7th November 2008 Archive

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Apple opens Macbook front in iPhone jailbreak war

OK, we're baffled

Apple appears to have taken its campaign against iPhone modders to a baffling new level, tweaking its new MacBooks and MacBook Pros to disable a popular software tool used to jailbreak the handset. According to discussion groups here and here, iPhone and iPod Touch users who have unlocked their devices using the Pwnage Tool …

Hardware 7 Nov 2008, 01:22
Panasonic closes in on Sanyo

Lithium-ion power play

Sanyo Electronics is ready and willing to be courted for takeover by its domestic rival Panasonic. The company will announce Friday that it's agreed in principle to being acquired by Panasonic, the Nikkei news service reports. However, Sanyo's three major shareholders still need some acceptable figures whispered in their …

Business 7 Nov 2008, 01:27
North Korea photoshops stroke from Kim Jong Il

Pixelated communist chief in shadow snafu

North Korea has released a new pic of chairman Kim Jong Il, hoping to show the world that the communist despot/self-professed internet expert is alive and well and healthy enough to actually appear in public. But this may be a case of communist photoshopaganda. Three months after Kim Jong Il disappeared from public view amid …

Government 7 Nov 2008, 01:34
Microsoft talks big on Windows and SQL Server

Hot hardware

After the style, some substance. Having dished out the Windows 7 eye-candy for software developers Microsoft's dipped into virtualization and system scalability for the hardware heads. Executives have promised Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization technology, mauled mercilessly before launch to hit deadlines, will deliver on pre- …

Operating Systems 7 Nov 2008, 01:40
MP calls for Jezza Clarkson's head

Strumpet gag a 'dismissible offence'

Ipswich Labour MP Chris Mole has written a "strongly-worded" letter to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson demanding that Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson be sacked for suggesting that lorry drivers routinely kill strumpets. Clarkson, 48, was "taking part in a lorry-driving task" during last Sunday's pre-watershed show …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 06:02
Unisys, SGI - canaries in the coal mines

Quarterly profits a mixed bag

While tier one server makers IBM and Sun Microsystems have reported their financial results in recent weeks, and Hewlett-Packard is getting set to do so in two weeks, there are other players in the server space. In some ways, they're canaries in the server coal mines. Niche and boutique vendors sometimes feel the pinch first, …

Financial News 7 Nov 2008, 07:36
The secret sauce in SanDisk's ExtremeFFS

Shortcuts the read-modify-write cycle

SanDisk's ExtremeFFS technology can speed random writes to flash memory up to 100 times but doesn't do anything for sequential writes. How does it work? The company says ExtremeFFS (Extreme Flash File System) "operates on a page-based algorithm, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. When …

Hardware 7 Nov 2008, 08:02
Sony Ericsson HBH-IS800 Bluetooth stereo headphones

Review Wireless earphones the way they should be

Sony Ericsson has a lot riding on these tiny wireless headphones. Barely bigger than wired earbuds, they're a flagship product for a company known for its quality peripherals, and SE wants these boys to cement its reputation. Sony Ericsson's HBH-IS800: tiny 'phones As Bluetooth stereo 'phones really are very small. The buds …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 09:02
Doormen's database boss goes

Bouncers' bouncer bounced

The boss of the government's "database of doormen" Michael Wilson has lost his job after it emerged that his department had failed to check security clearance of the staff employed to...err...check security clearances. The Security Industry Authority issues licences to doormen and security staff - including those used by …

Government 7 Nov 2008, 09:23
Clothing designer stitches together fisheye camera

Paul Smith does photography

Perhaps the credit crunch has started hurting the Paul Smith clothing line, because the designer’s decided to branch out into photography - again. Although technical details are a little thin on the ground, Smith said that the snapper has a 180° wide-angle view and provides a “stunning fisheye barrel distortion” for images. It …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 09:43
Elon Musk's SpaceX offers non-ISS spaceship

Cutting NASA's apron strings?

