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12th September 2007 Archive

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  • Max Vision hit with hacking charges (again)

    Facing 40 years for mass identity theft

    Computer security consultant and convicted cyber intruder Max Butler has been indicted on counts of wire-fraud and identity theft, just five years after being released from prison for hacking into military and defense contractor computers. Max Butler, 35, of San Francisco (AKA Max Vision, AKA Iceman) was indicted by a federal …

    Security 12 Sep 2007, 00:16

  • Software developer sues to muzzle website users

    Comments responsible for 'severe downturn in sales'

    An Australian accounting software developer blames a "severe downturn in sales" on people who bad-mouthed its products in online user forums. It wants a judge to muzzle their comments. The company, 2Clix Australia Pty. Ltd, is also seeking about $125,000 in damages from the operator of the website which hosted the forums. …

    Applications 12 Sep 2007, 04:10

  • AMD takes world CPU share from Intel

    x86 platform ousting others

    AMD regained a few percentage points of world microprocessor market share from its arch-rival, Intel, the latest, second-quarter figures from market watcher iSuppli show. During Q2, Intel accounted for 78.8 per cent of global CPU sales by revenue, down from 80.8 per cent in Q1. AMD's share was up from Q1's 10.9 per cent to 13 …

    Hardware 12 Sep 2007, 07:59

  • Dell, Alienware price up Samsung solid-state drive options

    Ow, that hurts

    Want to equip your next laptop with a Flash-based solid-state hard drive? You can if you're after a Dell XPS or an Alienware m9750. Samsung said this week it's sending 32GB and 64GB SSDs to both companies. But fitting them will cost you. Alienware's m9750: now with solid-state drive options Alienware, for instance, …

    Hardware 12 Sep 2007, 09:04

  • iPhone software-unlocked, easy-to-use tool to follow

    SIM city

    Calling all iPhone owners. The first free easy to use - well, relatively easy to use - software to unlock your Apple handset has arrived, mere hours after a rather more tortuous process. Well, almost. It's not quite ready for release, but folk who have seen it claim it does the business. As it stands, to unlock your iPhone …

    Phones 12 Sep 2007, 09:34

  • HP gets Mickey Mouse marketing man

    The HP-iest job on Earth

    HP has appointed a long-time Disney executive, Michael Mendenhall, as its new marketing boss. Mendenhall has worked for Disney for the past 17 years and was responsible for marketing Disney's theme parks across the world. His new title at the ink giant is senior vice-president and chief marketing officer. He will report to …

    Financial News 12 Sep 2007, 09:52

  • Sony loses privacy complaint over Unfit Kids

    Documentary was not unfair

    A documentary that cited video games among the reasons for childhood obesity did not treat Sony unfairly when criticising the PlayStation maker's refusal to sponsor a fitness scheme for kids. Sony also lost a claim that the company's privacy was breached. The ruling was published by Ofcom, the regulator for the UK's …

    Law 12 Sep 2007, 10:01

  • BT says ooh la la to INS

    Acquires Belgian IT services outfit

    Telecoms giant BT has acquired Belgian-based network systems integrator INS Group S.A. as it continues to push the brand beyond British shores. The firm said it hoped to ramp up its presence in the global LAN and IP telephony services market. It added that INS, which employs 225 people in Benelux, France, Germany, US, India …

    The Channel 12 Sep 2007, 10:11

  • Sony slides out PSP software update

    Sony has updated the UK PlayStation Portable firmware taking the handheld console's on-board system software to version 3.70 days after the Japanese code was released. The software works with both the original PSP and the new, slimline version. The biggest change is the addition of a range of new colours for the console's …

    Games 12 Sep 2007, 10:12

  • Sony Ericsson ponders PlayStation phone

    Even as PSP gets more like a handset

    Sony Ericsson is considering the application of the PlayStation brand to a series of phones, the company's outgoing President has confirmed. Sony Ericsson already uses a number of well-known Sony sub-brands, in particular Walkman and Cyber-shot, which it applies to music and photography oriented handsets, respectively. Sony …

