21st November 2008 Archive

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Does it feel good when I twist your circuits?

Now it does!

Stretch Armstong: bendy, stretchy and twistable. Not particularly useful. Electronics: Useful. Not so much with twisty business. If only researchers could figure out a way to... OH HEY! Scientists Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University and John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a way …

Science 21 Nov 2008, 01:29
San Francisco enters Agassi's electric car dream

'Just do what Shai tells us to do'

The San Francisco Bay Area has embraced Shai Agassi's Better Place vision, announcing a "sweeping plan" to drive public and private investments in electric cars and the infrastructure needed to run them. Today, at a press conference inside San Francisco City Hall, Mayor Gavin Newsom joined the mayors of nearby Oakland and San …

Public Sector 21 Nov 2008, 01:31
Spammers look east after McColo shutdown

Analysis Zombie networks likely to resurface in two weeks

One week after rogue ISP McColo was shut down spam levels have yet to return to normality. But security experts are under no illusions that this represents anything more than a temporary reprieve, which will probably come accompanied by a change in tactics by spammers. The volume of spam in circulation fell by as much as two …

Crime 21 Nov 2008, 07:02
Group Test: Blu-ray Disc players

Round-up Fuel for your HD TV

Happy Christmas, the format war is over. Now that Toshiba has abandoned HD DVD, Sony’s Blu-Ray has emerged as the new standard for high-definition discs, and the millions of folk who've been watching ye olde standard-def TV programmes on their HD TVs can go out and buy themselves a Blu-ray player safe in the knowledge it's not …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 09:02
Government still losing at least a computer a week

Don't care, won't care

A year and a day after losing child benefit records for every family in the UK and promising to reform data handling the British government is still losing a laptop every single week. Figures collated from Parliamentary answers reveal the government has lost 53 laptops since 20 November 2007 when Alistair Darling told the …

Government 21 Nov 2008, 09:18
Dassault to build aerospace-factory Sims

Gaming engines to model complex aviation projects

Graphic engines used in the latest videogames are set to be see more and more service in the French aerospace industry, according to reports. French aviation and techweapon firm Dassault Systemes is especially keen on the idea, according to its R&D veep Pascal Lecland. "We want more and more realistic simulations and we want …

Applications 21 Nov 2008, 09:53
HP breaks Japanese excessive packaging record

Still destroying the planet, one big box at a time

Those of you who don't like trees very much will appreciate HP's continuing efforts to deforest the planet by using the maximum cardboard possible when dispatching items to expectant customers. Here's a big box the company recently delivered to loyal Reg reader Simon Lucas, who's based in Tokyo: The pen is, Simon explains, to …

Bootnotes 21 Nov 2008, 09:58
Law firm argues links to its website abuse its trademarks

Jones Day wrestles BlockShopper.com

One of the world's biggest law firms is suing a small Chicago-based website for naming the firm and linking to two of its associates' biographies. A judge rejected an attempt to have the case thrown out last week. Jones Day, a firm with more than 2,200 lawyers, argues that BlockShopper.com is giving a false impression that the …

Small Biz 21 Nov 2008, 10:26
Brocade results are solid as a rock

A couple of blips

Brocade turned in satisfyingly solid results in its final 2008 quarter, beating its own guidance. The Foundry acquisition is on track, Cisco competition contained and it is preparing for a challenging first half in 2009. Revenues in Q4, ended October 25, 2008, was $398.5m, up 17 per cent from Q4 2007's $340m. GAAP net income …

Storage 21 Nov 2008, 10:31
Police probe Baby P text messages and websites

Contempt warnings

The Metropolitan Police is investigating websites which are naming the mother of Baby P and her boyfriend at time of the child's death. A text message naming them, and encouraging people to sign a Sun petition on the case has been forwarded to thousands of people. Several social networking sites also have pages and groups …

