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7th February 2008 Archive

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  • Facebook and white trash data centers make Rackable smile

    Ready to rule crumbling economy

    A flush Facebook nudged Rackable Systems' revenue higher during the fourth quarter. Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon.com accounted for at least 10 per cent each of Rackable's $117.m fourth quarter haul. That revenue total marked a five per cent year-over-year rise for Rackable, which sells servers and storage boxes. But while the …

    Servers 7 Feb 2008, 00:34

  • Java and PHP to exchange sweet nothings

    SugarCon 2008 SugarCRM plans modesty layer

    SugarCRM, one of the open source community's darlings, is taking steps towards improve interoperability between its PHP architecture and Java. The next version of SugarCRM's customer relationship management (CRM) suite, version 6.0 due in the fourth quarter of 2008 or first quarter of 2009, will feature a "Java layer" to …

    Developer 7 Feb 2008, 00:49

  • Cisco outlook an investor Chambers of horrors

    Q2 less of a shocker

    Cisco posted a decent 2008 fiscal second quarter, yet remains gloomy about its near-term sales forecast in the US and Europe. Revenue increased 16.5 per cent to $9.8bn, compared with $8.4bn year-over-year. Net income climbed 7.2 per cent to $2.1bn, compared with $1.9bn a year ago. Operating income increased to $2.4bn from $2. …

    Data Networking 7 Feb 2008, 00:52

  • Pillar adds 'application awareness' to Axiom arrays

    Will improve efficiency of 'open pod bay' door program

    Storage unstartup Pillar Data Systems is hawking a new application-aware storage feature for its Axiom arrays as "the world's first and only true" form of the management service. While it's par for the course for a vendor to claim global eminence and dominance in anything within throwing distance of their boxes, this …

    Storage 7 Feb 2008, 01:31

  • Cable cutter nutters chase underwater conspiracies

    Plumbing the depths

    The failure of four undersea cables in less than a week is stoking suspicions that saboteurs want to disrupt internet traffic passing between Europe and the Middle East. But there's little more than suspicions to work with since no one has yet to even reach the damaged cables. The first two failures occurred last Wednesday …

    Data Networking 7 Feb 2008, 01:57

  • Forth Road Bridge hack redirects to smut bazaar

    Updated Firth and degradation

    Hackers turned the Forth Road Bridge website into a filth jamboree after breaking into its systems to plant script designed to redirect surfers to a Turkish site hosting malware. According to Scottish security outfit Roundtrip Solutions the website of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (www.feta.gov.uk), which runs the …

    Enterprise Security 7 Feb 2008, 05:02

  • MoD goat-bothering boffinry to cease

    Submariner-simulating caprines' work is done

    The UK Ministry of Defence is to cease experiments involving goats in compression chambers, it has announced. The British forces now believe they have all the data they need regarding the likely effects of different decompression regimes, making further testing unnecessary. For the past 11 months, UK animal decompression …

    Biology 7 Feb 2008, 06:02

  • PC World cuts £250 off the price of Apple's MacBook Air

    Yes, there's a catch...

    Want a MacBook Air for £949? Pop over to PC World's website and order the skinny Apple and an HSDPA wireless broadband package from carrier 3 and the retailer will knock £250 off the price of the Air. Catches? Well, to get £250 off, you have to pay 3 £35 a month for the next 18 months - a total of £630. There's also a data- …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 07:02

  • Germans demand Nokia return funding

    Nokia 'astonished'

    Nokia has responded with astonishment to the attempt by the North Rhine-Westphalia Bank and local government to reclaim subsidies given to the mobile phone maker in 1999, claiming they invested more money and created more jobs than the subsidy demanded - even though they've now closed the factory. Nokia reckons it received a …

    Mobile 7 Feb 2008, 09:50

  • New England Patriots victims of trademark hubris

    Don't count your chickens before they're hatched

    American football team the New England Patriots applied for a trademark on the phrase 19–0 to represent the 18 games leading up to last Sunday's Super Bowl and the victory they had predicted for themselves. They lost. The Super Bowl is the cup final of American football, the last game of the season in which teams from its two …

