16th October 2007 Archive
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The Pirate Bay absconds with domain name of its nemesis
Anti-piracy watchdog raided
For years, the folks at The Pirate Bay have stuck in the craw of officials at The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The lobby group for the record industry has grown fond of branding the leading BitTorrent site as an international hub for illegal file sharing. Now the international anti-piracy organization …
Music and Media 16 Oct 2007, 00:03
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Kill the CIO!
Bad budget news for the big boys
It's budgeting season, and this year is no exception for big corporate IT departments, and the big IT industry players who feed on them. Pressure is yet again on reducing IT costs, and especially costly IT people. And as in most recent years, cost reduction ripples will spread across the IT pond, with the major IT industry …
IT Director 16 Oct 2007, 00:15
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Schwarzenegger terminates data breach bill
Let the foxes guard the hen house
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill on Saturday designed to give new protections to credit card holders by placing tough limits on the type of payment information retailers can store on their customers. The governor said the bill would have driven up costs for merchants. Assembly Bill 779 was championed by …
Small Biz 16 Oct 2007, 01:13
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Google launches YouTube video-blocking contraption
Calls it something else
Google has unveiled a long-awaited "video fingerprinting" system for YouTube. Dubbed YouTube Video Identification, the system does what Google has been promising to do since June: It gives content owners the power to block copyrighted clips as they're uploaded to the popular video-sharing service. But Google prefers not to …
Applications 16 Oct 2007, 01:17
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WTC collapse voted 'most memorable TV moment'
Ah yes, I remember it well
The collapse of New York's Twin Towers has been voted the "most memorable TV moment" of the last 50 years in a poll carried out by UK digital TV outfit Freeview. The final top 10 has a decidedly Anglo-American feel, with the Moon landing, the funeral of the Sainted Lady Di, Python's Dead Parrot, and JFK's demise jostling for …
Entertainment 16 Oct 2007, 08:44
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Intel to up 45nm Core 2 Extreme prices by 50% next year
Updated Pricier Penryns coming down the 'pike
Upcoming 'Penryn'-based 45nm high-end quad-core CPUs may well attract an even higher price premium than before, it has emerged. Intel has apparently informed customers that next year's Core 2 Extreme processors will cost up to 50 per cent more than today's models. According to newly released Penryn pricing data posted by a …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 09:14
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MoD to centralise software procurement
As it looks to increase its ICT spend
The defence ministry expects new discounts from centralising the procurement of its software licences and services. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is planning a new project to centralise its software procurement. It will be run by the Information Systems and Services (ISS) team, part of the Defence Equipment and Support …
Public Sector 16 Oct 2007, 09:15
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Google's proposed global privacy standard slammed
Too vague and weak: privacy expert
The set of rules which Google proposed as the foundation for a global privacy standard are inadequate, a privacy law expert has said. The rules are not specific enough to operate as a global standard, said the expert. Last month Google's Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer endorsed the Privacy Framework (pdf) published by …
Law 16 Oct 2007, 09:44
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HMV to launch in-store Xbox 360 multi-player centre
Gaming Zone to open in Edinburgh
If your missus nags you about spending too long on your Xbox 360, then HMV’s establishing a safe haven for you. On Friday, it’s opening its first in-store gaming room, allowing gamers to try before they buy or just giving them a place to relax while their other-half hits the High Street. Called the HMV Gaming Zone, it will …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 09:51
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Intel confirms 'Skulltrail' Quad SLI support
Nvidia gives D5400XS mobo the thumbs-up?
Nvidia will be bringing Quad SLI to Intel's upcoming 'Skulltrail' eight-core gaming platform - at least, that's what the chip giant is telling companies it hopes will be selling the new motherboard. Skulltrail will go on sale in Q1 2008 as the Intel D5400XS motherboard based on the company's as-yet-unlaunched 5400 workstation …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 09:59
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Mars rovers can keep on rovin'
NASA okays another mission extension
Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have been given the green light to keep on roving, possibly through to the end of 2009. The rovers' continued good health is the only limit mentioned in NASA's announcement of the mission extension. The twin rovers landed on Mars in 2004. The original mission called for the pair to spend three …
Space 16 Oct 2007, 10:09
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Nortel pays $35m to end fraud probe
Fund for shareholders
Nortel has agreed to pay $35m in damages to shareholders hurt by the company's fraudulent accounting practises. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Nortel of falsely inflating revenues between 2000 and 2003 in order to ensure the company hit Wall Street targets. Nortel neither admits nor denies the charges, …
Software 16 Oct 2007, 10:26
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Microsoft patents brain-computer link
Finding out how much you really like using Office
Microsoft has sent in a patent application where no patent application has gone before. It wants to own the rights to read your mind. More specifically, the firm says it wants to understand human computer interaction better, and has opted to read our minds. The psychic approach is the best option, the firm says, because …
Software 16 Oct 2007, 10:48
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BEA and Oracle - doing the math
Comment 0.5 + 0.7 = 0.8?
