4th October 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

ARM finds friends for mobile Linux

A common penguin

ARM today flexed its mobile muscle by revealing a fairly broad coalition focused on developing a version of Linux well-suited for future smart phones. The chip designer has teamed with Marvell, MontaVista, Movial, Mozilla, Samsung and TI in an effort to help Linux make headway on mobile systems. The companies intend to craft an …

Wireless 4 Oct 00:00
Microsoft targets developers with 'open' license

.NOT open source

Microsoft is continuing its hesitant slide towards open source by releasing .NET code under a look-but-don't touch license. The company said Wednesday it plans to offer source code for .NET Base Class Libraries, ASP.NET, Windows Forms, ADO.NET, XML and WPF in the .NET Framework 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 due later this year …

Software 4 Oct 00:01
IBM and HP objects of x86 server customer desire

Sun and Dell get tepid marks and ire

Customers still have a crush on IBM and Hewlett-Packard as x86 server vendors while Sun Microsystems and Dell continue to receive lukewarm satisfaction, according to a new survey. The latest "Vendor Faceoff" study of enterprise x86 customers by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG) shows IBM holding a narrow lead over HP in favored …

Servers 4 Oct 00:32
Singing in the shower goes high-tech

Drip-hop beats

Everyone enjoys a singsong in the shower, so it makes sense to have your favourite tunes to hand. Thankfully, Japan's Noritz Electronics Technology has created a futuristic-looking MP3 player, dubbed the Juketower, which promises to provide audio entertainment during your daily scrub. The Juketower: umbrella not required …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 07:02
Mtas put on hold until 2009

First aid

The centralised computer system intended to handle the recruitment of junior doctors will not be used next year. Recruitment to specialist training posts in England will instead be handled using the best elements of paper based, local processes adopted before the introduction of the Medical Training Application Service (Mtas …

Public Sector 4 Oct 08:53
Will Bungie jump from Microsoft?

Halo and goodbye?

Could one of the games industry's most effective partnerships be about to do a Disney/Pixar and split? Rumours are blazing online that Microsoft and Bungie Studios are about to call it a day after the final game in the Halo trilogy has finally hit the shelves. The games developer was bought by Microsoft before the first Halo …

Financial News 4 Oct 09:07
Harvard boffins brew up chilli-based anaesthetic

Can you feel the burn? Er, no.

American boffins reckon an anaesthetic based on chilli peppers could allow patients to undergo operations while fully conscious. Sadly, the research doesn't mean that steaming curry or spicy kebab you wolf down after ten pints of lager will dull the inevitable headache the next day. Rather, Harvard Medical School's Professor …

Biology 4 Oct 09:23
German watchdog opposes Google purchase of DoubleClick

Double trouble for privacy

The proposed $3.1bn merger of search giant Google and online advertising company DoubleClick would lead to "a massive violation of data privacy rights", a German privacy watchdog has warned. The Data Protection Commissioner of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein Thilo Weichert has written to Europe's Competition Commissioner …

ID 4 Oct 09:28
Teeny tiny ozone hole for 2007

Nothing like as impressive as last year

In 2006, the ozone layer took a real beating, and a hole formed that was of truly epic proportions. It was a record-breaking hole, caused by some 40 million tonnes of the protective layer going AWOL. After that, the hole recorded in 2007 is something of a flop. Weather conditions conspired to keep us and our cancer-prone skin …

Science 4 Oct 09:29
Fifty years since Sputnik

Everything changes, everything stays the same

Fifty years ago today the space age was truly born, as Sputnik sent back its first signals from orbit. Half a century ago, the Soviets launched what would be our first artificial satellite, and set in motion a revolution of technology. Without Sputnik, Earth orbit would be a much quieter place, and life on Earth would be …

Space 4 Oct 09:33
China Mobile connects top of the world

GSM cell tower to mount Everest

China Mobile has asked Huawei, wannabe owners of 3Com, to install a GSM base station 6,500 metres up Mount Everest. This will create a cell which will cover the main route to the summit. It won't be the first time a call has been made from the summit - back in May a base station was established with line of sight to the peak, …

Mobile 4 Oct 09:43
Late, fast and pricey: O2 broadband is go

Line rental not included, pay-as-you-goers pay a premium

O2 has released details of its imminent broadband service after packages and pricing were leaked on the internet. The official launch is set for 15 October, but O2 has confirmed Thinkbroadband.com's report yesterday that it'll offer its mobile punters up to 20Mbit/s access for £15 per month. A spokesman said the firm had dialed …

