1st October 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Epsionage gadgets spied online

Keep it under your hat

The kind of gadgets created by Q in the James Bond films are coming to consumers. Online retailer Brando has begun selling devices for listening in on and blocking other people's telephone calls, helping every wannabe 007 get a little closer to MI5. Sim Card Spy Ear: the phone that listens in Slot your SIM card into the …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 08:07
MS makes, sells 65nm 'Falcon' Xbox 360s

Cure for the Red Ring of Death?

Microsoft has begun selling Xbox 360 consoles equipped with 65nm chips - parts that pump out less heat than the 90nm silicon found in older 360s - according to buyers who've been poking around inside their new machines. MS' 65nm Xbox: the new heatsink, as shot by JWSpeed The first 65nm consoles? The Halo 3 limited edition …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 08:50
Stats office signs up for Flex framework

Teams up with Fujitsu

The statistics agency will be the first organisation to sign up for shared services under a Cabinet Office agreement with Fujitsu. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has announced that it is preparing to sign an IT framework agreement with Fujitsu Services. "We are going ahead with the shared services scheme called …

Public Sector 1 Oct 09:00
Build business-ready XML Schema with JDeveloper

Communicate clearly

If XML is being used increasingly to describe business actions, then XML Schema is becoming the language that enables companies to actually communicate clearly with, and to understand, each other. While XML has become the standard medium for exchanging data, it's XML Schema that defines the structure, content and semantics of …

Developer 1 Oct 09:02
Alphyra merges with Cardpoint

Payzone is born

Irish payment services firm Alphyra has merged with UK firm Cardpoint in a deal reportedly worth €800m. The merger is a reverse takeover of Cardpoint by Alphyra under the rules of London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The two firms will combine to form a new company called Payzone. Under AIM rules an extraordinary …

Financial News 1 Oct 09:15
Nvidia ready to roll 'tri SLI'

Three-card trick

When Nvidia launched its nForce 680i SLI chipset in October 2006, some boards based on the part were seen to sport three PCI Express x16 graphics card slots. A year on, it now seems that Nvidia may at least be ready to release three-way SLI on the world. A confidential Nvidia presentation slide posted last week by Chinese- …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 09:21
Facebook wins Manx battle for face-book.com

Not famous in Germany

Facebook has wrestled control of the web address face-book.com away from an Isle of Man-based firm that operates it as a revenue-raising link dump. Manx outfit YOLAPT registered the domain on 3 October 2004, several months after Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, but while it was still only available to a …

Law 1 Oct 09:25
Supreme Court examines LG over 'duplicative' licensing claims

Patent liability in the product chain

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a controversial case in which LG Electronics is accused of trying to "shake down the entire computer industry for several billion dollars in duplicative licensing fees". Taiwanese contract computer manufacturer Quanta and other computer builders in Taiwan are suing LG Electronics over …

Law 1 Oct 09:29
Almost all CCTV systems are illegal, says expert

95% of cameras contravene Data Protection Act

As many as 95 per cent of CCTV systems in the UK are operating illegally, according to a CCTV expert. The revelation comes as new legislation is about to take effect in Scotland which could render even more systems illegal. Companies whose premises have CCTV systems in operation must alert the Information Commissioner that …

Law 1 Oct 09:38
Brain-sucking parasitic killer menaces warming lake waters

Death on the installment plan never sounded so good

Eat your heart out, David Cronenberg. Mad CIA frankenscience runs amuck in the American heartland. Brain-wasting parasite fans techno-paranoia. The pitch would write itself. Unfortunately, the reality of biological science is sometimes more than the stuff that cinematic sci-fi fantasy is made on. American health officials …

Biology 1 Oct 09:38
Dead woman's medical records case could undermine FOI law

Privacy boffin weighs in on legal grey area

A dead woman's medical records should not be released because a duty of confidentiality survives her death, the Information Tribunal has ruled. The decision backs an earlier ruling by the Information Commissioner. A privacy specialist, though, has said the decision defines exemptions to Freedom of Information (FOI) …

