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19th October 2007 Archive

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  • Google back to wowing Wall Street

    Profits pumped 46 per cent

    Google still has a knack for wowing Wall Street. Today, the world's largest search engine announced profits of $1.07bn for the financial quarter ending September 30, a 46 per cent year-over-year increase that exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts. Meanwhile, Q3 revenue hit $4.34bn, a 57 per cent jump from the same …

    Financial News 19 Oct 2007, 00:18

  • Analysts ecstatic over AMD's $226m loss in Q3

    'Nice job, guys'

    You have to appreciate Wall Street's unending desire to see AMD - the ultimate underdog - succeed. The chip maker today posted a $226m loss in the third quarter, replacing a $121m profit in the same period a year ago. In addition, executives rebuffed any requests to commit to profitability down the road. But still the analysts …

    Financial News 19 Oct 2007, 00:26

  • Sony reaffirms IBM as 45nm Cell partner

    Cheaper chips for PS3

    Sony and IBM have renewed their processor development partnership and agreed to co-operate on work to take the PS3's Cell chip into the 45nm era. The deal, which Sony said would yield "a lower power and lower cost processor" for its next-gen games console, appeared as a footnote to Sony's agreement to sell its Nagasaki …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 07:02

  • Thai police nab manhunt suspect

    Unscrambled child abuse pic operation leads to arrest

    Thai police have arrested a suspected paedophile who became the subject of an international manhunt. Interpol issued an unprecedented appeal for help after experts succeeded in unscrambling digitally-swirled images of the suspect, contained in depictions of the abuse of young boys posted online. Five different sources …

    Crime 19 Oct 2007, 07:35

  • Bankers could get a kicking on Day of the MiFIDs

    Storage Expo Ambulance-chasers to target financial firms

    Ambulance-chasing lawyers will have a big new target from next month - the financial services industry. So said PJ Di Giammarino, a consultant and keynote speaker at Storage Expo this week. It's all thanks to MiFID, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, a Europe-wide regulation which comes in on 1 November this year. …

    IT Director 19 Oct 2007, 08:02

  • Kiwi brewery offers lifetime's beer for stolen laptop

    But there's a catch

    A Kiwi brewery is offering a "lifetime supply" of beer in exchange for the return of a stolen laptop. The Croucher Brewing Company near Rotorua is anxious to recover a PC containing designs, financial information, and contact details which was pinched on Monday. Backup copies of data held on the machine were taken but are …

    Crime 19 Oct 2007, 08:08

  • IBM and Sun reseller goes into administration

    Exclusive: PCS hits the ropes

    Productivity Computer Solutions, an IBM and Sun reseller based in Wakefield, has gone into administration. A spokesman for chartered accountants Tait Walker said: "We were appointed administrators on the 15th of October but can't say any more than that at this stage." Steve Wolski, managing director at PCS, told the Reg: "We …

    Channel Register 19 Oct 2007, 08:48

  • Ixos unveils cubic speakers, not for squares

    They won't roll away

    We thought Cubism was old hat, but it’s back, in audio form. Ixos has created a cube-shaped portable speaker for use with all sorts of musical devices, including iPods. The XMM238 has 1W speakers built into the left and right-hand sides. It also stays true to its true cube credentials by measuring 7 x 7 x 7cm. Ixos: …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 09:02

  • IP telephony: does it float your boat?

    Reader Poll Have your say

    IP telephony (IPT) solutions have been in the market for quite a while and our research indicates continued and growing activity in this area. However, the issue of service and call quality is still frequently mentioned in the press, with references to small businesses in particular ripping out their VoIP/IPT solutions and going …

    Small Biz 19 Oct 2007, 09:09

  • Tech deals boost M&A activity

    £5bn spent in third quarter

    Over €5bn was spent on mergers and acquisitions involving Irish firms in the third quarter, with tech-related M&As among the most valuable deals. Overall, the value of M&As carried out in the quarter was almost three times that for the same three-month period last year. The value of acquisitions in the first nine months of …

    Financial News 19 Oct 2007, 09:34

  • Xbox 360 wrests US sales lead from Wii

    Halo effect

    Microsoft's Xbox 360 outsold the hugely popular Nintendo Wii in the US last month as consumers caught Halo 3 fever, sales figures from local market watcher NPD reveal. In September, Microsoft shipped 527,800 360s, up 90.8 per cent on the previous month's total, 276,700. That growth pushed 360 shipments past the Wii, which …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 09:45

  • UK fast food peppered with salt

    Probe reveals 'shockingly high levels'

    A probe into the culinary offerings of the UK's favourite fast food restaurants has found "shockingly high levels of salt in some family, individual, and children's meal options", which in many cases could result in kids receiving well over their maximum daily recommended limit in just one sitting. That's according to Consensus …

    Biology 19 Oct 2007, 10:02

  • Neanderthals had key speech gene, researchers say

    But did they have much to say?