Telecoms 4 Oct 09:56
iLuv rolls out iPod-enabled portable DVD player

Updated iLuv, you love, we all love iLuv

iLuv has put its heart and soul into mobile movie watching with a portable viewer that also integrates an iPod docking station. iLuv's unit boasts DVD and iPod compatibility In March, iLuv unveiled a similar unit with a 7in display, the i1055. However, the Portable Video, MP3 and DVD Player has a larger, 8.4in widescreen …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 10:02
Apple TV 160GB media player

Review A must-have for anyone with music and movies on a PC?

Over the past couple of years we've tried at least four different media extenders from Buffalo, D-Link and Pinnacle in an attempt to send AVI movie files from a PC to a TV. The PC is in a home office box, and the TV is in the living room, and all we want to do is watch recorded American TV shows on the big screen. All four …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 11:02
UK start-up tackles PIN fraud with patterns

Bye-bye shoulder surfing

We all know that the weakest link in almost any security system is the user. We puny humans are prone to errors, and so we tend to write down complicated passwords, or choose ones which are stupidly easy to guess. Same with PINs. How many of you (be honest now) use your birth year? A PIN also stays the same all the time. But …

ID 4 Oct 11:03
Apple patches Windows QuickTime bug

Look before you link

Windows users of QuickTime, Apple's popular media player software, need to apply an update following the discovery of a serious security bug. The vulnerability allows hackers to inject malicious code onto vulnerable systems providing users are tricked into opening a maliciously-constructed QTL (QuickTime Link) file. These files …

Enterprise Security 4 Oct 11:05
MasterCard caught with pants down twice

Red and orange balls blush

Cash credit giant MasterCard has had a week racked with technical problems. Reg readers may recall our report on Tuesday about a spot of bother with data processing at MasterCard which hit a sizeable amount of transactions on September 25 and 26. We had contacted MasterCard after hearing from readers about problems with the …

IT Director 4 Oct 11:18
MIT touts new mind-to-machine algorithm

Unifying, but not universal, approach

Boffins at MIT are getting ever closer to a direct mind-to-machine link that would translate a person's thoughts into instructions for a machine. The university is developing the technology so a paralysed person might be able to operate a prosthetic purely by using their mind. There are lots of teams working in similar areas. …

Science 4 Oct 11:20
Popping the question the 21st century way

Buy ring, record message, await answer

Gone are the days of candle-lit dinners, Eiffel Tower proposals, and sinking to one's knee. American manufacturer Euri has created the ultimate timesaver for loved-up businessmen. Just pop an engagement ring into the Euricase, record a video, and let a built-in LCD screen do the hard work without you. Euricase: Chuck in a …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 11:35
Schools chief pushes Big Brother out of dinner line

Gov purees fingerprints for food policy

The government has told head teachers to lighten up after one British school told children in the dinner queue that if they didn't give their fingerprints they wouldn't get any food. The Department for Education and Skills said this week in a statement to the BBC Radio 4 Programme You and Yours that schools who refused school …

ID 4 Oct 11:59
Microsoft's OS won't die while Palm's doesn't want to be born

To subscribe to Channel Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of channel news in a single hit - click here.

It's still a while until Halloween, but the undead walk among us and some of them are getting a new lease of life. Windows XP has been given an extra five months of sales life, until the end of June 2008, after the relative failure of its successor Vista to excite the masses into parting with large amounts of cash for another …

Channel Register 4 Oct 12:02
BT aims to make UK a Wi-Fi kibbutz

Hold the FON

BT unveiled ambitious plans today to create the world's most extensive Wi-Fi network by persuading consumers to share access to their home router. It's part of a move by the national telco to head off the rise of 3G mobile internet on the cheap via a Home Hub firmware update. BT's three million Total Broadband customers will …

Networks 4 Oct 12:18
You want to learn about Ubuntu?

It's all here - from Hardy Heron to Feisty Fawn

Ubuntu is the free Linux-based operating system designed with frequent updating in mind. Released in October 2004, it has evolved into one of the best-known branches of the Debian tree and offers a strong focus on usability and easy installation, whether it be on a laptop, desktop or server machine. With a development plan …

Site News 4 Oct 12:51
Sage partners worry about falling into Line

Hey, what happened to the MMS?

