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29th February 2008 Archive

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  • LG Glimmer slider spied online

    But LG's never heard of it

    LG may be unwilling to admit the existence of its latest slider, set to be called Glimmer, but pictures of an advertising flyer photos have already slipped out in the US. LG's Glimmer: only looks set to appear in the US? The handset looks a little like Samsung’s G600 - reviewed here - and has a 2.8in touchscreen housed …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 00:02

  • 'Googirl' unloads on Google Health

    A seminal moment

    A week after Google announced that a few thousand Clevelanders will soon kick the tires on its long-awaited/long-feared online health service, a company VP with a famous nickname has provided a few extra details on how the service will actually work. And a few screenshots. "Google Health aims to solve an urgent need that …

    Applications 29 Feb 2008, 00:47

  • Dell takes aim at costs and employees in Q4

    Bets on the clouds

    Dell used to love the conference call ritual which accompanies the release of a quarter's financial results. The vendor would get a chance to tout its amazing business model in front of Wall Street's finest analysts and brag about how much better it did than competitors. But we get the feeling that Dell's not so fond of the …

    Servers 29 Feb 2008, 01:21

  • Apple unearths Time Capsule

    Bested by a basestation, 1TB drive and duct tape

    Apple has begun shipping pre-ordered units of its wireless network-attached storage box, Time Capsule, this morning. The device was announced at Macworld last January, and is currently the only really practical way to use Mac OS X Leopard's backup program Time Machine without physically plugging a hard disk into the computer …

    Storage 29 Feb 2008, 01:31

  • Will EV SSL stop phishing attacks? Probably not

    Green means good very little

    Security vendors like VeriSign consider a new technology called EV SSL an important measure against phishing attacks. But two recent items suggest it will do little to stop skilled conmen from spoofing trusted websites. Exhibit A was this post from network services company Netcraft, which documents a recently discovered cross- …

    Enterprise Security 29 Feb 2008, 01:44

  • 7000 Leap Year Babies attack Steve Ballmer

    After choking imaginary giraffe

    Seven thousand leap year day babies have revolted against the Toys R Us giraffe, skewering Steve Ballmer along the way. Peeved that Geoffrey the Giraffe never sends birthday cards to kiddies born on February 29, the international Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies recently unsheathed free software capable of destroying the …

    Applications 29 Feb 2008, 07:02

  • Software company says it can still resell Microsoft licences

    Despite attempts to stop the practice

    The founder of a company set up to re-sell Microsoft software licences claims he will still be able to do so, despite changes made by Microsoft to its software licences which appear to be designed to stop the re-sale. Discount-Licensing.com has been in business since 2005 and buys used licences, often from company liquidations …

    Channel Register 29 Feb 2008, 07:02

  • Symantec and Trend grapple with buffer overflow bugs

    Who guards the guards?

    Security products from both Trend Micro and Symantec - two of the big three anti-virus players - have become the subject of serious security vulnerabilities. Errors in Symantec's Decomposer engine create a denial of service or system compromise risk for several enterprise security products (such as Mail Security for Microsoft …

    Malware 29 Feb 2008, 08:55

  • Swedes demand return of heraldic lion's todger

    Nordic Battlegroup emasculated

    Disgruntled Swedish heraldists are demanding the Nordic Battlegroup reconsider a decision to emasculate their crest's lion which has seen the rampant beast relieved of his todger. For those of you not up to speed on the shock case of the leonine penis outrage, the unit's commander - Karl Engelbrektsson - last December ordered …

    Bootnotes 29 Feb 2008, 09:00

  • Broadband big boys waiting on data pimping

    Smaller ISPs wouldn't touch Phorm with yours

    Phorm, the advertising company that wants to pay your ISP to hand over information on which websites you visit, has convinced the UK's three largest providers to trust it, but regulators and the rest of the industry are less impressed. Phorm's deals already mean it has already snagged more than ten million streams of UK users …