Law 1 Oct 09:54
Cambridge firm gets $26m for tiny-projector tech

Smutty vid-clips leap from the phone to the wall

A Cambridge company looking to develop miniaturised projection systems for use in converged handsets has secured $26m of VC funding. Light Blue Optics raised the cash principally from Earlybird of Germany and Capital-E from Belgium. Funding was also forthcoming from the British 3i group and the UK's National Endowment for …

Financial News 1 Oct 09:59
Adobe buys into web word processing

Flash, bling, wallop

Adobe has piled into the escalating web-based office applications scrap with the acquisition of Virtual Ubiquity, a Massachusetts-based start-up. Virtual Ubiquity's flagship is Buzzword, a fancy-looking Flash-based word processor that's got the beating of Google Docs for more sophisticated documents. Its page-by-page format …

Software 1 Oct 10:37
Vertu motors in with £12,600 mobile phone

Limited supply

If you're looking for a handset with more bling than the iPhone then consider Vertu's latest creation. Its ultra-exclusive Ascent Ferrari 60 phone costs €18,000 (£12,600/$25,530) and has been designed to celebrate the sportscar company's 60th anniversary. Vertu's Ferrari 60: worth the price? The back of the handset is …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 10:50
Microsoft punts web-based apps to the masses

Browser-based Word and Excel? Er, not exactly

In a bid to spin its web-based version of Office into contention with rival internet behemoth Google, Microsoft has said it will begin accepting applications for beta testing its web apps later this year. The software giant's suite of applications, which include the ubiquitous Excel and Word, has been a hugely profitable …

IT Director 1 Oct 10:51
Koreans promise WiMax gaming handheld for Xmas

Coming soon to a basestation near you?

A Korean manufacturer has created a WiMax-compatible games console which it claimed is the world's first online games console. Perhaps it forgot about both the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS... Ppsbro's G100: no WiMax? Try Wi-Fi or Bluetooth The G100 will use the 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz bands when it's released later this year, …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 11:00
LG KG271 and KG275 budget phones

Review Two not-half-bad cut-price handsets. But when will the UK see them?

We at Register Hardware were enthusiastic fans of Motorola's Motofone F3 - reviewed here. The very simplicity and purity of design seemed to us altogether worthy and estimable. Rather like the Mini - Sir Alex Issigonis' 1959 classic, not the BMW ersatz retro foisted on us today - the very lack of frill and fancy seemed possessed …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 11:02
Boffins: Dark times for application development

Ex-Microsoft man holds flashlight

You know it's bad when two top programmers at different conferences in a two-week period say we're in the dark ages of software development. Speaking at MIT's Emerging Technologies conference in Cambridge last week, Charles Simonyi - creator of Microsoft Office, friend of Bill Gates (and Martha Stewart - thanks ZDNet's Dan …

Software 1 Oct 11:02
Open source development goes Mac-tastic

IBM gets onboard

There is no small irony in the prospect that Apple's Macintosh - arguably the ultimate in closed and proprietary systems, at least until the Intel alliance - could become the open source development platform of choice. The Register has spotted increasing numbers of Macs at open source developer events during the last year. …

Software 1 Oct 11:02
Science and religion collide for galactic conference

Vatican turns eyes to heavens

The Vatican is hosting its second astronomy conference in seven years, as the Roman Catholic church strives to avoid being seen as anti-science. Delegates are expected from 26 countries, including Britain, the US, Italy, Germany, and Russia, the BBC reports. Father Jose Funes, head of the Vatican Observatory, said the …

Space 1 Oct 11:18
IPTV over wireless? Why not?

Interview Ruckus' Selina Lo talks home improvement and Wi-Fi futures

You want cheap Wi-Fi? "You'll get what you pay for," warns Selina Lo. "Wi-Fi makers are in denial. The system doesn't work properly, and will get worse." Thank God, she says happily, "for manufacturers like us!" No, overweening modesty isn't her major personality flaw. And as CEO of Ruckus Wireless, her third start-up …

Data Networking 1 Oct 11:37
Sky confirms Picnic pick 'n' mix

Broadband and pay TV for all

Sky today made a cunningly-timed announcement 'fessing up to its new "Picnic" offering that will let non-satellite customers join its broadband network and terrestrial TV viewers receive its pay TV channels. Subject to clearing regulatory hurdles, the new venture will launch in the new year as a separate business with its own …

