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16th May 2008 Archive

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  • Netezza buys analytics mystery house

    Byzantine buy

    Data warehouse appliance maker Netezza is buying an enigmatic analytics firm based in North Carolina, NuTech Solutions. Specifically what NuTech produces is rousingly vague based on its website. A few telephone calls later, and we only know they make extremely complex analytical programs that are — thanks guys — really hard to …

    Servers 16 May 2008, 00:01

  • Apple will please missile makers by backing PA Semi's chip

    Exclusive Unleashing the iBomb

    Apple will indeed support PA Semi's line of PowerPC-based processors, The Register has learned. PA Semi's staff has started notifying a limited set of customers that the company's existing dual-core processor will enjoy long-term support. Apple will employ a number of old PA Semi staffers just for this task, which is good news …

    Servers 16 May 2008, 00:11

  • New game site designed to make computers smarter

    Or at least taggier

    Scientists have launched a new game site designed to make computers smarter by harnessing the cognition of the humans playing the games. Gwap.com, short for games with a purpose, takes a Tom Sawyer approach to solving age-old computer problems by repackaging normally mundane tasks as online fun. The games are the brainchild of …

    Applications 16 May 2008, 01:03

  • Virtual Earth puts human face on data

    Project Watch: Microsoft 2008 Lightweight programming, minus Google

    Those who have been following Project Watch will know that I have been leading the development in a large database project using SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. Relatively heavy stuff. Part of that project, though, involves the creation of a mashup that displays our spatial data on a map - yes, I know, all …

    Applications 16 May 2008, 05:02

  • PS3 update fails to fix Grand Theft Auto IV woes

    But Sony has a solution, apparently

    The thumbs of most GTA IV-owning PS3 gamers are probably red-raw by now, their only respite being the game’s inexplicable freezes. So you’d expect the latest firmware update for the console to fix the problem..? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Al De Leon from Sony Computer Entertainment America said on the PlayStation blog …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 07:44

  • NHS IT four years late and over budget

    Outlook uncertain but expensive

    The NHS IT project, one of the world's largest public sector IT programmes, is already four years late. Parts of the project are progressing well and some savings have already been seen but Summary Care Records, a key part of the project, are now unlikely to be widely rolled out until 2014 or 2015, rather than the original …

    Government 16 May 2008, 08:10

  • Captain Cyborg creates human bat with Reg baseball cap

    Ahem...

    It's come to our attention that the media's favourite cybernetically-enhanced human - Kev "Captain Cyborg" Warwick of Reading Uni - earlier this week demonstrated an echolocation hat for blind people on the Beeb's The One Show. Nothing remarkable about that, you might think, but check out just whose hat had the honour of …

    Bootnotes 16 May 2008, 08:50

  • Nvidia, AMD to launch next-gen GPUs next month

    GeForce GTX 200 and Radeon HD 4800 series

    AMD and Nvidia will next month launch their next-gen GPUs. Nvidia is already telling us to expect something big early in June, and online reports claim AMD will announce its offering round about the same time. The launches centre on the Computex show in Taipei, which takes place in the first week of June. That said, Asian …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 08:55

  • Samsung handset promises audio bliss

    Hip Hop still won't sound any better though

    You’re bound to hear lots more about Samsung’s latest handset over the next few weeks – quite literally. That’s because the F400 features several audio ‘treats’ designed to make the phone sound better than most rival music players-cum-phones. To achieve this aim, Samsung opted for help from big name audio brand Bang & Olufsen …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 08:58

  • Computacenter coughs to gloomy first quarter

    So who is buying IT these days?

    Computacenter has warned of difficult trading in the first quarter of 2008, especially in France and the UK. The reseller said business in the UK had picked up towards the end of the quarter. They came in at £346.6m, up 1.1 per cent overall but down 1.5 per cent on a like for like basis. Sales in Germany were flat. Non-UK …

    Channel Register 16 May 2008, 08:59

  • Google Translate speaks in (more) tongues

    Adds 10 new languages

    Google has announced the addition of ten new languages to its Google Translate feature, bringing the total of available tongues to 23. The newcomers are Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian and Swedish, as trumpeted here. All fine and dandy, but just how does Google Translate perform …

    Applications 16 May 2008, 09:01

  • Verizon lands 10-year deal to unify DHS networks

    One net to rule them all - and in the darkness find them

    US telco Verizon yesterday announced it had won a $678.5m, ten-year deal to tie together the many disparate networks within the vast US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "The Department of Homeland Security has entrusted Verizon Business to support its critical mission of protecting our country and its citizens," said …

