4th February 2008 Archive

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Reg Dev is looking for article submissions on the theory and practice of building and managing software, and of running application development projects. Every day we produce a stream of technical articles for millions of readers. But Reg Dev wants more! We're looking for technical guides and research reports that tackle …

Software 4 Feb 2008, 00:02
Intel single-core 'Silverthorne' to sport HyperThreading

One-core UMPC chip acts like a Core 2 Duo

Intel has spilled a few more beans about 'Silverthorne', its upcoming 45nm processor for UMPCs and mobile internet devices (MIDs). It's a single-core part that implements HyperThreading (HT) ahead of the technology's implementation later this year in 'Nehalem' next-gen CPUs. Silverthorne was developed from the ground up for …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 05:02
Are your staff adequately trained?

Reg Tech Panel Avoiding the false economy trap

An interesting finding emerged from a recent Reg reader study. It concerns a cause and effect that is pretty obvious once it is highlighted. Put simply, IT departments operate much more smoothly and efficiently if IT staff are adequately trained. The data, which is derived from over 1,100 responses to an online survey, is …

IT Director 4 Feb 2008, 06:02
Asus reschedules 8GB Eee PC to Q2, moles claim

Pesky Flash disks...

Waiting for the 8GB Eee PC? Then you're going to have to wait a little longer - until April at least, it has been alleged, thanks to problems Asus is having getting the machine out of the door. What those problems are, Chinese-language paper Economic Daily News doesn't say, simply stating that the 8GB Eee PC has been delayed …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 08:52
Pentagon pundits demand sensible raygun research

Call for end to 'death ray myth'

A Pentagon science-advisory panel's report on the near-term prospects for American raygun weapons has declared that energy-beam blasters would be pretty handy but difficult to make. The document in question is titled Final Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Directed Energy Weapon Systems and Technology …

Science 4 Feb 2008, 10:09
Microhoo! marriage hits Google salaries hard

Job ad points to tough times ahead

Pity if you will poor old Google, which last week suffered a terrible shock when it discovered that a possible unholy alliance of Microsoft and Yahoo! might challenge its bid to control the known universe. Quite what reaction the news prompted in the Googleplex we know not (although some furniture may have been Ballmered, we …

Bootnotes 4 Feb 2008, 10:14
Intel makes MacBook Air processor available to all

But the Air clones will be coming anyway

The reduced-size 65nm Core 2 Duo designed by Intel and incorporated inside Apple's super-slim MacBook Air is available for other computer makers to buy, the chip company confirmed last week. No great surprise there - Intel's in the business of selling as many chips as possible, not operating as Apple's in-house silicon …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 10:22
Straw launches inquiry into Muslim MP bugging case

Paper claims visiting room wired for sound

Justice Minister Jack Straw has ordered an inquiry over allegations that the security services bugged a British MP visting a constituent in prison. Scotland Yard anti-terrorist police allegedly bugged Sadiq Khan, a government whip and Labour MP for Tooting as well as parliamentary private secretary to Straw, when he met a man …

Policing 4 Feb 2008, 11:13
Blu-ray winning in Europe

We've seen the US picture - how's the war waging over here?

Europeans together own more than 55,000 HD DVD players and Xbox 360 add-on drives, it has emerged, but that total pales beside the number of PlayStation 3s sold over here: 750,000. Market watcher Understanding and Solutions - which has long vociferously forecast Blu-ray's victory in the format war - provides the figure for …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 11:16
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! play pots-and-kettles 2.0

!!!!! Welcome to the information super threeway

Microsoft and Google engaged in skirmishing by statement this weekend as they began what is likely to be a rancorous, drawn-out battle over the future of Yahoo!. Google weighed in with competition concerns amid rumours that Yahoo! might turn to the search giant to try and fend off the bid from Microsoft. Google's chief legal …

Financial News 4 Feb 2008, 11:21
LG unveils unveiling of slimline sliderphone

Full specs next week

LG is building up the hype for its latest handset by announcing that it will... er... announce the phone at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. LG's KF510: touch-sensitive Looking much like Samsung’s G800 slider - reviewed here - the LG-KF510 is 10.9mm thick and incorporates a three-megapixel camera. LG will …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 11:24
Sage holds line on Q1 trading

But north American unit still struggling

Accounting software maker Sage Group said today it remains on target to hit market expectations, but admitted that organic growth looks set to slow for the year ahead. The Newcastle-based firm, which punts much of its financial software at the small and medium-sized (SME) market where Microsoft has recently started flexing its …

Channel Register 4 Feb 2008, 11:26
Air pollution driving midweek rain

Wetter Thursdays, drier Saturdays

NASA has determined that air pollution provokes wetter weekdays and drier weekends in the southeastern US, with peak rainfall occuring late on Thursdays provoked by increased levels of airborne particles. That's the conclusion of a study of summertime storms using data collected from the agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring …

Science 4 Feb 2008, 11:31
Slim’n’light PS3 en-route?

