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28th October 2008 Archive

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  • Scientists prep robo-Freud for depressed astronauts

    'I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife'

    In space, nobody can hear you trying to reconcile your latent mother issues. Science is still working on that one. Low Earth orbit is generally not the ideal place to seek treatment for depression or other psychosocial problems. On the other hand, cruising over Earth at speeds of 27,700km per hour in the freezing vacuum of …

    Space 28 Oct 2008, 00:37

  • Student charged after alerting principal to server hack

    'Intentional criminal act'?

    A 15-year-old high school student in New York State has been charged with three felonies after he allegedly accessed personnel records on his school's poorly configured computer network and then notified his principal of the security weakness. The unnamed student of Shenendehowa Central School was charged Thursday with …

    Crime 28 Oct 2008, 00:38

  • Microsoft could block popular Azure apps

    PDC Don't put your business on the cloud, Mrs. Worthington

    That sudden drop in customers your Windows cloud application is experiencing could be because it's too popular and Microsoft is blocking your traffic. Applications posted to Microsoft's Azure Services Platform that exceed their allocated storage or processing hours could see customers turned away, as the company tries to …

    Developer 28 Oct 2008, 01:24

  • Anti-white-space lobby enlists God, Dolly Parton

    A wireless divine right

    As part of an ongoing effort to bar internet devices from the country's television white spaces, Goosoft-battling government lobbyists have rolled out two pillars of the American heartland: God and Dolly Parton. On Friday, mega-church leader Rick Warren fired a letter at FCC commissioner Kevin Martin, claiming that white space …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2008, 01:43

  • Parcel mules scam exposed

    Cybercrook, keen phisherman seeks reliable partners on dating sites

    Fraudsters are increasingly using middlemen to handle goods fraudulently purchased online. These so-called parcel mules are being recruited through dating sites by unscrupulous conmen posing as potential partners for the lonely and gullible or via bogus job adverts. A lower rent version of money mules - the intermediaries in …

    Security 28 Oct 2008, 04:17

  • Berkeley boffins save Moore's Law

    Plasmonic lens beats photolithographic limit

    Berkeley researchers think they have found a way to keep Moore's Law in action and get chip features down to the sub-10 nanometre level. Currently Moore's Law looks stymied once chip features shrink to 35nm as a diffraction limit will prevent light beams or waves being used to create features smaller than that. This means that …

    Physics 28 Oct 2008, 04:20

  • London consumers trounce corporates in wireless security

    WEPs of mass destruction

    London homeowners are more careful about defending their wireless networks against trespassers than their corporate counterparts. One in five business networks fail to use any form of wireless encryption while 90 per cent of Londoners use encryption of some kind at home. RSA's seventh annual wireless security survey also found …

    Enterprise Security 28 Oct 2008, 06:02

  • 3PAR partially makes its mind-up on SSD

    Drives chassis approach

    3PAR is going to add tier zero solid state drive (SSD) storage to its arrays. Its InServe array software can use it now. The move means all tier one and two storage array suppliers have added SSD storage to their road maps. Craig Nunes, 3PAR's marketing VP, says 3PAR has either Fibre Channel (4Gbit/s) or SATA drives in InServ …

    Storage 28 Oct 2008, 06:02

  • MoD pledges greener buying

    First step - low-energy radar

    Secretary of State for Defence John Hutton and defence biz execs yesterday signed a Sustainable Procurement Charter intended to make the UK's military-industrial complex more green. The voluntary charter commits the MoD and its suppliers to work together to achieve sustainable development goals through "educating the supply …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 09:14

  • SAP profits fall, abandons full year forecast

    The future's not ours to see

    SAP managed to increase revenues in the third quarter but saw net income fall five per cent. Software and software-related revenue was up 15 per cent to €1.99bn but net income was €388m, compared to €408m for the third quarter of 2007. This just tops the company's reduced earnings call it put out in early October. Basic …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2008, 09:16

  • The netbook newbie's guide to Linux

    Episode Two One small step for Man...