    Phones 12 Sep 2007, 10:29

  • Vodafone certifies corporate snooping software

    Big brother is listening

    Compliant Voice has received Vodafone Certification for its voice-recording application, which can catch calls made from mobiles and commit them to the memory of an intercepting server. Unlike more surreptitious versions, Compliant Voice is aimed at corporations who want to keep recordings of every phone call made by employees …

    Mobile 12 Sep 2007, 10:54

  • Sage takes lion's share of XRT

    Acquisition-happy firm gobbles up 70%

    Sage, the UK-based biz management software maker, has acquired a majority stake in French firm XRT. The cash-only deal will see Sage buy £30m shares, or €1.67 per share, the transaction should close within a few days. Sage said that, following the deal, it will put in an offer to acquire the remaining 30 per cent from XRT's …

    Applications 12 Sep 2007, 10:58

  • Aztech V500DS-S1 Skype DECT phone

    Review VoIP moves out of the 'PC peripheral' era

    The concept of the PC-free Skype-supporting DECT phone went straight to the top of our How Did We Survive Without One? list on the first day we used such a device, the Netgear SPH200D - reviewed here. Now, from Singapore-based Aztech, we have the V500DS-S1, another all-singing, all-dancing, Skype'n'DECT phone capable of making …

    Phones 12 Sep 2007, 11:02

  • Palm, Vodafone launch slinky Treo 500v

    Full details

    Palm and Vodafone have, as expected, just announced the Treo 500v, a 3G smartphone aimed at the YouTube and MySpace generation and which sports Palm's curvy new handset design in iPod-like white and black versions. Palm's Treo 500v: iPod-inspired? The handset - codenamed 'Otto' - is based on Windows Mobile 6 Standard and, …

    Phones 12 Sep 2007, 11:08

  • Is there a good HTPC remote control out there?

    Q&A

    Hopefully you all can shed some light on this very dark subject: are there any decent Home Theatre PC (HTPC) remotes out there? Are the Logitech Harmony ones any good with Windows Media Center Edition (MCE)? What I'm really looking for is a universal remote - for the TV, speakers, etc - combined with a Bluetooth remote for …

    Hardware 12 Sep 2007, 11:23

  • Suggestions for a home IT strategy, please

    Q&A

    I am looking for - sad though it may sound - a bit of an IT strategy at home. I host my own website(s), need VPN access to data on the servers, prefer routing with a dedicated server OS rather than a "hardware outer", want centralised storage of all my media, potentially like the idea of thin clients or LTSP clients for my ' …

    Hardware 12 Sep 2007, 11:36

  • Astronomers detect red giant survivor planet

    10 billion years old

    Italian astronomers have detected a planet that survived the red giant expansion of its home star. The researchers say that the discovery could be a sneak peek at the fate that awaits the Earth, some four or five billion years from now. The surviving planet was discovered by an international team of more than twenty …

    Science 12 Sep 2007, 11:40

  • The mole people surface in Macau

    Media hordes descend on the Venice Vegas of the Orient

    Fly the friendly skies Is there really any way to endure an intercontinental flight to Macau, other than to get tanked? Fortunately, I didn't have to answer that question - a friend recently had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, and had painkillers to spare. One oblong white pill stamped M367 washed down with a couple of …

    Law 12 Sep 2007, 12:20

  • Firefox hits 400m download milestone

    Open source browser juggernaut rolls on

    Firefox hit a significant milestone on Friday as it crossed the 400m download mark. After its launch in 2004 the open source browser took around a year to reach 100m downloads in February 2005 before hitting the 200m milestone in July 2006. The number, of course, does not represent the actual number of Firefox users. Even …

    Software 12 Sep 2007, 12:55

  • Ad agency pays Paddington to ditch marmalade for Marmite

    Sounds like a bad vit-B movie

    The commercial assault on our childhoods continues with the shocking news that Paddington Bear is ditching his marmalade sandwiches in favour of Marmite, otherwise known as the Devil’s personal lubricant. According to The Guardian, the peripatetic duffle coat-wearer will decide it’s time to “try something different”. Instead of …

    Bootnotes 12 Sep 2007, 13:23

  • Is wireless security just a pipe dream?

