Boss asks hurriedly, ducking into Mission Control. "Which job?" I ask. "The installation," he responds, obviously believing that I have some idea of what he's talking about. "The installation?" I ask. "The server installation." "What server installation?" I ask, beginning to wonder if the …

BOFH 13 Jul 2007, 10:50
'You're a f**king moron'

FoTW Jefferson Alberry II cops a righteous shoeing

Our illuminating piece yesterday by new boy Jefferson Alberry II, regarding al-Qaeda's stance on the iPhone, provoked a seriously adverse reaction in one "Mr Jenkins". His resulting message may be short, but it sure ain't sweet: You're a fucking moron. Crawl back under the rock you live under - you cunt. Good Lord. Mr …

Bootnotes 13 Jul 2007, 10:58
Skinkers to provide live TV over the net

Joost or Slingbox killer?

Skinkers, using technology called LiveStation that it acquired from Microsoft, has developed a peer-to-peer-based video service that allows consumers to watch live television on their PC. Some have taken to calling it a Joost killer, even though Joost is barely alive and Skinkers so far has scant content and is not even in …

Telecoms 13 Jul 2007, 11:04
HD DVD 'popular with Europeans', trade body claims

Two Europeans? 20? 200?

Toshiba's HD DVD players account for 74 per cent of European sales of next-gen optical disc players, the local wing of the HD DVD Promotion Group proudly announced this week. But what it crucially neglected to say was 74 per cent of what? 1m units? 100,000? 10,000? 1000? 10? Without that crucial unit shipments figure, the …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 11:21
UK.gov websites cost £208m per year

And then there were two

The UK government is spending £208m per year on running websites but many of them are text heavy and crammed with policy information that citizens couldn’t give a monkey’s about. The figures come from a report from the National Audit Office, which says that the government has made progress in making information available over …

Government 13 Jul 2007, 11:21
Microsoft sued over alleged Xbox 360 disc damage

Lawsuit demands at least $5m in... er... damages

It's been a bad couple of months for Microsoft's Xbox 360 operation. Not only is it taking a $1bn hit to fix faulty consoles, but it now faces a $5m-plus class-action lawsuit in the US over allegations the console scratches discs inserted into it. Although claims that the Xbox 360 has a tendency to damage discs have led to …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 11:43
Jonathan King in Harold Shipman song rumpus

'Grossly offensive' ditty hits YouTube

Convicted paedophile Jonathan King - who served half of a seven-year sentence for abusing underage boys - has resurfaced with a provocative song about mass murderer Harold Shipman, the BBC reports. Erstwhile pop svengali King claims the musical ditty, entitled The True Story Of Harold Shipman, is not actually about Shipman, but …

Entertainment 13 Jul 2007, 11:46
Speedy evolution saves blue moon butterflies

Eye blinkingly fast

Researchers on the island of Samoa have witnessed evolution in action, as the population of male "Blue Moon" butterflies has returned from the brink of extinction. The researchers, from Berkeley University, put the resurgence of the species down to an evolutionary arms race, in which the butterflies' latest weapon is a gene that …

Biology 13 Jul 2007, 11:49
FCC chair paints a picture of wireless devices as open as PCs

Comment The end of the cellular walled garden

The chairman of the US regulator the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Kevin Martin came out this week and told a US newspaper just what he has in mind for the 700 MHz spectrum auction in late 2008, talking about an open network which lets any wireless device connect to it, and which places no limits on the services that …

Wireless 13 Jul 2007, 11:55
Oracle UK systems accused in 'SSH hacking spree'

Database giant investigates DenyHosts reports

Compromised computers at Oracle UK are listed among the 10 worst offenders on the net for launching attacks on servers which run SSH (secure shell) server software. Oracle said it is investigating the reported problem, which it is yet to either confirm or refute. A box (or group of boxes behind a proxy) at Oracle UK is among …

