31st March 2008 Archive

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Elpida hikes DRAM prices 20 per cent

Will others follow?

The last time DRAM chip prices fell into a money pit, in 1999, the big four memory makers dug themselves out by working as a team over the next three years. OK, so it was price-fixing: understandable, but illegal. Samsung, Elpida, Hynix and Infineon were caught out - and in 2005 had to cough up $730m in fines. Later they …

Servers 31 Mar 06:02
Adware slips between pages of e-book

Iliad reader carries unwelcome surprise

An adware package has turned up on the latest e-book devices from iRex, and will install itself automatically onto a connected PC if it gets the chance. The infection appears to be the imgInSOY worm, which copies itself between removable media and uses autorun.inf to infect any Windows system it comes across. In addition to …

Anti-Virus 31 Mar 06:02
Build and manage large-scale C++ on Windows

DLLs versus shared objects

John Lakos wrote the book on Large-Scale C++ Software Design more than 10 years ago, but it remains a must read for any serious C++ developer today. It doesn't go much into the language. For instance there isn't anything inside regarding dynamic casts and virtual inheritance. Neither will it tell you how to calculate the …

Software 31 Mar 06:02
Euro 2008 sales site in drive-by download attack

Caught offside with Trojan downloader code

Hackers have successfully planted malware on a website selling tickets for the upcoming Euro 2008 Championships. The site of European ticket re-sale firm euroticketshop.com was infected by Trojan horse malware in a bid to infect soccer-loving surfers with insecure PCs. This drive-by malware style of attack is growing …

Enterprise Security 31 Mar 08:59
Poisoned websites staying contaminated longer

Booby trap threat

Compromised websites are staying infected longer. Some infected sites stay up and running for as long as two months, according to an annual report from web security firm ScanSafe. ScanSafe's Annual Global Threat report (published on Monday) also revealed that web threats including viruses, Trojans, and password stealers are …

Enterprise Security 31 Mar 09:01
Ohio man cuffed for shagging picnic table

Furniture-based public indecency caught on camera

An Ohio man has admitted to four felony counts of public indecency after a neighbour caught him on camera having sex with a picnic table, local news outfit WTOL11 reports. Bellevue resident Art Price Jr, 40, molested the round metal table on four occasions "between the hours of 10:30 am and noon". A video of his last furniture …

Bootnotes 31 Mar 09:08
Apple lags MS in security response

Fear of a Black Hat

Apple is trailing way behind Microsoft in security patch responsiveness, according to a study by security researchers. Stefan Frei and Bernard Tellenback of the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory (TIK) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, analysed several years of vulnerability disclosures and patching …

Enterprise Security 31 Mar 09:16
Apple 'most successful world brand'

Cillit Bang doesn't get a look in

Apple is the most successful brand in the world, according to an international online poll of marketers. The Mac maker topped the majority of categories in the poll, which asked marketers which brands they would most like to be associated with, and which brands they thought would be the most successful in the future. The 2, …

Financial News 31 Mar 09:53
Assyrian clay tablet points to 'Sodom and Gomorrah' asteroid

29 June 3123 BC starts with a bang

A Cuneiform clay tablet which for over 150 years defied attempts at interpretation has now been revealed to describe an asteroid impact which in 3123 BC hit Köfels, Austria, leaving in its wake a trail of destruction which may acccount for the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. The "Planisphere" tablet (see pic) - inscribed …

Space 31 Mar 09:56
Credit crunch hits finance sector - small biz next?

Bankers slash IT spend

The much-embarrassed finance sector will keep a tight rein on IT spending this year as it prepares to jettison as many as 10,000 workers, according to the latest research from the CBI. The business bigwigs group’s latest forecast shows the credit crunch starting to bite hard in many parts of the finance sector in the three …

Small Biz 31 Mar 10:14
Jules Verne creeps up on ISS

Space truck struts its stuff prior to docking

The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" Automated Transfer Vehicle is slowly but surely creeping up on the International Space Station prior to a docking scheduled for 3 April. The ATV space truck will today strut its stuff on the second of two "demonstration days" designed to test the rendevous tech. On Saturday, a first …

Space 31 Mar 10:18
Sony's 'energy saving' TV

Power down, not off

Instead of switching your TV off when it isn’t in use, Sony advocates leaving it on and watching pretty pictures instead. The electronics giant has launched an HD TV series that displays still images on-screen when you’re done watching Eastenders. Sony's Bravia W4000: reduce power with a picture slideshow The Bravia W4000 …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 10:33
OOXML approved as international standard?

But voting process slammed

Microsoft looks almost certain to have got its Office Open XML (OOXML) file format passed as an international standard but the ballot has been tarnished by accusations of voting irregularities. There’s no official word as yet from the International Standards Organisation (ISO), the body responsible for overseeing the ballot, …

Software 31 Mar 10:37
Japanese boffins could save UK from economic doom

Bacon sarnie'n'beer induced rat liver failure reversed

Japanese boffins believe they may have developed a means of reversing cirrhosis of the liver among rats and perhaps people, in a development with far-reaching consequences for professional cricketers, hellraising movie stars, layabout drunks, politicians, economists, Catholic priests, journalists and others whose jobs require …

Biology 31 Mar 10:56
Sage annexes construction software firm

Tekton lays new foundations

Biz management software provider Sage Group PLC has bought construction software company Tekton Group Ltd for £21m. The cash-only deal is the latest in a series of buy-outs made by Newcastle-based Sage, the only British software firm listed on the FTSE 100. Tekton provides specialist construction software, implementation and …

Financial News 31 Mar 11:05
Virgin Media in talks to trial three strikes regime against P2P

Second time lucky for the BPI?