    Telecoms 29 Feb 2008, 09:02

  • Sun does Google's dirty work on MySQL

    Core expertise

    Sun Microsystems will fine tune MySQL for some big-name customers unwilling to get their hands dirty supporting the open source database themselves. Google, a MySQL user, will be among those benefiting from Sun's engineering expertise and resourcing to help improve the database's scalability and performance of its storage …

    Developer 29 Feb 2008, 09:58

  • HMRC appoints 37 data guardians

    Beefs up data responsibility

    HM Revenue and Customs has appointed 37 staff to protect information, since it lost personal records on 25 million people last November. Each of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) business units has appointed a data guardian "to strengthen the management of the department's data assets", according to a parliamentary written answer …

    Government 29 Feb 2008, 09:59

  • Dutch tax office deletes 730,000 tax returns

    IT chaos

    Early tax return filers have been punished rather than rewarded by the Dutch tax office, as a computer glitch meant all their information was deleted. At least 730,000 people will now have to resubmit their 2007 tax returns. No backups were made of the electronically-filed returns, and the only information to survive was the …

    Public Sector 29 Feb 2008, 10:03

  • Metal Gear Solid 4 to launch on 12 June

    The game the PS3 was made for, apparently

    It's official: Konami has announced that the fourth instalment in its extremely successful Metal Gear Solid series, Guns of the Patriots, will be released across Europe on 12 June. Konami will whet appetites with a public beta version of Metal Gear Online before the release of MGS4, details of which will be released soon. …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 10:48

  • Time for UML tools to evolve

    Refactoring gap

    There's an audible rhythm to development tools. Modern integrated development environments (IDEs) go like this: tap, tap, bam! Diagramming tools go like this: point, click, pause, point, click, pause... Now that the two are starting to overlap through things like UML plug-ins for IDEs and round-trip engineering as standard, …

    Software 29 Feb 2008, 11:02

  • Armed robbers target Oz biker shindig

    Not the brightest idea

    Two robbers who decided to target a Sydney club picked the wrong night for their armed assault - a monthly meeting of bikers who duly whupped their asses. The Southern Cross Cruiser Club was enjoying its get-together at the Regents Park Sporting and Community Club last Wednesday when the masked pair, bearing blades and …

    Bootnotes 29 Feb 2008, 11:09

  • Sony preps Blu-ray boosting PS3 bundle

    And a separate package for gamers

    Now that HD DVD is effectively dead, Sony is going on the Blu-ray offensive and targeting potential customers with a specialist PlayStation 3 starter pack for film fans. According to a number of online reports, the pack consists of a 40GB console and Blu-ray versions of the films Spiderman 3, 300 and Casino Royale. Sadly, Sony …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 11:20

  • Gooner fan site nobbled by malware

    Arsenal in ARP poisoning outrage

    An Arsenal fan site has been compromised to serve up sophisticated malware. Malicious code smuggled onto Onlinegooner.com redirected users to sites in Asia and Russia that download a wide variety of nasties onto vulnerable Windows PCs. The downloaded malware contains a potent cocktail of rootkit, keylogging, backdoor, ARP ( …

    Security 29 Feb 2008, 11:59

  • BOFH: Vampires!

    Episode 7 And robots. We're being replaced by robots

    Today's going to be a bad day, I can tell. Not because of the evil machinations of the managing classes, nor the heat seeking stupidity of our users, nor even the Machiavellian plans of our suppliers... No, today is going to be bad because the PFY has had insomnia for the past week or so. His game playing marathons have …

    BOFH 29 Feb 2008, 12:02

  • Paramount, DreamWorks rip up HD DVD release list

    Blu-ray discs coming in the summer

    Paramount has confirmed its last ever HD DVD releases will go on sale in the States on Tuesday, 4 March. From then on, it's DVD and Blu-ray Disc only. And DreamWorks Animation has clearly had word from Toshiba: it's knocking its HD DVD release schedule on the head too, including the Bee Movie disc, originally due to go on sale …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 12:13

