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30th August 2007 Archive

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  • Linux helps dampen Novell's losses

    OS sales up 77 per cent year-over-year

    Novell narrowed losses in the third quarter, bolstered by the SUSE Linux business beginning to pull more weight. For the quarter ended July 31, Novell reports a net loss of $3.42m, a 48 per cent difference compared with a loss of $6.5m in the same quarter the previous year. Excluding one-time items, Novell's income from …

    Financial News 30 Aug 2007, 01:09

  • AMD plots single thread boost with x86 extensions

    Bulldozer injection

    Still intent on improving single thread software performance, AMD has outlined some planned additions to the x86 instruction set that will appear in chips shipping in 2009. The SSE5 extensions should make life easier on software developers and lead to rather dramatic performance gains. In particular, AMD expects the tweaks to …

    Servers 30 Aug 2007, 06:33

  • Sun looks to huddled masses for growth

    BRIC nation

    Sun Microsystems is looking to billions of citizens in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC), defined by the west as emerging economies, for long-term success. Chief executive Jonathan Schwartz predicted BRIC nations will dominate Sun's business in time, thanks to a "staggering surge" in the purchasing power of citizen …

    Servers 30 Aug 2007, 06:43

  • Trade unions demand right to Facebook

    It's like the Tolpuddle Martyrs all over again

    The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has today called on employers to reconsider outright bans that have been slapped on popular web time-killers Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. While legal, the embargos are an "over-reaction" to the rise of social networking, according to the unions. Intstead, clear policies should be agreed which …

    IT Director 30 Aug 2007, 08:41

  • Samsung Blu-ray Disc player line blooms

    IFA 07 Dual-format machine launched

    Samsung's third generation of Blu-ray Disc players made an appearance at the IFA show in Berlin today. The company took the wraps of four machines, including the first BD-equipped home cinema set-up and a dual HD DVD/Blu-ray rig. Samsung's BD-UP5000: one player, two formats The star of the line-up is the long-awaited BD- …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 09:35

  • Tills ring at Torex Retail

    General Atlantic goes on shopping spree

    A one-third stake in UK software firm Torex Retail has been sold to investment firm General Atlantic for an undisclosed sum. Torex, which makes software for retail systems such as check-outs and tills, was rescued from administration in June by private equity firm Cerberus in a £204.4m deal which angered shareholders. Shares …

    Applications 30 Aug 2007, 09:45

  • Holyrood strikes IT support deal

    LogicaCMG to take up the mantle

    The Scottish Parliament's Corporate Body (SPCB) has awarded LogicaCMG the contract to provide support for its information systems and communications technology. The contract, estimated to be worth £1.75m annually, has been awarded for five years starting from January 2008, with the option to extend on an annual basis for …

    Channel Register 30 Aug 2007, 09:47

  • Red Hat unveils Developer Studio beta

    Could become corporate developers' best friend

    Red Hat has announced the beta release of Red Hat Developer Studio, the new Eclipse-based IDE for the Red Hat family of solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The cornerstone of Red Hat's developer program, Developer Studio, combines products contributed to Red Hat by Exadel in March …

    Developer 30 Aug 2007, 09:50

  • IFA 07 Samsung eyes iPhone for music player UI

    Samsung today took the wraps off its widescreen YP-P2 digital media player, as expected, but it also unveiled a second model that sports a kid-friendly animated user interface. The company added Bluetooth across the line-up. Samsung's YP-T10: wireless music The YP-T10 is geared straight toward a young audience. The full- …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 09:53

  • Astronauts are sober as judges, says NASA

    Official report is in

    Astronauts do not fly drunk, and that's official. NASA has released details of its safety review, which found no evidence to support claims that spacefarers were hitting the bottle before heading for the stars. NASA boss Michael Griffin said: "I have said many times during the past weeks that NASA takes these allegations very …

    Space 30 Aug 2007, 10:01

  • MSN Messenger flaw creates web cam peril

    Upgrade or be own3d

    A vulnerability in MSN Messenger poses a severe risk of compromise for users of older versions of the software who accept untrusted web cam sessions. Security bugs involving the handling of video conversations (web cam streams) by some versions of Microsoft's chat client create a means for hackers to inject hostile code onto …

