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11th June 2008 Archive

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  • Yahoo! shareholders call for Icahn preemption

    Another kick to Yang's fiduciaries

    Carl Icahn wants to replace Yahoo!'s board of directors so he can vaporize its employee retention plan and sell the company to Microsoft. But some litigious Yahoo! shareholders think he's got it slightly wrong. In their ongoing lawsuit against Jerry Yang and company, two share-holding Detroit pension funds have argued that …

    Law 11 Jun 2008, 01:07

  • Hacker cops to $70k botnet rampage

    'I'll take 2 years in the clink'

    A 21-year-old American has admitted to using a potent botarmy to wage a relentless campaign of destruction on two volunteer websites as part of a scheme to punish the operators for behavior he thought was unfair. Gregory C. King, of Fairfield, California, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of transmitting code to …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 01:11

  • Blue Whale pushes email for free

    Only it's really pulling, obviously

    Blue Whale Systems is providing a push email client for a variety of phone handsets, and plans to pay for it by putting a banner at the top of the screen. Last year Chiswick-based Blue Whale started developing Java and native (Symbian) clients for its service, and these are now available to download. The premise is pushed …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2008, 07:02

  • Government backs Ofcom against EU regulator plan

    No to EU overlord regulator

    The UK government is banding together with France and Germany to reiterate its opposition to the idea of an EU-wide regulator, so beloved of communications commissioner Viviane Reding. The details come in a written statement from Baroness Vadera, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Competitiveness, who …

    Networks 11 Jun 2008, 07:02

  • Security breach at Belgacom exposed

    Protest against download limits

    Belgacom, the largest Belgian ISP, admitted today that 2,000 of its ADSL accounts were compromised earlier this year. The company discovered details of its subscribers posted on a webpage by hackers who weren’t happy with download limits on broadband internet connections. In Belgium, about 90 per cent of residential ISP …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 08:54

  • ASA slaps down Vodafone 'unlimited' data claims

    Plus ça change

    Vodafone has today been ordered to withdraw an advert for one of its data packages which falsely implied customers could get unlimited mobile web access. The ad copy bellowed: "Any website, any time. £7.50 a month. Make the most of now." The small print whispered that a usage limit of 120MB per month applies. Vodafone argued …

    Broadband 11 Jun 2008, 08:57

  • Google supports US privacy law

    If it stops stronger laws anyway

    Google, under fire recently for not being open enough about its own privacy policies, supports a wide-ranging federal bill protecting privacy. The search giant believes federal action on the issue would reassure consumers. In a letter to Congressman Joe Barton Google's chief lobbyist Alan Davidson said: "Google supports the …

    Law 11 Jun 2008, 08:58

  • Navy sonar dolphin 'massacre' - the facts

    Analysis Fishermen (and media bottom feeders) a bigger threat?

    For the last twenty-four hours or so the news has been full of beached dolphins, following incidents since Monday near Falmouth in which more than 70 of the marine mammals got into trouble and reportedly up to 30 have died. Various theories have been advanced for the mass stranding, the largest seen in Britain for a quarter- …

    Science 11 Jun 2008, 09:04

  • Market watcher warns of 'Nehalem' slippage

    Customer expectations high, Intel told

    Intel's next-gen processor architecture, 'Nehalem', is running behind schedule - or will be seen as such when the first of the chips ship - a US market analyst has claimed. According to American Technology Research's Doug Freedman, "Intel's Nehalem server parts will initially launch in single-socket only". That, he told …

    Servers 11 Jun 2008, 09:36

  • Microsoft's own chip design blamed for Xbox 360 RRoD

    Should have gone to a specialist

    The Xbox 360's infamous Red Ring of Death problem was the price Microsoft paid for attempting to save money by designing its own graphics chip for the console rather than buy one off a specialist supplier, it has been claimed. Speaking at a chip conference in California, Gartner chief analyst Bryan Lewis said the software …

    Games 11 Jun 2008, 10:24

  • Apple takes the operator's shilling

    You are no longer the customer

    Apple's new iPhone is faster, better and cheaper than its predecessor, but the low cost is achieved by taking a subsidy from the network operator: a business model that Apple rejected last time, and one that will drive the unlockers quickly out of business. Most mobile phones are sold to operators and retailers - Nokia's …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2008, 10:32

