The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

16th November 2007 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Warner Music supremo in Apple-fondling mea culpa

    'Jobs was right. I was wrong.'

    Two years after he publicly badmouthed iTunes, Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. now thinks it's just peachy. Speaking earlier this week at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, Bronfman admitted that the music industry was dead wrong about the digital music revolution, before spewing some Apple sweet talk that still …

    Music and Media 16 Nov 2007, 00:24

  • Top IBM mainframe reseller threatens to exit biz

    'Leading OEM' hampers QSGI

    A leading dealer of refurbished IBM z-series mainframes is looking to exit the hardware reselling business due to a "leading OEM" allegedly killing their ability to reconfigure systems. QSGI is a relatively small, publicly traded company that specializes in buying, refurbishing and reselling IBM mainframes. They have the …

    Servers 16 Nov 2007, 04:47

  • Reckless loss of laptop data? ICO calls for stiff fines

    Parking a laptop without due care and attention...

    Information Commissioner Richard Thomas told the House of Lords this week that doctors should be fined up to £5,000 if they lose confidential patient data. Giving evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee, Thomas said: "If a doctor, or hospital [worker] leaves a laptop containing patients' records in his car and it …

    ID 16 Nov 2007, 07:02

  • ISPs baffled by Gordo's 'plans' for web terror talks

    Invite's in the post is it?

    Internet providers have reacted with confusion at Gordon Brown's announcement that the Home Office will summon them to Westminster for anti-terror discussions. The PM unveiled wide-ranging measures in Parliament this week (full speech here). Slipped into the middle of the long list of jihad-squashing pledges was news that " …

    Government 16 Nov 2007, 07:02

  • Macca says Beatles catalog to hit net next year

    'When I'm 66'

    Sir Paul McCartney has said The Beatles catalog will officially reach the net sometime next year. He did so with some very typical Paul speak. "It's all happening soon," the former cheeky mop top told Billboard.com. "Most of us are all sort of ready. The whole thing is primed, ready to go - there's just maybe one little …

    Music and Media 16 Nov 2007, 09:19

  • Rosetta spies nightlife on our sleeping planet

    Goodnight, Earth

    What better way to start a Friday than with a stupendously glorious picture of our planet? Well, we couldn't think of many better ways that are legal, so we've gone for the picture option. The Earth's night side, as seen by Rosetta. Credit: ESA This is a composite image of the night side of the Earth, as seen by the cameras …

    Space 16 Nov 2007, 09:48

  • Consumer groups urge Supreme Court to curb patent power

    Selling second-hand patented goods should not be illegal

    The US Supreme Court has been urged not to make it illegal to sell second-hand patented goods. Digital rights activists have begun a campaign to keep a buyer's right to sell on used goods. The part of US patent law that allows an owner of a computer or camera to sell it after use is called patent exhaustion. It restricts the …

    Law 16 Nov 2007, 09:49

  • Consumer electronics fuel chip sales

    Insatiable apetite for gadgets drives demand

    Semiconductor sales will grow at an annual rate of 7.7 per cent until 2010, when they'll exceed $321bn, according to the latest industry figures. The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) says consumers' seemingly insatiable appetite for electronic products is driving this growth. Emerging consumer markets in Asia, South …

    PCs & Chips 16 Nov 2007, 10:00

  • Asking for experience in job ads could land you in hot water

    Hiring policies need review to comply with age laws

    Employers must curb their demands for fixed amounts of experience from job applicants to avoid falling foul of discrimination legislation, an employment law specialist has warned. The caution comes after a secretary won a case against her former employer for dismissing her because she was too young. Catherine Barker, an …

    Business 16 Nov 2007, 10:18

  • Woman finds boyfriend dead in catflap

    Florida man firmly wedged in feline death portal

    Florida authorities are probing just how a 32-year-old man trying to get back into his girlfriend's house via the catflap came to kill himself in the process. Charles Tucker Jr had earlier been ejected from the premises, in St Augustine, by his other half. Several hours later on Saturday morning she found him dead, firmly …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 10:27

  • Question mark over Tony Blair web privacy policy

    'You want to speak to ???????????????? ?'

