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21st December 2007 Archive

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  • Anti-virus protection gets worse

    What is this thing you call heuristics?

    Antivirus software is getting worse at protecting users from new threats, according to two reports which found malware authors are getting better at disguising their creations. German computer magazine c't studied 17 antivirus programs and exposed them to completely new samples of malware. What they found wasn't encouraging. …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 03:05

  • New Red Hat CEO checks open source claims

    Not my bag, baby

    The news that the operations chief from a major US airline, Jim Whitehurst from Delta, is taking over at Red Hat from Matthew Szulik is a further sign of the growing legitimization of open source and Linux in the eyes of corporate, mainstream America. It underscores how the “suits to sandals” ratio in the open source and Linux …

    Servers 21 Dec 2007, 09:19

  • DCMS inks IT deal with Atos Origin

    Overcomes seven year itch to sign £14m contract

    The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced a £14m contract with Atos Origin for IT services. It signifies a seven year continuation of the relationship in which the company has designed, implemented, and managed the IT infrastructure of the DCMS. Under the new contract, Atos Origin will continue to provide the …

    Financial News 21 Dec 2007, 09:51

  • Gov departments need better data systems, NAO says

    8% 'not fit for purpose'

    The National Audit Office wants improvements in the data systems used to measure performance across Whitehall Many government departments need to improve the data systems they use to report progress in meeting official targets, finance watchdog the National Audit Office has said in its latest validation report. It found that …

    Government 21 Dec 2007, 10:00

  • Fayrewood waves au revoir to French periperals unit

    DCC snaps up firm for €12m

    Fayrewood Plc confirmed yesterday that it had sold French outfit Banque Magnetique SAS to DCC Plc's retail disty subsidiary. Gem Logistics scooped up the consumer electronics and IT peripherals firm after DCC paid Fayrewood €12m to complete the deal. A further €500,000 will be handed over on 30 June next year subject to …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 10:47

  • Russian Feds close in on Pinch Trojan authors

    Tales from the Underground

    Russian authorities have identified the authors of the notorious Pinch malware creation toolkit. Arrests are expected to follow. Pinch is a Trojan creation toolkit that is reckoned to have been used by virus writers to infect tens of millions of PCs. The toolkit is sold in black market hacking forums. Script kiddies were able …

    Malware 21 Dec 2007, 10:48

  • Sony Ericsson Walkman W910i motion-controlled phone

    Review The shake of things to come

    Sony Ericsson takes moving to the music literally with its motion-sensor based “shake control” track-changing gadgetry. But there’s far more to the HSDPA 3G-enabled Walkman W910i phone than slick moves. The W910i's slick sliderphone design also nods firmly in the direction of Sony Ericsson’s W880i slimline candybar - reviewed …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 11:03

  • Who's archiving IT's history?

    Column The mishandling of Babbage's baggage

    The relaunch of the IT History Society (formerly the Charles Babbage Foundation) exposes a problem which the Web has brought to journalism and historians - stuff is not being preserved. There are people, however, who are trying to build proper records of the past. The question is whether this works. The IT History Society is …

    Storage 21 Dec 2007, 11:41

  • Chambers number 2 walks out of Cisco

    CEO wannabe Giancarlo not a team player

    Cisco number two Charles Giancarlo, who was widely tipped to become the firm's next CEO, has resigned. The network giant said yesterday that a rejig of the organisation's business was underway to shift from a "command and control" structure to a team-led approach. Cisco CEO John Chambers said that he had hired a group of …

    Data Networking 21 Dec 2007, 11:49

  • Microsoft goes beta for Xmas as CSC leaves staff pie-eyed

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

    Microsoft gives Christmas beta Microsoft gave punters an early Christmas when it spat out a beta of the final Windows XP Service Pack. It's almost four years since the last service pack. Punters see this as a relief – Microsoft, clearly, would rather they quietly move to its Vista OS. What's that? You'd rather get the flu for …

    Business 21 Dec 2007, 11:50

  • BOFH: The trivia quiz

    Episode 43 Test your skill. Place your bets!

    BOFH: The Trivia Quiz Yes! It's time for the Bastard Trivia Quiz! Test your skill! Place your bets! General Knowledge 1. You're in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. Where do you go? A. N B. S C. E D. W E. To lunch 2. Network utilisation figures are reaching an all time high for no apparent reason. This …

    BOFH 21 Dec 2007, 12:02

  • MIT in pedal-powered 'super' computer stunt

    'Maybe a solution for alternative energy, or something'

    A group of MIT students and staff has used stationary cycles to power a computer, in a feat that was described by one of them as "something that will hopefully lead to maybe solutions for alternative energy, something like that". Ilana Brito, a graduate student in biology, and her nine teammates in the MIT Cycling Club …

    Servers 21 Dec 2007, 12:02

  • Sharp, Toshiba to share LCD TV toys

    Plan to buy each others' kit

    Sharp and Toshiba have agreed to work together on the development of their LCD TV product lines. The deal will see Sharp buy Toshiba LCD TV chips in return for Toshiba buying Sharp LCD panels sized 32in and above. The arrangement will commence April 2008, when the two firms both begin new financial years. By 2010, half of …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 12:13