Virgin Media could soon become the second major ISP to attempt to implement a "three strikes" system against illegal filesharers in partnership with the record industry. The cable company is in talks with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to trial a system of warnings, followed by disconnection, for the most persistent …

Telecoms 31 Mar 11:07
US allows visual inspections of nipple rings

TSA ditches pliers after Texas airport piercing rumpus

The US's Transportation Security Administration has announced some good news for aficionados of nipple piercings - they will no longer have to remove them with pliers before boarding internal flights. The policy review came shortly after 37-year-old Mandi Hamlin fell foul of a handheld metal detector in Lubbock, Texas, while …

Policing 31 Mar 11:09
Mobile phone stress stalks quivering nation

Press one for heart attack

That racing pulse and those stabbing pains in your chest may not be the fault of all those fried breakfasts. Mobile phones now cause untold amounts of stress in our daily lives, according to a survey. The Post Office questioned just over 2000 people and found that 53 per cent were often anxious about their mobile phone’s …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 11:28
3rd Space FPS gaming vest

Review Could've been a great gaming accessory, but came up short

You've always felt you haven't got the full gaming experience, right? You wanna wear the armour, carry the weaponry... that kind of thing. The 3rd Space FPS sensory gaming vest might be of interest then. The 3rd Space FPS Vest, first seen last year, looks somewhat ironically like a stab-proof jacket, and is hooked up to an air …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 11:59
LiveLeak pulls anti-Koran documentary

But movie has gone viral

Video-sharing website LiveLeak has removed the anti-Koran documentary Fitna by Dutch MP Geert Wilders after receiving threats. "We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high," a statement reads. No details were given, except that the threats were "of a very serious nature". …

Music and Media 31 Mar 12:14
Pentagon in QuEST for quantum-teleport spooky IT

Well, some crypto-cracking hardware anyway

US military boffinry bureau DARPA*, which sees the bleeding edge as a blunt instrument, is getting into quantum effects. The Pentagon mad-science profs have offered government funding for researchers who can help them obtain Quantum Entanglement Science and Technology (QuEST). Initially, the DARPA chaps are fairly non-specific …

Servers 31 Mar 12:21
Exec sounds death knell for games consoles

R.I.P.

A former Xbox executive has boldly declared that dedicated games consoles, such as the Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, will become technological relics within 10 years. Sandy Duncan, who worked in Microsoft’s European Xbox division before leaving to co-found an online gaming business, recently said that “dedicated games …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 12:33
Tory tackles Whitehall on Wiki-updating spooks

And exposes Adonis amending himself

A Conservative MP’s campaign to find out what civil servants are updating on Wikipedia suggests that Whitehall has no clue what its workers are getting up to on their taxpayer-funded PCs. Stephen O’Brien, MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire, has spent the last few months peppering Whitehall departments with requests along the lines …

Government 31 Mar 13:33
Need a new duster? Avoid Woolies

NSFW Spring cleaning filth and fury shakes Middle England

If you're in the market for a new duster to do a bit of light spring cleaning we'd advise you to nip out to your nearest hardware shop rather than pop down to the UK ecommerce tentacle of retail monolith Woolworths, where a search query for this most innocent of household items returns a nasty shock for innocent inhabitants of …

Bootnotes 31 Mar 14:12
HSBC e-payments system goes titsup

Banking bamboozled for whole weekend

Angry retailers have launched a tirade against HSBC after its e-payments system fell over on Friday and stayed down for the whole weekend. Retailers were unable to sell anything online for over 48 hours, and have started calling for compensation. HSBC's e-payments system has proved particularly attractive for retailers …

Servers 31 Mar 14:41
Blighty's Museum of Computing forced to go mobile

Down and out and about in Swindon

The UK’s first museum dedicated to computing could be homeless by the summer if it doesn’t find a generous donor with a large, empty building in Swindon going spare. The Museum of Computing currently resides at the University of Bath’s Oakfield campus. However, plans are afoot for the academic bods to up sticks and move on in …

Hardware 31 Mar 14:47
LG's ice cream phone

Sundae dialer

LG has unveiled a tasty tech treat – a mobile phone designed to make users crave ice cream from morning until night. LG's LH5000 lights up when calls come in The 3G LG-LH5000 clamshell comes in three flavours colours; vanilla (pure white), strawberry (sweet pink) and pistachio (sweet blue). Sadly there’s no mention of a …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 14:56
GTA IV coming to the DS Lite?

