6th October 2008 Archive

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Mono delivers Foundation-free open .NET alternative

Parity on C# 3.0 and LINQ

The open-source implementation of Microsoft's .NET is due to hit its second release today, with many .NET 3.5 features and a few notable exceptions. Mono 2.0 will be announced today a year and a half later than expected but - thanks to that delay - it features an open-source version of C# 3.0 and Language Integrated Query ( …

Developer 6 Oct 2008, 06:04
Copan plugs on with its creaky green revolution

What happens if you solve a problem no one cares about?

Copan makes the greenest disk storage going, with no exception. So with everyone running out of power and data centre space, drowning in unstructured file data - why aren't customers buying it in droves? The trouble is that Copan's products solve a problem many customers don't know that have and aren't motivated to solve …

Storage 6 Oct 2008, 07:02
T-Mobile joins data breach elite

17 million customer records go missing

T-Mobile has admitted losing 17 million German customer records including names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses. The records of German customers were stolen in 2006 and included secret addresses of politicians, an ex-federal president, celebrities and others likely to be at risk from having their …

Law 6 Oct 2008, 08:15
Hospital staff use paper to wipe up NHS IT mess

Running out of patience

An internal report on the introduction of patient care records at the Royal Free Hampstead reveals serious problems with the project, and no current date for solving them. Hampstead was one of the first hospitals to switch on the new system, which is being rolled out across the country. But the Lessons Learnt from the Royal …

Government 6 Oct 2008, 09:20
Nasdaq threatens Overland with de-listing

Reverse stock-split coming

Overland Storage's share price has fallen so low that Nasdaq is threatening a de-listing. The company will carry out a reverse stock split to boost the value of its shares. Under Nasdaq Global Market listing rules Overland Storage must have a minimum stock price of $1. On August 19 the firm's share price sank to $0.98 and has …

Storage 6 Oct 2008, 09:25
Miliband the Younger becomes Green Energy minister

Dept ~~for~~ of Energy & Climate Change set up

The Brown government has now established a new Department of Energy and Climate Change, and appointed meteoric Labour politico Ed Miliband - younger brother of the Foreign Secretary, David - to lead it. "The new department reflects the fact that energy policy and climate change are directly linked," said Mr Miliband, taking up …

Government 6 Oct 2008, 09:27
Sainsbury's launch console price war

Buy something new today

If you’ve been saving up for an Xbox 360 or Wii then get yourself down to Sainsbury’s - the grocer’s lastest console offer is sure to make your life taste better. Despite Microsoft only recently cutting the cost of all Xbox 360 models, Sainsbury’s has reduced prices even further and will now sell the Arcade for just £100 ($177 …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 09:29
Dell UK releases Ubuntu netbook but favours Windows

Get a better deal with the XP version?

Dell UK has introduced the Linux version of its Inspiron Mini 9 netbook, but potential buyers will undoubtedly be annoyed at the lack of configuration options. Available now, the Linux Mini 9 runs Ubuntu 8.04. It's powered by the obligatory 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, has 1GB of 533MHz DDR 2 memory, and a 8.9in 1024 x …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 09:31
AMD releases revamped model number scheme for 45nm Phenoms

AMD's plan to offer Phenom X4 quad-core processors based on its Socket AM2+ interconnect in Q4 then follow them with Socket AM3 models in Q1 2009, is well known. Until now, though, we didn't know the model numbers. According to motherboard moles cited by Chinese-language site HKEPC, the AM2+ parts will be called the 20350 and …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 09:55
Crypto attack unveils hidden backups

Hide and seek

A German cryptographer has discovered a technique that discloses the presence of a hidden encrypted volume in a disc backup. The sophisticated comparison-based technique doesn't allow the encrypted backup volumes to be read, but it does allow police or other interested parties to determine that it is there. The approach, …

Enterprise Security 6 Oct 2008, 10:19
Birmingham Airport in X-rated X-ray shocker

Annual report reveals passenger's intimate luggage secrets

Birmingham International Airport last week released its 2007-2008 Report and Accounts (pdf) - an engrossing 33-page read which explains why the facility "increasingly offers a high-quality alternative for those Midlands passengers who currently fly from other airports, to travel instead from Birmingham". Well, there's one …

Bootnotes 6 Oct 2008, 10:24
Nokia's Communicator to make a comeback?

