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11th July 2008 Archive

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  • HP's big splash on EDS all about shrinkage

    Comment Hurd 'The Butcher' gets out his knife

    I love this Mark Hurd guy. He's turning cost-cutting into an art form. When HP and Compaq were joined in matrimony at the gates of Hell, Carly Fiorina celebrated all of the forthcoming "synergies." She promised that the combined companies would teach Spending a lesson it would never forget. But such pledges failed to generate …

    Servers 11 Jul 2008, 00:36

  • Mobe operators warn of ruin if regulators set roaming charges

    'Woe is us', cry hams

    The last thing you want when you get back from a holiday abroad is a £200 hike on your cell phone bill, brought about by what are seemingly invisible roaming charges, and usually because the office phoned you, not the other way around. So the battle between the GSMA, representing cellular operators everywhere, and the European …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 07:02

  • Dept of Business waves WEEE stick at electronics vendors

    Time to raise your game, chaps

    The British government is pleased with how the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) disposal scheme is working out, a year on from its inception. Collection has exceeded the EU target by 2kg per person, which is pretty good considering how poorly the UK usually fares with waste disposal and recyling. The government …

    Channel Register 11 Jul 2008, 07:02

  • Davis increases majority, says goodbye to Tory front bench

    Would turnout have been higher with stickers?

    David Davis trebled his majority in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency in yesterday’s by-election, though the 35 per cent turnout will continue to raise questions over how much of a debate on civil liberties he has achieved. The former Tory shadow home secretary pulled in 17,113 votes in the election, giving him a 15,355 …

    Government 11 Jul 2008, 07:16

  • The Top Ten 3G iPhone beaters

    Round-up The very best smartphones - minus the Apple one

    Sick to the teeth of 3G iPhone this and 3G iPhone that? Then express your anti-Apple anger by selecting one our list of the top ten feature-packed alternatives. Counting down, in reverse order, we kick of with the... Motorola Z10 Click here for the full review The Z10 is a step up from the original kick sliding Z8, but it’s …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 08:02

  • Boeing to build combo airship-copter flying cranes

    Canadians plan worldwide rental whirlyblimp service

    Aerospace behemoth Boeing has announced that it will build a hybrid airship/helicopter combination aircraft, able to lift heavy loads across long distances. Boeing will work with Canadian firm SkyHook International. "SkyHook secured the patent for this neutrally buoyant aircraft and approached Boeing with the opportunity to …

    Science 11 Jul 2008, 08:02

  • El Reg net closes on Street View fleet

    Updated Third Orwellian Opel spotted in Brum

    It's hats off this sunny Friday to spycar-spotter Andrew Peters, who's clocked a third Street View Orwellian Opel prowling the outskirts of Birmingham (here to be exact): We can now confirm that Brum, in common with Edinburgh*, Inverness and London, has fallen to Google's all-seeing eye. As soon as we've got a few more snaps …

    Bootnotes 11 Jul 2008, 08:36

  • 3G iPhone disassembled, photographed

    New handset easier to repair

    It didn't take long for someone to splash out on a 3G iPhone and take it to bits. Mac repair specialist iFixit got its handset in New Zealand and has uncovered the phone's interesting under-the-bonnet features. Apple's iPhone 3G: opening the case Image courtesy iFixit A couple of screws on the base of the new iPhone allow …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 08:52

  • O2 buckles under 3G iPhone demand

    Early bird customers left out in cold

    O2 customers reported that the firm's activation system crashed this morning as they raced to get their new 3G iPhones, but the telco insists everything is going swimmingly. One reader in West London told El Reg that the manager of his local O2 shop said the computer system for activating iPhones “has crashed, and it’s the …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 09:14

  • Rambus sues Nvidia

    Mass memory-controller patent infringement alleged

    Litigation-loving Rambus has targeted Nvidia with a complaint that alleges the graphics chip specialist has used its memory controller tech without asking. The lawsuit, filed yesterday with the US District Court for Northern California, claimed Nvidia's memory controllers for single data rate memory, DDR, DDR 2, DDR 3, GDDR …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 09:15