    This is a series about the Linux OS on netbooks, but we need to remind ourselves that these devices aren't personal computers. The personal computer is a machine you work on. Netbooks are essentially machines you work through, out into the Cloud. It shouldn't matter what the operating system is. Or the hardware. Ideally, all …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 09:26

  • French map out digital economy

    L'auction d'analogue, et apres

    The French government has published a report on how it intends to become a digital economy, starting with the auction of the analogue TV bands by the end of next year. The report, entitled France Numérique 2012, covers the transition to digital TV and thus the disposal of the digital dividend - spectrum release by the more- …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2008, 09:55

  • Asus' sexed-up Eee PC 1000-series netbook spied on web

    Take S101 chassis, add 1000H internals

    Snaps of Asus' upcoming Eee PC 1002HA have popped up online, straight out of the manufacturer's marketing department, to confirm the new model looks exactly like the recently announced Eee PC S101. The S101 marked a stylish departure for the Eee family, and the 1002HA essentially is an S101 with a 160GB hard drive on board …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 09:59

  • Microsoft's Azure means dark days for storage vendors

    Comment No silver lining here

    Another huge heaving grunt of a move as Microsoft shifts its great fat rear to sit more comfortably on the changing furniture of the computing industry and offer cloud computing services. It could be very bad news indeed for the storage industry. Microsoft's Azure Services Platform - ASP as in 'we've been here before, surely …

    Storage 28 Oct 2008, 10:15

  • Humax names Freesat HD DVR debut date

    Dual tuners, 320GB HDD on board

    Humax is to release its long-awaited Freesat-branded HD-capable DVR next month. The Humax Foxsat-HDR packs in a 320GB hard drive and a pair of tuners for recording one show while watching another. The manufacturer said the machine will also auto-record series and store radio broadcasts on the drive. Humax's Foxsat-HDR: out …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 10:36

  • Sun, Fujitsu launches entry quad-core Sparc box

    Mostly for developers, sometimes for apps

    Fujitsu and server partner Sun Microsystems will today roll out an entry server based on the quad-core Sparc64 VII processor created by Fujitsu. The server, code-named "Ikkaku" (Japanese for "narwhal") and sold as the Sparc Enterprise M3000, is a single-socket box that will fill in a product gap in the companies' combined …

    Servers 28 Oct 2008, 10:45

  • Home Office guides plods on photography

    'There are no restrictions, but...'

    Terror Laws due to be passed this autumn, could provide Police with a new and significant power to stop individuals taking photographs. This follows reassurances from Home secretary Jacqui Smith that there is "no legal restriction on taking photographs in public places", which is why she will shortly be issuing police with …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 11:02

  • The New Green Aristocracy

    Comment They don't work for you

    An aristocracy is a form of government by an elite that considers itself to possess greater virtues than the hoi polloi, giving it the right to rule in its own interests. Aristocrats were referred to as 'the nobility', or 'nobs'. These days we prefer decisions to be made democratically – the idea being that we can judge for …

    Environment 28 Oct 2008, 11:03

  • Harman Kardon brings high-end media centre to Blighty

    Harman Kardon has begun selling its high-price 250GB media centre system in the UK. Harman Kardon's DMC 1000: quarter of a terabyte of music storage The DMC 1000 packs in a CD and DVD player, though while it'll auto-rip music onto the hard drive, it won't do the same with movies and TV shows. It will upscale them to HD …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 11:23

  • Reding demands super-regulator to thwart US telco domination

    Viv not beaten yet

    EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding has been telling delegates at the Summit of the European Telecommunications Networks in Venice that letting the EU regulate their industries will save €20bn a year, and is just what the Americans want. Efficiency isn't something that comes quickly to mind when considering EU bodies, but …

    Networks 28 Oct 2008, 11:48

  • How storage can save the world

    Whitepaper Have you hugged your storage manager today?

