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21st January 2008 Archive

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  • O2 misses iPhone targets

    Only just...

    02 has shifted 190,000 iPhones in its first two months of sales, just short of its target of 200,000. Neither O2 nor the Carphone Warehouse, which sells the handsets, would comment on the figures which were leaked to the FT. But it did tell the paper the handset was its best selling ever by a large margin. Carphone Warehouse …

    Mobile 21 Jan 2008, 10:01

  • Big Blue gets NITs

    Scratching around in the SMB market

    Computer giant IBM said Friday that it has agreed to acquire privately-held Net Integration Technologies Inc (NIT) for an undisclosed sum. The Toronto-based firm provides server software services for small businesses (SMB) that have limited inhouse technical resources. Once the deal completes, NIT will be integrated into IBM's …

    Servers 21 Jan 2008, 10:03

  • Olympic 'business dating agency' goes live

    Line up for the sub-contracts race

    The organisers of London's Olympic Games have launched an online "business dating agency" to attract bids for sub-contracts. A website which could help small IT companies bid for contracts with London's Olympic Games has gone live. The London 2012 Business Network was launched at Manchester United's Old Trafford Stadium to an …

    Small Biz 21 Jan 2008, 10:20

  • WPP chief sees headroom for Internet ad growth

    DLD08 'Disconnect' exists between spend and consumer activity

    The amount of money companies spend on the Internet remains out of sync with the extent to which consumers are using it, claims WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell. Speaking at the opening of the DLD08 conference in Munich yesterday, Sorrell said that his company's clients spend about 10 per cent of their budgets on digital media, …

    Financial News 21 Jan 2008, 10:28

  • Microsoft ruling may not bolster Europe's new case, warns lawyer

    Don't count your chickens...

    A landmark court ruling which last year backed the European Commission's last competition action against Microsoft may not be as helpful in its current action as has been widely thought, according to a competition lawyer. The commission's 2004 decision to fine Microsoft €497m was backed by the Court of the First Instance of …

    Law 21 Jan 2008, 10:37

  • Yahoo! readies! jobs! purge?

    Depredate to accumulate

    Yahoo! is reportedly gearing up to sack up to 20 per cent of its worldwide staff in the next two weeks. It currently has about 12,000 employees. Multiple tips doing the rounds say a list of between 1,500 and 2,500 individuals has been drawn up for the cutbacks. Investors have long been clamouring for lay-offs, even before …

    Financial News 21 Jan 2008, 10:41

  • Becta exec admits mistakes on education IT

    Pledges end to buy first, ask questions later policies

    The man charged with helping deliver broadband to more than a million poor children has admitted that government school IT initiatives have been poorly run in the past. At the BETT trade show earlier this month, Becta director of educational content Dave Hassell conceded that the education IT quango has been guilty of poor …

    Public Sector 21 Jan 2008, 11:01

  • US HD DVD sales hit new low

    Post Warner announcement trend?

    US HD DVD software sales slumped to just 15 per cent of the hi-def disc sales total during the week ending 13 January. Throughout 2007, HD DVD's share was closer to 35 per cent of the total. The latest weekly figure comes from America's Home Media Magazine, which was quoting numbers from market watcher Nielsen VideoScan. In …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 11:04

  • Do we need computer competence tests?

    Column Reverse into parking space, leave laptop on back seat

    Indignation is the immediate response if you suggest to any computer user that they should be given a licence to use their PC only if they pass a test. Why is this? When someone crashes a car on the motorway, naturally, our first response is to utter words of sympathy: "Oh, hope they're not hurt..." - but what we're actually …

    IT Director 21 Jan 2008, 11:06

  • Reg Hardware Daily Draw Win an Epson Stylus D120 inkjet every day this week

    Register Hardware and Epson have got seven brand spanking new Stylus D120 colour inkjet printers to give away... one every day this week. Featuring a unique dual-slot black ink system and Durabrite Ultra Ink, the Epson Stylus D120 - reviewed here - is an effective, lightweight home office business machine, that won't take up …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 11:20

  • LG's Viewty goes silver

    The colour for 2008?

    Following LG’s recent re-launch of its Prada handset in silver, the manufacturer has also overhauled its Viewty phone with a dark silver façade. LG's Viewty: now in silver The colour will be offered in addition to the existing black option, which was launched in Europe last November. LG plans to launch the handset in a …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 11:24

  • Computer system suspected in Heathrow 777 crash

    Mechanical failure 'unthinkable'

    Experts have suggested that the simultaneous failure of both engines of the BA 777 which last week crash-landed at Heathrow must have been caused by a computer glitch, the Times reports. BA038 lost power when it was about two miles from the airport's south runway. The pilot glided the aircraft to a belly-flop short of the …

    Science 21 Jan 2008, 11:35

  • Clean up your iPhone with... er... wiper-wielding bikini babes

    It's all done in the best possible taste...

