1st October 2008 Archive

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Google stock in weird, spurious plunge to $200 mark

Price reset after Nasdaq Google-whack

For traders still reeling from Monday's massacre on Wall Street, it must have looked like manna from heaven: shares of Google for as low as $200. Alas, it turned out to be a cruel mirage after Nasdaq OMX, which operates the Nasdaq Stock Market, canceled a block of transactions in late trading and reset the closing price to $ …

Financial News 1 Oct 2008, 00:28
US House throttles citizen emails

Bailout fallout strikes out shout-outs

A full day after the US House of Representatives rejected a $700bn financial bailout bill, the House.gov website is still straining under an immense surge of internet traffic. Admins are now resorting to the quick fix of limiting emails from the public to prevent the House.gov website from crashing. The Chief Administrative …

Government 1 Oct 2008, 05:48
Becta says Web 2.0 motivates schoolkids

Go to library, open ~~Face~~book...

Over half of teachers in UK schools believe that Web 2.0 apps should be used in lessons, even though the majority of them have never used such resources in the classroom. Blighty’s education technology agency, Becta, spoke to 2,600 students aged 11 to 16 studying in 27 schools between August 2007 and May this year, many of …

Public Sector 1 Oct 2008, 06:02
UK console sales defy credit crunch

Big year-on-year rises

Console sales across the UK have boomed over the past 12 months, and Nintendo's Wii reigns supreme, according to the latest stats. Market watcher GfK Chart Track has revealed that, between September 2007 and September 2008, the collective installed base of all the big five consoles - that’s the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360, the …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 07:31
3 threatens, T-Mobile shoots on late payments

Tough talk on tardy mobile bill payers

Customers of UK operator 3 have started receiving text messages recommending they pay bills on time to avoid a late-payment fee - though the company tells us it has never charged anyone for failing to pay on time. The text message was bought to our attention by a reader, who contacted 3 but received confusing answers and …

Mobile 1 Oct 2008, 08:02
Apple faces iTunes case in Norway

Negotiations with Apple prove fruitless

The Norwegian consumer watchdog is still not happy with how Apple licenses music on its iTunes service and is taking the company to court. The main complaint is that much of the iTunes catalogue is only playable on Apple iPods. Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon is going to court in Norway after two years of fruitless …

Law 1 Oct 2008, 08:02
Ofcom: No premium numbers for previous offenders

Drafts naughty list

Anyone who has abused premium-rate telephone numbers in the past will be barred from using the numbers again, telecoms regulator Ofcom has said. Numbers beginning 070, 087 and 09 will not be available to anyone who has used phone numbers to take part in scams, frauds or other dishonesty, Ofcom said. The rules will not apply to …

Telecoms 1 Oct 2008, 08:46
Full-size Roman siege artillery offered on eBay

Ideal for seeing off local Vandals. Or Goths

Some may doubt the practical value of the typical item offered for sale at famed online megajumblemall eBay. This viewpoint will be either reinforced or shattered to rubble by the news that a full size, potentially serviceable piece of Roman siege artillery has now appeared for auction. 'At my signal, unleash Hell.' 'Sorry …

Bootnotes 1 Oct 2008, 09:14
BT claims UK broadband boost breakthrough

Filter-tipped technology

BT has blamed Brits' poor broadband speeds on tellies, lights and electrical wiring and the interference they all cause. All this noise gets in the way of broadband signals pinging around homes' phone extension wiring, the telco claimed. The interference is picked up by the bell wire, a third cable which runs alongside the …

Telecoms 1 Oct 2008, 09:18
TDK tunnels through hard drive areal density record

Achieves 803Gb/in²

TDK researchers have achieved an areal density record of 803Gb/in² potentially extending the life of current read/write head technology. The higher the areal density the more data can be packed onto a disk drive. According to reports, TDK hard disk drive (HDD) read/write heads boffins used a disk platter from Showa Denko K K …