Networks 1 Oct 12:05
HTC adds real, virtual keypads to second-gen Touch

3G Touch Dual launched

HTC has introduced a version its Touch smartphone - reviewed here - this time with the company's trademark slide-down keypad. HTC's Touch Dual: slide-out keypad on board The Touch Dual sports the regular Touch's finger-operated user interface, updated with a full-size soft keyboard to augment the mobile phone-style keypad …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 12:20
Bigwigs haven't a clue on IT asset values

Global firms missing a trick, study says

Businesses that dominate the global economy have no idea what the financial value of their IT assets is, according to a new study. Although firms spend billions of dollars on IT each year, few businesses are able to pinpoint the value of their technology assets compared to cash, brand, property and intellectual property, …

IT Director 1 Oct 12:25
Israelis offer 'British' pukka-lingo ware to Blighty

'Rarely is thought given to business writing'

An Israeli company has recently issued a "British English" version of its prose-polishing software suite, winning plaudits in the quality UK press. WhiteSmoke, a firm hailing from Tel Aviv, initially intended to market its tech to customers for whom English was a second language. To the founders' surprise, however, there was …

Applications 1 Oct 13:02
CERN BOFH needs a bigger storage array

Networking the secrets of the universe

Preparations are well underway at CERN to commission the world's largest particle accelerator. Advances in networking technology have allowed the particle physics lab to bring in scientists from around the world to analyse the data is will generate. When activated in May 2008 it's hoped that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) …

IT Director 1 Oct 13:45
BenQ touts 3G-less Window Mobile 6 smartphone

Not the smartest smartphone

BenQ has taken the wraps off its latest phone. The E72 opts for quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge connectivity instead of 3G but it can connect you to five instant messaging networks. E72: entry-level Windows Mobile BenQ's chosen to bundle multoi-network IM client Mundu, which connects the E72 to Yahoo!, Google, ICQ and AOL. The …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 13:58
HTC names Windows Vista handheld release date

Get a Shift on

HTC will release the long-promised Windows Vista-running Shift sub-notebook in Europe and beyond during November, the company said today. The same timeframe will also see the arrival of the follow-up to the S710 Qwerty slider phone. HTC's Shift: very small, still runs Vista HTC unveiled the Shift way back in March this …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 14:04
BT buys into Lynx effect

Bangs IT solutions for SME drum

British Telecom (BT) has acquired IT consulting and outsourcing firm Lynx Technology in a move that sees the UK telecoms giant continue to muscle in on the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) space. In August, BT swallowed up Basilica as part of its strategy to enter the IT solutions marketplace. In a statement today, the …

Channel Register 1 Oct 14:17
Official: James Blunt is a w*nker

Now, that is blunt

The Great British public have spoken. After allowing warbling military aristocrat James Blunt to inflict his peculiar brand of vanilla-acoustic mewl on a broken nation for two years, they have risen up to declare he's a w*nker. The verdict has been delivered via CD warehousing operation Amazon.co.uk, as witnessed in the image …

Entertainment 1 Oct 14:20
Network yellow pages wrapped into an appliance

Auto-provisioning

The push to wrap up a network admin's more mundane tasks in easier to use appliances is continuing with the launch of an IP address management appliance from Infoblox. The IPAM WinConnect appliances, which stem from Infoblox's August acquisition of French start-up Ipanto, allow BOFHs to replace spreadsheets for IP address …

Data Networking 1 Oct 14:25
Tidal power plans pit greens against greens

Energy vs conservation

The Sustainable Development Commission has given its backing to a proposed tidal power project in the Severn Estuary, despite objections from environmentalists. The commission published a report today analysing how the tidal resources in the UK could be tapped for clean energy. It says tidal power has the potential to generate …

Science 1 Oct 14:38
Sony Ericsson, Vodafone to offer Havanas for Xmas

One new phone and two re-sprays

Sony Ericsson has become all chummy with Vodafone. It's created a Havana range exclusively for the network provider, which includes the launch of its new V640i phone and re-sprays of the Walkman W880i and W910i handsets. Sony Ericsson/Vodafone's Havana V640i (left) and Havana W910i Walkman In addition to HSDPA 3G, the …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 14:49
Sony talks up 'world's first' OLED TV

