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22nd February 2008 Archive

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  • Malware writers think global, act local

    Mono-linguists need not apply

    Online miscreants are beefing up their cultural outreach skills. According to a new report from McAfee, attacks are increasingly being tailored to victims in specific geographical regions. Spam, phishing emails and even malware now address their potential victims in their native tongues, often with flawless grammar. Attackers …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 00:50

  • Intel overwhelmed by EU complaints

    Give us a chance, guys

    So many charges, so little time. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett appears overwhelmed by a European Union investigation into the company's actions. Earlier this month, European Competition Commission officials busted open Intel offices in Munich, hunting for documents related to alleged price fixing with retailers. That raid added …

    The Channel 22 Feb 2008, 00:52

  • Server vendors fight off doom and gloom in Q4

    HP saves the clan

    The server market gave off a healthy glow during the fourth quarter and during all of 2007. New figures from Gartner show server shipments rising 11 per cent during the fourth quarter, while revenue rose almost 3 per cent. The world's server vendors combined to ship 2.4m boxes during the fourth quarter and brought in $15.5bn …

    Servers 22 Feb 2008, 01:28

  • Google encourages 10 teams to rocket to the moon

    Lunar X Prize joined by Jesus, a penguin and some miners

    Google and the X Prize Foundation held a ceremony today for the first ten contestants to enter their $30m race to land a privately funded space craft on the Moon. Eight new teams have joined the previous two entrants, who all gathered at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to preview their intentions for the purse. …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 01:56

  • Security boffins unveil BitUnlocker

    Disk encryption decrypted

    BitLocker, meet BitUnlocker. Word arrives from The Electronic Frontier Foundation that a crack team of researchers - including the Foundation's own Seth Schoen - have discovered a gaping security flaw in everyday disk encryption technologies, including Microsoft's BitLocker as well as TrueCrypt, dm-crypt, and Apple's FileVault …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 02:03

  • Best keypad-less phone?

    Q&A

    Can you please suggest to me the best mobile phone which meets the following features... 1. Four-plus megapixel camera 2. Stereophonic Music with surround sound 3. 2.8in-plus screen with 262,144 colours - touch control optional 4. External memory card support up to 4GB 5. No keypad - may be slider Thanks.

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 06:02

  • Netbanx fixes payment processing glitch

    Failure to communicate

    Netbanx, the UK-based payment processor, has apologised for web application glitches that affected the ability of some ecommerce sites to take orders. Reg reader Jon told us that ecommerce sites using Netbanx were "ground to a halt" yesterday. A spokesman for Neteller, which runs Netbanx as well as digital wallet and other …

    Small Biz 22 Feb 2008, 07:02

  • Entry-level and mid-range TV market targeted by Toshiba

    CV and XV range unveiled

    Toshiba is taking aim at the entry-level and mid-range LCD HD TV market, designing two disparate ranges suitable for someone that's either just breaking into HD TV or who's just stepping-up. Toshiba's 42in CV range LCD The Regza CV range, which incorporates 32in, 37in and 42in models, claims to offer “style, performance and …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 07:50

  • Toshiba unveils picture frame-styled ZF TV range

    As pretty as a picture

    Toshiba has unveiled its latest range of LCD HD TVs, which it hopes will have square-eyed fans turning their heads to catch a glimpse of what the company claims is one of the most desirable panels on the market. Toshiba Regza ZF: available in 40in, 46in and 52in Dubbed the ZF range and designed to look a little like a …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 07:58

  • Designs displayed for iPhone clip-on speakers

    Tune in...

