The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

3rd August 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • NetApp shares shocked by profit warning

    In brief Stock drops nearly 20 per cent

    NetApp stock plunged nearly 20 per cent in after hours trading when the storage supplier warned first quarter revenue may be down further than previously expected. The company's preliminary results today are below the previously gloomy forecast released in May. When NetApp reports its earnings on August 15, revenue is now …

    Storage 3 Aug 2007, 00:18

  • Office 2008 for Mac succumbs to Redmond disease

    Delays, delays, delays

    Mac fans looking to Microsoft to deliver them from a three-year-old desktop productivity suite will have to wait a little longer. Office 2008 for Mac will be released during the first quarter of next year, missing the previously promised end-of-2007 shipment date, Microsoft said Thursday. Release to manufacturing is slipping to …

    Applications 3 Aug 2007, 03:41

  • Watching the watchers: high tech snooping

    Black Hat Blog Recursive paranoia

    There are two rules in Las Vegas. One: everything is twice as big as you think it is and therefore twice as far away. Two: wherever you need to get to is across a casino. Into this distorted sense of space Black Hat fits nicely: its 3,000 attendees are more IT security people than you might have imagined exist in the world. …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 07:47

  • Charities turn to text to tackle gangs

    SMS 4 lyfe

    Two organisations in Southwark are launching an SMS service designed to help people in gangs or those affected by gang crime. Launched in response to community concerns about gang crime and violence, the Gangs Advice Training and Exit Strategy (GATES) project will provide two free services, a text alert service and a telephone …

    Policy 3 Aug 2007, 10:04

  • Info chief warns on audio recording

    No snooping on the public

    The Information Commissioner's Office is warning that CCTV must not be used to record conversations between members of the public. The ICO has launched a consultation on its new draft CCTV code of practice, in which it states that audio recording is "highly intrusive and unlikely to be justified". If a CCTV system is equipped …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 10:17

  • 45nm chips for the Xbox on the cards?

    How small can you go?

    Chartered Semiconductor has begun development of a 45nm CPU, prompting speculation that the chip could find its way into the Xbox next year. Chia Song Hwee, president of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, told analysts the firm that the market can expect a 45nm chip within 18 months. He said it already has unnamed …

    Games 3 Aug 2007, 10:24

  • Slickr player makes a bold promise

    But will it deliver?

    Venzero has created a multimedia-packed device which it claims "fulfils all your multimedia dreams". The Slickr measures 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.98cm, weighs 57g, and touts a 2.83in TFT QVGA screen capable of displaying 1.6 million colours - which is comparatively more colours than the iPod's 65,536. It's hard to tell what its primary …

    Hardware 3 Aug 2007, 10:39

  • Epilepsy-triggering advert given the green light

    Not a flashing one though

    A television advert for watches which caused a woman to have an epileptic seizure has received the approval of advertising regulators. The advert, for watches from Dolce & Gabbana (D&G), has not been banned. A woman who suffered from photosensitive epilepsy complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) having suffered …

    Law 3 Aug 2007, 10:58

  • BOFH: Dodging the auditors

    Episode 27 The PFY has a lucky escape

    "Oops," the PFY says, looking away from his screen guiltily. "What?" "I think I've just dropped the indexes from the financials database." "Ok," I say. "No need to panic, we can probably recreate the indexes on the fly from the table data." "Yeah, no." "No?" "I dropped the tables as well." "So what you meant to say when …

    BOFH 3 Aug 2007, 11:02

  • Emerging markets drive mobile shipments

    Asia, Pacific and Africa spur 11% growth

    A total of 258 million mobile phones were shipped worldwide in the second quarter, up 11 per cent on the same period in 2006. That's according to a Strategy Analytics, which reveals that the number of handsets shipped globally rose by four per cent from 247 million units in the first quarter of 2007. Overall, global shipments …

    Phones 3 Aug 2007, 11:14

  • Hitachi sees double with Blu-Ray camcorders

    Two for Santa's sack?