    It's a shame storage is so boring - or at least, that it is perceived as such by anyone that isn't actually into storage. A cursory glance from the balconies at Olympia, at last week's Storage Expo would suggest it's anything but dull - there are indeed plenty of people who have a deep interest in all things relating to how …

    Storage 28 Oct 2008, 11:50

  • IT contractor broke law in data raid on playground firm

    Copyright and database laws violated

    An IT contractor who was part of a raid on a company, copied all of its electronic business records and locked staff out of computer systems, infringed copyright and database rights, the High Court has ruled. But the man, who operated his own IT consultancy, should be indemnified for any damages by the ex-director of the …

    Law 28 Oct 2008, 11:58

  • WD Caviar Black 1TB vs Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB

    Review High-capacity hard drive shoot-out

    Western Digital offers its Caviar desktop drives in three varieties that are identified by a handy system of colour coding. Caviar Green is cool, quiet, eco-friendly and - to be frank - lacking in performance. In the mid-range, we have Caviar Blue, which offers performance and reliability with up to 16MB of cache and a maximum …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 12:02

  • VIA, MS fuel China-led low-cost laptop invasion

    Nano + XP = cheap-as-chips kit

    VIA today launched an initiative to encourage Asian netbook and notebook makers to build mobile machines based on its 64-bit putative Atom-smasher, the Nano processor, rather than Intel technology. Dubbed the Global Mobility Bazaar, VIA's scheme will see it partner with 15 Chinese vendors who'll base their low-cost kit on VIA …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 12:04

  • Plymouth nurse punted panties on eBay

    'Naughty knicks' fingered by NHS IT security team

    A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing yesterday considered the case of a Plymouth nurse who punted clean and soiled underwear on eBay while on duty at the city's Derriford Hospital, the local Herald reports. Sheena McMillan, 24, in April 2007 set up a listing entitled 'naughty knicks' with the username Sheena66c. It …

    Bootnotes 28 Oct 2008, 12:05

  • Immature tech likely to get lucky in credit crunch

    Security pros: 'Uh oh'

    The credit crunch is likely to produce changes in IT spending priorities that may create additional security risks. Tim Mather, RSA Conference chief strategist, said technologies such as open source, virtualisation, inter-organisation VoIP and cloud computing will gain traction as organisations look to rein in spending. How to …

    Enterprise Security 28 Oct 2008, 12:15

  • Plasma rocket space drive in key test milestone

    Nuke tech could carry astronauts beyond Mars

    NASA spinoff firm the Ad Astra Rocket Company has announced a key milestone in ground testing of its prototype plasma drive technology, Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR). The electric rocket turns on. The VASIMR "helicon first stage" - which generates the plasma for acceleration by the rest of the …

    Space 28 Oct 2008, 12:18

  • UK Govt claims lead in 'green motoring revolution'

    'Leccy Tech £100m Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform announced

    More details about the Government's £100m plan for developing a 'leccy car infrastructure in the UK have now emerged. Well, a few. Despite reading the Department of Transport statement half a dozen times, we're still not quite sure who is paying, how much, what for, or what anyone will get in return. We can say that the …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 12:38

  • YaGoogleSoft! adopt voluntary 'code of ethics'

    No more grassing up Chinese dissidents?

    The US's Center for Democracy & Technology has announced that after two years of negotiations, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft will in the next few days adopt a voluntary code of ethics "intended to safeguard online freedom of speech around the world". The big three joined the initiative early last year and promised to work …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 12:42

  • Android security, market place under fire

    Researchers stick fingers in, developers put hands out

    The security of Google's Android is under fire from security researchers who reckon they've identified a browser flaw that could compromise the platform. Meanwhile, users of the first Android handset are busy venting their indignation at being asked to pay for applications. The security issue is a buffer-overflow problem in …

    Mobile 28 Oct 2008, 12:58

  • NHS IT project pulled up by hiatus hernia

    BT is 'taking stock'

    The £12.7bn National Programme for IT which aims to transform health service technology and provide electronic records for all patients is not dead in the water and delays are inevitable in such a large project. The government was forced into declaring the project is not dead just having a liedown after a story on the …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 13:21

  • Official who lost secret al-Qaeda report pleads guilty

    'My bad', says forgetful vomiter

    The senior civil servant who left government documents detailing intelligence on al-Qaeda on a commuter train in June has pleaded guilty to a breach of the Official Secrets Act. Richard Jackson, 37, of Yately in Hampshire, appeared before City of Westminster magistrates. The court heard the loss "had the potential to damage …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 13:28

