27th June 2008 Archive

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In-flight device maker sues everyone seeking flash memory bonanza

LG, Casio, Nikon, Samsung and Sanyo whacked

Struggling in-flight entertainment house e.Digital is challenging some of the world's biggest gadget companies with claims that it owns vital patents for using removable flash memory in portable devices. It's targeting brands such as Casio, LG Electronics, Olympus, Samsung and Sanyo in a legal scrap filed last March. But e. …

Law 27 Jun 2008, 00:05
Yahoo! deckchair! shuffle! filled! with! insight! and! clouds!

Microsoft shame unit tabled for now

Trying to become less of an organizational disaster, Yahoo! has shuffled around some executives and even formed a cloud computing division. "Take that, activist shareholders, we've got everything under control." The people who brought you the botched Microsoft acquisition bid remain in charge. So, that's chief Yahoo! Jerry …

Financial News 27 Jun 2008, 01:15
easyJet warns 'several websites' to stop selling its flights

Screen scraping the budget airline barrel

easyJet has confirmed that Expedia is not the only online travel firm to have felt the airline’s wrath – it has also fired off letters to several other UK websites warning them to stop selling its flights. As we revealed earlier this week, the budget airline company wrote to Expedia.co.uk telling it to stop punting easyJet …

Law 27 Jun 2008, 07:02
Available to buy: your own frakkin' 7ft Cylon

Oh, for the love of Gods

If you're a really, really big fan of the recent reinterpretation of Battlestar Galactica and have $8000 not doing anything, you could invest in your very own 7ft-tall Cylon Centurion. According to Sideshow Collectibles, each one is hand-built by a gentleman called Fred Barton of Fred Barton Productions, Los Angeles. And it's …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 08:03
Europe acts on mobile charges

Let the spin begin

The European Commission yesterday released details of its plan to push down termination rates - the charges mobile phone networks make for carrying each others calls. The Commission noted that rates, although falling, are still nine times as high as equivalent fixed line charges and vary widely across Europe. The Commission …

Mobile 27 Jun 2008, 08:13
Garmin leads the way with pooch-pinpointing dog GPS

Garmin is branching out from its traditional satnav business and has launched a new GPS system designed for man’s best friend. Garmin's GPS system keeps track of up to ten mutts simultaneously Essentially, your dog wears an oversized GPS unit that beams out a signal to be picked-up by a handheld tracking unit. The two- …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 08:22
Retailer punts MacBook Air-friendly solar charger

No cables required

If you’ve splashed out on a MacBook Air then the chances are that you’re either pretty rich, or now stony broke. Either way, a solar panel charger’s now available to help you cut electricity bills and do the Earth some good. Retailer QuickerTek states that its Apple Juicz solar panel allows users to simultaneously charge and …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 08:35
Asus pledges end to Eee PC 900 battery swap 'delay'

Contacting all customers next week

What is Asus UK doing with its Eee 900 battery replacement programme? Punters who've tried to get a new power pack out of the company claim the scheme has been quietly shelved. No so, says Asus. Asus announced the programme earlier this month. It offered to swap the 900's 4400mAh battery for a 5800mAh one to any owner of the …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 08:51
ICO slaps TfL over Oyster data hoard

Criticises compulsory kids' photocards

Last month Transport for London made it compulsory for children using the network to carry Oyster photocards. This has raised concerns about the amount of data the company is collecting. Parents and the Information Commissioner are not pleased with the changes. The ICO is asking TfL why it is collecting so much data on young …

Law 27 Jun 2008, 09:13
Dell debuts designer laptop line

Studio colours twice as expensive in UK as US

Dell has launched a new notebook line, the Studio series, in a bid to plug the gap between its XPS and increasingly low-cost Inspiron ranges. The Studio 15 is based around a 15.4in 1280 x 800 panel and can be configured with a range of 2-2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Memory starts off at 2GB of dual-channel DDR 2, …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 09:36
French punters offered £78 Small, Cheap Computer

The Phone House, the French version of Carphone Warehouse, is touting a Small, Cheap Computer for just €99 ($156/£78), the Airis Kira 740 - a mobile computer par excellence, the company claims. The Kira has an Eee-size 7in display but one set to 1024 x 768. It's based on VIA's C7-M processor, clocked at 1GHz, and packs in 1GB …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 10:29
US hackette ponders jub-powered iPod

NSFW 'Why not put the girls to work?'