    Sick of the muck that's mounted-up on your iPhone's monitor? Fancing having a bikini-clad lassie lather it up and give it a wipe or two? iWash is a new service that lets you get exactly that - virtually. The cute bit's the fact that she does it from inside the handset's screen. iWash's creator, US nightclub chain ClubWest, …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 11:48

  • Build a better baby monitor

    Q&A

    Being a Register Hardware reader, I couldn't make do with Tomy's latest offerings in the baby monitor world. Not for me the simple features, standard technology and ease of use. I want more, and seeing as somehow I have managed to convince the missus that we need something a little more advanced, I set about looking for the …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 12:03

  • BEA slices into two-tier EMEA market with Magirus

    Eyes up 'unexploited' mid-sector

    BEA has inked a deal with distie Magirus which will see its tentacles reach further into EMEA channels under a new two-tier partner programme. The firm, which just last week signed a definitive $8,5bn agreement to be bought by Oracle, punts Service Orientated Architecture (SOA) and Business Process Management (BPM) software …

    Channel Register 21 Jan 2008, 12:15

  • Nokia N95 8GB becomes first phone to win DLNA thumbs-up

    The what got what?

    Nokia’s got a smile on its face. The Finnish phone giant's N95 8GB handset has become the world’s first mobile to win wireless connectivity certification from the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). Nokia's N95 8GB: now with DLNA certification DLNA who? It's an industry organisation that aims to provide an open platform …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 12:19

  • United Arab Emirates plan zero carbon desert city

    Carless utopia

    The United Arab Emirates will today formally unveil plans for an all-new, zero carbon desert city - seven square kilometres of carless utopia designed to house 50,000 people. The project - dubbed Masdar ("the source") - is being designed by top Brit architect Lord Foster, and is described as "the world's first sustainable city …

    Environment 21 Jan 2008, 12:19

  • RIAA wiped off the net

    Hacktivists at work

    A lack of security controls allowed hackers to "wipe" the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) website on Sunday. The existence of an SQL injection attack on the RIAA's site came to light via social network news site Reddit. Soon after hackers were making merry, turning the site into a blank slate, among other …

    Enterprise Security 21 Jan 2008, 12:25

  • Dildo rails dirty? Help is at hand

    Company will clean absolutely everything

    We're very much obliged to Martin Walsh for alerting us to the services of cleaning outfit MK Londyn. When the company says it'll "clean everything except your pocket", it's not joking: Good Lord. Of course, the DIYers among you will know what MK Londyn is trying to say, but we rather like the idea of dildo rails. ®

    Bootnotes 21 Jan 2008, 12:29

  • Smith says answer to knife crime is through the arch window

    Home Office's cutting edge solution

    The Home Secretary will announce plans next month for the installation of metal detectors at school gates in her effort to stop kids stabbing one another. Jacqui Smith outlined the plans to The Observer over the weekend, saying search arches would be put in place at the country’s toughest secondary schools. Smith appears to …

    Government 21 Jan 2008, 12:37

  • Bono's tech fund linked to Sheffield United desire

    Project Red (and White)

    Elevation Partners, the Silicon Valley private equity outfit backed by Pope-bothering U2 frontman Bono, is eyeing a stake in FA Championship obscurists Sheffield United, it's claimed. A report in Friday's Yorkshire Post said that the billion-dollar fund came to the Steel City this month for talks with club representatives. …

    Financial News 21 Jan 2008, 12:48

  • Asian vendors tout tiny Bluetooth adaptor at Eee PC

    Barely bigger than a USB connector

    Here's a handy add-on for all you Eee PC owners who'd like your micro laptop to be able to handle Bluetooth connections: a penny-sized USB adaptor with wireless stereo and Extended Data Rate (EDR) support. E-Blue Nova: tiny The tiny unit - it's called the E-Blue Nova - is barely bigger than a standard USB connector: the …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 13:01

  • Camcorder flashlight ready for nighttime YouTube shoots

    Light-up your home videos

    Security gadget company Swann has created the ultimate piece of hardware for the night watchman or the budding nocturnal YouTuber: a torch with a built-in video camera. Swann's FlashlightDVR: light up evening videos Dubbed the FlashlightDVR, this chunky torch has an integrated 640 x 480 senor and a 66° horizontal viewing …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 13:14

  • Turkey blocks YouTube, part II

    More Ataturk attack malarkey

    Turkey has once again blocked access to YouTube for allegedly badmouthing the country's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. According to local news reports, anyone trying to access the site is getting a message in English and Turkish explaining it has been banned under a 17 January Ankara court order. Turkey last March …

