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8th February 2008 Archive

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  • Designer dials in Chanel phone

    Does it have a big number five?

    Designer handsets and phones with the backing of a prominent fashion label are ten-a-penny nowadays. However, a concept model designed on behalf of Chanel really stands out from the crowd. Chanel's concept hanset To start with, it’s a slider handset, but not your run of the mill Samsung G600-type slider. The concept allows …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 01:02

  • RIAA chief calls for copyright filters on PCs

    By deception or force if necessary

    When is a virus not a virus? When it's sending your personal data to the Recording Industry Association of America, silly. Internet advocacy website Public Knowledge has posted a highlight reel from the State of the Net Conference, where RIAA boss Cary Sherman suggests that internet filtering sorely lacks the personal touch of …

    PCs & Chips 8 Feb 2008, 01:36

  • Automated crack for Windows Live captcha goes wild

    Spammers'Holy Grail

    Spammers are using a sophisticated piece of software that can create thousands of Windows Live email addresses by cracking the protections designed to prevent the large-scale creation of fraudulent accounts. According to security firm Websense, the bot is surreptitiously installed on the PCs of end users. It then establishes a …

    Spam 8 Feb 2008, 01:59

  • When Google's content network lacks content

    Let's go fly a kite

    Just how much money does Google make from so-called "domain parkers" - those clever characters who populate countless web pages with nothing but advertising? Judging from a recent legal attack on a small army of these clever characters, Eric Schmidt and his minions make far more than they'd like the world to know. Earlier …

    Music and Media 8 Feb 2008, 04:05

  • Feds bat for Boeing in rendition lawsuit

    Torture outsourcing never had it so good

    The US government argued vehemently yesterday in District Court that government contractors engaged in confidential activities are covered by the controversial state secrets doctrine to the extent that litigation would require disclosure of government secrets. The state secrets document is a common law doctrine that the …

    Government 8 Feb 2008, 04:57

  • Load of Microsoft software falls off back of lorry

    Updated At least some MS products are hot

    A UK computer distributor has warned the channel to keep an eye out for a shipment of software stolen from a lorry bound for Warrington last month. Cheshire-based VIP said that the theft was reported to police on 14 January. The firm added that the software is largely worthless because Microsoft has already de-activated the …

    Channel Register 8 Feb 2008, 05:02

  • Faster broadband through bonding

    Does doubling up your DSL really work?

    Sex, money and chocolate are supposed to be the three things you can't have too much of. There is a fourth: Bandwidth. One way to have twice as much bandwidth is to have two lines, but getting them to work together isn't simple. Sharedband, a spin-off from BT Martlesham, is poised to launch a UK service to do just this. An …

    Telecoms 8 Feb 2008, 06:02

  • Does the UK have an equivant of US service iFixit.com?

    Q&A

    Just wondered if anyone of you or my fellow readers knew if there was a good alternative to ifixit.com that's based in the UK, so doesn't incur huge shipping costs? I'm after a replacement screen for my iPod 5G.

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 06:02

  • Equifax asks customer to email debit card photocopies

    Sanity check please

    Credit checking giant Equifax left Reg reader Thomas flummoxed when it told him to send copies of the front and back of his debit card when he asked for a credit report. Equifax has said the request for debit card photocopies was down to human error, but defended its use of email in processing credit reports. Sending anything …

    ID 8 Feb 2008, 08:02

  • English language succumbs to Symbiotic Ephemeralization

    Death by a thousand innovation hypercycles

    It is with heavy hearts that we announce this morning a near-fatal encounter between Reg reader David Talkowski and this pdf from the Institute For Enterprise Architecture Developments, an organisation described as "one of the most important sources of information related to Enterprise Architecture". David's condition is …

    Bootnotes 8 Feb 2008, 10:00

  • NPfIT director general hands in his scrubs

    Programme looks for CIO and director of IT

    The Department of Health (DoH) has confirmed that Richard Granger has left his post as director general of the NHS National Programme for IT. This follows a period in which there has been uncertainty about Granger's continued role in the programme. He had announced in July that he would leave by the end of 2007, but this had …

    Public Sector 8 Feb 2008, 10:15

  • Big Blue talks up 45nm PlayStation 3 processor possibilities

    Higher clock speeds or a smaller power drain, Sony?

