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16th September 2008 Archive

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  • Register Hardware Netbooks specs chart updated

    After publishing our Netbooks & Mini-laptops Buyer's Guide, we received a number of suggestions and requests about our Specs Table. We took them on board, and have now posted an updated version. The new table now includes size and weight listings for the Small, Cheap Computers originally included in the table. We also took the …

    Hardware 16 Sep 2008, 00:02

  • SQL injection taints BusinessWeek.com

    Hacked pages target MBAs

    Add BusinessWeek.com to the list of big-name sites felled by the mighty SQL injection attack. According to Sophos, the business news site has been infected with attack code that since sometime last week has been trying to install malware on the machines of those who visit the site. The attack affected hundreds of BusinessWeek. …

    Security 16 Sep 2008, 00:04

  • Black hats target Windows Media Encoder bug

    Quick on the draw

    Miscreants have wasted no time exploiting a critical hole in Microsoft's Windows Media Encoder. Just four days after Redmond released fixes for that flaw and seven others, security experts found attack code in the wild that preys on users who have yet to install the patch. Public attack code was published on the Milw0rm …

    Security 16 Sep 2008, 03:11

  • HP inching away from Vista's bad rep?

    Linux rumor floated, debunked

    With Apple's expanding Mac sales and other OS efforts suggesting to PC vendors that flogging non-Windows boxes isn't the kiss of death in the consumer space, Hewlett-Packard may be considering a life less dependent on Microsoft's operating system. BusinessWeek cites anonymous sources at HP claiming the tech giant is …

    Operating Systems 16 Sep 2008, 03:20

  • Gemalto glues DVD onto a SIM

    Green revolution in the making?

    Gemalto has started embedding a tiny DVD into the plastic card holding a new SIM chip, enabling Italy's Wind service to bundle 50MB of connection software and manuals in the same envelope as the SIM. It's not the first time a CD, or DVD, has been squeezed to credit-card size, but being one of the world's largest SIM vendors …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 06:02

  • Chinese manned spaceshot set for 25 September

    Third mission to include spacewalk

    China's third manned spaceshot is slated to lift off at 13:10 GMT on 25 September, New Scientist reports. The three-man jaunt will blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province atop a Long-March II-F rocket, following a six-month delay to the planned launch. Huang Chunping, rocket systems …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 07:12

  • Tandberg's RDX blockbuster

    Major success on its hands

    Tandberg Data looks to have a major success in waiting on its hands with the ProStor RDX QuikStor product - 90,000 drive docks have been sold in less than two years. ProStor's RDX is a removable cartridge containing a 2.5-inch notebook hard drive, up to 500GB in capacity, in a ruggedised case. It is slotted into an internal or …

    Storage 16 Sep 2008, 07:28

  • Investigators probe txt link to LA train crash

    Driver 'distracted by text messaging'?

    Investigators probing last week's Los Angeles train crash, which saw a Metrolink commuter train crash headlong into a Union Pacific freight locomotive, killing 25 and injuring 135, are probing the possibility that the commuter train driver may have been "distracted by text messaging moments before the crash". The Metrolink …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 08:54

  • NASA to sniff Martian atmosphere

    MAVEN mission go for 2013

    NASA has announced it will in 2013 send a robotic mission to Mars to sniff the Red Planet's atmosphere and gain insights into how most of it was lost. The $485m Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft - judged as boasting the "best science value and lowest implementation risk" of 20 mission proposals - will " …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 09:01

  • HMV keeps Warhammer-ers from goblins

    Obsessives won't get early access

    The much-anticipated Warhammer online launches Thursday, with those who pre-ordered the game getting access from Monday. But the true obsessives who bought the Collectors Edition had access from Sunday - as long as they didn't buy it from HMV. The purchase process is somewhat complicated, with customers able to buy a box …