Software 13 Jul 2007, 11:55
New generator means fresh air on the ISS

Brief All the oxygen you can inhale

The inhabitants of the International Space Station can breathe more easily this week, after a new oxygen generator was switched on. The new US-built machine will support the existing, but flaky, Russian Elektron generator, New Scientist reports. The new system was switched on on Wednesday, and by Thursday afternoon NASA said …

Space 13 Jul 2007, 11:59
Sony to axe 60GB PS3 in US

$100 price cut to clear stock

Sony has confirmed that consumers in the US will not be offered the PS3 Starter Pack announced this week for Europe, and that soon the only PS3 they'll be able to buy will be the recently announced 80GB model. Last night, David Reeves, President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, revealed that once existing stocks of the …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 12:09
VMware gets multi-server config tool

Sets up a whole server cluster in one go, claims Veeam

Utility software developer Veeam has come up with a configuration tool for VMware ESX servers which lets you work on multiple virtual servers simultaneously, for example to reconfigure all the members of a server cluster at the same time. It also gives GUI access to settings normally accessible only through the command line or a …

Storage 13 Jul 2007, 12:22
Software Assurance doesn't reassure, and don't mention the ~~iPhone~~

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

Mighty Reading UK's best city It might not really be a city, but a recent survey puts Royal Reading as the "top-performing" place in the UK for employment, population growth, and skills. The town is home to many tech companies including Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, and Oracle. Google grabs another Google spotted a tiny area of …

Business 13 Jul 2007, 12:42
HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC

Review With an IQ of 770, this TouchSmart must be a genius, surely?

According to the famous maxim, a camel is a horse designed by committee, and it's not hard to spot the hand of a committee in the design of the HP TouchSmart IQ770 PC. The guts of the IQ770 are laptop components that have been shoehorned into a compact desktop unit that doesn't look much like a desktop PC. The base unit …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 12:43
AMD RS740 chipset wins PCI Express approval

Still not announced though

AMD's anticipated budget chipset, the RS740, has won the approval of PCI Express overseer, the PCI SIG, for its compatibility with version 1.1 of the standard. The RS740 turned up on a leaked chipset roadmap a wee while ago. It's expected to appear this summer to support AMD's next-generation Athlon and Sempron processors, …

Reg Hardware 13 Jul 2007, 13:02
Oz mayor stole cash for Darth Vader voice distorter

Council funds rumpus rocks Darwin

The lord mayor of Darwin remains defiant after being found guilty of stealing council funds to buy "a fridge, underwear and a Darth Vader voice distorter", The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Peter Adamson, 47, was convicted on four charges, including "stealing and making a false statement in declaration". The court heard he'd …

Bootnotes 13 Jul 2007, 13:13
Itheon offers WAN in a box

Embedded network emulator exposes apps to life in the real world

Itheon has brought out a compact version of its network emulator technology for developers who need to check how their games or applications will perform in the real world. Based on Windows XP-Embedded, the portable device allows users to simulate WAN connections with all sorts of error conditions. For example, it can …

Data Networking 13 Jul 2007, 15:38
Oracle preps July patch blitz

46 fixes coming at ya

Oracle plans to release 46 security patches next week as part of its quarterly update cycle. The updates cover unspecified flaws in products including Oracle Database, Application Server, and E-Business Suite, among others. Some of the patches due to be released on Tuesday, 17 July, cover bugs in multiple products. Twenty of …

Applications 13 Jul 2007, 15:40
Martian ice swaps poles every 25,000 years

Give or take

Water-ice on Mars swaps poles over a cycle that spans 51,000 years or so, in step with the way the planet precesses, or wobbles around on its axis. Researchers investigating the different types of ice at the Martian poles plugged new data from the Mars Express mission into a model of the planet's climate. Then, adding in …

Space 13 Jul 2007, 15:48
Computer virus turns 25

Many unhappy returns

The computer virus turns 25 this month. Long-suffering computer users would be forgiven for thinking that the first computer virus appeared in the mid-1980s, but the first virus actually predates the arrival of the first IBM-compatible PC. Elk Cloner, which spread between Apple II computers via infected floppy disks, has the …

Malware 13 Jul 2007, 15:52
T-Mobile in court over Truphone call blocks

Monday judgement expected on injunction request

Truphone got its hour in court yesterday, though judgement in the case - the VoIP operator has applied for an interim injunction to stop T-Mobile blocking its customers from dialling Truphone numbers - is not expected until Monday morning. The suit alleges (pdf) that even though Truphone has been issued a range of mobile …

Mobile 13 Jul 2007, 15:58
iPhones, iPhones and more iPhones

Comments Enough already!

