3rd October 2008 Archive

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Nintendo DSi's battery life shorter than DS Lite's

Not up to snuff?

It’s emerged that the upcoming Nintendo DSi handheld console won’t sport the same battery life as its predecessor, the DS Lite. According to figures from website Kotaku, the DSi’s battery life is shorter across all available levels of display brightness. For example, the DS Lite will run for between 15 and 19 hours when the …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 00:02
3Tera in virtual Windows server mating call

AppLogic does Microsoft

When 3Tera was launched back in 2004, one of the big buzzwords was utility computing, which had just trumped grid computing as the hot new thing. Today, we have cloud computing, and that's the word so many companies - including 3Tera - are wrapping their marketing efforts around. But 3Tera and its AppLogic virtual infrastructure …

Servers 3 Oct 2008, 00:02
Apple royalty skirmish ends in stalemate

iTunes shutdown threats no more

Apple's fight against paying songwriters has ended in a stalemate today. The US Copyright Royalty Board rejected raising online royalty rates for song publishers — effectively ending Apple's threats that it would shut down iTunes if the song composer share was increased from 9 cents per song to 15 cents. The rate has now …

Music and Media 3 Oct 2008, 00:11
Microsoft gives users six months longer to flee from Vista

Buckling to OEMs?

Never mind that Microsoft has kicked off a hyped ad campaign to convince the public to buy Windows Vista PCs, - it's also given users more time to switch back to Windows XP. OEMs have been given an additional six months to sell PCs running Windows Vista with the ability to downgrade to Windows XP using an accompanying recovery …

Channel Register 3 Oct 2008, 00:35
Defrauded punter says 'catflaps' to PayPal marketing stunt

Unwelcome doormat gimmick slips up

A PayPal marketing gimmick has sparked the ire of an online merchant, who reports he was left out of pocket as a result of fraud involving the online payment service. Ian Ferguson's firm was one of 2,000 UK recipients of a doormat bearing a jolly print of 'Unwelcome'. The mats were sent to would-be business clients as part of …

Crime 3 Oct 2008, 06:02
Credit crunch hitting IT mergers

Deals drying up as advisers disappear

Spending on technology mergers and acquisitions fell by one third compared to the same three months of last year from $58bn to $37bn. Big deals suffered even more than smaller ones - there were only six deals worth more than $1bn between July and September, compared to 11 in the same period last year and 22 such deals in the …

Financial News 3 Oct 2008, 08:24
Fossett aircraft contains 'minimal' human remains

But enough to provide a DNA sample

Investigators probing the crash site of Steve Fossett's Bellanca Super Decathlon - in mountainous terrain near the town of Mammoth Lakes, Mono County, California - have confirmed the wreckage contains "minimal" human remains, but sufficient for DNA identification. Fosset took off on 3 September 2007 from hotelier Barron Hilton …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 09:11
Thomas Crown blagger recruits decoy dupes on internet

Identi-dress Craigslist flashmob caper foils plods

A crafty bank robber in America made a Thomas Crown style escape from the scene of his crime by recruiting a crowd of unsuspecting identically-dressed accomplices on the internet. King5.com reports that the well-organised villain struck as an armoured van was picking up cash from the a Bank of America branch in Monroe, …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 09:46
BT's Phorm small print: It's all your fault

'Daddy needs to tell you about an exciting new service called WebWise'

BT subscribers who are invited to take part in its new trial of Phorm's internet monitoring and advertising system will be responsible for telling anyone who uses their computer that they could be being tracked online - whether they opt in or not. In the updated Total Broadband terms and conditions for the trial, BT washes its …

Telecoms 3 Oct 2008, 09:47
Sony revamps e-book Reader with reading lamp

Manuscripts illuminated

Having just released its second-generation e-book reader in the UK, Sony has now introduced the third version in the States. Sony PRS-700 Reader: it was a .doc and stormy night... The PRS-700 won't go on sale until next month, but when it does it will sport a 6in E Ink display and enough memory for 350 e-books - up from the …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 09:53
Finally launched: Nokia's iPhone beater

Tube debuts at last

Nokia has finally launched one of the world's worst kept secrets: its would-be iPhone killer, the Tube. Nokia's XpressMusic 5800: GPS, Facebook, a camera, music, the works... Officially called the 5800 XpressMusic – something else that was already widely known – the curvaceous communicator sports a 3.2in touchscreen and the …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 10:07
Thunderbird 3 release has wings clipped

Schtop. This email client is not ready yet

Mozilla has pushed back its development schedule for Thunderbird 3, the next version of its email client. A planned beta of the package will now be described as a third alpha build. The first beta of Thunderbird 3 was due to come out at the end of September. It would have been followed by a second in November and a release …

Applications 3 Oct 2008, 10:31
Axon tells Infosys to put up or shut up

Bidding war for SAP firm

Axon has told Infosys it needs to increase the £400m offer it made for the firm or risk losing out to a rival bidder. At the end of August Indian giant Infosys offered £407.1m to buy UK-based services outfit Axon Group, and Axon's directors recommended that shareholders accept the offer. But yesterday they changed their minds …

Channel Register 3 Oct 2008, 10:37
Artist to smoke Cobain's ashes

Smells like... hey, is anyone else hungry?

