29th April 2008 Archive

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Homeland Security takes pity on terror list Ted Kennedys

Birthdays free namesakes

The Department of Homeland Security has finally taken pity on all those people who share a name with someone on the FBI's "terror watch list." Today, as reported by the watch list-obsessed USA Today, the DHS told US airlines they can go a little easier on people who suffer from the so-called "Ted Kennedy problem." Senator …

Policing 29 Apr 2008, 00:20
Chernobyl coverage blows up in Radio Free Europe's face

DDOS bomb

Websites run by Radio Free Europe have been under a fierce cyber attack that coincided with coverage over the weekend of a rally organized by opposition to the Belarusian opposition. The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack initially targeted only the RFE's Belarus service, which starting on Saturday was inundated with …

Security 29 Apr 2008, 00:27
Linux guru Hans Reiser convicted of first-degree murder

Estranged wife's body never found

A jury has convicted Hans Reiser, developer of the ReiserFS filesystem for Linux, of first degree murder for killing his estranged wife in 2006 even though her body was never found. As the verdict was read in Alameda County Superior Court, Reiser furrowed his brows. Dressed in the same dark coat he's worn for months, the 44- …

Crime 29 Apr 2008, 00:42
NetBeans 6.1 packs welcome additions

Script and polish

Hot on the heels of a successful 6.0 release, which we covered here and here, Sun Microsystems has delivered NetBeans 6.1, just in time for the company's annual JavaOne and CommunityOne events in San Francisco, California. As you'd expect from an incremental release, the aim is to introduce enhancements and bug fixes rather …

Applications 29 Apr 2008, 06:02
Adobe veteran joins Microsoft media camp

Corporate raider

Microsoft has poached a 17-year Adobe Systems veteran in a sign of where the company is placing its technology bets. Mark Hamburg, who has worked on Adobe flagship Photoshop since its second version and who was a lead on Lightroom for managing large volumes of digital photos, has joined Microsoft. Adobe beta tester Martin …

Developer 29 Apr 2008, 07:05
BAE lands US Army minidroid horde contract

It's not who you know, it's who you buy

Global military contractor BAE Systems has announced that it will lead a large alliance of American academics in building an army of miniature robots to aid the US military. The effort, known as Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST), will receive $38m of US Army funding. “Robotic platforms extend the warfighter's …

Government 29 Apr 2008, 08:56
Netgear gets a crush on SMBs at Interop

Interop 2008 Bats eyes, offers new switches, WAPs, and NAS systems

The security guards aren't letting hacks onto the show floor of Interop 2008 in Las Vegas, but Netgear is already primed for action. Before the doors have opened, it has announced three products for digestion. Each of Netgear's new wares is catered to the small and medium business market, or "sumb" as I like to say out loud …

Storage 29 Apr 2008, 09:16
Amy Winehouse pitches for Bond theme

Quantum of Rehab

Brit warbler and walking advert for the perils of tattooing, Amy Winehouse, is making a pitch for the theme song of forthcoming Bond movie Quantum Of Solace, the BBC reports. That's according to her producer Mark Ronson, who told BBC 6 Music that Winehouse was approached to knock something together for Bond 22, although he's …

Entertainment 29 Apr 2008, 09:17
Lords defy Government by proposing criminalisation of data rogues

Disclose our info and you'll pay

The House of Lords has proposed making it a criminal offence to disclose personal information intentionally or recklessly. The Lords passed an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, defeating the Government. If it is to become law the amendment will need to be approved by MPs in the House of Commons. The …

Law 29 Apr 2008, 09:34
AMD to intro 45nm quad-core Phenom this quarter

Moles spill roadmap beans

AMD appears to be staggering its 45nm quad-core desktop processor release schedule. It's preparing to release one this quarter, but the next two won't ship until toward the end of the year - before January 2009, is what the chip maker's said to be telling mobo makers. First up, there's the successor to the current Phenom X4 …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 09:35
Data sharing could have stopped killing

Justice system 'lackadaisical or nonchalant'

A report has shown that improved data sharing between prisons and police would help stop a repetition of the mistaken release of a man who committed manslaughter the same day. Anthony Peart was released on 29 July 2005 from the privately run Forest Bank prison in Pendlebury near Manchester, after charges against him for …

Government 29 Apr 2008, 09:37
Web jukebox sued

Project Playlist slapped for copyright infringement

Unlicensed music discovery service Project Playlist is being sued for copyright infringement. The Palo Alto-based operation hosts a "universal jukebox", similar to WebJay. It trawls the web for song files, and claims it doesn't host the songs itself, thereby qualifying for a copyright infringement exception. The player can be …