    A US student has come up with a solution to the sometimes-dodgy quality of music played through the iPhone's speaker. He’s designed a portable speaker system that clips around the Apple device to give users better quality audio on the move. Designer Erik Groset's LiveSpeakR system for the iPhones and iPod Touch LiveSpeakR …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 09:01

  • Deloitte flags risks of UK child database

    No such thing as a secure database

    A security review by Deloitte of one of the UK government's child databases - ContactPoint, which will contain an entry for every English child under 18 - has found it is generally secure. With some provisos. Deloitte makes a timely reminder to a government convinced that securing databases is simply a technical problem: "Risk …

    Policy 22 Feb 2008, 09:32

  • China plans 'deep-sea base project'

    Manned submersible test pioneers oceanic programme

    China is to test a manned submersible capable of descending to 7,000 metres (23,000ft)* beneath the waves as part of a planned "deep-sea base project", the China Internet Information Centre reports. Xinhua news agency is keeping tight-lipped on details, but notes that the submersible programme will enjoy "equal importance with …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 09:33

  • EMC orders Pi Corp for its cloud

    C/2r in the sky investment

    Storage giant EMC said today that it's angling to purchase Pi Corp, a Seattle-based personal information management firm. Financial details of the cash purchase were not disclosed, which suggests EMC didn't pay an irrational number for the company. Pi specializes in software and online applications that help individuals …

    Storage 22 Feb 2008, 09:36

  • Solicitors fined under Data Protection Act

    ICO gets litigious on London lawyers

    Two London law firms must pay £815 each after the Information Commissioner sued them for not fulfilling their duties under the Data Protection Act. The two firms had failed to register themselves as processors of personal information. The Data Protection Act (DPA) demands that organisations who deal with personal information …

    Law 22 Feb 2008, 09:48

  • Virgin biofuel jumbo trials won't use algae

    As UK.gov reviews food-powered fuel policy

    Trials of biofuels for airliners will use conventional, controversial feedstocks, it has been reported. Virgin Atlantic and Boeing had hoped to employ so-called "second-generation" biofuel feedstocks such as algae which wouldn't threaten food production or biodiversity. The news comes as the UK government has announced a review …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 09:55

  • Euro MPs want criminal penalties for downloaders

    But harmony will be hard fought battle

    The European Parliament has asked EU member states to press ahead with a plan to criminalise copyright infringement. The Parliament wants a proposal it agreed last year to be approved by ministers from each member state. The proposed EU directive would create new rules on copyright protection, and would require each EU country …

    Law 22 Feb 2008, 09:56

  • Global LCD TV sales overtake CRT

    CRT who?

    Global LCD TV sales have overtaken those of TVs based on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology for the first time ever, according to statistics from market watcher DisplaySearch. LCD TVs accounted for 47 per cent of all sets sold during the fourth quarter of 2007. CRT still raked in a 46 per cent share during the period, but the …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 10:21

  • Hefty black hole weighs in at 33 Suns

    Record-breaking stellar-mass heavyweight

    Researchers have confirmed that a black hole lurking in the dwarf galaxy IC 10, and dubbed IC 10 X-1, weighs in at up to 33 Suns, double the previous record for a "single star" black hole held by M33 X-7 which tips the scales at 16 Suns. IC 10 X-1, lying 1.8 million light years from Earth, was first spotted back in 2007 by the …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 10:26

  • Taking IT security to task

    Sleepwalking from bad guys to big brother

    Is anyone getting fed up hearing about IT security? It wasn't enough to big up the threat from "them" – the outsiders, all those nasty hackers that are even as we speak stealing our identities and extorting money out of hapless corporations because they left the back door open. Now attention is turning on the people inside the …

    Tech Panel 22 Feb 2008, 11:13

  • UK rattles 'three strikes' filesharing sabre (again)

    'Change of tone' signals no change in reality

    The culture secretary Andy Burnham has repeated government threats to legislate against ISPs if they don't voluntarily agree a system with the music and film industries to disconnect illegal filesharers. Ahead of the launch of the government's culture strategy document* today he warned that rules would be imposed in April next …

    Government 22 Feb 2008, 11:16

  • Turkmen prez sacks 30 for TV news cockroach outrage

    State station purged

    Turkmenistan's prez Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has shown the UK's TV watchdog how it's done by sacking 30 staff from the main state television channel after a rogue cockroach performed an unscheduled scuttle on the nightly news. According to the Guardian, citing news website Kronika Turkmenistan, viewers were treated to a …