Business talker updated with touchscreen and swivel

Nokia may be preparing the successor to its E90 Communicator, if a pair of images that the phone giant used in a recent presentation about its S60 user interface are taken at face value. Nokia's updated Communicator Images of the unnamed handset show a device that borrows much of its styling from the currently available E90 …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 10:26
Kingston jumps on Intel SSD train

Will supply business after-market

Intel has bulked up its solid state drive (SSD) channel and rounded up Kingston to resell its products to business notebook and server users. This will complement Intel's own SSD OEM channel. Kingston supplies memory products to businesses that want to upgrade their PCs and servers, as well as USB memory cards to store …

PCs & Chips 6 Oct 2008, 10:51
UK border facial scan tests hit by errors and breakdowns

Calibration, reliability and tailgating issues

A trial of automated border control using facial scanners is already in trouble, according to UK Border Agency (UKBA) sources quoted by the Daily Telegraph. The scanners at Manchester airport, said one source, are breaking down on almost a daily basis, and the automatic booths are unable to detect 'tailgating', where two …

Government 6 Oct 2008, 10:53
Asus Eee PC 1000 10in Linux netbook

Review The Eee family expands - literally

Asus missed a trick when it released the Eee PC 901: it didn't incorporate a bigger keyboard than the one on the Eee 701. Had it done so, there wouldn't perhaps be a need for the 1000. Yes, the 1000 comes with a larger, 10.2in screen, but with the display's 1024 x 600 resolution matching that of the 8.9in panel built into the …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 11:02
MSI prepping 'ThinkPad style' netbook

SSD option, HSDPA on board

MSI is preparing a version of its Wind Small, Cheap Computer that uses solid-state storage instead of a hard drive. And it'll incorporate HSDPA 3G connectivity. Dubbed the Wind U120, details of the machine were provided by Andy Tung, MSI US' sales chief, interviewed by Laptop Magazine. Like the today's Wind U100, the new model …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 11:03
Anonymous plans zombie Scientology protest

You've got red on you

Anonymous is planning a zombie-themed protest in the latest phase of its long-running campaign against the Church of Scientology. The group, much in the news of late after a member reportedly hacked into the webmail account of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, is back on familiar ground with its ninth monthly protest …

Law 6 Oct 2008, 11:07
Trigger-happy Welsh cops taser sheep

'Sparky' taken out in runaway ovine dual carriageway drama

North Wales Police have taken a bit of flak for last Wednesday tasering a runaway ram which was threatening traffic on the A55 near Bodelwyddan, the Daily Mail reports. Driver Mark Faulkes, 47, of Flint, recounted: "We came across a traffic jam and we saw there was a sheep in the road. Everyone had stopped their cars and a few …

Bootnotes 6 Oct 2008, 11:13
McCain laptop theft sparks conspiracy theories

Political shenanigans

Thieves have stolen a laptop from the Missouri campaign office of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The Dell machine was swiped sometime in the early hours of Wednesday morning (1 October) after unidentified thieves gained entry to the office in Independence, Missouri by chucking a brick through its window. The …

Crime 6 Oct 2008, 11:16
Credit agencies get death lists

Fighting ID fraud with weekly updates

Credit agencies and other organisations will receive a weekly encrypted list of deaths from the official registrar to stop fraudsters using the identities of the recently deceased to apply for credit cards and identity documents. Information on about 12,000 deaths a week will be sent out by the General Register for England and …

Policing 6 Oct 2008, 11:17
Amazon's 'Kindle 2' spotted in the wild

Rounder, thinner, flatter

Amazon clearly isn’t about to sit back and let Sony’s latest Reader hog all the limelight. It's no surprise, then, that pictures of the online retailer’s updated Kindle have appeared online. Hitch-hiker's Guide: Amazon's second go at the Kindle Images courtesy of BGR According to a report by BGR, the new model sports …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 11:18
Hosting biz-queenpin parachutes Everest

Memset MD strives for gender-balanced IT sector

One of the UK's most prominent female IT executives has joined the first group of skydivers to freefall over Mount Everest. Kate Craig-Wood is MD of Memset Ltd, "the UK's first carbon-neutral hosting company". She will be making the Everest jump in order to raise money for Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G), a third-sector outfit …