It's been a particularly iPhone-strewn week, now that the Yanks have got their hands on the precious device, and the lovers and haters have come right out of the woodwork. New hack Jefferson Alberry II received the customary Reg reader welcome in the comments on his first story, What's al-Qaeda's take on the iPhone? A …

Letters 13 Jul 2007, 17:22
OLPC czar shames Intel into board seat

Chipzilla backs crappy AMD-based laptop

You can usually gauge how thrilled Intel is with a given announcement by examining the length of its associated news release. Today, we find Intel joining the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program and managing a grand total of five paragraphs to tout the achievement. That's about, say, seven or eight fewer paragraphs than you …

PCs & Chips 13 Jul 2007, 18:02
Cloak and dagger Chinese firm tells Google to change its name

'That's all we ask'

Google has been sued over its use of the name Google. A Chinese company recently filed suit with a court in Beijing, claiming its been inundated with phone calls because the search engine's Chinese name is far too similar to its own. "We just want Google to change their commercial name," a spokesperson for Beijing Guge …

Applications 13 Jul 2007, 18:09
US judge pushes infringing YouTube clip in decision

Do as I say, not as I do

In a ruling on a trademark dispute, Judge Terence T. Evans of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals this week digressed from the normal pattern of appellate opinions to tell a story. It was a story about baseball. By the time it was over, Judge Evans had encouraged thousands of readers to infringe on Major League Baseball's broadcast …

Law 13 Jul 2007, 19:05
Net radio saved from certain death

Tentatively. Temporarily

There's been a stay of execution after all. Just hours after a federal appeals court rejected efforts to postpone the arrival of new royalty rates threatening to bring down internet radio, webcasters reached a tentative agreement with the recording industry that will keep them online - at least temporarily. With a new rate …

Telecoms 13 Jul 2007, 20:44
Silicon Valley struggles to save toxic landmark

Most historic poisonous structure for miles

On the morning of May 12, 1932 — long before the area was transformed into the nation's technology hub— more than 100,000 spectators braved traffic on the still-uncompleted Bayshore Freeway to congregate at the Mountain View-Sunnyvale border. The crowd had arrived to watch the arrival of "sky-queen," a jewel of America's …

Bootnotes 13 Jul 2007, 21:02
Microsoft details Dynamics Live CRM

Analysis Shares risk with partners

Two companies are driving coverage of on demand business applications this year. Unfortunately for Salesforce.com, it isn't one of them. Microsoft and SAP, with their planned Dynamics Live CRM and A1S respectively, are getting attention because they represent a move by the software old guard into a market popularized by …

Applications 13 Jul 2007, 22:35
EMC goes all out with storage overhaul

Celerra, Centera, Clariion and Symmetrix lines get juiced

EMC is expected to announce a high-end Symmetrix storage system Monday, in addition to a slew of upgrades for its existing storage gear. Network World reports that, during a web cast, the company will reveal the latest on the storage front. Highlighting the announcement will be a new entry in the company's Symmetrix DMX line …

Storage 13 Jul 2007, 22:39
Ballmer talks up software as a service

Core difficulties

The most compelling part of Steve Ballmer's hour-long keynote during this week's Worldwide Partner Conference were the first and last five minutes. In presidential style Ballmer opened striding resolutely among 8,000 seated delegates shaking outstretched hands. He closed by taking up opportunities in Microsoft's traditional …

Applications 13 Jul 2007, 23:09