An artist claims to have made a spliff containing the remains of raspy blond grunge genius pin-up martyr Kurt Cobain. The Graunida coughs that Aussie-born Natascha Stellmach, currently exhibiting at Berlin's Galerie Wagner + Partner, plans to sneak the fat one into a secret location in the city and have a good old toke as the …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 10:41
Venturi shows eight-motor electric sportster

'Leccy Tech Hand-made in Monaco

Gallic moteur maker Venturi has taken the wraps off the result of its co-development effort with tyre company Michelin: un sportster electrique avec two motors in each wheel. Venturi's Volage: hugs the road, actively The four-wheel drive Volage uses one motor for drive, the other for "active" suspension that makes for " …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 10:44
Phoenix Lander listens to Mars murmurings

Crackly space earful imminent

What would you hear if you were on Mars? A slight hiss from whatever wind there might be and then your own death rattle, probably - but the Phoenix Mars Lander is aiming to find out what other sounds the red planet has to offer. The Lander has a microphone, fitted as part of an imaging system that was going to take photos as …

Space 3 Oct 2008, 10:51
BOFH: The Mandelboat virus

Episode 32 A handy excuse

If there's one thing a lifetime in computing teaches you, it's how to cover up your mistakes... "Oopsy," the PFY says in a casual tone mid-keypress - the sort of casual tone which, by its very casualness, means it's not casual at all. "What did you do?" I sigh, fully expecting to hear that some poor user now has a vast …

BOFH 3 Oct 2008, 10:52
Nintendo gets chatty with WiiSpeak

You speak, we Wii speak, we all speak together

Nintendo has been busying itself lately with the launch of the DSi, but the gaming giant hasn’t forgotten the Wii and is planning to launch a console-based communications channel. WiiSpeak: chat with gamers through the Wii According to numerous online sources, the channel will be called WiiSpeak. It’ll require gamers to …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 10:53
Dell Latitude E6400 14in business laptop

Review Dredd-ful new design?

Dell supplied us with a Latitude E6400 set up for German use. Appropriate given the laptop's design that seems Teutonic in its slab-like seriousness. The other word it brings to mind is "ThinkPad". Let's have a quick look along the Latitude's straight lines and angles, all free from the fripperies of curves. Like the IBM …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 11:02
Revealed: How Street View marks its territory

Google cocks its leg on South London fence

Those of you who might have wondered just how Google maintains its global supremacy in privacy-busting black ops, and prevents usurpers deploying snoopmobile fleets of their own to photograph the entire planet for exposure to the unwashed masses, might be surprised to learn that the method owes little to hi-tech and more to …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 11:24
Virgin rejects $1m space sex offer

No grumble flick shoot aboard SpaceShipTwo

Virgin Galactic has rather churlishly rejected a $1m offer to allow an unnamed company to shoot a zero-grav grumble flick aboard its SpaceShipTwo vehicle - thereby depriving science of crucial research into how humanity might procreate during the very long haul to the nearest Earth-like planet once we've finally screwed this …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 11:53
BT plots massive Openreach outsourcing deal

Exclusive Engineers could face open exit

BT is secretly considering outsourcing the operation of its heavily regulated and unionised network access division Openreach, sources have told The Register. Major outsourcers are currently preparing bids for what would be a multi-billion pound contract. It's understood that EDS and Alcatel-Lucent are among the contenders. …

Telecoms 3 Oct 2008, 12:01
How the fate of the US economy rests on a Dell workstation

Quick, someone send Bernanke a supercomputer

The global economy is teetering on the brink of disaster. So, you might think the quants and smart-alecs of the financial industry would have a giant supercomputer humming away somewhere, processing zillions of what-if scenarios per second and sucking in all manner of real-time economic data from the global markets and …

Financial News 3 Oct 2008, 12:02
Spice up your swim, with music

Waterproof headphones and cases

Let’s face it, swimming lengths in the local pool is boring. So why not liven things up with a splash of music? H20 Audio's waterproof cans, with gold-plated jack H2O Audio has launched a pair of waterproof headphones to do exactly what’s said on the tin: deliver music to your ears while you're immersed in the pool, the …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 12:15
Leadtek readies Cell-based video processing card