PayPal multihecamillionaire Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, has announced that it will fly a genuinely private-sector space mission - including return to Earth - as soon as 2010. We don't need no stinkin' NASA. SpaceX's plan to launch a variant on its "Dragon" capsule, to be called "DragonLab", was announced this week. …

Science 7 Nov 2008, 09:47
GPS phones threaten satnavs sales, says analyst

Analyst predicts GPS smartphone takeover

Shipments of satnave in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) fell between Q2 and Q3 this year. At the same time, shipments of smartphones with integrated GPS pick-ups more than doubled, according to market watcher Canalys. But it forgot to mention one thing... Punters only buy satnavs for one thing: the devices' ability …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 09:54
Bloggers getting bigger and messier

But not in the way you think...

Blog front pages are now large pages of images and scripts rather than the pared-down text pages of old. The average-sized front page is 934KB and 35 per cent are over 1MB, according to researchers who looked at Technorati's top 100 blogs. Images were the main contributor to front page size - making up 61.3 per cent of total …

Media 7 Nov 2008, 10:02
Ofcom urges government restraint on new broadband

'Hands off!'

The public sector should take a minor role investing in high bandwidth broadband capacity, according to a senior Ofcom official. Peter Phillips, partner for strategy and market developments at the communications regulator, said public investment should be "targeted at areas left behind by the markets". Speaking at a …

Broadband 7 Nov 2008, 10:19
McKinnon suffers further legal setback in extradition fight

Fight continues as legal options dry up

Gary McKinnon has suffered another legal setback in his fight against extradition to the US on hacking charges. The accused hacker has been refused a written judicial review of the Home Secretary's decision not to suspend extradition proceedings in light of his recent diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome. McKinnon's lawyer, …

Law 7 Nov 2008, 10:49
Passport and ID card price hike laundered via private sector

High Street enrollment adds £20–40 to tab

Biometric enrollment fees for passports and ID cards will cost applicants £20-£40 on top of the basic price, estimates released by the Home Office revealed yesterday. In a prospectus soliciting private sector partners for enrollment, the Identity & Passport Service said that the total market for these services is worth "between …

Government 7 Nov 2008, 11:05
Serial commentard vents steam through ears

FoTW Aaron Kempf ♥ Sarah Palin — True

It appears that database guru and serial commentard Aaron Kempf is off his medication again, following a brief lull in which he apparently managed not to insult anyone over the interwebs and end up in court for his trouble. For those of you hitherto blissfully unaware of the existence of Mr Kempf, he's got a bit of previous …

Letters 7 Nov 2008, 11:08
Lightning to thunder with speed-creep beating V8 roar

'Leccy Tech Aural reference for driver

UK electric car company Lightning is to fit its upcoming two-seaters with digitally recorded V8 engine noise in a bid to help pedestrians and other road users hear the otherwise silent sportscars coming. And it'll aid the driver too, the company told Register Hardware, by preventing accidental speeding. Lightning's GT: now …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 11:14
T-Mobile issues 5610 XpressMusic display alert

Phone's screen may go blank

Nokia’s Comes With Music offer seems to have hit a slight snag: T-Mobile has announced that some of the phones shipped with the package are defective. Nokia's 5610 XpressMusic: T-Mobile's issued a lights-out warning The network operator’s temporarily discontinued sales of the Nokia 5610 XpressMusic in order to address “a …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 11:32
Gadget Show competition spews text spam

At £1.50 a pop

Gadget Show viewers were bombarded with text messages costing £1.50 each this week as the Five show's competition system went berserk. One Reg reader received 39 replies after entering the competiton, at a total cost of £58.50. A Five spokeswoman said prize draw entrants affected by the snafu would get their money back and …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 11:36
BBC has newsgasm over Obama's dog

Goldendoodle or pitbull? Hmmm...

Those of you who believe the BBC is inexorably drifting away from hard-hitting, insightful journalism in favour of lowest-common-denominator populist piffle will be relieved to know there's still one reporter out there willing to file essential analysis of today's key issues. And today's key issue is, of course, just what kind …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 12:00
The Platform and Operations Monster Survey

Reg Tech Panel Step up, brave souls, and win Reg goodies

It's possibly the biggest, beastliest survey we've ever put together - now we just need you to get stuck into it, and give us the full platforms and operations lowdown. By way of a shameless bribe, we've got some splendid Reg goodie bags to give away to the dauntless filler-inners. What do we want to know? Well, we know …