Storage 1 Oct 2008, 09:26
Pint-sized 3M projector makes UK debut

3M's tiny handheld projector has been presented to the Brits. 3M's MPro 110: mobile-phone sized The MPro 110 measures a mere 115 x 50 x 22mm and weighs just 152g. It has a built-in battery that's good for 60 minutes' illumination, 3M claimed. The projector has a native resolution of 640 x 480 and can project onto surfaces …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 09:45
Phorm losses shoot up by half

Advertisers wanted

Phorm made a loss of $24.7m (£13.8m) in the first half of 2008 as it fought privacy advocates, lobbied to get politicians on side and tried to overcome technical problems dogging its ISP adware system. The firm's losses were up 52 per cent compared to the same period in 2007. It still has about £24.9m in cash reserves, mostly …

Financial News 1 Oct 2008, 09:52
Apple screws songwriters (again)

Threat to silence iTunes

Remember how the digital music revolution was supposed to tip the balance away from big record companies, and towards the people who actually create the music? A vignette being played out behind closed doors suggests that digital music companies are only too keen to ally with Big Music when it comes to screwing creators. At …

Music and Media 1 Oct 2008, 09:53
Next-gen Wii to be launched within three years

Sources talk HD console

Nintendo has begun showing off a second-generation Wii that’ll be officially launched before 2011, according to gaming sources. In a report by gaming website What They Play, “multiple sources in the game development and publishing community” have claimed that Nintendo is currently giving early presentations of its next console …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 10:20
US consumers flock to Mac laptops

One in three dollars spent on notebooks end up at Apple

That sound you can hear is Steve Jobs laughing after reading figures from US market watcher NPD that Apple laptops accounted for 20 per cent of retail notebook sales during July and August. That's the key back-to-school sales period, and it indicates that the MacBook family - expected to be refreshed any day now - has struck a …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 10:28
Home Office finally approves UK cybercoppers

E-crime unit gets green light but overlap worries remain

The Home Office has finally approved the creation of a central police e-crime Unit(PCeU), a year after the idea was first proposed. The cybercrime unit will be based at Scotland Yard and is expected to begin work early next year. The division will provide specialist computer forensics training and coordinate efforts to fight …

Policing 1 Oct 2008, 10:35
Vodafone compo confirms BlackBerry Storm incoming

'There's a storm coming.' 'I know.'

BlackBerry manufacturer RIM hasn’t confirmed the over-hyped Storm handset’s existence yet. But it's been confirmed which UK network the phone will land on, whenever it finally decides to remove the gag. Vodafone has launched a “Win a BlackBerry Storm” competition, giving panting punters the opportunity to bag RIM’s first …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 10:35
Telco compares merger to Challenger space shuttle

Remind me what happened to that again...

Top brass at Thus are celebrating their merger with Cable and Wireless by modestly telling staff through the medium of leaving large cardboard junk around offices that "a new era of telecoms" has begun. So far, so tedious consolidation. But an eagle-eyed Reg spy noticed their equally modest choice of metaphor - that of …

Telecoms 1 Oct 2008, 10:38
RM Asus miniBook Plus netbook

Review Asus Eee PC 904 HD rebranded

Oxfordshire-based RM has formed alliances with makers of Small, Cheap Computers to rebrand sub-notebooks for schools. Its latest is the RM Asus miniBook Plus, its moniker for the Eee PC 904HD. When it comes to IT products, schools look for a range of features, including portability and affordability. Little wonder then that RM …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 11:02
Stob latest: It was a cunning trick, says Open University

Pull the other one

Why does the Open University set its students gibberish, Verity Stob asked here recently? We decided to investigate. As our enquiries continued at the Open University, it became harder to find anyone who took the issue seriously. Two weeks into one of the modules in the OU's Comp Sci postgraduate course - M885 Analysis and …

Developer 1 Oct 2008, 11:14
Honda, Yamaha ready electric, hybrid motorbikes

'Leccy Tech Wheels o' steel

It's not just cars that are going electric - motorcyles are too. Honda and Yamaha are said to be readying battery powered bikes. Honda's also planning hybrid two-wheelers too. Honda's initial electric bikes will be 50-125cc models, as will Yamaha's. The latter will come to market first, a variety of Japanese newspapers report …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 11:27
Freesat notches up 100,000 sales