    Media 16 Sep 2008, 09:27

  • NPIA extends Holmes 2 agreement

    Plod gets crimes enquiry system until 2011

    The National Policing Improvement Agency has added three years to its agreement with Unisys for the support of its major crimes enquiry system. It has signed a contract with the company, with a value of up to £12m, to provide support and maintenance under the Holmes 2 Software Supply Enabling Agreement. The agreement, which …

    Law 16 Sep 2008, 09:28

  • IBM shrinks virtual desktop storage

    Joins 3PAR and LeftHand Networks

    IBM is adding a space-efficient virtual desktop image storage capability to its thin client Virtual Infrastructure Access (VIA) services today, as part of its addition of VMware virtual desktops to existing support for Windows, Unix, and Linux, and mainframe application access. VIA, announced in February this year, is a …

    The Channel 16 Sep 2008, 10:15

  • Orange bundles free HP laptops with HSDPA deals

    Mobile-phone model

    Orange has bundled a trio of HP Compaq laptops and USB HSDPA 3G modems with new business-oriented mobile broadband airtime packages. The bundles are based around the Compaq 6735s, 6730s and 6730b, respectively tethered to £35-, £40- and £45-a-month subscriptions. Contracts run for two years for a total expenditure of £840, £ …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 10:22

  • DfT rounds up Road-Pricing 2.0 contractors

    Car-tagging pork barrel opened for early nibbles

    The UK government's rebranded road-pricing scheme took another lurch forward this week, as the Department for Transport announced the companies which will build pilot technology. The Financial Times reports today that the DfT has named T-Systems (part of Deutsche Telekom), Trafficmaster, Sanef Tolling of France and US firm …

    Government 16 Sep 2008, 10:24

  • Apple releases bumper patch batch

    DNS cache poisoning flaw finally fixed

    Apple has published a major security patch. Mac OS X 10.5.5 is the sixth substantial security update from the company this year. The patch cycle also includes fixes for version 10.4 of Apple's software. Both updates mend DNS security holes in older versions of BIND previously bundled with Apple's software. There are also …

    Operating Systems 16 Sep 2008, 10:25

  • Riverbed claims it will de-dupe primary storage

    Dam that data flood

    "Hey you storage vendors, listen up. We're gonna tell you how to deduplicate primary data." That's the message given out at Riverbed's Vision Day for financial analysts on Monday. The startling premise of Riverbed's in-development Atlas appliances is that you can strip out up to 90 per cent of the data stored in data centres …

    Storage 16 Sep 2008, 10:32

  • MS confirms European Xbox 360 price cuts

    About bloomin' time...

    Credit-crunch stricken gamers rejoice, because Microsoft has finally announced a long overdue European price cut for its Xbox 360 range. The software giant has confirmed that as of 19 September - this coming Friday - the Xbox 360 Arcade model will sell for £130/€180, £20 less than it costs today. Microsoft will also cut the …

    Games 16 Sep 2008, 10:33

  • HP ups its IQ

    Firm's IQ now at 800

    HP has broadened its IQ, with the unveiling of its latest addition to a range of touch-sensitive all-in-one PC-TVs. HP's IQ800: comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse The new IQ800 TouchSmart PC range, which consists of the IQ804 and flagship IQ816, rests somewhere between a TV and a desktop PC. It's a few steps up from …

    Hardware 16 Sep 2008, 10:41

  • VMware sets off another storage bomb

    We'll do storage management in ESX please

    VMware asserted its prime place at the front of the storage management line yesterday when it announced vStorage API set along with its virtual data centre operating system (VDC-OS). It is banking on these announcements at the opening of its VMworld conference yesterday putting it to the fore in becoming the location for …

    Virtualization 16 Sep 2008, 11:12

  • Scientists study near-death sensations

    Just put Leonard Cohen on shuffle

    Researchers on the AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) near-death experiences study want to include more UK centres in the project, in addition to boosting the number of European and US bases. The University of Southampton has already been conducting research into this phenomenon for over 18 months at selected hospitals …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 11:19

  • Mitsubishi eyes Middle Earth for 'early' electric car roll-out

    'Leccy Tech E-vehicle to be demo'd next year

    Mitsubishi's auto division is to demo its "zero-emission" electric car in New Zealand in a bid to see if the country's ready for 'leccy motoring. The i MiEV - it stands for Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle - will be shown off in Middle Earth next year. The timetable's a little vague: "sometime after February 2009", …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 11:21

  • HTC unveils 3G touch-phone, 2.5G alternative

    Edge? What's that?