Bootnotes 6 Oct 2008, 11:18
Stick health warnings on gays, says Stock Exchange chaplain

Tattoos to combat the evils of sodomy

The chaplain to the London Stock Exchange may be forced to walk the plank after demanding that gay chaps be tattooed with cig-packet-style health warnings highlighting the evils of boy-on-boy. The Rev Peter Mullen, 66, declared on his blog: "It is time that religious believers began to recommend ... discouragements of …

Bootnotes 6 Oct 2008, 11:24
The Obscene Publications Act rides again

Girls Aloud case heads for court - net holds its breath

The legal world is buzzing at the announcement last week of the prosecution of 35-year-old civil servant Darryn Walker for the online publication of material that Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) believe to be obscene. This is the first such prosecution for written material in nearly two decades – and a guilty …

Law 6 Oct 2008, 11:26
Melamine, poisons and the misappliance of science

The takeaways from rogue Chinese food additives

As melamine alerts reverberate around the world in the wake of China's dairy export industry, it affords us an opportunity to look at bad chemistry while considering the scale of the global food market. And how vulnerable consumers are when garden-variety greed, not terrorism, is the driver in mass poisonings. In the first …

Biology 6 Oct 2008, 11:49
'Leccy Tech Berlin drivers first to trial next-gen electric Smart

Smart has shown off the latest version of its 'leccy ForTwo - dubbed the ED, for 'electric drive' - at the Paris Motor Show. Smart's ForTwo ED: li-ion version Berlin bound The new FourTwo ED packs the flavour-of-the-month battery technology, lithium-ion, though Smart didn't detail what a difference it makes over the old- …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 12:12
BSA flashes gums at 'online software scams'

Keeps teeth in jar by bed

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) claimed late last week to have issued nearly 50,000 takedown notices about BitTorrent files in the first half of this year. The group, in its latest effort to crack down on what it describes as “online software scams”, claimed (pdf) that BSA members lost an estimated $525m in sales as a …

Crime 6 Oct 2008, 12:13
BlackBerry Storm revealed in slides

RIM still keeping mum

Lots of rumours have already surfaced about RIM’s first touchscreen BlackBerry, the Storm. But now the most solid evidence has come to light suggesting arrival soon, thanks to a leaked presentation. RIM's BlackBerry Storm. Coming soon, we hope A set of 17 very official looking slides appeared in a report by Boy Genius …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 12:19
Manhunt 2 to hit UK on Halloween

Pitch-forks at the ready...

What better day to release the second most complained about game after Grand Theft Auto IV than 31 October, otherwise known as Halloween? Yes, games developer Rockstar has confirmed that Manhunt 2 will make its first (official) bloody appearance in the UK at the end of this month on the Wii, PlayStation Portable, PS2 and PC. …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 12:30
SanDisk gets Samsung in X4 armlock

Give us more money you cheapskate

A US court ruling makes SanDisk free to charge Samsung more licence fee cash for its industry-leading four-bits-per-cell Flash technology. Flash memory chips are composed of cells, and the more bits a cell can support the higher the capacity of the Flash chip, and the lower its price per bit. The fastest Flash has one bit per …

PCs & Chips 6 Oct 2008, 12:39
Agile development - can’t scale, won’t scale?

Reg Reader Workshop Where’s the point of no return?

Who could fault the base principles of agility? I was recently talking to a CIO of a European telco, who was totally bought into the strategy of delivering services as fast as possible to customers. In this fickle, subscriber-based market time literally means money won or lost relative to the competition. “Agility is a business …

Workshop 6 Oct 2008, 12:52
Sergey Brin descends from Mount Sinai with Android API

Fail and You The Ten Commandments or a waste of time?

If there's one thing that's never affected by economic downturn, it's the mobile handset market. This phenomenon is most evident at the underground parties and dive bars in San Francisco, where it is a well known yet unspoken tradition that in any given group of hipsters, the one with the cheapest phone must always buy the first …

Developer 6 Oct 2008, 13:02
In-body electric eel tech to make 'leccy from body fat

mp3 charger name forecast: iSingTheBodyElectric™

US scientists believe it could be possible to use artificial electric eel cells grafted into the human body to generate power for cybernetic implant devices. The pseudo-electrocytes would harvest the necessary energy from body fats and sugars. Engineer David LaVan of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST …

Biology 6 Oct 2008, 13:19
Captain Cyborg to chew the fat with Ultra Hal

Reading uni hosts Turing Test contenders

Reading Uni's cybernetic media strumpet Kev "Captain Cyborg" Warwick is poised to put six computer programmes to ultimate test - that devised by Alan Turing in which the machine must engage in convincingly human banter, thereby heralding "the most significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence since the IBM supercomputer …

Bootnotes 6 Oct 2008, 13:56
Nexsan breaks up archive for faster search

Waves AaaS, but will customers bite?