  • Cotton Traders mauled by hackers

    Update Rugby apparel website rucked

    Cotton Traders has become the latest firm to spill sensitive customer account details. The retailer confirmed on Tuesday that payment details were exposed following an attack on its website earlier this year. Around 38,000 customers were affected by the breach, the BBC reports. Cotton Traders claims this figure is "widely …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 10:35

  • Radio's click-to-buy music service goes titsup

    Another DAB failure

    More grim news for the music business, as another potential digital retail channel withers. Radio group Unique will close down its instant music purchasing initiative, blaming the slow take up of DAB for the decision, the FT reports today. UBC Media described Cliq as its "biggest single project" - and it's been touted as the …

    Media 11 Jun 2008, 10:37

  • Red Hat shoots down brace of patent disputes

    But still fighting third lawsuit

    Red Hat Inc today settled two patent lawsuits that the Linux software firm had been contesting. It said that patent claims by Firestar Software Inc, filed in 2006, and DataTern Inc, filed earlier this year, have now been settled. The financial terms of both deals were kept secret. However, the company remains embroiled in a …

    Operating Systems 11 Jun 2008, 10:56

  • Silver Final Fantasy PSP coming to UK

    Sony will release its latest limited edition PlayStation Portable next week: a silver model styled to tie in with the Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII game it comes bundled with. Sony's silver PSP Does it look familiar? It should - it's the PSP Sony released as a limited edition model in Japan back in September 2007 to …

    Games 11 Jun 2008, 10:58

  • Visual Studio goodies right here

    Site offer Get 'em at Register Books

    Microsoft has just released the first online learning courses covering the new Visual Studio 08 technologies, and we are offering these to you with a 20 per cent discount off the RRP* for a limited time only. Written and produced by Microsoft’s own product developers, these courses are ideal for anyone who wants to get started …

    Site News 11 Jun 2008, 11:02

  • MPs call Qinetiq sellout execs 'profiteers' - no, really?

    Comment Cutlasses, parrots retrospectively seen as clues

    Another government oversight body has just revisited the case of the QinetiQ sell-off, in which a group of business executives mounted an astonishing ten-year corporate raid on the British defence ministry. This is not, however, a commendable bit of vigilance on our behalf; it's politicians seeking limelight by attacking a safe …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 11:02

  • Fraudsters pool data to beat plastic fraud checks

    Post code lottery fix

    Credit card conmen have developed a technique for making fraudulent purchases in the UK appear more legitimate. The approach relies on subverting the address verification system (AVS), one of the main components used to verify card purchases. Address verification, along with the card security code number printed on the back of …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 11:07

  • SanDisk forecasts memory-less MP3 player future

    At a presentation in London SanDisk Director of Product Marketing Jan Hauer announced that very soon MP3 players will come with... no memory at all. But they will have Ogg and Flac support. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? After all, SanDisk is the only music player maker that also sells removable media. Mandy Rice-Davis …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2008, 11:16

  • OpenOffice update completes bumper patch crop

    Integer overflow angst

    It never rains but it pours. Alongside a slew of Microsoft and Apple updates issued on Tuesday hard-pressed users and security admins also need to apply an important security fix from OpenOffice. An integer overflow flaw in a memory function in OpenOffice creates a possible mechanism for hackers to inject hostile code onto …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 11:39

  • Qinetiq rolls out 'third party' SDK for killer robot lines

    Droid-legion hax0r warlords should get in on the beta

    Killer robots are a bit like iPhones - tons of hype, but not that many units actually sold. Many people reckon that this is because these amazing, potentially multifunction devices' potential is not fully exploited. And that, of course, is because of the lack of a robust developer community. At last, hardware that could run a …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 11:43

  • Interstate web host foils gonzo porn baron Max Hardcore

    California obscenity, Florida conviction

    A federal jury in Tampa, Florida convicted a pioneer of gross-out "gonzo" porn last week on obscenity charges stemming from the delivery of his movies over the Internet, despite the fact that he lives and works entirely in California. Paul Little creates porn in Altadena under the names of "Max Hardcore" and "Max Steiner." …