    Security 30 Aug 2007, 10:12

  • Sony to unplug Connect digital music service

    IFA 07 Tacit admission of defeat

    Sony will next year kill off its Connect digital music download service, Register Hardware has learned. Its Walkman products will instead use Windows Media technology, the consumer electronics giant told its customers today. Sony's decision is a tacit admission that the company has failed to match the success enjoyed by Apple …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 10:37

  • Acer gets Gateway, Lenovo could get nothing and IBA might finally get iSoft

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

    Who said August was boring or quiet? Not with Lenovo's bid for Packard Bell coming near the start of the month and then Acer's $710m punt on Gateway arriving last week. Acer must have taken some grim satisfaction from the fact its takeover of Gateway has also led Gateway to invoke a 'right of first refusal' to any offer for …

    Channel Register 30 Aug 2007, 10:42

  • Foxconn launches Mars mission to wow overclockers

    IFA 07 Quantum Force brand unveiled

    Mobo maker Foxconn will next month release what it claimed was its "first true overclocking motherboard", the Intel 'Bearlake' based Mars. Foxconn's Quantum Force Mars mobo Due to be released under Foxconn's new Quantum Force brand, Mars uses a specially designed BIOS, dubbed Gladiator, to adjust processor voltage and …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 10:46

  • Viral epidemic strikes Spain's Mediterranean dolphins

    Better news for the Yangtze River 'baiji', however

    Spain's Mediterranean striped dolphin population is under threat from a virus epidemic which could see off up to two-thirds of the estimated 118,000 population, El Mundo reports. Biologists have identified the first victims of the Morbillivirus - a member of the measels and rinderpest family - which they say was responsible for …

    Biology 30 Aug 2007, 10:59

  • Microsoft to buy chinwag platform Parlano

    Enterprise group hug, Web 2.0 stylie

    Reaching out to bag a chunk of the enterprise social [cough] networking market share, software mammoth Microsoft has acquired corporate group chat provider Parlano. Chicago-based Parlano, a firm spun off from Swiss bank UBS, provides its own MindAlign application to firms to enable employees to interact with one another via …

    Applications 30 Aug 2007, 11:06

  • Spitzer team spots stellar sauna

    Hot, steamy star

    Somewhere in the universe, a solar system is forming. Whirling around the newly ignited stellar embryo is a disk of dust, gas, and rocks that will gradually settle down into a stable planetary system. And according to astronomers using the Spitzer space telescope, the natal cloud - the region where planets will form - is being …

    Space 30 Aug 2007, 11:17

  • Genghis Khan didn't much like gays

    Homosexuality punishable by death

    Chinese researchers have claimed that Genghis Khan's code of laws "probably" contains the earliest ban on male homosexuality, AP reports. Experts at the Research Institute of Ancient Mongolian Laws and Sociology in Inner Mongolia reassembled Khan's code - lost 600 years ago - from "historical texts, including Marco Polo's …

    Bootnotes 30 Aug 2007, 11:19

  • IBM bladesmiths forge slim Cell system, SDK

    Twice as many weapons in your rack, kensei

    IBM has announced a new thinner Cell-based blade system, allowing twice as many units to be fitted per rack, and an SDK intended to ease development in the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell BE) environment. Dubbed the IBM BladeCenter QS21, the new board is rated for peak performance of "approximately 460" Gflops, allowing 6.4 …

    Servers 30 Aug 2007, 11:25

  • HP boffin predicts preggers spy bog

    Stupid future Get ready to buy a lot of expensive ink in 2057

    HP has wheeled out a futurologist to tell everyone we're going to need a lot more enterprise-class storage, printer ink and and branded glossy photo paper in the year 2057. As well as fattening photo albums, ubiquitous monitoring devices could be a threat to liberty, according to a groundbreaking speech by Martin Sadler, …