  • Microsoft faces second 'black screen' lawsuit

    China still not happy

    A second Chinese man has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft demanding it remove a notice from his computer accusing him of using illegally copied software. He is not seeking damages, but Dong Zhengwei who brought a case last week is suggesting a fine of $1bn is in order. Microsoft introduced its Windows Genuine Advantage …

    Operating Systems 28 Oct 2008, 13:34

  • Led Zeppelin plan Plant-free tour

    The song remains not quite the same

    Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones has told the BBC that the band is planning to tour and hit the studio - but without frontman Robert Plant. Plant has apparently ruled himself out of the line-up, so Jones, Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham are looking for someone to step up to the mic. Jones said: "We are trying out a couple of …

    Entertainment 28 Oct 2008, 13:36

  • Apple prices iPhone at $666, says analyst

    Devilishly good margins made

    The Jesus phone costs carriers a diabolic $666 on average, one Wall Street analyst has claimed. That figure brings Apple enough margin to hack prices and "take over the smartphone market". So forecasts Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf. “Our analysis indicates that the average price of an iPhone was $666 in the fourth quarter …

    Reg Hardware 28 Oct 2008, 14:16

  • Beeb cans TOTP Xmas special

    'So here it isn't, merry Christmas...'

    The BBC has decided to can the traditional Top of the Pops Christmas Special in favour of eight "special" episodes of the archive spin-off TOTP2, the festive fun-busting corporation reports. Following TOTP's demise in 2006 after 42 years of poptastic viewing, the Yule edition was apparently also under sentence of death. A Beeb …

    Music and Media 28 Oct 2008, 14:39

  • Peaches Geldof cops a severe shoeing

    Readers nuke Nylon piece from orbit - repeatedly

    Peaches Geldof's career as a magazine columnist may the shortest-lived in the history of hackery after her first piece for the website of fashion mag Nylon copped one of the severest shoeings theoretically possible before the sheer intensity of reader anger causes the entire internet to permanently implode. Peaches recently …

    Bootnotes 28 Oct 2008, 15:14

  • Home Office acts to kick out Iceland's hate preachers

    No safe haven for Norway or Liechtenstein

    Just weeks after the UK government used the 2001 Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act to seize all of the IOUs in British branches of Icelandic banks, tough-talking Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has made it clear that Britain will no longer be a safe haven for terror preachers from Iceland. Or indeed from Norway or Liechtenstein …

    Law 28 Oct 2008, 15:19

  • Big Blue to build DARPA cat-brain machine

    To scale through 'entire range of mammalian intelligence'

    US military attempts to develop "programmable neuromorphic" electronic artificial mouse- and cat-bonce brain podules have now moved into gear, with IBM scooping a $5m contract award. One need hardly specify that the Pentagon office overseeing the Tom'n'Jerryputer push is DARPA, that reassuring rock of madness in an often …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 15:22

  • Intel misses Competition Commission deadline

    Chip giant waits for court decision

    Intel has missed the deadline to respond to the Supplementary Statement of Objections sent by the European Competition Commission in July. The Commission is investigating Intel for alleged anti-trust violations relating to its relationships with computer manufacturers. The original Statement of Objections was sent in July 2007 …

    PCs & Chips 28 Oct 2008, 15:34

  • Pipex upgrade causes email snafu

    Customers cut off by settings change

    Some Pipex customers have been without email access for several days due to an platform upgrade that meant their settings were wrong. The Tiscali-owned ISP announced major work upgrade billing and account management on its website. The changes also include new spam protection and anti-virus for the email system. Users have …

    Telecoms 28 Oct 2008, 15:54

  • Windows 7 early promise: Passes the Vista test

    PDC Safe, solid - exciting?