    Law 11 Jun 2008, 12:02

  • Dissolving the plastic bag problem

    Anton The Phage Factor

    By rights the world and its dog should now know the name Daniel Burd. For Daniel Burd has an eco-friendly solution for disposing of the plastic bag menace. About half a trillion plastic bags are produced globally each year, but they take up to 1000 years to decompose. In the meantime they can migrate to the oceans and be …

    Science 11 Jun 2008, 12:02

  • Motorola Z10 'kick slider' media phone

    Review Media monster mobile Mk II

    It's take two for Motorola's kick slider concept. With the Z10, the phone maker has refined the back-bending sliderphone quirkiness of last year’s Z8 with an upgraded features list and a more sober design. The Z10 is geared up with high-speed HSDPA 3G data connectivity; a 3.2-megapixel camera with enhanced imaging and video …

    Phones 11 Jun 2008, 12:26

  • Toshiba readies 'highest capacity' 1.8in SATA hard drive

    Only 8mm thick

    Toshiba will put what it claims is the world's first 1.8in, SATA-connected 160GB hard drive into mass production in August. The 8mm-thick HDD is accompanied by an 80GB version that's just 2g lighter than the 62g higher-capacity model. Both drives spin at 5400rpm, up from th 4200rpm Toshiba's current top-of-the-line 1.8in …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2008, 12:42

  • Ofcom swoops on caller ID-faking firm with... request for information

    Your regulator: On top of the issues that matter

    Ofcom said today it has responded to the launch of a new service enabling scammers to spoof their caller ID by, erm, writing a letter to the firm responsible. Yesterday we reported on how members of parliament have asked regulators to examine Spookcall, a new company that has brought the US practice of caller ID-spoofing to …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 12:44

  • Windows Server 2008 cuts power costs, claims Microsoft

    Compared to Windows Server 2003 that is

    Microsoft spat out a white paper earlier this week in which it claimed that its Windows Server 2008 product cuts power consumption by about 10 per cent. It’s no surprise to see Redmond leaping at the opportunity to proclaim that its new software can help cut customer’s increasingly hefty 'leccy bills. But how did it draw those …

    Servers 11 Jun 2008, 12:58

  • T-Mobile calls it a day for WAP

    No more circuit-switched data tariffs

    UK operator T-Mobile is disconnecting its CSD-WAP subscribers from July 9th, suggesting customers might like to switch to GPRS or something a little more 21st century, and disposing of pay-per-minute internet access. Circuit Switched Data (CSD) was how mobile phones accessed data services in the early days, or at least the …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2008, 13:06

  • NHS standardisation failed, says London CIO

    'Pragmatic, rather than dogmatic'

    London's programme for IT has succeeded by dumping the National Programme for IT's standardised model, according to the chief information officer for the capital's health service. "Without a doubt, we haven't delivered the systems envisaged in 2002," said Kevin Jarrold, chief information officer of NHS London, told the Smart …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 13:43

  • Mobile fingerprinting heads to another 10 police forces

    NPIA raises the blue Lantern

    The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has announced a further roll out of mobile fingerprinting devices. It has provided 100 devices to a further 10 police forces this month as part of the Lantern project. Lantern was initially rolled out to 10 forces last year. The new forces using Lantern are: City of London …

    Law 11 Jun 2008, 14:33

  • Northrop scoops DARPA mindreader-helmet threat visor cash

    Electrode-hat paranoia specs will detect subversives

    American armaments goliath Northrop Grumman announced another huge technology coup this week. The company has won a Pentagon contract to develop a mindreading hat which will allow US soldiers to identify threats with unparalleled range and speed. The military requirement was actually called Cognitive Technology Threat Warning …

    Science 11 Jun 2008, 14:35

  • UK watchdog barks at MPs' expenses

    Electoral system not too clever either

    The UK's political sleaze watchdog said yesterday that Britain's electoral system is in dire need of fixing and questioned whether MPs were really the best people to carry out an independent review of their own expenses. The Committee on Standards in Public Life's annual report said it was impressed that MPs had decided to …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 15:06

  • Google adds Firefox 3 support to Gears

    Transmission revamp

    Google Gears now works in Mozilla’s upcoming Firefox 3 web browser. The company hasn’t made an official announcement as yet but the Gears code site lists Firefox 3 support for release candidate two. A Google spokesman also confirmed it to El Reg today. Originally dubbed Google Gears, the online apps project had its moniker …