Small screen, very big price tag

Sony demo'd a series of OLED-based TVs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past January. Today, it said one of them go on sale on 1 December - the first ever commercial OLED TV, the company claimed. Sony's XEL-1: million-to-one contrast ratio Dubbed the XEL-1, the 11in screen contains a display panel that's …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 15:25
Telefonica goes Yahoo! around world

OneSearch to find them all

Telefonica has signed a deal with Yahoo! to provide its OneSearch mobile search engine to all the mobile operator's customers across 15 countries in Europe and Latin America, including O2 customers in the UK. The search engine, which was launched in May, is optimised for mobile searching, and any day now will start trans-coding …

Mobile 1 Oct 15:35
Orange marches out of Netherlands

Leaves flatlanders to T-Mobile

France Telecom has sold its Orange NL operation to rival operator T-Mobile for €1.33bn, moving itself right out of the Netherlands market and leaving T-Mobile with hoped-for savings of €1bn once they combine the networks over the next six years. Consolidation in the Dutch market has been a long time coming. Five network …

Mobile 1 Oct 15:37
Radiohead lets fans price new CD

Rich popstars bless trickle-down economics

Labelless, but hardly penniless, Radiohead are letting their fans set the price for digital downloads of the band's new CD. Fans will be able to pay as little as 1p - plus a mandatory 45p credit card fee - for the In Rainbows album. The new release will also be available in physical form - £40 for a box-set - easily affordable …

Music and Media 1 Oct 15:40
Opportunity goes panoramic on Victoria

Interplanetary paparazzi

The Mars rover Opportunity has sent back yet another gobsmacking image from the red planet. This picture is close to true colour, the space agency says, and was captured from a spot known as Duck Bay. Victoria crater on Mars, as seen by NASA's rover Opportunity. The rover has now travelled almost six miles from its landing …

Space 1 Oct 15:42
Dutch pull the plug on e-voting

Back to red pens - for now

A Dutch judge has declared the use of Nedap e-voting machines in recent Dutch elections unlawful. The 9,000 Nedap-made machines used in the November and March elections were not adequately authorised and at least one type of Nedap machine wasn't even certified. Despite the ruling, the election results will remain valid. The …

Government 1 Oct 15:47
Pentagon claims missile-defence success

Son of Star Wars repels treacherous Alaskan attack

The Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency (MDA) has announced a successful test of its ICBM-nobbling space interceptor system. In a release (pdf) on Friday, the military missile-busters said "indications are that the rocket motor system and kill vehicle performed as designed". In the trial last week, a "threat representative …

Science 1 Oct 15:54
Skype founder quits

As eBay makes tacit admission it overpaid

Skype co-founder and chief executive Niklas Zennstrom has quit his job running the eBay-owned IP telephony outfit day-to-day. In an SEC filing, also today, eBay said it would take a $1.43bn hit in charges relating to Skype in Q3. Some of Skype's early investors who stood to gain as much as $1.7bn from eBay if the company hit …

VoIP 1 Oct 16:26
Which NAS box is best?

I'm after a NAS box to use at home but I'm confused by all the options out there and can't figure out if there is one that actually meets all my needs... Here's what I'm looking for: 500GB, expandable via USB port(s). Print server. Secure access via the interweb so I can share contents with friends & family in far away …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 16:28
Google proposes 'crumbled cookies' in privacy pledge

Willing to break up harvested user information

Google has proposed breaking up the information gathered on users of its services in order to better preserve their privacy. The company told the US Senate that it was investigating the measure after consultation with privacy groups. The company made the claim in a submission to the Senate's investigation of its proposed $3.1bn …

Telecoms 1 Oct 16:53
Nokia pays $8bn for Navteq

Show me the way to Finland

Nokia has jumped into the personal-navigation business with the acquisition of Navteq, for €5.7bn ($8.1bn). Chicago-based Navteq has about 3,000 employees based at 168 offices in 30 countries. The company will operate independently, providing existing customers with mapping information and continuing to run Traffic.com. Nokia …

