30th January 2008 Archive

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Visual Studio beats SQL Server in 2008 stakes

Chihuahua-sized bark

Microsoft's Visual Studio team has put the database division to shame. Days after Microsoft slipped out the news that the update to SQL Server will not be ready in time for next month's big-dog release event, Visual Studio 2008 has been released commercially - ahead of time. Visual Studio 2008 is available for purchase under …

Applications 30 Jan 2008, 00:53
IBM taunts Sun, HP and VMware with $40 PowerVM hypervisor

Slaps software on new Unix boxen

IBM thinks it can slice the hell out of a server. In fact, it looks to use virtualization as a major weapon against Unix rivals Sun Microsystems and HP and against x86 vendors. Don't believe us? Then witness the PowerVM branding exercise. IBM unfurled the PowerVM moniker in front of journalists today, as it announced new …

Servers 30 Jan 2008, 01:05
Yahoo! Will! Axe! One! Thousand! Workers!

Q4 profits dip

Yahoo! president Sue Decker believes her company is "moving from catch-up mode to a mode of true differentiation." But its fourth quarter profits were down 23 per cent, and it will soon axe seven per cent of its work force. This afternoon, during a conference call for the benefit of industry analysts and reporters, Decker and …

Financial News 30 Jan 2008, 02:44
Intel to tell all about roaring 96GB/s QuickPath interconnect

Faster than Opteron sockets on steroids

You horrible cynics out there looked at Intel's mushy Montvale chip and scoffed. "That's the end of the Itanic." Ah, but there's a fresh monster on the horizon known as Tukwila, and systems based on that puppy should fly if its brand new QuickPath interconnect arrives as expected. Next week Intel will disclose details on …

Servers 30 Jan 2008, 06:00
Concept MP3 player is a real sweetie

Sweets don’t usually inspire many creations other than toothbrushes, mouthwash and toothpaste, but designer Bomi Kim was obviously knocking back the Refreshers when he dreamt up this concept MP3 player. Designer Bomi Kim's Tactile MP3 player Bassett's Refreshers look very similar Kim’s Tactile music machine has no screen …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 10:21
Asus unveils 42in Linux-based Eee TV

Updated Two desktop models too

Asus has named the upcoming additions to its Eee PC family of low-cost computers, soon to be augmented with a small form-factor desktop machine, an all-in-one system and a TV. The desktop - which Asus hinted at as far back as September 2007 - is to be called the E-DT. It'll be based on an Intel Celeron processor, much like the …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 10:45
Ofcom boss demands action on data roaming charges

Tries to cut down price hurdles

Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards will tell a meeting of European regulators today there is a need to make sharp reductions to the costs of "text roaming" and "data roaming" across Europe. Richards will also look at whether Ofcom has powers to act itself. Sending a text from abroad costs an average of 21p versus an average …

Mobile 30 Jan 2008, 10:51
Judge sits on Microsoft for two more years

Extends terms of anti-trust decree to late 2009

Microsoft has failed in its bid to prevent the US government monitoring its business dealings, after a federal judge yesterday extended an antitrust consent decree by two years. Washington district judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said that the extension to 12 November 2009, which will mark two years after its original expiration …

Law 30 Jan 2008, 10:55
Spammers dive into Google's lucky dip

Feeling phished?

Google's "I'm feeling lucky" button was designed to save web searchers time by automatically opening the first page of a query. It turns out the feature, and similar ones from other search engines, are increasingly helping junk mailers get around anti-spam products. That's one of the findings from a January Intelligence report …

Spam 30 Jan 2008, 11:02
Ryanair battles ASA over 'saucy schoolgirl' ad

Refuses to withdraw 'offensive' image

Ryanair has locked horns with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over a newspaper advert featuring a "saucy schoolgirl", the BBC reports. The advert punting cheap flights, which appeared in the Herald, Daily Mail and Scottish Daily Mail, shows a teen temptress (right) with the strapline “Hottest back to school fares”. …

Bootnotes 30 Jan 2008, 11:08
Sony posts Skype-packing PSP firmware update

Go!Messenger teaser included too

Today’s the day that Skype finally comes to the PlayStation Portable (PSP), along with a teaser for the forthcoming Go!Messenger application. Skype comes packaged within a firmware update, version 3.90, which Sony claimed transforms the console into a “highly cost effective and accessible portable communications device”. …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 11:14
Ingram Micro slams credit crunch 'negative thinking'

Cheer up, it may never happen

A senior Ingram Micro Europe exec has said that the channel is paying too much attention to fears of an economic downturn. Instead, said Johan Vandenbussche, vice president of the firm's pan-European business unit, keeping its chin up and taking a positive outlook should help the channel swerve any recession. Vandenbussche …

Channel Register 30 Jan 2008, 11:38
Blade Runner replicant checks into rehab

Sean Young proves herself 'more human than human'

Actress Sean Young has voluntarily checked herself into rehab for alcohol abuse, following an unseemly outburst at Saturday night's Directors Guild Awards which saw her escorted from the premises. Young, 48, who played replicant Rachael in Blade Runner (see pic), heckled director Julian Schnabel during his speech as a nominee …