    Tony Blair kicked off the website for his "foundation" this month, but the man who was a control freak in office seems to be taking a far more relaxed attitude to running his web presence. The site will be the shop window for all the great things the still young and vibrant if manifestly ex-PM is planning to achieve. It …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 10:38

  • Oz Santas suffer no 'ho ho ho' blow

    Traditional phrase 'may be offensive to women'

    A recruitment company's decision to advise its Santas to refrain from uttering the traditional "ho ho ho" because it "was too close to the American slang for prostitute" has caused a pre-Xmas rumpus Down Under, Oz's Daily Telegraph reports. According to one former trainee Santa who signed up with Westaff, a company which …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 10:42

  • Man buys Eee PC, erases Linux, installs Mac OS X Leopard

    'Eee done what?

    An enterprising Eee PC user has managed to install Apple's Mac OS X 10.5, aka Leopard, onto his tiny laptop - though he quickly saw the error of his ways and replaced the OS with the previous version, Tiger. Blogger Dan, posting on Uneasy Silence, notes that anyone attempting the maneouvre needs not only an external DVD drive …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 10:43

  • Russian: I killed Buster Crabb in 1956 underwater scrap

    Cut throat of MI6 frogman beneath Soviet cruiser, apparently

    A new chapter has been added to the evergreen saga of Commander Lionel "Buster" Crabb and his disappearance underwater during the visit of a Soviet warship carrying Nikita Khrushchev to Portsmouth Harbour. A retired Russian sailor has claimed that he killed Crabb. The Commander was already famous for his World War II …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 11:00

  • Asus Eee PC 4G sub-sub-notebook

    2007's Top Products The ultimate laptop?

    Asus' diminutive Eee PC 4G 701 micro-laptop is here. It's garnered an amazing welcome from computer users looking not for the acme of performance but for a highly portable wireless notebook with a decent battery life. Will they be disappointed? First, for anyone's who's missed the Eee PC hoopla, Asus' little laptop is like a …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 11:02

  • Europe eyes six Martian landing sites

    Targeting oldest, wettest areas

    The European Space Agency (ESA) has compiled a shortlist of places it would like to look for life (past or present) on Mars. Artist's impression of the Rover. Credit: ESA The agency says its ExoMars mission, planned for a 2013 launch, will touch down on some of the red planet's oldest rocks, as these might once have been in …

    Space 16 Nov 2007, 11:15

  • Intel expands debut 45nm Core 2 Duo line-up

    Roadmaps extra CPUs in January, April

    Intel has added a fifth desktop Core 2 Duo processor to the list of 45nm 'Penryn' CPUs it plans to release early next year. The addition is the E8190, a version of the already scheduled E8200 that doesn't support virtualisation or Intel's Trusted Execution Technology, Taiwanese motherboard-maker moles claim by way of local …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 11:22

  • 419er fears unsolicited intergalactic email

    Better to 'discurse vivdly on phone'

    Thanks very much to reader Daniel O'Donovan for forwarding this Friday livener - a short but illuminating 419 email which demonstrates why, when attempting to negotiate a $9.5m transfer deal, it's better to talk by phone: Dear Sir, I am a solicitor and I am the personal attorney to late Mr Alex Lee. I am writing you to …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 11:35

  • iTuneski for films challenges Hollywood

    DRM-free downloads at $2.99 a pop

    A Russian movie download site is looking to undercut Western services with cheap film downloads at typical prices of about $2.99. ZML.com, which describes itself as a movie library, offers around 1,500 titles without copy protection. Customers can burn downloaded content onto DVDs. Titles on offer include summer blockbusters …

    Music and Media 16 Nov 2007, 11:38

  • Museum archive turns up new dinosaur family

    A hidden treasure in piles of dusty old bones

    A PhD student has uncovered a new family of dinosaur, not in a cliff face, or in a desert, but tucked away in a dusty archive in the Natural History Museum in London since 1890. Mike Taylor said that the specimen leapt out at him as being totally unfamiliar. "I've spent the last five years doing nothing but looking at sauropod …

    Biology 16 Nov 2007, 11:50

  • Nintendo completes DS Lite 'refresh' - analyst

    A lighter DS Lite

    Nintendo will release a third-generation DS Lite as soon as sales of the current model begin to dip in its major sales markets, an industry analyst has claimed. Nintendo's DS Lite: superseded soon? Gaming website Gamespot said that Evan Wilson, an analyst at investment bank Pacific Crest Securities, told investors that " …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 11:54

  • BOFH: Workplace accidents = 0

    Episode 38 It's been 10 days since... uh oh...

