13th August 2007 Archive

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Moto Razr² debuts in US... almost

Carriers taking delivery

US mobile phone networks have taken delivery of Motorola's latest Razr handset - the slightly-skinnier-than-the-original Razr² - the phone maker claimed late last week. Putting it on sale to punters may take a little longer. Motorola's Razr² V8: in the round \> Consumers should get the phone in their hands within the …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 00:08
Fujitsu Siemens to drop PDA, GPS gadgets

Laptop focus

Fujitsu Siemens is to pull out of the PDA and GPS business by the end of the year to focus its mobile computing efforts on notebooks and tablets, the company admitted last week. Fujitsu Siemens' Pocket Loox N100: run out of road FS currently offers a range of handhelds under its Pocket Loox brand, the line-up divided into …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 01:31
Intel cans last Pentium 4s, Ds

Farewell, pre-Core past

Intel has marked more of its old, pre-Core desktop processors for the chop, including the remaining, 65nm Pentium 4s and the last Pentium Ds. From 5 October, orders for tray-packed and single-CPU boxed Pentium 4 631, 641 and 661, and Pentium D 915, 925, 935 and 945 processors will not be allowed to be cancelled - a warning to …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 06:34
Nvidia MCP73 'to debut 25 September'

Entry-level parts to pave way for DirectX 10 version?

Nvidia's anticipated next-gen Intel-oriented desktop chipsets - codenamed 'MCP73' - will debut on 25 September, it has been claimed by Far Eastern sources. Motherboard-maker moles in Taiwan, cited by local newssite DigiTimes, claim that the chipset family will launch with five members - four with integrated graphics and the …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 06:37
First two AMD 'Barcelonas' due 10 September?

A third coming the following month, apparently

AMD's first 'Barcelona' processors - a pair of chips for two-slot machines - will appear on 10 September, it has been alleged by server-maker sources. A further chip will be launched in October, they say. There's no word from AMD, but insiders cited by DigiTimes have named the two Barcelonas as the 1.9GHz Opteron 2348 and the …

Servers 13 Aug 2007, 06:51
Total world Wii sales close in on Xbox 360 tally

Next-gen console winner

Nintendo's Wii is nearing the Xbox 360's cumulative sales total, despite the year-long availability advantage enjoyed by the Microsoft games consoles. New figures put the Wii at 10.10m units sold to date worldwide, just behind the 360's 10.32m. The numbers come from new-to-us website VG Chartz, which claims to base its …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 08:02
Vodafone turns to eBay for handset supplies

Largest phone network reduced to searching largest flea market

Vodafone UK is hunting eBay for obsolete handsets that support its Textphone service for the deaf. British telephone companies are required to provide services for deaf customers, who generally use a keyboard to type text messages. Text- and instant messaging have mitigated the need to an extent, but seeing every key typed is a …

Mobile 13 Aug 2007, 08:57
Fujitsu creates readable, writeable 'nanohole' hard drive

Step toward 1TB per square inch data density

Fujitsu's scheme to produce hard drives that can hold a terabyte of data in each square inch of recording surface has taken a step closer to realisation. It has made a 2.5in disk made of its proposed 'patterned medium' and verified the disc's read/write capability. Fujitsu's approach uses anodised aluminium to create a …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 09:02
IT bosses: directors don't take security seriously

Their fault for not talking the board's language?

Most IT managers believe that while their board-level superiors pay lip service to compliance and security, they don't really take it seriously, according to a survey carried out for software developer NetIQ. The survey also revealed that 51 percent of the 218 UK companies queried still do not have the processes and …

Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2007, 09:05
Council employs automatic PC shutdown

Will save £50,000 a year

A council is expecting to save money and reduce carbon emissions after installing software that closes down PCs left on overnight. Peterborough City Council has deployed software to automatically turn off computers left on during evenings and weekends. The council predicts it will save £50,000 a year and cut annual CO2 …

Public Sector 13 Aug 2007, 09:22
Silent bandwidth battles at BT

Column You will not unplug that ISDN

We could have a nice little fight building up (in a quasi military sense, too) between BT and the armed forces, because of BT's "secret" plans to close down its legacy ISDN digital network. The reason it's military, sort of, is that BT is still full of soldiers. OK, that's not literally true, but it's effectively the case: …

Data Networking 13 Aug 2007, 09:45
Halo 3 hits one million pre-orders

Smashes all records

Halo 3 has reached one million pre-orders in North America alone, making it the fastest selling pre-ordered game in history. Over a month before it's set to hit shelves, the eagerly-awaited title has set a new precedent for the video games market, according to Microsoft. "What we've experienced is nothing short of phenomenal …