  • Europe to save citizens from rubbish Web 2.0 media

    Media studies education for all, apparently

    The European Union's Directorate of the Bleeding Obvious* has concluded, essentially, that the media is full of rubbish and that its audience is ill-equipped to assess the quality of the information that it is offered. Furthermore, the audience itself is now complicating matters by producing its own rubbish in multiple …

    Government 21 Dec 2007, 12:25

  • Handhelds dominate Japanese pre-Xmas console sales

    DS rules the roost

    Nintendo's DS Lite continues to dominate the attention of Japanese consumers, notching up ever increasing weekly sales through the past four pre-Christmas weeks - even as Sony's PSP pushed ahead of Nintendo's other star, the Wii. According to figures from Japanese market watcher Media Create, some 222,132 DS Lites were …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 12:44

  • IBM forges Solid acquisition

    Xmas shopping for in-memory database software

    IBM announced this morning that it will buy privately-held database software developer Solid Information Technology for an undisclosed sum. Solid's in-memory database software allows quick retrieval of data from a computer's memory (or RAM). Using the technology, enterprises can access and store data at speeds up to ten times …

    Storage 21 Dec 2007, 12:59

  • Plunging player prices to reveal Blu-ray vs HD DVD winner?

    'Format clarity' coming in 2008, says analyst

    A clear leader in the battle to be the top next-generation optical disc format could emerge next year as player prices plummet and take of the cost of entry out of the equation, market watcher Understanding & Solutions (U&S) has claimed. While consumers remain confused about whether to back HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc, the high …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 13:02

  • US air force, Boeing press on with alternative jet fuel tests

    Virgin scum-jumbo trial next year could rattle Saudis

    Boeing, manufacturer of much of the world airliner fleet, is to test the feasibility of using biofuels derived from non-standard feedstocks in its aircraft. Meanwhile, the US air force effort to develop domestically-supplied fuels continues. Flight International reports that Boeing's environmental strategy chief, Bill Glover, …

    Science 21 Dec 2007, 13:03

  • Chip overflow puts dent in 2008 forecast

    Talks of pesky recession ain't helping much either

    The semiconductor biz looks set for a bumpy start to the New Year with analysts downgrading worldwide spending and sales expectations amid oversupply woes, high energy costs, and credit crunch fears. Gartner reduced its forecast for sales for chip building equipment by nearly 10 per cent to $40.3bn for 2008, a decrease of $4. …

    PCs & Chips 21 Dec 2007, 13:48

  • Indignant reader defends Idiot 2.0™

    FoTW 'Bugger off out the office'

    Oh dear, oh dear - it appears CNET's blogging pundits are not actually a legitimate target for us proper hacks, those of us who've done English O-Level and read a couple of novels. In case you missed it, this hack yesterday took exception to this crap by CNET's Steve Tobak. Ok, I admit it - I was at the time bombed on whiskey …

    Letters 21 Dec 2007, 13:54

  • Ad hijacking Trojan targets Google

    Misdirection ruse

    Security researchers have identified a Trojan that hijacks Google text advertisements, replacing them with "ads" from a different provider that are likely to be laced with spyware. The Qhost-WU modifies an infected computer's hosts file, thereby poisoning systems with bogus DNS lookup records. The hosts file matches domain …

    Malware 21 Dec 2007, 13:57

  • N-Gage First Access debut date slips... again

    November December 2008?

    Nokia's revamped N-Gage online gaming platform has fallen further behind schedule, the Finnish phone giant's official N-gage blog has admitted. An "unexpected" issue exposed by N-Gage First Access Platform testers prompted Nokia to delay the launch, planned for this week, the blog said. The launch has been put back until after …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 14:09

  • Sun gets EMEA boss at last

    Early Christmas present

    Sun has finally found someone to take the reins of its European operation, just in time to sign this year’s Christmas card. Alain Andreoli is to take over as senior vice president for EMEA. His 25-year tech CV includes a 14-year stint at TI, five years at StorageTek, and stings at McData and Verio. Most recently he was CEO at …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 14:34

  • Russian railways in robot repairman revue

    Dwarf droid dancers in TV debut

    Russia's railway industry has thrown down the gauntlet to the rest of the world, exhibiting a team of dwarvish droids which can sing and dance on tables. Railways chiefs say that the machines will be used for tricky repair work in confined spaces. The miniature mechanoid mechanics were recently exhibited on Russian TV, and - …

    Science 21 Dec 2007, 14:36

  • Private equity firm snaps up Northgate

    Shares surge, investors line pockets

    Kholberg Kravis Roberts and Company has inked a £593m deal to buy UK HR software outfit Northgate Information Solutions Plc. News of the private equity acquisition pushed shares in the firm up by nearly 44 per cent on the London Stock Exchange this morning. Investors can expect a big 95 pence a share payout from the sale, …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 14:56