Law 21 Nov 2008, 10:35
Nokia goes to tinsel town

Hoping to make it big in the flicks

Continuing to distance itself from boring-old mobile phones, Nokia has announced plans to open a research lab in Hollywood packed with movie executives rather than those engineers the company so recently laid off in Finland. Nokia believes a presence in the city of dreams can reinvigorate its headlong plunge into Web 2.0, even …

Mobile 21 Nov 2008, 10:43
PM quizzed over McKinnon extradition

Brown supports repatriation, in principle

Prime minister Gordon Brown has spoken about the Gary McKinnon extradition case for the first time, supporting the principle of repatriation of sentenced prisoners while declining to get into the specifics of the case, which remains under judicial review. During prime minister's questions on Wednesday, Gordon Brown supported …

Law 21 Nov 2008, 10:55
Apple updates iPhone firmware

Google Street view cometh

Apple has released a firmware update for the iPhone, giving Jesus phone devotees access to Google Map’s Street View, keyboard settings and more. iPhone 2.2 Software Update lets you turn off the keyboard's auto-correction. Hurrah! The free iPhone 2.2 Software Update adds extra functionality to Google Maps so that – in …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 11:14
Verizon suspends staff for ogling Obama's phone bill

Verizon staff caught snooping

Staff at Verizon face disciplinary action after accessing Barack Obama's phone bill and taking a peek at who the president elect had been calling. The breach was spotted by Verizon, which has put all staff who accessed Obama's account on paid leave while it establishes who had legitimate reason to view the info and who was …

Mobile 21 Nov 2008, 11:17
Promoter hunts stars for McKinnon benefit gig

Updated Rock against extradition

Rock band Marillion have offered to take part in a gig in support of accused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon with proceeds going to autism charities, according to local media reports. Ross Hemsworth, managing director of Glastonbury Radio has taken on the role of promoter to write to 100 bands asking them to perform at a benefit …

Law 21 Nov 2008, 11:27
First pics of GTA: The Lost and Damned released

Hungry for more?

Rockstar has released a series of teaser images to promote Grand Theft Auto IV’s upcoming downloadable add-on The Lost and Damned. Biker Johnny Klebitz is The Lost and Damned's main character The images will whet the appetite of any Xbox 360 gamer hungry for a fresh slice of virtual pillage and mayhem on the streets of …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 11:37
Build your own Ferrari F430

Vrooooooom...

If you can’t afford a Ferrari F430 then you’ll be glad to hear that the car firm’s inked a deal with gaming accessory firm Thrustmaster to let you buy individual parts of the car instead. Well, sort of. Thrustmaster's wheel is an exact F430 replica Thrustmaster’s Ferrari F430 force feedback racing wheel for the PC is said …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 11:38
BOFH: The unwanted software compo

Episode 38 Anything for booze

"So let me get this straight," the Boss says, looking at his email to the PFY's latest masterpiece. "You're proposing a software... amnesty?" "Yes," the PFY answers. "And what's a software amnesty when it's at home?" "It's a chance for people to turn in software they don't use any more," I explain. "So maybe you bought a …

BOFH 21 Nov 2008, 11:52
Collaboration: A dirty word, still, for some

Mini Poll So what do you think about all this social software malarkey?

Let's get personal here. Do you like collaborating with work colleagues? Do you like giving up your hard won knowledge for the greater good? Some people do. Some people don't. The theory that underpins social software driven collaboration is that power accrues most to those who give away the most. They gain a reputation, they …

Productivity 21 Nov 2008, 12:02
The GUI that almost conquered the pocket

Farewell then, UIQ

The death of UIQ deserves a footnote for posterity – and a chance to take look back at a decade in which almost everything that everyone predicted for mobile data proved to be wrong. Given the way the market turned out, it didn't stand a chance. In case you missed the news, the adventure is over. While much of UIQ survived the …

Mobile 21 Nov 2008, 12:09
London Hospital back online after computer virus shutdown

On the mend

Computer systems at three major London hospitals are largely back online on Friday morning, three days after a major computer virus outbreak forced staff to disconnect the network. IT systems at St Bartholomew's (Barts), the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel and the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green were taken down on …