    Science 30 Aug 2007, 11:33

  • Challenging the mobile clichés

    Opinion An analyst rants

    Let me begin with a warning that I am about to get on one of my hobby horses. This one has to do with the notion that modern wireless and mobile technology is largely about enabling people to become more mobile in the way they live and work, as if they were previously chained to one location and magically liberated by the latest …

    Mobile 30 Aug 2007, 11:35

  • Daewoo demos 'Blu-ray Disc 2.0' player

    IFA 07 Online and interactive

    Daewoo has given the Blu-ray Disc next-gen optical disc format the thumbs up by showing off its first BD player, the slim, blue-hued DBP-1000. Daewoo's DBP-1000: blue hue The player supports the full BD specification, including the ability to access BD Live online content, to present picture-in-picture material and deliver …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 11:38

  • David Bowie to appear in Doctor Who?

    'Evil alien abductor' in two-part special

    David Bowie will appear as an "evil alien abductor" in a two-part Doctor Who special, the Sun reports. Bowie, 60, has reportedly agreed to "cross swords" with the Time Lord after being approached by Who chiefs impressed with his 2006 outing as an inventor in The Prestige. There are no details of the storyline, apart from the …

    Entertainment 30 Aug 2007, 11:42

  • Mr and Mrs Renault cannot name daughter Megane

    Belgian authorities apply sanity brakes

    Belgian authorities have decided that it is not a particularly bright idea for a Mr and Mrs Renault to name their daughter Megane, Pravda reports. Quite where Pravda got wind of this insanity we know not, but psychologists apparently intervened to prevent the Renaults' offspring from suffering a lifetime of misery and despair …

    Bootnotes 30 Aug 2007, 12:02

  • IFA 07 Casio enhances top-of-the-line digicam

    Casio named the new leader of its Exilim digital camera line today: the 12.1-megapixel Zoom Z-1200, packed with the many of the latest digicam desirables, including image stabilisation and face detection. Casio's Z-1200: face booker The Z-1200's CCD image sensor can be made to move to counter a shaky pair of hands, but it …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 12:13

  • Cells 'react' to GSM signals claims research

    Cellphone-cancer link generates headlines in under 10 minutes

    New research claims that cells can react to a GSM-like signal in as little as ten minutes - though if whether this could causes cancer remains open to interpretation. Those who believe that mobile phones do cause cancer, and/or a wide variety of other ailments, suffer from two problems: the fact that long-term studies have …

    Mobile 30 Aug 2007, 12:34

  • Samsung quietly serenades 'super 3G' music phone

    IFA 07 F330 debuts

    Samsung has already launched a whole heap of mobile phones this year, and while most of the handsets it had on display at IFA in Berlin today saw light of day way back at 3GSM in March, one phone did catch our eye. Samsung's F330: iPod-u-like Say hello to the SGH-F330 music phone, a slider with cool white styling and a …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 12:49

  • Vista launch jamboree leaves PC World with indigestion

    Hardware promos undermine margins

    Microsoft’s damp squib launch of Vista has left PC World with an over-stock headache, parent DSGi confirmed today. The electronics retail giant, in its interim management statement, reported overall revenues up 11 per cent for the 16 weeks ending August 18, or 6 per cent on a like for like basis. Sales at its computing …

    Channel Register 30 Aug 2007, 13:00

  • Managing Software Complexity with Virtual Chapters

    A Simple Tool for Mid-Sized Projects

    One of the big challenges in today's complex environment is getting software done in some close relation to the schedule. I refer to projects with multiple programmers and a team leader or project manager. Of course, there are a number of planning tools, and project management software has long been available. But there are two …

    Developer 30 Aug 2007, 13:13

  • Sony strides onward with Walkman range

    IFA 07 Wider Walkman collection now includes 'A' and 'S' series

    Sony has announced two additional ranges to complement its existing Walkman multimedia collection. Three variations will be available in the new A-series and five models will make up the new S-series. Three A-series models will be available: NWZ-A818, A816 and A815 Both the A-series and S-series digital media players …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 13:31