Music and Media 29 Apr 2008, 09:37
HSBC plugs hole that exposed site directory

John Lewis Partnership site rather too open for comfort

HSBC has finally fixed a bug that allowed web surfers to browse the directory structure of a supposedly secure website it helps to run. The John Lewis Partnership card secure website (a joint venture with HSBC) allowed the curious, and potentially malicious, to peek into its underlying structure. "Great if you were planning a …

Enterprise Security 29 Apr 2008, 09:49
Mel Gibson to star in Edge of Darkness

Martin Campbell revisits 1985 TV classic

Mel Gibson has signed up to play the lead in a movie adaptation of 1985 TV series Edge of Darkness, Variety reports. The Aussie thesp is reportedly a fan of the original and was "receptive" when approached by Casino Royale helmsman Martin Campbell, who directed the BBC six-parter and will take the director's chair for the big- …

Entertainment 29 Apr 2008, 10:18
Brown opts for morality over science on 'lethal skunk'

Takes to the sofa to defend drug reclassification

Gordon Brown looks set to ignore scientific advice and upgrade cannabis next week. There is no official word from Downing Street, but Brown dropped heavy hints to that traditional home of serious political debate, GMTV. The government's panel of advisors, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, gave its report to Home …

Government 29 Apr 2008, 10:18
Nokia Maps to gain real-time traffic updates

Congestion beater

Nokia is to add traffic monitoring to its phone-based satnav service. Nokia Maps 2.0 will soon be able to tap into the Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI) service provided by European in-vehicle information specialist ARC Transistance. RTTI currently sends out traffic information specific to 16 European countries. Nokia said …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 10:38
Financial firm wags finger, warns youngsters to watch gadget spending

Yeah, wha'evah...

Keeping up with the Joneses has always been a traditional occupation for middle-aged Brits, but now younger people risk contracting “bling-itis” by trying to keep up with their friends’ gadget purchases. A study by mobile banking firm Monilink of over 1500 people aged between 16 and 34 has found that 12 per cent consider …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 10:58
IBM, Rational & Telelogic: and now for something completely different

Software gets really complicated

In the 50 plus acquisitions that IBM has completed over the past five years, none have taken longer to close than the long-awaited Telelogic deal. Nonetheless, the bottom line of the deal is that IBM’s Rational brand will break past the software development lifecycle ghetto into the realm of developing complex products that you …

Software 29 Apr 2008, 11:02
Nokia 3110 Evolve eco-friendly mobile phone

Review Green + gadget = ?

The planet's warming up, and we want to do something about it. Yet we still can't stop using our power-gobbling gadgets. What's the best way to minimise this paradox? Ask Nokia, and it'll tell you to try its "environmentally-friendly" 3110 Evolve. Nokia has taken the basic design of its 3110 Classic and added a few greener …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 11:02
SEC targets Google director over Pixar options backdating

Schmidt comes out in support of Mather

Google Inc senior director Ann Mather is facing a potential legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for alleged stock options abuses that occurred during her tenure as CFO at Pixar Animation Studios. According to documents filed by the SEC yesterday, Mather, who joined the Google board in November 2005 …

Financial News 29 Apr 2008, 11:05
MySpace wins lawsuit against Spamford Wallace

Serial nuisance fails to defend case

MySpace has won a lawsuit against notorious spammer Sanford (Spamford) Wallace. The social networking website gained a default judgment against Wallace after he failed to turn over documents or appear in court, CNet reports. Wallace was sued in March 2007 over allegations he orchestrated a phishing scam designed to harvest …

Spam 29 Apr 2008, 11:12
Web 2.0 bloat trebles web's waistline

Go on, embed my widget... it's only waffferr thiiin

The web is getting fatter faster than a middle-aged November goose on an all-spaghetti diet, thanks to webmasters and bloggers greasing their pages with Web 2.0 lard. The mean size of a web page has more than trebled since 2003 from 97.3KB to more than 312KB, according to a review of available research by WebsiteOptimization. …

Applications 29 Apr 2008, 11:13
BT bundles MS Office with Linux laptop

Eees are good, Eees are good

This week's award for the Most Astutely Selected Software Bundle goes to BT after the teleco tried to hook potential purchasers of Asus' Linux-running Eee PC 900 by offering to ship it with a copy of Microsoft Office. BT is offering the 20GB 900 for £335.99, but if anyone out there is willing to buy it for £422.34, the telco …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 11:37
Spyware targets frustrated GTA IV gamers