    Windows Vista is better than its reputation, but its reputation is pretty bad. During the press briefing for Windows 7 at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), corporate vice president for Windows product management Mike Nash insisted Microsoft had learned from the Vista experience. Judging by early Windows 7 …

    Channel Register 28 Oct 2008, 16:00

  • Microsoft unveils 'lightweight' Office for Web

    PDC Works in Firefox, Safari and IE

    Microsoft has finally announced a version of its Office productivity applications for the web with the next full edition of its suite. The company said it's planning web applications for Office, a "lightweight" package of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote applications that'll "be compatible with familiar web browsers", …

    Applications 28 Oct 2008, 17:25

  • IT credit crunch comes home to roost

    Tech lease defaults on the rise

    The weakening global economy and the tightening of credit for both companies and consumers is making it tougher for IT vendors to rely on a common tool - equipment leasing - to grease wheels and get sales. Defaults on tech leases - and indeed all kinds of capital equipment leases - are on the rise in the United States, and IT …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2008, 17:31

  • 'Series of Tubes' Senator convicted of corruption

    McCain calls for resignation

    Alaska Senator Ted 'Series of Tubes' Stevens was convicted Monday on seven felony counts for lying about hundreds of thousands of dollars in free home renovations and other gifts from a wealthy oil contractor. Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens Federal jurors found Stevens, 84, guilty of falsifying his annual Senate …

    Government 28 Oct 2008, 18:43

  • Google settles Book Search suit for $125m

    Will sell scanned works

    Google has agreed to pay $125m to settle a three-year-old class action lawsuit that accused the ad broker of infringing publisher and author copyrights with its library-digitizing Book Search project. After Google launched the project in 2004, several major libraries allowed the company to scan their collections and serve them …

    Music and Media 28 Oct 2008, 18:47

  • Windows 7 borrows from OS X, avoids Vista

    PDC No pain, no gain

    When it comes to Windows 7, Microsoft hasn't just learned from the mistakes of Windows Vista. It has picked up a thing or two from Apple's OS X, judging by first impressions. The executive leading Windows 7 said Tuesday that Microsoft realized it shouldn't forge ahead on Windows 7 and deliver an operating system unsupported by …

    Operating Systems 28 Oct 2008, 19:45

  • TSA vows relaxation of carry-on liquid limits

    Pulling the curtain on 'security theater'

    Airline passengers on both sides of the Atlantic could be free to carry larger bottles of liquids in carry-on luggage under a two-year plan to relax current security rules that sharply restrict the amount of shampoo, hand lotion, and other types of liquids that can be brought in a plane cabin. Under an oft-criticized plan …

    Security 28 Oct 2008, 20:26

  • Carmack's rocket wins $350,000 in mock moon mission

    Third time's the charm for Doom creator

    John Carmack, creator of the childhood-innocence-purging video games Doom and Quake, has finally lead his team of rocketeers at Armadillo Aerospace to victory in the annual Northrop Grumman Lunar Landing challenge. In its third year of participation, Armadillo Aerospace has snagged $350,000 in prize money for winning Level One …

    Space 28 Oct 2008, 21:18

  • Intel sees little trouble in big China

    Defies Meltdown with $20m solar play

    What does Intel's investment arm look like waving off the current economic gloom? A bit like it does when making new "cleantech" investments in China, laying down $20m funding for the solar energy kit provider, Trony Solar Holdings. In fact, Intel Capital seems to plan on spending its way out of the financial meltdown. "The …

    Financial News 28 Oct 2008, 23:27

  • E-voting fears run high as election day looms

    USA '08 'Flipped' votes reported in three states

    With just a week to go before the US presidential election, academics, politicians, and voters are voicing increased distrust of the electronic voting machines that will be used to cast ballots. In early balloting in West Virginia, Texas, and Tennessee, voters using e-voting machines made by Nebraska-based Election Systems & …

    Security 28 Oct 2008, 23:36

  • Google sends 'Duke of Data Centers' to Land of Oz?

    Down Under with Project Will Power

    Google has apparently dispatched its self-styled "Duke of Data Centers" to the land of Oz, as it considers whether Australia is worthy of Project Will Power. Over the past few weeks, according to Australian IT, a small team of American Googlers arrived Down Under for "high-level discussions" with local data center providers, …

    Servers 28 Oct 2008, 23:46