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1st August 2008 Archive

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  • US Navy spares Silicon Valley's 'Alexandria Lighthouse'

    Hangar One will stand - naked

    Hangar One, the onetime airship station that has long symbolized California's Silicon Valley, won't be destroyed after all. The US Navy will allow it to stand - without its clothing. More than two years ago, the Navy designated Hangar One for demolition, after discovering that the mammoth Mountain View landmark was poisoning …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 00:30

  • Sumerians cracked world's oldest joke

    'I'm not saying my mother in law's...'

    UKTV has published what it claims to be the world's oldest joke - a Sumerian rib-tickler dating back to 1,900 BC which goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap." Yup, they were a laugh a minute, those cheeky Sumerians, and no messing. In second spot we …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 07:02

  • Blighty's nuke-power push stalled as EDF buy falls through

    Pension funds affect all our futures

    The British government plan to build a new generation of nuclear power stations is on hold, after French energy giant EDF's bid to buy the UK's existing nuke base was rejected at the last moment. Reports have it that the deal fell through after existing shareholders in British Energy - thought to be large UK pension funds - …

    Financial News 1 Aug 2008, 08:43

  • Toyota unveils Segway rivals

    Super stylish scooters soon to be seen on streets

    With the Segway’s popularity taking off around the world, Toyota has seen the opportunity and designed its own deceptively similar two-wheeled motorised transportation device. Toyota's Winglet: a Segway in disguise? Toyota’s machine is called the Winglet will be available in a 462mm high Type S model, a 680mm Type M option …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2008, 08:46

  • Google buys vid editing firm to spice up Youtube

    'You'll like it this time - promise'

    Google has bought Omnisio - a web video editing firm based in Palo Alto, California - which will be used to add extra functions to YouTube. Ominisio allows you to edit video clips and add captions and slide shows to footage. The company, which only launched publicly at the end of March, was backed by seed funding investor Y …

    Applications 1 Aug 2008, 09:01

  • Blu-ray to rule by 2011

    ...gotta go out and buy all my favourite movies again

    Blu-ray backer Sony has announced that the format’s likely to outsell DVD globally in 2011, with over 5m Blu-ray discs having been sold around the world this year already. According to a report by Digitimes, Tim Meade, Asia Pacific Vice President for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, said at a recent press conference in Taipei …

    Media 1 Aug 2008, 09:32

  • Foreign Office reports five data losses to Info Commissioner

    Our man in the corner

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has reported five significant data breaches to the Information Commissioner's Office in the last financial year, in total affecting less than 188 people. The losses have been disclosed within the department's resource accounts (pdf) for the year ending 31 March 2008. They show that in …

    Government 1 Aug 2008, 09:56

  • Electoral Commission criticises London e-counting

    'Significant concerns'

    The Electoral Commission has registered concerns over the electronic counting of votes in London's recent elections. It highlights a number of issues in a report on the elections for the mayor and the London Assembly. Among these are apparent discrepancies between the number of ballot papers recorded as having been issued and …

    Government 1 Aug 2008, 10:00

  • McAfee: Why we blacklisted SANS

    Analysis False positives almost unknown, claims SiteAdviser boss

    McAfee's SiteAdvisor security tool briefly blacklisted the respected SANS Institute on Wednesday. The incident highlights wider concerns about the reliability of the safe surfing tool. Websites including the main sans.org website, as well as related sites giac.org and sans.edu sites, were tagged as bad and given a red flag. …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 10:02

  • Worms spread via spam on Facebook and MySpace

    'Paris Hilton Tosses Dwarf On The Street'

    Miscreants have created a pair of worms targeting MySpace and Facebook users. Two variants of a new worm - dubbed Koobface - are the first to use social engineering sites to press-gang infected machines into botnets, warns net security firm Kaspersky Lab. When a user with an infected machine accesses his MySpace account the …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 10:06

  • Sony Ericsson W350i entry-level Walkman phone

    Review Retro-flip design and quality music player hits the right notes

    Checking into the Walkman phone range with a sub-£80 pre-pay price tag, the W350i’s appeal is built around its key music player features, a touch of slimline chic, and just enough eye-catching style. At 11mm thin and weighing 75g, it’s easy on the pocket as well as the eye, while the design reintroduces a retro-style flip …

