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18th January 2008 Archive

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  • How and why MySQL grabbed $1bn in five weeks

    Radio Reg Mickos and Sun's Green dish the dirt

    When one of technology's major players lays down $1bn for an open source software maker, the Open Season crew must swing into action. To our credit, we swung in style this week, getting Sun - the acquirer - software chief Rich Green and MySQL - the acquired - CEO Marten Mickos on the horn. Matt Asay of Alfresco fame, Dave …

    Open Season 18 Jan 2008, 00:17

  • IBM ignores foundering economy with top notch Q4

    2008 looking okay too

    IBM did its best to calm fears of an imploding economy by posting strong fourth quarter results and issuing an optimistic take on the months to come. The computing giant enjoyed a 10 per cent (4 per cent in constant currency) gain in revenue to $28.9bn. IBM also saw income rise 14 per cent year-on-year to $4bn. Most of IBM's …

    Financial News 18 Jan 2008, 00:24

  • Developer heads are in the cloud, Andreessen says

    Build a platform and they will come

    Marc Andreessen predicts a future where systems companies like Sun Microsystems see their volume businesses shrink and massive online services providers become prime customers. Andreessen, who helped launch the internet revolution through his work at Netscape Communications and on the Mosaic browser, said developers will flock …

    Developer 18 Jan 2008, 00:39

  • AMD gains altitude in Q4 but hit by ATI scud missle

    Still expects profits in Q3 '08

    AMD says its chugging ever-closer to profitability. Perhaps it's right. The chip fabbing second-banana's losses shrunk in the fourth quarter of '07 — well, sort of. The company said it achieved a "near break-even performance" in the traditionally strong Q4 sales season. A feat that's true in the theoretical sense, but largely …

    Financial News 18 Jan 2008, 01:43

  • Seagate posts good-ish quarter, fuels Wall Street jitters

    Ain't no pleasing some folk

    Seagate's fiscal '08 second quarter net income nearly tripled from a year ago and revenue jumped 14 per cent. Unit shipments hit 50 million, up 20 per cent year-over-year, on the back of strong demand from digital equipment manufacturers. Freckle-faced and brimming with pride, Seagate came skipping home to investors today …

    The Channel 18 Jan 2008, 03:00

  • Software firm bills council over high website traffic

    You're not Entitledto free service...

    A software firm has unsuccessfully billed a local authority £10,000 after its website received lots of traffic from the council. The bill was based on a claim that Derby Council staff were using a free web tool for work purposes. Entitledto.co.uk is a software firm that produces benefits calculation software. It hosts a free …

    Policy 18 Jan 2008, 08:02

  • Digital deals screwing the indie labels?

    Stick together, advises IODA chief

    Must the digital music revolution screw the little guy? Kevin Arnold, founder of major digital distributor IODA, thinks not. Arnold issued a warning for labels not to do direct deals with internet companies that can't or won't pay them - or only pay them peanuts. IODA supplies iTunes and Rhapsody with a catalog of thousands of …

    Media 18 Jan 2008, 09:59

  • Your views on the Green debate

    Poll Results The Americans are ahead again

    The Americans are ahead again. This time it's in their negative attitudes towards the "green imperative". We asked for your feedback in December and followed up with a quick poll in January. Our thanks to the 3,000 or so folk who responded. But what a stark contrast between North American respondents and the rest of the English- …

    Tech Panel 18 Jan 2008, 10:02

  • Jobs: Blu-ray wins HD format war then loses to downloads

    Physical media out-evolved, apparently

    Blu-ray Disc beat HD DVD, but who cares? Downloads, not physical media, are the future of HD content consumption. So said Apple CEO Steve Jobs this week, a comment that's a distant echo of allegations made by Transformers director Michael Bay last year. Bay grumbled that the HD format war was, in part, Microsoft's fault, the …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 10:16

  • Finance watchdog warns about being 'seduced' by IT partnerships

    Don't fall for smooth talk

    The Audit Commission says councils must be not be "seduced by the warm language of partnerships". Local government IT partnerships intended to overcome the drawbacks of traditional contracts, often fail to live up to expectations, an Audit Commission report (pdf) reveals. In an examination of so-called strategic service …

    Policy 18 Jan 2008, 10:23

  • HTC Pharos smartphone lit up on web

    Sleek GPS handset revealed

    Pharos, an upcoming GPS-enabled HTC smartphone, has made an unscheduled early appearance on the web. The handset is also known as the P3470. HTC's Pharos: lighting the way? Image courtesy PCDelbolso.com The pic comes courtesy of Portuguese-language website PCDelbolso.com, which maintains the Pharos has 3G connectivity, Wi- …