  • Public sector faces hefty fines for data breaches

    Councils should scrap sales to database marketers

    UK state-sector organisations could face seven-figure fines for data breaches, according to the review of data sharing ordered by the prime minister. In a wide-ranging report, which also recommends the scrapping of the edited electoral roll, information commissioner Richard Thomas and Mark Walport, director of medical charity …

    Government 11 Jul 2008, 09:20

  • Ryanair wins German court victory in screen-scraping injunction

    Aggregator Vtours ordered to stop

    Ryanair has claimed a German court victory against a tour company it has accused of screen-scraping its website against its wishes. The airline said that Hamburg Regional Court has awarded it an injunction against Vtours. Screen-scraping is when one company takes information from another's website by automatically filling in …

    Financial News 11 Jul 2008, 09:24

  • Dancing to power London nightclub

    Boogie for a better world

    People have done all sorts of things to promote eco-friendliness in the past. But how about boogie-ing your way to a cleaner climate? Now you can, thanks to Dancefloor Power. The concept is pretty simple: a special dancefloor is used that’s capable of transforming your dancing – however bad it is – into power that can be used …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 09:33

  • Insight buys UK dealership for Cisco glory

    Ooh you little MINX!

    Insight Enterprises has gained Cisco Gold Partner accreditation in the UK through the back door - by buying a small reseller that's already got the badge. The reseller giant is shelling out $1.5m in cash for MINX Ltd, a dealership in Elstree, Herts. Probably more significantly, it is also taking on $4.6m in existing debt. And …

    Channel Register 11 Jul 2008, 09:43

  • London's black cabs get wireless payment kit

    Dismiss your cabbie with a wave

    Royal Bank of Scotland is to fit proximity-payment readers into 25 London taxies, allowing punters equipped with wave-and-pay cards to settle any fare under a tenner with a touch of the card. Most London cabs accept credit cards these days, although some still resort to card-impression machines, but the percentage that has to …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 10:08

  • Alcatel launches 'My First Handset'

    Get you foot on the phone market

    It’s hard to believe, but there’s actually a sector of society where people exist without owning mobile phones. Alcatel is trying to change that though and has unveiled a cheap-as-chips handset for first-time phone users. Alcatel's OT-S520 is basic Someone who’s never owned a mobile before probably won’t be familiar with …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 10:09

  • Kodak unveils 720p HD pocket camcorder

    Kodak has launched itself into the so-called “pocket” camcorder market with an HD video camera that’s all about style and portability. Kodak's Zi6: captures 720p HD video The Zi6 only shoots video at 720p, but Kodak’s obviously targeting the snazzy snapper at those searching for a simple point-and-shoot camcorder, given …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 10:10

  • Obama bloats Vista by 11MB

    56MB update adds five words to dictionary

    We're very much obliged today to readers Hawkeye and Duncan Lilly for providing evidence that the Beast of Redmond's Vista is not the lean, mean fighting machine it really should be. Try this "important" update warning for size: That's an awful lot of megs, to be sure - just how many words are we talking about here? Microsoft …

    Bootnotes 11 Jul 2008, 10:10

  • UK games biz demands closer ties with academia

    But wants someone else to make it happen

    UK videogame industry leaders have demanded greater ties between business and academia to ensure that Britain's games developers remain globally competitive. But will any of them step forward to foster the relationship? At games industry conference the Westminster Media Forum, held in London this week, Mary Matthews, Strategy …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 10:28

  • ISS cosmonauts extract Soyuz explosive bolt

    Pyro fitting suspected over ballistic re-entries

    Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov yesterday ventured outside the International Space Station to remove an explosive bolt from the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft amid suspicions that faulty pyro fittings may have been responsible for two ballistic re-entries into Earth's atmosphere. Russian scientists reckon that dodgy bolts …

    Space 11 Jul 2008, 10:31

  • Oracle preps summer patch cluster

    45 updates equal overtime for sysadmins

    Oracle is preparing to release 45 security patches on Tuesday 15 July as part of its quarterly update cycle. The updates cover unspecified security bugs across multiple Oracle products including its Oracle Database, Application Server, E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft business applications. Some of the updates address …