Will not turn your PC into a PS3

Graphics card maker Leadtek has demo'd an add-in card equipped with Toshiba's QuadCore HD graphics chip, the Cell-derived part also known as the SpursEngine SE1000. It's been showing the single-slot PCI Express card, called the WinFast PxVC1100, at the CEATEC show in Japan. Leadtek's talking about the product as a video- …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 12:16
Sony Ericsson zooms in on cameraphone tech

Move in to zoom in, move out to zoom out

A Sony Ericsson patent application has been unearthed that describes the firm’s idea for making camera-phones much easier to use. SE's camera tech could revolutionise zooming The application describes how, instead of manually pressing zoom buttons, the user would simply extend their arm or step towards their photographic …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 12:47
PC market defies credit crunch

HP bests Dell once again

HP topped the pile in the PC market in the second quarter this year, growing by 19.6 per cent and shipping 13.4 million PCs and notebooks. It nabbed 19.1 per cent of a market which grew 14 per cent year-on-year to total sales of 70.2 million units, despite the global economy faltering around it. HP has led the PC market since …

Channel Register 3 Oct 2008, 12:54
Skype admits Chinese privacy breach

Text messages tapped as well as censored

VoIP outfit Skype has admitted that surveillance was carried out on instant messages sent using the service in China, blaming local partner TOM Online for the eavesdropping. The eBay subsidiary said that it only discovered this week that a text-filter used to block conversations containing sensitive keywords had been altered …

Security 3 Oct 2008, 13:01
Roll up for the freetard smackdown

Reader Offer El Reg infiltrates the UK's top cultural jaw-jaw

Next Thursday, 9 October at 7pm, our very own Andrew Orlowski will be tackling the perennial issue of digital piracy - live and dangerous at the highbrow Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. He'll be taking on New Media consultant Matt Mason, author of The Pirate's Dilemma (How Youth Culture Reinvented Capitalism), …

Music and Media 3 Oct 2008, 13:02
Eidos serves up ghoulish gaming treat

Monster Lab videogame launched

With Halloween just around the corner, videogame publisher Eidos has decided to put the frighteners on Wii and DS gamers by launching a ghoulish game. Stich together your own creature in Monster Lab Monster Lab is described as a “RPG action game” in which you take on the role of an apprentice scientist who creates his very …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 13:19
DRM-hating eMusic chief quits

Farewell David Pakman

David Pakman, CEO of eMusic, will leave the subscription service at the end of the year. Pakman explained his departure on Monday, and yesterday disclosed that his next destination would be VC firm Venrock. Pakman championed DRM-free music, viewing the measures as anti-consumer. This has been a phenomenon, along with his …

Music and Media 3 Oct 2008, 13:21
Tri-corders, alpine oxy-pills: Acropocalypse at DARPA

NEW-HOTNESS to replace OLD&BUSTED

It's been a busy few days for the renowned US military crazytech research bureau, DARPA*. The Pentagon wack-profs have announced plans to develop a new drug which will acclimatise troops to thin mountain air very fast, and unveiled plans to make small, portable magnetic-resonance Tricorder-style scan gizmos. They have also …

Science 3 Oct 2008, 13:48
Spam swine break next-gen CAPTCHAs

Hotmail, Gmail and kitchen-based checks all neutered

Spammers have reportedly defeated revised CAPTCHAs from both Google and Microsoft. Worse, miscreants intent on establishing online webmail accounts to bombard us all with useless stock tips and penis pills have also broken other forms of verification system designed to tell humans and computers apart, such as kitten-based …

ID 3 Oct 2008, 14:25
Reg readers: Distributed software development is hard

Poll results But is there hope?

The Reg reader poll run earlier this week as part of our agile development workshop produced a set of results that do not paint a particularly inspiring picture. When asked how distributed software development was managed within organisations, almost half told us things were not that great. About a third gave feedback indicating …

Workshop 3 Oct 2008, 14:42
Barclaycard follows Barclays offline

Different systems, same problems

After Barclays customers suffered serious login problems earlier this week, Barclaycard customers are now struggling to use their online service. Problems at the credit card provider began last week with its online system crippled in a two-day total outage, and the login for cardholders is still having difficulties. Many …

