21st September 2007 Archive

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Google malware watchdogs bite mom-and-pop shops

But not MySpace

One morning last week, Alan Jay, director of Digital Spy, woke up to discover that Google was warning millions of web surfers that his UK-based entertainment news site was one "that may harm your computer." Those brave enough to click on the Google link anyway were invited to learn more about malware by visiting a page at …

Security 21 Sep 00:32
Next-gen Intel vPro platform to get hardware encryption

IDF Desperate Danbury

Intel's next-generation 'Eaglelake' chipset family, due for release next year, will feature a built-in data protection engine with the ability to encrypt all the files on your hard drive, the chip giant announced this week. It calls the engine 'Danbury'. Together with an chipset-integrated Trusted Platform Module, Danbury …

Hardware 21 Sep 00:39
Salesforce shuns Google Docs route (for now)

Benioff resists Office 2.0 distraction

Salesforce.com wants to be many things to all people. But a move into hosted office productivity apps won't be appearing on its agenda anytime soon. Chief executive Marc Benioff said Salesforce.com will add complementary services to its core customer relationship management (CRM) service, while leaving the frothier elements of …

Applications 21 Sep 00:54
AMD RX780 chipset wins PCI Express approval

Release imminent?

AMD's RX780 chipset, a cut-down version of the similarly AMD-oriented RD790, has won the approval of the PCI SIG, the organisation behind the PCI Express standard. So has a reference motherboard. Both certifications are key steps towards the release of the product. The RX780 closely matches the RD790's spec, just losing one …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 01:00
TwinMos MiniBoom for iPods everywhere

Dock, listen, sleep and wake

Perhaps TwinMos felt its earlier attempt at an iPod docking station, the Boom 1, was a little heavy-handed. Its created new model that's not only smaller but also includes more features than its predecessor. TwinMos' MiniBoom: an improvement on earlier models? The aptly named TwinMos MiniBoom is an iPod-centric device that …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 07:02
Lenovo pitches solar-powered PC

Solar-powered computing

Lenovo has become the latest manufacturer to jump on the green PC bandwagon. It's created a desktop machine that doesn't gobble up as much electricity as others do and which can also be powered by a solar panel. Lenovo's ThinkCentre A61e: eco PC The company claimed the ThinkCentre A61e desktop - aka 'Blue Sky' - is made …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 08:02
Government outsourcing shifts to front line

Local services for local people

An emphasis on meeting policy outcomes and an increase in local procurement are set to create a more diverse market for government outsourcing. New research from Kable shows that growth is likely to revolve around front line services, demanding that contractors are better able to integrate with government systems, and …

Public Sector 21 Sep 09:22
UK e-services ranked fifth in EU

Movin' on up

A European Commission report says the UK's online services show a marked improvement since last year. The UK government's online services are rated fifth best in Europe for sophistication and availability, according to a report (pdf) by IT consultancy Capgemini on behalf of the European Commission. The UK rises one place …

Government 21 Sep 09:27
SCO faces financial crunch after Unix defeat

Lodges filing with SEC

The company at the centre of an intellectual property dispute with IBM that has lasted for years is facing the prospect of financial ruin. The SCO Group said it may be unable to continue operating as a company. SCO challenged IT giants IBM and Novell over the rights to the Unix operating system in a set of court cases which …

Financial News 21 Sep 09:36
Google schtum on UK wireless spectrum bid report

900MHz of static

Google has refused to comment on "speculation" in today's papers that it will bid to provide mobile broadband in Ofcom's mooted auction of radio spectrum in 2009. The Guardian claims it is already considering the move after yesterday's auction consultation announcement. Google has been flexing all its lobbying and financial …

Networks 21 Sep 10:11
Sony delays launch of PS3 virtual community

Far from Home

Sony is to delay the launch of Home, its virtual community service for users of the PlayStation 3 console, until spring 2008. The service, which was originally scheduled for release this autumn, is a real-time interactive virtual world that serves as a meeting place for PlayStation 3 users. Much like Second Life it allows …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 10:21
Making the move to the Mac

Part Two

Last time round, we cautiously dipped a toe into the Mac development waters from the perspective of a Windows programmer with RAD experience. Along the way, I briefly looked at the rudiments of Objective-C syntax, and I described terms such as 'framework' and 'Cocoa'. (Remember, the idea here is not to turn you into a killer Mac …