    Mobile 18 Jan 2008, 10:39

  • Carphone results flat but outlook unchanged

    Don't mention the iPhone

    Carphone Warehouse increased retail revenues by 13 per cent for the 13 weeks ended 29 December 2007, but saw a like-for-like increase of just one per cent. Speaking during an analyst's call this morning, the firm denied that footfall from the iPhone had artificially buoyed results. Looking forward over the next 12 months, …

    Mobile 18 Jan 2008, 10:51

  • Got an amicable a*se? We have the job for you

    'Generous package' for right set of buttocks

    The Healthcare Informaticists among you looking to pick up a healthy £45-50k a year down in southwest England might want to have a shufti at this opportunity on totaljobs.com. Obviously, you'll need all the usual qualifications and experience required of a Healthcare Informaticist "working very closely with CfH", but be warned …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 10:56

  • Carl Zeiss tries its hand at iPod-friendly video goggles

    Watch TV with your specs

    If you’re literally looking for new ways to watch videos, then cast your eyes over the Cinemizer specs - goggles that display pictures right before your very eyes. Carl Zeiss' Cinemizer: video on the go Although they aren’t the only video glasses around - manufacturer Myvu has a snazzy pair out too - the Cinemizers have …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 10:56

  • Wii Fit gets mat

    End Balance Board slippage misery

    As UK gamers await the arrival of Wii Fit, one intrepid retailer has already seen the game's potential for accessory sales. The Wii Fit Mat: stay on board Japanese retailer Hori has begun promoting an exercise mat to accompany Nintendo’s game, which has already sold one million copies since its release in the country last …

    Games 18 Jan 2008, 11:00

  • Mexico and Africa to become malware hotspots

    It's the socio-economy, stupid

    Central America, India, China and Africa are likely to become the hotspots of malware production and cybercrime over the next five years, according to an analysis by net security firm F-secure. The majority of cybercriminals currently operate from Russia, China and Southern America. The former Soviet republics have become …

    Security 18 Jan 2008, 11:11

  • US Army proto-Dalek combat robots enter testing

    Flying wastebin wardroids a taste of things to come?

    Monster Pentagon contractors Boeing and SAIC jointly announced today that two of their latest offerings for the future robot armies of America have entered military testing early. The machines in question are a relatively dull lightweight groundcrawler job and a frankly splendid ducted-fan flying Dalek. The two mechanoid …

    Science 18 Jan 2008, 11:32

  • Arbor snaps up Ellacoya to move out of security ghetto

    Look deep into this packet and tell me what you see

    Network security tools firm Arbor has sealed a deal to acquire broadband service optimisation firm Ellacoya Networks. Terms of the deal, announced Thursday, were undisclosed. Arbor specialises in protecting service provider networks from security threats ranging from DDoS attacks to the effects of botnet infestation. Its …

    Security 18 Jan 2008, 11:36

  • US biotech firm in new human cloning claim

    Hwang on a minute...

    An obscure California biotech company says it has cloned the first embryos from adult human DNA. It's a claim that has been made by frauds and crackpot cults in the past, but the news been greeted with a sceptical welcome by other scientists. The new research by Stemagen appears in the second division peer-reviewed journal …

    Science 18 Jan 2008, 11:47

  • Mickey Mouse CIO joins Microsoft

    Replaces one Scott with another

    Microsoft said yesterday that it has hired Disney man Tony Scott, who will replace sacked chief information officer Stuart Scott. He will head up the software giant's global IT helpdesk, which has 4,000 staff and oversees tech systems for Redmond's worldwide sales, marketing and services. It also looks after the firm's …

    Management 18 Jan 2008, 12:00

  • Nude Italian models in kit-on protest

    Strike over pay and conditions

    Italian nude models have hit art schools where it hurts by resolutely refusing to get their kit off in a strike over pay and conditions, the Times reports. The protestors are demanding “professional recognition” and full-time contracts in an industry where just 50 of 300 nude models have "fixed annual contracts", while the …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 12:01

  • BOFH: Defusing the enthusiast

    Episode 2 We don't need Linux's best-kept secret

    Isn't it always the way that at the beginning of the year, when your enthusiasm for work is at an ebb, that the Boss decides it's a good time to get someone in to talk about some piece of software that you just don't want to use? And isn't it also always the case that when you get someone in to talk to you they're not only …

    BOFH 18 Jan 2008, 12:02

  • Researchers share video contact lens vision

    Rabbit beta testers demand wider content selection

    Boffins in America have finally put aside childish things and set themselves to the task of genuinely benefiting humanity, according to reports. The US brainboxes believe they are well on the way to designing contact lenses with video screens in them. The technology was showcased at a microsystems engineering conference …

    Science 18 Jan 2008, 12:21

  • USB 3.0-sporting devices start to appear... sort of

    New-style portage spotted

    USB 3.0 hasn't yet been fully completed but it's implementation could come more quickly than its predecessor's did. Vendors are already starting to prepare their computer hardware for the new bus standard. Today, for example, we saw an upcoming Asus notebook with a pair of USB 3.0 ports. Well, sort of. The ports are actually …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 12:48

  • Sparks fly over electric shock dealing Dell laptop

    Has your XPS M1530 given you a tingling sensation?