    Bootnotes 21 Jan 2008, 13:25

  • Lack of training cited in Mojave spaceport blast

    Scaled Composites fined over deaths

    California occupational safety inspectors have concluded that Scaled Composites LLC's failure to properly train workers about the dangers of nitrous oxide was a contributory factor to the explosion which last July killed three workers at the company's Mojave testing facility. The victims were testing a rocket motor for …

    Space 21 Jan 2008, 13:46

  • FBI rings warnings over VoIP phishing cons

    'Alarming' rise in vishing

    Fraudsters are turning to VoIP systems to craft more convincing phishing attacks. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Centre (IC3) warned last week of an "alarming" rise in the volume of so-called vishing attacks targeting US financial institutions and consumers. Phishing attacks commonly take the form of forged emails that …

    VoIP 21 Jan 2008, 13:52

  • Samsung slides out T819 handset

    A G600 in sheep's clothing?

    Samsung’s lifted the curtain today on its latest slider handset: the SGH-T819. Samsung's T819: stylish design - shame about the colour... The G600-esque handset isn’t a ground-breaking phone, but does offer quad-band GSM/GPRS connectivity with Edge. Initially, the handset’s set to be sold exclusively through T-Mobile, …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 13:53

  • Government told to ditch biofuel targets

    Not green, not clever

    Biofuels are not the magic answer to oil shortages or global warming. The Environmental Audit Committee, made up of UK MPs, said today the EU and UK governments were wrong to impose targets to encourage more use of biofuels, and that the use of such fuel could lead to environmental damage in the UK and elsewhere in the world …

    Environment 21 Jan 2008, 14:48

  • Lightsaber voted top movie weapon

    Dirty Harry's .44 pipped to the post

    A Jedi knight's lightsaber has been voted the top movie weapon, pipping Dirty Harry's Magnum .44 to the post in a 20th Century Fox poll of 2,000 film buffs. The Star Wars illuminated sword heads a mixed bag of offensive items, including the Hattori Hanzo katana from Kill Bill, Oddjob's unfriendly bowler hat* and Indy's …

    Entertainment 21 Jan 2008, 14:55

  • AMD Phenom 9500 processor

    Review AMD's four-core desktop CPU squares up for a fight with Intel's Core 2 Quad

    Throughout last year, we ran a steady stream of news about the AMD’s Phenom quad-core processor, mainly because the chip was delayed. When the launch finally took place, AMD took us to Warsaw where we were told again and again about the virtues of its Spider platform: a combination of a Phenom processor, a motherboard with an …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 15:04

  • Caffeine doubles miscarriage risk

    Lay off the coffee, pregnant women advised

    Pregnant women have been warned to lay off the coffee after US researchers found that those who "drink two or more cups of coffee a day have twice the risk of having a miscarriage as those who avoid caffeine". The study led by Dr De-Kun Li of Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, which appears in the American Journal of …

    Biology 21 Jan 2008, 15:06

  • Tiscali hits 'undo' after bandwidth throttling chokes iTunes

    And cripples other traffic

    Tiscali has been forced to reverse a software installation on its bandwidth-throttling hardware, after it triggered complaints from customers who saw iTunes blocked during peak hours and other traffic slowed to a crawl. Engineers have now rolled back the installation, so access should be returned to normal during this evening' …

    Telecoms 21 Jan 2008, 15:19

  • You're gullible Finns... bitch

    Nokia woos Facebook - report

    Nokia is in talks to acquire a stake in Facebook, according to Mobile Content News. The website reports that the two companies are mulling a development agreement which involves "porting the social network on to Nokia handsets in a major way". (We wonder what porting it "in a minor way" might mean - perhaps you only see pokes …

    Mobile 21 Jan 2008, 15:21

  • Panasonic intros entry-level digicam

    Snap n' save

    Just so you don’t think that Samsung is now the only compact digital camera manufacturer, Panasonic has unveiled the Lumix DMC-LS80 digicam to get itself some attention. The entry-level DMC-LS80 has an 8.1-megapixel CMOS sensor and a 3x optical zoom, alongside a high-sensitivity mode that boosts the maximum ISO to 6400. …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 15:31

  • Winamp blighted by bug brace

    Lament over Ultravox vuln

    A brace of bugs in Winamp pose a serious security risk for users of the popular media player package, security watchers warn. The buffer overflow-related flaws in Winamp 5.x create a means for hackers to take over vulnerable systems. Flaws in a library (in_mp3.dll) involved in parsing Ultravox streaming metadata open up the …

    Security 21 Jan 2008, 15:49

  • Lindsay Lohan nominated for multiple Razzies

    Worst actress, worst screen couple...

