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13th August 2008 Archive

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  • Google Android just five weeks away?

    T-Mobile asks $399, Google demands your soul

    This week, another unnamed source told TmoNews - a T-Mobile obsessed blog - that the American wireless carrier will offer up the first Android phone for pre-sale on 17 September. Back in June, sources told The Wall Street Journal that Google's currently closed open mobile platform could be delayed until 2009. But this " …

    Mobile 13 Aug 2008, 00:27

  • China's The9 earns epic loot from The World of Warcraft

    Practically gold farming in real life

    The owner of six of China's fastest privately-owned computers continues to rake in cash thanks to more than a little help from orcs and elves. Video game publisher and online operator The9 said today it posted $66.3m in second quarter 2008 revenue, an immense 69 per cent increase from the same period last year. The lion's …

    Servers 13 Aug 2008, 00:31

  • Dell offers glimpse of monster quad-core laptop

    No compromise spec, apparently

    Dell revealed its first quad-core notebook yesterday, a 17in monster that'll appear as part of its Precision mobile workstation line once Intel gets its four-core laptop chips out the door. You'll have to wait until the autumn, the chip giant admitted, but it's likely to find a fair few folk will given the tantalising glimpses …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 05:18

  • How poor crypto housekeeping left OpenID open to abuse

    Internet bouncer snooze leads to 'small earthquake'

    Slipshod cryptographic housekeeping left some OpenID services far less secure than they ought to be. OpenID is a shared identity service that enables users to eliminate the need for punters to create separate IDs and logins for websites that support the service. A growing number of around 9,000 websites support the …

    ID 13 Aug 2008, 06:02

  • Acer Aspire One gets official WinXP update pack

    Drivers ahoy!

    Acer has posted Windows XP drivers for its Aspire One mini laptop, allowing punters put off by the cheapest model's Linpus Lite Linux to switch to the more mainstream OS. Acer's Aspire One: now officially XP-compatible You'll need your own copy of Windows of course, but a trip to Asus' support site will now allow you to …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 07:49

  • Rude financial firms to pay, Ombudsman vows

    Distress grounds for additional compensation

    Delays, rudeness and poor claims handling are grounds for ordering financial services firms to compensate customers, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has said. Payments can be ordered in addition to other remedies. Whenever a customer complaint is upheld by the FOS, it will consider whether to make an additional award for …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2008, 08:45

  • OpenGL 3.1 promise follows gamer revolt

    Exclusive 'Just a little longer'

    Graphics and games engineers angered by the delayed OpenGL spec and threatening to adopt Microsoft's DirectX have been asked to hold out a little longer for promised changes. Neil Trevett, president of the cross-industry Khronos Group leading OpenGL, told The Reg on Tuesday that his consortium hoped to start the process of …

    Developer 13 Aug 2008, 09:01

  • Underage US gamers buying GTA: IV

    Or parents buy it for their kids to play

    According to a report by Game Daily, Nielsen Games questioned US GTA: IV gamers and found that 17 per cent of those who had purchased the game were between seven and 16- years-old. Of these gamers, 61 per cent claimed to have bought the game themselves, despite the title having a "Mature" classification - restricting it from …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 09:41

  • Brown's website is Web2.0tastic

    www.pants.gov

    Ten Downing Street has a new website, or rather blog. And it's hip. Based on open source WordPress code, the site ticks off every Web 2.0 word-bingo box - even claiming to be in Beta. It's got everything the kids want: A Flickr page, a YouTube channel, podcasts and even a Twitter section - "it's 10 Downing Street here! I'm at …

    Government 13 Aug 2008, 09:55

  • Forgot your ID? You must be a terrorist

    TSA added forgetful to terror database

    The US Transportation Security Administration has done a backflip on a policy of adding people who had forgotten their ID to its database of suspect fliers. The scheme kicked off in June, according to USA Today, the same time the agency officially declared people could not board planes in the US unless they showed ID. At the …

    Government 13 Aug 2008, 09:59

  • How good are open source phones?