    Hitachi has trumped recent rumours that it was prepping a Blu-ray camcorder by releasing a brace of devices using the technology. One model records HD content onto a Blu-Ray disc while the other also records onto a hard drive. The DZ-BD70 records up to 60 minutes of HD content onto single sided and layered discs, at a …

    Hardware 3 Aug 2007, 11:17

  • Vodafone pulls Facebook ads

    Updated As Orange targets Aryan Satanists

    Vodafone has withdrawn advertising from Facebook following the revelation its campaigns were running alongside the British National Party's official presence. Two Facebook groups representing the crypto-racist organisation have clocked up 150 and 31 members respectively. By comparison, the non-aligned group "A Chief Export of …

    Mobile 3 Aug 2007, 11:24

  • Cheesed-off spooks give up on duff spy-sat

    Contractors sin-binned in string of space peeper cockups

    Further admissions of expensive technical disasters have emerged from the United States' secretive spy-satellite agency, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Reuters reports today that a classified space platform employing new technologies, designated L-21, has been in orbit since last December. L-21, reportedly made by …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 11:25

  • BT tries French IT services outfit for size

    Offers €60m cash

    BT said today it has put forward a €60m cash offer to buy a division of French IT services firm CS Communication and Systèmes. The firm's mission critical infrastructures unit provides a variety of services including IT consulting, data centre support, outsourcing, and network integration in the public and private sectors. …

    The Channel 3 Aug 2007, 11:33

  • Will the iPhone be iPwned?

    The dark lining to Apple's silver cloud

    LAS VEGAS - The Apple Store at the Fashion Show Mall has a solid crowd for a Monday afternoon and it's easy to pinpoint the favourite. A dozen iPhone stations collect at the front of the store, and they are rarely lonely. A stylish 20-something couple laughs as the man snaps a picture of the woman and shows her the screen. A …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 11:34

  • False positives run amok in Vista anti-virus tests

    Generic faults

    The first independent tests of anti-malware products on 64-bit Windows Vista revealed a rash of false positives. Of the 20 products submitted for testing to independent security certification body Virus Bulletin, six generated false positives when scanning a set of known clean files. As a result, the product failed to earn …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 11:45

  • Oklahoma offers War on Terror numberplates

    Okies say 'you're either with us or agin us'

    Residents of Oklahoma can exchange their dull old number plate for one which makes clear their support of Bush's "Global War on Terror". The personalised plate comes with a picture of the Twin Towers with an American eagle, sporting a 9-11 ribbon. Below your car registration number is the slogan "Global War on Terror" to make …

    Government 3 Aug 2007, 12:06

  • Betfair tears up all bets on Polish tennis championship game

    Irregular betting patterns cited

    Peer-to-peer betting exchange Betfair has cancelled all bets taken on the tennis match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello yesterday. A statement put on the site today reads: "Following consultation with the men’s professional tennis tour, the ATP, Betfair has decided to void all bets placed on Thursday’s 2nd …

    Financial News 3 Aug 2007, 12:10

  • Dancing to the tune of a company-sized cash register

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

    The summer seems to be all about shopping for the tech industry this week. The sun has come out, and with it shareholders have approved takeovers, said yes to investors, and generally got on with the business of buying businesses. The biggest noise on this side of the pond was probably to do with a little computer firm called …

    Business 3 Aug 2007, 13:42

  • Wanna stick USB 2.0 to your network?

    Server shares scanners, storage, printers and more

    Anyone fed up with having to plug peripherals into their laptop - or run a desktop PC as a peripheral server on the network - could find a USB network server useful, according to Keyspan. The company has just announced its USB 2.0 Server, which lets users share many kinds of USB devices - printers, scanners, cameras, storage …

    Broadband 3 Aug 2007, 13:50

  • Stem cell fraudster made 'virgin birth' breakthrough

    Silver lining for Korean science scandal

    The investigation into frauds committed by Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk has revealed that he unwittingly made a sought-after stem cell breakthrough. In the course of research, which culminated with false claims that stem cells had been extracted from a cloned human embryo, Hwang's team succeded in extracting cells from eggs …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 13:59

  • Genetic researchers fill 1TB a week

    A nice little earner for their disk array supplier...