Console on a diet

Sony is preparing a slimmer version of the chunky PlayStation 3, it has been claimed, a move that would match what's it's already done with the PSone, PS2 and PSP. According to a “well-informed insider” cited by birds'n'boxes mag Tomorrow's Technology Today, that trend will be repeated with the PS3. Unfortunately, Sony’s …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 11:33
Old aircraft artefacts become office accessories

Buy your boss a B-52 bomber seat for a big bundle of bucks

Motoart, the company behind retro aeroplane furniture like the C-130 Hercules wing conference table, the Boeing 727 engine cowling valet desk and the MK-84 bomb casing ten-gallon fish tank, are proud to present the B-52 Stratofortress ejection seat office chair. Originally from Southern California, the artists/sculptors/metal- …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 11:40
Yahoo! tunes! out! of! music! subscription!

Get on your feet...

Yahoo! is taking some time out from worrying about what it's like to be a Microsoft tentacle to offload its damp squib music subscription service. Rhapsody, the near-identical subscription service joint-owned by RealNetworks and Viacom, will take on Yahoo! Music Unlimited's undisclosed customer base, in what's descibed as a " …

Music and Media 4 Feb 2008, 11:52
AMD ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 dual-GPU graphics card

Review Do two GPUs equal double the value?

Everything about the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics card is big, including the model name, so we’re going to stick to calling it the X2 here. The principle behind the X2 is simple enough. AMD's ATI Radeon HD 3870 is a decent graphics card but it's having a job competing with Nvidia's GeForce 8800 family, which is the …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 12:02
Ofgem, MoD attack pricey terror-friendly windmills

Military, regulators take Quixotic stance

Britain's fledgling wind power industry has suffered blows from two directions over the weekend. The energy regulator, Ofgem, has attacked the system of subsidies given to wind-farm operators, saying it channels excessive profits to owners and does little to stimulate new build. On top of this, the ministry of defence (MoD) has …

Environment 4 Feb 2008, 12:36
Fraud cases breached £1bn level in 2007

UK.gov = number one victim

Organised gangs pushed the value of fraud to a 12-year high last year, with the UK government being the largest victim of their criminal activities, according to a new survey. KPMG Forensic, which has been monitoring fraud levels for 20 years, said today that the total value of cases heard by UK courts in 2007 - £1.02bn - was …

Small Biz 4 Feb 2008, 13:05
HK star in rumpy pumpy piccy rumpus

Harvested photos spark south China police crackdown

A Hong Kong actor's already interesting love life has been further complicated after pictures of the star cavorting with several starlets appeared on the net. Racy images apparently showing Edison Chen in bed with singer Gillian Chung, along with "suggestive images" of actress Cecilia Cheung, appeared online after reportedly …

Entertainment 4 Feb 2008, 13:14
China to get Windows Mobile 6 'iPhone'

Well, it looks like one...

Want an iPhone that runs Windows Mobile 6? China's the place to go. There you can pick up the T32, a handset that's almost identical to Apple's handset, with a few (minor?) differences. First, it's quite a bit fatter - it's 15.5mm thick - and the screen's not up to iPhone spec, either. It's a 3.2in, 240 x 320 job to the iPhone …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 13:39
Sony Ericsson ponders detachable-screen clamshell

Remove display, use it separately

Documents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office by Sony Ericsson have revealed designs for a handset with a display that’s able to detach from the keypad and twist in numerous ways. Sony Ericsson's phone separates into two units In the documents, SE describes how the unnamed handset would comprise two detachable …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 13:43
DS Lite dock debuts

No more pesky power cables

If you’re confused by cables whilst trying to charge your numerous gadgets, then help is at hand, for DS Lite console owners at least. Hori's DS Lite docking station: removes the hassle from charging? Japanese retailer Hori is set to release a docking station for the Nintendo console that makes charging the gaming unit as …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 14:02
A380 superjumbo in natural-gas powered test flight