    Q&A

    I was looking at the current Neo Free Runner as possibly my next phone as on paper it seems to have a lot of great features at a pretty good price - for a SIM-free handset. However, the software stack seems fairly incomplete. Has anyone any experience of using one, or has any idea of the sort of time-frame within which the …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 10:16

  • Retailer 'recalls' PSP Go!Cam

    Japanese supplier said to be worried about fire risk

    Some sale of Sony's PlayStation Portable’s Go!Cam have allegedly been halted over fears that the add-on could overheat and potentially cause a fire. Sony's Go!Cam: recalled by a Japanese retailer According to a report by PSP Fanboy, an unnamed Japanese supplier of the clip-on camera – which is called Chotto Shot in Japan – …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 10:18

  • The IT Crowd goes west

    Will they know it's a comedy?

    Cult geek comedy The IT Crowd, has been sold to a US cable channel and the scripts for the third series have been delivered to producers. Series creator Graham Linehan admitted on his blog that he'd cut the deadline a bit fine and so could do with some help in making the series look and feel sufficiently geeky. He said he …

    Entertainment 13 Aug 2008, 10:28

  • Duncan McIntyre severs ties with Morse

    Duncan McIntyre no longer works at Morse, the reseller he ran for 10 years until July 2007. That was when Morse demerged the sexier bit of the group, Monitise plc. McIntyre jumped on board Monitise as executive chairman, but retained a seat on Morse's board until last week, when he handed in his resignation. And how's this …

    Channel Register 13 Aug 2008, 10:39

  • VMware admits 'time bomb' rolled past quality control

    Glum CEO says 'we're sorry'

    VMware’s CEO has blamed a chunk of leftover pre-release code for a bug that yesterday prevented virtual servers around the world from powering up when the clock hit 12 August. Despite the company carrying out quality assurance of its product, VMware failed to spot that it had released the leftover bit of time-bombed code …

    Servers 13 Aug 2008, 10:50

  • Council IT provider's staff exposed back-room operations

    Taxi drivers, PCSOs shocked by windowsill sex romp

    Oldham council’s “preferred service provider” gave the whole community an eyeful when two members of staff serviced one another, unaware they were being watched by a crowd of 20 people. Two staff at the offices of the Unity Partnership in Oldham let themselves get carried away on Friday morning, the Oldham Chronicle reports. …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2008, 10:51

  • Windfall taxing big oil: how to make the gas crisis worse

    Election crowd pleasing = higher pump prices?

    There's something about the oil business that turns even intelligent people into frothmouthed loons: they're raping the planet, shafting Joe Sixpack or, from the other side, insisting that the drill in every back yard is the very definition of America. I realise that in the middle of an election that the small still voice of …

    Financial News 13 Aug 2008, 11:02

  • Nokia punts 'understated elegance' talker

    No bling? No problem!

    If you’re not swayed by handsets for the poser crowd, then how about a Nokia talker that it’s claimed radiates understated elegance? The external screen displays messages, calls and the time Although the 3610 Fold doesn’t boast the fine styling of HTC’s Touch Diamond or the functionality of the iPhone 3G, the Nokia device …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 11:21

  • 'Different' Dell to downgrade XPS brand

    Good news for Alienware

    Dell has confirmed its XPS brand is to be demoted to a sub-brand, used simply to mark out high-end Inspiron and Studio machines rather than as a product family in its own right. Mark Jarvis, head of Dell's worldwide marketing, said: "You'll soon see high-end Inspiron XPS [laptops] and high-end Studio XPS machines." Jarvis …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 11:24

  • Celio Redfly Windows smartphone terminal

    Review An expensive horse for a specific course

    A more focused variation on the pointless ill-fated Palm Foleo, the Redfly attempts to bring laptop/netbook usability to the humble Windows smartphone. The first thing that strikes you about the Redfly is the quality, it is a very well constructed and a nice looking bit of kit. Measuring 2.5 x 15.2 x 23cm and weighing 0.9kg, …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 11:29

  • Bumper Patch Tuesday plugs multiple Office flaws

    11 updates, six critical in latest Microsoft update

    Critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office star in the latest edition of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday updates. All told, Microsoft has released six critical patches and five patches described as important, addressing a total of 26 underlying vulnerabilities. All six critical updates address code injection risks involving Access …

    Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2008, 11:32

  • Symantec wins big in UK bootleg software case

    Essex distie coughs up £700,000

    Symantec today claimed its biggest win to date in Europe in a software piracy case. The software company received £700,000 in damages and costs from Nusoft Trading Ltd, an Essex, UK distributor of counterfeit Symantec software. Symantec sued Robert Waterman and Nusoftfor selling 35,000 bootleg copies of pcAnywhere. The court …