    Applications 11 Jul 2008, 11:03

  • Upgrade drags Stealth Bomber IT systems into the 90s

    We're looking for a Mr Gorb... Gorbachev

    US aerospace heavyweight Northrop Grumman has revealed some details of a planned upgrade to the computing system of the famous B-2 Stealth Bomber, one of the most expensive and unusual aircraft in the world. According to reports, the well-known but seldom seen ghost bomber will be finally moving up to Pentium processors and code …

    Science 11 Jul 2008, 11:08

  • Woman finds Lithuanian living in shed

    He cleared her garden - a frightening experience

    We know that some of you were rather sceptical about the shocking tale of Kosovan loftdwellers, so let's see what you make of the strange case of the Lithuanian lorry driver and the Banbury garden shed. According to the Telegraph, 25-year-old Kelly Dudley first clocked the squatter wearing blue overalls in the overgrown garden …

    Bootnotes 11 Jul 2008, 11:12

  • MS takes Windows 3.11 out of embed to put to bed

    You mean, it’s alive?!

    First question: which electronics manufacturers embed Windows 3.11 for Workgroups in their products? Second question, and much more pressing: why? We ask merely because Microsoft has told world+dog it’s withdrawing the ancient operating system from the embedded market. In November 2008. So this gives manufacturers plenty of …

    Operating Systems 11 Jul 2008, 11:15

  • Thales swoops on nCipher for hardware encryption goodness

    Scrambling for safety

    Thales, the French defence electronics firm, is buying hardware-based encryption specialist nCipher for around £50.7m ($100.3m). This works out at 300p a share, a 15 per cent premium of nCipher's closing price in London on Thursday and double Wednesday's closing price. Cambridge, UK-based nCipher's stock has been on the up and …

    Financial News 11 Jul 2008, 11:18

  • Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX5090 plasma HD TV

    Review Premium price equals premium quality

    How serious are you about your telly? If you find yourself in cocktail-party conversations saying, 'Oh, I don’t really watch TV...' then either you’re in denial, or you haven't seen the latest Pioneer Kuro. You see, it’s a 1080p "full HD" 50-incher, and there’s no way someone can come into your living room and not remark on it …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 11:26

  • Telegraph explains 'Why Heath Ledger will blow us'

    Oooh, lovely

    A deserved pint for Tim Cuthill come pub o'clock this afternoon, who notes "the importance of titling on web pages and how these are displayed in the title bar of the browser window cannot be underestimated", as this fine example from a well-known UK broadsheet demonstrates: Lovely. We look forward to that, and indeed The …

    Bootnotes 11 Jul 2008, 11:42

  • FCC chief wants to throttle Comcast

    Enforcement order on agenda

    The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking aim at Comcast for violating the agency’s guidelines on providing open internet access by blocking P2P traffic across its network and keeping schtum about the policy. The agency is investingating Comcast's torrent-busting activities following a complaint …

    Telecoms 11 Jul 2008, 11:46

  • Yoof forum eats schoolkids, spits out ID card robodroids

    Blunkett and Smith ejected as barracking intensifies

    The Home Office ID card yoof discussion forum has banned users "David Blunkett" and "Jacqui Smith" along with other "inappropriate" comedy logins, while laying a trail of positive comments from shadowy, spookily robotic "students". Elsewhere in the forum the barracking has intensified since the site's wobbly launch earlier this …

    Government 11 Jul 2008, 12:04

  • Has ISO already rejected anti-OOXML appeals?

    Standards ain't what they used to be

    The International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) is refusing to discuss a leaked paper that suggests it has already rejected appeals against the ratification of Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) document format as an international standard. A leaked Joint Technical Committee No.1 (JTC1) paper (Groklaw has a pdf) …

    Applications 11 Jul 2008, 12:25

  • HP demonstrates mega-memory concept

    Memristor work continues apace

    Research work on HP's never-ever-forget Memristor concept is proceeding apace. Memristor technology could provide a new type of computer memory that's much faster than flash memory. HP Labs' engineers in Palo Alto have demonstrated control over how the technology operates, opening the door, they say, to its incorporation into …

    Storage 11 Jul 2008, 12:29

  • South African survives exploding fridge attack

    RoTM 'I thought the world was coming to an end'

    It's been suspiciously quiet of late on the murderous white goods front, but confirmation that your kitchen is still out to get you comes in the form of a chilling exploding fridge attack in South Africa. According to the Pretoria Times, Adrian Coetzee, of Silver Lakes, Pretoria, "narrowly escaped death" on Wednesday when the …

    Rise of the Machines 11 Jul 2008, 12:32

  • Reg readers kickstart WiReD UK recovery

    Competition And the winner is...