Developer 21 Sep 10:23
Man sues God

Seeks injunction to stop Him making terrorist threats

A politician in the US is protesting at frivolous law suits in the US courts by launching one himself in which he is suing God. The suit (pdf) seeks an injunction against God to stop him and his followers making terrorist threats. It has been filed in a Nebraska district court by Ernie Chambers, a Senator in the state Senate …

Law 21 Sep 10:24
Oracle Q1 profit up a quarter

Slams SAP's 'downmarket' strategy

Database software giant Oracle said its first quarter profit rose by 25 per cent, with revenue and earnings per share beating Wall Street expectations for the firm. Total revenue was up 26 per cent to $4.53bn compared to $3.59bn for the same quarter in 2006. Net income increased to $840m, or 16 cents a share in the Q1 period …

Hardware 21 Sep 10:59
BOFH: In search of the lazy atom

Episode 32 It's more scientific than car key gnomes

"That's that stuffed then," the PFY sighs, looking up from his screen. "What, OpenOffice?" I ask, having read the recent blue whale news. "No, no, an experiment I was doing." "What's that then?" I ask, peering over his shoulder. "... Actually what IS that?" "This is a view down an electron microscope." "At what?" "All …

BOFH 21 Sep 11:02
Welcome indeed to the billionaire toyshop

Expensive toys for very rich boys

So you've finally done it. You had an idea, or successfully nicked one; you wrote some code, or had it written. The customers flocked to buy licences, or perhaps the unpaid Web-2.0 peon hordes spewed content in an endless stream while you booked ads on the eyeballs and waxed fat. Maybe that last bit never actually happened, but …

Science 21 Sep 11:02
Acer calls for profit levelling

Fair shares for all

Acer's president has called for a fairer division of the spoils in the PC industry this morning, but stopped short of pointing the finger at any profit hoggers. Gianfranco Lanci, kicking off the vendor's press beano in Madrid, trumpeted the company's progress in recent years, which has seen it take the top spot in notebooks …

Hardware 21 Sep 11:04
The sarcastic TV

Harassment while you watch

A TV that responds to your actions is one of those gadgets you never knew you needed, but which you won’t be able to live without once you’ve seen it. The Segnity TV is just that, a TV that shouts out witty one-liners each time you turn up the volume or switch channels. The Segnity: Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, unless …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 11:31
Comodo punts buffer overflow protection

Updated BO test smells your pits

Security firm Comodo, which is best known for its digital certificate business, has released a free diagnostic tool designed to identify buffer overflow flaws. Initially we reckoned Comodo's BO Tester was principally designed to help poach users from other free security products than provide a detailed breakdown of bugs. This …

Security 21 Sep 11:34
Balls: Schools should police the net

Government stomps on technobullies (again)

Guidance released by education ministers today has called on schools to do more to stop bullies using the internet and mobile phones to target fellow pupils. The last set of government intructions on the issue was published in July last year. Launching the latest crackdown, schools secretary Ed Balls said: "Cyber bullying is a …

Government 21 Sep 11:55
Crooks try to besmirch CastleCops with fraudulent donations

Take that

Miscreants are making fraudulent donations to CastleCops in a bid to discredit the volunteer security community. Stolen credit card details are being used to fund PayPal accounts from which the fraudulent donations are made. CastleCops' work has made it a bête noire for black hats. As a result, its site is regularly subjected …

Security 21 Sep 12:20
From EC rules on Microsoft to a load of old bollocks

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Microsoft and the anti-competition of doom On Friday last week, the legal eagles employed at Microsoft were sharpening their talons in anticipation of the verdict we've all been waiting for. Yes, this week the EU was set to rule on Microsoft's appeal against its conviction for monopoly abuse. Come Monday, the European courts …

Business 21 Sep 12:27
Copyright nagware accord reaches 30

Diamond jubilee

This month marks the 30th anniversary of the agreement that means legitimately purchased DVD/video owners everywhere have to sit through a minute of footage warning them about piracy. The nagware stems from a resolution against piracy made at a Stockholm meeting of Interpol on 8 September 1977. Fast forward 30 years and we …

Security 21 Sep 13:00
Fed up with disjointed telephony?