  • Ofcom to clamp down on 'unfair' charges

    Bill paying probe

    Telecoms firms must stop lumping "unfair" charges onto consumers' bills, according to new proposals put forward by Ofcom. The UK regulator said penalties for paying by cash and cheque rather than direct debit, ending contracts early, or paying bills late should only reflect the charge to the operator rather than a way to get …

    Government 29 Feb 2008, 12:14

  • Vote now for your fave sci-fi movie quote

    Reader poll One line to rule them all

    It's Friday, so what better way to waste a bit of the firm's time before beer o'clock than by participating in our fun-for-all-the-family top sci-fi movie quote poll? Our 42* prime cuts were lovingly selected by various members of Register staff, and are presented in no particular order for your reading pleasure. Please note …

    Entertainment 29 Feb 2008, 12:21

  • Tiscali confirms sell-off is on the table

    Down Pompei

    Tiscali has ditched its CEO and is mulling options to sell off its broadband business, including its two-million-strong UK subscriber base. As expected, Tomasso Pompei has been replaced in the chief executive's chair by board member Mario Rosso. According to Italian reports, Rosso is seen as an ally of Tiscali's founder and …

    Telecoms 29 Feb 2008, 12:21

  • Alleged Kiwi botnet mastermind in court

    Black sheep

    An 18-year-old suspected of masterminding a botnet-fueled international cybercrime network has appeared in a New Zealand court. Owen Thorn Walker, of Whitianga in New Zealand's North Island, was charged with a variety of computer hacking offences including two counts of accessing a computer for dishonest purposes, two counts …

    Crime 29 Feb 2008, 12:22

  • Asus to drive in Lamborghini-brand handset

    Shift your conversations up a gear

    Rumours that Asus is to release a Lamborghini handset are true, it seems, and the phone’s already available for pre-order. Clove's website confirms the ZX1's existance Talk of Asus' expanding Lamborghini phone, an extension of the deal it already has with the sportscar maker to produce branded laptops, has been on insiders …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 12:24

  • Samsung Armani mobile phone

    Review Brand on the run?

    Following the fashion set by LG with its Prada Phone, Samsung has become the latest mobile maker to bring together couture culture and touchscreen technology. Running up its own style-savvy Giorgio Armani number, Samsung has embraced the iconic Italian fashion house chic for this premium label handset. Not surprisingly, the …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 13:02

  • Nokia starts tagging photos

    I know where you were last summer

    Nokia Beta labs has released an application for tagging photographs with GPS coordinates, with a view to embedding the technology into future versions of the S60 platform. However, few seem to realise that Nokia handsets are already tagging their pictures with a country of origin deduced from the cell location. Digital …

    Applications 29 Feb 2008, 13:42

  • Microsoft class action to go ahead as spammers crack Gmail captcha

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

    Privacy matters Google continues to try to muddy the waters around the debate over the privacy of IP addresses by saying that, sometimes, IP addresses can change and be shared. Which, of course, implies that sometimes they remain a way to identify people. Meanwhile, the Information Commissioner's Office has dropped its probe …

    Business 29 Feb 2008, 13:50

  • Mobo maker builds 'powerless' processor cooling fan

    Stirling Engine put to work

    Mobo maker MSI has come up with a novel way of keeping processors cool and conserving energy at the same time: the CPU to drive its own fan. It's actually a new implementation of an old discovery. MSI's Air Power Cooler uses the energy inherent in the expansion of air as it warms up to drive a fan. MSI's Stirling Engine- …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 14:26

  • Sony rolls out new digicam, quite literally

    No batteries required

    Sony usually plugs digicams with titanium shells, exorbitantly high numbers of megapixels and extended battery lives, but that’s not the case with its latest handset. The Japanese electronics giant has designed a prototype camera that doesn’t need batteries and doesn’t even have a display. Sony's Odo: green snapper The …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 14:36

  • Most spam comes from just six botnets

    Diary of the Dead

    Six botnets are responsible for 85 per cent of all spam, according to an analysis by net security firm Marshal. The Srizbi botnet is reckoned to be the largest single source of spam - accounting for 39 per cent of junk mail messages – followed by the Rustock botnet, responsible for 21 per cent of the spam clogging up users' …