    HTC has launched a handset offensive and unveiled two handsets at either end of the mobile phone technology spectrum. HTC's Touch 3G: has... well... 3G The Touch 3G and Touch Viva both use HTC’s established TouchFlo touch-sensitive UI, but while the Touch 3G – as the name suggests – enables HSDPA 3G connectivity of up to 7. …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 11:32

  • Safari Gears up for Mac fanboys

    Google dishes out support for Apple browser

    After months of development Gears is finally available for Apple’s Safari web browser. This is Google’s latest attempt to dig its nails into Microsoft’s proprietary software kingdom by opening its arms to the Mac brigade, who are perhaps more reluctant than most to run MS apps. Originally dubbed Google Gears, the online/ …

    Developer 16 Sep 2008, 11:39

  • RIM Blackberry Bold 9000

    Review Smart looks and a feature-full package

    Research in Motion's BlackBerry series has been trying to edge its way into the pockets of consumers for some time, and despite its hefty price tag, the new Bold could be its best attempt yet. It's certainly a stylish looker: all black and chrome with splashes of red for the keyboard numbers. Its appearance is smooth enough so …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 11:56

  • London Olympics gets IT chief

    Co-op man breaks tape

    The organisers of the 2012 Olympics in London have finally named the man who'll be in charge of overspending on implementing its IT strategy. Gerry Pennell will leave his current job as "executive director of business transformation and shared services" [nope, dunno either] at Co-op Financial Services to take charge of IT at …

    Management 16 Sep 2008, 12:02

  • Apple ARMs up iPhone

    LinkedIn blooper joins dots

    An Apple engineer updating his LinkedIn profile has let slip his work on an ARM CPU architecture for the iPhone, confirming the rumour that Apple is working on its own variant of the processor developed for the successor to the BBC Micro. The engineer is one Wei-han Lien, whose profile is now mysteriously absent from LinkedIn …

    Mobile 16 Sep 2008, 12:02

  • HP targets multimedia laptops at movie moguls

    Latest 18.4in HD behemoth

    HP has expanded its HDX range of notebooks with the addition of two “Premium” models aimed at multimedia junkies with an eye for style. HP's HDX Premium laptops include an HD 18.4in model (left) and a 16in one The HDX16 has an ample 16in, 1366 x 768 display, while the HDX18 has a larger, 18.4in display with a 'full HD' 1920 …

    Hardware 16 Sep 2008, 12:17

  • Lehman Bros chaps snog amid world economic meltdown

    CNN broadcast guyjacked

    As a stunned world struggles today to come to grips with the global economic catastrophe that is the collapse of Lehman Brothers, it seems that some of the investment bank's employees aren't quite as bothered as they should be: Childish, yes, but nicely done. We're sure the couple in question will be warmly embraced down at …

    Bootnotes 16 Sep 2008, 12:33

  • DARPA seeks sticky-goldenballs Casimir forcefields

    Levitating bakeware tech no longer pie in the sky

    Rogue Pentagon boffinry overlords have decided to weigh into a hot new crazy-science field: That of the mysterious Casimir Force, the tendency of nanoscopic, barely perceptible spacetime ripples - lapping at the edges of the "quantum vacuum" in which all matter exists - to push things together. Casimir stickiness, at present, …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 12:33

  • Confirmed: HTC's big-screen Touch HD smartphone

    Specs and pictures released

    HTC has finally broken its silence over rumours it’s developing a smartphone called the Touch HD. It has also confirmed what the phone’s specs are and even roughly when it’ll land in the UK. The Touch HD measures 115 x 63 x 12mm and is equipped with a 3.8in, 480 x 800 display. So although the phone has HD in the name, don’t be …