    Fresh from its recent sinister triumph, the Wellcome Trust says that its research into genetic diseases is generating such huge data volumes that it has had to buy an extra 42TB of SATA disk arrays, 30TB of which are already full. Scientific analysis of genetic material generates output files of around 50MB, the trust said, …

    Storage 3 Aug 2007, 14:17

  • BigFix drops freebie patch advisory service

    Long-running Fixlet service discontinued

    BigFix is to cease support for the long-running consumer version of its Fixlet Central security patch advisory service from the end of August. The service, which dates back to the early 1990s, is one of the longest-running free IT security software services of its type. Tens of thousands of users worldwide used it to stay on …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 14:19

  • US considers $33bn sci/tech funding package

    Still a long way from the green

    The US House of Representatives has called for $33.6bn of funding for science and technology research. The cash is part of the "America Competes Act" (seriously, who names these things?), which was waved through by a thumping 367-57 vote. The package outlines state grants worth $150m for various education schemes, as well as …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 14:22

  • Sony recalls 350,000 cameras

    Out of the fire and into the meat slicer

    Sony has announced a recall of 350,000 digital cameras. But there's no need to reach for your fire extinguisher, because this time the recall is focused on the metal casing of one model that has the potential to cut or scratch users. The problems surround the Cyber-shot DSC-T5 camera with serial numbers between 3500001 and …

    Hardware 3 Aug 2007, 14:44

  • Meng cops plea in CHIP-ICE 'ware espionage bust

    Only Brits are allowed to export US death-tech

    An alphabet soup of federal plods claimed a first yesterday, as one-time Cupertino resident and former Chinese national Xiaodong Sheldon Meng copped a plea to illegally exporting military software. It was alleged that Meng, originally from Beijing, had worked for Quantum 3D, a technology house based in San Jose. He was employed …

    Government 3 Aug 2007, 14:53

  • Google builds own phone

    More carrier disruption

    Google is trying pull US telcos round to its way of thinking with plans for a handset optimized for its online services. The precocious Silicon Valley company has reportedly spent millions of dollars prototyping cell phones tailored to its search, email and a planned new browser. According to reports, the Googlephone features …

    Phones 3 Aug 2007, 15:19

  • Nokia to jump on music download bandwagon?

    Rumours abound

    Nokia is on the verge of launching its own iTunes-like music downloads service, if rumours are correct. Online reports suggest the handset vendor is to unveil the service later this month, alongside two new music-oriented handsets. Speculation has it that Nokia will unveil the service on 29 August at the Ministry of Sound …

    Phones 3 Aug 2007, 15:33

  • Origins of the assault rifle

    Sharp fruit, stormtroopers and hot barrels

    What is an AK47? In short, it’s an assault rifle: and this is just the first of many misleading death-tech terms we’ll encounter. (Gun bureaucrats of all nations seem to delight in confusing the outsider.) For those not up on the history of shooters, here's an introduction. Assault rifles first began to be seriously …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 15:34

  • El Reg meets Gen Kalashnikov

    From firearms to vodka

    The Register spoke to the General through his translator, Anna, when he visited the UK in 2004 to launch his AK-branded tipple. El Reg meets the general. Have you found this Western mass-marketing experience to be culture shock? I had no real experience of business, and I am only really starting to learn it now. It is very …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 15:34

  • AK47: the open-source weapon that took the world by storm

    Feature More like communism than Linux

    Sixty years ago, a former tank sergeant named Mikhail Kalashnikov submitted an assault-rifle design to the Red Army for trials. It was selected as the new personal weapon for most Soviet soldiers, and designated Automat Kalashnikova 1947 – AK47 for short. That designation went out of official use in 1959, but to this day “AK47” …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 15:35