Workshop roundup Bridging the gap

The proliferation of mobile phones has led to a situation in which many professional workers have at least two numbers and two voicemail boxes to juggle. While most have accepted this as a normal state of affairs, it has become increasingly common for people to question whether the complication this leads to when trying to …

Workshop 21 Sep 13:01
Channel to Dell - you've lost

Direct vs indirect war is over

The channel model wars are over, and Dell lost, one industry pundit declared today. President and CEO of Canalys Steve Brazier, kicking off Acer's international press jamboree in Madrid this morning, said that any vendors contemplating a jump from a direct-only model into the channel could not expect a soft landing. While …

Channel Register 21 Sep 13:02
ElReg40™ seeks the world's worst web 2.0 ideas

Competition How hard can you blow?

Readers who live on planet Earth may have failed to notice it but the white hot, bleeding edge, ground zero of web 2.0 imagineering this week was the TechCrunch40 conference in San Francisco. Thankfully for us, The Guardian had its finger on the pulse, and had the editorial imagination to publish 8,000 words about the best and …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 13:09
BAE slimed from all directions

Teflon deathware colossus unable to escape own smell

Brobdingnagian arms firm BAE Systems plc's recent run of luck may be coming to an end, as a flurry of bad-news revelations have emerged in recent days. The UK-headquartered multinational may soon be the focus of criminal charges in Tanzania; is the subject of a new American lawsuit; and US investigators continue to pursue the …

Government 21 Sep 13:11
Dismantling gas giants with nanotech

Anything seems possible in Arizona

The future is a different country; they do things more grandly there. Last week, a small but impassioned band of forward thinkers gathered in Tucson, Arizona for the first conference of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology. The Internet pioneers spent 20 years rejecting the idea of government regulation. But CRN's two …

Science 21 Sep 13:15
Girlie website's user data blunder

'Now where did we put that? Oh yeah, it's in my Handbag'

Like stripping off chipped old nail varnish and applying a fresh coat, Handbag.com relaunched its website last week. The site, which covers an array of must-know topics for women (no, really), includes stuff like how to pin down your man and pin up your face. But, alas, the relaunch didn't quite go to plan with essential user …

Business 21 Sep 13:23
Portable mixing set for DJs

Scratch, slide and fade wherever you are

The mobile revolution has already taken most workplaces by storm, perhaps with the exception of DJing. Thankfully, manufacturer Hercules claims to have created the world’s first handheld wireless DJing controller that allows upcoming Pete Tong’s and Fat Boy Slim’s to serve up freshly carved tunes from the comfort of their sofas …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 13:44
Home cinema kit goes 3D

The future is here, and it has a visor

After thousands of sci-fi movies have already exploited the idea, the possibility of immersive 3D films and gaming is finally upon us in the real world. Manufacturer Headplay claims to have created the world’s first portable cinema capable of rendering both 2D and 3D content through a head-mounted visor. The Headplay kit …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 13:48
No more buys from Acer

Digesting Gateway and Packard-Bell

Acer has pulled itself off the acquisition trail for the foreseeable future and will spend the next couple of years digesting Gateway and Packard Bell. Acer reckons its integration plan for Gateway will be in place for November, with the combined company ready to hit the ground on 1 January. The Taiwanese PC giant insists …

Financial News 21 Sep 14:02
Allot intros big bandwidth shaper

Killing off the application-independent internet

Allot Communications, an Israeli outfit which does high-end bandwidth shaping and network traffic management gear, has brought out an even bigger Service Gateway device. Aimed at the service provider (SP) or large enterprise, this is capable of handling over 20 Gbit/s of traffic. The Service Gateway is an expandable chassis …

Hardware 21 Sep 14:02
WANs go faster Down Under

Exinda joins the application acceleration party.

Australian WAN acceleration company Exinda has brought out its second generation of WAN speed-up gear. There's a new 800 series of hardware appliances, but their new Unified Performance Management (UPM) software will also work on the current Exinda 700 series hardware, and is a free upgrade for existing customers. Exinda's …

Wireless 21 Sep 14:02
Is eSATA really better than USB 2.0 and Firewire?

Q&A

I am looking to buy an external hard drive and I am impressed with the speed of an eSATA connection - 300MBps, it's claimed. Is it really this fast in real life? Or is it just as fast as Firewire? If it is not as fast as its advertised, why not?

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 14:48
Eye spied on blog

Eye can see you, get it?