    Bootnotes 22 Feb 2008, 11:19

  • Asia-Pacific research network gets €18m fund

    EC and Asian partners tie-up TIEN3 deal

    The European Commission yesterday agreed to help fund the next stage in the development of a trans-Eurasia academic network. It said it made the decision to stump up €12m to help develop the new TEIN3 research and education network, off the back of the success of the TEIN2 project. An additional €6m will be provided by the …

    Broadband 22 Feb 2008, 11:32

  • Doctors back more tax on booze

    BMA urges life-saving price hike

    The British Medical Association has supported the suggestion that a hike in tax on booze could help combat the UK's binge-drinking culture. Earlier this week Professor Julian le Grand, the chairman of Health England, called for the price of alcohol to be raised as part of a raft of proposals aimed at tackling the problem. He …

    Government 22 Feb 2008, 11:57

  • VMWare update lances virtual bugs

    Samba and Python bugs wiggle into virtualisation software

    VMware has updated ESX Server to defend against multiple holes in its virtualisation software. A flaw involving the aacraid SCSI driver might be abused by malicious local users to bypass security restrictions or crash vulnerable systems. The security bug affects both VMware ESX Server 2.x and 3.x versions of the software. …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 12:01

  • Pentax Optio E40 compact camera

    Review This snapper needs to sharpen its teeth

    If you’re thinking of dipping your toe into the digital photography waters or simply on a tight budget, then an entry-level (aka budget) compact is a very appealing answer. The Pentax Optio E40 is one such model. Not least because today’s budget models offer a surprisingly wide array of features – and their performance can be …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 12:02

  • Put some MVC in your PHP

    Hands on Trial by separation

    The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture provides a useful three-tier pattern for building software, as MVC patterns decouple the graphical user interface (GUI) from the application logic. That comes in useful when it comes to changing an application after it has been deployed. Separation of the views from the data means …

    Software 22 Feb 2008, 12:02

  • BOFH: Insecurity complex

    Episode 6 Been there, done that, got the bullet holes

    It’s Mission Control late one morning and we’re giving the Boss a damn good listening to... “...and I’ve been talking to Jim from P.R and he says that we can probably do a little better on our machine maintenance because when he was working in a former company he managed to get a 48 per cent reduction in price by presenting …

    BOFH 22 Feb 2008, 12:02

  • HMRC data debacle used to bait phishing lure

    Poetic justice restricts success of feeble ruse

    A phishing attack targeting victims of the HMRC data loss debacle has been spotted on the net. The bogus emails offering recipient the false opportunity to claim a tax refund of £215 from the UK Government over the potential exposure of confidential data. The email contains a web link to a suspect site, reports security firm …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 13:23

  • Reins put on key Vista SP1 update as Microhoo! is released into the wild

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

    Suits and suits A former contract worker is suing Google for $25m. He claims that the search giant stole his idea for Google Sky, an addition to Google Earth that allows users to browse the night sky. But at least Google can take heart in the fact that it has not been convicted of crimes against humanity. Pennsylvanian Dylan …

    Business 22 Feb 2008, 13:30

  • BAE bulging with cash and wardroids, worried about future

    Arms biz nervous as MoD finances circle the drain

    Global war-ware behemoth BAE Systems announced bumper results this week, and puffed its new robot stealth bomber and other battledroid offerings. But chief executive Mike Turner, speaking against a background of serious financial difficulties at the UK Ministry of Defence, joined other weapons-biz kingpins in dropping heavy …

    Government 22 Feb 2008, 13:41

  • EU wants RFID tags turned off

    Turn off tags at the till

    RFID tags used in retail products will have to be deactivated at the point of sale to protect consumers’ privacy under draft guidelines drawn up by the European Commission (EC). A public consultation has been launched that will run until 25 April 2008. The EC hopes its recommendations will be adopted by all 27 member states by …

    Law 22 Feb 2008, 13:45

  • Toshiba rolls out HD handycam

    The Oscars, here we come

    Anyone who’s seen Cloverfield knows that capturing life’s events through a camcorder is the ‘in’ thing now. But while the in the movie they relied on tape-based cameras, Toshiba has unveiled an HD camcorder enabling you to capture all the action in detail. Toshiba's Camileo Pro HD camcorder has a 2.5in LCD display The …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 13:50