    Reader Poll Let us know

    The security of Wi-Fi hotspots, cellular data connections and other mechanisms for connecting remotely is something that is becoming relevant to more and more organisations. While the advocates and scare mongers put their extreme points of view, what is actually happening on the front line? So, we turn to you, our beloved …

    Workshop 12 Sep 2007, 13:48

  • Forget R&D, Sun buys its Lustre now

    NetApp still on notice

    Like some sort of file managing addict, Sun Microsystems has acquired yet another high-end file system. The server maker today revealed that it will buy most of Cluster File Systems' intellectual property and business assets, including the Lustre File System. The acquisition, due to close this year, gives Sun a fairly popular …

    Storage 12 Sep 2007, 13:54

  • Strap-on stealth jetplane for special forces

    DSEi Gets you in really deep but with no way to back out

    OK, so you're an elite special forces type. You're just checking that your beeper shows enough that the girls across the bar will notice it, when the damn thing goes off. You race into the barracks. It seems that there's this crisis somewhere - hostages, WMDs, cat stuck up a tree - doesn't matter. Somebody's arse needs foot …

    Science 12 Sep 2007, 14:05

  • Facebook application hawks your personal opinions for cash

    Updated Insecure and antisocial networking

    A popular Facebook application that promises users privacy in exchange for opinions on their friends is acting as a stooly by offering the information for others to buy. The "Compare People" (account required) application has become one of the most used services on the Facebook platform since it opened to outside developers …

    Software 12 Sep 2007, 14:48

  • Tumbleweed blows across channel

    Email security firm wants to 'go deeper and wider'

    Messaging security vendor Tumbleweed recently adopted a new indirect global market strategy but reckons direct sales will continue to grow. The firm, which has traditionally stuck to the direct business model and a customer base primarily made up of government, banking, finance and healthcare organisations, said it hoped to …

    Security 12 Sep 2007, 15:21

  • Canada develops motorised parachute delivery bot

    DSEi Forget food and bullets, we need batteries, damn it!

    Here at the DSEi killware show there's a constant parade of robots: crawling, flying, swimming or just sitting still and killing people who walk past. It's relatively difficult for a jaded deathmech hack to muster up much interest... sometimes. Robot motorchute leaflet dropping. It was inevitable, really. Now and again, …

    Science 12 Sep 2007, 15:39

  • France blames China for hack attacks

    Updated Chinese whispers

    Three more western nations have blamed China for an upsurge in hacking attacks against government computers. Germany, the USA and the UK have all become the subject of targeted attacks originating from China, with many observers pointing the finger of blame towards China's Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). France, Australia and …

    Security 12 Sep 2007, 15:49

  • Orange leaves UK reseller in the red

    Debt forces administration and layoffs

    Jem Telecom, a Leicestershire reseller specialising in BlackBerrys, has been forced into administration by an outstanding debt from Orange, apparently linked to the network operator's investigation into payments to their channel partners. The company is just about continuing to trade, though it has been forced to lay off 13 …

    Broadband 12 Sep 2007, 15:55

  • Getting Google’s Web Toolkit going

    If Google can, you can too

    Developers looking to build Ajax-style rich internet applications (RIA) are pretty much spoilt for choice at the moment. There are dozens of RIA tools and frameworks littering the development landscape, from those providing minimal sets of JavaScript libraries to heavyweight contenders such as Adobe’s Flex, Microsoft’s …

