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16th June 2008 Archive

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  • Eclipse projects squeeze into record Summer fun pack

    Refined but bloated

    The Eclipse Foundation's annual code blitz - this year under the name Ganymede - kicks off at the end of this month with 24 Eclipse projects co-ordinating their new releases. Now in its third year, this annual big push keeps getting bigger. Ganymede is Eclipse's largest co-ordinate release of updated projects to-date, beating …

    Developer 16 Jun 2008, 05:02

  • Discovery glides home safely

    Next shuttle mission: Hubble

    Space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth on Saturday, touching down at 15:15 GMT at the Kennedy Space Center at the end of a successful 14-day jaunt to the International Space Station. Mission STS-124 saw delivery and installation of the Pressurized Module of Japan's Kibo laboratory during three spacewalks which also saw …

    Science 16 Jun 2008, 08:47

  • NY street-cleaning truck swallows dog

    Bronx mutt-suck fatality

    New York dog owner Robert Machin has described himself as "devastated" after a street cleaning truck made short work of one of his two Boston terriers, sucking the unfortunate mutt into its rotating brush mechanism, the New York Daily News reports. Machin had been walking Buster and Ginger on Thursday when tragedy struck. He'd …

    Bootnotes 16 Jun 2008, 09:09

  • Californian boffins find Elixir of Eternal Youth

    For mice only. Catherine Zeta Jones not involved

    Mouse-molesting boffins in California have used biochemical signals to rejuvenate elderly, knackered bodily tissues in a fashion normally only achievable by youngsters. However, the scientists insist that they have not yet achieved an immortality drug, and if they had it would only be for mice. "We're not at a point where we' …

    Science 16 Jun 2008, 09:56

  • RM relaunches Eee PC 900 as miniBook

    Education price: £285

    UK education computing specialist RM - the firm formerly known as Research Machines - has announced its version of the Asus Eee PC 900. It'll sell the machine to schools for a mere £285 for the Windows XP model. Dubbed the miniBook, the RM machine matches the spec of the Asus-sold model exactly: 8.9in, 1024 x 600 display; …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 09:58

  • Day dawns for Pentagon hacker Lords appeal

    Last chance saloon

    It's D-Day for accused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon. Five law Lords are due to consider his appeal against extradition to the US in a hearing due to commence at 1100 BST on Monday. Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Master of the Rolls and third most senior judge in the UK, along with four other law Lords will hear arguments …

    Law 16 Jun 2008, 10:00

  • Red Hat promises delayed JBoss 'worth the wait'

    Refactored and ready for Oracle

    Red Hat has committed to delivering the delayed next edition of JBoss in the "next several" quarters, promising the wait will be worth it. JBoss Application Server 5.0, once expected at the start of 2008, will feature a micro kernel and container, support for OSGi, and REST. Support for Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 5.0 …

    Applications 16 Jun 2008, 10:02

  • Stunned commuter finds more secret papers on train

    War against terrorism lost at Waterloo

    Whitehall was left combing its season ticket loan records this weekend as another set of top secret papers did the rounds of the 5.45pm from Waterloo. Just days after a Cabinet Office worker left a stack of top secret anti-terrorist papers – including an analysis of Al Qaeda - on a train to Surrey, it emerged that a second set …

    Government 16 Jun 2008, 10:06

  • House of Lords hits YouTube

    Old farts get down with the kids

    The House of Lords has released a series of short films on YouTube to explain its work. The five films, released on 13 June 2008, aim to improve understanding of the upper chamber. The first, House of Lords: What's it all about?, is a four-minute film, in which members of the public appear in black and white – some expressing …

    Government 16 Jun 2008, 10:25

  • Cambridge woman in £90m 'leccy bill shocker

    Npower juice times n to the power of ahem

    A Cambridge woman got a bit of a shock on Saturday morning when a bill from 'leccy outfit Npower landed on her doormat demanding an impressive £90,454,217, the Cambridge News reports. Alison Turner, 50, was surprised not only by the colossal total for juice, but also because she's on a pre-pay meter. She recounted: "I shouldn' …

    Bootnotes 16 Jun 2008, 10:25

  • Intel roadmaps 3.2GHz desktop 'Nehalem' CPUs

    Phenom-fighters?