The long-awaited PS3 Eye will hit stores next month. The news was revealed on the official PlayStation blog, which said the Eye will be bundled with the aptly named The Eye of Judgment game. PS3 Eye: Low resolution, but will it prove popular? The game pack will include an Eye camera, a copy of the game, a 34 card starter …

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 15:37
Spunky salmon return to life to gas us all

Comments As the BOFH battles the architects

We begin the weekly comments mishmash with a close look at fish sperm. Apparently there are many, many salmon farmers sitting around wondering what to do with all those gallons of salmon spunk they don't need. So to forestall them getting any bright ideas, a top light-emitting-diode boffin has announced plans to use it for a …

Letters 21 Sep 15:47
Human or Hobbit: it is all in the wrist

Were there little people on Flores?

A fresh analysis of the fossilised skeleton that sparked the Hobbit controversy, has provided more evidence to support the claim that Homo floresiensis is a new species of hominid, the Guardian reports, and not a diseased human with a shrunken and malformed brain. The skeleton was found on the Indonesian island of Flores back …

Biology 21 Sep 15:54
Why Microsoft vs Mankind still matters

Comment The Penguin is missing, while Apple's gone to Hollywood

For all but three of the past 17 years, Microsoft has been involved in antitrust litigation with government agencies. That's enough to wear anyone down. But as Europe's highest appeals court delivered its judgement on Monday, I did notice some ennui - not from dogged old hacks, but from a new generation of pundits. Take this …

Operating Systems 21 Sep 15:56
Malware spectre haunts Adobe Reader

PDF peril

Adobe Reader may be subject to a security hole that creates a means for hackers to take over vulnerable Windows boxes simply by opening a maliciously constructed PDF document. Gray hat hacker Petko Petkov, who first discovered the bug, omits details of the supposed flaw. He said security concerns over the potency of the flaw …

Security 21 Sep 15:58
Welsh council workers turfed out over eBay addiction

Going, going, gone

Three Welsh council workers have lost their jobs after spending too long on eBay when they should have been working. One worker at Neath Port Talbot council were sacked and another two quit after council bosses found the group spent up to two hours a day on the online auction site. The council reportedly had security software …

Business 21 Sep 15:59
Will the Nokia N95's GPS work with other satnav apps?

Q&A

With the Nokia N95's built-in GPS reciever, is it posible to use other navigation programs, such as TomTom and CoPilot, which do work on other Nokia phones? Will the the N95's GPS receiver work with it, or will I need a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver?

Reg Hardware 21 Sep 16:22
One plug to rule them all

Mobiles to adopt single connection standard, eventually, possibly

The Open Mobile Terminal Alliance (OMTP) has published a recommendation paper suggesting that mobile phone manufacturers all use micro USB connectors to charge, and connect, their handsets. The recommendation document - available as a PDF file here - suggests that mini USB, the connector already being used on many devices, …

Mobile 21 Sep 16:29
Chip pioneer David Ditzel talks Transmeta, Sun and Bell Labs

Audio What's next for the man and the industry?

Episode 7 of Semi-Coherent Computing thrusts us back into the history of computing track in style, as Chris Hipp and I sit down with chip legend David Ditzel. Ditzel spent about ten years each at Bell Labs, Sun Microsystems and Transmeta, where he served as CEO. In addition, he co-authored a famous paper titled "The Case for …

Semi-Coherent 21 Sep 18:53
Next generation Wi-Fi mired in patent fears

Exclusive 802.11n standard 'at serious risk'

The IEEE working group developing the 802.11n Wi-Fi is holding urgent meetings this week to discuss a significant threat to the standard from patents held by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Despite requests from the IEEE, CSIRO has failed to promise not to sue anyone for infringement …

Wireless 21 Sep 20:07
Scots tell ET to eff off

Further giant profanity merriment

ET would probably do well to steer clear of Scotland, where he will evidently receive the sort of welcome previously enjoyed only by visiting England football supporters. Why? Well, earlier this year, our chums north of the border discovered the popular rural pastime of giant cornfield profanities (as exemplified by this shocker …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 20:11
Hitachi admits hybrid drives aren't all that, bag of chips

Current capacity falls short of expectations

The concept of so-called hybrid hard drives created buzz in the storage world from the moment Microsoft opened its mouth about them back in 2004. Disk vendors would add banks of NAND Flash chips in their hard drives to act as large scale cache memory. These new "hybrid drives" would speed the time data takes to get off the …

Storage 21 Sep 20:47
Oz burglar had sex with Hoover

DNA evidence fingers sticky perp

An Oz chap who broke into a neighbour's house and "played sex games in the bathroom with a bottle of toilet detergent and a vacuum cleaner" was fingered two years after the outrage by the DNA he left on a pair of rubber gloves, Reuters reports. Jamie Lacey, 27, was "high on drugs" when he entered the Brisbane house in September …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 21:09
Google readies Pacific-spanning, Verizon-battling underwater comm cable

Can you help?