  • That sinking into a vat of beer Friday feeling

    If you're reading this it can't be true

    It's Friday afternoon. The sun is shining. And everyone is down the boozer when they should be at their desks getting through all that ugly paperwork before the 5pm bell sounds. Apparently, Employersafe reckons all this job-dodging-Facebook-playing-pink-shirt-wearing-just-one-more-it's-Friday-afternoon malarkey is costing UK …

    Small Biz 3 Aug 2007, 15:36

  • Scientists explain Saturn's mysterious, moonless ring

    Hidden matter in ring's bright arc

    Saturn's gauzy G-ring is being swept into its orbit, grain by grain, from a region of icy chunks on its inner edge. So say researchers working on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft in the 2 August issue of the journal Science. A single bright arc on the inside of Saturn's G-Ring. Credit: Ciclops Most of Saturn's dusty rings …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 15:43

  • IBM goes to Princeton Softech

    Looking at ways of making data valuable

    Technology services behemoth IBM said it has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Princeton Softech Inc for an undisclosed sum. The firm said the hope is for the acquisition to enhance its cross-company "Information on Demand" scheme, an initiative to work out ways of simplifying extracting value from data stored …

    Applications 3 Aug 2007, 15:44

  • Free Wi-Fi aims to snag Mondeo man

    Ford reaches out to roaming gadget geeks

    Anyone logging onto one of the UK Wi-Fi locations run by free-hotspot.com and online-4-free.com this summer can expect to have to wait through a video advert for the new Ford Mondeo, before they get the promised free internet access. The free Wi-Fi service is funded by advertisements. Some of these are simply static web pages …

    Broadband 3 Aug 2007, 15:46

  • Brian May going for astronomy PhD

    Another one bites the zodiacal dust-cloud

    Proving that it does take brains to play in magnificent rock bands, Queen guitarist Brian May is to submit his doctoral thesis this week. What is the subject you ask? Why, the formation of zodiacal dust clouds, of course. Although we cannot imagine why anyone would chose a life of big-haired Rock'n'Roll glamour over dusty …

    Science 3 Aug 2007, 15:47

  • Fun with passports and paperclips

    Black Hat Blog Boy scout hacking

    The best tax is the tax the other guy pays; the best hacks are the ones that only affect the other guy; the funniest technical glitches are the outages of the other guy's microphone. No such luck: David Thiel is exploring the ways that downloaded media files can be hacked. You have nothing to fear but your bittorrent habit. …

    Security 3 Aug 2007, 15:50

  • EU monitors roaming compliance

    Web site tracks errant operators

    The EU is providing an easy reference for customers wanting to see if their network operator is offering minimal compliance with the new Eurotariff, or if they're one of the lucky few who are exceeding the newly mandated caps on European roaming charges. Mobile network operators in Europe had until July 30 to offer the new …

    Mobile 3 Aug 2007, 15:58

  • TimeUK mounts $22m Evesham bail-out

    Updated TimeUK buys time

    Troubled British PC maker Evesham Technology has been thrown a $22m lifeline by TimeUK founder, Tahir Mohsan. Evesham, which blamed the closure of the government-backed Home Computing Initiative (HCI) for landing it in financial hot water, said most of its stores will close under the restructure. The Evesham-based firm has 16 …

    The Channel 3 Aug 2007, 16:13

  • Red Hat delays Global Desktop

    Because governments in developing nations want to watch DVDs

    Red Hat is tapping the breaks on the release of its Global Desktop Linux operating system to put in more tricks. The company announced today the software's once expected July roll-out has been delayed until at least September. Product manager Gerry Riveros told Reuters Global Desktop won't be out until Library Card Sign-Up …

    Operating Systems 3 Aug 2007, 19:31

  • Mingling requirements

    Requirements management for all

    More moves are in train to bring Requirements Management (RM) out of its fusty corner of esoteric technical argument and into the mainstream of applications development planning. Indeed, the whole area of Applications Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a hive of activity as new tools start to appear, and the arrival of Mingle, the …

    Developer 3 Aug 2007, 19:35

  • The Scouts go grid

    Scouting for Bytes...