    Phones 1 Aug 2008, 10:06

  • Northgate buys Anite Public Sector

    Northgate Information Solutions has bought Anite's local government and secure information systems businesses for £54.3m - minus £3.8m owed by the parent company to Anite Public Sector, and an unspecified amount left behind to grease working capital. Northgate is owned by the private equity house Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Press …

    The Channel 1 Aug 2008, 10:39

  • Treasury coughs £80m tax credit for R&D

    Eagle pulls small biz up by scruff of its neck

    The UK government will dish up an extra £80m a year in tax credits to encourage small businesses to invest in more research and development. From today (1 August) the total tax relief available to SMEs will be set at around £300m a year, said Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Angela Eagle MP. The government hopes that …

    Small Biz 1 Aug 2008, 10:51

  • US Congress to vote on in-flight mobile ban

    'HELLO? I'M ON A PLANE IN EUROPE! NO, IT'S AWFUL'

    US lawmakers could ground moves to permit in-flight mobile phone calls. New laws to permanently silence mid-air yammering will go forward to a vote in the House of Representatives. The Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act (HANG UP Act) was approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday. The …

    Mobile 1 Aug 2008, 10:54

  • BOFH: Server room secret panels

    Episode 26 This beancounter's asking too many questions...

    “It's a little... uh... large, isn't it?” one of our beancounters says as he scans the computer room in the new building during a site visit. “Optical illusion,” the PFY counters. “Machine rooms always look oversized when there's no kit in them. Take my word for it, once we install the racks and the cable trays the place …

    BOFH 1 Aug 2008, 11:02

  • US scientist commits suicide as Feds prep anthrax charges

    Overdoses weeks after previous suspect exonerated

    A senior US government bioscientist thought to be facing charges over the 2001 anthrax attacks has apparently committed suicide. The Los Angeles Times reports that 62-year-old Bruce Ivins died on Tuesday after taking a massive dose of painkillers. He had learned that the US Department of Justice was about to hit him with …

    Science 1 Aug 2008, 11:03

  • Trashman arrested for YouTube threats

    Baby food scare

    A New York man has been arrested after posting videos on YouTube claiming to have poisoned thousands of jars of Gerber baby food. Wearing a balaclava and vest, 42-year-old Anton Dunn allegedly claimed to have "disciples" working within the company who had put cyanide and rat poison in baby food and formula. The first ten- …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 11:10

  • Holographic Wii storage en route?

    Patent application points to holographic storage for the Wii

    Nintendo has already admitted that the Wii has a storage-related “issue”. But a patent application’s revealed that the firm could be considering a futuristic storage format as a solution to the problem. A drawing from the holographic storage patent An application to patent “Miniature flexure based scanners for angle …

    Storage 1 Aug 2008, 11:14

  • McAfee snaps up data loss prevention firm

    Playing leapfrog with Reconnex

    McAfee has agreed to pay $46m to buy data loss prevention firm Reconnex. The deal, announced Thursday and expected to close in the third quarter of 2008, follows a string of acquisitions in the data loss prevention (DLP) arena. Last year Symantec purchased Vontu for $350m, Trend Micro picked up Provilla and EMC took on Tablus …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 11:30

  • Westcoast rings up Avenir for convergence emergence

    The full mobile data shilling

    Westcoast is teaming up with a b2b telecoms distie called Avenir Telecom, so that it can offer IT resellers the full mobile data shilling. Avenir describes itself as one of the UK's biggest independent mobile distributors, with annual turnover of £50m. Its French parent company operates in seven European countries. Here, …

    The Channel 1 Aug 2008, 11:32

  • Late-breaking April Fool prangs snoozing Guardianista

    It must be true - it's on the Internet...

    Debate on the opening up of DNS allocation was today thrown into chaos, as the ruling council of San Serriffe put its foot down and demanded international recognition of its exclusive rights to ownership of the .ss top-level domain. "There is", thundered Lifelong President General Pica, "considerable value in the .ss domain. It …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 11:41

  • US customs: Yes, we can seize your laptop, iPod

    And what exactly do you plan to do about it?