Tech Panel 7 Nov 2008, 12:11
BOFH: Taking out a contract

Episode 36 Less is not actually Moore

"But the notes I have say you built a new machine just last year!" the Boss snaps, looking at the PFY's list of parts. "Why do you need a new one so soon?" "It's technical," the PFY says "You wouldn't understand." "Try me," the Boss snaps back. "What do you know about Quad Core Processor Technology?" "Nothing." "L1 and …

BOFH 7 Nov 2008, 12:21
Webcast quango: One-third of UK teachers are creationists

Teachers may be silly: Gov mediacrats, sillier

In a recent survey, barely half of a self-selecting sample of UK teachers who use the webcast service Teachers' TV disagreed with the idea that "creationism or intelligent design should be given the same status as evolution in the classroom". Some 87.9 per cent of respondents thought that it was appropriate to discuss religious …

Science 7 Nov 2008, 12:24
Orange readies free HSDPA-integrating Eee PC deal

Orange is to stop bundling a free Eee PC and 3G modem with a two-year mobile broadband airtime package and bundle an HSDPA-integrated netbook instead. From the middle of next month, the carrier will switch its current netbook bundle from the Eee PC 900 16G to the 901 Go, which has an HSDPA modem and SIM slot built in. Orange …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 12:34
Azure, Windows 7 and it's OK for MS to hate Vista, too

Radio Reg The lowdown from Microsoft's PDC

What do you call a herd of geeks in a T-shirt stampede? PDC. Yes, Microsoft descended on Los Angeles, California, last week, and along with it the long awaited Windows cloud. After weeks of threatening, Microsoft finally unveiled its cloud computing project, called Azure Computing Services and following in the wake of Amazon …

Microbite 7 Nov 2008, 12:41
MySpace CEO: no own-brand MP3 player just yet

But the company's considering it

MySpace may launch a branded MP3 player in the future, the social networking website’s co-founder has revealed. But not right now. Chief Executive Chris DeWolfe made numerous references to the development of a device for listening to music, Reuters reports. MySpace launched a music service – called MySpace Music – back in …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 12:42
Hotmail users bitch and moan about new interface

Change not always a good thing

Many Hotmail users are up in arms at Microsoft after it decided to shelve the “classic” interface in its free email service. The software giant said it redesigned Hotmail to make it “much, much faster that the old ‘full’ experience”. But users have vehemently complained about the revamp. “This format is terrible! I wonder …

Applications 7 Nov 2008, 12:57
Toshiba launches three-GPU, four-core laptop

Toshiba has introduced a gaming laptop with not one, not two but three graphics chips on board. The Qosmio X305-Q708 packs in a pair of discrete GPUs - Nvidia's GeForce 9800M GTS chip, to be precise - that operate together in SLI mode. But the laptop also uses Nvidia's GeForce 9400M chipset, which integrates a graphics core …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 13:00
Handheld games console three-way shoot-out

Round-up PSP vs DS vs… iPod Touch

For the last few years, the handheld games market has been dominated by the now-traditional rivalry between Sony’s PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS Lite. This year, though, there’s a surprise new kid on the gaming block: Apple’s second-gen iPod Touch. Apple is touting the new Touch as "the funnest iPod ever" (sic), and …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 13:02
Chopping the Long Tail down to size

Exclusive Wired's advice could seriously damage your business

The most comprehensive empirical study of digital music sales ever conducted has some bad news for Californian technology utopians. Since 2004, WiReD magazine editor Chris Anderson has been hawking his "Long Tail" proposition around the world: blockbusters will matter less, and businesses will "sell less of more". The graph has …

Media 7 Nov 2008, 13:07
MPs (finally) debate cybercrime

Steep learning curve

MPs finally got around to a rare debate on cybercrime earlier this week. The debate - held on Wednesday morning, hours after Barack Obama's historic US presidential victory - was characterised by much mutual backslapping and many members of parliament praising each other for simply turning up. There are a few nuggets of good …

Security 7 Nov 2008, 13:25
Honda debuts groin-clutching walker exoskeleton

Bot-bot offers crouch/cringe mode for car workers

Mighty motors'n'tech globocorp Honda has wowed the world's media today as it unveils a combination of two-legged indoor robotic horse and lower-body exoskeleton walker device. 'Fundamental technology' - indeed. The machine, described by Honda as a "walking assist device ... with the goal to provide more people with the joy …

