9th April 2008 Archive

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DHS chief goes nuclear on cyber security

RSA Digital bomb them back to the Stone Age

The US government is to shut thousands of points from which outsiders can access federal computer networks to about 50, Homeland security chief Michael Chertoff revealed today (Tuesday). In a keynote at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Chertoff outlined the government's plans to protect itself from cyber attack. he even …

Government 9 Apr 02:52
Demo shows how web attack threatens fabric of the universe

RSA All hail the power of DNS rebinding

Showing how the web's underpinnings can be abused to attack assets presumed to be secure, a researcher unveiled a website that can log into a home router and change key settings, such as administrator passwords and servers used to access trusted web destinations. Rather than creating a trojan or other piece of specialized …

Enterprise Security 9 Apr 03:16
Hardware vendors primed for FCoE love-in

Intel, QLogic, EMC, Emulex, Cisco...

A Fibre Channel over Ethernet standard hasn't even been accepted yet, but such a trifle hasn't stopped the hype from reaching a fever pitch today at Storage Networking World in Orlando. Intel, QLogic, EMC, and Emulex all pledged their support for the protocol with products and partnerships. Of course, these are the some the …

Servers 9 Apr 06:02
O2 says 128Kb/s is all its 3G customers need

Updated: Well, nearly all

O2 has admitted its 3G customers are limited to 128Kb/s connections, with business users being automatically upgraded to 384Kb/s if they are deemed to warrant it. 3G connection speeds are highly variable, so establishing that the network has imposed a speed limit isn't as easy as it might appear, even though O2 users have long …

Mobile 9 Apr 06:02
UK child database is 'not fit for purpose'

Researchers reveal Government dirty smalls

The government is pressing ahead with its "Integrated Children's System" despite a review of four pilot projects which call into doubt the database's design and its benefits - if any - for care workers. The ICS review was carried out by two academics from the University of York and nine researchers. They examined progress in …

Government 9 Apr 06:02
Nokia coughs up €200m over axed German workers

Agreement on transfer company

Nokia will pay €200m to compensate workers for the closure of its mobile phone plant in Germany. It will also establish a transfer company to help staff for at least one year. Some 2,300 employees will lose their jobs at Bochum. Nokia was widely critisised for the closure of its plant in Bochum and infuriated many German …

Financial News 9 Apr 08:54
Anti-trust looms over major labels legal blitz

'They only did it for the fame. Who?'

Serial entrepreneur Michael Robertson is embroiled in a legal fight against the recording business - and not for the first time. His MP3Tunes locker service has raised the ire of EMI in a case that continues this week. But isn't it weird, he asks, how the Big Four divvy up the litigation against music start-ups between them so …

Music and Media 9 Apr 09:02
Japan turning itself into Cyberman machine civilisation

Three million converted to undying robotoids by 2025

Enormous numbers of people are being replaced by (or perhaps converted into) robots, reports suggest, and the trend is set to continue. Indeed, the issue has become so salient in Japan that a specialist thinktank, the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation (MIMF?), has been set up to monitor the gradual infiltration of society …

Biology 9 Apr 09:03
Apple rewards developers with bricked iPhone

SDK timeout leaves fans up connection creek

Developers who eagerly downloaded Apple's beta release of the iPhone developer's kit found themselves without a connection this morning, as the package timed out before a replacement was issued. Developers, of course, shouldn't be using their primary phone to run beta software on - but these days everything is a beta, and few …

Mobile 9 Apr 09:11
IPS wants ID card service pilots

Joining up services

The Identity and Passport Service is discussing a round of pilots that use identity cards to join up service delivery. James Hall, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, told GC News the agency is talking to government departments about how the card may be used to support service delivery. He said the move has …

Government 9 Apr 09:27
Asus unwraps media centre mini PC

No, it's not the desktop version of the Eee PC. Instead, Asus' Essentio CS5110 mini PC is a multimedia powerhouse in a stylish small form-factor design. According to Asus, at any rate... The 290 x 200 x 80mm CS5110 is based around Intel's G35 chipset and will be offered with a range of processors, from Celerons up to Core 2 …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 09:44
Transcript disappears minister's 'hack-proof' ID register claim

So who hacked Hansard?