Financial News 3 Oct 2008, 14:47
Sega to launch PSP beater in 2009

Exclusive Upcoming handheld games, music, video player spied in the wild

Sega will next year launch a portable media player boasting enough functionality to threaten Sony’s PlayStation Portable, the Register Hardware can exclusively reveal. Sega Vision: up to eight entertainment features The PMP is to be called the Sega Vision and it’ll work as a videogames machine, in addition to playing films …

Reg Hardware 3 Oct 2008, 14:51
EMI's Sadville man focuses Incoming Brain

Buzzword Bingo

Cheer up, EMI investors. The company's "incoming brain" is focussed on "the niches". That's the inspiring message from EMI's new head of digital strategy, Cory Ondrejka. Cory is the man EMI hired away from Sadville, the loss-making online game that's not a game, renowned for its pervs, pyramid schemes and flying penises. …

Music and Media 3 Oct 2008, 14:52
Commentard completely loses the plot

FoTW Weighs into Reg readers, fists flying

There was time when incoherent rage was directed solely at we poor Reg hacks, long before the days of Democracy 2.0 and our ill-advised decision to allow the hoi polloi to chip their two bits' worth into the hotly-debated topics of the day. Well, we're delighted to offer you this crisp autumn afternoon an outburst worthy of …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 15:14
Apple shares plunge after Jobs 'heart attack'

Citizen ~~journalism~~ twaddle

Apple shares fell as much as 5.4 per cent this morning after a report on CNN's "citizen journalist" web site said Steve Jobs had suffered a major heart attack. According to Bloomberg, the computer maker/cult denied the report, and shares promptly rebounded. At last check, they sat at $104.51, up 4.4 per cent in trading on the …

Financial News 3 Oct 2008, 17:02
Hackers exploit Neosploit to booby trap BBC, US postal service

200K login credentials found on crimeware server

Cybercrooks have used the latest version of Neosploit to booby-trap an estimated 80,000 legitimate sites with malicious code. Victims of the attack include government, Fortune 500, and a weapons manufacturing firm, according to Ian Amit, director of security research at Aladdin Knowledge Systems. Amit said victims of the …

Security 3 Oct 2008, 17:24
Sudden outbreak of democracy baffles US pundits

Comment That didn't last long

Something very spooky happened in the United States last week. The chances are you noticed it too, many days before it was reported. Tuesday found me in New York, on my first stateside visit in a couple of years. The details of the Bailout plan had just been revealed and the slow burn of outrage was apparent everywhere. …

Government 3 Oct 2008, 18:47
Microsoft taints open source CodePlex well

Some projects less open than others

Microsoft is posting code to its much-trumpeted CodePlex open-source projects site using licenses and conditions that go against the principles of open source. The company has been posting projects under Microsoft licenses that stop you from running CodePlex projects on non-Windows platforms or restrict access to code. The …

Developer 3 Oct 2008, 18:57
Brit, German indicted for stateside satellite TV attacks

Can't beat 'em? DoS 'em

A British man and a German man have been indicted by a US federal grand jury for launching a campaign of denial of service attacks against two US-based home satellite television vendors on behalf of a rival company. Lee Grahm Walker of Bleys Bolton and Axel Gembe of Germany were named by a California district court yesterday …

Crime 3 Oct 2008, 19:14
Mapping the universe at 30 Terabytes a night

Interview Jeff Kantor, on building and managing a 150 Petabyte database

It makes for one heck of a project mission statement. Explore the nature of dark matter, chart the Solar System in exhaustive detail, discover and analyze rare objects such as neutron stars and black hole binaries, and map out the structure of the Galaxy. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is, in the words of Jeff …

Developer 3 Oct 2008, 19:15
HP preps secret iPhone rival

Everyone loves a parade

Only more consumer-y Hewlett-Packard plans on keeping up with the Joneses by releasing a smartphone marketed to consumers within the next two months. At least, according to Wall Street Journal, which cites unnamed sources briefed on HP's latest foray into the increasingly crowded smartphone market. The new device will …

Mobile 3 Oct 2008, 23:26
Apple surrenders the Pink (to Microsoft)

Zune pilfers famous codename

And so it has come to this: Microsoft has stooped so low as to filch Apple's codenames. This week, Steve Ballmer reiterated that Redmond has no interest in building a Zune phone. Praise be. But he did say the company is prepping Zune software and services for the Windows Mobile platform, and according to sources whispering to …

Bootnotes 3 Oct 2008, 23:33
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz calls it quits

Parting is such sweet sorrow...bitch

Dustin Moskovitz Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz said today he's leaving the company along with engineering manager Justin Rosenstein to start a new software business. Moskovitz was Mark Zuckerberg's roommate at Harvard University when they founded the social networking website while still students. His work at …

Business 3 Oct 2008, 23:51