Malware 21 Nov 2008, 12:32
Vote now for your top net neologism

Reader poll Asshats, f*cktards and lusers - your time has come

Ok, let's get straight down to it - below are the twenty contenders vying for the crown of El Reg top net neologism, as chosen by you, our beloved commentards readers. But before we get down and dirty with the vocab, a couple of points. Firstly, we had a lot of support for "wibble", although most reckon that's a Blackadderism …

Bootnotes 21 Nov 2008, 12:33
NASA orbiter reveals buried Martian glaciers

Vast water ice sheets under rocky debris

The ground-penetrating radar aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has identified extensive Martian glaciers buried under "protective blankets of rocky debris". The glaciers - lying in the Hellas Basin region of Mars's southern hemisphere - stretch for "dozens of miles from edges of mountains or cliffs". Their …

Space 21 Nov 2008, 12:50
Larger all-in-one desktop Eees en route?

Two more models planned, claim sources

Asus will launch two larger Eee Top desktop PCs next year, sources close to the company have claimed. Asus' 15.6in Eee Top (above) could be joined by 20in and 22in models next year Unnamed “market sources” have told DigiTimes that Asus will unveil 20in and 22in Eee Tops during the first half of 2009. The firm launched its …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 12:56
WIN a BlackBerry Storm!

Competition The season's hottest handset could be yours

Samsung Omina? 'Orrible! Apple iPhone? I don't think so! No, Research in Motion's BlackBerry Storm is the touchscreen mobile to go for this season, says Vodafone, and it's putting its money where its mouth is to give three lucky Register Hardware readers one of the in-demand handsets. The Storm - aka the 9500 - sports a 3. …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 13:00
Sony Vaio TT slim'n'light laptop

Review Small form-factor, hefty price tag

Sony has been pitching small, slim laptops at executives for years now, packing in as much functionality into as compact a chassis as it can and charging a premium for it. Why mess with a successful formula? So the new Vaio TT doesn't. There's clearly a market for this kind of machine, as the success of previous Sony thin'n' …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 13:02
IT Crowd: spot Reg gear

Third series starts tonight

The first episode of the third series of Graham Linehan's The IT Crowd is on Channel 4 tonight at 10.00pm. Regular readers might remember that the Reg's all-powerful merchandising arm stepped up to the plate when Linehan put out a request for geeky items to make the IT department look the part. So if you're watching tonight …

Entertainment 21 Nov 2008, 13:27
DCSF reins in ContactPoint scope for police and A&E staff

Frontline access frozen by political fears

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is resisting broadening access to the ContactPoint database for police officers and A&E staff, two groups most people would consider to be the frontline of spotting child abuse. Staff from the department admitted that this was for politcal expediency rather that to prevent …

Government 21 Nov 2008, 13:31
Sony pours water on fiery Blu-ray Disc sales forecasts

How much will punter spend on home entertainment now they're not going out as much?

Blu-ray Disc sales won't meet previously enthusiastic predictions, a senior Sony staffer has warned. But the HD disc format will still be a popular purchase during the holiday season, he added. Speaking to newsagency Reuters, Stan Glasgow, head of Sony's electronics business in the US, said that the world sales target of 5m …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 13:38
Nominet chairman embroiled in governance row

Seat on exec salary committee questioned

Nominet chairman Bob Gilbert sits on a committee to determine the salaries and bonuses of senior executives, but not his own. Critics say this contravenes the not-for-profit domain registry's corporate governance rules, but Nominet denies any such breach. (Editor's note: Nominet argues that Gilbert is only technically an …

Telecoms 21 Nov 2008, 13:54
Enterprise storage is for the little people too

Reg primer Not the boxes, the thinking...