At the end of February Home Office minister Meg Hillier explained the UK ID scheme security system to the Home Affairs Committee. "The National Identity Register, essentially," she said, "will be a secure database; ...hack-proof, not connected to the Internet... not be accessible online; any links with any other agency will be …

Government 9 Apr 09:52
Pioneer pitches hybrid hi-fi satnav

Pioneer has just discovered that satnavs can do media playback too. This week it highlighted its Navgate AVIC-F500BT as the "first hybrid navigation system that combines the power of an in-dash device with the convenience of a portable system". Strip away the hyperbole and you're looking at a unit with a 5.8in touchscreen …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 10:17
ActiveX update stars in Patch Tuesday critical quintet

It's that time of the month again

Microsoft released five critical patches on Tuesday as part of its latest Patch Tuesday update. The release also included three bulletins over security flaws rated by Redmond as "important". The worst of the quintet is a flaw in ActiveX. This update also includes a kill bit for the Yahoo! Music Jukebox product, the topic of a …

Channel Register 9 Apr 10:34
Dell readies Asus Eee PC, HP Mini-Note rival

Contract manufacturer mole spills beans

An unnamed executive at Taiwanese contract manufacturer Compal has coughed to constructing an Eee PC rival for PC giant Dell. Due to ship in June, the machine full specs are not known. But the stated release timeframe is a clear clue to the sub-notebook's use of Intel's upcoming 'Diamondville' Atom processor. Asus Eee PC and …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 10:49
Ofcom reins in TV psychics and adult chat

I'm sensing... new rules to ensure separation of editorial and ads

Ofcom is proposing new rules for TV and radio shows which use premium-rate phone lines to raise revenue, with a view to ensuring that editorial and advertising are kept separate. The new rules will apply to any show that provides a premium-rate number, even in a peripheral role, and aims to ensure that promotion of the phone …

Telecoms 9 Apr 10:58
Adobe launches 'free' Flash-only media player

Apes YouTube, iTunes with AMP

Adobe Systems today released its cross-platform Adobe Media Player (AMP) as a free download. The software, which was written with the company’s offline web apps platform Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR), plays Flash-only web videos on Macs or PCs and works as an online and offline application. Adobe said it has inked deals with …

Channel Register 9 Apr 11:20
'Patricia Hewitt' donates £6m to charity

From a net café in Lagos

In case you were wondering why your granny couldn't get a hip replacement back in 2006, when Patricia Hewitt was Secretary of State for Health, we reckon we might have discovered where the NHS non-urgent surgery budget ended up: From: Patricia@swip003.ftl.affinity.com [mailto:Patricia@swip003.ftl.affinity.com] Posted At: 09 …

Bootnotes 9 Apr 11:22
BBC vs ISPs: Bandwidth row escalates as Tiscali wades in

'We don't take business advice from civil servants'

Outspoken broadband provider Tiscali has crossed swords with Ashley Highfield, the BBC's top technology executive, over calls he made for ISPs to lump the potentially devastating effect of the iPlayer on their business. Since the launch of the popular streaming service, the iPlayer is costing ISPs dear, with one reporting a …

Telecoms 9 Apr 11:28
Firewire chip maker touts 1.6Gb/s silicon

Quick, get it out before USB 3.0 arrives!

Chip maker Symwave has claimed the crown for the world's fastest desktop data transfer now that it has begun sampling a Firewire S1600 chip. The 2GHz part delivers data transfer speeds of up to 1.6Gb/s. That's double Firewire's current top speed, 800Mb/s, and, Symwave was quick to note, "nearly four times faster" than USB 2.0 …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 11:34
HSBC e-payments system limps back online

Mystery database glitch blamed for extended outage

HSBC UK managed to get its beleaguered e-payments system back online yesterday evening after the second extended outage in less than a fortnight. Retailers using the system were unable to process transactions from about 5pm (BST) on Monday until Tuesday evening. Similar problems left merchants unable to take payments for two …

IT Director 9 Apr 11:49
Global space spending hits $251bn

GPS and satellite TV drive increased investment

Global spending on space-related projects hit $251bn last year - with the US accounting for 81 per cent of the worldwide spend. That's according to the Space Foundation, which notes the figure is an 11 per cent increase on 2006 "despite slowing growth in many countries". The main areas of growth were in satellite TV and US- …

Government 9 Apr 11:50
Buffalo makes big noise over tiny terabyte NAS box

A sliver of a server

NAS boxes generally too bulky for you? Then how about Buffalo's new LinkStation Mini? Announced yesterday, the compact server packs in 1TB of storage capacity using a pair of RAID-configured 2.5in hard drives. Buffalo LinkStation Mini: NAS, in miniature The 13.3 x 8.1 x 3.9cm device has a Gigabit Ethernet port on the back …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 12:15
BBC to launch iPlayer for Wii