In yet another bid to free itself from the Verizons of the world, Google will soon drag a multi-terabit communications cable under the Pacific Ocean. After top-secret talks with carriers in Sydney, the world's largest search engine aims to lay down the so-called "Unity cable" by 2009, according to Australian news service …

Telecoms 21 Sep 21:16
419er needs $2k to buy portrait of Queen

Lad from Lagos in a right royal state

Calling all true patriots: one of the Lads from Lagos has got himself into a right royal state and needs a quick $2k to fulfil a lifetime's ambition to hang a pic of Her Imperial Majestyness Queen Liz II on the wall. Read on... Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:15:52 +0100 From: Deepak Behera Subject: A pleseant day to you Hello, …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 21:54
FBI redefines length of century

2007 whisked off in black helicopter

Those among who feel that the bog-standard century is just, well, too damn long will be delighted to learn that the FBI has decided to shorten it by one year by effectively cancelling 2007 and cutting straight to 2008: Hmmm. Quite what the Feds have done with 2007, we know not. Readers are invited to speculate on whether it's …

Bootnotes 21 Sep 22:44
Retailer sets legal attack dogs on protest website

Unhappy customer didn't get permission to register 'Lowe's-Sucks' site

Allen Harkleroad was so unhappy with a $3,500 fence he paid Lowe's Home Centers to have installed that he posted pictures he says document the shoddy workmanship on a site called lowes-sucks.com. Now attorneys for Lowe's are threatening legal action unless the site is taken down. "Your use of the Lowe's Marks and your …

Law 21 Sep 22:56
Thailand menaces YouTube - again

'Offensive' video saga part 24

Thailand's powers that be are considering a new block on certain "offensive" YouTube material after last month lifting its ban on the site, Reuters reports. The Thailand versus YouTube saga began in May when one chap posted a 44-second video showing King Bhumibol Adulyadej containing "the juxtaposition of a pair of woman's feet …

Law 21 Sep 22:59
MIT student walks into airport wearing circuit board and wires

What's the worst that can happen?

An MIT student was arrested at gunpoint today at Boston's Logan International Airport after she entered the building wearing a black hoodie with a computer circuit board and wiring attached. Star Simpson, 19, claimed she was just at the airport to pick up her boyfriend, and was charged with possessing a hoax bomb device. "She …

Law 21 Sep 23:02
ClearSpeed plots 1 TeraFlop floating point pizza box

IDF 1U rocket ship

Floating point whiz ClearSpeed continues to round out its software play ahead of several major product upgrades. ClearSpeed ships floating point accelerator cards that slot into x86-based systems. The hardware delivers a major performance boost while only consuming around 30 watts of power. Customers in the high performance …

Servers 21 Sep 23:07
Plucky picoChip pulls in $27m

Samsung ready for multi-core WiMax

Flashy UK chip designer picoChip has secured Samsung as a major investor in a fresh $27m round of funding. The cash infusion from Samsung would seem to open a spot for picoChip's products in the giant's WiMax base stations. PicoChip is an interesting beast. The company appeared in 2000 and announced its first product in Dec. …

PCs & Chips 21 Sep 23:44
ABN Amro customer deets tip up on BearShare

P2P user hygiene found lacking

Social security numbers and other sensitive information belonging to more than 5,000 customers of ABN Amro Mortgage Group have been leaked onto the BearShare file-sharing network by a former employee, according to news reports. The information, which also included names and mortgage details, appear to have been leaked after a …

Enterprise Security 21 Sep 23:44
Ramones sticksman sues Apple and Wal-Mart

Copyright infringement suit

Former Ramones drummer Richard Reinhardt today filed suit in US federal court in Manhattan claiming that his music publisher never had the right to "authorize distribution or duplication of six songs he wrote between 1983 and 1987" which were subsequently made available through iTunes, Wal-Mart.com's music store and Real …

Music and Media 21 Sep 23:55