    The Department of Homeland Security has outlined what we've all known for some time - that border agents are allowed to snoop through files on your computer, mobile phone or any other digital device. Officials can keep documents or computers, take them to an off-site location, copy the contents and share the data with other …

    Government 1 Aug 2008, 11:50

  • Apple 'jams iPhone-as-modem app'

    Updated No ad hoc Wi-Fi for you

    Apple has apparently put the blocks on an iPhone application that turns the device into a modem for a PC. Macrumours reports that Canadian software company Nullriver Inc. released the application, called NetShare, yesterday through Apple's iTunes store, but it was withdrawn within hours. Nullriver, best known for its Installer …

    Mobile 1 Aug 2008, 11:56

  • Microtronica sticks band-aid on UK ops

    Scan is The Man

    Here's a weird thing. The computer components distie Microtronica doesn't want to be a distributor anymore. Not in the UK, at any rate, where it has told PC builders that they must go to Scan Computers, the computer retailer, for their supplies. In other words, Scan will be a sub-distributor, saving Microtronica logistic …

    The Channel 1 Aug 2008, 12:00

  • Obama critical of Bush regime's bioterror fearmonger gap

    New thinking like old thinking, but more so

    In a speech on security policy a couple weeks ago, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama signaled that a change in administration probably wouldn't change the way the establishment views threats. "In a globalized world, the power to destroy can lie with individuals - not just states," the man said. This was supposed …

    Government 1 Aug 2008, 12:02

  • Robotic hand relief

    Turn on, slip in and...erm, cop off

    With the weekend approaching, many of you will be dreaming up ways to relax. Well, a robotic personal relaxation device is available that’ll help while away Saturday afternoon. For our male readers anyway. Tenga's Flip Hole: gives new meaning to handsfree The Tenga Flip Hole is an automated masturbator for men, which means …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2008, 12:05

  • IBM blows cloud computing foghorn

    Web 2.0 fluffers wanted

    IBM is building a $360m data centre to gain a bigger foothold in the increasingly crowded cloud computing services market. The firm’s latest information farm will be located at IBM’s Research Triangle Park facility in North Carolina. It’s hardly surprising to see Big Blue pumping big bucks into yet another cloudy data plant …

    Servers 1 Aug 2008, 12:34

  • Dutch vacuum salesman pumps Google for €1m

    Iron clogs stands firm over Knol.com

    A Dutch vacuum cleaner salesman is demanding a massive payday from Google in exchange for control of his company's web address, Knol.com. The advertising giant is aiming to end its heavy reliance on Wikipedia for useful search results by brewing its own web encyclopedia, Knol (it's short for knowledge, apparently). The new …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 12:38

  • Phoenix lander sucks up water on Mars

    Now, where are those organic chemicals

    NASA has extended the Mars Rover mission by five weeks after confirming it had found water in a soil sample on the rocky red planet. Evidence of water on Mars had already been picked up by the Odyssey orbiter, and Phoenix had spotted evidence of the sublimation of water last month. However, the space jockeys confirmed …

    Science 1 Aug 2008, 12:50

  • Is green storage a dead end?

    Greenery will choke storage suppliers

    The SCSI Trade Association website has run an article entitled The Data Center’s Green Direction is a Dead End by Steve Denegri. It argues that the storage industry is effectively in denial and that we need more energy, not less, for the health of our industry. Denegri is a storage consultant and financial analyst. His pitch …

    Storage 1 Aug 2008, 13:20

  • George Orwell joins blogging fray

    Daily musings of mighty writer imminent

    George Orwell's diaries are to be made available online as a blog, starting from next Saturday. The author, whose incisive and ominous political writing ensured his name's appearance in any piece of text with the words 'liberties' and 'civil' for all eternity, kept a journal between 1938 and 1942. The first entry will be …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 13:32

  • Greens: Abandon economic growth to beat CO2 offshoring

    How very opportune

    Environmental campaigners, citing government-commissioned research, have said that the UK's claimed carbon emissions figures are "a big lie". The analysis adds carbon burdens associated with offshore manufactures, shipping and aviation to the UK total, and - according to the activists - shows that economic growth and carbon …