Small and medium-sized businesses are the great untapped market for the computer storage industry. They remain untapped, for good reason. Money. Or lack of...the sort of sums bandied about for computer storage systems aimed at the enterprise look prohibitive. However, all the reasons that big businesses are investing in …

Small Biz 21 Nov 2008, 13:58
DARPA wargamer calls for US X-Men superplane fleet

JFK would have gone for it, Mr Obama

A prominent US wargames and military crazytech expert has called for the Obama administration to build a large fleet of X-Men style stealth transport planes, able to deliver America's secret elite forces anywhere in the world regardless of the local government's wishes. Robert Martinage, a senior wonk at the CSBA thinktank in …

Government 21 Nov 2008, 14:24
BBC Trust brands Manuelgate a 'deplorable intrusion'

No sack for Ross, though

The BBC Trust has branded the Brand/Ross Manuelgate outrage a "deplorable intrusion with no editorial justification". On 18 October, Radio 2 broadcast a show featuring hilarious duo Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross in which they rang thesp Andrew Sachs and left messages on his ansafone which crowed that Brand had slept with the …

Music and Media 21 Nov 2008, 14:42
BlueSky Positioning snags Sagem

SIM manufacturer in strategic deal with pipe dream

BlueSky Positioning, the company that promised to have GPS working in a SIM by June last year, has entered a "strategic relationship" with respected SIM manufacturer Sagem Orga. Sagem Orga's endorsement is important to BlueSky, which has so far failed to show anything more than slideware and promises, but it also shows how …

Mobile 21 Nov 2008, 15:08
BBC Trust pulls plug on local video plans

Fails public value test

The BBC Trust has rejected the broadcaster's plans to set up local video news sites for different areas of the country. The £68m proposal was to improve local news sites for 60 locations and five extra Welsh language services. The plan required 400 staff and a four year budget of £68m. The sites would offer news, sport and …

Music and Media 21 Nov 2008, 15:10
'Unappealing' electric cars a 'tragedy', cries Nissan chief

'Leccy Tech Electrification shouldn't mean unappealing cars, says Ghosn

Nissan chairman and Renault SA co-chairman Carlos Ghosn tacitly called for better-looking electric cars when he gave his keynote speech at the Los Angeles Motor Show. Nissan's Pivo concept: not what the company chief has in mind... Thankfully, Ghosn doesn't see the move the electric vehicles as meaning an end of cars as …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 15:21
Reuters yanks reporter from Sadville

Last one to leave, turn off the flying penis

Reuters has pulled its embedded reporter out of Second Life, it confirmed today. We were prompted to check in on Adam Reuters - real name Adam Pasick - yesterday, after Google sounded the death knell for its own four and a half-month-old Sadville, (not) Lively*. We were shocked to find there hasn't been a new story on Reuters …

Bootnotes 21 Nov 2008, 15:35
US teen tops himself live online

Sad end for Florida teen

A US teenager has used a video sharing website to broadcast his suicide live across the internet. Justin.TV has already removed a copy of Biggs' suicide video It’s thought that up to 1500 people watched 19-year-old Abraham K Biggs, of Broward County, Florida, take an overdose on website Justin.tv, earlier this week. …

Music and Media 21 Nov 2008, 15:47
Server virtualization ain't all that...

Mini Poll Immature headline for immature technology?

If you listen to a lot of the vendors, server virtualisation is now pretty mainstream, and the impression you get is that it’s just a case of getting on with it - if you haven’t done so already. But how realistic is this? This is unlikely that the technology is that mature when you consider that less than 10 per cent of the …

Infrastructure 21 Nov 2008, 15:54
Mobile shields man from death bullet

Shellphone?

