10th December 2008 Archive

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Microsoft updates Mac Office 2008

Promises, promises

Microsoft today released the latest in its ongoing series of updates to Office 2008 for Mac. According to Microsoft, fixer-upper 12.1.5 "contains several changes that improve security, stability, reliability, and performance. Additionally, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the …

Applications 10 Dec 2008, 00:13
More mobile makers join Android alliance

Fourteen new recruits

Open Handset Alliance, the Google-backed group behind Android, has recruited 14 more companies to work on the open-source mobile operating system. The org's new members include major handset makers, mobile service providers, and chipmakers, including ARM, Asustek, Garmin, Huawei Technologies, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and …

Mobile 10 Dec 2008, 00:17
Facebook ignores huge security hole for four months

And counting

Facebook has been sitting on a nasty website flaw that for four months has made its users susceptible to malware and forgery attacks. The cross-site scripting (XSS) error can be plainly demonstrated here and here. It allows a miscreant to trick a user into believing he is visiting Facebook when the vast majority of the content …

Security 10 Dec 2008, 01:45
Sun closes 'future' pay-per-use utility computing service

From flagship to flag maker

Sun Microsystems has killed its once high-profile utility computing experiment, Network.com, which let customers buy computing power by the hour. The company revealed it's no longer accepting new customers after four years, saying parts of the business and technology model "were not in the sweet spot". The 13 customers and 48 …

Software 10 Dec 2008, 02:13
Sun adds goodies to OpenSolaris 2008.11

Sparc support still MIA, though

Well, it may be December, but it is time for the OpenSolaris 2008.11 update, the second tweak of the open source variant of the Solaris Unix platform. With the new release today, it's getting some interesting storage enhancements as well as the usual update additions. The OpenSolaris project launched its first pseudo- …

Servers 10 Dec 2008, 05:02
IWF pulls Wikipedia from child porn blacklist

Virgin Killer ban reversed

The Internet Watch Foundation has removed Wikipedia from its child porn blacklist, despite its contention that the free online encyclopedia includes an image "potentially in breach" of the UK Protection of Children Act. On Friday, under instructions from the IWF, several major UK ISPs began censoring a Wikipedia article …

Music and Media 10 Dec 2008, 06:19
How can I sync a Blackberry Bold with Now-up-to-Date?

Q&A

I just saw an Register Hardware article on free Mac software for Blackberry syncing. I have a Blackberry Bold, and I'm trying to sync Now-Up-To-Date. However, I'm running it on a PC, and can't find sync software. Do you have any suggestions?

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 07:02
Amazon Elastic Cloud service storms Europe

EC2 instances go international

Amazon's Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) service has finally extended to Europe. The online bookseller announced it will spin up EC2 virtual server instances in two "availability zones" in Europe, hopefully giving lower latency to customers who previously had to beam their virtual workload across the pond. While Amazon's S3 …

Developer 10 Dec 2008, 08:02
2008's top three MP3 players

Kit of the Year For your consideration...

Apple's iPod line remains the best-selling series of music players, and while the revamped, thinned down Touch appeals - thanks to its sheer good looks and versatility - it was a couple of other players the scored the best marks this year. Sony Walkman S-series The 8GB and 16GB Walkman S series may not support as many audio …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 09:02
Is filming someone in the street a breach of privacy?

A tricky legal question

A 40-year-old woman is suing a Croatian TV station after it filmed her in public and then featured her in a documentary about obesity. Gordana Knezic was shopping in Zagreb and did not know that she was being filmed, Ananova reports. A privacy expert said that in the UK only some photographs taken in public are subject to …

Law 10 Dec 2008, 09:38
Intel, Nvidia partner on Atom chipset

Small, cheap desktops to gain GeForce IGP

Nvidia is to tweak its MCP79 chipset to work with Intel's Atom processor, it has been claimed. MCP79 - aka the GeForce 9400M - currently works with Intel's mobile Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme CPUs. But according to industry moles, Nvidia has signed a deal with Intel to add Atom to the list, assuming it doesn't covertly …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 09:40
Why Morgan Stanley had to pay that $15m email fine