  • Jailed Japanese net mogul launches appeal

    Livedoor saga continues

    The former CEO of internet service provider Livedoor was not present earlier today at Tokyo High Court for the start of his appeal against a two-and-a-half year jail sentence for securities fraud, AP reports. Takafumi Horie apparently absented himself to "prevent turmoil" in the court, preferring to plead not guilty through …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 13:50

  • EU data guardians: search engines must obey our rules

    Which we will issue very soon now

    European gov data-privacy supremos have collectively said that search engines operating in their jurisdiction are governed by EU personal-data regs even if headquartered elsewhere. The Article 29 Working Group, a committee of EU member state data protection chiefs, is expected to issue a full working paper on search engines " …

    Law 22 Feb 2008, 13:57

  • Bluetooth headset boasts integrated storage

    It won't improve your memory though

    Bluetooth headset manufacturer Bluetrek has created a headset that allows users to integrate a Micro SD memory card into the unit. Although it won’t help you memorise the details of a conversation, it should at least mean that you always have a memory card to hand when you need access to some portable storage. Bluetrek's …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 13:59

  • Essex youth's cop headbutt heads for YouTube

    Pleads guilty to ABH following 'happyslap' incident

    An Essex youth who was caught on a friend's mobile phone headbutting a police officer, and subsequently broadcast on YouTube, has pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm. The incident, which took place behind a row of shops in Hornchurch, involved local James Davis, 19, and Sgt Kenneth McNish, the Telegraph reports. In …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 14:05

  • Vista SP1 kills and maims security apps, utilities

    Check security software before installing

    Microsoft has admitted that Windows Vista service pack one (SP1) renders useless a number of well-known third party security products. Redmond said in a knowledge base article yesterday that due to "reliability" issues with Vista SP1, it has been forced to prevent some security products from running after the service pack is …

    Software 22 Feb 2008, 14:51

  • Scientist warns against technology addiction

    Are you in denial?

    How many hours do you spend online or plugged into a games console? Well, a scientist at Northampton University believes you could be suffering from technology addiction and has launched an online survey to explore this ticking timebomb. The survey aims to discover how the use of multiple forms of technology affects our daily …

    Hardware 22 Feb 2008, 15:13

  • Treehuggers lose legal fight to solar-powered neighbour

    Environ-mental Prius pair battle plugdrive sun-chum

    Wrangling Californian neighbours have recently concluded a bitter six-year legal battle, as a judge ordered a treehugging couple's lovingly-tended redwoods cut down in order to prevent them shading solar panels installed by the man next door. Prius driver Richard Treanor, owner of the proscribed foliage, said the decision wasn …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 15:56

  • The amazing, imploding ISP business

    Andrew's Mailbag Not much sympathy for the tubes operators...

    This week I described how amazingly vulnerable much of the British ISP business is. Vulnerable to botnets, hackers or fraudsters? No, nothing so exotic. A few people watching a bit of BBC on the streaming iPlayer may be enough to bring much of the business here to its knees. (I drew on a post on STL Partners Telco 2.0 blog, …

    Letters 22 Feb 2008, 16:04

  • Ofcom auctions off high frequencies

    Bargains snapped up by companies with no firm plans

    Ofcom has completed the auction of a handful of microwave frequencies, raising less than £1.5m for the 15-year licences. The licences allow buyers the freedom to deploy any technology, as well as sell the spectrum if they wish. The bands that changed hands are all between 10 and 40GHz - more suitable for point-to-point …

    Broadband 22 Feb 2008, 16:10

  • Former HP boss in the dock over call centre murder

    Held to account over taxi killing

    The Indian supreme court has cleared the way for prosecution of an HP boss for alleged liability in the rape and murder of a call centre worker by a cab driver contracted by the company. The court ruled that Som Mittal was potentially responsible for the safety and protection of Pratibha Srikant Murthy, clearing the way for a …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 16:22