Slipping the surly bonds of the oil market

The world's largest passenger airliner, the Airbus A380, has successfully made a test flight using synthetic jet fuel partly made from natural gas. The test is the latest step in moves by airliner builders and operators to diversify the sources of their fuel supplies. Reuters reports that the monster double-decker superjumbo …

Science 4 Feb 2008, 14:03
Trial for T5 mandatory biometrics kicks off at Heathrow

Terminal 1 passengers get to be lab rats

Quietly on Friday, Heathrow Airport recruited quantities of involuntary lab rats to test fingerprint-based security/traffic control system planned for Terminal 5. The luckless pioneers were selected at Terminal 1, where biometrics are now being deducted from any domestic passengers wishing to visit the international lounge. …

ID 4 Feb 2008, 14:08
Brits can't distinguish history from the TV listings

Historical figures only real if named after a pub

Chronologically-challenged Brits think that Robin Hood, Biggles and Sherlock Holmes were real people while questioning whether the likes of Winston Churchill, Montgomery of Alamein and Mahatma Gandhi ever walked this Earth. The shocking findings were uncovered by British TV station UKTV Gold, which is funny, as anyone who …

Bootnotes 4 Feb 2008, 14:10
Teen-mum flick gets filmgoers hungry for hamburger phone

I want ice cream! And pickles! And communications equipment!

Companies like Apple and Sony have known for years that movie product placement translates into big bucks. The latest such placement is...a hamburger phone, which features in new teens-up-the-duff movie Juno. Statistics floating around online, which have been attributed to eBay, claim that sales of the retro handset jumped 759 …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 14:20
Moto to get ASBO?

Analysis For sale: One ailing mobile phone business

Motorola's share price rose ten per cent after the company issued a statement saying it may sell or spin out its mobile phone business. So the company need only issue eight such more statements, and the share price will have returned to its October 2006 peak of $26. Cynicism aside, it's hard to see what Motorola wanted to …

Mobile 4 Feb 2008, 14:40
Can my Mac run Windows apps?

Q&A

I have a Mac Cube 10.4.11, 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo, 512 MB and need to access my PC at work. Does my Mac have enough memory for Bootcamp to be successful? Not only will I need to run a word package, but also Sage. Many thanks.

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 14:56
Acer shakes up exec team after Packard Bell buy

Three-pronged brand-attack

Acer has made a number of senior management changes as the Taiwan-based firm deepens its computer manufacturing footprint following the completed purchase of Packard Bell. It said in a statement that Semmy Levit, who was Acer's UK country manager for the past three years, has been promoted to the role of European head of the …

Channel Register 4 Feb 2008, 15:00
Pod slurping licks a*se antlers to claim Oz word of the year

Strewth

The powers that be down at the Macquarie Dictionary have voted "pod slurping" as Oz word of the year 2007. The neologism was joined on the podium by People's Choice Award winner "password fatigue", while "infomania" and "carbon footprint" each attracted an honourable mention. Sadly, the splendid "arse antlers" had to make do …

Bootnotes 4 Feb 2008, 15:05
MS bundles Vista SP1 and Server 2008 out the door

Released to manufacturing

Microsoft this morning released Service Pack 1 for Vista and Windows Server 2008 to manufacturers. SP1 is a bundle of fixes including extra hardware drivers. The software is released to computer manufacturers today and "will start being available to customers in March". SP1 changes aspects of Microsoft's controversial Windows …

Operating Systems 4 Feb 2008, 15:26
HMRC lifts fine threat for late tax filers

Taking the 'dead' out of 'deadline'

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs will not fine anyone who got their tax filed over the weekend - even though they missed the official, extended deadline. A spokesman for HMRC told the Reg: "Anyone who was unable to file online because of some isolated problems Thursday and Friday will not be fined if they filed over the …

Small Biz 4 Feb 2008, 16:12
Cigarette ash proves a drag for Nintendo's Wii

Don't smoke around my ~~baby~~ console

Everyone knows smoking's bad for you, but, until now, we didn’t know if it was also detrimental to the health of games consoles. Nintendo’s claiming that a build-up of tobacco is partly to blame for recent complaints about the quality of gameplay in Super Smash Bros Brawl. Smokers to blame for SSBB gameplay problems? The …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 16:14
BitTorrent admin's police bail extended (again)

Further delay for milestone OiNK investigation

Cleveland police have extended the bail granted to the former administrator of an alleged music piracy site for a second time, in a bid to collect more evidence for a case that could mark a watershed for UK internet law. Alan Ellis, a 24-year-old IT worker from Middlesbrough, was arrested in October on suspicion of conspiracy …

