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26th September 2007 Archive

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  • Red Hat beats Q2 expectations with Linux sales

    Revenue up 28%, net income up 64%

    Red Hat posted today a sharp rise in earnings during its fiscal second quarter, spurred by (you guessed it) an increase in Linux sales. For the quarter ended August 31, Red Hat lists revenue of $127.3m, up 28 per cent from $99.7m during the same period last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of …

    Channel Register 26 Sep 2007, 00:02

  • Trilog goes SaaS with ProjExec

    Can you manage IT online?

    Project management specialist Trilog Group has jumped into the Software as a Service (SaaS) market with its established ProjExec package. CEO Alex Homsi says the move reflects the changing nature of software development with increased use of distributed development teams. "Collaboration in software development is becoming …

    Developer 26 Sep 2007, 00:35

  • New cracks in Google mail

    Penetrated via a persistent backdoor

    This story was updated on 28th September to report that the vulnerability has been patched. Yesterday, we reported on an unholy trinity of Google vulnerabilities that put emails, private photos and website security at risk. Today came word of a new weakness that makes it easy for bad guys to silently put a backdoor in Gmail …

    Enterprise Security 26 Sep 2007, 01:23

  • Adwalker awarded US patent

    Secures IP in the telly-wearing market

    Dublin-based firm Adwalker has been granted a US patent for its wearable interactive digital media platform. "We have always been aggressive on the IP (Intellectual Property) front," Adwalker spokesman Simon Crisp told ENN. "The wearable media market in the US is growing all the time, so there's real value in securing the IP, …

    Law 26 Sep 2007, 09:06

  • Phishers bait hook with Verified by Visa scam

    Bank of America hit with bogus claims

    Fraudsters have begun garnishing phishing emails with claims that punters need to respond in order to enrol in the Verified by Visa programme. Verified by Visa is a legitimate service that adds an additional layer of security to online credit card transactions. Anyone using a card enrolled in the programme needs to use a …

    ID 26 Sep 2007, 09:14

  • Vanessa Hudgens net smut: your children are at risk

    Can no one stem the tide of filth?

    Pity if you will poor old Vanessa Hudgens, star of Disney's High School Musical, who recently got some unwanted exposure when a snap of her striking a birthday-suit strumpet pose for the titillation of squeeze Zac Efron spilled onto the internet, with predictable results. The offending photo, far too explicit for a family …

    Entertainment 26 Sep 2007, 09:18

  • Halo 3 UK launch fails to fire

    Where have all the gamers gone?

    Despite the sort of marketing hype usually extended only to film releases and console-style early opening hours, the Halo 3 UK launch was notable for the absence of gamers and large piles of unsold copies. Halo 3: the game everyone's been waiting for? The game officially went on sale in the UK at the stroke of midnight. …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 09:40

  • Is cellular M2M actually relevant to your industry?

    Reader Poll Help us to connect the dots

    Machine-to-Machine (M2M) wireless communications, which enables applications such as remote measurement, monitoring and management, is a fairly niche topic. Yet, responses to a recent Reg reader panel survey indicated it's becoming more and more widespread. Seven per cent of respondents rated M2M's importance as 4 or 5 on a …

    Workshop 26 Sep 2007, 09:53

  • Acer plans renewed effort to drag up PC prices

    Calling Mr K Canute

    Acer will stick with its policy of pushing up average selling prices for its hardware, despite failing to put a floor under prices so far this year. However, the Taiwanese vendor admitted that at best it would only be able to push up prices on an aggregate level, by launching more products at the high end. The vendor spelled …

    PCs & Chips 26 Sep 2007, 10:24

  • Vodafone billing woes continue

    While EDS contractors are left with their feet up

    Vodafone's billing system continues to throw out random invoices, while denying customers access to their online billing. What is more, even the simple matter of issuing paper-based bills has become impossible as the firm's contractor, Amdocs, continues to struggle to implement a working billing system. Voda coughed to billing …

    IT Director 26 Sep 2007, 10:55

  • Motorola MotoRokr S9 Bluetooth headphones

    Review Wireless headphones without the baggage

    Lacking additional boxes, dangling wires or ear-dragging weights, Motorola's S9 is what a set of Bluetooth headphones ought to be - as long as your head is the right shape for them. The problem with Bluetooth headphones is the need for bulk, mainly for the battery but also the receiving circuitry and controls - not to mention …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 11:02

  • Vonage trips $69.5m patent

    Promises to side-step its way out, again

    VoIP provider Vonage has lost another patent battle, this time with Sprint Nextel, which owns six infringed patents and stands to gain almost $70m in a court-ordered payout. The case was lodged by Sprint back in 2005, but Vonage has been arguing that the patents should never have been approved, and that Vonage technololgy is …

    VoIP 26 Sep 2007, 11:17

  • MS confirms Halo 3 Limited Edn box scratch bug

    Game added to Disc Replacement list

    Halo 3 has only been out for a few hours in the UK, but there's already a problem. The Limited Edition box-set has been added to Microsoft's Disc Replacement Program (DRP) list because of possible scratches to the disc's surface. Halo 3 Limited Edition: packaging can scratch the disc The problem first arose in the US, and …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 11:29