    Data Networking 16 May 2008, 09:03

  • Government orders data retention by ISPs

    Keep it for 12 months for the plods

    Phone and internet companies will soon be forced to keep logs of internet usage to be made available to the police under a new law announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week. The law, the Communications Data Bill, will implement the remainder of the European Union's Data Retention Directive. Last October the …

    Government 16 May 2008, 09:10

  • 'Crazy rasberry ants' target Texan tech

    Electronics on the menu for rampaging nutter insects

    Texans in the Houston area are battling rampaging hordes of "voracious swarming ants" which have inexplicably developed a taste for electronic equipment, Chicago Tribune reports. The "crazy rasberry ants" - which apparently arrived aboard a cargo ship in the port of Houston back in 2002 - got their common name "because they …

    Biology 16 May 2008, 10:08

  • Aliph shrinks, polishes bone-conduction Bluetooth headset

    The new Jawbone

    Women love men with chiselled jawbones, so we’re told, but will the ladies still go for you if they know you’ve made it 50 per cent smaller? Well, if you’re talking about Bluetooth headsets, then the answer is probably yes. Aliph's new Jawbone is 50 per cent smaller In 2006, manufacturer Aliph introduced the original …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 10:27

  • Sharp claims record mobile fuel cell power density

    Shrink it a bit, and it'll replace laptop batteries

    Sharp has claimed the crown for the highest power density mobile fuel cell. It delivers enough power per cubic centimetre, it's said, to one day replace standard lithium-ion packs. This time it really will... Sharp's Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) has a power density of 0.3W per cubic centimetre. That's almost seven times …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 10:33

  • Yahoo! strikes back at Icahn

    Thanks but no thanks

    Roy Bostock, chairman of Yahoo!, has wasted no time in responding to Carl Icahn's attempt to seize control of the company's board. In an open letter Bostock disputes Icahn's claim that Yahoo!'s board has ignored its duties to maximise shareholder value. He also reminds Icahn that Microsoft has publicly said it has "moved on …

    Financial News 16 May 2008, 10:35

  • 'Difficult not to be pessimistic' says veteran IT distie

    Cash reinstalled as legitimate monarch

    Northamber admitted it is “difficult to be other than somewhat pessimistic in the near term” as it issued an interim management statement today. In the update for its third quarter ending March 31, the veteran distributor confirmed an earlier “slight improvement in trading”. But, it continued, gross margins continued to be …

    Channel Register 16 May 2008, 10:58

  • Number crunching knife crime and online ID verification

    Legislating in a data-light zone

    This afternoon (Friday 16 May}, Margaret Moran, MP for Luton South, will introduce the second reading of a Bill to make age and identity verification compulsory for all online retailers. It is, of course, all about knives – and porn and alcohol and anything else that teenagers are allegedly obtaining over the internet that …

    Law 16 May 2008, 10:58

  • Wii controller lawsuit costs Nintendo $21m

    Texas firms sues Nintendo, and wins!

    Nintendo has vowed to fight a court order demanding it pay $21m (£10.7m/€13.5m) to a US gaming company for patent infringements associated with controllers for the Wii and GameCube. Although specific details of the violation of Anascape's intellectual property rights haven’t been disclosed yet, the US court found that Nintendo …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 11:01

  • BOFH: The PFY's comeuppance

    Episode 18 He got a bit zap-happy

    Some things you just don't want to waste half a day doing. Like talking to the company's shrink about whether the PFY should be referred to the authorities or not... "Okay, so my name is Catherine, I'm just gathering some background on what occurred a couple of days ago and would like to ask you some questions about Stephen' …

    BOFH 16 May 2008, 11:02

  • Is Vista ready for Business?

    Reg Tech Panel Reboot, then tell us what you think

    Now that Windows Vista SP1 is here, you’ve got no more excuses to put off that upgrade, right? And if you have strayed in the past onto one of those ‘alternative’ (shiver) platforms such as Linux or OS X, you’ll of course be coming home to grab yourself a slice of that Wow! Maybe, maybe not, but given that Vista has been with …

    Tech Panel 16 May 2008, 11:12

  • HP begs AMD PC owners to put XP SP3 on ice

    Wait for sticky plaster patch

    Hewlett-Packard has told customers not to install Windows XP service pack three (SP3) on AMD-based desktops until Microsoft and HP cough fixes to the endless reboot snafu that has wreaked havoc on PCs. Microsoft confirmed yesterday that it was scurrying to patch the problem after hundreds of angry XP customers first grumbled …

    Operating Systems 16 May 2008, 11:47

  • Activist coders aim to deafen Phorm with white noise

    Updated Faking it for data pimps

    Coding activists have developed an application designed to confound Phorm's controversial behaviour-tracking software by simulating random web-browsing. The folks behind AntiPhormLite says this means actual browsing habits are buried in noise. The app, which is available free of charge, is designed to poison the anonymised …

    Telecoms 16 May 2008, 12:05

  • The Moderatrix: Exclusive boudoir snap

    You've been a naughty, naughty commenter...

