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7th September 2007 Archive

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  • Feds tell (other) feds to kill net neutrality

    Justice Department sides with AT&T, Verizon

    The US Department of Justice is badmouthing net neutrality. In a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Justice Department said that certain net neutrality efforts could "prevent, rather than promote, optimal investment and innovation in the Internet, with significant negative effects for the …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 04:31

  • Euro trains gets broadband internet

    Thalys promises gaming and video-on-demand too

    Thalys will introduce broadband internet access to passengers travelling between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne by 2008, the company announced today. It will be the first international high-speed train to provide this service across European borders. Thalys has selected Nokia Siemens Networks, UK based 21Net and …

    Data Networking 7 Sep 2007, 07:02

  • Walkman completes Sony conspiracy to hammer iTunes

    Sony positions itself to squeeze Apple

    The newspapers were full of stories during 2004 about how Microsoft or RealNetworks or Napster were going to knock Apple's iTunes off its perch, and time and time again, nothing really happened. Now we have the reverse. There are genuine storm clouds and dark forces gathering around the iTunes and iPod brands and most of the …

    Music and Media 7 Sep 2007, 07:02

  • Missing DNA fails to kill mice

    Of mice and men

    DNA sequences we share with mice might not be as important as researchers previously thought. A series of experiments on mice at Berkeley have cast doubt on the notion that these so-called ultraconserved elements of DNA are indispensable, after test mice with sequences snipped out managed to grow up just fine. Ultraconserved …

    Biology 7 Sep 2007, 09:27

  • Renewing the mythology of the London ricin cell

    Analysis Not worth a tin full of beans

    A significant and noticeable part of the US and European academy of terrorism studies is like a shark. If it stops swimming forward, it dies. This has two consequences: a drive to publish or perish which, in turn, motivates it to creep onto past battlefields, assessing which bodies can be ignored for the sake of renewing …

    Law 7 Sep 2007, 09:31

  • Intel chops mobile CPU prices, intros Core 2 Solo line

    Desktop changes too

    Intel has confirmed yesterday's processor price cuts, which saw up to 40 per cent knocked off what the chip giant charges for some of its CPUs. A batch of new ones were released too, including the first single-core Core 2 processors. The update to Intel's price list also saw the addition of the recently announced mobile Core …

    Developer 7 Sep 2007, 09:48

  • UK hit by one online crime every 10 seconds

    Financial fraud rife, say criminologists

    More than three million online crimes were carried out last year, according to estimates published today. These included more than 200,000 cases of financial fraud, twice the official number of real-world robberies carried out during the same period. The report (pdf) was written by criminology firm 1871 Ltd and commissioned …

    Crime 7 Sep 2007, 10:10

  • Arsonists target Cornish housing developments

    Police probe possible separatist link

    Police suspect Cornish separatists are behind three arson attacks on housing development sites in Truro and Penryn during the last week, the Cornishman reports. On 29 August, a show home on a Wainhomes estate in Penryn was attacked, followed over the next two days by incidents at a Cornish Homes portable cabin in Malpas and a …

    Crime 7 Sep 2007, 10:12

  • Apple patches critical iTunes bug

    Buffer overflow risk neutered

    In all the hoopla surrounding Apple's announcement of its revamped line of iPods on Wednesday, many users might have missed the company's update to iTunes, which includes a fix for a serious security flaw. The update, which brings the consumer technology company's iTunes music software to version 7.4, adds the ability to turn …

    Security 7 Sep 2007, 10:15

  • Dell laptop burns in China

    Another Dell laptop has gone to the great warehouse in the sky, wafted aloft on a cloud of smoke produced by a burning battery. The incident took place last week in China. Details of the Dell destruction were posted on Chinese-language blog HiPDA, along with a heap of pictures showing the blaze and its aftermath. Here are a …

    Reg Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 10:16

  • Drunk-astronauts doc says NASA is in denial

    Pooh-poohs space agency pooh-pooh

    The US Air Force doctor who led an investigation which reported that NASA astronauts flew drunk has criticised the space agency's subsequent review, which concluded that he was wrong. Colonel Richard Bachmann also suggested that management attitudes indicated a culture of silence at NASA. News agencies reported today that …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2007, 10:28