It's hats off this sunny Friday to US hackette Adrienne So of Washington Post tentacle Slate, who earlier this week pondered the delicious possibility of the jub-powered iPod. As Adrienne points out, there's an awful lot of mammergy going to waste as sporty girls' chesticles resist the restraining force of sports bras and so, …

Bootnotes 27 Jun 2008, 10:38
Judge points laser dazzler man towards prison

Four months for plodcopter attack

A 21-year old man was yesterday sentenced to four months in prison for shining a laser pointer at a police helicopter. Dean Bottomley of Stockport, Greater Manchester had already pleaded guilty to endangering an aircraft. The helicopter pilot said the £30 laser pen made him temporarily blind and unable to see instruments …

Policing 27 Jun 2008, 11:16
HD TV in the UK

Feature Time to buy a 1080p telly at last?

After a somewhat sluggish start, HD TV services are finally starting to take off here in the UK. It’s about time too, as there are almost 10m HD TV sets currently in use here in the UK, yet Sky — the main provider of HD broadcasts in the UK — has barely half a million subscribers signed up to its Sky HD service. However, the …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 11:18
Nokia Supernova series to hit Q3 with a bang

Four-strong range of stylish talkers

Sketchy details about Nokia’s Supernova handset range first exploded online earlier this month, but the phone giant’s finally broken its silence and officially announced the new range. Nokia's Supernova 7310: has Xpress-On covers Register Hardware reported earlier this month that images had been spotted on Nokia’s Polish …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 11:22
Microsoft bags MobiComp, woos Powerset

On the rebound Redmond still looking for Mr Goodbuy

Microsoft is continuing its rounds of the software singles scene after Yahoo!'s rejection of its overtures. The software giant is close to buying Silicon Valley semantic search engine company Powerset for around $100m, according to a report. VentureBeat speculates the acquisition deal will be announced next month. If the …

Applications 27 Jun 2008, 11:27
Swedish bloggers give MEP a kicking over media pluralism

Job done. Now, let's actually read that report

Sweden’s bloggers have blown a gasket over an Estonian MEP's proposal that they and their European kindred spirits should assume some kind of responsibility for their content, forcing the European parliament to rush out a statement saying there were no such plans on the table. If anything, the Swedish blogosphere’s hysterical …

Law 27 Jun 2008, 11:32
Ripfactory Ripserver CD-ripping NAS box

ChannelFlip Video Review Rips your CDs then serves the songs

This little beauty takes your CDs, rips them to its 1TB NAS storage then pumps them out to all your network devices. Nifty - but is it worth the cash? Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More video reviews at ChannelFlip.com

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 11:44
Cambridge congestion charge plans shelved

Lack of local support

Cambridgeshire County Council has shelved plans for congestion charging following a lack of local support. The council had said it wanted to cut traffic levels in the city by 10 per cent and submitted a bid for £500m of the government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF). Its bid included proposals for peak period congestion …

Government 27 Jun 2008, 11:46
Snazzy camcorder promises YouTube fame

Shoot HD video for online video blogs

Manufacturer DXG has launched a colourful selection of camcorders, all sporting HD-resolution recording and the ability to upload all your best footage directly onto video-sharing websites. DXG's 567V: upload videos directly to YouTube The DXG-567V camcorder is definitely handy, because DXG describes the unit as being “not …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 11:47
Premiership tackles Ukranian football streaming site

Pitched battle ends domain tussle

The Premier League has won control over the domain premiershiplive.net, which has been used to offer an unauthorised subscription football streaming service. Premiershiplive.net sold membership via PayPal for £9.95. It promised streams of every game in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and other European leagues, …

Law 27 Jun 2008, 12:02
The gold standard in data storage?