    Intel will introduce a trio of desktop processors based on its next-gen 'Nehalem' architecture in Q4, the latest whispers from Asian motherboard-maker moles allege. Inside Intel's Nehalem The fourth quarter will see the introduction of a pair of mainstream desktop quad-core parts and a single Extreme chip, aimed at gamers …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 10:29

  • Sony designing break-apart PS3 controller?

    A tale of two controllers

    Have you ever broken your console’s controller into two because you were shot by virtual snipers just before completing a gruelling videogame? If so, Sony may have the answer: it’s rumoured that the electronics giant’s set to unveil a two section controller for the PlayStation 3. According to a report by Gamesindustry.biz, …

    Games 16 Jun 2008, 10:34

  • Reding would OK charges to receive mobile calls

    Double bubble for squeaking operators

    EU commissioner Viviane Reding would let mobile operators charge subscribers to receive calls as part of her effort to overhaul the European telecoms sector. Reding told the FT that she was prepared to countenance a shift to a US-style pricing regime as the cost of pushing down termination charges, which she says distort the …

    Mobile 16 Jun 2008, 10:44

  • Software houses must declare patents in standard-setting process: Commission

    Stealth tech-forcing not kosher

    Software companies involved in setting technical standards should be forced to declare their intellectual property in the area and fix maximum fees for the standard's use of it before the standard is set, according to the European Commission. Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told a Brussels forum that companies involved …

    Software 16 Jun 2008, 10:46

  • Motion-sensing gaming phone pics surface

    Sony Ericsson's F305 uncovered

    A picture has emerged of an upcoming phone from Sony Ericsson, which is quickly becoming dubbed a gaming handset because of the talker’s integrated accelerometer. Sony Ericsson's F305: a motion-sensing gaming phone. Image courtesy of the Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog The image sprung-up in a report on the Unofficial Sony …

    Phones 16 Jun 2008, 10:47

  • Business failures to rocket as growth nosedives

    Tech sector to the rescue?

    UK economic growth will soon slow to its lowest level since 1992, while a drop in consumer confidence combined with a hike in costs could signal a near 20 per cent rise in businesses going bust, two new reports have warned. Employers’ group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and leading accountant BDO Stoy Hayward …

    Small Biz 16 Jun 2008, 11:00

  • 80% want legal P2P - survey

    Physical music surprisingly perky, BMR finds

    A fascinating survey of music consumption conducted for British Music Rights has good and bad news for the beleaguered music business. The bad news: online file sharing is more prevalent than other surveys suggest. The good news: a lot of people are willing to pay for a service that offers legal, licensed P2P file sharing. Half …

    Media 16 Jun 2008, 11:56

  • Microsoft ga ga over Goo-Hoo! deal

    Software giant campaigns against Google-Yahoo! tie-up

    Microsoft kicked off a campaign on Friday against the advertising collaboration deal struck between Google and Yahoo!, Reuters reports. Quoting two sources familiar with the matter, the news agency said that just one day after Google agreed to sell ads on Yahoo!’s website Microsoft contacted Washington-based advocacy groups …

    Financial News 16 Jun 2008, 11:59

  • 'Humvee of the Skies' robot air-car design unveiled

    With marketing soundbites from Lead Balloon™

    A company in Colorado says it will build a miraculous flying robot Humvee, able to hover in midair or zoom along at up to 450 mph. The "Hummer of the Sky™" could be used to resupply US troops with ammo, food etc during battles - or, naturally, it could be tooled up with an array of deadly weaponry and join in itself. The V- …

    Science 16 Jun 2008, 12:01

  • SanDisk Sansa Fuze

    Review Small but perfectly formed

    Even though SanDisk tells us the future of MP3 players is devoid of built-in storage...the future isn't here yet. The new Fuze player slots into the Sansa range and comes with either 2, 4 or 8GB of internal memory. Measuring 78 x 48 x 8mm and weighing really not much at all - the spec sheet doesn't actually give a weight, and …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 12:09

  • Glastonbury Festival forecast: very windy, hopes Orange

    Giant turbine to power revellers' phones

    Orange is expanding its methods for eco-friendly phone power with the trial of a wind-powered recharge tent at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. Orange's Recharge Pod uses wind power to juice-up 100 phones each hour Last year, Orange launched a small tent-top turbine onto the mudflats of Glastonbury. This year the cellco …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 12:24