  • Nokia braces for Trade Commission patent probe

    InterDigital claims rights violations

    Nokia will be investigated by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) over claims that some of its mobile phones violate another company's patents. Nokia said the patented technologies were agreed parts of a standardised technology. The investigation is the latest event in a recent upsurge in patent-related disputes over …

    Law 7 Sep 2007, 10:31

  • iPod Touch: how the Jesus Phone was really John the Baptist

    Comment Apple's best product in years kills 'convergence'

    So was nine months of relentless iPhone hype and froth just a distraction? Not quite, but you could be forgiven for thinking so. I believe Apple's most important product of 2007 was actually announced this week, and its significance has been slow to sink in. It might be one of the cleverest moves Apple's ever made. The 'Jesus …

    Reg Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 10:33

  • Swiss deploy glass airliner

    Stealth tech spied at Geneva airport

    A certain Harry Lime once famously explained that "in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance", whereas in Switzerland they had "brotherly love ... 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The …

    Bootnotes 7 Sep 2007, 10:33

  • Ericsson fined over Olympic phone tap scandal

    Don't tap the PM's phone...

    Ericsson has been hit with a €7.36m ($10m) fine for its role in tapping mobile phones belonging to the Greek prime minister and members of his Cabinet. The Greek privacy watchdog levied the fine for Ericsson's part in tapping phones belonging to 100 senior government figures in the run up to the 2004 Athens Olympics. Calls to …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 10:35

  • Epson P-3000 photo viewer and media player

    Review The iPod for digital photography buffs?

    Epson is probably not the first name that springs to mind when deciding which PMP to buy, and its P-3000 - a numerically and technically updated version of the company's well-received P-2000 - provides a slightly askew interpretation of what's traditionally expected from a portable media player. Epson's P-3000: more picture …

    Reg Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 11:28

  • MS loses on specs, Beeb's iPlayer and disappearing Scottish votes

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

    The Register Weekly Digest has been put together to make your life easy. It gives you a buffet of all the week’s news in one easy-to-swallow email. It also comes as a PDF so you can print it out and take it away with you. We serve it up every Friday. The links to the full news stories are there if you’ve got the time to read …

    Business 7 Sep 2007, 12:05

  • Lenovo unwraps Reserve Edition ThinkPad

    Leather-bound for executive class

    It's been 15 years since IBM first unveiled the ThinkPad laptop and about two years since Lenovo acquired it as part of a $1.25bn spending spree. So, in an attempt to capitalise on its purchase, Lenovo has unveiled a leather-bound, 5000-unit limited edition ThinkPad. Lenovo's ThinkPad Reserve Edition: will the leather stand …

    Reg Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 12:21

  • US special forces buy electric stealth golf carts

    Milk floats of death to drop behind enemy lines

    The US Air Force (USAF) is trialling battery-powered off-road vehicles for use by its special-forces ground units, according to reports - and you can buy one yourself for just $100,000 plus shipping. A blog post at Wired flagged up the interesting move by the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) this week, though it …

    Physics 7 Sep 2007, 13:30

  • Developers to Mr Jobs: tear down this wall!

    Office 2.0 Conference Apple faces calls to open iPhone

    Apple is facing fresh calls to open the iPhone as new evidence emerged of the technical and legal challenges developers face putting their software on the device. Delegates attending the Office 2.0 Conference have voiced concern over the iPhone's closed architecture, lack of developer tools, and the fact its version of Apple's …

    Developer 7 Sep 2007, 13:52

  • Original thinking in a derivatives market

    Analysis How those models work

    At some point in the latter decades of the 20th century, someone sat down and thought: wouldn't it be nice if all the money in the world was controlled by scientists rather than accountants and nice chaps from Eton? Now, as we march headlong into the 21st century, full of sub-prime fallout, to a decent approximation, what we' …

    Business 7 Sep 2007, 14:14

  • Dell's Linux sleight of hand

    Open source software for an extra £20

    Pssst, pass it on… Dell is selling Linux-based home PCs and laptops to its UK customers, but you’ll need a very good eye and probably a magnifying glass to find the systems on the direct seller's website. It recently said it had bowed to customer pressure by shipping computers with Ubuntu pre-installed - Dell already offered …

    Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 14:29

  • Retrieving RSS/Atom Feeds with the Google AJAX Feed API

    Using feeds to manage online news.

