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9th July 2008 Archive

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  • Google penetrates fake sex world with Lively

    Watch clips of Sadville on virtual YouTube TV

    It starts with a hug, then some petting on top of colored balls and before you know it you're down at some 3D sex club wielding a dildo. Yes, Google has innocently wandered into the world of casual encounters with the launch of its own 3D reality alternative to Linden Lab's Second Life. The internet's favorite search engine …

    Applications 9 Jul 2008, 00:13

  • Vendors form alliance to fix DNS poisoning flaw

    Giving the good guys a headstart

    An alliance of software makers and network-hardware vendors announced on Tuesday that they had banded together to fix a fundamental flaw in the design of the internet's address system. The vulnerability in the domain name system (DNS) - the distributed database that matches a host and domain name with the numerical address of …

    Enterprise Security 9 Jul 2008, 09:15

  • Hitachi second-gen terabyte hard drive tech

    World's most energy efficient, maker claims

    Hitachi's Global Storage Technologies division has rolled out its second-generation terabyte hard drive - the world's most energy efficient 7200rpm 1TB HDD, it claimed. The 3.5in Deskstar 7K1000.B consumes 43 per cent less power than its predecessor, Hitachi said. That's in part because it uses three platters - each holding up …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 09:20

  • Nintendo Wii to become true to type

    Write your novel on a Wii

    The Wii’s convoluted text-entry system has always been a bone of contention for gamers. But now manufacturer Logic 3 is set to end all that with its latest invention: a Wii keyboard. Logic 3's Wii keyboard: tap-tap-tapping fun The Wii Keyboard for Wii Game Pad does exactly what it says on the tin. It allows you to enter …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 09:23

  • Sony re-releases latest PS3 firmware

    Verson 2.41 posted

    Sony has, as expected, officially released a tweaked version of its troubled PlayStation 3 firmware version 2.40. Register Hardware reported on Monday that Sony’s consumer support division was rumoured to be readying the new release with a view to publishing it sometime during the middle of this week. Sony opted to withdraw …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 09:28

  • Carla Bruni sings of deadly luuurv

    Je t'aime, Sarko available free online

    The crooning missus of French prez Nick Sarko this morning unveiled her latest album free online - ahead of its official release on 11 July. Yes indeedy, Carla Bruni's dulcet tones are now available to subscribers on a "single time-credit of two non-consecutive hours" during which fans can sample the delights of Comme si de …

    Entertainment 9 Jul 2008, 09:39

  • MS DNS patch snuffs net connection for ZoneAlarm users

    Updated A cure worse than the disease

    Microsoft released four patches - all rated important - as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle, one of which left ZoneAlarm users locked out the internet. The most significant of the quartet fixes a flaw in Windows' implementations of the Domain Name System protocol (MS08-037.mspx). Multiple vendors are subject to …

    Enterprise Security 9 Jul 2008, 10:05

  • Rabbit murderer stalks Ruhr Valley

    Fans of Watership Down look away now

    Rabbit owners in the German towns of Witten and Dortmund are living under a pall of fear following the slaughter of 30 animals in a year-long lapine decapitation murder spree. According to the BBC, the animals are always found headless and drained of blood. Seventy-four-year-old Elfriede Dumont explained: "One morning, when I …

    Bootnotes 9 Jul 2008, 10:29

  • Criminal record checks: More often wrong than right

    Just how well do they protect children?

    Sleight of hand by the Home Office doesn’t quite cover up the fact that last year the number of people wrongly branded as criminals was actually more than the number of people identified as having committed a sex crime. That is the picture that emerges if you take the time to wade through the morass of ever-so-slightly skewed …

    Policing 9 Jul 2008, 10:32

  • Jodrell Bank spared the chop

    Sci-Tech Facilities Council sees sense

    The UK's celebrated Jodrell Bank has been granted a reprieve by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the BBC reports. The STFC had proposed to axe the annual £2.5m public funding for eMerlin - an upgrade to the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network between the UK's seven radio telescopes, run from …