    Applications 11 Jun 2008, 15:29

  • Canadian spectrum auction brings in the bacon

    Up to $3.4bn and rising

    The Canadian spectrum auction has hit twice its estimate of $1.5bn (£700m), and the bidding is raging on as newcomers and incumbents vie for control of the airwaves. The auction has been running since May 27, and includes 105MHz of spectrum in two 45MHz chunks starting at 1710MHz and 2110MHz as well as some odds and ends …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2008, 16:15

  • Fujitsu gives Solaris x86 the big squeeze

    HP now the lone OS holdout

    Sun Microsystems has firmed up Fujitsu as a Solaris reseller on x86 boxes, which leaves us wondering when HP will break and join the rest of the crowd. Sun this week announced the deal with Fujitsu Siemens, which will see Solaris offered as an option on some Xeon-based Primergy servers. Fujitsu joins other Tier 1 server …

    Servers 11 Jun 2008, 17:17

  • IBM's Power6 slaughters world+HP in transaction cranking

    5.0GHz and $17m run to glory

    When IBM started rolling out 5.0GHz versions of Power6, you knew it was only a matter of time before the vendor tried to usurp HP as the transaction performance king. And now it has done it. IBM this week cleared a new TPC-C score that certifies its Power 595 server as the big daddy of transactions. Running on 32 of the dual- …

    Servers 11 Jun 2008, 18:15

  • Rubbermaid bot master sentenced to 41 months

    Adware meltdown

    A US-based hacker has been sentenced to 41 months in jail for breaking into corporate computers in Europe and making them part of a money-generating botnet. Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, of Panama City, Florida, was also ordered to perform three years of supervised release once his prison time is over and to pay $65,000 in …

    Security 11 Jun 2008, 18:30

  • Symantec pays $123m for consumer online storage house

    Symantec Vision '08 SwapDrive swaps owners

    Symantec has stealthily purchased the online storage firm SwapDrive, slipping a reported $123m into the startup's pocket to flesh-out the consumer side of Symantec's web services. Both companies have been pretty quiet about the deal — but an insider source to TechCrunch cites the noteworthy figure Symantec was willing to pay …

    Storage 11 Jun 2008, 19:30

  • Red Hat cancels one-click world domination effort

    Now banking on enthusiasm

    We called Red Hat on Monday to address speculation that its RHX (Red Hat Exchange) program was about to go tits-up. Red Hat responded to the concerns today with a blog post. Tits-up? Puhlease! - goes the blog post. The Red Hat Exchange is alive and well, only in a modified form. Gone are Red Hat's hopes and dreams of attaching …

    Servers 11 Jun 2008, 20:46

  • US appeals judge shares porn stash with world +dog

    Maverick libertarian presiding over obscenity trial

    Seven years ago, Alex Kozinski, one of the highest-ranking federal judges in the US, helped lead a successful insurrection after discovering court administrators had installed web filters that prevented jurists from accessing pornography. Now we know why. The chief judge of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has been caught …

    Law 11 Jun 2008, 21:33

  • Windows Vista has been battered, says Wall Street fan

    Solution: give them more Windows Vista!

    A leading Wall Street cheerleader for Windows Vista has taken the gloss off a new Microsoft website encouraging customers to give Windows Vista a go. Bernstein Research analyst Charles DiBona says a year of negative publicity combined with the ability for users to downgrade to Windows XP means that "almost no feature of the …

    Operating Systems 11 Jun 2008, 22:01

  • Congressmen say Chinese hacked their PCs

    Dissident locations, other sensitive data intercepted

    Lawmakes are urging everyone on Capitol Hill to have their computers checked for malware after discovering that people working from inside China hacked into multiple congressional machines and accessed locations of Chinese dissidents and other sensitive data. Virginia Representative Frank Wolf said four of his PCs were …

    Government 11 Jun 2008, 23:19

  • Apple chucks PA Semi at Jesus Phone

    'We will build our own mega-chips'

    Steve Jobs has admitted that Apple will design its very own super-chips for both the iPhone and the iPod. Earlier this week, after his keynote speech at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, Jobs slipped a few extra words to The New York Times, and at one point - while describing his grand plan to reinvent …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2008, 23:21