The problem with takeover bids is that once made, things can never be the same again for "target". At this point, we cannot be absolutely sure that the proposed acquisition of BEA by Oracle will go ahead, or whether other potential buyers will enter the game - as industry analyst James Governor encourages with his mischievous …
Developer 16 Oct 2007, 11:05
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NJ hospital suspends 27 over Clooney record snoop
Paging Dr Ross
A New Jersey Hospital has suspended more than two dozen workers suspected of accessing the medical records of George Clooney. The Palisades Medical Centre took the action after the former ER star was taken to the hospital following a motorcycle accident last month. Clooney sustained a broken rib along with cuts and bruises …
Security 16 Oct 2007, 11:18
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BBC spreads free Wi-Fi Cloud over iPlayer delay
Cobbles together Flash streams for Mac and Linux
The BBC has delayed the launch of its iPlayer on demand internet TV application by months. In a bid to head off criticism from Mac and Linux users, they will get access to a new ,more limited, streaming service. The full consumer marketing push for the download version, which launched in beta in July, had been slated for …
Entertainment 16 Oct 2007, 11:36
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HP's Mercury settles over options scandal
Hefty $117.5m to resolve case
HP-owned software maker Mercury is to settle an options backdating class action lawsuit by coughing up a staggering $117.5m. The firm was previously known as Mercury Interactive before HP bought it for $4.5bn last year. According to the Financial Times, Mercury will pay the biggest settlement of its kind, dwarfing amounts …
Financial News 16 Oct 2007, 11:38
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World's Dumbest File Sharer demands retrial
'Snot fair
Attorneys for Jammie Thomas, the defendant in the first P2P file sharing trial, have persuaded her to demand a retrial. Thomas was fined $220,000 by her fellow citizens in Duluth, Minnesota, for making copyright material available for download on Kazaa, so she may have little left to lose. While the jurors had little …
Law 16 Oct 2007, 11:39
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Nokia N76 mobile phone
Review Not a poster child for Nokia's sense of originality
Out of the box the first thing that struck us about the N76 was how much it looked like the Motorola Razr flip. The similarity to the Razr isn't limited to the looks department - it's about the same size and weight too. Many things it may be, but Nokia's 3G flip smartphone isn't much of a poster child for the Finnish company's …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 11:46
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Greenpeace admits iPhone 'compliant' with Euro chemicals rules
And... er... Apple's own targets
Greenpeace has laid into Apple's iPhone, alleging the device isn't eco-friendly enough - only to admit that the product not only meets the terms of Apple's own pledges on the use of certain hazardous chemicals but doesn't fall foul of European Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation either. The NGO bases its …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 11:51
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Dodgy wet wiring caused ISS computer crash
Russian-American astro-bickering should cease forthwith
The guidance computers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) did not fail because of the newly-installed power systems, as initially supposed. It was actually a single corroded connection and "shocking" circuit design that caused the control systems to power down back in June. Writing for the IEEE publication Spectrum, …
Servers 16 Oct 2007, 12:06
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Digital Switchover: town to lose BBC 2 tomorrow
Other analogue channels going next month
BBC 2 viewers living in Whitehaven, Cumbria will lose the channel tomorrow unless they immediately switch to a digital TV signal, as analogue transmissions to the town are being switched off in the morning. The airwave cull doesn’t stop at just one channel though, because the town and the surrounding area of Copeland also …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 12:11
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Microsoft drops South Korea anti-trust appeal
Shuts up and pays up
Microsoft is dropping its appeal against South Korea's anti-trust case after it lost a similar appeal against the European Competition Commission. South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) found Microsoft guilty of breaking anti-trust laws by bundling its media player and instant messenger programmes with its operating …
Software 16 Oct 2007, 12:12
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Met used 'dum-dum' ammo on de Menezes
Which would have been fine, if he was a bomber