  • Quantum crypto targeted in attack of the clones

    Holy Grail of security further tarnished

    Japanese researchers have put another dent in Quantum cryptograpy's reputation as the final word in secure communications. Transmissions sent using the technique are protected from eavesdroppers by the fundamental rules of quantum physics, at least in theory. In practice, implementation weaknesses can leave a narrow door for …

    Security 16 Jun 2008, 12:29

  • Nvidia launches GTX 200 series GPUs

    Massive chip for high-end gaming rigs

    Nvidia today rolled out its next-generation 200-series GPUs, the GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280. The series name is at last a concession to the bewildering naming scheme Nvidia has played with in the vast array of GeForce graphics chips. That is — starting now. Customers will still wade through the convoluted model numbers with …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 12:35

  • Blu-ray ramp beats DVD up-take in Europe

    But not for much longer?

    More Western Europeans own Blu-ray Disc players in the format's third year of availability than owned DVD players at the same stage in that technology's development. So said market watcher and Blu-ray advocate Jim Bottoms of research company Futuresource today. "2008 represents year three for BD and we anticipate more than …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 13:05

  • Leaked BlackBerry clamshell pics kickstart rumours

    First clamshell from RIM

    More images of the first clamshell BlackBerry have been unfolded online, showing the phone from almost every direction – including the inside. RIM's BlackBerry Kickstart is the first clamshell from the brand An image of the device – which is thought to be codenamed 'Kickstart' – has already been appeared in public. But the …

    Phones 16 Jun 2008, 13:06

  • Koreans develop smelly, blushing penguin-droid

    Bot-chuff bot has interface that gets into your face

    Government boffins in Korea have perfected a cutting-edge robot which is able to give off smells as part of a panoply of human-style interaction technologies. Apparently the aroma interface kit is now ready for commercialisation. The revelations come courtesy of the Korea Times, which reported on "Pomi" (Penguin rObot for …

    Science 16 Jun 2008, 13:43

  • Motorola slashes R&D lab by half

    Sensible response to lack of innovation?

    Motorola Labs is to shrink by half as the company struggles to cut costs by laying off 150 researchers and transferring 180 to elsewhere within the company. The cuts will be around the world and will leave only about 300 staff in Motorola Labs, most of whom are involved in long-term research which can't be so easily cancelled …

    Mobile 16 Jun 2008, 14:06

  • T-Mobile points to cut-price PAYG 3G iPhone

    Only €1 on contract

    T-Mobile is to offer Germans Apple's 3G iPhone for just €1 ($1.54/£0.79) - provided they sign up for a new €69-a-month contract. The deal centres on the 8GB iPhone, Reuters reports, but we're more interested in the package that will retail for €169.95. That's the equivalent of $262 - rather more than the $199 (€129), Apple CEO …

    Phones 16 Jun 2008, 14:20

  • The iPhone - yours for €1

    But you'll have to speak German

    Germany's T-Mobile is to sell Apple's new 3G iPhone for as little as €1. The normal price for the 8 gigabyte version of the 3G iPhone is €169.95, depending on the rate plan. T-Mobile is only offering the €1 iPhone with a monthly subscription of €59.95. The 16GB version will be priced from €19.95 to €249.95. In the past Apple …

    Mobile 16 Jun 2008, 14:49

  • Davis faces North Korean victory margin in civil liberty vote

    Ex-Sun boss bows out of 42 days by-election

    David Davis’ one man campaign to halt the UK’s drift into Big Brotherdom took a dive today as it emerged that the biggest brother of them all will not now campaign against him in a by-election. Former Sun editor Kelvin is not expected to stand in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election which Davis triggered in protest at the …

    Government 16 Jun 2008, 15:17

  • Samsung unveils eco handset duo

    Bio-plastic casings and battery power alarms

    Samsung is on a mission to keep our planet clean, and it’s starting at base-camp by launching two mobile phones that it claims are more environmentally friendly than the average handset. Samsungs eco-friendly phones: the W510 (left) and F268 The W510 could be a tree-hugger’s phone of choice, seeing as though the device is …

    Phones 16 Jun 2008, 15:22

  • JVC punts dual-format camcorders

    World's first capable of AVCHD and MPEG 2

    JVC has unveiled three new HD camcorders, two of which the company claims are the world’s first camcorders capable of recording in both AVCHD and MPEG 2 formats. JVC's GZ-HD30 (above) and GZ-HD40 use both AVCHD and MPEG-2 compression The GZ-HD30 and GZ-HD40 dual-format camcorders can both compress video into AVCHD, which …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 15:32