Entertainment 30 Jan 2008, 11:40
Toshiba HD-EP30 HD DVD player

Review While the format war rages, movies must still be watched

The HD format wars may be inching forward on the content front, but on the hardware side Toshiba has made a very aggressive move with the HD-EP30 - an HD DVD player which could be yours for less than £200. If you’re worried that the EP30 is a cut-down player then you needn’t be - it includes most of the features the average …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 12:02
PS3 capacity boost claims are claptrap, says Sony UK

No more storage for you

Sony has dealt a blow to any storage-hungry PlayStation 3 gamers by officially denying that it’s planning to introduce either a 120GB or a 160GB version of the console into the UK. European PS3s aren't getting more storage capacity now - or tomorrow This week, rumours have been flying around that the company’s due to phase …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 12:02
Colour comes to the Wii ~~Remote~~ Riimote

Play on words

The Wii may have brightened up the gaming industry, but until now it’s only been an angular and bland white console. So a German retailer is attempting to inject a little colour into the consoles with a new line of controllers. Snakebyte's Riimote: a colourful alternative to the white 'Wiimote'? Cunningly dubbed the Riimote …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 12:11
Sociologists: Studying engineering turns you into a terrorist

Oxford prof cites Google and Wikipedia as proof

A pair of sociologists have produced a piece of research in which they claim that graduate engineers are statistically over-represented among jihadi terrorists. They go on to suggest that engineers have a "terrorist mindset" making them likelier to turn jihadi than other kinds of people. The lead author of the study is Diego …

Biology 30 Jan 2008, 12:51
HD DVD fights back in the US

But not for long?

HD DVD managed to cut itself a rather larger slice of US hi-def player sales in the third week of January, according to one analyst group's figures. But a rival market watcher still believes that HD DVD will be dead before 2009. US Standalone HD Player Sales Source: NPD According to the NPD Group, HD DVD increased its …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 13:27
Low-tech hack was behind $7.2bn SocGen fraud

FSA warns City on risks

The French software developer turned rogue trader who cost French bank Société Générale an estimated €4.9bn ($7.2bn) used co-workers' access codes to set up fraudulent transactions. Jerome Kerviel used his colleagues' access codes and sent fraudulent email in order to create fictitious accounts to take risky positions in the …

Crime 30 Jan 2008, 13:39
French police plan Windows-free jails, offices

Microsoft hasn't got a Clouseau

The French gendarmerie has blown a big framboise at Microsoft by ditching Windows XP in favour of Ubuntu. The paramilitary police force is to switch 70,000 desktops over to the Linux OS, two years after switching its browsers to Firefox, and three years after dumping MS Office for OpenOffice. Deputy director of the force’s IT …

Operating Systems 30 Jan 2008, 14:10
Michael Bay to relive A Nightmare on Elm Street

Slasher classic franchise ~~reglove~~ reboot

Transformers director Michael Bay and his partners at the Platinum Dunes production company have been tasked by New Line Cinema to "relaunch" the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. Wes Craven’s 1984 slasher classic gave the world the iconic Freddy Krueger, who haunted a total of nine films and two TV series. According to …

Entertainment 30 Jan 2008, 14:12
Chinese make Olympic weather bow to Party's will

Rain-prevention experiments 'satisfactory', claims Beijing

Chinese officials have announced that the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has successfully carried out experiments aimed at preventing light rain from washing out the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics on 8 August. The problem for the games' organisers is that the showpiece Bird's Nest stadium which will host the gala is an …

Environment 30 Jan 2008, 14:47
Sony sensor paves way for 24-megapixel SLRs

35mm ~~frame~~ CCD

Sony has developed a 25.7-megapixel CCD sensor with a size that matches the dimensions of a 35mm film frame. Sony's CMOS sensor boasts 24.8m effective pixels The 41 x 32mm chip has a total pixel count of 25.7m, but Sony said that only 24.81m of those pixels are used to collect picture data to ensure the correct image aspect …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 15:04
US military prepares for plummeting spy satellite

Military opt to act...now that crash is imminent over US soil

The US military is putting into effect contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could actually hit North America. Exactly what these contingency plans consist of is not clear at this stage - we thought perhaps a giant baseball mitt. But …

Space 30 Jan 2008, 15:04
VOIP and the web baffle Brit spook wiretappers

MI5, GCHQ bemoan 'biggest change since telephones'

The head of the UK government's secret electronic spying and codebreaking agency, GCHQ, has said that his organisation's ability to intercept conversations and messages is seriously undermined by internet-protocol (IP) communications. The digital spook's comments may come as a blow to British and European politicians who have …

Government 30 Jan 2008, 15:27
Bill Gates advice to UK wannabes? Don't get sued

Says he won't run for US president – then heads to No. 10

Bill Gates performed the London leg of his farewell tour this morning, telling aspiring entrepreneurs they should sign up to Microsoft's CRM platform and to try not to get sued. Gates took to the stage at the Institute of Directors as the Eighties soft rock classic The Final Countdown played in the background. He threw out …

Small Biz 30 Jan 2008, 16:40
Samsung gears up to battle Cystic Fibrosis

Left, right, left, right...