The Apprentice tops the charts

The BBC is set to launch a version of its popular streaming iPlayer catch-up service for Nintendo Wii owners in the UK today. The first games console release for iPlayer is being unveiled at a media conference in Cannes. It comes just over a month after Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch became the first mobile devices to get …

Telecoms 9 Apr 12:34
Metal Storm reveals pocket bunker-buster test outcome

Grenade-gasm gun couldn't shoot load on hot, wet range

Australian deathtech firm Metal Storm, which uses a centuries-old idea to produce amazing weapons which can empty themselves with exceptional suddenness, has announced tests of a new handy-size thermobaric bunker buster man-cannon. The company has also issued half a million Aussie dollars' worth of new shares. In a release …

Government 9 Apr 12:43
AMD shoves delayed Barcelona chip out of the door

Arrives six months after official launch

AMD at last began shipping its delayed quad-core Opteron server processor chips in volume to channel partners today. The chip, code-named Barcelona, was officially launched by AMD in September last year. However, a major technical erratum - well, bug - forced the firm to postpone mass production of the processor while it made …

Servers 9 Apr 13:19
Ofcom slaps Beeb for Live Earth swearing

Naughty, naughty

Ofcom has administered the BBC a stiff dressing-down over unexpurgated, pre-watershed swearing during its coverage of Live Earth on 7 July last year, and has directed Auntie to broadcast a summary of its findings on both BBC1 and 2. The Ofcom adjudication (pdf) explains: "22 viewers complained that the BBC broadcast …

Music and Media 9 Apr 13:22
Information Commissioner: Phorm must be opt-in only

Updated Data protection probe into secret trials too

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a major revision to its statement on Phorm, insisting that the ad tracking system must be deployed on an opt-in basis to comply with the law. Of the three ISPs connected to the scheme, only Carphone Warehouse has committed to opt in when the system is finally rolled out. …

Telecoms 9 Apr 13:42
Olympus µ1010 compact camera

Review Silly name aside, this is a quality camera

The curiously named Olympus µ1010 is also known as the mju 1010, which doesn’t make it any easier to pronounce. It comes in three groovy - or garish - colours, silver, black and metallic blue. This is a pretty well-specified camera considering the price and target audience. There’s a beefy 7x 6.6-46.2mm optical zoom lens for …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 14:08
Max Mosley loses battle to get sex video off web

NoTW reposts 'orgy' footage

Formula One boss Max Mosley has lost a High Court bid to stop the News of the World from putting a video of him and five prostitutes back on its website. Mr Justice Eady came to the conclusion that because the material has already been widely reported, and is still widely available, granting an injunction would serve no …

Music and Media 9 Apr 14:12
O2 PR calls Reg readers 'techie nerds'

Mouthpieces say only 'muppets' would ditch O2 for 3

Mobile phone companies are notorious for absurd customer segmentation schemes, but a mis-placed phone call by O2's PR department yesterday showed exactly what they think of The Register and its readers. We've been talking to O2 a lot lately, and clearly our interest in their "allocated bandwidth" has got them flustered. So …

Mobile 9 Apr 14:16
Sony picture frame-style HD TVs a work of art?

Pretty as a picture?

Should the TV be the centrepiece of a living room or blend in among the artwork and scatter cushions? Sony suggests the latter - its latest HD Bravia line-up has been designed to look like picture frames. All three 26in, 32in and 40in 1080p resolution E4000s are wall-mountable and available in several case colours, including …

Reg Hardware 9 Apr 14:40
Faces give away giveaways - psych profs' amazing claim

Also: women don't fancy studs who get lots of sex

In today's pseudoscience news, the quality press is alive with the findings by UK psych researchers that people can fairly reliably tell how slutty someone is merely by looking at a picture of their face. Psychologists at several UK universities teamed up on the research, which will plainly lead in short order to the …

Biology 9 Apr 14:52
Music starts again at Motorola

David Dorman steps up to plate as non-executive chair

David Dorman, latterly CEO of AT&T, will take over as non-executive chair at Motorola on 5 May. He'll be replacing Ed Zander, the Motorola CEO who was eased out last year. When Ed was ousted from his CEO position back in November he hung onto his chairman position, as the tenure lasted until May this year - so the appointment …