  • US, EU seize counterfeit computer goods

    First joint operation for fake chips

    More than 360,000 fake computer chips and network components were seized by US and European custom officers in a joint operation late last year. Officials from both sides of the pond seized counterfeit goods that carried more than 40 different trademarks in November and December last year under “Operation Infrastructure”. It …

    The Channel 22 Feb 2008, 16:48

  • cDc automates Google Hacking

    Kewl for cats

    Infamous hacking group the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) has published a tool that searches for vulnerabilities and private data using carefully-selected Google search queries. The process of so-called Google hacking is already well known, largely due to the efforts of Johnny "I Hack Stuff" Long, whose presentation on the subject …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 17:14

  • Nude Marilyn Monroe flambés dog, serves atop fire extinguisher

    Comments Counterfeit Ocado's finest, naturally

    A particularly militant anti-smoker doused his girlfriend with the contents of a fire extinguisher on Sunday. The 42-year-old German lost it after his squeeze refused to stop smoking in his apartment. You applauded and derided him: I gave up the weed years ago and have periodically felt smugly superior for my triumph. Alas, …

    Letters 22 Feb 2008, 17:16

  • Hubble peers into the Great Eye of Sauron

    Spectacular dust ring surrounds 'whale's mouth' star

    Astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have released a rather remarkable Hubble image of a ring of dust around star Fomalhaut, described by New Scientist as resembling "the Great Eye of Sauron". The boffins used the Hubble coronagraph to block light from Fomalhaut and …

    Science 22 Feb 2008, 17:21

  • Open sourciness

    Red Hat's JBoss conundrum

    JBoss seems to be undergoing some generational pains as it strives to morph from an open source products company to an enterprise open source products company. So its recent formal announcements covered the enterprise tack: something called Enterprise Acceleration that performs the basic blocking an tackling to show enterprises …

    Software 22 Feb 2008, 17:37

  • Turning daisies into dollars - the realities of Green Computing

    The Great Debate Let's get ready to rumble

    Talk of "greening" a datacenter or desktop seems a tad insane. After all, it's not like you're popping daisy stems into the holes of a raised floor. Instead, you're really talking about hunks of metal stuffed with often toxic chemicals, and these hunks of metal happen to have better performance per watt characteristics than last …

    Site News 22 Feb 2008, 18:32

  • Sergey Brin: 'Microhoo! makes me nervous'

    Prefers unnerving others

    Sergey Brin says the looming prospect of a real life Microhoo! gives him the willies. "The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies," the Google co-founder told The Associated Press. "And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie …

    Applications 22 Feb 2008, 18:46

  • Apache daddy walks out on OpenSolaris

    Denies Sun cake-eating rights

    AMD and Microsoft should take note that open source strategies bring painful problems. Sun Microsystems knows this all too well. Just as Microsoft said it’s opening its APIs and AMD made its latest contribution to open source, controversy again bubbled up for Sun’s much-vaunted OpenSolaris project. Apache Server co-founder …

    Operating Systems 22 Feb 2008, 19:13

  • Gawker - Texas's supercomputing Ranger

    60,000 cores of justice

    We first met Ranger in Oct. of 2006. Back then, Sun Microsystems, AMD and the Texas Advanced Computer Center (TACC) speculated that they might be on the way to producing the fastest supercomputer in the world. Thanks to AMD's delays shipping a four-core Opteron chip, cabling issues and general InfiniBand woes the top dog dream …

    Servers 22 Feb 2008, 21:29

  • Linkin Park cyber-stalker sent to jail

    Has two years' worth of reasons to be angsty now

    A former US government security lab worker who used office computers to cyber-stalk Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison. Devon Townsend used her access to Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico to hack into the crooner's email account, and also tapped his mobile …

    Security 22 Feb 2008, 22:23

  • US funds exascale computing journey

    While Torvalds and Patterson get hot

    Thanks to $7.4m in government funding a pair of national labs hope to throw their big brains at the most pressing problems facing supercomputer designers. Sandia and Oak Ridge national laboratories this week touted their new Institute for Advanced Architectures (IAA), which will explore what it takes to create "Exascale" …

    Servers 22 Feb 2008, 23:14