    Science 1 Aug 2008, 14:02

  • Fujifilm quietly unveils an HD DSLR

    720p movies and 10Mp stills

    Fujifilm has quietly unveiled a 10-megapixel Digital SLR (DSLR) camera online, which integrates an HD video recording mode should you get bored of still image snapping. Fujifilm's S2000HD shooter In movie mode, the S2000HD camera can shoot at a resolution of up to 1280 x 720 pixels and records your motion picture …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2008, 14:03

  • Sun profits evaporate as darkness falls on US economy

    Investors run despite $1bn share buyback promise

    Sun promised to buy back $1bn worth of shares from stockholders today as it announced static revenues and a slump in fourth quarter profits. Revenues came in at $3.78bn for the quarter ending June 30, down 1.4 per cent on the year. Profits collapsed though, coming in at $88m, compared to last year’s $329m. This resulted in …

    Financial News 1 Aug 2008, 14:03

  • Firefox 3.1 vs IE8: 'Alpha, beta testers step forward, please'

    Just cautiously browsing...

    Microsoft is looking for additional testers for the second beta of its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser, while Mozilla has reached the first developer milestone of the next release of Firefox. The two firms have been feverishly pitting their browsers against one another over the past few months. On Wednesday, Microsoft …

    Applications 1 Aug 2008, 14:59

  • Rich data: the dark side to Web 2.0 applications

    With great programming comes great responsibility

    All web applications allow some form of rich data, but that rich data has become a key part of Web 2.0. Data is "rich" if it allows markup, special characters, images, formatting, and other complex syntax. This richness allows users create new and innovative content and services. Unfortunately, richness affords attackers an …

    Developer 1 Aug 2008, 15:02

  • Millions chose torrents over Radiohead's own site - survey

    You can pry my email address from my cold, dead hands

    At least 2.3 million people preferred to download Radiohead's In Rainbows from torrent sites rather than the band's own site, a survey this week reports, even though the cost was the same: Zero. The band has kept the "official" In Rainbows download figures a closely-guarded secret, but the research suggests that over 400,000 …

    Media 1 Aug 2008, 15:17

  • OLED video light switches?

    Tiny, tiny, tiny OLED screens running video

    If you’re often confused by the array of switches in your flat, then help is at hand. Push-buttons are going high-tech, because a manufacturer’s developed one with an integrated OLED display. NKK Switches' OLED switch The OLED SmartSwitch push-button measures 15.5mm x 11.6mm and provides full motion video, with a viewing …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2008, 15:25

  • Thales wins first UK ID card contract

    Gravy train starts here

    French defence provider Thales SA has won the first contract for the UK national ID card project. The Identity and Passport Service is paying Thales £18m over four years to design, build and test a National Identity Register to support the cards. The total cost of the project is disputed, but will run to several billion pounds …

    Government 1 Aug 2008, 15:47

  • John Glenn blasts Moonbase-to-Mars NASA roadmap

    First then oldest in Earth orbit says start from there

    Famed US astronaut and politician John Glenn has said that that NASA's planned return to the Moon will be of no use to a future manned Mars mission. "It seems to me the Moon is questionable as a way station," the former space ace and Senator told congressmen on Wednesday. "If that's what we're doing - which I don't believe it …

    Science 1 Aug 2008, 15:52

  • Nvidia waves goodbye to chipsets?

    More from the Taiwan rumour mill

    The web is alight with rumours that Nvidia has had enough of the chipset business and is poised to leave. According to unnamed Digitimes sources, Nvidia called a meeting earlier this week with motherboard partners, to gauge support for its continued chipset development. Chipsets are thought to account for about 18 per cent of …

    Hardware 1 Aug 2008, 15:54

  • Tardy Apple finally releases DNS patch

    Cache from chaos

    Apple has finally gotten around to defending against a high-profile Domain Name System flaw, days after security researchers called it out for dragging its heels on releasing a patch. The Mac OS X security update issued by Apple on Thursday defends against the infamous DNS poisoning issue, discovered by security researcher Dan …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 15:56

  • Expiring man vows Reg deathwatch

    FoTW Goodbye Cruel World

    It's ages since we saw any innovation in Flames of the Week. The noble art of the Hate Mail has been usurped by the Demented Comment. But here's something new. Someone who is so angry, they can't fill in their name properly in their email client. It exploded in response to the story FCC censures Comcast for doing its job From …