    Phones 16 Sep 2008, 12:34

  • Lehmans techies start job hunt

    As hard-up traders turn to eBay

    Lehman Bros techies chucked onto the pavement yesterday face a decent chance of sliding into new jobs quickly, which may go some way towards sweetening the bitter pill of not receiving a final pay cheque. The bank – in case you didn’t know – crashed spectacularly in the early hours of Monday. Staff turned unsecured creditors …

    Management 16 Sep 2008, 12:52

  • Lenovo slips into jam-packed SMB server market

    Uses Big Blue tech to rival Big Blue

    Chinese computer maker Lenovo is bigging up its newfound love for all things server-shaped with today’s announcement about its new ThinkServer product line. The company inked a licensing agreement with IBM at the start of this year to make and sell a range of x86 servers. At the time Lenovo was clearly making a play for the …

    The Channel 16 Sep 2008, 12:56

  • BT's secret Phorm trials: UK.gov responds

    Updated EU lawyers mull action

    The European Commission is analysing the government's explanation of why UK authorites have taken no action over BT and Phorm's allegedly illegal broadband wiretapping and ad-targeting experiments in 2006 and 2007. A spokeswoman for Vivian Reding's information society and media commission confirmed that a response to its call …

    Broadband 16 Sep 2008, 14:08

  • McDonald's serves up free Zune Wi-Fi

    D'you want fries with that Zune?

    Microsoft has served up a tasty treat for Zune users: free Wi-Fi access in thousands of McDonald’s eateries. The announcement means any US customer who’s splashed out on one of Microsoft’s recently launched Wi-Fi enabled Zune MP3 players, can now access Zune Marketplace – Microsoft’s version of iTunes – whenever they pass …

    Hardware 16 Sep 2008, 14:17

  • Dell falls hard on 'soft' sales

    That's gotta hurt

    Dell shares fell 8.3 per cent in early Wall Street trading today after the firm warned investors that it would see a “further softening” in computer sales this quarter. The vendor said in a short – though not sweet – statement that following on from its sobering Q2 fiscal results last month that Dell “is seeing further …

    The Channel 16 Sep 2008, 14:25

  • Street View operatives object to being snapped

    Edinburgh spycar crews fear 'reprisals'

    Edinburgh's Evening News has discovered that, when it comes to personal privacy, Google's Street View is a strictly one-way thoroughfare. The paper was alerted yesterday that several examples of the Orwellian spycar fleet were being prepared for action at a disused garage site in Drum Brae South. It duly dispatched a snapper …

    Bootnotes 16 Sep 2008, 15:02

  • PS3 and Xbox to get Wii-style Nunchuck

    Developer creates motion sensing unit for proper consoles

    A recently acquired gaming firm has unveiled plans to launch a motion-sensing controller that’s compatible with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In2Games' Gametrak Freedom controller In2Games today unveiled Gametrak Freedom, a handheld “ultrasonic 3D motion sensing” controller that enables gamers to play motion-capture games …

    Games 16 Sep 2008, 15:32

  • Ingram slashes profit outlook on soft market

    Business went on holiday and never came back

    Ingram Micro cast its own little shadow of financial doom today when it slashed its profit forecast after the market softness it had seen in July and August had persisted into September. The IT distributor had said back in July that it hoped to make sales of between $8.5bn and $8.8bn and net income of $52m to $61m in the third …

    The Channel 16 Sep 2008, 16:00

  • Unisys to craft its own X64 server virtualization

    Why not? Everybody's doing it

    Unisys says it will create its own brand of server virtualization on the Xeon Monster server it launched this week with partner NEC as well as supporting hypervisors from Microsoft and VMware. The mainframe and X64 server maker expects to deliver this virtualization in early 2009. The Unisys ES7000 Model 7600R server …