    Law 7 Feb 2008, 09:57

  • Just because it’s SaaS doesn’t make it good

    A practical reality check

    The prevailing view among SaaS evangelists seems to be that if it’s hosted and charged for on a price per user per month basis, or better still free, then it must be good. This is a religious standpoint that is no more useful or valid than oft-heard claims that open source software is universally better than the commercial …

    Applications 7 Feb 2008, 10:11

  • US navy-v-dolphins judge says Bush can't overrule her

    Beneath-the-waves waiver waived

    A federal beak whose judgement against US Navy sonar exercises in waters off California was countermanded by George Bush has now ruled that the President's order was invalid. The dispute has arisen following assertions by environmentalist groups that naval sonars cause harm to marine mammals such as whales and dolphins. US …

    Biology 7 Feb 2008, 10:15

  • Management cull fires BT profit slump

    Richard and Judy also fingered

    BT's ongoing round of sackings has caused a slump in profits as it counts the cost of offloading middle managers, the national telco said today. It's the second consecutive quarter in which a group-wide bid to slim down and refocus on broadband and services has hit finances. Profit before tax, including the exceptional …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2008, 10:44

  • Thais rate rat 'better than chicken'

    Booming sales for murine munchies

    Thailand's roadside fast-food vendors are enjoying booming sales of the country's latest fave dish - rat. According to the Beeb, rat has long been on the menu in Thailand's poorer north, but is now widely available for discerning gourmets countrywide. Customers can get their rat uncooked, or poached, fried, grilled or baked, …

    Bootnotes 7 Feb 2008, 10:49

  • Orange France iPhone total hits 90,000

    Could do better?

    Orange has sold 90,000 iPhones since releasing the handset to French buyers in November 2007, the carrier's parent, France Telecom, told reporters yesterday. It said half of that total were customers who'd come to Orange from other networks. Yet, the France Telecom president Didier Lombard did admit that he'd have preferred …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 10:51

  • Server sales drive Sun's MySQL strategy

    SugarCon 2008 Underpants Gnomes take charge

    Sometimes it takes a faker to say it like it is. Taking time out from satirizing alpha-male Larry Ellison and dissing the sainted Ray Ozzie's timelessly clunky Lotus Notes, Fake Steve Jobs - AKA Forbes senior editor Daniel Lyons - got serious for a moment Wednesday as he opened SugarCRM's developer conference. Turning to Sun …

    Developer 7 Feb 2008, 11:01

  • Palm to bring latest Palm OS smartphone to UK

    Centro due this month

    Palm is to bring its Palm OS-based Centro smartphone to Europe, the company announced today. The Centro has a design that largely matches that of the Windows Mobile 6-based Treo 500. It too has a Qwerty microkeyboard, but the Centro is thinner and taller than the more squat Treo. Palm's Centro: coming to the UK The Palm OS …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 11:16

  • Samsung launches black U600 to tickle your fingers

    Now with vibrating keys

    Samsung’s U600 handset has several similar-looking stablemates, including the G600. So the South Korean manufacturer has decided to set it aside from the rest by re-launching the U600 in a sultry black shade and adding in fingertip vibration. Samsung's black U600: now with a vibrating keypad Dubbed... well... the Black U600 …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 11:24

  • Add-on maker punts Wii-styled speaker set

    Console gets suitably styled speaker system

    Console peripherals specialist 4Gamers has created a speaker system for the Wii. 4Gamers' Wii speaker system The manufacturer claims its 2.1-channel sound system is officially licensed by Nintendo, and a very sleek design it is too. The sub-woofer looks like a fat Wii, with a vertical blue strip down one side to mimic the …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 11:31

  • Stealthy Adobe Reader update fixes mystery security bugs

    You'll want it but we can't tell you why

    Adobe has pushed out a stealthy - but important - update to its Reader software that fixes a number of unspecified security problems. As well as fixing various performance and stability issues, Adobe Reader version 8.1.2 also resolves a number of mystery security bugs. Details of the performance tweaks, at least, are detailed …