Entertainment 13 Aug 2007, 09:46
Net bride Aussie kidnapped in Mali

Lovestruck farmer's fiancée actually armed gang

An Australian farmer who thought he'd found his perfect soulmate online got a nasty surprise when he travelled to Mali to meet his fiancée - a reception committee of "machete-armed bandits" who held him for almost two weeks demanding an AU$100,000 ransom. Des Gregor, 56, flew last month to the impoverished African nation's …

ID 13 Aug 2007, 09:53
Future looks bright for video ads

Runt of the advertising litter to grow up fast

The revolution will be televised but you'll have to sit through the ads first. In the new Simpsons movie, President Arnold Schwarzenegger declares that he "was elected to lead not to read", and now advertisers are trying to ensure literacy is not a pre-requisite for consumers they target oonline. Video advertising is set to …

IT Director 13 Aug 2007, 10:08
Virgin Media to mount French invasion

Channel hopping

Virgin Media looks set to expand into continental Europe, despite difficulties with its UK operation. According to The Times, the Virgin Group, which controls the Virgin Media brand, is in talks with French cable company Numéricable to license the name. Numéricable is France's largest cable operator, covering about nine …

Financial News 13 Aug 2007, 10:10
Peterborough bloke warned over 'offensive' t-shirt

'Don't piss me off', declares pissed-off perp

A Peterborough forklift driver who threatened to undermine law and order in the former Roman city by wearing a t-shirt declaring "Don't piss me off! I am running out of places to hide the bodies" has been warned he'll cop an 80 quid fine if caught again wearing the offending apparel. The suitably-monikered David Pratt was …

Bootnotes 13 Aug 2007, 10:11
Next generation business intelligence

From power user to user power

Various research projects have shown that business intelligence (BI) continues to be one of the top investment priorities for CIOs. But what is changing is its shift in focus from complex tools for a few users to more flexible, affordable and accessible tools for a larger audience. As such, BI is moving away from being an …

Developer 13 Aug 2007, 10:21
Spammers debut FDF spam

Rising tide as stock markets fall

Spammers have begun experimenting with a new file format as part of their ongoing quest to slip their tiresome messages past junk mail filters. Following on from junk mail messages in the images of emails or in PDF attachments, users now have to contend with spam messages in the FDF (Forms Data Format). FDF files can be read …

Spam 13 Aug 2007, 10:39
iPhone thumb trim hoax gets online media buy-in

Satirical commentary taken as fact

Claims that Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae had his over-sized thumbs "whittled" to make using his iPhone easier have turned out to be a marvellous hoax perpetrated by the North Denver News, though one that fooled many online news sources. Despite the story being littered with clues - references to muscle alterations in the …

Mobile 13 Aug 2007, 10:40
Cops taser crap-smeared Oz clubber

Nasty shock for dirty protestor

An Oz clubber who decided it was a really bright idea to smear himself with faeces and blood in protest at being ejected from a Gold Coast nightclub earned himself a solid tasering for his trouble, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The unnamed 34-year-old Brisbane man was thrown out of the establishment in Surfers Paradise in …

Bootnotes 13 Aug 2007, 10:40
Boots, House of Fraser not renewing IT director posts

Comment Short-sighted or smart move?

Initial reaction to the fact that two sizable retailers are not renewing their outgoing IT director posts could easily be "short sighted mistake". It's easy to see why they might be doing this though. The retail refresh cycle has seen many retailers catching up on 15 years of under investment. Many may have little appetite for …

IT Director 13 Aug 2007, 10:58
NASA examining Shuttle's dings, extending mission

All go up on the space station

Mission controllers at NASA are inspecting some damage to the shuttle Endeavour's heat shield sustained during the "flawless" launch last week. Before docking with the International Space Station (ISS), the shuttle performed a now-routine flip to allow the ground crew at mission control to inspect the craft for damage. The …

Space 13 Aug 2007, 11:14
Blue Note label to offer downloads'n'social on web

Wrinkle-funk bonanza foretold

Jazz and blues record label Blue Note plans to revamp its website from later this month, transforming it from a regular corporate front window to a combined social network and music download shop. The move could be seen as flying in the face of conventional marketing wisdom. Jazz fanciers are assumed to spend their music-buying …

Music and Media 13 Aug 2007, 11:19
ISPs hijack BBC in tiered services push

How much would you pay your ISP for iPlayer?