  • Skipton in lost laptop security woes

    14,000 accounts suspended after latest data breach

    Skipton Financial Services has confessed to losing a laptop containing records of 14,000 customers. Information exposed by the breach includes names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, and fund investment details of clients of Skipton's Fidelity FundsNetwork. The laptop was nicked from a locker being used by a staff member …

    ID 21 Dec 2007, 15:06

  • Tesco to start flogging Dell computers

    Pile-high sell-cheap squared

    Tesco has clasped Dell to its sizeable retail bosom, and will begin punting the firm's computers from next month. Closely following DSGi, which last week inked a similar deal with the PC giant, Tesco will be dishing out Dell XPS desktops and Inspiron notebooks to its huge customer base. The retailer will also flog Dell …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 15:08

  • Censor to challenge Manhunt 2 release in court

    Judge says it has a case

    A judge has granted the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) a full court hearing for its argument that controversial videogame Manhunt 2 should not be released in this country. Mr Justice Wyn Williams also suspended the Video Appeals Committee (VAC) ruling that the game should be given a certificate, allowing it to go …

    Reg Hardware 21 Dec 2007, 15:09

  • Third round of consultations on 2.6GHz auctions

    Get your spectrum here, lovely spectrum, we got all sorts

    Ofcom has announced a third consultation on the bidding process for 2.6GHz and 2010MHz, both frequencies being desirable for the next-generation telephony crowd including both the WiMAX and LTE standards. The newly-available spectrum will be up for auction in 2008, but Ofcom started the consultation process in December 2006, …

    Networks 21 Dec 2007, 15:40

  • One in five apps are insecure

    Survey exposes patching woes

    One in five software apps installed on computers are insecure or out of date, according to data from an online security inspection service. The data is based on scans of more than 14.5 million applications on end-user computers whose users installed Secunia's freely available software inspection tool. The Danish security firm …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 15:44

  • Ofcom, US senators turn on to cognitive radio

    You are entering the white space

    Ofcom's Digital Dividend review has given a clear endorsement to the unlicensed use of cognitive radio - devices able to seek out unused spectrum - ahead of EU approval and indeed the existence of any such devices. Meanwhile, the FCC has today received a letter signed by five senators promoting the same technology. The …

    Networks 21 Dec 2007, 15:56

  • Samba shakes hands with Microsoft

    No royalties to pay in interop deal?

    The Samba team has reached an agreement with Microsoft, with the software giant agreeing to disclose technical and legal information to the software libre project. Samba is by far the most widely-used software stack that allows non-Microsoft computer to talk to Windows machines, and use proprietary Microsoft network services. …

    Servers 21 Dec 2007, 16:46

  • Dell buys UK storage networking consultancy

    Methodist hymn

    Dell is buying a UK data storage consultancy for an undisclosed sum. It's called The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC) and the founder, Simon Pennock, ran EMC in the UK and Ireland for a while. Dell likes the methodologies TNWSC has devised to evaluate, choose and install storage networks, and will roll the service out across …

    Storage 21 Dec 2007, 21:06

  • Compaq returns to Germany - as brand for bottom-feeders

    Faded glory

    From January, HP is to start selling Compaq PCs in Germany again - because it needs a downmarket brand to help it better compete with the local market leader Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC). Compaq, you will recall, always charged more than its competitors, but it was not particularly strong in Germany, where the brand …

    Channel Register 21 Dec 2007, 22:51

  • Wishing you an EMF-free Christmas

    Christmas gifts for the truly paranoid

    With Ofcom auctioning off spectrum left, right and centre, there has never been a better time to panic about what all those frequencies might be doing to your body, regardless of the lack of scientific evidence that it does very much at all. So if you're looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for the electromagnetic paranoid …

    Wireless 21 Dec 2007, 23:02

  • Click here to turn your HP laptop into a brick

    More bundled software madness

    A second bug in HP laptop utilities creates a means for hackers to turn PCs into "unbootable" bricks. Flaws in the automatic software update tool bundled with HP notebooks might be abused to alter vital system files (in the kernel or elsewhere) leaving PC unbootable, according to a post on the milw0rm full disclosure mailing …

    PCs & Chips 21 Dec 2007, 23:12

  • US TKOs Antigua in bizarre WTO arbitration decision

    Dispute strangely reaches climax

    The long-running dispute between little Antigua and the mighty US over the cross border provision of gaming services came to a head this morning, with the announcement of a US $21 mil award in Antigua’s favor. The amount was quite a bit less than the $3.4 bil demanded by the Antiguans, but considerably more than the $500,000 …

    Law 21 Dec 2007, 23:19

  • Serious Flash vulns menace at least 10,000 websites

    No patch anytime soon

    Researchers from Google and a well-known security firm have documented serious vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash content which leave tens of thousands of websites susceptible to attacks that steal the personal details of visitors. The security bugs reside in Flash applets, the ubiquitous building blocks for movies and graphics …

    Enterprise Security 21 Dec 2007, 23:44