    It's no great surprise, perhaps, but Cell Broadband Engine chip co-developer IBM will produce a 45nm version of the processor, paving the way for smaller, cooler-running PlayStation 3 consoles. Originally produced using a 90nm process, Cell is currently being punched out at 65nm. That version debuted with the 40GB PS3. The …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 10:33

  • Samsung bares its Soul

    Flagship handset to feature novel contextual menu control

    Samsung has added some funk - not to mention a novel contextual visual nav panel - to its handset line-up and unveiled the Soul as its flagship handset for 2008. Samsung's Soul: sleek slider Soul, which builds on existing phones like Samsung’s D900 and U600 handsets, incorporates a feature called Magic Touch which allows …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 10:50

  • Vodafone hooks up with Facebook and Match.com

    C'mere you

    Vodafone is to be the first operator to make use of Facebook's new Mobile Operators Platform, and has also signed a deal with dating site Match.com. Facebook has been available on mobiles for a while, in a frequently-clumsy fashion and officially unsupported. Using the new platform should ensure everything works smoothly and …

    Mobile 8 Feb 2008, 10:52

  • Yahoo! shares! rise! above! offer! price!

    !!!!! Microsoft may pay more

    Yahoo! shares are worth more than Microsoft offered to pay for them last week. Even though when Microsoft made its offer to buy Yahoo! it included a 62 per cent premium Yahoo! shareholders are now better off selling their shares on the open market. Microsoft offered a mix of its own shares and cash equivalent to $31 for each …

    Financial News 8 Feb 2008, 10:53

  • Thigh-drive phone charger put through its paces

    Let your legs help your fingers do the walking

    North American boffins have produced a knee brace which can generate several watts of power as the wearer's leg flexes while walking. The inventors believe the device could be useful for powering medical equipment - and even mobile phones. In a paper for the boffinry journal Science, the researchers reveal their device's test …

    Physics 8 Feb 2008, 10:55

  • Brit firm levitates floating chair

    Grav-busting maglev lounger

    It may not be the flying car we've been waiting for since the mid 1950s, but Brit firm Hoverit has come up with what may prove to be the next best thing: a Newton-snubbing maglev lounger. The company's Steve Wild explains: "The Hoverit Lounger is British designed and built. It is precision engineered from clear acrylic and …

    Bootnotes 8 Feb 2008, 10:55

  • Should the IT department be accountable for energy use?

    Reg Tech Panel TCO? What TCO!

    As the green debate rages on, one of the findings that came from our recent survey of Reg Readers revealed that despite all the talk about energy savings and IT, the majority of IT departments are not accountable for spending on electricity to run systems. The survey also told us that a lot of IT departments would have a …

    Environment 8 Feb 2008, 11:05

  • Scientists sue Intel in Core 2 Duo clash

    Patented tech used without permission, boffins claim

    A band of boffins is suing Intel, claiming the chip giant pinched their patented technology and used it in the Core 2 Duo processor design without their say-so. The patent application was filed way back in 1996 and granted in 1998, long before the advent of the Core 2 Duo design. It details a "table-based data speculation …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 11:12

  • US man threatens TV repairman with shotgun

    How to get your sat service fixed, California-style

    A disgruntled Californian satellite TV and internet customer was earlier this week cuffed on "suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and displaying a firearm in a threatening manner" after ordering a repairman to fix his service at gunpoint. According to the The San Diego Union-Tribune, Gary Thomson …

    Bootnotes 8 Feb 2008, 11:15

  • Japanese gamers no longer delighted by DS Lite?

    Smash Bros release lifts Wii

    Has Nintendo's hugely popular DS Lite had its day? Maybe in Japan, at least, where last week sales of the handheld games console fell below those notched up by its nearest rivals, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PSP. For the week to 2 February, DS sales totalled 67,472 units - a new low in the post-Christmas slump that's hit all the …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 11:50

  • Billg quits Facebook

    Critical friend mass

    Bill Gates is deleting, or at least disabling, the Facebook account he set up before investing in the company. Gates, who retires from Microsoft in July this year, was apparently spending up to half an hour a day poking his mates and playing Scrabulous. But it is not evidence of the fading attraction of social networking - in …

    Bootnotes 8 Feb 2008, 11:51

  • Firefox updates, blitzes trio of critical bugs

    It's raining security updates

    Mozilla pushed out a new update of Firefox on Thursday that fixes ten security vulnerabilities, three of which are deemed critical. The trio of critical patches for Firefox 2.0.0.12 variously fix vulnerabilities including web browsing history and forward navigation stealing bugs; a privilege escalation flaw that creates a …

    Security 8 Feb 2008, 11:58

  • Tiny, take-apart handset enters the record books

    Not so much a phone, more a USB key?