The disc that lasts for 200 years

A lot of things can happen in 200 years, but one thing data storage disc manufacturer Delkin Devices guarantees won’t occur is data loss. That’s because the firm’s launched a Blu-ray Disc reputedly capable of retaining content for two centuries. Delkin's Archival Gold BD-R: lasts for 200 years The Archival Gold BD …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 12:20
North Carolina targets WTF licence plates

'Potentially offensive'

North Carolina is offering 10,000 vehicle owners whose licence plates contain the "potentially offensive" combo of letters "WTF" the chance to replace them for free. According to WXII12.com, the state's Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) was tipped off to the outrage by a 60-year-old technology teacher from Fayetteville who in …

Bootnotes 27 Jun 2008, 12:22
YouTube rant missus hauled into court

Acrimonious divorce now with added acrimony

The British former actress who wowed cyberspace with her no-holds-barred YouTube assault on her estranged hubby has been hauled before a New York court to answer for her ranting. Tricia Walsh-Smith, 49, achieved in a few minutes a level of international fame which she could only have dreamt about during her thespian career, …

Bootnotes 27 Jun 2008, 12:23
Canon EOS 450D digital SLR

Review Truth be told, we hoped for more

The EOS 450D is more like a step-up than a follow-on to the EOS 400D entry-level digital SLR we recently looked at. The question is, what does the extra 50 in the model number mean in terms of improvement? Well, quite a few things, both from a cosmetic and from a performance point of view. That said, this is no massive leap …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 12:45
~~Panasonic~~ Matsushita to become Panasonic

Better-known brand adopted

Come October and Matsushita will be officially called Panasonic, formalising a name the company's used for years and is arguably better known as. Matsushita's shareholders this week voted to approve the change, which will begin to be implemented on 1 October. The corporation said today it expects the change to be done and …

Financial News 27 Jun 2008, 13:22
BBC begins fresh Freeview HD TV trial

Adopts DVB-T2

Freesat may have only recently launched in the UK, but the BBC has already begun testing the transmission of HD services over Freeview. The broadcaster has started transmissions from a Guildford-based transmitter using the second-generation DVB-T specification DVB-T2. The trial could clear the way for the introduction of HD …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 13:34
Wind power key to UK's desperate renewable energy bid

Analysis A fresh blow to the government, as it were

Good news and bad news. This week's government strategy document-cum-consultation on renewable energy, and on how the UK proposes to meet its EU obligation to derive 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, shows clear signs of practicality and joined-up thinking. But making it to the magic 15 requires several …

Government 27 Jun 2008, 13:54
Airline passengers get (VoIP-free) broadband

Only in American

American Airlines have launched their in-flight broadband service, with nary a satellite dish in sight - they're connecting direct to the ground using spectrum owned and operated by Aircell. The service flew for the first time yesterday, and all 15 of American's Boeing 767-200 planes should support in-flight Wi-Fi within a few …

Networks 27 Jun 2008, 14:54
Grand Theft Auto reportedly inspires teen rampage

"I am an antichrist..."

Anti-violent videogame campaigners have long searched for hard evidence that some titles inspire real-life crimes, and now they may have an example. According to a report by Newsday.com, a group of five US teenagers that recently went on the rampage in Nassau County, New York told Vice City police that they were acting out …

Reg Hardware 27 Jun 2008, 14:55
As Gates strides into the future, we wallow in the past

OS/2: The final insult

Some of you may have noticed that Bill Gates is hanging up his Microsoft Professional Developer’s Conference 1998 briefcase for good today. The imminent departure of the Microsoft co-founder has prompted acres of coverage about the future direction of Microsoft now that the no-longer-the richest man in the world is no longer …

Bootnotes 27 Jun 2008, 14:57
Singapore forum 'scammer' faces caning and prison

Blagger facing flogging

A British man faces caning and a prison sentence for allegedly conning members of an IT forum in Singapore. Members of the VR-Zone forum used "mass ordering" to make savings when buying hardware - they teamed up to make large orders which earned them discounts. But Johnson Henry Plant, a 36-year-old British national, is …