  • Orange mounts sneaky Freeserve accounts purge

    Night of the long juicer

    Orange has started summarily deleting email accounts tied to old Freeserve and Wanadoo pay-as-you-go dial-up accounts with no warning. For years, accounts would be deactivated after 90 days if the dial-up number was not accessed. Customers would then receive an error message when trying to access their Freeserve email via …

    Telecoms 30 Aug 2007, 13:50

  • CA issues 'threat' to channel

    Asks partners to get certified

    CA is to launch a channel programme to help resellers tout its threat management solutions bundle. It said the scheme, which kicks off 1 September, was in response to growing market demand from end users looking for a simplified, single solution to address a range of threats. Existing so-called premier partners and leading …

    Channel Register 30 Aug 2007, 14:32

  • 'Queen of Mean' leaves mutt $12m

    Two grandchildren, though, get sweet FA

    Property billionaire Leona Helmsley - aka the "Queen of Mean", and who died earlier this month aged 87 - has left her pet dog $12m while bequeathing sweet FA to two of her grandchildren, the Telegraph reports. The late moneybags' mutt, a white Maltese named Trouble, described as "a former Helmsley advertising star and a dog …

    Bootnotes 30 Aug 2007, 14:34

  • IFA 07 TomTom roadmaps new satnav kit

    TomTom looks intent on driving forward the capabilities of personal navigation devices. Today in Berlin it unveiled the GO 920T, its latest flagship device, in addition to a third-edition One model and a new software package to help drivers personalise and share their maps. TomTom's Go 920T: satnav flagship The 920T, which …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 14:37

  • MS lawyers take out AutoPatcher

    Redmond cracks down on Windows Update alternative

    Microsoft has forced the effective shut down of the AutoPatcher download service. AutoPatcher offered an alternative to Windows Update by providing an up-to-date collection of security patches and tweaks in a single file for each supported version of Windows. Sys admins could save time and bandwidth by updating machines from …

    Software 30 Aug 2007, 14:43

  • Boy racer cuffed for 140mph YouTube jaunt

    'Completely foolish' Ford Escort stunt

    An unnamed 19-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of "having posted a video of himself on YouTube driving at speeds of more than 140 mph", Reuters reports. The alleged Ford Escort incident took place on the single-carriageway A76 in southwest Scotland. Sergeant Scott McLachlan, of Dumfries and Galloway police's Roads …

    Law 30 Aug 2007, 14:46

  • IFA 07 Philips shines light on Aurea LCD

    Philips has cast some fresh light over the HDTV market and unveiled its Aurea LCD telly, the successor to Ambilight. The new set incorporates LEDs into its frame that give out warm shades of colour in response to the display's changing picture. Philip's Aurea: let it shine The 1080p TV, which is only available in a 42in …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 14:48

  • 'Screw the Long Tail'? Not us!

    Songwriters strike YouTube royalty deal

    The first deal of its kind to compensate songwriters for music played on YouTube should benefit them all, the parties said today. The British collection society the MCPS-PRS Alliance, which represents over 55,000 publishers and composers, today announced a licensing deal with the Google-owned site covering 10m pieces of music. …

    Law 30 Aug 2007, 15:03

  • Plants will make greenhouse effect flooding worse

    Drowned by lazy daisies

    New data published by the Met Office's Hadley research centre suggests that flooding will be an even bigger problem than anticipated for our warming planet. And it is plants that are to blame. According to research, published in the journal Nature, plants tend to absorb and so expire less water from the soil when they grow in …

    Biology 30 Aug 2007, 15:40

  • Philips untangles power cable spaghetti

    IFA 07 Power, power everywhere

    Philips for one has cottoned onto the fact that consumers are fed-up with piles of unidentifiable cables cluttering up their cupboards. Today, it unveiled its Power4Life range of universal chargers, developed to replace many chargers with one. Philips' Power2Charge: one thing to charge them all The Power2Charge range …