    Letters 1 Aug 2008, 16:09

  • Campaigners celebrate Comcastration

    FCC slaps cable giant

    As expected, the US telecoms regulator has censured Comcast for violating "net neutrality" principles laid down in 2005. And as expected, Comcast has strongly hinted it will challenge the decision, arguing that it violates the FCC's own rule making obligations. Commissioners Copps and Adelstein sided with chairman Martin in a …

    Broadband 1 Aug 2008, 17:23

  • Cuil confesses 'serious file corruption'

    The Worldwide Quantum Porn Pun Off

    Cuil - still pronounced "Cool" - has apologized for its quantum porn, blaming the incident on "a serious corruption of [its] files." After serving up random mid-masturbation graphics (NSFW) in response to searches for a Grenoble-based quantum computing researcher, the strawberry-and-muffin-fueled search engine now sees the …

    Applications 1 Aug 2008, 18:26

  • US Senate polishes new teeth for cyber cops

    Prosecution made easy

    The US Senate has passed a bill to strengthen the hands of federal prosecutors who fight computer crime by removing some of the more common hurdles in prosecuting online miscreants. One provision would eliminate a requirement that prosecutors prove illegal activity has caused at least $5,000 in damage before they can bring …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 19:25

  • Microsoft promises SP 'milestone' for Visual Studio 2008

    Slims for XP, data friendly for web

    First, it was Windows XP SP1. Then Windows Vista SP3. Now it's the Visual Studio and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, due by the end of summer. The connection? Microsoft's service packs keep growing in importance as a means of updating key products between official releases. Promoting the first SP for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET …

    Developer 1 Aug 2008, 19:48

  • Open Wi-Fi network wraps Mumbai man in bomb blast probe

    Shares IP address with war driving terrorists

    Indian police raided the Mumbai home of an American expatriate after someone used his open wireless network to send an email that took responsibility for a bomb blast that killed at least 42 people. Kenneth Haywood, whose internet-protocol address was included on an email sent just prior to the blasts, spent much of Thursday …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 20:31

  • Proprietary tech will dull blade server growth

    Beware of changes, says soothsaying analyst

    While gazing into its crystal ball, Gartner has reached a spectacular conclusion about the future of the blade server market: Proprietary hardware is a pain in the ass. The analyst house warns that although it expects blade servers to continue selling gangbusters for the next five years, a combination of rapid advancements in …

    Servers 1 Aug 2008, 22:46

  • Yahoo! shareholders! back! Jerry! Yang!

    Microhoo! Embattled CEO wins 85 per cent support

    Despite continued resentment over the aborted merger with Microsoft, Yahoo! shareholders have reelected the company's entire board of directors. At today's annual meeting in San Jose, each of the web giant's nine directors received the support of at least 78 per cent of the voting shares. Roughly 85 per cent backed CEO Jerry …

    Financial News 1 Aug 2008, 22:55

  • Apple DNS patch doesn't patch Mac clients

    Tiger, Leopard (still) wide open

    Apple was widely skewered for being among the last to fix a gaping security hole in the net's address lookup system that could allow the wholesale hijacking of users' internet connections. And now that the company has finally got around to issuing a patch, there's just one problem: it doesn't work on client versions of Mac OS X …

    Security 1 Aug 2008, 22:58

  • Privacy watchdog hoists Google by its own petard

    Spews Street View pics of Larry Page Lexus

    In an effort to prove that Google is a serious threat to the personal privacy of people everywhere, the National Legal and Policy Center has exposed countless Google Street View pics that detail what are likely the home, cars, and daily commute of top Google executive Larry Page. Responding to Google's addled defense of Street …

    Law 1 Aug 2008, 23:03

  • German medical team arms man, twice

    World's first double arm transplant

    Medical science has given a 54-year-old German farmer new hope to again indicate how large a fish he's caught by successfully fitting him with a new pair of arms. Munich University Clinic said doctors spent 15 hours grafting fresh limbs onto his body, in what they believe is the world's first complete double arm transplant. …

    Bootnotes 1 Aug 2008, 23:07