Crime 27 Jun 2008, 15:12
Chrysler shoves hotspots into hot rods

Well, Jeeps and pickup trucks

Chrysler is to offer a Wi-Fi hotspot in next year's Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models, allowing passengers in the car to surf the information superhighway while struck in traffic on the real one. The technology comes from Autonet Mobile, and comprises a Wi-Fi access point connected to a 3G telephone network. Chrysler reckons it' …

Wireless 27 Jun 2008, 15:17
Sony Ericsson slumps on gloomy outlook

No love for swanky handsets

Sony Ericsson issued its second profit warning of 2008 today, advising that it will only break even in Q2 2008. The company blamed soft demand for mid to high-end phones, as recession concerns in Europe have led customers to opt for cheaper models, and delays in getting new phones to market. In April analysts said the company …

Mobile 27 Jun 2008, 15:47
Witness the future of Brocade

A FANless acronym fiesta

At a presentation to analysts this week Brocade talked about a growing Fibre Channel market, an expanded HBA product line, new fabric core capabilities such as encryption, replication and deduplication, and FCOE and services. There was no mention of FANs (File Area Networks) but file virtualization was discussed. The …

Storage 27 Jun 2008, 17:37
Ankle-biting hackers storm net's overlords, hijack their domains

IANA and ICANN succumb to NetDevilz

The websites of two of the net's most critical oversight organizations were hijacked by Turkish hackers who sent visitors to rogue pages that challenged the overseers' authority. Some of the official domains for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) …

ID 27 Jun 2008, 18:55
Mars suitable for growing asparagus

NASA hails Phoenix wet chemistry results

NASA scientists are pretty excited about the initial results of the Phoenix Mars lander's "flawless" first wet chemistry experiment which has revealed the Red Planet's soil to be "a close analog to surface soils found in the upper dry valleys in Antarctica", as wet chemistry lead investigator Sam Kounaves put it. With 80 per …

Space 27 Jun 2008, 19:46
IBM woos Microsoft with iDataPlex oddity

When will you get a turn?

Never one to miss out on a marketing opportunity, IBM has already started tweaking the new iDataPlex system to reach more customers before the box has even started shipping. IBM "launched" iDataPlex in April, ushering in a server designed just for large service providers and high performance computing customers pressed for …

Servers 27 Jun 2008, 19:47
Virgin Mobile USA to buy hipster operator Helio

Can the cool survive?

In a union of hipster-friendly mobile operators, Virgin Mobile USA has agreed to purchase Helio for $39m in stock. Virgin Mobile offers low-cost, pre-paid services to the hip set, and now, it can give them something a little different: high-end subscription setups on phones with names like Ocean, Heat, and Drift. "This …

Mobile 27 Jun 2008, 19:53
Sun picks away at NetApp's patent claims

Botched settlement results in more blogs of fury

The war-of-words between Sun Microsystems and NetApp over patent infringement claims wages on, while legal means to settle the matter have failed. The two companies tried to sit down this week for a settlement conference, but judging by Sun's response of publicly boasting that it has removed at least one of NetApp's patents …

Storage 27 Jun 2008, 20:35
Google plugs YouTube into Playstation 3

Go go Gadget video

To the surprise of no one, Google is now offering software that streams video, photos, and music from your PC to your television. "In the old days, we used to watch a simple device called a television. Nowadays, all the stuff worth watching and listening to tends to be stored on or accessed through a computer," writes software …

Music and Media 27 Jun 2008, 22:14
DOJ sinks another EliteTorrent admin

World safe again

Another ex-administrator of former BitTorrent tracker Elitetorrents is facing prison time for his part in the site's peer-to-peer sharing of copyright material. Daniel Dove, 26, was convicted by a jury on separate counts of "conspiracy and felony copyright infringement," the US Department of Justice announced today. Dove …

Music and Media 27 Jun 2008, 22:50