    The commenters among you who've been foolish enough to cross swords with the Moderatrix know that she doesn't suffer fools gladly - and quite right too. However, in case you're wondering what happens to those who really don't know when to zip it, and persist in gobbing off when any sane person would have retreated like a …

    Bootnotes 16 May 2008, 12:09

  • Outback hack suspect denied bail

    Strewth he's deleted the system

    A former contractor allegedly knocked out government systems and deleted thousands of records in Australia's Northern Territories earlier this month. David Anthony McIntosh, 27, allegedly took out IT systems at the Northern Territories' Health Department, Royal Darwin Hospital, Berrimah Prison and Supreme Court on 5 May, …

    Enterprise Security 16 May 2008, 12:43

  • Pentax Optio V20 compact camera

    Review Sweet and simple?

    Chances are that many pics in your photo album are of family and friends. Little wonder then, that camera manufacturers are devoting a lot of time and energy in providing features designed to help us take even better people shots. The Pentax Optio V20 not only offers Face Detection technology but combines it with a Smile …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 12:49

  • LG and Samsung shake hands over LCDs

    Samsung and LG are going to buy each others' LCD panels. Samsung wants 37in displays, while LG needs 52in screens. Each will source said sizes from the other. The details of the deal have yet to be finalised, the two South Korean firms said. They'll have dotted Is and crossed Ts by the end of July, at which point they'll each …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 13:07

  • Thus spake the Moderatrix

    Your problems solved, the world set to rights

    Yesterday my esteemed colleague kindly offered the Reg readership a place to pour out your hearts, and so you copiously did, proving once and for all what a deeply sad distressed bunch you are. I invited you to gaze into the abyss, and it prompted some bewilderment as to the breakdown of the supposed acronym VOID... well, I …

    Bootnotes 16 May 2008, 13:09

  • Bill Gates unveils interactive wallpaper

    Predicts all walls will become touchscreens

    Wallpaper sales could soon begin sliding, because Bill Gates has forecast that touchscreens will feature on every vertical surface in every home in the future. The Microsoft billionaire made the prediction as he unveiled Touch Wall – a vertical take on the infamous Surface touch-sensitive ‘table’. Can't see the video? …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 13:15

  • What's the best compact camera?

    Q&A

    I'm interested in purchasing a slimish digital camera. As has been said, "there are many to chose from". So which is the best? I was getting quite excited about the Pentax Optio Z10 until I read the review, which goes for quite a few that I have read about, namely the Ricoh Caplio 7 and the Casio exv7sr, which all do a similar …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 13:26

  • Orange signs multi-nation iPhone distribution deal

    Jesus Phone coverage spreads

    France Telecom's Orange offshoot has formally joined the roster of cellcos that will offer Apple's iPhone in multiple territories. Orange, which has been selling the iPhone in France since November 2007, will "later this year" roll the handset out to customers in Austria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 14:02

  • Singapore Airlines docks with Apple

    A taste of the high-fi life

    If you’re a jet-setting business class flyer then you can now join the high-fi music crowd, because Singapore Airlines has launched an in-flight entertainment system supporting the iPod and iPhone. The in-seat entertainment system is based around a 15.4in LCD, fitted with a pair of noise-cancellation headphones and equipped …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 14:05

  • High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses

    Show us how you've spent our money

    The Information Commissioner has welcomed the High Court's decision to force MPs to publish their full expenses. The Court said the public had a right to know. "We have no doubt that the public interest is at stake. We are not here dealing with idle gossip, or public curiosity about what in truth are trivialities. The …

    Government 16 May 2008, 14:17

  • Xbox 360 'eaten' by alligator

    Beast of a box

    People have covered themselves and their possessions in animal skins since the dawn of time, but one gamer has taken things to another level by crafting an alligator-themed Xbox 360. Alligator Xbox 360: swamp thing? Gamer dfw monkie - somehow we’re guessing that’s not his real name - has published pictures of his creation …