    "Excellent," the new Boss burbles as the PFY updates the 'days since last workplace accident' sign (put there since the last IT decimation). "Ten days since the last accident." "I think you'll find that's a binary number," the PFY says. "Still... 10 days," the Boss counters to much rolling of eyes. "And that's only because …

    BOFH 16 Nov 2007, 12:02

  • Woman chews on chap's todger in fast food joint

    NSFW Swede declines oral sex, ends up on the menu

    A 22-year-old Swedish woman has been found guilty of "assault and sexual harassment" for tucking into a stranger's penis after he declined her offer of a swift BJ, The Local reports The incident took place in March at a fast food outlet in Falköping. The unnamed assailant "approached the man and asked him several times if he …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 12:17

  • Dell goes after sweet Everdream

    More services pillow talk

    In its latest step into the services market, computer giant Dell said yesterday that it has signed an agreement to buy privately-held software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Everdream. Dell said that the planned acquisition of the California-based remote service management firm would complement the capabilities it gained from …

    Channel Register 16 Nov 2007, 12:23

  • Aussie-Irish boozer ejects 'terrorist' drinker

    Judging a person by a book's cover

    In a story replete with irony, a man has been booted out of an Irish pub in Cairns after his fellow drinkers, disturbed by his choice of reading material, reported him to the pub management. He was reading The Unknown Terrorist, a fictional thriller that tells the story of a ballet dancer who has a dodgy one-night stand with …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 12:28

  • German amateur code breaker defeats Colossus

    Updated Reversal of fortune

    An amateur cryptographer from Germany has beaten Colossus, the world’s first programmable digital computer, in a code-breaking challenge. The original machine was developed at Bletchley Park to crack encrypted German messages during World War II. After years of painstaking restoration work a recreation of machine returned to …

    Security 16 Nov 2007, 12:32

  • Drunk US man asks drunk son to take the wheel

    13-year-old duly obliges

    An unnamed Michigan man is facing "a bevy of misdemeanor charges, including child endangerment, allowing an intoxicated person to drive his car, and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive" after asking his 13-year-old son to occupy the driver's seat because he was too sozzled to take the wheel. The problem was, the lad was …

    Bootnotes 16 Nov 2007, 13:08

  • Shuttle lands Linux SFF PCs in the UK

    One for business, a second for pleasure

    Shuttle has begun offering British buyers a range of its XPC machines with Linux pre-installed, the small form-factor PC specialist said today. Shuttle has two XPCs on offer: the SD3002W and the SD300Q2, the former loaded with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1 and the second with OpenSuSE. They're pitched, respectively, at …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 13:37

  • Strange industry movements as some get on their bikes

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

    It was a week of strange movements in the industry. Odd exits include the sudden departure of Adobe boss Bruce Chizen. Second up was the unexpected exit of the international boss of Cable & Wireless Harris Jones. Capgemini redundancies Also seeking opportunities in the big room are some 600 Capgemini staff currently working …

    Business 16 Nov 2007, 13:38

  • Dell to pump out Ubuntu servers

    Nearly certified...

    Dell is expected to announce early next year that it has certified Ubuntu Linux for its server product range. The firm has already been selling Linux servers loaded with Ubuntu, Red Hat, and SUSE to any customers that request it, but it has not been able to offer in-depth support. In an interview with eWeek, Dell vice …

    Servers 16 Nov 2007, 13:41

  • Ambitious E-Ten updates Glofiish smartphones

    Will they hook you?

    Taiwanese manufacturer E-Ten has expanded its Glofiish smartphone range with the launch of the 3.5G M800 - part of its plan to double its share of the Windows Mobile market to 20 per cent by the end of 2008. E-Ten's M800: a 640 x 480 VGA display While the M800's slide-out Qwerty keyboard is a nice feature for those not …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 13:49

  • Chinese cyber strikes will be 'like WMD'

    China very dangerous, say US gov China-danger watchers

    A US government panel specially created to warn of danger from China has warned of danger from China. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) says the People's Republic is brewing cyber network attacks which could cause "disruption and chaos" with the "magnitude of a weapon of mass destruction". The USCC …

    Security 16 Nov 2007, 13:49

  • PS3 firmware update filters web content

    Yes but how much will it cost to use?