    Enterprise Security 7 Feb 2008, 11:57

  • Britt Ekland on board for 'Wicker Man 2'

    NSFW Reunited with Christopher Lee in Cowboys For Christ

    Fans of 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man will be delighted to learn that Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee are on board for a sequel to the virgin-roasting paganfest. The film, promisingly entitled Cowboys For Christ, will be helmed by original director Robin Hardy, and is based on his 2006 novel of the same name, according to …

    Entertainment 7 Feb 2008, 12:00

  • Glaswegian piracy drive yields just 41 'possible' offenders

    BSA gives its definition of 'success'

    The BSA claims its month-long campaign to clamp down on software piracy in Glasgow is a “major success” – despite uncovering just 41 potential pirates after haranguing thousands of businesses by letter. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) wrote to 8,000 firms in November last year in which it urged bosses in the Scottish city …

    Channel Register 7 Feb 2008, 12:09

  • Sky broadband customers blindsided by SMTP switch-off

    Google mail outsourcing deal deadline bites

    Sky broadband customer have been caught on the hop this week as the firm switched off its in-house SMTP servers and completed outsourcing its email provision to Google. Despite warnings many were unprepared for the deadline, which means they need to update their desktop email programme settings to send and receive new messages …

    Telecoms 7 Feb 2008, 12:15

  • Flash makers tout near-term speed, capacity boosts

    Major developments afoot

    The world's Flash memory makers have been busy this week talking up the technology's immediate future: essentially, higher capacity, higher speed chips. Toshiba and SanDisk together showed off what they claimed is the first multi-level NAND Flash chip fabricated using a 43nm process. The part show to 2008 International Solid …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 12:18

  • Oscar nominees win ROKR E8 first refusal

    Hollywood glam meets handset beauty

    If you see someone ordinary carrying Motorola’s upcoming ROKR E8 handset later this month, then call the police, because they’ve probably mugged a superstar. Motorola’s planning to award ROKR E8 handsets to Oscar nominees, before letting the huddled masses know when the phone goes on sale. Motorola's ROKR E8 Oscar boxes The …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 12:32

  • Brits split on ID cards

    Not getting any more popular

    The British public is evenly split on ID cards - 47 per cent think they're a good idea while 50 per cent think not. The survey of over 1,000 people looked at attitudes to several proposed government IT projects including the database of all UK children, the central register of personal information and fingerprints to support …

    Government 7 Feb 2008, 12:33

  • Boffin says Astronomical Unit should be binned

    Fails to allow for shrinky sun, spiralling Earth

    An astronomer based in Canada has published a paper arguing that distances within the solar system should no longer be measured using Astronomical Units (AU), which is currently standard practice. An AU is approximately equal to the distance between Earth and Sun, but the International Astronomical Union actually defines it …

    Space 7 Feb 2008, 12:38

  • Operators race to pre-empt Euro data roaming cap

    3, KPN and Play cut wholesale data rates

    Five operators across Europe have banded together and agreed to cut wholesale data rates to €.25 per megabyte. The agreement should reduce customer prices over the next 12 months, though whether that will be enough to fend off the formidable Ms Reding remains to be seen. Riding a tide of good publicity from last year's cap on …

    Mobile 7 Feb 2008, 12:43

  • Swedish cops probe flying fermented fish attack

    Rude awakening for surströmming grenade victim

    Swedish police are probing a malodorous fermented flying fish incident in which an open can of local delicacy surströmming was launched through the bedroom window of a 52-year-old Motala man. Sweden's The Local describes the result as "breakfast in bed with a cruel and unusual twist", and according to our correspondent Mike …

    Bootnotes 7 Feb 2008, 12:46

  • Major labels 'face DoJ antitrust probe'

    Unlaunched TotalMusic prompts price fixing concern

    Two major labels have been served notice of a fresh antitrust investigation, a music business newsletter reports today. MusicAlly's daily Bulletin suggests that the as-yet-unlaunched TotalMusic service, currently backed by Universal and Somy BMG, has prompted notices from the US Department of Justice. The report suggests all …

    Music and Media 7 Feb 2008, 13:19

  • Sony Ericsson Walkman W960i music phone

    Review It's a phone. It's Walkman. It's a robot. Well, maybe not a robot...