    Some Dell laptop owners may be in for a shock, but not because of a sudden price crash on its machines. It’s because a number of customers claim they are receiving electric shocks when they touch their laptops. Numerous comments have been posted on a Dell community blog from customers owning Dell XPS M1530 laptops, which they …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 13:05

  • BBC: Death by a thousand top-slices

    Share the dosh, says Culture Minister

    BBC executives may be demanding emergency supplies of jelly as they digest the latest statement from the Culture Minister today. The corporation should share revenue raised by the TV license fee with other media companies, James Purnell said yesterday. "The greatest unwitting enemies of public-service broadcasting are those …

    Media 18 Jan 2008, 13:07

  • Apple MacBook Air

    Unwired Video Preview How skinny is that?

    After Steve Jobs' Macworld Expo keynote, we got our hands his latest product announcement - the stunning MacBook Air laptop... Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The Air is incredibly thin and an amazing feat of engineering - although the lack of a replaceable battery is a bit of a killer.

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 13:27

  • EC goes after Microsoft, Sun buys MySQL and Oracle buys BEA

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

    Electric supercar running flat Tesla, the alleged electric sports car, is still having problems. The company is laying off staff this week and warning those that have pre-ordered that the car will arrive with an interim transmission. Are Greens really good for you? The British government needs to wake up and write a biofuels …

    Business 18 Jan 2008, 13:34

  • Heathrow 777 crash flattens servers

    Pilot service PPruNe downed

    Yesterday's crash-landing of a BA Boeing 777 at Heathrow had the unfortunate knock-on effect of flattening the servers of the Professional Pilots Rumour Network (PPRuNe). This morning, the site was showing the following message: PPRuNe Servers vs Exceptionaly High Number of Visitors Whilst this may be a sore point for many …

    Science 18 Jan 2008, 13:49

  • Microsoft puts dusty, old Office code on web

    ODF fans say, 'we're not simple, we're elegant'

    Microsoft has made technical information for its older binary Office document formats available for download following pressure from participants in the ongoing, somewhat fiery, standardisation debate. Redmond's Office programme manager Brian Jones said in a blog post this week that the documentation will be accessible via …

    Software 18 Jan 2008, 13:55

  • Bobby Fischer checkmated at 64

    Eccentric grandmaster dies in Reykjavik

    Former US citizen and chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer died yesterday in a Reykjavik hospital aged 64, the Evening Standard reports. The cause of his death is not known, but he'd been ill for some time. Fischer will be best remembered for his 1972 clash with Russian Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, which resulted in the US's first …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 14:27

  • Storm Worm turns one

    Many unhappy returns

    Thursday marked the first anniversary of the infamous Storm Worm. Created by a Russian-based criminal network, the malware rapidly infected millions of PCs in Europe and North America and continues to be a problem. The Storm Worm malware (more properly known as a Trojan) strain first surfaced on 17 January 2007, in emails …

    Security 18 Jan 2008, 14:40

  • Germans send teen tearaway to Siberia

    Boot camp cure for violent youth

    The German authorities have packed off a violent 16-year-old youth to fend for himself in a remote Siberian village in the hope the "intensive educational experience" will cure him of his anti-social tendencies. The unnamed lad, from the central state of Hesse, was given his marching orders after "behaving violently in school …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 14:50

  • Lindsay Lohan packed off to morgue

    Close brush with death for DUI thespiatrix

    Talented thespiatrix and drunk driver Lindsay Lohan will do two four hour shifts in a morgue as part of a court-ordered programme designed to hammer home to DUI perps the consequences of getting sloshed behind the wheel. Lohan will also do two days working in a hospital emergency room as part of her punishment for misdemeanour …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 14:57

  • Vote for the World's Worst Unboxing

    Competition Unveiling the Golden Goldfish

    It's Friday afternoon, a guilty trail of Bombay Mix leads from the server room to the pub, and that can only mean one thing: it's time for another Reg Competition. This time it's something special. We want you to Shame The Guilty caught taking part in one of Web 2.0's sickest acts: the Unboxing Ritual. The er, what? Well, …