    Sony has integrated a website filter into its latest PlayStation 3 firmware. But while use of the utility is optional and, for now, free, neither the console giant nor its security partner, Trend Micro, are saying how much they'll demand from user whene the free-use period ends next April. Trend claimed the site blocker, which …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 13:55

  • Tim Burton to shoot 3-D Alice in Wonderland

    Director hooks up with Disney for two-movie deal

    Director Tim Burton has signed a deal with Walt Disney Studios to produce two 3-D films, kicking off with a version of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The film will, Variety explains, combine "performance-capture imagery" - currently wowing the crowd in Beowulf - and live-action footage. Linda Wolverton of The Lion King …

    Entertainment 16 Nov 2007, 14:02

  • Lindsay Lohan in 84-minute jail ordeal

    Fails to break Nicole Richie's short-stay record

    Befreckled thespiatrix Lindsay Lohan has failed to break the "shortest celebutard porridge" record after spending a harrowing 84 minutes in jail for drunk driving and possession of Bolivian marching powder - two minutes longer than Nicole Richie served for a similar pissed-behind-the-wheel conviction. Lohan, 21, who was …

    Entertainment 16 Nov 2007, 14:46

  • Fox News: Filthier than the internet

    Too hot for Digg

    College geek web aggregator Digg has banned a satircal site that takes aim at Fox News' predilection for broadcasting salacious stories. Foxnewsporn.com uses clips from the angry channel to suggest that its shoutily conservative stance on political issues is somewhat at odds with the number of stories it airs about such …

    Entertainment 16 Nov 2007, 14:49

  • Truphone phones a friend

    Expansys to pre-install Truphone client on Nokia handsets

    Expansys, the first port of call for the technically-literate UK gadget buyer, has launched their own VoIP service in something of a departure from their core business, though on closer examination it's a branded version of Truphone. Expansys VoIP will come as a pre-installed application on Nokia handsets sold by Expansys, at …

    Mobile 16 Nov 2007, 15:13

  • PS3 overtakes Wii in Japan

    Weekly-sales winner announced

    Sony's PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo's Wii in Japan last week, figures from local market watcher Media Create show. Some 55,924 PS3s were purchased in the week ending 11 November, compared to 34,456 Wiis and just 5817 Xbox 360s. Clearly, the Halo 3 effect and Microsoft's price cut have done their work. That's a marked change …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 15:14

  • Lifelike, sexy robot infiltrators influence Belgian mobs

    And so it begins

    Brussels boffins have finally cracked one of the most elusive and long-sought of all technology achievements - that of deploying lifelike robot agent provocateur infiltrators using realistic sex pheromones to influence mass psychology. In this case, the population to be manipulated by droid love agents was a group of …

    Biology 16 Nov 2007, 15:16

  • Jimmy Page donates Zep gig tickets to charity

    eBay auction to help Brazilian street kids

    Jimmy Page has donated a pair of tickets for Led Zeppelin's December 10 reunion gig at London's O2 arena to Brazilian street kids charity Task Brasil. Page is a long-term supporter of the charity, and helped establish Rio's Casa Jimmy - one of the organisation's projects which "improve the lives and support the needs of …

    Entertainment 16 Nov 2007, 15:17

  • Northamber reports static Q1 revenue

    Weak at the knees cos of weak dollar

    IT equipment distie Northamber PLC said its first quarter sales had failed to grow on the same period a year ago. Speaking at Northamber's annual general meeting today, chairman David Phillips attributed the firm's revenue standstill to the weakness of the US dollar. He said that tough economic conditions would continue to " …

    Channel Register 16 Nov 2007, 15:26

  • UK patent rules put firms at disadvantage

    High Court will hear all about it, next week

    Until recently InRotis, a small company spun out of Newcastle University, was part of a High Court action aimed at forcing the UK Intellectual Property Office to ensure the patent protection offered to UK patent holders matches that available in Europe. However, the firm was granted a European patent for its work, and as a …

    Law 16 Nov 2007, 15:40

  • US downplays Gitmo manual leak

    Unclassified but embarrassing

    The US Army is downplaying the significance of the leak of a military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the controversial terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. The 238-page manual, Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures, gives an unprecedented insight into the working of a facility where the US has …

    Law 16 Nov 2007, 15:57

  • IPCC's final report on climate change due tomorrow

    Brace for impact

    The final part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report is due to be published tomorrow. The IPCC scientists are expected to warn that the effects of climate change will be "abrupt and irreversible", according to reports. The report is, as you might expect, a distillation of the IPCC's publications during …

    Science 16 Nov 2007, 16:19

  • Monsters of the ID come to mobile

    Creators of Doom and Quake establish mobile division

    Id Software, the company responsible for Quake, Doom and Wolfenstein, has established a mobile division with a view to porting all three games to mobile phones, according to USA Today. Id has done mobile games before: the Doom RPG was (and is) a turn-based version of the original 3-D violence, which sold more than a million …