    Spam 29 Feb 2008, 15:16

  • O2's Companion halted

    New billing system hates BlackBerrys

    Some O2 customers being migrated to their new all-singing-all-dancing billing platform, known as Companion, have discovered their bolt-on data packages have been cancelled and are being threatened with no connectivity until the next billing cycle in March. One Reg reader, on discovering that his data bolt-on had vanished was …

    Mobile 29 Feb 2008, 15:17

  • Intel prices up next-gen desktop chipsets

    'Eaglelake' line extended too

    Intel has added a low-end discrete chipset to its upcoming 'Eaglelake' product line, it has emerged. The P43 will join the P45, G45, G43, Q45 and Q43 chipsets when they're launched next quarter. An even lesser part, the G41, is scheduled to arrive in Q1 2009, sources claimed. As its name suggests, the P43 is a cut-down P45, …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 15:22

  • Microsoft cuts Vista price

    Cheap enough now?

    Microsoft is knocking $80 off the price of the US edition of Windows Vista Ultimate from $399 to $319, and the Home Premium edition falls $30 from $159 to $129. Price cuts in the rest of the world are expected to follow real soon. Vista has been on the market for about a year now, so a price cut is unsurprising. This cut …

    Channel Register 29 Feb 2008, 15:27

  • Feargal Sharkey on three strikes… and after

    Interview A new deal for music fans?

    Feargal Sharkey needs little introduction. A chart-topper in his own right, and as the lead singer of one of the greatest pop groups of all time, The Undertones, he subsequently crossed into regulatory and policy work - constantly agitating for musicians, songwriters and performers. At the start of the month he joined British …

    Music and Media 29 Feb 2008, 15:46

  • How Phorm plans to tap your internet connection

    Exclusive Under the hood of BT's data pimping machine

    Internal BT documents obtained by The Register for the first time provide solid technical information on how data from millions of BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse customers will be pumped into a new advertising system. It will not be "injecting" anything into your internet connection, as some commenters on our previous …

    Telecoms 29 Feb 2008, 15:58

  • The Phorm files

    Updated All yer data pimping news in one place

    We've had a busy time digging into the deals signed by BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse to report your browsing habits to Phorm, a new advertising company. Here's the fruits of our labour, lovingly collected for your perusal. There are tales of the secret trials conducted on tens of thousands of BT customers without …

    Mobile 29 Feb 2008, 16:03

  • eBay makes nice with MercExchange

    'OK. Fine. We'll buy your patents'

    After six years of legal bickering, which included a trip to the highest court in the land, eBay and MercExchange have finally settled their long running patent dispute. Yesterday, the world's most popular online auction house announced that it will purchase the three MercExchange patents at the heart of this epic battle - …

    Channel Register 29 Feb 2008, 17:56

  • Brocade punts new SAN router for kid enterprises

    When you grow up you'll get 14 more ports

    Brocade is punting a new incarnation of its Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) storage and SAN extension router, with its functionality clipped to appeal to the purses of smaller businesses and remote offices. The 7500E SAN router is based on Brocade's — wait for it — regular 7500 router. The "E" means most of its ports are plugged …

    Storage 29 Feb 2008, 19:59

  • iPhone jailbreak tools updated to open firmware 1.1.4

    ZiPhone, iNdependence tweaked

    The latest version of iPhone activation, jailbreaking and unlocking tool, ZiPhone, has been released. The tool promises full access to Apple's handset in under five minutes. The update, which takes ZiPhone to version 2.5 in its command line, Windows and Mac OS X forms, follows Apple's release earlier this week of version 1.1.4 …

    Reg Hardware 29 Feb 2008, 21:15

  • Orkut worm feeds on scraps

    From social networking to social engineering

    Malware authors have written a worm for Orkut, Google-owned networking site that's big in Brazil. The Scrapkut worm uses active code injection to spread between victims and their friends on Orkut. The malicious code appears on a victim’s scrapbook, containing a link to a supposed YouTube video. People who click on the link …

    Malware 29 Feb 2008, 23:21