  • Ofcom primes broadband afterburner

    Your country needs you

    Ofcom has blown the horn on the long march towards a modern internet infrastructure for the UK. Today marks the start of its powwow on who should pay for the next generation telecoms network that regulators and government believe is essential to our economic and social future. A consultation document (pdf) released by the …

    Networks 26 Sep 2007, 11:45

  • Gear4 debuts 'cheapest ever' Bluetooth speaker

    An early look

    Streaming music wirelessly to a speaker is about to become a whole lot cheaper, accessories maker Gear4 has claimed. It said the price of the soon-to-be-released Street Party Blu flat-panel speaker will significantly undercut its rivals. Gear4's Street Party Blu: low-cost streaming Gear4 told Register Hardware it hopes to …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 12:15

  • Toshiba ups the game with laptop duo

    Gaming on the go

    Toshiba has lifted the lid on two laptops, full to bursting with performance and gadgetry. Part of the Satellite range, the X205-SLi1 and X205-SLi3 are pitched at the avid PC gamer - with extra features to ensure mobility and connectivity. Satellite X205: for gamers and, possibly, film lovers Both machines are based on an …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 13:10

  • BT cranks VoIP & BlackBerry Enigma machine

    UK spooks don't believe the hype

    BT is crowing for the second time in two weeks about how its products have been security certified by GCHQ, the government's main listening station. Snag is, they've been certified for "restricted" communications, which are only slightly more secure - in military terms - than shouting in a crowded pub. Today's announcement …

    VoIP 26 Sep 2007, 13:22

  • TV firm takes £2m hit for competition line scandal

    Should have been watching the Opera

    Ofcom has fined GMTV £2m for failing to check up on its service provider, Opera Telecom, and thus allowing the public to get ripped off by an early winner selection scandal. There's no suggestion that GMTV asked Opera to break the rules, or had much of an idea what was going on. Where dubious behaviour was suspected it was …

    Networks 26 Sep 2007, 13:27

  • French court says non to pre-loaded Windows on Acer laptop

    Man wins €811 damages over €599 laptop

    A French man has won a lawsuit against computer maker Acer over a laptop he bought that came pre-loaded with Microsoft's Windows XP and other applications he didn't want. Antoine Gutzwiller disputed the fact that he had no choice but to buy the €599 Acer notebook with the ubiquitous operating system and software products …

    Channel Register 26 Sep 2007, 13:32

  • DARPA code teams compete on same K9 robot

    Multiple-personality droid dog; mad science indeed

    DARPA, the Pentagon research bureau which likes to put the battiness back into battle-boffinry, is pressing ahead with its robot dog/packmule/mini-Imperial-Walker programme. Partly-functional "BigDog" petrol-engined droid packmules have already been developed, but it seems the machines' controlling software isn't really up to …

    Applications 26 Sep 2007, 14:29

  • T-Mobile serves up rebadged HTC TyTN II

    Aka the MDA Vario III

    Don’t let the marketing speak throw you. T-Mobile claims the new MDA Vario III handset has a tilting screen, but in reality the feature is much more mundane and ordinary than the PR fluff makes it sound. T-Mobile MDA Vario III: slide screen in action The handset, which is essentially a rebadged HTC TyTN II and a …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 14:36

  • AMD launches Radeon HD 2900 Pro

    AMD has rolled out a new graphics card to fill a gap beneath its current top-of-the-line ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT. PowerColor's HD 2900 Pro: GDDR 4 capable The ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro's 320 unified Stream processors are clocked at 600MHz, down from the 2900 XT's 740MHz. Its 512MB of GDDR 3 memory connects over a 512-bit bus …

    Reg Hardware 26 Sep 2007, 14:58

  • If users are a security threat, how do you manage them?

    Mobile Clinic Your problems answered by the experts

    In our final mobile clinic, The Register's resident experts return to provide their opinions on the questions you've raised. Question 1: "Argggghhhh. [My biggest problem is] managing the users who keep losing their damned handsets packed full of sensitive email addresses, emails etc. We talk a lot about technology, but aren't …

    Workshop 26 Sep 2007, 15:02

  • Vodafone UK loses roamers worldwide

    Is there anybody out there?

    A network glitch left Vodafone UK customers travelling abroad without data and voice connectivity this morning. The mobile operator said the problem has been resolved, and that a third-party carrier was responsible for the down time. The problems weren't universal, but they were global and hit a lot of roaming users. Reg …

    Mobile 26 Sep 2007, 15:25

  • Chemical-weapons hysteria causes cholera

    No chlorine to purify Iraqi water

    A senior Iraqi government official has said that water treatment plants are critically short of chlorine gas which they need to purify public water supplies. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that supplies of the gas are being held up due to fears it might be used as a chemical weapon, and adds that chlorine is vitally …

    Science 26 Sep 2007, 15:34

  • IBM virtual strike goes ahead in Sadville

    My avatar's more militant than your avatar

    IBM's Italian workforce is set to strike in Second Life tomorrow (27 September). Organised by the UNI union, staff aim to hit the company’s virtual islands, as well as putting real life protesters on picket line duty outside its Italian facilities. Although Sadville is, well, mainly sad, the virtual islands are being heavily …