    Reg Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 17:10

  • Pentagon puts $44m into handheld translators

    Disperse at once or we fire <beep> Have a nice day

    The US Navy is putting $44m-plus into "Phraselator®" Machine Based Language Translation tech, designed to overcome language barriers using "phrase recognition and generation" algorithms. The company providing Phraselator® is Voxtec, a small business qualifier based in Maryland. It says its software is a departure from …

    Software 30 Aug 2007, 18:58

  • Newest Ubuntu dubbed 'Hardy Heron'

    Receives long term support status

    The first version of Ubuntu to be released next year has been unveiled, and in the tradition of affable alliterations ascending the alphabet, the OS has been codenamed "Hardy Heron". Heron will be the successor to Gutsy Gibbon (version 7.10), which is due out in October 2007. Heron will set to arrive in April 2008. The …

    Operating Systems 30 Aug 2007, 19:46

  • Earthlink's city-wide Wi-Fi ambitions fade into thin air

    Oversold technology, under-priced fees

    Citywide Wi-Fi was supposed to be the lifeline that would lead Earthlink to higher ground. With two of major deals suddenly declared dead and a third on suicide watch, it's starting to look like a ball and chain. A day after dismissing half its staff to cut costs, the troubled ISP on Wednesday formally withdrew from a plan that …

    Telecoms 30 Aug 2007, 19:57

  • MS tweaks Vista with minor updates

    Incremental fixes

    Microsoft pushed out a series of five patches for Vista early this week. The updates - two of which were rated important, two are recommended and one optional - took security observers by surprise because they were released outside Microsoft's normal Patch Tuesday update cycle. The "important" updates, released on Tuesday, …

    Operating Systems 30 Aug 2007, 20:30

  • Pinch-bum malware creates titters

    Cheeky Trojan drifts onto the net

    The general dumbing down of the virus creation process along with attempts by for-profit hackers to tie up the resources of security firms mean that anti-virus sofware vendors are beginning to need three alphabetical letters for some Trojan families. Occasional this naming convention throws up a double entendre-loaded moniker, …

    Malware 30 Aug 2007, 20:40

  • US antitrust group urges Intel investigation

    Wants more vigorous FTC probing

    The American Antitrust Institute (AAI), a Washington DC lobby group, has written an open letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging an investigation of Intel's allegedly monopolistic business practices. The letter, directed to FTC chairwoman Deborah Majores, notes similar investigations by the European Commission and in …

    PCs & Chips 30 Aug 2007, 21:24

  • Meet Mark Radcliffe: The man who rules open source law

    'The most inefficient conspirator in the world'

    As one of his clients told us, "Mark Radcliffe is the law when it comes to open source software." Radcliffe, an attorney at giant DLA Piper, has lurked behind some of the most important shifts in the open source world over the past few years. He helped Sun Microsystems open source the Solaris operating system, developing Sun's …

    Applications 30 Aug 2007, 22:21

  • Dell profit improves amid accounting woes

    And ex-CEO grabbing bank

    Dell posted healthy sales and profit for its fiscal second quarter, spurred by favorable market conditions, including higher average selling prices and lower component costs. Operating income for the quarter ended August 3 was $896m. Net income was $733m. The results took a hit big from $102m in expenses related to payments …

    Hardware 30 Aug 2007, 22:54

  • Viacom slaps YouTuber for behaving like Viacom

    'We'll mess with your copyrights. But don't mess with ours'

    Viacom has slapped an American political candidate for posting his own video to YouTube. With its latest YouTube crackdown, the media behemoth seems to be sending a new message to internet video-sharers across the globe: "You can't mess with our copyrighted content. But we can mess with yours." Last year, as he ran for a spot …

    Music and Media 30 Aug 2007, 23:02

  • eBay hard drive spills out governor's campaign documents

    A bargain at $69

    From the files of IT bloopers comes this cautionary tale: a California man stumbled upon a stash of confidential data belonging to the Arkansas Democratic Party after its computer consultant accidentally sold a hard drive containing the material on eBay. Bill Ries-Knight, also an IT consultant, purchased the 120 GB Seagate …

    Enterprise Security 30 Aug 2007, 23:49