    The new W960i may sit atop the Sony Ericsson music phone tree but is it supposed to be a smartphone or a music phone? Maybe a bit of both. The problem with the phrase 'a bit of both' is that it's seldom the harbinger of anything other than compromise or muddled thinking. If we had to describe the aesthetics of the W960i in one …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 13:25

  • Critical bugs surge in reduced flaw haul

    Less is more scary

    The number of software vulnerabilities discovered last year dropped last year after several years of growth. But although the absolute number of software bugs unearthed last year slipped by 5.4 per cent compared to 2006, the number of high-priority vulnerabilities increased by 28 per cent, according to a preliminary analysis …

    Security 7 Feb 2008, 13:40

  • Scottish government drafts Cat Welfare Code

    Click here for feline wellbeing enlightenment

    The Scottish government has tackled the thorny issue of cat welfare by issuing a Draft Cat Welfare Code of Practice aimed at providing "basic information and guidance to those responsible for cats on how to care for them". This exhaustive document contains essential info for those Scots who aren't feline-savvy, such as the …

    Bootnotes 7 Feb 2008, 13:56

  • Google shouts 'Go team' at businesses, schools

    Apps Team Edition hits US, prepping for UK

    Google Apps today sprouted a new limb to lure more US business users and school kids away from collaboration software rivals Microsoft and IBM. According to the search engine firm, Google Apps Team Edition will allow companies' IT departments to more easily integrate and configure the apps for workgroups. Previously, Google …

    Applications 7 Feb 2008, 14:30

  • Boy burned in PSP trouser blaze

    Scorcher

    A 12-year-old boy was yesterday treated in hospital for second-degree burns after his Sony PlayStation Portable apparently spontaneously combusted in his trouser pocket. Young Harold Clay was at school - Warner Middle in Farmington Hills, Michigan - when the incident took place. At 9am yesterday morning, the strides-stowed …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 14:43

  • Customers peel away from Orange broadband

    Operator pipped to new business

    Orange has bucked the broadband market growth trend to report a net loss of 4,000 customers in the last three months of 2007, despite a high-profile TV advertising campaign*. It ended the year with 1,138,000 broadband customers, parent company France Telecom's latest financials revealed yesterday - making for a mediocre gain …

    Telecoms 7 Feb 2008, 15:06

  • Ordinary-fuel scramjet prototype suffers test failure

    'HyFly' crashes, fails to burn

    An innovative hypersonics programme has suffered a failure, with a prototype scramjet missile failing to perform properly and crashing into the Pacific after less than a minute in the air. It works well here... Aviation Week reports that a "HyFly" test airframe was launched from an F-15 fighter above a weapons range on the …

    Science 7 Feb 2008, 15:09

  • Nasty JavaScript code can zap new iPhone, iPod Touch

    Kernel bogey

    Security researchers have discovered you can crash an iPhone through the medium of a cleverly crafted webpage. The exploit, dubbed a "memory exhaustion remote denial of service vulnerability" by the SecurityFocus website, affects Apple's Mobile Safari web browser, a key component of both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Code up …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 15:33

  • US spooks won't get UK census access

    Well, probably not

    US spooks will not get access to English and Welsh census information even if the census contract is won by US defence firm Lockheed Martin. Treasury Minister Angela Eagle told the Treasury Select Committee yesterday that the data would be kept safe. There are two companies still bidding for the £450m contract - T-Systems, …

    Public Sector 7 Feb 2008, 16:08

  • HTC Vista UMPC to hit the UK within weeks

    Credit cards at the ready...