    Keeping up to date with updates to different news websites can be a major burden – which can be ameliorated with an RSS feed. With an RSS feed, the updates are pushed to you as they become available. RSS is a collection of web feed formats, specified in XML and used to provide frequently updated digital content to users. The …

    Developer 7 Sep 2007, 14:54

  • Does 'Size Zero' desktop turn back the clock?

    Pano Logic's thinnest client could change developer priorities

    You can never be too rich or too thin and it's hard not to be impressed by Pano Logic's arguments for a Size Zero desktop. Announced last week, the world's 'first truly virtualised desktop' has no software at all - operating across the network to a server-based instance of Microsoft Vista or XP. This makes it more secure (no …

    Business 7 Sep 2007, 15:01

  • Denon confirms Euro Blu-ray set-back

    Did we say November? We meant 2008

    Denon has confirmed to Register Hardware that any European consumers hoping to snap-up its first Blu-ray Disc player before Christmas will have to wait a while longer. The 3800BDCI player is now scheduled for release at some point in 2008, rather than the November 2007 timeframe Denon originally quoted. Denon's 3800BDCI: …

    Reg Hardware 7 Sep 2007, 15:05

  • Virgin counting by the minute

    Change comes to ex-NTL customers

    Virgin Media are to start rounding up fixed-line calls to the nearest minute: something they've been doing for ex-Telewest customers since May, and something BT, Sky and Talk Talk have been doing for a while. From the 6th October all calls made by Virgin Media customers will be rounded up to the nearest minute, and they'll be …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 15:11

  • Orange network throws a wobbler

    Fixed: but not saying how

    Segments of the Orange mobile network flaked out during the week; particularly on Wednesday night, but Orange says everything's fine now and not to worry about a thing. Reports of network failure started to come in during the first part of the week, but culminated on Wednesday evening when all aspects of the network started …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 15:17

  • 3 Ireland's broadband stumbles to its knees

    HSDPA still not ready for fixed-deployments?

    3 Ireland's fixed broadband service is still unable to provide consistent connections, decent speeds, or access to standard e-mail interfaces, according to their users, despite repeated promises and assurances that everything is working fine. While 3 might well employ a good PR representative, they don't seem to be backing that …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 15:40

  • Greens walk out of nuclear debate

    Mulling more court action

    Green groups have said they are ready to walk out on a public consultation on the future use of nuclear power, describing it as "seriously flawed", just ahead of public meetings arranged to air the debate. A coalition of six environmental organisations, including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, led calls for the …

    Physics 7 Sep 2007, 15:46

  • Toddler flexibility at risk as rock stars and goats die young

    Comments: Just stick 'em in the giant pyramid

    Toddlers have been banned from practicing yoga in a Somerset church hall, because the activity is "unchristian" and promotes other spiritualities. The interesting image of toddlers doing yoga aside, at least one of you dove straight into the gutter: Have you seen some of these yoga mums and the clothes they wear to do yoga in …

    Letters 7 Sep 2007, 15:56

  • Virtualization and the Art of Patience with HP, IBM, Sun and Dell

    Meat Cast Digesting x86 boxes with class and humor

    If an analyst's brain is vacuumed in a forest, does it make a noise? We answer that very question in Episode 6 - code-named Toe-Tapping Senator - of Semi-Coherent Computing. This week's show has me pulling down a direct feed of server data and virtualization philosophy from Gabriel Consulting Group analyst Dan Olds. We talk …

    Semi-Coherent 7 Sep 2007, 19:29

  • Coming Tuesday: 5 Microsoft patches

    Only one rated critical

    Microsoft's Security Response Center has provided advanced notification of the patches that are expected for release next week as part of the September Security Patch Release. Each of the five patches scheduled for release next Tuesday are for a different system component: One Critical patch for Microsoft Windows One …

    Enterprise Security 7 Sep 2007, 19:33

  • Cutting USS Wireless adrift

    Pah - we sneer at your global economies of scale!

    More dismal news for the US consumer. After the simultaneous failure of Municipal Wi-Fi projects in three major US cities - something we predicted four years ago - faster, cheaper mobile data looks further away than ever. So why are Google lobbyists advocating for the next wave of collapsing wireless initiatives - rather than …

    Telecoms 7 Sep 2007, 23:28