    Israeli manufacturer Modu Mobile has officially created the world’s lightest handset, with recognition from Guinness World Records. Its eponymous handset also comes apart to allow complete customisation. Modu's Modu: on the small side Dubbed Modu, the 40.1g handset measures just 72 x 37 x 7.8mm. Despite its diminutive …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 12:00

  • Stopblair.eu tries to halt Tony's march on Brussels

    Will e-petition be 'President' Blair's Waterloo?

    A bunch of Europhiles are hoping to scupper Tony Blair’s bid to become president of Europe using the very same sort of e-petition-powered pop democracy he toyed with himself in his time at Number 10. Blair, who is at a slight loose end since leaving Downing Street last year, has apparently been in discussions with potential …

    Government 8 Feb 2008, 12:17

  • Seabed cables will be fixed by next week

    But more will break - it's normal

    The three - yes, just three - seabed telecoms cables which were broken in two (only two) recent incidents are expected to be fixed by next week, according to the operating companies. The ongoing tinfoil-hat frenzy that has followed the outages may take longer to die down. Reuters reports that Indian telco cable subsidiary FLAG …

    Telecoms 8 Feb 2008, 12:21

  • Smith plugs into wired police plans

    The end of Dixon of Dock Green screen

    Jacqui Smith, the blunder-prone Home Secretary, told Parliament yesterday that she broadly supports the findings of the Flanagan report and will introduce a green paper later in the spring. This will include using radios rather than paper forms to record stop and searches - this is already running in three pilot areas. The …

    Government 8 Feb 2008, 12:31

  • Top cop urges RIPA review in coded attack on snoop code

    Less bureaucracy, more clarity, more bugging

    The government should "urgently initiate" a review of the Codes of Practice for police use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), says Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Inspector of Constabulary in his review of UK policing. RIPA governs the security services' use of surveillance and interception of communications, but …

    Policing 8 Feb 2008, 12:32

  • Wireless signal shirt detected in UK

    Remember the Wi-Fi detector T-shirt that turned up the States back in October 2007? Well, signal-strength specifying garment has arrived in the UK sporting an alternative antenna design. The Wi-Fi T-shirt In place of the base-station icon of old, the new version sports a stylised laptop - white MacBook, do you reckon? - …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 13:02

  • Archos advances PMP's storage capacity

    More inside, but the same outside

    Archos has beefed up the storage of its 405 portable media player (PMP), upping the model’s capacity from 2GB to a whopping 30GB. The 405, which was originally launched as a 2GB PMP last autumn, still has a 3.5in LCD display. There’s no external memory card slot, so 30GB is your maximum, but a USB 2.0 port does mean data …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 13:24

  • Microsoft's bid for Yahoo! - the story so far

    !!!!! All our exclamation marks in one place

    The Microsoft-Yahoo story has been long and involved - so long in fact that for your edification we've organised it all in one place. From the initial offering all the way to the very latest, we have month-by-month coverage right here, starting with the freshest: August Yahoo! shareholders! back! Jerry! Yang! 01/08/08 Despite …

    Software 8 Feb 2008, 13:29

  • Nokia's N95 successor slips out on web

    'N96' makes fleeting appearance as spec list

    Nokia is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing the successor to the popular N95, following the discovery of tech specs on the mobile giant’s German website. The Finnish phone giant has since closed the page, but not before a selection of sites managed to scrawl down the handset’s tech specs, which have caused many to dub …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 13:34

  • EU investigates Microsoft's OOXML campaign

    Did Redmond try to pack standards groups?

    Microsoft's failed attempt to get its Office Open XML (OOXML) file format adopted by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) could land the software giant in hot water with the European Commission (EC). Last month, the anti-trust arm of the commission began formal probes against Microsoft in two cases where it …

    Applications 8 Feb 2008, 13:53

  • Holocube introduces '3D' display gizmo

    Smoke and mirrors?