    Neanderthals may have a reputation in popular culture as a lumbering, grunting people, but researchers have discovered that they did have a gene thought to play a key role in speech. Samples of DNA were retrieved from two Neanderthal fossils found in a cave in northern Spain. Careful examination revealed that the pair both had …

    Biology 19 Oct 2007, 10:22

  • Did MoD chopper buzz sunbathing au pair?

    Conservatory wrecked in alleged low-flying 'frolic'

    An Eastbourne couple has claimed in London's High Court that a Ministry of Defence (MoD) helicopter wrecked their award-winning conservatory while the crew attempted to "communicate" with a sunbathing au pair. According to the Telegraph, Barry and Anna George's glass outhouse at The Old Stables in Mead Street - which "won an …

    Law 19 Oct 2007, 10:25

  • Ask.com firm palms off Excite Europe

    Changes hands more often than Abu Hamza

    Still remember Excite? The web portal also-ran used to be somebody in times of internet yore. Excite Europe has now been taken on by something called GoAdv, "a media company specialised in generating qualified traffic on the internet". The Italian firm has declared the modest aim of boosting traffic to the portal from its …

    Applications 19 Oct 2007, 10:35

  • Apple, Tesco 'most to blame' for music biz crisis

    The great unbundling

    A new report suggests that Apple and Tesco, not P2P file sharers, should take the most blame for the woes of the British music industry. The report, prepared privately by consultants Capgemini for the Value Recognition Strategy working group, set out to examine the "value gap", the amount sound recordings revenue has fallen …

    Music and Media 19 Oct 2007, 10:49

  • Slingbox Pro networkable TV tuner

    Review Tuner sandwich

    When we recently reviewed Sling Media's Slingbox Solo, we noted that the lack of a TV could limit its usefulness for quite a few folk. Well, now it's the turn of the other new - in the UK at least - Slingbox, one that does have a tuner: the Slingbox Pro. Sling Media's Slingbox Pro: multiple input, one output The Pro is …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 11:02

  • BOFH: The bastard wants to know

    Episode 35½ Are you faking it?

    IT is a complex business and let's face it, hard to keep up with. At some stage in your career you're going to pass the point of no return where the next technological leap means as much to you as human rights to a defence contractor. But have you passed this point already? Are you just pretending to be the IT expert that you …

    BOFH 19 Oct 2007, 11:02

  • BT blows £250m on wind power

    Dialling down the carbon footprint

    BT is investing a whopping £250m in a series of wind farms that will generate 25 per cent of the firm's energy requirements by 2016. BT currently accounts for almost one per cent (0.7 per cent) of the UK's entire energy consumption, making it the biggest single consumer of power we have. The move has been welcomed by the …

    Networks 19 Oct 2007, 11:02

  • Audioengine shrinks audiophile speakers for desktops

    Made out of kevlar and silk

    US speaker maker Audioengine has released a desktop version of its integrated-amplifier A5 shelf speaker set. The A2 set incorporate materials like kevlar and silk to produce a sound that the company claimed belied the speakers' low cost. Audioengine's A2: desktops for audiophiles? The glossy 15 x 10 x 13.1cm speakers …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 11:08

  • Ballmer: I will buy 20 web companies a year

    Fat head, fatter wallet

    Steve Ballmer has told an audience of foaming Silicon Valley start-up types exactly what they want to hear: he will buy 20 web companies a year for the next five years. The Microsoft boss made the promise at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. He didn't say what these 100 acquisition targets would do for his firm, or where …

    Software 19 Oct 2007, 11:20

  • Record labels to ditch CD singles for USB Flash drives

    Majors plan singles-on-stick releases

    USB Flash drives will soon appear in record stores in a bid by major music labels to build up sales of physical media in the post-CD era. Yes, but where are the sleeve notes? Universal told The Times this week that by the end of this month it will release USB singles holding several songs, videos and multimedia content. …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 11:20

  • Beautiful faces, Trojans and Fasthosts

    To subscribe to The Register's weekly newsletter - seven days of IT in a single hit - click here

    It’s the end of the week. Thinking about that after work pint? Getting ready for the Rugby final? Pity the bods at Gloucester-based Fasthosts then. The hosting firm warned customers on Thursday morning that it had called in police to investigate a major data breach. Here’s the fun bit. It told us: "As a precautionary measure, …