Drive-by spam attacks blight carjack game launch

Gamers desperate to get their mitts on Grand Theft Auto IV are being targeted in an opportunistic spyware scam. Spam emails offer prospective marks free entry to a draw offering a PlayStation 3 loaded with the much-anticipated game as a prize. In reality, these illicit emails are loaded with spyware designed to swipe personal …

Malware 29 Apr 2008, 11:49
Sony slips out sleek, sexy home cinema set

Sony’s latest home cinema unit is an exercise in minimalism, but what the Bravia unit lacks in size it makes up for in sound power. The DAV-F200 2.1 Home Theatre System packs in a DVD player rather than a Blu-ray drive, but it features an HDMI port through which it'll upscale your standard-definition movies to 1080p resolution …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 11:50
Cash, blow-up dolls and mime artist star at spyware knees-up

NSFW Cybercrims launch Bacchanalia 2.0

It's common knowledge that malware has become the purview of cybercriminals rather than mere mischief-makers. But unlike the frolics of dotcom yuppies, the excesses of Eastern European cybercrooks have rarely been chronicled. So, we're indebted to the upstanding affiliates of Klik Revenue, a Russian-based outfit that allegedly …

Crime 29 Apr 2008, 12:02
Men could have kids with chimpanzees - gov must act

~~Religious~~ bioethics hardliner's amazing claim

A leading Scottish churchman and bioethics thinktank operator has warned again of the dangers attendant on genetic research, and recommended that there should be a law against men having children with female chimpanzees. The Scotsman reports today that Calum MacKellar, an Elder of the Church of Scotland who trained as a …

Biology 29 Apr 2008, 12:13
French punters offered petite Eee PC rival

Vive La Révolution?

French online retailer Surcouf has become the latest purveyor of sub-notebooks based on chip maker VIA's Nanobook reference design. Surcouf calls the machine La Révolution Mobile PC, but it's standard Nanobook fare, comprising a 1.2GHz VIA C7-M processor, 1GB of DDR 2 memory and a 60GB hard drive. It comes with Wi-Fi and …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 12:26
Dogs reduce allergies in kids

The benefit of mutts as pets

German researchers have apparently confirmed that keeping a dog as a family pet will reduce the chance that kids will develop allergies - a finding which backs a theory that having a mutt about the house "trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever". A …

Biology 29 Apr 2008, 12:54
Microsoft slings sack of green at US universities

Goes into hyper-greenery overdrive

Microsoft has handed over half a million dollars to four US universities doing research into green computing. The software giant, which has recently been building power-chugging data centres across the globe to beef up its web-based onslaught, said yesterday that it hoped the research would help develop techniques to lower …

Servers 29 Apr 2008, 12:55
Samsung shows off fourth-gen Blu-ray player

Vows to beat PS3

Samsung has shown off its next major Blu-ray Disc player release - and pledged to pursue its goal of dominating the HD player market aggressively. The BD-P1500 builds on last year's third-generation player, the BD-P1400, essentially adding support for the latest Blu-ray technologies, including BonusView - the format's picture- …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 13:06
TomTom updates One, XL satnavs

New suckers all round

TomTom has been back to the drawing board and redesigned its One and XL satnav ranges, creating a minimalistic suction cup and enhancing the audio clarity of navigation instructions in the process. TomTom's EasyPort: promises easy portability The firm will today unveil six new satnav models, three under the One brand and …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 13:19
UK government websites out of control

How many sites? We're sorry we haven't a clue

The House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts has released its report into government websites, and it is not impressed. It found the Government is not sure exactly how many websites it has, but believes there could be as many as 2,500. Nor does it know how much these websites costs or if anyone is using them. Total …

Government 29 Apr 2008, 13:28
Chip makers unite to define unified home network tech

All your cables are belong to us

Intel, Panasonic, Texas Instruments and Infineon have launched a bid to steer the development of a unified home networking platform - technology capable of combining coaxial, powerline and phone cabling. The four firms today launched the HomeGrid Forum, which they said would seek to ensure the Internation Telcommunications …

Reg Hardware 29 Apr 2008, 14:27
Astroboffins moot massive Moon-mirror heliograph

How to catch ET's eye

A pair of US astrobiologists have come up with a cunningly simply way of attracting the attention of alien lifeforms - just cover half the Moon's surface with mirrors to throw back some extra sunlight in ET's direction. According to New Scientist, Shawn Domagal-Goldman and Jacob Haqq-Misra of Pennsylvania State University in …