Two papers about IT security

And so to Reg Whitepapers to fossick this week for security nuggets. We struck a couple of good ones. Email as Evidence In 2006 Morgan Stanley agreed to pay a $15m fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for repeatedly failing to produce emails during the course of investigations. Oh dear. This whitepaper, commissioned …

Security 10 Dec 2008, 09:45
Government plans emergency extranet

Disaster information exchange

The Civil Contingencies Secretariat and Communities and Local Government are developing a National Resilience Extranet. They have signed a contract with BT to provide the service, which will enable the secure exchange of information in response to civil emergencies such as floods and outbreaks of agricultural diseases. The …

Government 10 Dec 2008, 10:02
Oz men's mag recovers inflatable jubs

Bulgarian airbags turn up in Melbourne

Readers of Oz chaps' mag Ralph are doubtless beside themselves with joy at the news that they will not, after all, have to suffer Xmas without the benefit of a couple of free inflatable breasts. Over 130,000 pairs of Bulgarian airbags intended as a giveaway with the magazine's December 15 issue last week went awol en route …

Bootnotes 10 Dec 2008, 10:03
Discount supermarket offers not-so-cheap netbook

How much?

Top marks to supermarket chain Lidl for missing the 'cheap' in 'Small, Cheap Computer'. It wants a whopping £390 for a bog-standard 10in netbook. The irony is that Lidl is a discount chain and was apparently given Which?'s Best Value for Money Retailer award this year. The Targa Netbook Traveller 1016 that Lidl wants the best …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 10:14
HP talks clouds, diamonds and tiaras

Comment Drawing up magical kingdoms in old Vienna

For HP the "big switch" to cloud computing is a big opportunity but is not really a switch at all. Here at HP's Software Universe event in Vienna the cloud is mentioned a lot but you can't for a moment think that HP's head is in the clouds. It's not. The company does not believe in Nick Carr's Big Switch premise - that there …

Servers 10 Dec 2008, 10:31
Abbey IT upgrade 'chaos' hits small biz banking

Frozen money

A weekend IT upgrade at Abbey's business banking division left customers unable to login or transfer money in or out of their accounts on Monday. Some customers continue to report problems today, but Abbey says it has fixed system-level failures and that people who are still locked out of their finances are a tiny minority. An …

Small Biz 10 Dec 2008, 10:40
Microtune boots up for in-car TV

Watching TV while the ~~rubber~~ economy burns?

Digital tuner chip company Microtune has launched a new chip for in-car reception of DVB-T signals, a market expected to explode during 2009, despite the obvious luxury status of in-car TV reception. Getting a decent TV signal into a car isn't as easy as it might initially appear. Traditional analogue systems are only good up …

Wireless 10 Dec 2008, 11:17
Yahoo! eyes! Sarin!

Vodafone's ex-top man shortlisted

Yahoo!'s search for a new leader has brought Arun Sarin into the frame, as someone with experience leading a public company into developing-market expansion who is currently at a loose end. Arun stepped down as chief executive of Vodafone back in May, after masterminding the company's expansion into India and Eastern Europe as …

Financial News 10 Dec 2008, 11:31
Hubble sniffs CO₂ on far-flung 'hot Jupiter' planet

And we thought we had global warming

The Hubble Space Telescope has detected carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a star 63 light years away. NASA says this is "an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life". Nice atmosphere altogether The planet in question is of the type known as a "hot Jupiter", because …

Space 10 Dec 2008, 11:32
Bumper MS patch batch spells client-side misery

IE still vulnerable after bombardment

Microsoft issued eight updates on Tuesday - two more than expected - as part of its Patch Tuesday update cycle. Redmond classifies six of the octet as critical, while independent security watchers reckon they all make the highest security grade. Worst of the bunch is an update for ActiveX controls that affects Visual Basic 6.0 …

Enterprise Security 10 Dec 2008, 11:48
'I don't blame pilot', says San Diego jet crash father

'I know he did everything he could'

The man who on Monday lost his wife, two daughters and mother-in-law in the San Diego jet fighter crash says he doesn't blame the pilot, who "did everything he could" to avoid the disaster. Don Yoon, 37, yesterday visited the remains of his home in the suburb of University City. His Cather Avenue house was completely destroyed …

Science 10 Dec 2008, 12:04
Regulator to probe Davenport Lyons' P2P porn cash demands