    Bootnotes 18 Jan 2008, 15:34

  • Epson Stylus D120 colour inkjet printer

    Review See Em Why Kay Kay

    In some cases, replacing inkjet cartridges can work out almost as expensive as buying a new printer. What makes one machine stand out from another, aside from operating costs, is print quality - and as an effective home office offering, the Epson Stylus D120 is worth a look. Despite roughly adhering to the standard appearance …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 15:39

  • Pentagon in $75m electropulse blast-ray programme

    Terawatt RF zap weapons sought

    Despite decades of disappointment, plucky Pentagon boffinry chiefs continue to seek a working electromagnetic pulse weapon - the dreaded, circuitry-frying "e-bomb". The US Air Force Research Laboratory is now initiating a five-year, $75m programme intended to finally get the field of electropulse combat kickstarted. Wired …

    Science 18 Jan 2008, 15:41

  • Skype blocks poison movie peril

    Video pwnd the radio star

    Skype said it has blocked a bug that created a means for hackers to attack vulnerable Windows PCs using malicious video files. The cross-zone scripting vulnerability involves the interaction between Skype and video-sharing sites such as DailyMotion, which allows users to download video clips and add them to their Skype VoIP …

    VoIP 18 Jan 2008, 16:24

  • AT&T to replace 17,000 IPTV box batteries

    Explosive TV

    AT&T is to replace 17,000 batteries used as a power source for its IPTV service, following a series of fires and explosions. To date there have been two reported fires and two explosions, one of which occured just last month. The incidents have been blamed on the lithium-metal-polymer batteries housed in outdoor …

    Hardware 18 Jan 2008, 16:39

  • Chinese firm sets legal dragons on Microsoft

    Pay up, please

    A small Beijing software firm is taking Microsoft to court, alleging that it hasn't been keeping its end of a bargain to license technology for converting the Roman alphabet into Chinese characters. Zhongyi Electronic says Microsoft last paid licensing fees for its patented "Zhengma" product ten years ago, after it included it …

    Law 18 Jan 2008, 16:56

  • Sprint axes 4,000 jobs, closes 125 stores

    Workers tumble through gaping subscriptions hole

    US mobile phone provider Sprint Nextel said today it will slash around 4,000 jobs and close about eight per cent of its stores, in an attempt to claw back costs in the face of a haemorrhaging customer base. The firm admitted in a statement that it has been hit by an inability to attract new subscribers to its service. Sprint …

    Mobile 18 Jan 2008, 17:08

  • Mashups haunted by past experience

    User-generated IT support

    I have lived through re-orgs, outsourcing and off-the-shelf applications being shoehorned into niche markets by over-zealous management. The latest trend in software, though, is for user-generated mashups. Recently Serena Software announced its user-friendly mashup tool. According to Serena, its tools will "let non-IT staff …

    Applications 18 Jan 2008, 19:57

  • From water wheels to the Google brain

    Radio Reg Nick Carr's scary take on the future of computing

    Semi-Coherent Computing listeners who have yet to read Nick Carr's new book The Big Switch will almost certainly want to pick up a copy. The book takes you on a journey from the evolution of the electricity industry, to the rise of utility computing and then to how computers are toying with our brains. It's a heck of a ride. ( …

    Semi-Coherent 18 Jan 2008, 20:02

  • Personal data for 650,000 customers vanishes into thin air

    Bad timing for J.C. Penney CEO

    Personal information belonging to more than 650,000 US customers of J.C. Penney and other retailers is at risk after the company hired to safeguard the data lost a backup tape. The information, which was entrusted to a company called GE Money, included social security information for about 150,000 people. The data was on a …

    Security 18 Jan 2008, 21:16

  • Supermicro plays Earth-child card with SAS storage chassis

    Save the caribou via disk

    Supermicro has a new line of 3U SAS storage systems its punting as "Earth-friendly" boxen. Which is fine. Everyone says that. But let's step back and consider that. We just don't picture this thing frolicking in a meadow of buttercups. That is — we could picture it, but it would look something like this: Hmm. That's actually …

    Storage 18 Jan 2008, 23:21

  • Rackable kicks Xeon 7000 chips into fresh, beefy server

    Now with 25 per cent more teal

    Rackable Systems is launching a new four-socket server using Intel's dual- and quad-core Xeon 7200 and 7300 processors. The C4108 comes in at 4U and industry-standard depth. It holds 256GB of memory using 1, 2, or 4GB 667MHz FB-DIMMs. Basic multiplication shows a fully-loaded system contains a total of 16 cores. That's twice …

    Servers 18 Jan 2008, 23:25