    Business 26 Sep 2007, 16:55

  • What's 77.1 x 850? Don't ask Excel 2007

    65,535 = the Number of the Beast

    A Microsoft manager has confirmed the existence of a serious bug that could give programmers and number crunchers a failing grade when relying on the latest version of Excel to do basic arithmetic. The flaw presents itself when multiplying two numbers whose product equals 65,535. Fire up your favorite calculator and multiply …

    Applications 26 Sep 2007, 17:45

  • Sun patches Java patching

    Coordinate, coordinate, coordinate

    Microsoft's security practices seem to be rubbing off on Sun Microsystems as the company is changing the way it updates and secures Java. Sun will synchronize releases of critical security updates to current and legacy version of Java Standard Edition (Java SE) and has promised to provide a system of alerts on upcoming patches …

    Enterprise Security 26 Sep 2007, 18:28

  • It's time to pay attention to Sun's x86 server biz

    Fresh gear beats rivals

    The fresh Xeon-based servers from Sun mark the company’s most muscular play to date in the x86 realm. The four-socket 2U X4450, in particular, has Sun pushing the equivalent of a midrange SMP down into the heart of the so-called “commodity” market. This move plays well with Sun’s historic strengths in the SMP (symmetric multi- …

    Servers 26 Sep 2007, 18:39

  • Best Buy adds disclaimer to 'secret website'

    These are not the prices you are looking for

    An investigation by Connecticut's Attorney General over bait-and-switch charges has gotten electronics megalith Best Buy to budge over its allegedly deceptive "secret website." An inch, at least. The company has expanded the disclaimer on in-store kiosks to tell customers that similar interfaces may be deceiving. A banner …

    Channel Register 26 Sep 2007, 19:09

  • Three Gorges Dam an 'environmental catastrophe'

    Chinese 'fess up as project goes titsup

    Chinese officials have admitted that the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River will, in the absence of urgent preventative action, provoke an ecological and environmental "catastrophe", the Times reports. The shock confession confirms what opponents of the £13bn project have always maintained, and officials have now …

    Science 26 Sep 2007, 19:16

  • New euro coin stuffs Turkey

    Wiped from the face of the currency

    The European Commission has admitted the new euro coin - designed to sport a revised map showing the expanded happy band of brothers - is "not exactly the one the commission has proposed" after the powers that be decided to omit Turkey from the monetary celebration of the EU. According to EUobserver, the Commission's plan was …

    Financial News 26 Sep 2007, 21:03

  • Green Dell gets greener with new green initiative

    So green they crap leprechauns

    A lot of PC makers are riding the going green pony pretty hard these days, but the folks at Dell — you've got to give them credit — are making a show out of boiling the poor thing down to eco-friendly glue. Nary a week goes by without Dell reminding us how they intend to sponge off our ravaged Earth Mother. Don't get the wrong …

    PCs & Chips 26 Sep 2007, 22:06

  • Sun packs out Solaris developer support

    Compiling good time

    Users running Sun Microsystems' Solaris operating system are getting something a little extra thrown into their contracts: developer support. Sun is wrapping extended support for its Solaris Express Developer Edition, previously only available to application developers, into existing and new Solaris customers' contracts without …

    Servers 26 Sep 2007, 22:19

  • EU online gambling firms demand $100 bil in WTO dispute

    US thumbs nose with comical settlement offers

    The long-running, occasionally tragicomic trade dispute between America and tiny Antigua at the WTO over the cross-border provision of gambling services has sputtered into the settlement phase, according to CasinoGamblingWeb. Although Antigua has roundly defeated its lumbering, puritanical northern neighbor at every step of …

    Law 26 Sep 2007, 22:38

  • US Navy to remodel Hitler's San Diego bunker

    Plans denazification of swastika-shaped barracks

    The powers that be have moved with snail-like speed to address the rather embarrassing issue of Hitler's San Diego bunker, spotted by El Reg readers back in 2005: The offending structure can be found at Bougainville Road, US Navy Exchange, San Diego. The conspiracy theorists among you will doubtless hear the distant sound of …

    Government 26 Sep 2007, 22:45

  • Hugo Chavez rails against teen Bulgarian airbags

    Breast implants join list of Yankee imperialist outrages

    Hugo Chavez has slammed Venezuelans' growing penchant for celebrating their daughters' coming-of-age by stumping up for breast implants, Reuters reports. The prez's countrymen/women have apparently developed quite a taste for western-style consumerism, and in particular coughing thousands of dollars for Bulgarian airbags which …

    Bootnotes 26 Sep 2007, 23:44

  • Supremes to rule on PC makers' patent spat

    Down-stream royalties hit choppy water

    The US Supreme Court will review a patent dispute between LG Electronics and a group of Taiwanese computer makers over whether various degrees of separation can exhaust licensing terms. The case has potentially far-reaching implications to determine if a patent holder can demand royalties from companies involved in different …

    Channel Register 26 Sep 2007, 23:52