    So WiReD magazine is returning to the UK next year, after an 11 year absence. The very idea of "a UK edition of WiReD" is as strange as one of those creepy medical experiments where boffins graft an ear onto the back of a mouse; but you have to admire the suicidal determination of the publisher, Conde Naste. Last week we …

    Music and Media 11 Jul 2008, 13:02

  • Groundbreaking two-in-one tubular console controller uncovered

    Break-apart wireless controller spied online

    It’s already been rumoured that Sony’s designing a wireless controller that breaks into two sections. But the electronics giant may have been beaten to it by a similar controller design that’s codenamed 'Darwin'. Motus Games' Darwin: breaks into two parts Darwin comprises two tube-shaped controllers that can either be …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 13:03

  • MediaMax/Linkup falls out of the cloud

    San Diego storage startup goes titsup

    Notorious San Diego, California-based startup The Linkup (aka MediaMax) has gone titsup. The company announced on its website on Wednesday that it was closing its doors and confirmed that users of the storage site will be unable to access their files after 8 August. In April the firm chimed on its blog that it could “become …

    Storage 11 Jul 2008, 13:36

  • Truphone brings VoIP to the iPhone

    Just don't expect free calls any time soon

    UK VoIP provider Truphone has managed to get its client into the Apple store, though the application won't make calls over the 3G network and calls it does make won't be free. Truphone, a company with aspirations towards becoming a real telco, demonstrated VoIP running on an iPhone back in September last year, but back then …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 13:38

  • Gadgets safe from global airport anti-piracy plan

    Conspiracy theory not conspiracy fact

    Alarming headlines claiming that our laptop hard drives and iPod libraries could soon be scanned at airports for illegal copies of content are unfounded. Several recent reports, including one by the Daily Telegraph, claim that the governments of the G8 nations are considering an anti-piracy plan that would see customs …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 13:54

  • Bic punts 'disposable' pre-charged phone

    Cheap-as-chips phone calls

    Next time the missus asks you to pick-up a Bic at the newsagents, you’d be wise to clarify what she’s after. The firm's branching out from disposable razors and pens, and has launched a mobile phone. Bic's phone: available on Orange Bic has teamed-up with Orange France to launch the Bic Phone, which comes with a ready- …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 14:45

  • Europe loves HD TVs - but not HD broadcasts

    Waiting for free-to-air

    Only one in five households in Western Europe own an HD TV today, and while that figure is expected to jump to 85 per cent by 2012, most of us will still be watching standard-definition content. So claims market watcher Screen Digest, which pinpointed the poor penetration of HD into Europe on a sparsity of free-to-view HD TV …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 14:54

  • Sony pooh-poohs PS3 price cut

    Save your cash for an Xbox 360

    Sony has set in stone its position on PlayStation 3 pricing - and it’s not good news for cash-strapped gamers. Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony’s CFO, told investors in Singapore that “our plan is not to reduce the price” of the PS3. Instead, the firm’s long-term strategy is to concentrate on profitability, rather than selling more PS3s …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 14:57

  • Japanese tiny PC fans offered 50p Eee

    Here's a way to get an Asus Eee PC for less than 50p - though flying to Japan to pick it up will set you back rather more than that. Japanese gadget retailer Kojima is offering the original Eee PC 4G - the one with the 7in screen and 4GB solid-state drive; you know, the one that was actually cheap - for just ¥100. It even …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 15:23

  • Verizon's open-door policy yields dip stick

    Get your fuel tanks ready

    The first third-party device has been approved for connection to the Verizon network under the Open Development Initiative, and it's a very exciting electronic dip stick. Verizon announced last November that it would be approving third-party devices for connection to their network, offering an alternative to buying handsets …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 15:28