For once, Samsung’s latest announcement isn’t about yet another phone, camera or HD TV. Instead, the company’s unveiled its latest sponsorship scheme: raising funds for the fight against Cystic Fibrosis. Samsung's Mark Mitchinson (centre) gets in training Throughout 2008, the company will be holding fundraising events, …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 16:44
Is this the world's most expensive desktop PC?

You'll need plenty of 1s and 0s to afford this digital delight

Have you got £375,000 to spare? Do you love standing out from the crowd? Well, you’ll be the King, or Queen, of hi-tech nerd bling with one Japanese manufacturer’s platinum and jewel-encrusted PC. Zeus' platinum PC: yes, but where the heck's the optical drive? Dubbed Jupiter, the desktop PC’s case is solid platinum with …

Reg Hardware 30 Jan 2008, 16:52
Submarine cable cut torpedoes Middle East access

Web slowdown hits India, Pakistan too

A submarine cable in the Mediterranean was cut earlier today, resulting in a dramatic slowdown in internet access for people in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and much of the Middle East. A spokesman for Flag Telecom, the owner of the severed cable, told the Reg: "It is a problem off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt. For some …

Telecoms 30 Jan 2008, 17:02
How to speed up Windows Vista: official and unofficial tips

Strip, shutdown, repeat

Microsoft has published an article on speeding up Vista, aimed at general users. It's not too bad. Here's the summary: Delete programs you never use Limit how many programs load at startup Defragment your hard drive Clean up your hard disk Run fewer programs at the same time Turn off visual effects Restart regularly …

Software 30 Jan 2008, 18:27
ICANN to throttle domain tasters

With apologies to people who can't type

ICANN wants to destroy domain tasters at the expense of poor typists. Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers said that it will consider charging its annual fee for internet domain names as soon as names are registered. From ICANN's perspective, this would effectively eliminate so-called "domain tasters …

Telecoms 30 Jan 2008, 20:00
~~SWsoft~~ Parallels does Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 thing

Hypervisors are for the weak

SWsoft Parallels has today launched the finalized version of its anti-hypervisor approach to virtualization, Virtuozzo Containers 4.0. It also appears the company is officially SWsoft no longer. Banish the name from your mind. A shiny new logo constructed, voilà: Understated, with a splash of web 2.0 color. A bold departure …

Servers 30 Jan 2008, 20:59
NetApp invents new jobs for its executives

Click and become vice chairman of readership opportunities

Network Appliance today is cooking up some new positions to promote its executives. Score one for the guy who does vinyl lettering on their office doors. Tom Georgens has been tapped as the new president of the company, as well as chief operating officer. The latter position has been newly-devised for Georgens' ascension. …

Storage 30 Jan 2008, 21:14
Rogue ads infiltrate Expedia and Rhapsody

When legit sites attack

This story was corrected throughout to name Expedia.com as one of two sites found by Trend Micro and Sandi Hardmeier to be serving malicious banner ads. While Excite.com has been found in the past to also host attack ads, there are no recent reports it has done so recently. Expedia.com and Rhapsody.com are the latest name-brand …

Malware 30 Jan 2008, 21:53
EnterpriseDB goes large on simplicity

Pushes the blue elephant

EnterpriseDB, the open source database company, aims to capitalize on the uncertainty around MySQL's purchase by Sun Microsystems, and is wooing developers with improved capabilities and services. According to chief executive Andy Astor, revenue has quadrupled in a year. But when it comes to developer uptake, PostgreSQL the …

Applications 30 Jan 2008, 22:01
Tolkien-inspired oil painting 'immortalizes' Silicon Valley rich people

Six VCs to rule them all

A woman named Jane is preparing an oil painting that "depicts the leaders of Silicon Valley in a situation inspired by the pivotal fight scene in The Fellowship of the Ring." In a post to a website called Strayform, Jane says that the "leaders of Silicon Valley" deserve to be immortalized alongside the likes of American …

Bootnotes 30 Jan 2008, 22:11
US Navy to test fire electric hypercannon

Record-breaking railgun crowdpleaser

The US Navy will astound the world tomorrow by test-firing a radical new weapon system at an unprecedented power level. The new piece of war-tech on trial is that old sci-fi favourite, an electromagnetic railgun. According to the Office of Naval Research, which is in charge of the project, the electric cannon will deliver over …

Science 30 Jan 2008, 22:15
Amazon to sell more stuff in 2008

Just like 2007

This afternoon, during a conference call with industry analysts and reporters, Amazon chief financial officer Thomas Szkutak gave the world a peek into the company's plans for the coming year. "In 2008, you know, we're going to do more of what we did in 2007," he said. That's right, Amazon plans to sell more stuff. "We're …

Financial News 30 Jan 2008, 23:36