Sage has sought to assure its channel partners following concerns about the software accounting firm's decision to quietly give its MMS application for SMEs a makeover by dropping the name and integrating it into the Line 200 suite. One system integrator told The Register that partners were worried the move from MMS to Line …

Channel Register 4 Oct 13:01
O2 lurches into MySpace

So much for Vodafone's 'exclusive'

O2 is offering customers access to their MySpace accounts, only eight months after Vodafone announced its exclusive with the Murdoch-owned portal. O2 is suspending data charges for November and December, after which the mobile operator suggests you take advantage of its "unlimited" data tariffs. Vodafone users have been able …

Mobile 4 Oct 13:30
'It's Britney, bitch' riding high again

Gimme More tops US digital singles chart

Oh, Britney would you look at that, a ray of sunshine has finally hit your otherwise beleaguered pop career. She may be in an ugly custody battle for her children with her ex-squeeze K-Fed, but Britney Spears was yesterday given something to smile about as her new single Gimme More topped the digital songs charts. Yep, that's …

Music and Media 4 Oct 13:41
Police cuff 77 in fake cheque crackdown

Spam scam scum slammed

More than $2.1bn in counterfeit cheques destined for the US have been seized and 77 arrests made in Netherlands, Nigeria and Canada as part of an international crackdown on cheque fraud scams. News of the busts came at a US conference on Wednesday launching an initiative - dubbed the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness - …

Crime 4 Oct 13:46
Nintendo leads DS gamers up the garden path

Got wood?

Nintendo could be barking up the wrong tree with this one, but it’s trying to brand itself as an eco-friendly computer games company nonetheless. The company’s released a game for the DS handheld console that urges gamers to play with flowers and break-dance. Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol - some gamers will win a free tree …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 13:55
Manchester Uni wins radio telescope HQ

From Sputnik to the future of space science

The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics has been chosen as the headquarters for the next generation radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The SKA project, with a budget of €1.5bn, involves astronomers and engineers in 17 countries. It will be comprised of thousands of small antennae …

Space 4 Oct 14:45
Intel shares drop on price war warning

AMD's stock declines too

Shares in a number of leading chip makers have slumped after Morgan Stanley warned investors about a possible price war in the sector. Intel shares fell by $0.57 or 2.2 per cent to $25.81 in US trading on Wednesday following the publication of a Morgan Stanley report from analyst Mark Lipacis advised investors to sell stock in …

Channel Register 4 Oct 14:48
S60 users go Wiiiiiii

While the Japanese get a fitness phone

Just when you think you've got a phone that does everything, someone comes along and adds a feature you never even knew you needed. Anyone playing games on an S60 phone is no doubt crying out for a Wii Remote connection, while DoCoMo is adding a heart rate monitor and breath analyser to its latest handset, Reuters reports. The …

Mobile 4 Oct 15:01
Scientist punts anti-snoring pillow

Less noise, more zeds

A German boffin has invented a computerised pillow which he claims will put a stop to snoring. Inventor Daryoush Bazargani said the pillow works by shifting the head's sleeping position until the unpleasant nasal growling stops, according to Reuters. Self-proclaimed snorer Bazargani, who is a computer science professor at the …

Science 4 Oct 15:03
Israel suspected of 'hacking' Syrian air defences

Did algorithms clear path for air raid?

Questions are mounting over how Israeli planes were able to sneak past Syria's defences and bomb a "strategic target" in the country last month. Israeli F-15s and F-16s bombed a military construction site on 6 September. Earlier reports of the attack were confirmed this week when Israeli Army radio said Israeli planes had …

Enterprise Security 4 Oct 15:17
Australian court rings to the sound of satisfaction

Female orgasm calls for reply

A visitor to Australia's Ipswich Magistrates court was seen desperately scrabbling for his phone as it moaned in satisfaction on receipt of a call, according to reports from Ananova. The tone apparently expressed its unmitigated pleasure for more than 20 seconds, surely long enough for any woman, though perhaps not long enough …

Mobile 4 Oct 15:26
eBay boots off Skype rival

Wounded kitten bites spinning hook

eBay, still smarting from Monday's $1.43bn admission of Skype's failure, last night deleted auctions that carried click-to-call buttons for VoIP rival Jajah. Jajah released its embeddable buttons last week, and decided to take the provocative step of promoting a special version for eBay auctions. Businessweek claimed there had …

Software 4 Oct 15:41
Universal goes online to win HD DVD votes

Studio adds web-enabled content into titles

Universal has announced a series of new interactive features for HD DVDs. It claims the new internet infrastructure allows users to take advantage of web-enabled HD DVD players, and sounds strikingly similar to the BD Live facility for Blu-ray. U-Shop: HD DVD fans will have direct access to film content and merchandise The …

Reg Hardware 4 Oct 15:56
Portrait of an (alleged) cyber bully as a young man

Accused CastleCops nemesis didn't get mad. He got bots.