    HTC’s long-awaited Shift UMPC is set to arrive in the UK later this month and, rumour has it, you’ll also be able to buy it from Orange. HTC's Shift: runs Vista, connects to 3G The Shift, which first appeared almost a year ago and was due to go on sale in November 2007, will be available from online retailer Expansys on 19 …

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 16:16

  • Big Brother firm tech exec locked up in UAE

    Campaign launched against Dubai 'drug' arrest

    The head of technology at TV production firm Endemol has spent almost two weeks in jail in Dubai without charge, accused of drug smuggling. Cat Le-Huy, a 31-year-old London resident known to friends as "Diz", was arrested on arrival at Dubai International Airport on January 26. A German national, he was on his way to visit a …

    Policing 7 Feb 2008, 16:43

  • Best way to stream Sky HD content to multiple TVs?

    Q&A

    I'm looking to take a single SkyHD source and distribute it to three TV's in my house. I've heard this can be done over CAT 5/6. Can anyone advise to how this could be done? And could I network these TVs to make them become monitors for an internet feed?

    Reg Hardware 7 Feb 2008, 16:51

  • Web pioneer hits critics with Lisp gauntlet

    Higher-level challenge

    Maverick programmer and venture capitalist Paul Graham is challenging all comers to beat him after finally releasing a working version of his Lisp update – called Arc. Best known for his pioneering early 1990s work on web development and spam filters, Graham announced in 2001 he was working on an economic version of Lisp, one …

    Software 7 Feb 2008, 18:46

  • Archived Chinese scholar to sue Google and Yahoo! over search censorship

    'Erase? No, no. We engage'

    A pro-democracy Chinese activist plans to sue Google and Yahoo! for removing his name from their web search results. Last week, The Times reports, former university professor Guo Quan published an open letter to Google, the world's largest search engine, threatening to sue stateside because his name no longer appears on the …

    Law 7 Feb 2008, 21:20

  • Regulators probe SocGen over rogue trader scandal

    Will the SEC get in on the act?

    Société Générale may face a US inquiry on its handling of the rogue trader scandal that cost the company €4.9bn ($7.2bn). The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to see if the French bank violated US laws in the way it unwound its position after it was dropped in a hole by rogue derivatives trader Jérôme Kerviel. …

    Financial News 7 Feb 2008, 21:58

  • US spooks see Sadville as potential terrorist paradise

    Al-Qaeda may horn in on horny teens

    US intelligence officials are growing increasingly wary of Second Life and other virtual worlds, which they say could soon become havens for terrorists, money-launderers and criminals engaged in corporate espionage. The virtual "communities" offer many of the same amenities of the real world, including banks, multiple …

    Crime 7 Feb 2008, 22:26

  • Microsoft! snuggles! with! Yahoo! on! OpenID!

    Shared bank accounts next?

    Call it co-incidence or call it necessity, but Microsoft has jumped on-board a Yahoo!-backed initiative to give internet users a single digital identity. Microsoft is joining systems and internet rivals IBM and Google by becoming a full corporate board member of the OpenID Foundation. Also signing up are VeriSign and Yahoo!, …

    Security 7 Feb 2008, 22:41

  • Carbonite sprinkles some fancy over online backup service

    Feature list set to 'Mozy'

    It's a prudent time for fledgling online backup firm Carbonite to spit-shine its software now that EMC is serious about nurturing a rival, Mozy. Carbonite has launched PCBackup version 3.5, which adds some extra backup and security options to its online service for Windows machines. For the most part, the upgrade is about …

    Storage 7 Feb 2008, 22:46

  • Dell makes exploited hamster cry

    Flat panels lead to a cleaner Earth

    The only thing worse than the "Wisdom of Crowds" may be the "Graffiti of Crowds." Hoping to prove its hipness, Dell has been sponsoring a "ReGeneration" contest on Facebook. Visitors to Facebook were asked to use the Graffiti application as a means of expressing "what green means to you." The Facebook clan produced thousands …

    Odds and Sods 7 Feb 2008, 23:49