    Space 9 Jul 2008, 10:32

  • Mio announces Knight Rider satnav

    It's official, Michael

    We’ve watched the dual Anamorphic Equalizers pulse as they guide wannabe Michael Knights across the alkaline flats, but, until now, Mio’s never confirmed whether the Knight Rider satnav was real. Well, it is. Mio has put fans of 1980s telly out of their panting misery and confessed that it will release the Knight Rider satnav …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 10:33

  • Google and the End of Science

    Bringing it all back Hume

    WiReD magazine's editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has just seen the end for scientific theories. And it is called Google. This remarkable revelation was triggered by Google's research director Peter Norvig. Speaking at O'Reilly's Emerging Technology Conference in March. Norvig claimed: "All models are wrong, and increasingly you …

    Biology 9 Jul 2008, 10:56

  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 280

    Review Over-priced, over-specced and over here

    Nvidia has spent the past year waiting for AMD to give it a fight in the graphics sector. The G92 chip used in GeForce 8800 GT was little more than a die-shrink of the G80 that debuted in the original GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX. The GeForce 9800 GTX used the same G92 chip and supported DirectX 10 with Shader Model 4.0 - just …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 11:02

  • EU accidentally orders ISPs to become copyright police

    Legislator: 'No we never'

    Part of the EU Telecommunications Package, agreed by MEPs on Monday, could be interpreted to endorse cutting off P2P users after a written warning or two, even though the author claims that was not the intention. The disputed text, which some are claiming is deliberately concealed within impenetrable legalese, states that …

    Telecoms 9 Jul 2008, 11:11

  • US and EC line up to kick credit ratings agencies

    Action likely on both sides of pond

    The Securities and Exchange Commission probe into the ratings agencies - the firms which wrongly assessed how risky certain US mortgage-backed investments were - is calling for new rules to govern how the companies operate. The SEC investigation found the agencies failed to deal with conflicts of interest because people were …

    Financial News 9 Jul 2008, 11:11

  • Leak reveals Xbox 360 Pro debut due

    MS to adjust standalone HDD line too

    Microsoft is to release a 60GB Xbox 360 this month, if an allegedly leaked email from the software giant is to be believed. According to a report by Xboxfamily.com, an email was supposedly sent by Microsoft’s Xbox division to retailers GameStop and Blockbuster. It informs them that the software giant plans to introduce an Xbox …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 11:20

  • Beijing scales back RFID ticket plans

    Still embedding passport, address and email though

    RFID technology won't feature on every ticket for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics - but those that do have it will contain an embedded chip with the holder's home address, passport details and email address. Initial plans for embedding an RFID tag in all 6.8 million tickets have had to be scrapped, along with futuristic ideas …

    ID 9 Jul 2008, 11:38

  • Microsoft tells SMBs Vista isn't a risky business

    You may end up dancing round the living room in pants

    Microsoft isn’t going to let the small detail of sluggish sales and take-up among businesses of its Windows Vista operating system get in the way of its latest attempt to woo the little guys. Yesterday at its annual worldwide partner shindig in Houston the firm launched a new small biz (SMBs) marketing campaign aimed at …

    Small Biz 9 Jul 2008, 11:53

  • Vista woes fuel Mac sales surge - analyst

    Apple sales growth 3x industry average

    The 3G iPhone may be getting all the attention this week, but let's not forget Apple's other product line, the Mac family, which is enjoying new-found success thanks to... Microsoft. According to US investment house BMO Capital Markets, cited by AppleInsider, Apple will have shipped up to 2.5m Macs between April and June …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 11:58

  • Govt moots game developer tax-break rethink

    Less tax equals more games?

    Tax breaks for the British videogames industry moved a step closer this week, after a government Minister admitted that the administration must “look again” at the issue. Speaking at a games industry conference held in London yesterday, Margaret Hodge, Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, said that UK.gov …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 12:16

  • Trust on the slide, Chris Moyles on the up at BBC

    Annual report shows serious navel-gazing

    iPlayer good, London bias bad, rigged phone-ins very bad. Those are just some of the (predictable) gems that emerged yesterday as the BBC published its annual report on 2007/8. If you want a no-holds-barred, warts-and-all insight into what the BBC has been up to over the last year, this is probably not the place to look. It …