Cash-strapped ISPs have begun a campaign to use the launch of the BBC's iPlayer on demand service to squeeze more cash from web TV viewers. The iPlayer is still in beta and due to be fully launched in autumn. It expects to have 500,000 users before the big marketing push. Tiscali seems to have been appointed mouthpiece for the …

Telecoms 13 Aug 2007, 11:36
Build up to UK Xbox 360 Elite launch...

Register Hardware presents a round-up of all the recent news and events related to the imminent UK launch of the Xbox 360 Elite on Friday 24 August... Full Review: Xbox 360 Elite games console Apart from a sneaky bit of Xbox 360 gaming at lunchtimes in the Register Hardware offices, we've always been fairly hardcore …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 11:41
Game shares bounce as competition probe launches

Regulator says deal unfairly squeezes market

Game saw its share price fall by more than 15 per cent last Friday following a watchdog's decision to probe the video game retailer's purchase of Gamestation. By this morning, however, Game's fortunes had revived after Goldman Sachs recommended the stock to investors, though it revised its target price for the shares, down 0. …

Channel Register 13 Aug 2007, 11:47
Drunken German joyrider totals 300 chickens

Poultry pandemonium

A 17-year-old German joyrider faces a legal plucking after provoking the death of 300 chickens by crashing a van into their Kassel abode, Reuters reports. The unnamed perp apparently took the vehicle from a fairground where he was staying and piled it into the nearby chicken shed containing 1,000 birds. A police spokesman …

Bootnotes 13 Aug 2007, 11:49
Veoh files pre-emptive copyright lawsuit

Don't hit us, we're Web 2.0

Video sharing site Veoh Networks has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), requesting that the courts prevent UMG from suing it for copyright infringement. Veoh has copyright infringing material aplenty on its site, but argues that it's entitled to "safe harbour" provisions because it doesn't …

Music and Media 13 Aug 2007, 11:51
US punters gobbling up mobile data

And it's not all SMS

The US is consuming vast amounts of mobile data and, unlike Europe, it's not all SMS messaging, according to a report from consultants Chetan Sharma. Between April and June this year, the US wireless business made $5.85bn from data, an increase of seven per cent on the same period last year, and contributing nearly 17 per cent …

Mobile 13 Aug 2007, 12:01
US Customs gets kill-droids for Caribbean

Booze cruise bloodbath likely as excise feds tool up

The US Customs service has announced plans to acquire a fleet of five tonne flying death droids, to supplement its already terrifying arsenal of all-seeing "Eye of Sauron" Wi-Fi radar towers, handheld puke rayguns, and airport mind-probes. Flight International reported on Saturday that the American bag-rummagers would acquire …

Government 13 Aug 2007, 12:04
Tories aim to ditch data protection laws

And scrap Ofcom

A Conservative government would tear up Britain's commitments on data protection and other regulations in a bid to create a more competitive economy. A wide-ranging policy review set to be published this Friday will make the recommendations, which were backed today by shadow chancellor George Osborne in an interview with the …

Law 13 Aug 2007, 12:55
Hacktivists attack UN.org

All we are saying is give hacking a chance

The United Nations website came under attack by hacktivists over the weekend. Unidentified peace activists turned hackers replaced speeches by secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon with pacifist messages. The attack on UN.org was more subtle than a straightforward front page defacement. Hackers reportedly used a SQL injection …

Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2007, 12:59
PlayStation 3 a-plenty...

In light of the forthcoming UK launch of the Xbox 360 Elite games console, Register Hardware presents a round-up of all the recent coverage - both news and reviews, of the rival console platform, the PlayStation 3... Full Review: Sony PlayStation 3 No one could have missed the recent mass of media attention surrounding the …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 13:28
Trevor Baylis cranks multimedia up a notch

No we're not winding you up

Sitting down at the beginning of a long train journey to discover that you’ve forgotten to charge up your media player will soon be a thing of the past. Inventor Trevor Baylis back and this time he has turned his wind-up hand to the portable multimedia device. The Eco Media Player uses an internal Lithium Ion battery which …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 13:32
Brando sniffs out USB new agers

Smells pretty sweet

While most would agree that pouring liquids onto anything electrical is a bad idea, Brando seems to have smelt a profit in it. The company has begun selling a thumb-sized USB fragrance oil burner designed to help you plug in and relax, literally. The device, which doesn't have any storage capabilities, measures 6 x 2 x 0.5 cm …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 13:45
All you wanted to know about Wii