Nexsan is splitting its content archive into pieces for faster search and archive service delivery to individual users. A content-addressable store (CAS) is a disk-based storage array with software that stores files as objects with addresses based on their content. This storage product category was established by EMC's Centera …

Storage 6 Oct 2008, 14:04
eBay cuts jobs, buys credit firm

Credit? What could possibly go wrong?

eBay is laying off 1,000 staff and getting rid of hundreds of temporary positions at the same time as it buys three companies. The job cuts will come at eBay offices around the world, and will cost the firm between $70m and $80m. John Donahoe, the online tat house's chief executive, said of the redundancies: “While never an …

Financial News 6 Oct 2008, 14:11
Acer: We’re comin’ at ya, Dell

The PC company that rose without trace

And so to Budapest last month for Acer’s annual global press conference. What did I learn? That Acer in recent years rose without trace to become easily the world’s third biggest PC vendor. That in the first half of this year, the company supplanted Dell to become the world’s second biggest laptop supplier. And that the Acer …

Channel Register 6 Oct 2008, 14:12
Harvey Keitel to experience Life on Mars

US rehash hits the small screen

Here's some good news for those of you who like a good British TV series with fewer British people in it and preferably set in the US of A: American viewers will later this week get to enjoy Life on Mars relocated to New York and with Harvey Keitel as "irascible" Lieutenant Gene Hunt. The blurb explains: Where were you in …

Entertainment 6 Oct 2008, 14:13
HTC gets colourful with Touch Diamond

iPod Nano inspired?

HTC has breathed new life into its Touch Diamond handset, not by including faster 3G access or near limitless storage, but by shading the phone’s shell in all the colours of the rainbow. HTC's Touch Diamond, in new colours The brightly coloured range has shown-up on a French retailer’s website, where it’s offering the …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 14:38
Ballmer backs away from 'Vista Capable' legal row

Microsoft boss tells judge: 'I don't know nuffink'

Steve Ballmer has distanced himself from the ongoing “Vista Capable” legal spat by claiming he had no direct involvement in Microsoft’s marketing campaign for the operating system. In a document (pdf courtesy of SeattlePI) filed last Friday, the software giant’s CEO effectively exonerated himself in the Windows Vista Capable …

Channel Register 6 Oct 2008, 14:43
DARPA seeks Special Forces submersible aeroplane

Wet doesn't have to mean slow any more

Say what you like about the US military's technology planners, they don't flinch from a challenge. The latest ploy out of the American warboffinry machine is nothing less than an aircraft which can fly underwater. The upcoming aerosubmarine plan was announced on Friday, under the rather uninspiring name "Submersible Aircraft …

Government 6 Oct 2008, 14:58
Vodafone opens online library for mobile e-bookworms

Download a book, save a tree

If you’d like to lose yourself in an e-book, but don’t want the expense or inconvenience of a large Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, then hopefully Vodafone's latest idea will keep you reading. Vodafone's Books on Mobile service: download novels direct to your phone The network operator, together with digital publisher …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 15:58
NetApp signals recession kick-off

Uh oh

Batten down the financial hatches - NetApp has put hiring plans on hold, and is seeing customers putting off spending. CEO Dan Warmenhoven says it's spreading like a nuclear chain reaction from the automotive and financial sectors. It's hardly a shock, though - how could financial institution implosion and bailout with a …

Storage 6 Oct 2008, 16:05
Bull lands 200 teraflop German super deal

Taps Sun and ParTec

French server maker and reseller Bull has just become prime contractor for a 200-teraflops cluster called Juropa being installed at Forschungszentrum Jülich. This is a government-sponsored research center located in the German city of Jülich, where some of the most powerful HPC iron in the world warms feet. The cluster at the …