Stylus at the ready

A stylus wouldn’t be Register Hardware’s weapon of choice for the upcoming videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. But as the title's rumoured to be coming to Nintendo’s DS Lite, this could become a reality. Will GTA IV hit the DS Lite? Image courtesy of Game-Class Online gaming publication Game-Class.com has published details from …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 14:58
Creative threatens developer over home-brewed Vista drivers

Fans say 'give the man a job'

Creative Labs has enraged customers by threatening a developer with legal action after he wrote drivers that allowed its products to run smoothly on Vista. Soundcard maker Creative accused the developer, known only as daniel_k, of theft and warned him not to infringe its intellectual property. Daniel_k has created a number of …

Hardware 31 Mar 16:07
Adobe cuddles up to Linux Foundation

Slings out AIR test version

Adobe Systems has climbed into bed with the open source developer community by joining the Linux Foundation. The software firm also announced today that it has released a pre-release alpha version of its Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) for rich web apps on Linux. "Adobe's decision to join the Linux Foundation is a natural …

Applications 31 Mar 16:25
Shell waves goodbye to 3,000 IT staffers in $4bn outsourcing gig

Oil-y company

Royal Dutch Shell today inked three outsourcing deals – worth $4.2bn over five years – to spin out IT and telecoms operations. In January, a leaked memo to staff revealed the oil company was in outsourcing talks with EDS, AT&T and T-Systems. Today, Shell sealed separate agreements with those companies and said most of its 3, …

IT Director 31 Mar 17:31
Vivitar unveils N93i-esque camcorder

A few specs released

Vivitar has aroused camcorder enthusiasts with details of an upcoming model that’s decked out with the styling of Nokia’s N93i. Vivitar's DVR565HD: 720p resolution and 30fps The DVR565HD captures video at a resolution of up to 720p and has a 30 frames per second capture rate. Video is compressed into H.264 and stored on SD …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 18:02
Early calls to simplify Eclipse

Do it or lose it to NetBeans

Improved usability and integration with other integrated development environments are the first features being called for in response to a request for feedback on the future Eclipse. Detailed suggestions include improvements to scripting, better on-line documentation to help plug-in developers and the introduction of a value …

Software 31 Mar 18:21
Snitching is less than golden for piracy informers

We're in the money. Not really

The SIIA (Software & Information Industry Association) calls it "whistleblowing." And we call it "disgruntled peons ratting on their bosses." But whatever label you use, dobbing on your own company for cutting corners on software licenses can be a lucrative sport. But not for seven American grasses paid up by the SIIA in March …

Software 31 Mar 18:43
Everyone's a winner in the Comcast - BitTorrent detente

Analysis Everyone except the Neutralists?

So Comcast will stop shaping peer-to-peer seeding sessions with spoofed TCP RST commands. I caught up with the cable giant's CTO Tony Werner on Thursday for more details. The move should delight the company's critics. These innocent control packets have been compared to identity theft, to collusion with dictatorial regimes, …

Telecoms 31 Mar 18:59
Tengu - the PC pal

You talk, it grins back

If you’re in need of some conversation, but the missus is doing the washing up, then how would you feel about chatting to a PC-based buddy? Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Tengu is just that - well, sort of. The 70 x 40 x 10mm USB-powered gadget sits on your desktop and responds to sound stimuli …

Reg Hardware 31 Mar 20:02
Citrix debuts XenServer 4.1 with simpler pricing

Per server pricing outpaces punctuality?

After what would appear to be months of dragging its feet with the XenSource code, Citrix Systems today marched out the final version of XenServer 4.1. The last time upgrade to the virtualization package was in August - around the time Citrix bought Xensource for $500m. The upgrade has some 50 features added to the software …

Servers 31 Mar 20:25
Microsoft EULA lands it with $175m Indian tax headache

Words are cheap, until the lawyers get to work

"The Product is licensed, not sold." Those six words just cost Microsoft's Indian operation $87.5m (350 crore) in tax payments and the same again in interest. Basing its ruling on the terms of Microsoft's own EULA (end-user license agreement), an Indian court has ordered the company to pay tax on royalty income generated in …

Channel Register 31 Mar 21:24
Amazon smacks little people with BookSurge

On-demand Battle of the Bulge

Amazon has told print-on-demand book publishers that they better start using the retailer's print-on-demand service if they want their books sold on its website. In 2005, the world's largest online retailer purchased a print-on-demand operation known as BookSurge, and over the past several weeks, BookSurge sales reps have …

Small Biz 31 Mar 21:29
HP intros midrange, easy-on-the-grid servers

Energy efficient rack and blade, plus Linux love

Hewlett-Packard is expanding its midsection today, with various hardware and software additions made to its wares for those companies sized between the fantastic and wee. The mid-market courting is composed of HP's two new power-efficient ProLiant servers — a blade and a rackmounted server. There's also some penguin love, with …

Servers 31 Mar 22:30
IBM blackballed in US federal ambush

One way to find out your customer has an issue

IBM has been temporarily barred from bidding for new contracts with US Federal government agencies. The company blames the suspension on a dispute with the Environmental Protection Agency - of which it had no knowledge, until it read about the ban on a government website. The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of …

Government 31 Mar 23:17