In light of the forthcoming UK launch of the Xbox 360 Elite games console, Register Hardware presents a round-up of all the recent coverage - both news and reviews, of the rival console platform, the Nintendo Wii... Full Review: Nintendo Wii videogames console It's midnight and all over the country videogames fans are …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 13:53
Smart radios still too dumb

TV white space defies boffins

More than three years ago, your reporter got a good taste of how miserable technology utopians can be. It was at Intel's Developer Forum in San Francisco, and the debate was about liberating analog TV spectrum for exciting new digital uses. The analog switchover is slated for February 2009. On behalf of Microsoft, Google, and …

Wireless 13 Aug 2007, 14:07
Boffins simulate plasma-eating dusty 'life-forms'

Dust to dust, etc

Physicists have discovered that charged particles of dust can form themselves into life-like structures that appear to be capable of reproducing and passing information along, behaviour reminiscent of life on Earth. The researchers, (led by V N Tsytovich of the General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Science, in Moscow, …

Science 13 Aug 2007, 14:28
Chav-hunting toffs cop some flack

Public school chaps in YouTube vid wheeze

A group of toffs, apparently from Scotland's private Glenalmond College, have ruffled feathers with a wizard YouTube "chav-hunting" vid which showed them purging the British countryside of the Burberry-capped underclass with rod, hound, and gun. The offending flick - entitled Class Wars - featured the chaps variously fishing a …

Bootnotes 13 Aug 2007, 14:47
VAT fraudsters 'laughing all the way to their offshore tax haven'

Explosion in carousel fraud

Carousel fraud accounted for 87 per cent of the total fraud cases reported in the UK for the first half of 2007. According to research figures published by accounting firm BDO Stoy Hayward, there were 141 business frauds (reflecting a 42 per cent jump) over £50,000 in value at a cost of £538m, of which £468m was from major VAT …

Channel Register 13 Aug 2007, 15:00
Samsung powers ahead with fuel cell tech

Will it set the world on fire?

If you're worried about potentially flammable notebook batteries, or perhaps if you aren't, then have you considered a fuel cell-powered laptop? Samsung has unveiled its latest prototype 'battery', which it claims can run for up to eight hours a day for one month, without any recharge. The Direct Methanol Fuel Cell, recently …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 15:05
Welch on renewables deal, UK government told

Where did I put that get-out clause?

The British government has been advised by the civil service to find a way to get out of renewable energy targets Tony Blair committed to earlier this year. According to a leaked report, seen by The Guardian newspaper, there is next to no chance the UK will manage to derive 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by …

Science 13 Aug 2007, 15:07
Germany enacts 'anti-hacker' law

Will the last security expert to leave Germany turn off the lights

Germany has introduced draconian anti-hacker measures that criminalise the creation or possession of dual-use security tools. An update to the country's computer hacking laws makes denial of service attacks and hacking assaults against individuals clearly criminal. Gaining access to data, without necessarily stealing …

Security 13 Aug 2007, 15:15
Sprint helps fuel parental panic

Search local sex offenders from the palm of your hand

Sprint has launched FamilyWatchdog Mobile, a latest family-friendly offering, allows US parents to check out maps showing where registered sex offenders live and work, and download photographs and conviction details. Concerned parents can even receive text alerts when an offender moves into the neighbourhood. Mobile access to …

Mobile 13 Aug 2007, 15:33
BT rubbishes BBC bandwidth throttling reports

Swift denial 'We're not part of the iPlayer gang'

BT has denied reports that it is working with other ISPs to pressurise the BBC or consumers into paying extra for delivery of iPlayer on demand TV shows. Chief press officer Adam Liversage contacted The Reg this afternoon to distance the telco from a predictable net neutrality row. He countered reports citing unnamed BT sources …

Telecoms 13 Aug 2007, 15:35
Blu-ray meets tiny PC

HD from another weeny box

The use of Blu-ray on the desktop is expanding and the high definition format is starting to find its way into small form factor (SFF) PCs. Shuttle has launched its XPC G5 3201M model, a custom-build PC available with either a Blu-ray writer or combo drive crammed into its tiny frame. The combo drive functions as a DVD writer …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 15:53
Gull triphibiandroid sold to Welsh gov

Part plane, part boat - all robot

Most types of aircraft that one can imagine have been robotised over the last decade or so. We've seen aerial attack birds, droid-copters, stealth drones, hydrogen-powered strato-platforms, robot blimps - even dalek-style flying dustbins. It has often seemed that everything that could possibly fly has been automated. But in …