Not everyone's HD savvy though

Brits bought 100,000 Freeset set-top boxes in the five months since the free-to-air satellite TV service began broadcasting. But the firm’s warned that some people are still confused about its HD offering. Freesat, which launched in early May and provides a way for consumers to watch digital TV over a satellite link, was …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 11:31
UK banking fraud losses rise to £301.7m

More financial jollity

UK banking losses due to fraud in the first half of 2008 hit £301.7m compared to £263.6m in the same period last year, according to the latest figures from UK banking association APACS. Fraud abroad made up 40 per cent of total card fraud losses reaching £121.2m in the period, up 11 per cent of the £108.8m lost last year. That …

Crime 1 Oct 2008, 11:32
Yours truly, angry mob

Book extract Bringing Nothing To The Party: Cleaning up the net, one satirical vigilante page at a time

As the second dot com boom hove into view, journalist and self-confessed "arrogant little shit" Paul Carr decided he wanted in. Armed with several years of insider knowledge, very little money and a new suit, he and a motley band of believers took a running jump into the internet. Nothing could go wrong. Well, not much. Paul's …

Music and Media 1 Oct 2008, 11:41
SkypeOut goes mobile, Skype goes beta

Whither 3 now?

UK operator 3 is to allow Skype users to make international calls with their SkypeOut minutes, bypassing the operator completely, while the VoIP pioneer's desktop client continues its slow progress towards version 4 with a new beta release. Punters equipped with a Skypephone, or compatible handset such as an N95 or C902 on 3, …

VoIP 1 Oct 2008, 11:53
Postman Pat goes postal

Kids' classic gets high-octane makeover

Listen carefully and you may detect a mutter of discontent grumbling through the blogosphere at the news, sprung last week, that Postman Pat has had a 21st Century makeover. Out goes the loveable local postman, puttering unhurriedly through the Cumbrian countryside. In comes "high-octane", "energetic" Pat, who has been …

Entertainment 1 Oct 2008, 11:53
ITV gets adverts into video

Blue sky thinking

ITV is trialling technology to allow advertisers to insert logos within video footage - in empty spaces such as sky, walls or fences. The technology, provided by Californian firm Keystream, uses object and motion detection to search for suitable spaces to display the ads within video footage. It is currently being trialled …

Music and Media 1 Oct 2008, 11:56
Tiny MyCar named electric vehicle of the year

'Leccy Tech Be handy if you could buy it

No, we're not sure about the MyCar's looks either, but that hasn't stopped the electric two-seater winning GreenFleet magazine's electric vehicle of the year award. The Italian-designed MyCar is made in Hong Kong and offered in the UK by Nice - aka No Internal Combustion Engine. We say offered, though the £8995 motor doesn't …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 12:26
IBM delivers baby SAN

Share and share alike

If you are an SMB customer and you have taken a shining to Big Blue's BladeCenter S blade box, the company has a new and better storage option for you today than you had yesterday. Starting today, IBM is shipping a SAS-based storage area network inside the chassis as an alternative to external Fibre Channel SANs that are also …

Storage 1 Oct 2008, 13:02
Microsoft's application server goes Irish

Restful Dublin state

Microsoft is adopting REST and ATOM-based feeds in its application server to boost development and management of Windows server applications. The company is today expected to announce changes in Windows Server that'll see Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) updated to support stateful …

Developer 1 Oct 2008, 13:02
Hawaiian anti-LHC lawsuit thrown out

Beak bins botanist's bid to bust boson-botherers

Famous eccentric American botanist, lawyer and soi-disant physicist Walter L Wagner has failed in his bid to have the US courts close down the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The Hawaiian federal judges reportedly felt that the enormous 27-km proton deathrace track lay somewhat outside their jurisdiction, located as it is beneath …

Physics 1 Oct 2008, 13:16
Carphone Warehouse gets into games consoles, Macs

Exclusive Retailer readies 'Best Buy Europe' scheme

The UK’s High Street gaming retailers now have another competitor on their hands: the Carphone Warehouse has begun selling games consoles. Although CW hasn’t officially announced its roll-out of its in-store 'gaming walls' yet, a representative from a London branch confirmed the firm will sell consoles like the PS3 and Xbox …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 13:28
HP grabs hold of LeftHand Networks