A US man has claimed that divine intervention and his mobile phone helped save him from being shot. Ronald Richard of North Lee Road, Covington, New Orleans told local paper The Times-Picayune that one day whilst out and about, he decided on a whim to put his Motorola Razr in a pocket directly over his heart, instead of the …

Reg Hardware 21 Nov 2008, 15:59
Virtual servers and economic gloom boost Wyse Technology's message

Comment 'Wyse up and toss those PCs'

The recession is an opportunity for some. Wyse reckons it can boost its thin client business by pushing its thin client server running as a virtual machine overcoming Windows thin client inadequacies. Replacing desktop PCs is the traditional Wyse story, now with added server virtualisation aspects and extra relevance because …

Virtualization 21 Nov 2008, 16:07
e-gold directors avoid jail

Controversial money transfer service given second chance

Three directors of digital currency firm e-gold avoided a spell behind bars on Thursday after earlier pleading guilty to offences for money laundering and running an unlicensed money transfer business. The three directors, along with the e-gold company itself and parent firm Gold & Silver Reserve, were charged in April 2007 …

Crime 21 Nov 2008, 17:19
FCC offers prison boss phone jamming help

Operators jam the jammer

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has offered to work with South Carolina's prison boss to find a way to prevent mobile phones being used in prisons, but industry body the CTIA is calling on the FCC to get a court order preventing anyone from demonstrating the technology. Prison chief Jon Ozmint recently called for …

Mobile 21 Nov 2008, 18:59
World hunts CherryPal cloud PC chimera

Have you seen the 2 watt mini machine?

People are beginning to wonder if Max Seybold's sandwich-sized wonder machine really exists. The CherryPal CEO says his 2-watt thin client cloud PC finally shipped on November 4, after months of delays. But a chorus of CherryPal "Brand Angels" - Web 2.0 denizens enlisted to promote the product in the blogosphere - say they've …

PCs & Chips 21 Nov 2008, 19:00
Anderson downgrades Long Tail to Chocolate Teapot status

Metaphor swallows Man

"The end came quickly," as authors of morbid weepies like to say. On Monday WiReD magazine editor Chris Anderson effectively admitted game over for his "Long Tail", the idea he's been dragging so lucratively around the conference circuit for the past four years. In as many words, he downgraded it from "the future of business" …

Music and Media 21 Nov 2008, 19:11
iSuppli cuts 2009 PC growth forecast by two-thirds

The economy's stupid

Next up in November's cavalcade of plummeting confidence in the IT industry is the data tracking firm iSuppli, which is lopping off its growth forecast for PC shipments by nearly two-thirds. The bean counting firm now expects global PC shipments to grow by only 4.3 per cent in 2009, compared to its previous forecast of 11.9 …

Channel Register 21 Nov 2008, 19:15
Terror in orbit: ISS piss recycler in fire alarm mishap

Golden-Pond™ drinks module moistens space ~~pants~~ brows

A quarter-billion-dollar recycler unit - shipped into orbit aboard the space shuttle so as to slake the thirst of hardworking astronauts with a revitalising crystal flow of their own reprocessed urine - is playing up. According to the AP, space aces aboard the International Space Station (ISS), to which the shuttle Endeavour …

Science 21 Nov 2008, 19:51
Brand new Star Trek prequel pics and trailer

What on Praxis were Paramount thinking

The eagerly anticipated new Star Trek film is set to enthrall some and enrage others with a young, spunky cast, vicious fights and sex scenes. A new trailer and new pics from the forthcoming film were released online earlier this week, further fuelling the excitement of Trekkies around the world ahead of the film's release on …

Entertainment 21 Nov 2008, 19:52
Virtualization and HPC - Will they ever marry?

SC08 Imaginary-server overhead

Server virtualization has spent the past several decades moving out from the mainframe to Unix boxes and then out into the wild racks of x64 servers running Windows, Linux, and a smattering of other operating systems in the corporate data center. The one place where virtualization hasn't taken off is in high performance …

Virtualization 21 Nov 2008, 20:19
NASA celebrates return of the Zeppelin

Eureka! We'll call it...

NASA got a great big balloon for the 75th anniversary of its iconic Moffett airfield in the heart of Silicon Valley. The space agency on Friday celebrated the landmark occasion with the dedication of the world's largest airship, a 246-foot Zeppelin owned by the private company Airship Ventures. The lighter-than-air craft …

Science 21 Nov 2008, 23:31