Mobile 1 Oct 17:00
Would-be politician fails in Yahoo! and Ask.com lawsuit

Court rules no obligation to uphold free speech

A would-be candidate for Governor of New York who failed to gather enough signatures to be placed on the ballot has failed in his attempt to sue Yahoo! and Ask.com for undermining his 'master election plan'. William Murawski describes himself as a 'frequent political candidate' who wanted to run in the 2006 election to be …

Law 1 Oct 17:02
Farewell, Miss Moneypenny

Lois Maxwell dies at 80

The original Miss Moneypenny has died at age 80. Lois Maxwell, who starred as M's secretary in 14 James Bond films, died in Western Australia on Saturday evening, The BBC reports. Sir Roger Moore, who played Bond in seven of those films, told the Beeb that the Canadian-born actress had joined her son in Australia after being …

Software 1 Oct 18:29
Brute force attack yields keys to Google's kingdom

Spammers eye the Holy Grail

This story was updated on 2nd October to add comment from Google. Miscreants pushing Viagra and malware are making new progress infiltrating Google indexes, a feat that's considered the Holy Grail among spammers. Google, which by some estimates carries out 60 per cent of the world's searches, goes to great lengths to filter …

Security 1 Oct 18:42
Ballmer jabs at Larry Ellison's wallet

Break out the measuring tape

Steve Ballmer must be feeling a little sniffy over the colossal sums Oracle shelled out to its CEO Larry Ellison this year. Ballmer mounted his high horse for The Times to weigh in on the sore subject of executive compensation. "I find it interesting and probably not that considered a decision to do what [Oracle has] done," …

Channel Register 1 Oct 19:16
Sun slots slumping storage unit into server group

Fowl man necked by albatross

Sun Microsystems will fold its long-wobbling storage unit into its server unit, forming a single entity dedicated to building hardware that benefits man - or at least Sun's bottom line. Current server chief John Fowler will lead the combined unit, Sun said today. This seems to indicate that CEO Jonathan Schwartz has an awful …

Storage 1 Oct 19:57
Reg Developer goes West

Spec-tacular four-eyed future

Register Developer is changing. We've moved our base of operations from the UK to Silicon Valley, where under a new editor - the Register's former software editor, Gavin Clarke - we will build on the work of Martin and David, who successfully established Register Developer. Register Developer will now combine its proximity …

Software 1 Oct 20:02
FTC fines three men $330,000 for pushing spyware

Slap on the wrist shows that cyber crime pays

Three men accused of forcing spyware onto more than 15 million computers have agreed to pay $330,000 in fines and to to be monitored by federal authorities for up to eight years. The penalty settles charges by the Federal Trade Commission that Elliott S. Cameron, Robert A. Davidson II and Garry E. Hill violated federal consumer …

Spam 1 Oct 21:11
Adobe claims RIA completeness

Hot AIR

Adobe has been getting ahead of itself, hinting at features in future versions of its is Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) development environment while claiming its yet-to-launch platform is now feature complete. Opening its Max 2007 conference, Adobe claimed to have made significant progress on its Rich Internet Application ( …

Applications 1 Oct 21:49
Palm posts loss for Q1

The Palm not quicker than the i?

Sluggish smartphone sales matched with increased spending made Palm swing a small loss during the first quarter. In the three months ended August 31, Palm posted a net loss of $841,000, on revenue up 1 per cent to $360.8m. In the same period last year, income was $16.5m on revenue of $355.8m. Treo sales were at 689,000 units …

Financial News 1 Oct 21:59
LiPS synchs with OMA on mobile Linux

Pucker move

The confusing world of standards for mobile versions of Linux became a little less confusing last week with a declaration of "alignment" between two key players. The Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) announced "a formal liaison and framework for cooperation" at the Open Source in Mobile (OSiM …

Software 1 Oct 23:28
RM climbs aboard SpaceKraft

Educational resources R US

RM used to be one of many PC makers specialising in the UK schools IT market. Most have fallen by the wayside. RM has survived and thrived, largely by branching out into installation, networking and maintenance and by dint of buying up curriculum software and other educational software firms. Now it's building out its special …

Channel Register 1 Oct 23:52