Science 7 Nov 2008, 14:03
Lenovo profits disappear

Blames world economy, US, itself

Lenovo saw its profits take a dive in the last quarter although PC sales were up over seven per cent - less than the market as a whole. Sales for the three months ended 30 September 2008 were $4.3bn and pre-tax income was $39m, down from $125m for the same three months of 2007. Lenovo's Chairman, Yang Yuanqing, said: "Due to …

The Channel 7 Nov 2008, 14:15
Lib Dem stripogram councillor quits politics

Finally shafted by Devon two Inches

The stripogram Devon councillor who last year provoked three members of her local Lib Dems to quit the party in disgust has herself stepped down from Bideford council, the Sun reports. Myrna Bushell, 35, divided her time between motherhood, discussing the church roof situation and strumpeting about as "Jessica" - a "very sexy …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 14:18
AT&T ups Wi-Fi ante with Wayport acquisition

20,000 hotspots at home, 80,000 worldwide

AT&T has bought up Wi-Fi hotspot provider Wayport for $275m, hugely increasing the number of places that subscribers with an iPhone or Blackberry Bold can get free access. The companies have worked together before; Wayport provided backhaul and management to AT&T hotspots. But Wayport always focused on providing hotspots in …

Broadband 7 Nov 2008, 14:53
Preventive policing? Don't even think about it

Police 'randomly searching every fifth person'

Drinking in Aberdeen just got a whole lot more complicated, as police warned those popping out for a swift half that they may need to undergo drug testing before they are served. In Lancaster, police were last week setting up scanners near the central bus station to check passers-by for knives. Meanwhile, on Waterloo station, …

Law 7 Nov 2008, 15:17
Swedish transsexuals offered prosthetic todgers

All well and good, but no wood

Free whitepaper: Prosthetic Penises in the Data Centre Swedish transsexual men will as of 1 January next year be able to avail themselves of free prosthetic penises courtesy of their local health authorities - a move designed to offer former women the same kind of gender-bending support previously enjoyed only by their ex-bloke …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 15:23
UK.gov has no idea how much WEEE ends up in landfill

True green love weighs a tonne

The UK government has no idea how many tonnes of electrical and electronic waste ends up in landfill because it doesn’t keep data on the final amounts that have been dumped. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Ian Pearson admitted to the oversight yesterday. He said that although 184,334.13 tonnes of …

The Channel 7 Nov 2008, 15:42
Sony Ericsson readies Walkman slider

The latest in a long line

Sony Ericsson may have inked plans to cull 20 per cent of its handset range, but that hasn’t stopped the firm from punting yet another Walkman slider: the W705. Sony Ericsson's W705: slider Being part of the Walkman range of course means that the W705 is heavily music-oriented, and so it comes with TrackID and FM radio …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 15:43
Tomy, Zink launch camera with built-in printer

Snap and print on the go

Printing pictures is a bit of a rarity these days. So US printer specialist Zink has stuck a digital camera onto the top of a portable printer to ensure you’ve always got both to hand. Zink's TIP-521 is a camera and printer combined The TIP-521 sports a five-megapixel camera at one end and a printer at the other, which is …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 15:56
White House network pwned 'multiple' times by Chinese

'It is not as if they have continued access...'

US officials say Chinese hackers have raided White House email archives multiple times, according to a report. The Financial Times reports some people it describes as "US government cyber experts" suspect the raids were sponsored by the Chinese regime. "We are getting very targeted Chinese attacks so it stretches credulity …

Security 7 Nov 2008, 15:56
Wi-Fi phobes hijack disability legislation

We're disabled, really, we are!