Stronger competition for Dell/EqualLogic

HP has snaffled the last of the main independent iSCSI SAN (Storage Area Networks) suppliers by buying LeftHand Networks in a $360m all-cash deal. There were two pioneering iSCSI SAN companies: EqualLogic selling its own PS drive arrays, and LeftHand Networks whose SAN/iQ software aggregated direct-attached storage (DAS) on …

Storage 1 Oct 2008, 13:40
'Windows Cloud' to descend this month, says Ballmer

Microsoft prefers to 'obsolete ourselves'

Microsoft will let loose a new operating system, Windows Cloud, at the company’s annual developer conference later this month. Boss Steve Ballmer announced Redmond’s plans at a Software plus Services partner event in London this lunchtime. He playfully gave the OS the temporary name of Windows Cloud. Apparently, we’ll learn …

Operating Systems 1 Oct 2008, 13:53
Senators push for restrictions on laptop searches

Probable cause, please

Three US senators are pushing the "Travelers Privacy Protection Act" to restrict the right of US customs to search or seize laptops, iPods and other digital devices. At present, customs officers can demand you turn on your laptop and provide a password so they can have a snoop through files. They can also seize devices to …

Government 1 Oct 2008, 13:59
Ballmer: MS not getting into handset biz

So much for the Zune phone...

Windows Mobile seems to be as far as Microsoft’s willing to delve into mobile phones. The firm’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has denied it’s planning to start making handsets. According to a Reuters report, Ballmer said today that he doesn’t anticipate the firm developing a phone. “Sorry, we are not going to build one,” he said. Of …

Reg Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 15:07
Barclays online banking falls offline

Pale blue screen of inactivity

Barclays Bank online banking service has been mostly unavailable today due to 'technical issues'. The Bank was unable to provide any further details as to what had caused the outage. Vulture Towers has received several emails today and earlier this week from unhappy customers. A spokesman told the Reg: "There have been …

Financial News 1 Oct 2008, 15:22
Microsoft promises, fails to keep things simple for partners

'Evolution is not an easy route'

Microsoft today tried to convince UK channel partners that it’s working hard to simplify its licensing terms, but many resellers have grumbled that the firm hasn’t gone far enough yet. MS director of emerging technology, Gurprit Singh, who was speaking at the company’s partner event in London this morning, told the gathered …

Channel Register 1 Oct 2008, 15:31
Ransomware author tracked down, but not nicked

Is Russia soft on cybercrime?

The Russian VXer who created the infamous Gpcode ransomware Trojan has been identified - but an early arrest isn't likely. With cybercrime way down the priority list in Russia, the malware author - known to the police after security firm Kaspersky Labs winkled out a likely IP number for him - is liable to remain at large for …

Crime 1 Oct 2008, 15:38
What does the offshoring backlash tell us?

Reader Poll Making the most of distributed resources

We’ve had some great responses back on the article we posted earlier in the week, about how software development is becoming increasingly distributed with the twin prongs of outsourcing (vs keeping things in-house) and offshoring (vs keeping things local). Unsurprisingly perhaps, the most spleen is vented on failed offshore …

Workshop 1 Oct 2008, 16:17
Sprint threatens P2P throttling on WiMAX

Like Comcast (without the lies)

Sprint has reserved the right to limit the bandwidth of P2P file sharers on its brand new broadband wireless network.. According to the "acceptable use and network management policy" for the thing called Xohm, the company "may use various tools and techniques designed to limit the bandwidth available for certain bandwidth …

Wireless 1 Oct 2008, 17:12
Apple scraps iPhone NDA

Jobsian reality check

Apple is scrapping its controversial and unpopular "fucking" iPhone non-disclosure agreement (NDA). The company said it's tearing up its existing agreement with members of the iPhone developer program and has promised a new contract minus NDA "within a week or so." Apple's NDA has infuriated developers and frustrated authors …