Hot watchdog on watchdog action

Lawyers for the consumer rights lobby Which? have filed an official complaint to the body that regulates solicitors over Davenport Lyons' campaign of letters alleging illegal filesharing. For several months Davenport Lyons has been sending letters to individuals accusing them of pirating videogames via peer-to-peer networks, …

Law 10 Dec 2008, 12:22
O2 strikes at netbooks with Window Mobile gadget

In like Flint

UK carrier O2 has begun offering HTC's year-old attempt to pre-empt the netbook market, branding the 3G-enabled device as the XDA Flint. The Flint is based around a 5in, 640 x 480 screen and runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro on a 624MHz Marvell PXA270 processor. There's an AMD ATI W2284 graphics chip on board too. O2's XDA Flint: …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 12:26
GTA: IV available for download on PC

Games on tap

Grand Theft Auto: IV has only just been released for the PC, but if you’re too lazy to get to the shops, then you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s now available to legally download. Metaboli has access to Rockstar's entire back catalogue Rockstar, the game’s developer, has signed an agreement with Metaboli, giving the …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 12:29
Raids net police £1m in pirate game and movie discs

'You want DVD?'

UK police have raided a factory in the West Midlands where pirate films, games and music – with an estimated street value of £1m – were produced. Police found 30,000 illegally copied discs at the factory, which is in the Brierley Hill area. These ranged from copies of teen flick High School Musical 3 to Will Smith’s moody …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 12:34
Logitech makes play with 'comfort' gaming über-keyboard

Gaming’s a tough business, so Logitech has unveiled an ergonomic keyboard designed to help you in your quest to slay dragons, shoot zombies and burn rubber. Logitech's G13 gaming keyboard: comfy The G13 is described as a hybrid gaming keyboard that’s crafted to provide “game-changing comfort and control” whether you're …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 12:38
Intel completes 32nm development process

Bigs up tiny circuitry plans

Intel has completed development of its next-generation production process that shrinks chip circuitry to 32 nanometres. The chipmaker said yesterday that it was “on track for production readiness of this future generation [of transistors] in the fourth quarter of 2009.” Chipzilla’s current processors are made on circuitry …

PCs & Chips 10 Dec 2008, 12:40
ITU plots third dimension

You think HD needs a lot of bandwidth?

While most of us are still struggling with HD-TV, the International Telecommunications Union has started work on standards for the transmission of 3D TV, as well as Ultra-High-Definition TV. While home 3D might be on every Christmas list this year, the ITU likes to think ahead, with the Russian Federation pushing hard for …

Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 12:50
Google gives Chrome spit 'n' polish treatment, says report

Luring OEMs by removing beta tag?

Hold on to your hats, Google Chrome is coming out of beta. The internet giant’s vice president Marissa Mayer told Michael Arrington at LeWeb 08 that Google’s open source Windows-friendly browser, which debuted about three months ago, will be given the full release treatment soon. According to the interview, Google is …

Applications 10 Dec 2008, 13:31
Nappies OK'd by beaks in Nowak space loverat fracas

Lawyer offers pants explanation

Statements made to police by former astronaut Lisa Nowak, accused of plotting to kidnap and mishandle a rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, have been thrown out of court by appeal judges. However various items found in her possession and in her car - including used nappies allegedly worn by Nowak, a hunting knife …

Space 10 Dec 2008, 13:42
SOCA budgets £500m to revamp IT systems

Plenty of scope for lots of police notepads

The UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has budgeted up to £500m on plans to upgrade its IT systems for the 21st century. Between £300m and £500m will be spent on projects focused on replaced outdated legacy systems with an integrated system as part of the 2010 Programme. Tenders are invited with awards expected to be …

Policing 10 Dec 2008, 14:00
Seagate abruptly lowers Q4 2008 revenue forecast

Twenty days and half a billion dollars gone

Seagate has announced it now expects to make fewer sales in this quarter because of the recession. Elsewhere in the disk drive business, Western Digital may only want the enterprise part of Fujitsu's hard drive business. In an 8K filing to the SEC today Seagate said: "Due to lower demand for its products, a more competitive …

Storage 10 Dec 2008, 14:11
The hitman, the Pirate Bay and the freetard prof

The prank that fell flat

REG: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can't have babies?! FRANCIS: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression! REG: It's symbolic of his struggle against reality - Monty Python's Life of Brian. Everyone's a prankster these days - it's all in the name of art. On Monday a former Irish …

Music and Media 10 Dec 2008, 14:24
Vertu offers £20k phone with 'beaten up' look

Polished turd?