The city of Santa Fe is being taken to task over a plan to deploy a Wi-Fi network on the ground they're unfairly discriminating against people who are allergic to electromagnetic waves. The complaint is spearheaded by Arthur Firstenberg, and the Cellular Phone Task Force*, as reported by KOB-TV, and is based on the premise …

Financial News 7 Nov 2008, 15:57
America sacks 240,000 in October

IT starts taking hits, but also adds jobs

The US Department of Labor released its monthly jobs report just before Wall Street opened this morning, and the news is worse than expected. The expectation was that American companies would cut 200,000 jobs in October, but businesses freaked out a little more than expected and chopped 40,000 additional people from the …

Financial News 7 Nov 2008, 16:06
Copper propositioned woman while 'on the job'

Pints all round for the Sky News cheap gag department

It's pints all round this afternoon for Sky News for its report into the case of the Hampshire copper jailed for having sex with two women while on duty. The piece begins: "An officer who admitted having sex while on duty has been jailed for four months." It continues: "Gary Bayldon, 48, also confessed to propositioning …

Bootnotes 7 Nov 2008, 16:07
iPhone passcode blocks everything - except phone calls

Easy as 0000

iPhone users expecting their Passcode Lock to prevent thieves running up their bill will be disappointed, as it emerges that the "Emergency Call" button actually allows any number to be dialled. While most users are happy to keylock their iPhone with the sliding finger, some opt to configure a passcode to lock the device more …

Mobile 7 Nov 2008, 17:00
Grand Theft Auto obsessive jailed for sex attacks

A teenage videogame fan has been jailed for sexually assaulting women he thought were prostitutes. And guess which title’s been blamed? Maidstone Crown Court heard how Ryan Chinnery, 19, from Ashford, Kent, prowled local streets whilst high on drugs and drink, looking for women. When police searched his home they found a copy …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 17:14
Honda's latest wacky walker stetches its legs

Take the strain out of walking

Honda has unveiled its latest attempt at wearable robotic legs, which this time around feature shoes, leg supports and a bicycle seat. Honda's walking unit takes the strain out of walking Simply slip the U-shaped seat between your legs and fix the machine’s shoes over your own, before switching the unit on and going about …

reghardware 7 Nov 2008, 17:48
Eclipse kills open-source SOA projects

After the hype, the hurt

The open-source Eclipse Foundation is terminating several service-oriented architecture (SOA) projects thanks to lack of interest. The Application Lifecycle Framework (ALF), initiated in 2005 to solve integration problems of application lifecycle management (ALM) for SOA developments, failed to attract committers beyond Serena …

Developer 7 Nov 2008, 19:13
Yahoo! shares tumble as Ballmer shuts coffin on Microhoo

Redmond supremo unfazed by yin Yang

This week, Yahoo! chief Jerry Yang said "the best thing for Microsoft is to buy Yahoo!" But Steve Ballmer doesn't see it that way. Chatting at a business lunch in Sydney today, The AP reports, Ballmer reiterated that Microhoo is well and truly dead. "We made an offer, we made another offer, and it was clear that Yahoo didn't …

Financial News 7 Nov 2008, 19:14
Miscreants hijacking machines via (freshly patched) Adobe flaw

Is yours next?

If you haven't updated your Adobe Reader program lately, now would be a good time. Three days after the company rushed out a critical update, miscreants are actively exploiting a security flaw to execute malicious code on vulnerable machines. The SANS Internet Storm Center says here that researchers have spotted laced PDF …

Security 7 Nov 2008, 19:19
AT&T cops to Jesus Phone-as-modem app

Eat your heart out, NetShare

Why was NetShare - the app that turns the Jesus Phone into a modem - yanked from the Apple App Store? AT&T and Apple have tethering app plans of their own. During an on-stage interview at a conference in San Francisco yesterday, AT&T CEO Ralph De La Vega said the mega telco is working with Steve Jobs to deliver an official …

Mobile 7 Nov 2008, 21:43
First Amendment rescues Grand Theft Auto's 'totally nude' strip club

Video games and titty bars - 'not like love and marriage'

The United States Constitution has once again affirmed the freedom for video strippers in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to shake their digital naughty bits without fear of trademark violation. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday dismissed a lawsuit by owners of the East Los Angeles strip club, "The PlayPen," …

Law 7 Nov 2008, 22:25
PC maker ~~Micron~~ MPC files for chapter 11 bankruptcy

Source: Replacement parts frozen

MPC - the personal computer maker formerly known as Micron Electronics - has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company says operations will continue while its business is reorganized. But earlier in the week, at least one customer was told the company is no longer providing replacement parts for machines. MPC - which sells …

The Channel 7 Nov 2008, 23:32