    Music and Media 9 Jul 2008, 12:17

  • Belgian operator will sell iPhone simlock-free

    Low country, high price

    Mobile telecoms group Mobistar SA. will launch the iPhone 3G in Belgium from Friday - but more importantly it will be one of the few European countries where the the iPhone will be totally simlock-free. Belgian regulators forbid "koppelverkoop" (forced bundling), so as a result punters have to pay a very hefty price - the 8GB …

    Mobile 9 Jul 2008, 13:19

  • Zero day Word flaw exploited by Trojan

    The one that got away

    Microsoft warns that an unpatched Word vulnerability has become the subject of targeted attacks. The flaw - which is restricted to Microsoft Office Word 2002 Service Pack 3 - creates a mechanism for hackers to inject hostile code onto vulnerable systems. Redmond has published workarounds as a stop-gap measure while its …

    Enterprise Security 9 Jul 2008, 13:32

  • Elonex shows off second Small, Cheap Computer

    Updated As inexpensive as the One?

    Flush with the apparent sell-out success of its Small, Cheap Computer, the One, Elonex is preparing another model, this time with a more traditional laptop look. Like the One, the One T sports a clamshell design, but this time the internals are located beneath the keyboard rather than behind the screen. The latter approach …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 13:39

  • Jacqui Smith kick-starts yoof ID debate site, site kick stops

    It's the way she tells them...

    Fresh from its success in selling ID cards to the aviation industry, the Home Office has moved straight on to young people with a 'have your say' online forum, mylifemyid.org. The site is fronted by a video of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith getting down with the yoof of Shooters Hill College. Or at least it was - the site went …

    Government 9 Jul 2008, 13:49

  • NebuAd makes meal of opt-out cookie

    Whither the opt-in?

    As it prepares for a Congressional pow-wow on the "Privacy Implications of Online Advertising," behavioral ad targeter NebuAd has vowed to eat its infamous opt-out cookie. "NebuAd is...developing a network-based opt-out mechanism that is not reliant on web browser cookies," reads a company press release. "Leveraging this …

    Telecoms 9 Jul 2008, 14:02

  • Only 3% of us recycle mobile phones, finds report

    And most of us didn't even realise we could

    The recycling message may have been drummed into us for everything from plastic bottles to old newspapers, but the majority of people still don’t recycle their worn out mobile phones, Nokia says. The handset giant questioned 6500 people in 13 countries, including the US, UK and China, to discover more about people's attitudes …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 14:17

  • Ryanair begins screen-scraping lawsuit

    Claims violation of IP rights

    Ryanair is taking a Dutch airline website to court over the 'screen-scraping' of Ryanair's site. The no-frills airline claims that Dutch company Bravofly's activities violate the site's terms and conditions and infringe its intellectual property rights. Screen-scraping is the term used for one website's automatic gathering of …

    Law 9 Jul 2008, 14:22

  • BBC must reveal EastEnders costs

    Right two and eight down Albert Square

    The Information Commissioner's Office has ordered the BBC to release information about the salaries of the stars and other staff at soap opera EastEnders. The Beeb had previously refused to give out the information, which was requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The corporation said salary data was not covered by …

    Music and Media 9 Jul 2008, 14:24

  • World+Dog lines up for iPhones

    But rain puts Brits off

    Global sales of camping tents must be skyrocketing, because reports are coming in from many corners of the globe of iPhone fanatics queuing up days in advance of the phone’s launch, just to ensure they’re first in line. In New Zealand, for example, 22-year-old student Jonny Gladwell pitched his tent outside an Apple store …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 14:27

  • Polaroid 'inkless' handheld photo printer hits UK

    Polaroid's handheld picture printer, the PoGo, has gone on sale in the UK with the promise of straight-from-camera inkless printing. Polaroid's PoGo: look, ma, no ink Announced earlier this year, The PoGo isn't much bigger than your average compact camera. It measures 120 x 72 x 23.5mm and weighs 226g, though the weight …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 15:09

  • Sun saunters into open storage formation

    JBOD army arrives with Thumper 2

    Sun Microsystems is trying to inject some much needed vim and vigor into its storage business by dosing the operation with extra cc's of open-source therapy. The vendor today is introducing three new "Open Storage" arrays to its catalogue and giving its storage-heavy X4500 server — Thumper — a hardware refresh. Its new arrays …

    Storage 9 Jul 2008, 15:34

  • Man powers up PC to pop popcorn

    Video Hot Butter revival?