Mobile 1 Oct 2008, 17:13
IBM blades and racks get all-you-can-eat VMs

Yes, you do need Datacenter Edition

IBM is now offering customers who buy its System x rack servers and BladeCenter blade servers the option of bundling Microsoft's Windows Datacenter Edition. This may seem like hitting a gnat with a cinder block, but it makes sense: Datacenter Edition allows for unlimited virtualization. Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition can …

Servers 1 Oct 2008, 18:02
Blizzard awarded $6m in WoW bot case

Glider crash and burn

World of Warcraft creator Blizzard Entertainment won a $6m judgement from the maker of a software bot that allows users to play the wildly popular game while away from their computers. MDY Industries was ordered to pay the sum last week, following a court finding in July that its distribution of the Glider bot infringed …

Law 1 Oct 2008, 18:09
Amazon plugs video leak flaw

Adobe handkerchief solves streaming snafu

Amazon has plugged a potentially revenue-draining flaw in its video streaming service by incorporating content encryption. Previously, elements of the service - powered by streaming media server technology from Adobe - relied on video player instructions to control how content was delivered. That left a loophole. Tests by …

Security 1 Oct 2008, 18:37
Amazon turns Windows against Ballmer's cloud

Unix not the only fruit

Amazon's Elastic Computer Cloud (EC2) will let you run applications on Microsoft's Windows Server and SQL Server database from this autumn. The ability to run Windows on EC2 has been one of Amazon's "most requested features" the company said. Amazon added its goal is to support "any and all" programming models, operating …

Applications 1 Oct 2008, 18:47
Emails show journalist rigged Wikipedia's naked shorts

Overstock's Byrne vindicated amidst economic meltdown

Two and a half years ago, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne penned an editorial for The Wall Street Journal, warning that widespread stock manipulation schemes - including abusive naked short selling - were threatening the health of America's financial markets. But it wasn't published. "An editor at The Journal asked me to write …

Music and Media 1 Oct 2008, 19:41
TSMC, IBM gang trumpet 28nm chip recipes

Will AMD throw in the fab?

Chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company said this week that it will be rolling out two different 28 nanometer chip making processes in 2010. At the same time, IBM and its chip partners outlined their plans for competing 32 nanometer and 28 nanometer circuits. Transistor geeks are wallowing in the details of the …

PCs & Chips 1 Oct 2008, 20:42
DoS attack reveals (yet another) crack in net's core

Self-trashing TCP exploit

Security experts say they have discovered a flaw in a core internet protocol that can be exploited to disrupt just about any device with a broadband connection, a finding that could have profound consequences for millions of people who depend on websites, mail servers, and network infrastructure. The bug in the transmission …

Security 1 Oct 2008, 22:04
French boffin: Mac Pros emit toxic fumes

Hi, I'm vaporize benzine

A French newspaper is claiming some Mac Pro owners are at risk of developing leukemia and other ills from breathing in toxic materials emitted from Apple's top-of-the-line PCs. According to Paris newspaper, Libération, an odd odor given off by some Mac Pros could be the result of several toxins used in the machines, including …

Hardware 1 Oct 2008, 22:50
WebKit passes third Acid test

Recovers from trip

WebKit - the framework that underpins Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome browser, and its Android phone platform - has become the first browser to pass the full Acid 3 test. The Acid tests are designed to check how compliant a browser is with the web standards laid down by the Web Standards Project (WaSP). Acid 3, reckoned to be …

Applications 1 Oct 2008, 22:53
Hackers penetrate South Korean missile manufacturer

Blueprints stolen (possibly)

Black hat hackers were able to steal information from a South Korean missile manufacturer after planting malicious code on the company's computer system, according to news reports. According to the country's National Security Research Institute, the code was installed on the computer network of LIGNex1 Hyundai Heavy Industries …

Crime 1 Oct 2008, 23:41
Microsoft sneaks out Silverlight 2

Release candidate stealth

Microsoft has come a step closer to releasing the next version of its Silverlight browser plug in. With all eyes on an official release of Silverlight 2.0 around the company's Professional Developers' Conference (PDC) this month, Microsoft has issued the first runtime and tools release candidates. The Silverlight 2.0 package …

Developer 1 Oct 2008, 23:56