    Channel Register 13 Aug 2008, 11:55

  • Phorm secretly tracked Americans too

    Exclusive 2005 hot spot trials exposed

    Phorm has also deployed its behavioral ad targeting technologies in the US of A. Even before the London-based outfit first tracked thousands of British Telecom customers as part of its grand scheme to target online ads from inside the world's ISPs, it was "operating a number of public commercial services" on various stateside …

    Telecoms 13 Aug 2008, 12:02

  • eBay wins right to not police counterfeit goods

    Tat seller wins rights to tat

    A court in Belgium has thrown out a complaint by L'Oreal that eBay was not doing enough to combat sales of fake versions of the cosmetics giant's products on its site. The court ruled that eBay did not need to take proactive action to stop such auctions, although eBay was keen to say it does take down such auctions when …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2008, 12:13

  • Best Buy helps Apple put an iPhone under every tree

    First 'independent' US retailer

    Best Buy next month becomes the first “independent” US retailer to start selling the iPhone, as Apple looks to establish the shiny device as this year’s tickle me Elmo. The electronics store giant will start stocking the Jaysusfone in around 970 stores from September 7, Reuters reports, at price points of $199 and $299. …

    Mobile 13 Aug 2008, 12:14

  • Logitech docks daring mouse design

    Mouse sticks onto your laptop's lid

    Buttons aren’t revolutionary, but to Logitech they’re the next revolution in mice docking stations. Logitech's V550 mouse docks onto a tiny button The firm’s new V550 Nano Cordless Laser Mouse doesn’t come with an actual button - but it may as well do. That’s because the V550 docks onto a button-sized pad that sticks onto …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 12:18

  • iPhone 3G isn't necessarily

    Networks place the blame at Apple's door

    Eager punters cooing over their 3G iPhones are finding the third generation connectivity not quite what they had hoped, and according to some reports Apple's super-phone is failing to meet the requirements of the 3G standard. Apple took a lot of stick when the original iPhone lacked 3G, a decision that forced UK operator O2 to …

    Mobile 13 Aug 2008, 12:34

  • Criminals hijack terminals to swipe Chip-and-PIN data

    Police arrest two in raid on counterfeit card factory

    Sophisticated cybercrooks have developed a technique for tampering with the PIN Entry Devices on Chip-and-PIN readers to steal users' card details and PINs. Police from the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) recovered stolen PIN pads and hundreds of fake cards in a raid on a counterfeit card factory in Birmingham …

    Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2008, 12:39

  • World shocked (shocked!) by Legal P2P

    Old news sinks in

    Why does the idea of legal P2P - something music fans have been clamouring for since the original Napster - still cause so much confusion? Britain is set to be the first country outside Korea where punters will be offered such services (as we revealed back in June), but the idea still seems too incredible for many journalists …

    Music and Media 13 Aug 2008, 14:00

  • GTA slammed in parental poll

    Worse than beer and porno, say parents

    A poll’s discovered that parents are more concerned about their kids playing Grand Theft Auto during a sleepover, than over their offspring drinking beer or watching a porno. Parents are worried about GTA, and pot The poll of 1600 parents by What They Play – an organisation that claims to give parents an expert insight into …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 14:09

  • Ryanair cancels aggregator-booked tickets in escalating scraping war

    'Quicker and more effective than lawsuits'

    Ryanair has said that it will no longer honour bookings made through aggregator sites. The Irish budget airline said that cancelling would be quicker and more effective than lawsuits. Ryanair recently sued aggregation company Bravofly in the Irish courts, claiming that its 'screen-scraping', or automatic collection of …

    Law 13 Aug 2008, 14:21

  • PS3 DVR add-on launch delayed

    But £8 price cut announced

    PlayStation 3 fans hungry to get their hands on a PlayTV unit will have to wait just a little bit longer than expected, because Sony’s delayed the add-on’s launch date. PlayTV arrives in the UK next month The company has told Eurogamer that the unit will be launched in Blighty until 19 September, a date confirmed on the …

    Reg Hardware 13 Aug 2008, 14:56

  • Chinese network announces $14.5bn 3G plans

    Olympian outlay

    China Unicom says it will splurge $14.5bn on network infrastructure over the next two years, as the company rushes to deploy its 3G network. Not that the company has a 3G licence right now - that's still waiting for the government-inspired reorganisation of the industry that will see the best part of China Unicom merge with …