Law 4 Feb 2008, 16:39
Remembering the Coleco Adam

This Old Box Electromagnetic pulse bomb in a beige box

Technology product failures will always have a special spot in my heart. Perhaps it's comforting to know even when a team of seemingly talented and intelligent people put their heads together — it sometimes only results in a painful, coconut-like thud in the center of the huddle. This week's box is a unique, multifaceted …

PCs & Chips 4 Feb 2008, 16:51
IPv6 roots planted on the net

Another small step towards the next generation

Monday marks a red-letter day for the internet, with the introduction of services that allow IPv6-based IP addresses to translated into domain names and vice versa. The change comes as net governance organisation IANA adds AAAA records for the IPv6 addresses of six of the 13 root name servers, making it possible for two …

Data Networking 4 Feb 2008, 16:59
Easy iPhone unlocking for $30?

Definitely not Apple certified

Online retailer Brando has begun selling a SIM card-sized device that it claims unlocks Apple’s iPhone for use on any network, without the need for any complicated software or soldering iron surgery. Brando's iPhone Unlock Card: the card's upper face (left) and with a SIM affixes Dubbed the iPhone Unlock Card, the widget’s …

Reg Hardware 4 Feb 2008, 17:03
Straw: Police can bug MPs without asking Cabinet

Launches inquiry into alleged snooping on Sadiq Khan

The UK Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, told MPs today that the alleged bugging of a prominent Muslim MP's conversations with a constituent had not been authorised by the cabinet. But Straw also said the alleged snooping would not have breached the Wilson doctrine banning the security services from bugging MPs, if it emerged any …

Policing 4 Feb 2008, 17:21
MySpace to throw out code

Social slump

If all goes well then MySpace will open its platform to developers on Tuesday, in keeping with plans announced last October. Details are vague but the youf social networking arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire has at least confirmed the platform will support Google's OpenSocial interface. The timing couldn't be worse. Besides …

Applications 4 Feb 2008, 18:00
PostgreSQL packs record punch

Speedy release

The latest release of open source database PostgreSQL hit Monday, packing a claimed record number of new and improved features. That means 280 patches. Version 8.3 of the sturdy alternative to MySQL has been re-worked for developers, DBAs and users with improvements targeting performance and maintenance. Among the changes, …

Applications 4 Feb 2008, 20:43
Dell quick to ship first EqualLogic box

What, no honeymoon?

Dell is already punting its first EqualLogic storage array, just a few days after it closed the $1.4bn acquisition of the iSCSI storage specialist. The PS5000 is obviously an EqualLogic baby, with somewhat questionable Dell parentage given the date of the corporate marriage. Parthenogenesis, you might say. Like most …

Storage 4 Feb 2008, 20:53
Microsoft forgers get jail time in Taiwan

Syndicate controlled '90 per cent' of all fakes

A counterfeiting operation that Microsoft claims was responsible for 90 per cent of faked Microsoft software has been sent up the river in Taiwan. If the statistic is to be believed, nearly the entire worldwide distribution of "high-quality" Microsoft forgeries have been destroyed with the sentencing of Huang Jer-sheng and his …

Channel Register 4 Feb 2008, 23:05
Hollywood writers abandon Hollywood for web

Google licks its chops

Unhappy with the way they've been treated by Hollywood's old school film and television producers, more than a few big name American movie and TV writers are bootstrapping startups in an effort to distribute their own material. And naturally, they plan on distributing via the web. As American TV addicts know all too well, the …

Music and Media 4 Feb 2008, 23:09
ClearSpeed clears out staff

Pink slip acceleration

Floating point specialist ClearSpeed has been wounded by the subprime/credit crunch meltdown. The company has laid off a large chunk of workers to save costs, as its financial services clients abandon new projects. One source reckoned that ClearSpeed dropped about 40 per cent of its staff, including consultants. But CEO Tom …

Servers 4 Feb 2008, 23:21
Sun aims for '09 with Rock boxes

Exclusive All systems slow

Servers based on Sun Microsystems' Rock processor will now arrive in the second half of 2009, The Register can confirm. Last Dec., we reported on speculation that Rock had suffered a delay, shifting to 2009 from its late 2008 original delivery forecast. Now one of Sun's top engineers Marc Tremblay has confirmed the "second …

Servers 4 Feb 2008, 23:51