    Developer 12 Sep 2007, 16:13

  • Zoom up ropes on silent electric drive

    DSEi James Bond underwater assault gear goes public

    British gov-wartech spinoff Qinetiq is showing a bunch of stuff here at the DSEi battleware fest, but one of the most eye-catching displays is undoubtedly the "Upstart" motorised rope-climb rig. Freeze, creep! Sh*t, I keep spinning round It isn't quite James Bond kit: the UpStart isn't going to fit under a dinner jacket. It' …

    Science 12 Sep 2007, 16:15

  • Matching genes for criminal injustice

    Innocent until uploaded to the DNA database

    Next week, the Nuffield council on Bioethics is set to publish its thoughts on the ethics of using biometrics as forensic tools. In the lead up to the publication of the report, to be entitled The Forensic Use of Bioinformation: Ethical Issues, the debate about the use of DNA, particularly, has intensified. At the close of The …

    Security 12 Sep 2007, 17:17

  • Java darling Azul Systems is fluxed

    Life support or pushing the R&D horizon?

    A number of notes concerning Azul Systems have reached our inbox - none of them bringing very inspiring news. Our sources claim that Azul - a maker of specialized Java server appliances - is very much a creature in flux. Azul laid off 45 staff, most of them in India, on Monday, according to one source. Meanwhile, a pair of …

    Servers 12 Sep 2007, 17:33

  • Sun turns Microsoft Windows server OEM

    In for the big win

    Having recently rediscovered itself as a systems company, Sun Microsystems has been welcomed into Microsoft's vast and growing family of OEM partners. Expanding the companies' three-year-old interoperability pact, Sun has agreed to ship Microsoft's dated but important Windows Server 2003 operating system pre-installed on its …

    The Channel 12 Sep 2007, 19:29

  • Security maven: QuickTime flaw threatens PCs, Macs

    Year-old bug pulls a fast on Firefox

    A researcher has demonstrated how a security bug in Apple's QuickTime media player that was disclosed a year ago can cause Firefox to install backdoors and other malware on a fully patched computer. He said both Windows and Mac systems are vulnerable. The researcher, Petko D. Petkov, on Wednesday posted proof-of-concept code …

    Security 12 Sep 2007, 20:22

  • HP shrinks BladeSystem for mid-market

    'Shorty' kicks blades out of the data center and onto the floor

    The mid-market push has definitely been heating up for tech vendors in recent weeks. We've already seen Dell, IBM and Hitachi touting their simplified server and storage lines with SMB-aimed gear, and frankly, we're starting to recite the hard sell for companies with limited budgets and expertise in our sleep. Now Hewlett- …

    Servers 12 Sep 2007, 21:53

  • Political blogs escape federal scrutiny

    Free to blather on without restrictions

    The US presidential race has, maddeningly, already been moving along at full throttle for months, and political bloggers look poised to play an important role in the selection of the new commander in chief. Now, thanks to two decisions handed down last week by the Federal Election Commission, spewing partisan nonsense in …

    Law 12 Sep 2007, 21:55

  • Porn-star cop's job not saved by First Amendment

    Smut site had pubic - but not public - concern

    At least he's got a fun career as an internet porn star to fall back on. In a decision handed down last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit determined that an Arizona police department did not violate one of its officer's civil rights when it fired him after discovering that he ran and participated in a porn …

    Law 12 Sep 2007, 22:17

  • Azul puts itself on the block

    Exclusive Vega, what has become of you?

    Things at Azul Systems are as bad as we feared, according to numerous sources. Earlier today, we revealed that Azul had laid off a huge chunk of its staff and struggled through a recent financing round. We, however, thought this might be a company trying to trim costs in order to keep pushing gear. Not so, according to our …

    Servers 12 Sep 2007, 23:08

  • Firefox-Google marriage on shaky ground?

    Comment AdBlock tryst threatens web browser wedlock

    Yes, Firefox reached a major milestone this week, surpassing 400 million downloads worldwide. But that's just the good news. There's another story swirling around the famously open source web browser - and it's a little less sunny. Last week, The New York York Times questioned whether the growing popularity of a Firefox …

    Applications 12 Sep 2007, 23:30