The latest reports from the Stockwell Two trial, in which the Metropolitan Police are corporately in the dock for wrongly shooting dead Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, have it that the plods used "dum dum" bullets. Even after all this time, the term "dum dum" still carries misty pejorative connotations in the British public …
Law 16 Oct 2007, 12:15
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Alien attack? Yes, we're ready for anything
After being mayor of New York, aliens do not scare Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani, US presidential hopeful and ex-hardline-Mayor of New York, says that under his command, the US will be prepared for anything, up to and including an alien attack. He made the rather unlikely claim at a public conference, when a young lad in the audience piped up with the following: "If (there's) something living …
Bootnotes 16 Oct 2007, 13:00
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Be customers still exposed by router snafu
ISP playing cat and mouse on security
O2-owned ISP Be is fighting a constant battle to stay one step ahead of hackers because of a router vulnerability exposed back in February. Be subscribers were exposed when London student Sid Karunaratne demonstrated it was possible to gain remote root access using poorly concealed telnet backdoors. Admin usernames and …
Security 16 Oct 2007, 13:08
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Chinese master crims leg it with 60kg in coins
100 cops pursue small change marathon men
Two Chinese master criminals were pursued for three kilometres by 100 cops after rather brilliantly deciding they could do a runner from a Qingdao hotel with 60kg of small change. According to the Qingdao Morning News, the pair, "sweating profusely", huffed and puffed their way to a cuffing bearing the breathtaking haul of 6, …
Bootnotes 16 Oct 2007, 13:12
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Citizen Kane Oscar goes under the hammer
Up to $1.2m estimated for Welles' only statuette
Sotheby's New York has announced that on 11 December it will auction the 1942 best screenplay Oscar awarded to Orson Welles and Herman J Mankiewicz for Citizen Kane. Despite being nominated for three honours - best screenplay, director and actor in a leading role - Kane attracted just the one statuette, which would remain …
Entertainment 16 Oct 2007, 13:19
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Spanish regulators in mobile price fix probe
What Spanish practices?
Spanish regulators have opened an investigation into the country's three largest mobile firms over allegations of price fixing. The National Competition Commission is looking at whether Movistar, Vodafone and Orange colluded in increasing tariffs in March. The price increases were introduced after a system that rounded up call …
Mobile 16 Oct 2007, 13:36
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Plan for 20mph urban speed-cam zones touted
Live slow, die old, leave a wrinkly corpse
Just when you thought it was safe to go driving again without being repeatedly photographed - with news breaking this week that the government has put national road pricing on the back burner - the nanny state lobby has bounced back off the ropes with ambitious new plans. The 'casts and sheets this morning are full of a new …
Government 16 Oct 2007, 13:41
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Quantum scientist wins Euro computing prize
Plans to build bigger computer, do harder sums
A quantum physicist has scooped a major prize for computing for his work on the edge of both disciplines. The Royal Society said it had chosen to bestow the €250,000 Royal Society and Académie des Sciences Microsoft European Science award on Professor Giorgio Parisi, professor of quantum theories at the University of Rome La …
Physics 16 Oct 2007, 13:51
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Cane toads pay dearly for stretching their legs
Arthritis affects amphibian advance
Scientists from the University of Sydney and the Department of Primary Industries have offered Aussies some slim hope that they will not ultimately be driven from the Lucky Country by rampaging hordes of cane toads who continue their inexorable march across Oz. Cane toads were introduced into Australia from Hawaii in the 1930s …
Biology 16 Oct 2007, 13:57
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BSkyB sues EDS for £709m
Gunning for damages over 'woeful' performance
Media giant BSkyB is suing US IT outsourcing firm EDS for £709m in a High Court case that kicked off in London yesterday. The broadcaster alleges that EDS failed to fulfil obligations of a £48m contract for a customer service system that was first agreed in 2000. BSkyB's barrister in the case said the firm's subsequent …
Channel Register 16 Oct 2007, 14:48
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Dino-boffins unearth another new gigantic species
Pre-Christmas marketing from board of palaeontology?