  • AMD takes a $950m hit in Q2

    From plucky upstart to just plucked

    AMD has bitten the write-downs bullet and will take an $880m impairment charge on parts of its ATI Technologies acquisition in its second quarter results. The struggling chip vendor revealed the massive write-down in an SEC filing today, which also disclosed a series of comparatively small charges which will nevertheless swell …

    Financial News 11 Jul 2008, 15:31

  • Dog off the menu at Olympic restaurants

    Sorry, sir, we're right out of Pekingese

    The Beijing Catering Trade Association has ordered 112 official Olympic restaurants to pull dog from their menus, in order to avoid outraging the delicate sensibilities of pet-loving foreign devils. The ban is, the BBC explains, designed to "respect the habits of many countries and nationalities", and joins spitting on the …

    Bootnotes 11 Jul 2008, 15:47

  • The iPhone 2.0 update - don't do it, kids

    That strange sense of disconnection

    Anyone with a 2G iPhone or an iPod Touch would be well advised to steer clear of the version 2 software, at least until the rush dies down and gives iTunes time to catch its breath. Punters with last year's models are rushing to upgrade to version 2, so they can download the applications Apple deems suitable. But it seems …

    Mobile 11 Jul 2008, 16:06

  • Sony will fix PS3s bricked by 2.40 update

    Sony claims that only a “limited number" of PS3 owners were affected by the infamous v2.40 firmware, but Sony has said it'll replace any console hardware that was nuked by the update. The company told a number of websites that it’s working with “impacted PS3 users” to determine if their consoles were damaged as a result of " …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 16:22

  • Intel stinks

    Fouling Arizona

    Who let the ass out? That's the question numerous residents in Chandler, Arizona are asking ever since a rotten egg type odor started haunting their homes. As it turns out, the stench comes from organic material collected in city-owned and, yes, Intel-built evaporation ponds. That's a big thanks then to Chipzilla for giving …

    Biology 11 Jul 2008, 18:05

  • Patent violation, prosecution, acquisition: pick your top open-source project

    Microsoft goes native with poll backing

    The world of open source gets the equivalent of an Oscar awards ceremony later this month when code-host SourceForge announces the winners of its second-annual vote on the community's top projects. And this year SourceForge is loosening the bow tie and letting down the hair, by inviting nominations for projects that could land …

    Applications 11 Jul 2008, 19:19

  • Apple iPhone 3G

    Video Review It's here...

    The iPhone 3G went on sale this morning, and we were down at our local O2 store before opening this morning to pick up ours, thanks to the nice chaps at O2 - the UK’s exclusive iPhone carrier. Can't see the video? Download Flash PLayer from Adobe.com More video reviews at ChannelFlip.com Round-up Ten 3G iPhone alternatives …

    Reg Hardware 11 Jul 2008, 20:23

  • Cnet blogger squadron discovers long lines at Apple retail stores

    The brick and mortar cult

    Early this morning, three different Cnet reporters blogged from three different retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. And two others blogged from more retail stores in New York City. Announcing the plans to cover the retail stores, Cnet's Tom Krazit, a veteran of the online tech-news outfit, promised that the team of …

    Music and Media 11 Jul 2008, 20:59

  • Green-loving California may dodge utility bill bullet

    While rest of the US pays 20-30% more

    California may get the last laugh standing firm by its tree-hugging ways. It was largely a day of foreboding environmental forecasts at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's Energy Summit held at Stanford on Friday. But as fuel prices continue to rise — there may at least be a promise of California offering consumers some hope …

    Environment 11 Jul 2008, 23:08

  • IBM's eight-core Power7 chip to clock in at 4.0GHz

    Exclusive Will fuel 300,000-core, 10 petaflop giant

    IBM looks set to join the seriously multi-core set with the Power7 chip. Internal documents seen by The Register show Power7 with eight cores per processor and also some very, very large IBM boxes based on the chip. The IBM documents have the eight-core Power7 being arranged in dual-chip modules. So, that's 16-cores per module …

    Servers 11 Jul 2008, 23:45