    Virtualization 16 Sep 2008, 16:31

  • GM shows off production electric car

    'Leccy Tech Volt face

    General Motors has formally unveiled the production version of the Chevrolet Volt, the auto giant's attempt to prove that electric cars needn't look butt ugly. Originally unwrapped at the Detroit motor show last year, the Volt won't go into production until "late 2010" for the US market. It's not clear when - or if - it'll …

    Science 16 Sep 2008, 17:01

  • Top adviser claims John McCain invented the BlackBerry

    Even though he can't send email

    Nine years after Al Gore said he invented the internet, the John McCain campaign has claimed that the email-challenged Republican presidential nominee "helped create" the BlackBerry. This morning, when asked what McCain had done as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that would show he has the chops to mend the nation's …

    Government 16 Sep 2008, 18:24

  • Cray, Intel, and Microsoft birth baby supercomputer

    Gigaflops for mom and pop shops

    Supercomputer maker Cray today announced a new desk-side, low-end, bladed office supercomputer in conjunction with chip partner Intel and software partner Microsoft. The new CX1 supercomputer is the first product to come to market after Cray tapped Intel as its future strategic chip supplier, dissing long-time chip partner …

    Servers 16 Sep 2008, 18:25

  • Adobe yanks speech exposing critical 'clickjacking' vulns

    Every major browser (and Adobe) affected

    In another event for the "internet is broken" files, two prominent security researchers have pulled a scheduled talk that was to demonstrate critical holes affecting anyone who uses a browser to surf the web. Jeremiah Grossman and Robert "RSnake" Hansen say they planned to demonstrate serious "clickjacking" vulnerabilities …

    Security 16 Sep 2008, 19:07

  • Cisco gives virtual servers virtual networking

    Plays nice with VMware

    Cisco has announced a virtual Ethernet switch running as a virtual machine (VM) under ESX that enables VMs to move from server to server and take their Ethernet connections with them. It is just one in a raft of Cisco announcements focusing on virtual and consolidated data centres under its Data Centre 3.0 umbrella. Cisco's VN …

    Storage 16 Sep 2008, 19:12

  • Mario and Eee PC Girl bust Best Buy profits

    Not a bad way to drop the bottom line...

    Best Buy's bottom line dipped lower than it anticipated for the second quarter, due to expansion and more folks purchasing less profitable wares such as notebook computers and video game consoles. But the slump was somewhat smoothed by strong sales from its lucrative mobile phone biz. America's top electronics retailer …

    The Channel 16 Sep 2008, 19:15

  • Apple gets first Air-look MacBooks from factories - analyst

    Launch imminent?

    Apple's contract manufacturing partners have begun sending the Mac maker new-style metal-clad MacBooks, it has been claimed. Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner told investors this week that he has confirmed that the new machines, which are thought to bring MacBook Air and MacBook Pro aluminium styling to the thus-far plastic …

    Hardware 16 Sep 2008, 19:55

  • NEC, Appro ink supercomputing pact

    High performance among friends

    Sometimes, when you want to take down a big kill, it takes more than one wolf to do the job. And so it is with specialists in the supercomputing market who are trying to make a stand against the incumbent and much richer general purpose server makers who have the lion's share of sales in the HPC space. One such specialist, …

    Servers 16 Sep 2008, 20:36

  • IMDb adds full-length streaming movies

    (Show your US ID card at the door)

    Internet Movie Database, the popular film and TV reference website owned by Amazon.com, has begun showing free streaming movies and television episodes for users in the United States. The site says it's added more than 6,000 feature films and TV shows courtesy of CBS, Hulu.com, Sony Pictures Television and about 500 …

    Media 16 Sep 2008, 22:52

  • Microsoft will show world+dog how to write secure code

    SDL for the masses

    After spending four years as an internal process for designing secure programs from the ground up, Microsoft's Secure Development Lifecycle could soon go mainstream. The company on Tuesday unveiled plans to help other organizations adopt comprehensive secure coding practices through three initiatives that will go live sometime …

    Security 16 Sep 2008, 23:37