Yet another giant dinosaur has been dug out of the ancient rock of this fair planet. Clearly unwilling to be outdone by American or Japanese duck-billed dinosaur discoveries, Argentine and Brazilian palaeontologists have announced the discovery of Futalognkosaurus dukei, a massive plant-eating beast. According to the BBC, the …
Biology 16 Oct 2007, 14:59
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Unimpressed Sheilas mock boy racers' todgers
Oz road safety ad cuts speed merchants down to size
A New South Wales road safety initiative, featuring a video in which females suggest that Down Under's boy racers are somewhat lacking in the trouser department, has been hailed as "one of the state's most successful anti-speeding campaigns" according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Two Sheilas give their opinion of boy racers' …
Bootnotes 16 Oct 2007, 15:35
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Swearing at work 'good for business'
Thank f**k for that
There's some good news today for El Reg hacks and indeed anyone who likes a solid bit of effing and blinding at work - the University of East Anglia has found "the use of non-conventional and uncivil language can be a useful emotional release and an effective way of promoting social relationships with others". Put simply, …
Bootnotes 16 Oct 2007, 16:00
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Apple to roll out Mac OS X 10.5 next week
Def' Leopard
Apple has named the day it will release Leopard, the next major version of Mac OS X. It'll go sale in the UK on Friday, 26 October at 6pm. Apple's pricing the product at £85 over here and $129 in the States - fractionally cheaper than the previous release, Mac OS X 10.4, Tiger, which retailed £89 in the UK. Perhaps that …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 16:39
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Nokia flings frill-free phone at families
Ring and txt
Nokia's apparently family-friendly 2135 handset looks plain compared to the LG Prada or iPhone, but is designed to offer the bare minimum of features needed for running a family or just staying in contact. Nokia 2135: Fun for all the family? The dual-band CDMA handset operates over the 800/1900MHz frequencies and has a 96 …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 16:44
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Asus launches tiny PC
Micro computer
Asus has formally rolled out its Eee PC line of sub-notebook computers, a week after UK supplier RM - formerly Research Machines - spilled the beans on two of the models. The complete line-up comprises four computers. Asus' Eee PC and... er... Reg Hardware reader, yesterday All four models are based around the same 7in …
Reg Hardware 16 Oct 2007, 16:58
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Pentagon in orbital solar power plan for world peace
Military techno-hippies: make 'leccy not war, man
Everyone knows that the US military is massively involved in American energy supplies. The deal is often said to be one of swapping blood for oil, though if it's just American blood we're on about the exchange rate is pretty good. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that - overall - America swaps assorted explosives for oil …
Space 16 Oct 2007, 17:40
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Top USAF buyer found dead
Accused of accepting money from contractor
A high-ranking member of the Air Force's procurement office with a mandate to repair his department's reputation died in an apparent suicide, two weeks after a newspaper reported he accepted more than $26,000 from a private contractor. Civilian official Charles D. Riechers, 47, was found dead at his home on Sunday night after …
Government 16 Oct 2007, 18:51
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Researcher releases unofficial IE fix for URI bug
Whose (malformed) line is it anyway?
A security researcher has beaten Microsoft to the punch with the release of an unofficial patch for an Internet Explorer 7 bug. The unofficial update targets a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) vulnerability that Microsoft acknowledged last week, after months of maintaining that the flaw stemmed from the security shortcomings …
Enterprise Security 16 Oct 2007, 19:26
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Storage sector needs to think greener
SNW Before they're in the red
Fingernail biting over the cost of storage power and cooling hasn't reached the epoch haunting the server space, but it's headed that way. The green bandwagon is departing, and it's high time for storage managers to jump aboard, according to Microsoft senior manager SW Worth. "A lot of focus on green computing is on servers …
Storage 16 Oct 2007, 19:48
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Ubuntu goes 3-D
IMAX theaters needed
The folks at Canonical have started to prepare their servers for downloads of the latest Ubuntu release - 7.10 or "Gutsy Gibbon." Past Ubuntu releases have been marred by downed servers, as the Umbongo faithful rush to get their fresh code injection. So, this time around, Mark Shuttleworth and crew are doing their outreach …
Servers 16 Oct 2007, 19:50
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Napster spins music for the web
Linux, OS X spoken here
Sick of being a minnow in a small pond, Napster has launched a web-based version of its digital music service that for the first time allows users to listen to songs without having to download special software. The service works on newer versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox, which means the service can now work on most …
Music and Media 16 Oct 2007, 21:30
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SiCortex superflopper found at DOE lab
Weird and paid for
DeLorean-inspired supercomputer maker SiCortex has found its first customer. Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois has picked up a SC5832 beasty. The system can crank through 5.8 teraflops and will be used for tasks in the astrophysics, climate modeling and biotechnology arenas. You know, low-end computing. The customer …
Servers 16 Oct 2007, 21:33
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Intel's bottom line turns greener than green in Q3
How chipper (ouch)
Intel looked less lumbering and more revitalized in its third quarter. The chip maker boosted revenue 15 per cent to $10.1bn. It also pumped net income higher by 43 per cent to $1.9bn. That's a healthy chunk of change to keep on hand for a rainy day. It was not too long ago that AMD was wreaking havoc on a bloated, lethargic …
PCs & Chips 16 Oct 2007, 22:24
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AC/DC become masters of their domain
Now featuring more Angus and less anus
After years of trying, Australian power rockers AC/DC have finally obtained acdc.com from a porn company that used the site to redirect many an unwitting fan to sites offering filthy photos of bondage, water sports and other types of kink. With song titles including "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," "Sin City" and "Touch Too Much …
Music and Media 16 Oct 2007, 23:49