    Given the number of film fanatics who watch movies on their laptops, popcorn by your PC is probably just what the doctor ordered. One DIY hardware pioneer has worked out how to make your very own USB-powered popcorn maker. All it takes is a baked bean tin, a jar, an old USB cable, a high-intensity light bulb, and some thermal …

    Reg Hardware 9 Jul 2008, 16:04

  • Getty dips into Flickr to beef up photo stock

    Who you calling an amateur?

    Flickr fanciers will soon be able to make cash out of the photos they post online following a secret deal inked with the world’s leading photo agency, Getty Images. The two firms agreed yesterday that high-quality images posted on Yahoo!’s Flickr service could be cherry-picked by Getty editors searching for interesting …

    Music and Media 9 Jul 2008, 16:17

  • Microsoft prepares to sell SQL Server 2008

    An August release?

    Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 appears ready to go after months of delay, as the company is taking steps to begin selling the database. The company said today that it's putting SQL Server 2008 on its August price list, for customers and partners to begin purchases. Release to manufacturing has been promised sometime during the …

    Servers 9 Jul 2008, 17:23

  • Shocker DNS spoofing vuln discovered three years ago by a student

    The mad woman in the attic

    A flaw in how the internet's addressing system works that sparked a patching frenzy on Tuesday night may has first been uncovered by a student as long as three years ago. Shortcomings in how the Domain Name System protocol is implemented by multiple vendors facilitate DNS cache poisoning attacks, security clearing house US …

    Enterprise Security 9 Jul 2008, 17:47

  • Monitor your data center with a coffee mug-sized server

    The cup that phones home

    Plat'Home is a curious Japanese company that seems intent on cracking the US market with its weird brand of tiny Linux servers. This week, it has offered the land of the free and the home of the brave the KANSHI Blocks Pro 6.0.1 device, which is a coffee mug-sized monitoring server. Coffee Mug Server You're meant to use …

    Servers 9 Jul 2008, 18:17

  • AJAX browser vote exceeds 'wild' expectations

    Flourish follows fizzle

    There's been a late surge of interest in voting for a wishlist of features users want added to web browsers, after being ignored for months. With less than a day left before the OpenAjax Alliance closes its poll for most-wanted browser features 116 people have now voted, according to the project's summary. That's up from a …

    Software 9 Jul 2008, 18:24

  • Cisco boss wants successor to be less bossy

    Executive round table constructed by 2013

    Cisco's next boss won't reign on high like it's current chief executive John Chambers if John Chambers has anything to say about it. The CEO hinted a managerial Magna Carta will be quilled for the networking giant's executive team just before he bails from the chieftain's throne in less than five years. He gave his candid …

    Data Networking 9 Jul 2008, 18:47

  • Rogers chucks (small) bone to Canuck Jesus Phoners

    App Store opening early?

    After complaints from countless Canucks over its service plans for the imminent 3G iPhone - and a slap or two from Apple - Rogers Wireless has attempted some last minute damage control. Canada's largest wireless provider now says that when the reborn Jesus Phone arrives on Friday, Canuck buyers can nab a 6GB data plan for only …

    Mobile 9 Jul 2008, 21:46

  • Samsung fires up 128GB SSD massive attack

    'More attractive' pricing on the way

    Samsung has the factory hamster wheels oiled and has started mass-production of 128GB solid-state hard drives. The company usually says nothing about the price of its new products, and it's sticking to that line today. However, Samsung promises the production ramp will be accompanied by "more attractive pricing" for the latest …

    Storage 9 Jul 2008, 22:15

  • Senate approves FISA makeover and telco wiretap immunity

    Oink, oink my black ops sweetheart

    The Senate today passed the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), offering blanket immunity to the telecoms giants for whatever spying activities they conspired in, smothering ongoing litigation against the companies and for all intents and purposes burying forever whatever unconstitutional surveillance …

    Law 9 Jul 2008, 23:48