    Business 19 Oct 2007, 12:02

  • EU plans ban on bomb-making info on websites

    Part of imminent 'ambitious counter terrorism package'

    European Union Justice, Freedom (sic) & Security Commissioner Franco Frattini yesterday turned up the volume on terror threats, ahead of the EU's adoption of "an ambitious counter terrorism package" next month. Terrorists, said Frattini, seek new technology, could deploy bioterrorism with devastating effect, and if they got hold …

    Law 19 Oct 2007, 12:03

  • Apple iPhone is AT&T's top-selling handset - analyst

    Kids and oldies love it

    Love it or loathe it, there's no denying Apple's iPhone is popular. According to market watcher Strategy Analytics, the Apple handset has become AT&T's top-selling phone, accounting for 13 per cent of the carrier's device sales. SA also claimed the iPhone was the fourth best-selling mobile phone in the US during Q3, having …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 12:23

  • PS3 Eye digicam to arrive next week

    Keep an eye out for it

    Sony has finally announced that its PS3 Eye camera will hit European shop shelves next week, bundled with an interactive board game. Sony's PS3 Eye: cheaper, camera-only pack coming soon The Eye will be sold with game Eye of Judgment for around £65 (€90/$125) in the UK on 26 October, three days after its US release. There …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 12:31

  • Public tracks down Gordon Bennett

    Also sniffs out dog's bollocks

    We're pleased to report that eagle-eyed amateur linguistic sleuths have tracked down the earliest sighting yet of Gordon Bennett, whose name has long been held to be a euphemism for "gorblimey", itself from "God blind me". The discovery of Gordon in J Curtis's 1937 book You're in the Racket, Too! ("Gordon Bennett. He wasn't …

    Bootnotes 19 Oct 2007, 13:04

  • Banking data fears over Fasthosts intruder

    Customers in the dark

    Investigators are racing to establish whether the intruder who hacked into a server at Gloucester-based web host Fasthosts stole banking information. The breach was revealed yesterday. Fasthosts has told customers to change all their passwords, which were not encrypted. Fasthosts has not revealed whether the attacker gained …

    Crime 19 Oct 2007, 13:08

  • Bad hair day for alternative browser users

    Critical Opera and Firefox bugs menace IE-refuseniks

    There's bad news for users of alternative browsers this Friday, with both Opera and Firefox subject to security vulnerabilities. A trio of faults in Opera create a means to construct cross-site scripting attacks and other mischief. The worst flaw of the bunch involves the possibility that external news readers or email clients …

    Security 19 Oct 2007, 13:18

  • Air chief: UK should have RAF astronaut

    Ballistic brylcreem boys for Blighty

    The head of the Royal Air Force (RAF) has said the UK should have a manned space programme, and that his organisation should provide astronauts. Flight International reports that Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy expressed his views at a big dinner in London this week. The good marshal apparently felt that the lure of …

    Space 19 Oct 2007, 13:30

  • Women's panties threaten Burmese Junta

    Ladies' smalls sap generals' vital energy

    The Burmese military is facing an unexpected threat from female opponents to its regime - a deluge of panties dispatched to the country's embassies in a "culturally insulting gesture of protest" against its recent crackdown on protestors. According to AP the Panties for Peace initiative is not merely symbolic, since the the …

    Bootnotes 19 Oct 2007, 13:36

  • The first rule of Reg Club is...

    Thou shalt not...

    OK, we all know why we're here, so let's get straight down to it. We've looked at your suggestions for the rules of Reg Club and whittled them down to an definitive eight. First up, though, let's consider a few comments which didn't make the final cut but we thought worthy of mention. Anonymous Coward complained: "Seriously, …

    Bootnotes 19 Oct 2007, 13:39

  • Ships pollute more than planes

    More CO2 overall, not vessel for vessel

    Ships pump out twice as much carbon dioxide as planes, according to new figures from the maritime industry body Intertanko. The body also warns that the industry should brace itself for the attentions of various governments. Bill Box, from Intertanko, told the Independent newspaper: "Shipping has not yet been regulated and for …

    Physics 19 Oct 2007, 13:59

  • Becta reports Microsoft to OFT

    More interoperability woes for Redmond

    The British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) has referred Microsoft to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for alleged anti-competitive practices in the schools software market. Becta, the government's education ICT partner, made the complaint on 19 October 2007. It also relates to concerns over Microsoft's …

