19th December 2008 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

WIN a BlackBerry Storm!

Competition The season's hottest handset could be yours

Samsung Omina? 'Orrible! Apple iPhone? I don't think so! No, RIM's BlackBerry Storm is the touchscreen mobile to go for this season, says Vodafone, and it's going to give three lucky Register Hardware readers one of the in-demand handsets. The Storm - aka the 9500 - sports a 3.25in, 480 x 360 touchscreen. It's got quad-band …

Phones 19 Dec 2008, 00:02
YouTube 'poisoned baby food' hoaxer pleads guilty

Not the best grow up plan ever conceived

A New York man on Thursday admitted he repeatedly posted videos of himself on YouTube claiming he caused millions of jars of baby food to be poisoned. Anton Dunn, calling himself "Trashman," posted a video of himself on in April claiming to have "disciples" working for the company who spiked Gerber baby food with cyanide and …

Security 19 Dec 2008, 00:47
Man faces $52k bill after voicemail breach

Bulgarian phreaker phones home

A Winnipeg businessman has received a telephone bill for more than $52,000 (Canadian) after unknown miscreants breached his voicemail system and made hundreds of calls to Bulgaria. Alan Davison, told CBCNews he knew something was amiss when he saw a strange "feature 36" message repeatedly popping up on his phone. He evidently …

Security 19 Dec 2008, 01:17
Battery builders beg for $1bn

Get in line, fellas

A consortium of 14 US tech companies is asking for $1bn in federal aid to build a lithium-ion battery plant. According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, that steaming heap of cash would be used to help build a factory that would enable the companies, in the words of the report, to "catch up to Asian rivals that are …

Science 19 Dec 2008, 01:27
LG DVS450H 'floating' DVD player

Review Cool looks, cool playback

At first glance, you might be forgiven for thinking that the heavily polished DVS450H is a victory of style over substance. But not a bit of it. This player has looks and brains, and has enough surprises up its sleeve to genuinely impress. LG's DVS450H: 'It's a floater alright...' OK, let's get one thing straight from the …

Hardware 19 Dec 2008, 09:02
Beatle associate can sue over 'charlatan' claim, says High Court

Decision hung on hits

A former associate of The Beatles has won the right to sue in England over a New York Times article which called him a charlatan. Because the article was published online the case should go ahead, the High Court has said. John Alexis Mardas was known as 'Magic Alex' when he associated with The Beatles in the late 1960s. In a …

Law 19 Dec 2008, 09:57
Sun and Micron extend flash life

Magic million write/erase cycles

Sun and flash memory vendor Micron have collaborated to extend the life of enterprise flash memory to one million write/erase cycles, higher than any other NAND technology available. Enterprise flash is a term used to denote flash memory used in servers as a cache or solid state drives (SSD), and storage arrays as SSD …

Servers 19 Dec 2008, 10:15
Ohio prof develops CCTV people-tracker 'ware

Paging Mr Orwell

Boffins in Ohio have taken another step towards the global surveillance panopticon of the future, developing software which can autonomously track an individual through a city using CCTV cameras. James W Davis, associate prof at the Ohio State computer science and engineering department, developed the new spyware with the aid …

Law 19 Dec 2008, 10:22
Dogs and arson feature in top 10 data recovery disasters

Tales of the unexpurgated

Computer forensics experts need a talent for data recovery. Crooks are increasingly becoming aware of the possibility that digital evidence might condemn them, raising the likelihood that devices containing potentially sensitive information will wind up being destroyed. For example, data recovery firm Disklabs successfully …

Storage 19 Dec 2008, 10:42
Apple sued in Apple TV wireless audio patent clash

Allegedly poached rival's staff

A little-known maker of wireless media players is suing Apple, alleging the Mac maker not only used its technology without permission but poached staff to do so more easily. EZ4Media this week filed a complaint against Apple in the US District Court of Northern Illinois. It said Apple's Apple TV set-top box, the Airport …

Hardware 19 Dec 2008, 11:13
Amazon peddles Prince for pence

MP3 album goes for a song

Amazon UK is currently selling the MP3 version of Prince’s Lovesexy album for the not so princely sum of 79 pence. The online retailer has failed to spot the cockup, which appears to have happened because the Purple One’s 1988 album was mastered to be played as if it was one track. Sources close to the matter tell us that …

Media 19 Dec 2008, 23:01
Oracle takes profit blow

Shakes fist at lousy dollar

Software giant Oracle has blamed the US dollar for putting a dent in its second quarter earnings, with the firm’s net profit falling one per cent to $1.3bn. The Redwoods Shores, California-based company said revenue climbed six per cent to $5.6bn for the Q2 period ended 30 November. Oracle also saw a healthy eight per cent …

Financial News 19 Dec 2008, 23:13
iPlayer finally makes friendly with Mac and Linux

You can stop growing that beard now

The BBC has finally released a desktop version of iPlayer that works with both Mac and Linux computers. Auntie said yesterday that fanboys, who could previously only stream BBC programmes, can now download iPlayer Desktop as well. iPlayer Desktop, the Corporation’s seven day TV catch-up service, was developed in conjunction …

Applications 19 Dec 2008, 23:20
First lady of Star Trek dead at 76

Farewell Majel Roddenberry

Majel Barrett Roddenberry, widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and first lady of the seminal science fiction series, died early Thursday morning. She was 76. Roddenberry died of leukemia at her home in Bel-Air, said a family spokesman. At her side were family, friends, and her son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr. She was …

Bootnotes 19 Dec 2008, 23:25
Canada's biggest stock exchange back after day-long shutdown

Resurrected for true meaning of Christmas

The Toronto Stock Exchange is open for business once again after a technical glitch on Wednesday wiped out an entire day of trading for the world's seventh biggest exchange. Canada's largest exchange was halted just 18 minutes after opening Wednesday when IT workers realized only some customers were receiving real-time quote …

Financial News 19 Dec 2008, 23:36
New alliance tunes into the 'net

Radio Radio

Add another acronym to your collection of tech-industry alliances. A group of internet-media movers and shakers, including broadcast services and device makers, have joined together to form the IMDA, aka the Internet Media Device Alliance. As stated on the new alliance's website, IMDA's goal is to "develop and promote a set of …

Media 19 Dec 2008, 23:46
Boffins beget bacterial biofuel bonanza

E coli put to less evil use

Californian boffins have developed a way of producing more powerful biofuels, using genetically modified food-poisoning bacteria. James Liao, biochemical engineering prof at UCLA, led the team which managed to produce long-chain alcohols using the Escherichia coli bacterium, aka E coli, better known for its severe effects when …

Science 19 Dec 2008, 23:53
Mac OS 10.5.6 problems? Apple suggests shampoo

Advice a bit frothy

Apple has finally responded to numerous reports from disgruntled Mac users about their inability to upgrade Mac OS 10.5, Leopard, from version 10.5.5 to 10.5.6. Their advice: Try again. Seriously. Essentially, Apple's six-step advice can be boiled down into two steps: 1. Navigate to /Library/Updates and trash everything in …

Hardware 19 Dec 2008, 23:54