    While some people think 3D displays are the Holy Grail of TV technology, European manufacturer Holocube has created a stylish box capable of displaying single objects in 3D. Holocube's 3D Holocube: sleek and sexy? But it might not be quite what you think. The manufacturer told Register Hardware that the source images used …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 14:35

  • Baylis Eco EP-MX71 hand-cranked media player

    Review It's green and groovy - and that's no wind-up

    Trevor Baylis, he of wind-up radio fame, now has a range of hand-cranked products, including this, the world's first wind-up multimedia player. It comes down to whether you're concerned by green issues - and you should be, unless you plan to move to another planet any time soon. First seen in August last year, the Baylis Eco …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 14:57

  • MS woos Yahoo!, bugging investigated and fraud costs skyrocket

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

    EU likes patents, hates patio heaters The cost of European patent protection is to plummet on May 1, when full English translations will no longer be required. Translations will, at most, have to be available in English, French and German. The EU is gunning for patio heaters, which have proliferated massively since the …

    Business 8 Feb 2008, 15:02

  • Hackers seed malware on Indian anti-virus site

    Who guards the guards?

    Hackers planted malicious script on the site of an Indian anti-virus firm this week. The website of AVsoft Technologies was attacked by unidentified miscreants in order to distribute a variant of the Virut virus. AVsoft Technologies makes the SmartCOP antivirus package. One of the download pages of the site was boobytrapped …

    Malware 8 Feb 2008, 15:03

  • UK men would stay out of bed for 50in plasma telly

    Hot widescreen action worth six months' shaglessness

    Electrical retailer Comet has confirmed what those of us who boast enormous plasma tellys already know - that when it comes to getting your rocks off nothing beats a bit of hot bloke-on-widescreen action. A survey by the retailer asked 2,000 Brit chaps what would convince them to give up rumpy-pumpy for six months, and no less …

    Entertainment 8 Feb 2008, 16:17

  • EFF and chums sue Feds over border laptop inspections

    Throws Freedom of Information book at 'em

    Two civil rights watchdogs today filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security after a number of travellers complained that their laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices had been excessively screened at border entry points. Internet watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation and civil liberty group …

    Law 8 Feb 2008, 16:33

  • mSA high for Oracle embedded strategy

    Finally a use for BEA

    It's a head-scratcher of a deal. Two big names in the same market with overlapping offerings. Surely the only justification for spending so much money is to buy customers to leapfrog the industry number one. No, I'm not talking of Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo!. I'm referring to Oracle's $8.5bn offer for Java middleware …

    Applications 8 Feb 2008, 16:44

  • Dell 'committed' to AMD despite consumer kit shift to retail

    Intel-only Inspirons online for now, almost

    With almost mud-like clarity, Dell has explained the way it's balancing the availability of AMD-based computers between its online, phone and retail sales channels. But one thing it wants us to be certain about is that it remains committed to AMD product lines. A number of stories popped up on the web this morning claiming …

    Reg Hardware 8 Feb 2008, 17:19

  • Chip heads drive Linux mobile challenge

    Apple and Microsoft share foe

    Back in the day, Microsoft was the new kid on the block when it came to mobile devices like PDAs, munching up Palm's market share and tweaking the interest of application providers already familiar with Windows and Microsoft's applications. Today, the descendants of Microsoft's Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Smartphone, are …

    Mobile 8 Feb 2008, 18:33

  • FBI sought approval to use spyware against terror suspects

    Analysis Magic Lantern reloaded

    The FBI has reportedly sought the go-ahead to use a custom spyware package to bug terrorists and other national security suspects. Indirect evidence suggests that the request was likely to have been approved. An application to use the Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier (CIPAV) spyware program was sought from the …

    Malware 8 Feb 2008, 19:40

  • WARF raiders slap Intel with Core patent suit

    Wisconsin silicon heads

    The patent defense arm of the University of Wisconsin hit Intel with a lawsuit this week, claiming abuse of intellectual property related to parallel processing. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) has accused Intel of muscling in on US patent 5,781,752 which was granted with the title "Table Based Data Speculation …

    PCs & Chips 8 Feb 2008, 20:39

  • Rebit: This is your grandmother's data backup

    Simplicity has a price

    Time Machine for OSX has got the Apple platform's fuss-less data backup covered quite nicely. But where can a technical nincompoop turn for brainless Windows backup? There's still room for third party companies to jump into the backup droolbucket here. And that's where Rebit backup shows up. Rebit is certainly not the …

    Storage 8 Feb 2008, 21:58

  • Prince Opteron unloads on AMD, Intel and the future of memory

    Radio Reg Fred Weber removes stealth shield

    Fred Weber had the look of a mad man. There he was at some chip conference in 2002, waving sticks of memory around and talking about a new age of server computing. Weber, then CTO at AMD, planned to unleash 64-bits on the x86 realm. Intel claimed this was a horrible idea. Weber's, er, unwavering - sorry - enthusiasm told a …

    Semi-Coherent 8 Feb 2008, 23:06