Servers 6 Oct 2008, 16:08
Mio parks satnav dock with Skoda

"Active cradle" overcomes suction cup woes

Satnav manufacturer Mio has teamed up with Skoda to get its navigation devices into the car firm’s motors. Mio's active cradle satnav Under the terms of the deal, anyone buying a new Fabia, Fabia Combi or Roomster Skoda will soon be able ask that a Mio satnav be installed. The satnav’s been developed especially for Skoda …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 16:19
Verari noses HP, IBM with third gen blades

It's cooler on the botttom

While Hewlett-Packard and IBM have the lion's share of commercial blade server sales in the world, there are a number of other players hanging on in the space, trying to stay ahead of the crushing marketing force of Big Gray and Big Blue with technology innovation and playing to niches. One of the niche players, San Diego-based …

Servers 6 Oct 2008, 17:00
STEC spills prelim Q3 numbers

SSD outfit solid as a rock - for now

EMC's favoured solid-state drive (SSD) supplier STEC has announced excellent preliminary results for its third 2008 quarter. STEC said that it now "expects to report third-quarter 2008 revenue and diluted non-GAAP earnings per share to be at the high end of its previous guidance range of $61m to $63m and $0.10 to $0.11, …

Financial News 6 Oct 2008, 17:26
Boffins (finally) publish hack for world's most popular smartcard

Mifare weakness official

Two research papers published Monday have finally made it official: The world's most widely deployed radio frequency identification (RFID) smartcard - used to control access to transportation systems, military installations, and other restricted areas - can be cracked in a matter of minutes using inexpensive tools. One paper …

Security 6 Oct 2008, 18:44
Windows Update to trumpet Vista Capable debacle?

Class-action call up

Little did Microsoft executives realize when they blessed the seemingly brilliant wheeze of "Windows Vista Capable" as a way of flogging the operating system that the idea could turn into a bitter pill their company might have to swallow. But there's the very real possibility Microsoft's very own Windows Update and MSN could …

Applications 6 Oct 2008, 18:58
Judge traps RealDVD in legal limbo

Hollywood gets its wish

RealNetworks has been forced to shut down sales of its DVD copying software, RealDVD, while a California judge decides if it violates US copyright laws. The company clearly knew there would be trouble from Hollywood studios at the outset. On the day of RealDVD's release, Real preemptively filed a lawsuit against the Motion …

Music and Media 6 Oct 2008, 19:11
MS to link Zune software to Windows Mobile

But a Windows phone still isn't on the cards

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has already stated that it isn’t going to build a mobile phone. But that hasn’t stopped him from talking up the integration of Zune software into a range of additional gadgets. In an interview with CIO magazine, Ballmer said: “Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with …

Reg Hardware 6 Oct 2008, 19:33
Big Blue shares cloudy thinking with developers+dog

Get your apps ~~in the sky~~ on the net

If there was an index for how many times a vendor hops onto a new buzzword and tried to slap it on every product in their catalog, then it is probably safe to say that IBM would be the most actively traded stock on the Cloud Computing Exchange. Today, as part of its ongoing effort to explain what cloud computing is and why we …

Developer 6 Oct 2008, 21:30
Microsoft plans science of appliance for next SQL Server

2010 or bust

Start your clocks and count the delays: Microsoft has named the first half of 2010 as the window for the next version of SQL Server - codenamed Kilimanjaro. Microsoft has also said it's working on an server appliance with hardware giants Bull, Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and Unisys that'll use a subset of technology in …

Applications 6 Oct 2008, 21:47
Jesus Phone vuln delivers fanboys to phishermen

Apple silent on 'pretty dumb design flaw'

A security expert is advising iPhone users to steer clear of the device's default email application until engineers rework what he calls "a pretty dumb design flaw" that could expose users' email addresses to spammers and other online frauds. The warning comes two and months after researcher Aviv Raff first reported two email- …

Security 6 Oct 2008, 22:36
Amazon patents 'customer review incentives'

Bezos unreformed

The self-described patent reform advocates at Amazon.com don't seem to have broken their habit of putting legal hooks on just about anything they dream up. Last Tuesday, Amazon was awarded a patent for "creating an incentive to author useful item reviews." The patent describes a method of "rewarding the authors of reviews …

Government 6 Oct 2008, 22:54