Science 13 Aug 2007, 16:09
Telstra sex romp woman back on the job

Wins bath rumpy-pumpy unfair dismissal case

A female Telstra employee who was sacked for having sex in a bath with two male colleagues while "embarassed women co-workers cringed just metres away" has won compensation and her job back, The Australian reports. Carlie Streeter - from the company's retail outlet at Westfield Shopping Town in Miranda, Sydney - indulged in the …

Law 13 Aug 2007, 16:31
NASA inks deal for Shuttle replacements

Timing nothing to do with Endeavour dent

NASA has signed a $1.8 billion contract with Utah-based Alliant Techsystems (ATK) for "design, development, testing, and evaluation of the first stage of the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles." Ares I and V will replace the Space Shuttle fleet as NASA's primary means of getting people and stuff into earth orbit. The deal, …

Space 13 Aug 2007, 16:33
Facebook quells fears over code leak snafu

More of interest to lawyers than hackers

Server configuration errors led to a leak of a portion the code used by social networking site Facebook over the weekend. The glitch was quickly fixed but not before samples of the code were posted on a new blog, Facebook Secrets, for world+dog to see (the site remains live at time of writing). The leak involved scripts used …

Security 13 Aug 2007, 17:50
Citrix set to snatch XenSource

Hypervisor grab

Citrix is set to buy virtualization software maker XenSource, according to industry chatter. Analysts at Credit Suisse last week issued a research note saying that Citrix is - or at least should be - in the market for hypervisor software key to virtualizing both PCs and servers. Either XenSource or Virtual Iron - developers of …

Servers 13 Aug 2007, 17:59
Intel guns one four-core Xeon, cools another

AMD talks to OEMs

Intel has pumped out a pair of fresh server chips meant to give AMD fits. Customers will now find the Xeon X5365 and L5335 four-core processors. The higher-end X5365 runs at 3.0GHz while eating up a max of 120W. Meanwhile, energy conscious types will want to check out the L5335 that runs at 2.0GHz while consuming just 50W. As …

Servers 13 Aug 2007, 18:16
Firefox leak could divulge sensitive info

How to remotely share your settings with people you've never met

A security researcher has discovered a vulnerability in Firefox that could allow criminals to remotely siphon private information stored in plugins and call sensitive functions. According to an entry on the 0x000000 blog, Firefox generously enumerates all variables and registered objects that are present inside javascript files …

Security 13 Aug 2007, 18:35
SCO 'disappointed' as shares plunge 70 per cent

Sue it forward

Mimicking a scene from Monty Python's The Holy Grail, the SCO Group has issued a statement declaring that it's not dead yet. Last week, a judge dealt a devastating blow to SCO's legal actions against both Novell and IBM. He ruled that Novell does in fact own the copyrights to Unix and Unixware. In addition, the judge gave …

Servers 13 Aug 2007, 19:31
Microsoft sent FCC defective wireless prototype

Wants a do-over

Why did the FCC give a failing grade to a controversial Microsoft prototype that sends high-speed Internet signals over unused television airwaves? It was broken. At least, that's the word from Microsoft. As we reported earlier today, on July 31 the Federal Communications Commission released an 85-page report saying that …

Mobile 13 Aug 2007, 22:50
Blu-ray 300 outsells HD DVD version 2:1

Clash of empires

A small, relatively insignificant strip of road in Greece twixt mountains and ocean has become the latest bloody battleground in the titanic uncompromising clash of next-generation optical disc formats: HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc... Last week, studio Warner Bros cheerfully claimed the new HD DVD version of the highly stylised …

Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 23:13
SteelEye gets pat on the back for virtual clustering

When VMware alone won't do

Clustering software specialist SteelEye's move into the virtual realm appears to have been a success. At last week's LinuxWorld conference, we caught the company in mid-celebration after its LifeKeeper Protection Suite for VMware nabbed the Best Clustering Solution award. SteelEye has been working at the Linux high …

Servers 13 Aug 2007, 23:20
AMD posts Catalyst 7.8

Driver pack tweaked

AMD has posted the latest version of its Catalyst driver package for ATI-branded graphics chips. The Windows Vista and XP release enhances games' scope to overclock Radeon HD 2400 and 2600 series GPUs. It also patches the Purple Pill vulnerability. Catalyst 7.8 lets owners of these graphics chips overclock both the GPU's core …

Hardware 13 Aug 2007, 23:41