Space 29 Apr 2008, 14:30
Israeli spyware-for-hire PIs jailed

Watching the detectives

A group of private eyes who applied spyware to industrial espionage have been jailed in Israel, in the latest twist to a long-running high-profile investigation. Four members of the Israeli Modi'in Ezrahi private investigation firm were sentenced on Monday after they were found guilty of using Trojan malware to steal …

Crime 29 Apr 2008, 14:36
MySpace stripped of myspace.co.uk domain victory

UPDATED Nominet elections feel the hand of Rupert Murdoch

An independent appeals panel has overturned a heavily-criticised decision to hand control of the myspace.co.uk domain to Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media. Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service (DRS), had ruled in favour of MySpace in January, despite the domain having been registered by a small British ISP six years …

Telecoms 29 Apr 2008, 14:40
US Army hands out $3.5m for portable fuel-cell powerpack

Bullets, beans, Band Aids and ~~batteries~~ methanol

The US Army has dished out further funds in its quest for portable electric systems, this time making a $3.65m award to Protonx Technology Corp of Massachusetts for continuing development of its Pulse M250 methanol fuel cell powerpack. "Our product development work for Pulse M250, now supported by a total of $7.15 million from …

Government 29 Apr 2008, 15:27
Dell swings axe at five per cent of EMEA staff

The lucky ones will be 'redeployed'

Computer giant Dell is axing up to five per cent of its 17,500-strong EMEA workforce in a cost-cutting exercise. The firm told staff today that it has been forced to scale back its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to ensure its “future success and competitiveness”. Earlier this month it announced a massive ten …

Channel Register 29 Apr 2008, 16:09
11-year-old Sun mascot beats up NetApp

Ten minutes to open storage bliss

Having been worked over by the rise of Linux servers, Sun Microsystems wants to capitalize on what it sees as the next major "open systems" movement. The company believes that storage systems - or more specifically storage software - will transition to favor lower-cost, less proprietary plays. Sun this week took what feels …

Storage 29 Apr 2008, 18:34
Whitehats tackle The Great Botnet Dilemma

Remove Kraken? Or leave it be?

After infiltrating one of the biggest and most abusive known botnets, security researchers are wrestling with a thorny ethical dilemma: should they exorcise tens of thousands of possessed machines or simply leave them be? Pedram Amini and Cody Pierce, of security provider TippingPoint, reverse engineered the executable behind …

Security 29 Apr 2008, 18:50
White space fillers are hospital system killers

Spectrum analysis

Hospitals in the USA fear plans to fill white space - unused TV frequencies - will have a knock-on effect on the systems they use to monitor patients wandering around their buildings. So they are lobbying the Federal Communications Channel to reserve some more frequency for them. In the US, medical telemetry systems are …

Telecoms 29 Apr 2008, 20:28
US Department of Justice banned from Wikipedia

CAMERA and The Electronic Intifada

Wikipedia has temporarily blocked edits from the US Department of Justice after someone inside the government agency tried to erase references to a particularly-controversial Wiki-scandal. Early last week, the Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) was accused of organizing a secret …

Music and Media 29 Apr 2008, 20:42
Dell busts out appliance baby for OEMs

Google search box may go on diet

Dell has an interesting side gig going where it makes appliance-like gear for OEMs. This week it rounded out the appliance play via a new low-end server that's of particular interest because it's small enough to fit into telco racks. We give you the CR100, which is about as basic as a box can get. While 1U high, the system …

Servers 29 Apr 2008, 21:18
Microsoft embraces and extends server promiscuity

Interop 2008 It’s a heterogeneous, cross-platform, multi-platform, multivendor world

A decidedly downbeat Bob Muglia took centre stage at Interop this afternoon to preach the gospel of interoperability according to Microsoft. Looking like he was nursing a cold, the Microsoft server and tools chief was maybe played out from his speech earlier in the day at the Venetian hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where …

Servers 29 Apr 2008, 23:32
McAfee 'Hacker Safe' cert sheds more cred

Comment Rubber stamp factory exposed

More than three months after security bugs were documented in more than 60 ecommerce sites certified by McAfee as "Hacker Safe," a security researcher has unveiled a fresh batch of vulnerable websites. Russ McRee, a security consultant for HolisticInfoSec.org, documented cross-site scripting (XSS) errors in five sites that …

Security 29 Apr 2008, 23:50