Late in the evening of February 13, Paul and Robin Laudanski were planning the following day's Valentine's celebration when they received word that CastleCops, the volunteer security website they run, was under assault. Greg C. King in a photo from his Yahoo Profile. At its peak, the five-day attack flooded CastleCops …

Security 4 Oct 17:26
EMC buys into online backup via Berkeley Data Systems

Mozy Osbourne

Storage giant EMC branched further into the security market with the acquisition of on-line backup firm Berkeley Data Systems. Financial terms of the deal, officially announced Thursday, were undisclosed but a suggested price tag of $76m was cited when rumors of the pending union first surfaced a fortnight ago. Privately-held …

Storage 4 Oct 18:45
IBM attacks HP's dwarf blade with muffler

Ship the box. Stop the violence

IBM has joined HP in the race to flog short, stumpy blade servers at small- to medium-sized businesses. Well, in actual fact, IBM has been flogging for several months. Back in June, Big Blue revealed plans for its BladeCenter S chassis. The S is for "smaller firms," and the product delivers on the moniker by plugging into …

Servers 4 Oct 18:54
Oz watchdog sticks to its Google-attacking guns

'Down with sponsored links'

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has dropped its legal action against two Google subsidiaries, but the protector of the Aussie people vows to continue its fight against the search giant's Mountain View mother ship. With a federal court action aimed at the world's largest search engine and an online …

Applications 4 Oct 19:16
Ubuntu chief bids for prima-donna status

Radio Reg Dell, OpenOffice and Oracle let us down

I'd like to live in a tub of cream cheese icing. Sadly, that's not an option for me. It is, however, an option for Canonical/Ubuntu head Mark Shuttleworth. The open source advocate has plenty of cash - enough cash to build a breathing apparatus and waste removal system for a man-sized icing pool. I bring up the icing for no …

Open Season 4 Oct 22:17
Gartner: no relief for data center costs

'Significant disruptions'

The future holds no comfort for data centers aching over energy consumption and floor space, predicts Gartner. By 2011, more than 70 per cent of US enterprise data centers will face "significant disruptions" related to an apex of these mounting woes, the technology research firm says. "CIOs of large US organizations must …

Servers 4 Oct 22:43
Sun hypes new hypervisor and virtualization console

Marketing now, shipping in '08

Prowling the x86 server warpath, Sun today revealed its roadmap of products set to bring the company fully into the virtualization brouhaha. The server maker's new xVM virtualization platform will span across its server, storage, and networking product lines. The first offering will be comprised of a hypervisor and management …

Virtualization 4 Oct 23:19
Facebook 'friend request' lands UK man in jail

'I didn't know my ex-wife had an account, your Honour'

A man who joined Facebook to look at his friend's wedding pics, was sent to jail after the site automatically sent a "friend request" message to his estranged wife. Dillon Osborn, of Newport Pagnell Bucks, had been told by magistrates to stay away from his wife, Claire Tarbox, after bombarding her with phone calls and text …

Law 4 Oct 23:46
OpenSUSE 10.3 opens for business

Chameleon adds more colours to its palette

Another day, another Linux distro point revision. Honours this time go to OpenSUSE, available now in version 10.3 for free download at www.opensuse.org. You can also buy this open source operating system, which is based on Linux kernel 2.6.22, from some retailers and at shopnovell.com for $59.95 in real money. Or, rather, you …

Operating Systems 4 Oct 23:52
And now for something completely different: Good news on spam

SEC beats up on pump-and-dump junk mail

In the ever-escalating world of cyber insecurity, it's rare to find good news. And yet the Security and Exchange Commission on Thursday did just that as it reviewed data showing stock-touting junk mail has dropped significantly since a tough anti-spam campaign kicked off in March. Spam related to financial services comprised …

Spam 4 Oct 23:54