    Software 19 Oct 2007, 14:01

  • Judge orders football website to name 'libellous' posters

    Owls boss gets the hump over strikers and hookers dig

    A UK judge has ordered a football fans' website to hand over details of posters who made potentially defamatory remarks about directors of Sheffield Wednesday. The move, in what's being viewed as a test case, has implications for the owners of, and posters on, other football chat websites. Sheffield Wednesday club chairman Dave …

    Law 19 Oct 2007, 14:21

  • Watson suspended by research lab after race row

    DNA pioneer denies allegations of racism

    James Watson, the Nobel prize-winning scientist who caused an uproar earlier this week with his comments to a Sunday newspaper has been suspended by his research laboratory. The Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory in New York issued a statement saying that it had taken the action "pending further deliberation by the board". Watson …

    Science 19 Oct 2007, 14:33

  • Cisco denies Brazilian tax lambada

    Shhh! That's the forbidden fraud

    Cisco has denied wrongdoing in the tax fraud scandal that engulfed its Brazilian tentacle earlier this week. In a statement released to newspapers in the country, Cisco said: "Analysing the facts to which we have access, we do not believe that Cisco acted in an inappropriate manner." According to Reuters, the statement said …

    Data Networking 19 Oct 2007, 15:03

  • Igor-style human, animal parts assembly on horizon

    Kit-form Lurch servants/monkey butlers for all

    Topflight Mancunian scientists believe they will soon pioneer an improved technique for splicing together human nerves. This could offer a range of benefits, not least the ability to assemble huge, powerful bodies out of miscellaneous human parts and implanted brains harvested from condemned criminal maniacs. It seems that a …

    Biology 19 Oct 2007, 15:31

  • Ears turn to USB for virtual 7.1 sound source

    Who needs a sound card?

    Want to take advantage of 7.1-channel sound sources but your computer's only capable stereo output? If so, this little gadget could be just what you need. Brando's 7.1-channel USB adaptor The USB 2.0 device plugs directly into your PC, and Brando claims it will deliver 7.1-channel sound to a pair of headphones through a 3. …

    Reg Hardware 19 Oct 2007, 16:11

  • Leprechaun steals Gandalf's trousers, is offered starring role in The Hobbit

    Comments While Microsoft invades your brain

    Microsoft has announced its intention to try to read our minds. Saying it wants to better understand human-computer interaction, the mega-corporation has filed a patent for a psychic alternative to those irritating surveys no one likes. You were full of dystopian predictions: It looks like you're trying to compose a thought. …

    Letters 19 Oct 2007, 16:13

  • Cannon runs amok, kills nine fleshies

    Software glitch to blame for berserker?

    South Africa authorities are investigating how nine soldiers were killed and 15 injured during a training exercise when an anti-aircraft gun went haywire. An artillery officer who reportedly risked her life was unable to curtail the fatal firing spree involving a 35mm Oerlikon cannon at the army's Lohatla training base in …

    Rise of the Machines 19 Oct 2007, 16:21

  • Of opposable thumbs and software engineering

    Where will evolution take us

    It’s been almost 200 years since Charles Babbage first started work on his difference engine, and programmable computation is fast approaching 100 years old. Over this time there has been a lot of change in software development and in this article we look at the evolutionary pressure that has shaped that. Can we predict the …

    Developer 19 Oct 2007, 21:26

  • 'Fiendish' Trojan pickpockets eBay users

    It's new and improved. And it just nabbed $8,600

    Miscreants have unleashed a new strain of a sophisticated Trojan that targets eBay users by feeding them spoofed web pages containing fraudulent information about high-ticket purchases, The Register has learned. It has already contributed to an $8,600 loss by one eBay member. The Trojan installs a scaled-down webserver on an …

    Security 19 Oct 2007, 21:36

  • Are PCs doomed to banality? Let's ask legend Dave Patterson

    Radio Reg Microsoft RAMPs up, while Google flies

    Talk to a computing legend like Dave Patterson, and you're bound to happen on some unexpected discoveries. The Berkeley professor and RISC/RAID pioneer this week joined Chris Hipp and me for Episode 9 of Semi-Coherent Computing. Patterson surprised the heck out of us with some off topic news that Google is paying for employees …

    Semi-Coherent 19 Oct 2007, 21:46

  • American football power nabs phone numbers for 13,000 StubHubers

    Spying on the field. Spying on the web

    First, the New England Patriots used surveillance equipment to spy on the New York Jets. And now they've used a Massachusetts state court to spy on up to 13,000 people who use StubHub.com. After repeated pleas from the American football franchise - winner of three of the last six Super Bowls - Massachusetts Superior Court Judge …

    Law 19 Oct 2007, 23:56