    The Scouts are getting into grid computing - yes, it seems that "Dyb dyb dyb" now means "donate your bits". Scouts all around the world are being encouraged to join a team that's donating its spare CPU cycles to the World Community Grid, which provides processor power for medical research. "We are calling upon current and …

    Servers 3 Aug 2007, 19:43

  • Ban the internet! It's full of worms and iPlayers

    Comments And Google shows patent disdain

    The internet is a blight on our fair society. The iPlayer, viruses and The Register are testament to that fact. The Professional Teachers Association has voted to ban the internet and Wi-Fi from schools. It's a sensible proposal from a sensible organisation. You seemed to think otherwise: I assume none of these 'professionals …

    Letters 3 Aug 2007, 19:46

  • Tibco backs Ajax with message bus

    Developers challenged to build mega mashup

    Tibco Software has increased its open source credentials by handing over the core of its PageBus messaging software to the Open Ajax Alliance. The move follows last October's release of its General Interface Ajax application toolkit as a free open source package. Tibco says PageBus uses tried-and-tested publish and subscribe …

    Developer 3 Aug 2007, 19:51

  • Pirate Bay to resurrect Suprnova.org

    Prodigal BitTorrent indexer

    Swedish anti-copyright group Pirate Bay will reopen Suprnova.org, which used to be the most popular BitTorrent indexing site. Suprnova disappeared in 2004 as legal storm clouds gathered. Currently the domain hosts a link dump, but Pirate Bay reportedly plans to restore Suprnova in its original design in "a few days". The …

    Media 3 Aug 2007, 19:52

  • Amazon joins Google in assault on eBay's PayPal

    Putting the micro in micro-payments

    As eBay continues to fight off calls for the addition of Google Checkout to its online marketplace, here comes another big-name PayPal alternative. Today, on its web services blog, Amazon announced a limited beta version of a long-rumored online payment system, dubbed the Amazon Flexible Payments Service, or FPS. Aimed at …

    Small Biz 3 Aug 2007, 19:58

  • Coding legend Antony Jameson gives supercomputers wings

    Meat Cast North Korea attacked by double-sided bird

    If you're on a flight and Antony Jameson's code crashes, hold on tight. You're in for a wild ride. Dr. Jameson's elegant computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes have become the gold standard in the aeronautics industry. Companies ranging from Boeing to business jet makers depend on his work to get the most out of their …

    Semi-Coherent 3 Aug 2007, 20:25

  • Lenovo moves to the country

    Offers low-cost PCs for China's rural market

    Flushed with a nearly 13-fold income jump in its first quarter, Lenovo hopes to extend its lead in China by targeting the country's poor, but expansive rural market. The world's third largest PC maker announced today it will vend computers for as low as $200 to residents of China's countryside. China is the world's second …

    Hardware 3 Aug 2007, 22:06

  • Yahoo! to stream web-only US Prez debate

    From soon-to-be-face-lifted video site

    Not to be outdone by Google and YouTube, Yahoo! will soon host the first web-only U.S. presidential debate. Also set for the sites of co-sponsors Slate and The Huffington Post, the September 12 streaming-video event will feature all eight Democratic presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, The …

    Government 3 Aug 2007, 22:59

  • SPEC dishes out MPI test

    How chatty is your supercomputer?

    The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has released a new benchmark suite that measures the performance of clusters running the much-loved - and much-despised - Message-Passing Interface protocols. SPEC's new MPI2007 serves as a new brand of supercomputing benchmark. The fresh test suite helps distinguish the …

    Servers 3 Aug 2007, 23:15

  • Music industry rebuffed across Europe on file-sharing identifications

    'Disproportionate'

    A German court has refused to order ISPs to hand over user details to the music industry. The incident is not the first in Germany, and follows the opinion of a European Court of Justice Advocate-General backing the stance. A court in Offenburg, Germany refused to order ISPs to identify subscribers when asked to by music …

    Media 3 Aug 2007, 23:45