    Mobile 16 Nov 2007, 16:43

  • Beer-drinking ladyboy fish can live out of water

    Jungle boffin in metaphor mass-murder shocker

    Scientists deep in the jungles of Central America have discovered a type of fish which can live happily for months out of water, in a development with enormous consequences for the English language. Reuters reports that groups of Rivulus marmoratus, "a type of small tropical killifish" can live for long periods without water …

    Biology 16 Nov 2007, 16:45

  • Dell prices up all-on-one XPS desktop

    Fiat Uno

    Dell is still promoting its all-in-one consumer desktop the XPS One as "coming soon", but that hasn't stopped it getting ready for the big day with a webpage full of specs and prices. The PC giant has four standard models with starting prices ranging from $1499 to $2399. All four sport a 20in display, 2GB of 667MHz DDR 2 …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 16:47

  • PS3 joystick unveiled

    Joystick Vs Dual Shock

    It sounds unbelievable, but until now PS3 gamers didn’t have a joystick to their names. Thankfully, peripherals manufacturer Thrustmaster has launched what it claims is the world’s first PS3 joystick, dubbed the T. Flight Stick X. T. Flight Stick X: cruise control The joystick, which is also PC compatible, is designed for …

    Reg Hardware 16 Nov 2007, 16:56

  • AMD sells 8.1 per cent stake to Abu Dhabi firm

    Mubadala chips in

    Chip giant AMD today confirmed that it had received a significant cash injection from an investment outfit based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company coughed up a considerable stack of money said to be around the $622m mark. Mubadala was given 49 …

    Financial News 16 Nov 2007, 17:11

  • Google will definitely bid for US wireless spectrum

    In the loose sense of the word

    Google is "gearing up to make a serious run at buying" a prime portion of the US wireless spectrum. And it's prepared to bid with nothing but its own money. At least, that's the word from this morning's Wall Street Journal. The soon-to-be Murdoch-ized paper also said that Google is testing an "advanced wireless network" at its …

    Wireless 16 Nov 2007, 18:06

  • Android: developer dream or Google cash machine?

    Strange metallic bedfellows

    Google's marketing department no doubt popped the champagne corks following the massive media coverage and largely positive reaction to Android. OK, so it wasn't actually a phone, but who cares? Slowly, though, criticism is being heard over Google's decision to make Android available under an Apache Software Foundation (ASF) …

    Mobile 16 Nov 2007, 18:49

  • Crypto guru warns over random number backdoor

    Spooky

    A top cryptographer has expressed concern about a possible backdoor in a standard for random-number generators approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this year. Random number generators are important because the correct operation of SSL and other protocols relies on their randomness. Standards …

    Enterprise Security 16 Nov 2007, 19:19

  • Gene Simmons blames college kids for ruining music biz

    To Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails: Get off my lawn!

    Music pirates have made a powerfully bitter enemy of Gene Simmons, bass guitarist for the 1970s band Kiss. In a recent interview with Billboard, Simmons curmudgeonly blames "college kids" for the "mess" the record industry is in, and blasted artists like Radiohead and Trent Reznor for seeking a different businesses model to …

    Music and Media 16 Nov 2007, 19:25

  • Boeing guards its right to tail employees

    Perfectly legal

    As Americans fret over the Bush Administration's efforts to eavesdrop on their telephone and internet communications, many of us forget how common it is for employers to spy on their workers. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is here to remind us of that sad fact, with a story reporting on a program within Boeing that tracks …

    Law 16 Nov 2007, 20:28

  • ICANN speeds IDN ccTLDs

    No translation necessary

    The likes of China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia are on the fast track to net domains that use their very own alphabets. This week, at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro, ICANN announced that it's cranking an effort to provide certain very important nations with "country code top-level domains" that use " …

    Public Sector 16 Nov 2007, 20:36

  • Intel's 4004 microprocessor calc code brought back to life

    As the flowchart turns

    From the sweet as a nut files: we've come across a web site that has recreated the original software that ran on Intel's first commercial microprocessor - the 4004, released in 1971. The story of the 4004's creation is the stuff of legend, and most semiconductor veterans will know the tale. For those who don't, here's a brief …

    PCs & Chips 16 Nov 2007, 22:00

  • BitMicro pumps solid state drives to 1.6TB

    Altima 4Gb/s FC SSD not for storage toddlers

    Storage vendors have been sieging the large business market with solid state drive offerings for years — but cost and capacity restrictions have mostly kept them at the gate. Only recently has the technology advanced enough to to make SSD gear a plausible replacement for traditional disk storage. Take BitMicro for instance, …

    Storage 16 Nov 2007, 22:02