    Reg Hardware 16 May 2008, 14:22

  • Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum

    Just bag up the whole lot for me, please

    US technology company Qualcomm has scooped all 17 chunks of UK-L-Band spectrum, auctioned over the last week, for a total of £8,334,000 - so you can expect MediaFLO announcements from UK operators any day now. The auction and started out with nine bidders competing for various combinations of the single 12.5MHz chunk and 16 …

    Mobile 16 May 2008, 14:31

  • OLPC's a con - former insider

    Departing software chief stings Negroponte

    The former security director of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit has blasted the project for losing sight of its goals, accusing chairman Nicholas Negroponte of deceiving the public. It's all about shipping kit, says Ivan Krstić in an incendiary essay. "I quit when Nicholas told me — and not just me — that learning was …

    PCs & Chips 16 May 2008, 14:38

  • OLPC and Microsoft punt Windows-only XO laptop

    Odd couple shack up

    Microsoft and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation have confirmed that the XO laptop will soon be available as Windows-loaded machines. They will be sold in five or six countries (Microsoft hasn’t said which ones) starting in June, with a broader release penciled in for August or September this year. The announcement …

    PCs & Chips 16 May 2008, 15:13

  • DNS gaffe leaves spy agency totally under cover

    Big website knickers round ankles

    The unavailability of the US National Security Agency website on Thursday has been linked to misconfigured DNS (Domain Name System) servers. Surfers were unable to reach NSA.gov from about 0700 on Thursday because systems used to translate web addresses humans understand to machine-readable IP addresses were playing up, …

    Data Networking 16 May 2008, 15:22

  • P2P soars, licensed music flatlines

    Today is a good day to die download

    Freeloading music is more habit-forming than paying for legal downloads, according to polling in the UK. Digital music consultancy MusicAlly and pollsters The Leading Question found that while 28 per cent of people surveyed have occasionally used P2P file-sharing - the same number as have bought licensed digital music online …

    Music and Media 16 May 2008, 15:36

  • Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops

    ROTM fever spreads to mujahideen press office

    In a strange twist of fate it has emerged that gutter hacks, writing for a well known publication offering tasty mechanically recovered news-like media product, have handed a stunning propaganda coup to jihadi terrorism. We're obviously very sorry*. The story began last month, when scribblers from Popular Mechanics, attending …

    Bootnotes 16 May 2008, 15:58

  • World economy group gives IPv6 big push

    Warns about depletion of IPv4 addresses

    The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sounded an alarm bell yesterday over the rapid depletion of IPv4 internet addresses and gave the IPv6 protocol another push. In the new report titled The Future of the Internet Economy, which has been published ahead of the group’s ministerial meeting in Seoul …

    Data Networking 16 May 2008, 16:09

  • AMD cries foul over Intel's 'river of cash' flowing to Dell

    AMD vs Intel Shows Intel Chairman begging for forgiveness

    It's document season in the ongoing anti-trust lawsuit between AMD and Intel. Last week, the companies fought over witness testimony and earlier this week a judge told Intel to fork over some documents related to interviews done as the company tried to deal with its deletion of e-mails possibly related to the case at hand. Now, …

    Law 16 May 2008, 17:08

  • SANS sounds alarm on Debian OpenSSL flaw

    Lockpicking script prompts alarm

    The SANS Institute yesterday took the highly unusual step of issuing a yellow alert over a vulnerability in the cryptographic functions of Debian, the Linux distro that underpins Ubuntu. Earlier this week Debian warned that the use of a cryptographically flawed pseudo random number generator in its implementation of OpenSSL …

    Enterprise Security 16 May 2008, 18:33

  • W3C 'clarifies' HTML 5 v XHTML

    Vendors moving too fast on RIA

    Potential conflicts and overlap between the first update to HTML in a decade by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and XHTML has been addressed by the standards body. The group, meanwhile, has also acknowledged vendors are - once again - pushing their own platform-specific technologies, this time on RIA, with the standards …

    Applications 16 May 2008, 20:02

  • US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes

    'Talk to us first'

    After telling the world it will soon pimp customer data to NebuAd - a behavioral ad targeting firm along the lines of Phorm and Front Porch - Charter Communications has received a letter from Congress questioning the legality of such pimping. As we reported yesterday, Charter - America's eighth largest ISP - plans to test …

    Telecoms 16 May 2008, 20:48

  • 'Secure' PayPal page is... you guessed it

    Extended SSL no match for the power of XSS

    A serious scripting error has been discovered on PayPal that could enable attackers to create convincing spoof pages that steal users' authentication credentials.. The cross-site scripting bug is made all the more critical because it resides on a page that uses an extended validation secure sockets layer certificate. The new- …

    Security 16 May 2008, 20:57