Mobile phones are nothing more than collections of plastic, wires and chips, aren’t they? Not if you’re a Nokia Vertu customer, because its latest talker is a gathering of sapphire crystal and walnut. Vertu's Boucheron 150 phone: luxurious The Boucheron 150 may look like it’s done ten rounds with Ricky Hatton, but Vertu …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 14:37
Shuttle X27D dual-core Atom desktop PC

Review Nice CPU. So why the poor chipset?

We had something of a downer on the Intel Atom 230 as the single-core 1.6GHz processor could barely pull the skin off a rice pudding. Our verdict was that "you can build an incredibly small and cheap PC around the D945GCLF mobo, but the Atom CPU is a severe disappointment on the desktop as it doesn’t have the grunt to do any …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 14:40
Reding still pushing Mob-TV

First legislation, then recommendation, now guideline

EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding hasn't given up pushing Mobile TV on anyone who'll listen, and has just published a set of guidelines in the hope that gentle persuasion will work where attempted legislation failed. The EU still apparently believes that Mobile TV is going to be worth €7.8bn by 2013 as everyone leaps to …

Mobile 10 Dec 2008, 15:21
Delta Boeing 777 engine suffers 'uncommanded rollback'

Related to Heathrow incident?

The US's National Transportation Safety Board is probing an "uncommanded rollback" on a Rolls-Royce Trent 895 engine which affected a Delta Air Lines Boeing 777-200ER on 26 November, Flight International reports. NTSB explains that Delta Flight 18, from Shanghai to Atlanta, experienced loss of thrust on the right-hand engine …

Science 10 Dec 2008, 15:23
Bollywood to remake The Italian Job

'Lots of singing and dancing'

A Bollywood film outfit is planning to remake The Italian Job, in the process spicing up the cinematic mix with “lots of singing and dancing”, the Sun reports. The Indian Film Company secured remake rights from Paramount last year, and will replace the iconic Minis with Indian vehicles while taking elements from both the 1968 …

Entertainment 10 Dec 2008, 15:33
Sony Ericsson to make Android phone

Summer 2009 launch looks possible

Sony Ericsson’s recent membership to the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has finally prompted it to come clean over rumours that it’s planning to launch a handset based on Google’s Android platform. Rikko Sakaguchi, Corporate VP at Sony Ericsson, said it’s the company’s aim to “develop a handset based on the Android platform”, …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 15:34
Fake Vint Cerf tweets link spam on Twitter

'I get so much electronic chatter as it is', Cerf tells El Reg

A Twitter account in the name of internet luminary Vint Cerf has been suspended after miscreants abused it to send link spam. The @cerf account Cerf himself established with the micro blogging service last month was used to push auction search sites, according to a ZDNet security blog story. Really? Actually no - it's a fake …

ID 10 Dec 2008, 15:47
Plod hopes Bluetooth messages will stem drinking

Tried everything else

Police in Edinburgh are to pester locals with Bluetooth messages asking them how they plan to get home, in the hope of making them think before getting behind the wheel drunk. The news comes courtesy of The Scotsman, which reports that Bluetooth nodes will be placed near drinking hotspots (otherwise known as Scotland, in our …

Mobile 10 Dec 2008, 16:04
PS3's Home to debut tomorrow

Welcome Home

The PlayStation 3’s answer to an online community, Home, will finally be available for mass public consumption tomorrow, Sony has confirmed. Home has been in the making for a very long time and has already been available in beta form to selected gamers for the last month or so. The new open beta version will make Home …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 16:47
Harvard prof slams US nut allergy hysteria

Tastes like 'mass psychogenic illness'

A Harvard professor of medical sociology has agreeably warned that increasing hysteria over nut allergies in kids bears the hallmarks of mass psychogenic illness (MPI) - described as "a social network phenomenon involving otherwise healthy people in a cascade of anxiety". Writing in the British Medical Journal, Nicholas A …