    Lindsay Lohan has been nominated for worst actress in this year's Razzies for her performance in I Know Who Killed Me, a film so diabolical it has no fewer than nine nominations in total, including worst Horror Movie, Screenplay, Director, Remake/Rip-Off, Supporting Actress and Actress (2x). The last of these acknowledges that …

    Entertainment 21 Jan 2008, 15:51

  • Union accuses Capita on job losses

    Belfast staff must reapply

    Unite, the union formerly known as Amicus, is accusing IT services giant Capita of breaking its promises not to cut staff in Belfast. The 116 workers in Capita's life and pensions department in Belfast must now reapply for the remaining 75 positions. Graham Goddard, deputy general secretary of Unite, said: "Capita have failed …

    Channel Register 21 Jan 2008, 16:12

  • French tempted with €199 Eee PC HSDPA bundle

    Internet 'partout, pour tous', apparently

    French ordinateuristes can now buy Asus' elfin Eee PC with integrated HSDPA 3G, courtesy of local carrier SFR. The package bundles an white Eee PC 4G with a similarly hued USB HSDPA modem capable of download speeds of up to 3.6Mb/s. SFR wants €299 (£223/$435) for the lot, but it's pledging to give €100 of it back after buyers …

    Reg Hardware 21 Jan 2008, 16:59

  • Philip Pullman: Kill humans and ration heating

    The Rose Tinted Spyglass

    Move over Thom Yorke – there's another candidate for Britain's most miserable and mean-spirited millionaire. This week, fantasy book author Philip Pullman will join Radiohead's ginger whinger in calling for wartime austerity measures and top-down social control. Demanding strict state-controlled energy rationing, Pullman says …

    Environment 21 Jan 2008, 17:12

  • Dell's Soviet style two-year plan results in fresh blade servers

    55,000 man hours and four acres of pines

    Dell 2.0 is full of surprises. For example, the hardware maker today unveiled the HP C-Class blade server chassis - its third take on the blade design. Well, okay, Dell really unveiled the PowerEdge M1000e chassis, which we've been writing about for months. Thing is the system eats up 10U of rack space and holds 16 half-height …

    Servers 21 Jan 2008, 18:24

  • CIA claims crackers took out power grids

    Future threat or urban myth in the making

    Crackers have blackmailed foreign governments after disrupting the operating of utilities, according to a CIA analyst. Skeptics said the unspecified claims amount to nothing more than urban myths, although other sections of the security community are treating the possibility of attacks against Supervisory Control And Data …

    Crime 21 Jan 2008, 19:15

  • Viva VBA - alas

    Entrenched victory

    In the early 1990s when Visual Basic (VB) first infiltrated Excel to become Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), it helped push Microsoft's then-fledgling spreadsheet so far ahead of others that most people today are not aware many competitors even existed. Lotus Development - since consumed by IBM - turned down a chance to …

    Applications 21 Jan 2008, 20:21

  • Microsoft preempts Hyper-V release with virtualization vision

    Citrix, Calista and Windows lead the hypefensive

    Microsoft knows rule number one in the software game better than any other company: Never let a missing product get in the way of marketing. The software colossus has unleashed its most vocal assault to date on the virtualization marketing, revealing an acquisition, a much tighter relationship with Citrix and some licensing …

    Servers 21 Jan 2008, 20:23

  • Microsoft tries to CTRL-W WordPerfect lawsuit again

    Asks Supremes not to save changes

    Microsoft is asking the Supreme Court to strike-out a multi-billion dollar word processing monopoly lawsuit from Novell. Centered in court documents is WordPerfect, an ill-fated word processing suite that once controlled about 50 per cent of the market in 1990. Novell only owned the software title briefly. It purchased …

    Applications 21 Jan 2008, 21:55

  • UK's number one router open to VoIP hijacking

    Updated BT Home Hub pwned (again)

    Principals of the ethical hacking outfit GNUCitizen say they have found a serious security bug in the BT Home Hub that could allow attackers to engage in identity theft and other types of fraud by hijacking calls routed over the internet. The vulnerability allows an attacker to initiate VoIP calls on the user's machine. From …

    VoIP 21 Jan 2008, 22:10

  • Symantec sells off Veritas' hopes and dreams

    Precise set free for a fee

    Five years and thousands of broken dreams ago, Veritas ate application performance management software maker Precise for $609m. And now Symantec is offloading the pricey baggage. Symantec last week admitted to its embarrassment by announcing an agreement to sell the Precise i3 software assets to Vector Capital, a private …

    Servers 21 Jan 2008, 23:42