Mobile 9 Apr 15:41
Only one man can save Motorola

Column You need Hans, to brush away the tears

Whose fault is it Motorola is in the mess it is in now? In some ways it is impossible to point a finger, but if you want a name it's Geoffrey Frost. Frost was the marketing man who moved from Nike to Motorola. With him he took the glory and success of being a top brand. At Motorola he built the Hello Moto campaign. He was …

Mobile 9 Apr 15:57
Atos Origin board candidate blasts 'scandalous' talks

Stunned by management pay-off chatter

A potential Atos Origin candidate for the French IT services firm's supervisory board has labelled management pay-off talks as "scandalous". Colette Neuville, who is chairman of shareholder rights' group Adam, was one of three candidates proposed by some angry members of private equity funds Centaurus Capital L.P. and Pardus …

Channel Register 9 Apr 16:02
US Army cyber colonel in call to network arms

'We need to be faster than megabytes'

The officer in charge of US Army efforts in network warfare has issued a resounding call to battle for American cyber warriors. "We have to pick up the pace... respond, react, be proactive enough to stay out ahead of the speed of megabytes," said Colonel Wayne Parks, quoted on Govexec.com. "There was a day when we were …

Government 9 Apr 16:04
Revived cableco alliance could save Xohm...

Comment ...and Sprint

Former Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee may have made a massively bad job of managing the carrier's merger and other operational challenges, but he left three major innovations as his positive legacy, which may still be the key to a Sprint turnaround. One was his pioneering of the MVNO (multiple virtual network operator) model, …

Telecoms 9 Apr 16:54
Sun's UltraSPARC T2+ servers ship full of Niagara Viagra

128 threads make data centers, kittens happy

Sun Microsystems is today officially debuting its two new "massively threaded" servers based on the UltraSPARC T2+ processor. The SPARC servers, part of Sun and Fujitsu's partnership, were first revealed in gory detail by El Reg early last month. The major advancement in Sun's new CMT SPARC Enterprise T5140 and T5240 servers …

Servers 9 Apr 18:25
Intel CEO confronts OEM grumbling around direct chip sales

The Google Conundrum

CEOs of the major server and PC makers have proved reluctant to complain in public about Intel's very substantial "distribution" business where it moves processors and white boxes directly to customers. But pull one of these executives away from the microphones, and you may well hear a minor tirade on the topic. The Register …

Servers 9 Apr 21:37
AMD refreshes slot machine CPU lineup

Offers Storage Bridge Bay spec kit

AMD is launching three new low-power, dual-core processors for embedded chip systems, such as point of sale devices, gaming machines, kiosks, and entry-level storage boxes. The new Athlon X2 Dual-Core processor models 3400e, 3600+ and 4200+ raise the performance levels of AMD's embedded lineup, while keeping wattage on the …

Channel Register 9 Apr 21:39
WiMAX takes its place in the mobile broadband patchwork

Motorola takes the lead

Much of the 4G picture remains cloudy, but one thing is clear – the next generation of wireless networks will be based on the OFDMA/MIMO/IP combination shared by the most prominent contenders, LTE and Mobile WiMAX. For a good few years, these technologies will complement, rather than replace, existing systems like EDGE, HSPA, …

Wireless 9 Apr 22:10
Yahoo! to post Google ads on Yahoo!

Microhoo Take that, Ballmer

The next time you search Yahoo!, you may see a Google ad. And Steve Ballmer isn't too happy about it. This afternoon, the world's second largest search engine announced that at some unspecified moment, it will begin a test of Google's AdSense for Search service. This will post Google-brokered ads alongside Yahoo! search …

Financial News 9 Apr 22:34
Kraken stripped of World's Largest Botnet crown (maybe)

RSA Is it new or is it Bobax?

If you're looking for a good reason why security professionals might want to pool their research about botnets and other cyber threats, look no further than findings released earlier this week about a botnet dubbed Kraken. Zombie hunters at Damballa said they were tracking a new bot army that claimed more than 400,000 infected …

Security 9 Apr 22:56
RSA'08 Unlocked

Security coverage

Old people can sabotage software too 10/04/08 Software teams must act to protect systems and development projects from revenge attacks by disgruntled current and former employees. Kraken stripped of World's Largest Botnet crown (maybe) 09/04/08 The thing is, other researchers say Kraken isn't new at all. According to Joe …

Enterprise Security 9 Apr 23:59