Biology 10 Dec 2008, 16:57
Skype fills out with middle age

New technology and strategy officers

VoIP provider Skype has decided to appoint Chief Officers for Technology and Strategy, creating both roles within days of the release of its latest Windows Mobile client. Both posts are newly created, and fill out a management team at an important time for the company as rival services based on industry-standard protocols …

VoIP 10 Dec 2008, 16:59
Gloves for (cold) gadget lovers

Touchscreen? No problem

Aside from the cold, winter presents a unique problem for gadget fans: operating touchscreen devices while wearing gloves. But not any more, thanks to Tavo. Tavo gadget gloves can be worn whilst operating an iPod or iPhone That’s because Tavo gloves promise to let you operate an “iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry Storm or other …

Reg Hardware 10 Dec 2008, 17:27
Digital delinquents thrive on IE6 exploits

Fiesta attack tool drives through swiss-cheese browser

Hackers have more more luck targeting users of older versions of Internet Explorer for exploitation than other demographics, according to figures culled from a popular attack tool. Web security firm PrevX lifted the illuminating stats after breaking into the an open admin panel for the Fiesta exploit pack, one of the current …

Security 10 Dec 2008, 18:54
FBI recruits former Lehman Brothers IT exec

Fills CIO spot vacant since October

An ex-IT executive at the failed investment bank Lehman Brothers has been hired by the FBI to be the agency's new technology chief. Chad Fulgham, former senior veep at Lehman, was tapped to wear the FBI's chief information officer hat, a job that's been vacant since mid-October. The FBI said in a statement that Fulgham's …

Government 10 Dec 2008, 19:26
Microsoft's mobile Live services slip beta label

Mobius conspiracy convened

Microsoft has launched the mobile version of its Windows Live service, putting re-worked versions of its online services on cell phones. The company said its Mobile.live.com service is no longer in beta and throws in features that early testers hadn't received. The service adds Microsoft's Web 2.0 me-too Windows Live Home, …

Mobile 10 Dec 2008, 19:29
Microsoft and HP get SaaSy with resellers

Cloudy small biz vision

Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft hope to give its value-added resellers (VARs) a leg-up in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) game by schooling their channel partners on how to effectively sell the apps to SMB customers. Microsoft said today that under a new initiative with HP, the two companies plan to give VARs the tools and …

Software 10 Dec 2008, 19:31
Jaspersoft secures $12.5m in VC dough

Red Hat kick in

Open source business intelligence software maker Jaspersoft said today that it has closed its fifth round of venture capital funding, raking in $12.5m in money from its existing investors and a new one: commercial Linux distributor Red Hat. Adams Street Partners lead off the Round E of funding, and that private equity firm now …

Financial News 10 Dec 2008, 19:33
Indian court urged to 'ban Google Earth'

Aided Mumbai attacks

Legal advocates have petitioned an Indian court to ban Google Earth following intelligence indicating the satellite imaging site was used to plan last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed 170 people. Advocate Amit Karkhanis told India's High Court the free service "aids terrorists in plotting attacks" by providing …

Security 10 Dec 2008, 19:57
Intel to extend chip-tech dominance

Bad news for AMD, IBM

According to an article in today's EE Times, Intel will "extend its lead over AMD, IBM and other microprocessor vendors" at next week's übergeekfest, the 2008 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco. Specifically, Intel will present papers that detail the company's latest advances in high-k/metal-gate …

PCs & Chips 10 Dec 2008, 20:26
Native-Linux music player Amarok gets major overhaul

iTunes minus the store - and the fanbois

Linux-native music player Amarok 2.0 was released today, sporting some big changes to the open-source iTunes alternative. Amarok 2's user interface is a major overhaul of the Amarok 1.4x GUI, both aesthetically and functionally. It's also moved from the KDE 3 to KDE 4 framework to hook into the desktop environment's latest …

Music and Media 10 Dec 2008, 21:37
Judge buries bogus malware-protection gang

One million duped

A federal judge has closed down a major online operation that duped more than one million computer users into buying bogus malware protection using fraudulent ads and false claims viewers' machines contained illegal pornography. The order against two firms, Innovative Marketing of Belize and ByteHosting Internet Services of …

Crime 10 Dec 2008, 22:47