    Mobile 13 Aug 2008, 15:09

  • Cybercrime bust highlights PIN terminal insecurity

    Analysis Clear and present danger

    UK police arrests of a gang reckoned to have tampered with Chip and PIN entry devices to harvest PIN numbers and cardholder details have sparked calls to revamp the security of devices. Banking industry sources maintain that this type of fraud is rare but recent posts on underground forums suggest that the know-how on how to …

    Crime 13 Aug 2008, 16:16

  • Yelp 'pay to play' pitch makes shops scream for help

    User generated discontent

    When it debuted in July of 2004, Yelp reinvented the notion of online city guides, giving "real people" the power to write "real reviews." For many, it represents the best of something called Web 2.0, a site built by you and me and everyone else. But in its struggle to turn clicks into cash, the San Francisco startup has been …

    Small Biz 13 Aug 2008, 16:55

  • Windows XP crashes out of Olympics?

    Microsoft takes Blue Medal of disgrace

    Microsoft's Silverlight browser plug in might be in contention for PR gold for its streaming of Olympics 2008 content online, but Windows is letting Team Redmond down badly. The global audience tuned into Beijing's National Stadium got to see Microsoft's dirty laundry aired in public during the opening festivities: the Blue …

    Operating Systems 13 Aug 2008, 18:33

  • Three-alarm fire bakes Apple facility

    Building iBurnt, nobody iHurt

    A three-alarm fire scorched the roof and damaged offices at Apple's Cupertino, California campus late Tuesday evening. First reports of smoke began at about 10 pm Pacific Time last night. It took Santa Clara County Fire Department approximately two and a half hours to extinguish the blaze, which is believed to have been …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2008, 18:51

  • Security researchers' accounts ransacked in embarrasing hacklash

    'War' aims to shame

    On Sunday morning, security consultant Alan Shimel woke to discover that his personal blog, which is frequented by countless peers and reporters, was pointing to a website featuring explicit gay porn. Equally disturbing, he found someone had cracked open his Yahoo! Mail account and aired sensitive documents he filed with the …

    Enterprise Security 13 Aug 2008, 19:26

  • Google will eat itself in 202,345,117 years

    Click bots shovel stock into secret Swiss bank

    Update: After further investigation, it's likely the Google Will Eat Itself project is indeed ia hoax - though those behind it say that it's not. A band of wily European performance artists say that for more than two and a half years, they have used an ongoing Google click fraud scheme as a means of acquiring hundreds of shares …

    Bootnotes 13 Aug 2008, 20:18

  • XIV lands quietly on planet IBM

    Moshe, Moshe, how shall I thank thee? Shhh. Don't mention it

    Shhh. Don't tell anyone but IBM has announced its XIV extremely scalable storage system, the one acquired with the XIV purchase earlier this year, the one with the technology designed by Moshe Yanai, the originator of EMC's Symmetrix. Is there an IBM press release? No. There's just an IBM web page describing the "IBM XIV …

    Storage 13 Aug 2008, 20:20

  • Microsoft's data crunching baby hit with lawsuit

    Datallegro not so happy

    Datallegro, a data warehouse maker in the midst of being acquired by Microsoft, has received a lawsuit, claiming that Datallegro's current CEO aided the company in infringing on a key patent. Cary Jardin filed the lawsuit in a Southern California district court, alleging the abuse of a patent related to a "system and method …

    Law 13 Aug 2008, 22:44

  • Apple faithful snared in phishing scam targeting Mac.com users

    More MobileMe carnage

    Hundreds of Mac users have been snared in a phishing scam that coincided with the glitches in the roll-out Apple's MobileMe service. Data obtained by CardCops, a credit card protection service owned by the Affinion Group, shows sensitive information belonging to several hundred people with Mac.com email addresses being …

    Crime 13 Aug 2008, 23:26

  • NetApp thin provisions income in Q1

    Cultivated surge planned

    NetApp's earnings climbed 11 per cent during its fiscal first quarter 2009, but margins were thin due to growing interest in low-end storage and an investment "surge" that the company expects to pay off in the second half of the year. "Our new fiscal year got off to a good start, and our efforts to increase awareness and sales …

    Storage 13 Aug 2008, 23:50