  • HP dishes 24 hour party people blade

    NonStop takes on modern touch

    When HP talks about "blade everything", it means freaking everything. The hardware maker has pumped out a blade server running its NonStop operating system and software of all things. The NonStop NB50000c BladeSystem will fail to shock loyal HP customers. We spotted the server on HP roadmaps almost a year ago. HP has been …

    Servers 16 Jun 2008, 15:36

  • Dog collared with Cat-5 cable

    Woof

    If you're a geek with a penchant for pets of the canine kind, here's the accessory for you: a dog lead made out of Cat-5 cable. Perhaps this could be the new stand-out feature for techies' mutts - computer buff's answer to the crusty's piece of string? The Cat-5 dog lead According to the item's creator, the lead is "1.3m …

    Hardware 16 Jun 2008, 15:49

  • Spinal Tap's Tufnel gets new Honda hydrogen car

    Presumably it goes up to 11

    Japanese motor mammoth Honda has announced "production commencement" for its new hydrogen fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity. The second one off the line will go to noted film femme and children's authoress Jamie Lee Curtis - and her much more famous husband Christopher Guest. “Our customers are true pioneers and leaders in the …

    Science 16 Jun 2008, 15:59

  • Pentagon hacker vows to take extradition fight to Europe

    McKinnon begins nail-biting Lords wait amid claims of US threats

    Gary McKinnon's legal team said they will take their fight against his extradition all the way to the European Court of Human Rights on Monday, as the highest court in England began deliberations on whether to turn him over to US authorities. The London hacker now faces an anxious wait for the judgment on his latest appeal, …

    Law 16 Jun 2008, 17:54

  • Nvidia blows out Moore’s Law with fresh Tesla

    Insane horsepower for the HPC geek on the go

    Nvidia pitches its Tesla hardware as a magical solution for the world’s toughest computing problems. Just move your code that runs well across many processors over to the Tesla boards, and Shazam!. You enjoy sometimes 400 per cent improvements in overall performance. Despite such mind-blowing increases in horsepower, Tesla …

    Servers 16 Jun 2008, 18:11

  • AT&T brainstorms Time Warner-like bandwidth cap

    'It's inevitable'

    Like Time Warner Cable and Comcast, AT&T is mulling overage charges for American bandwidth lovers. "Given the usage trends we're seeing, a form of usage-based pricing for those customers who have abnormally high usage patterns is inevitable," says company spokesman Michael Coe. "Usage based pricing is one way to deal fairly …

    Broadband 16 Jun 2008, 19:08

  • Outsiders get a crack at eBay's Selling Manager

    'Lucrative integration'

    eBay is throwing open its Selling Manager tool to external developers building high-volume businesses based on its online platform. The company has announced Project Echo, which it promised would provide the same level of access to features and functionality in Selling Manager as enjoyed by applications currently developed by …

    Developer 16 Jun 2008, 20:32

  • Dell thinks small with 2.5-inch SAS storage sidecar

    Wee SAS for your DAS

    Far less glamorous then bleeding edge solid state drives, small form-factor SAS disks are, all the same, making tracks in corporate storage systems. That is — the disk vendors are making most of the promises at this point. Not a lot of big names in the storage game are offering 2.5-inch SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) arrays right …

    Storage 16 Jun 2008, 21:11

  • Malware not man blamed in child abuse download case

    Replacement PC was 'ticking time bomb'

    A Department of Industrial Accidents investigator has been cleared of child porn possession charges after a forensic investigation revealed that malware was to blame for depraved smut on his company laptop. Michael Fiola, 53, of Rhode Island, went through a massive ordeal after images of child abuse were discovered on a …

    Security 16 Jun 2008, 21:36

  • Info on missing White House emails to remain missing

    The Agency Conundrum

    A federal district court judge in Washington D.C. just dealt a setback to an organization looking for answers about missing White House emails. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) after determining that the target of …

    Government 16 Jun 2008, 22:18

  • Intel quad-core Xeon server virtualization score booted by VMware

    Opteron box now top of the VMmark heap

    AMD's quad-core Opteron chip has silently topped Intel's similarly endowed Xeon processor as the leader of VMware's server virtualization performance benchmark. The usurping, however, isn't a result of a new system or chip. The Intel-based system that was formally king of the VMmark 16-core server scores has been disqualified …

    Virtualization 16 Jun 2008, 23:56