The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

30th December 2008 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Novo Minoru - the world's first 3D webcam

    Review 'Poke that thing someplace else...'

    Big-name film directors Steven Spielberg and James Cameron seem to think that 3D is the future of the film industry. Sky predicts that it'll be broadcasting programmes in 3D within just a few years. And now you can get in on the act as well, thanks to Minoru – the world’s first 3D webcam. Yes, you do have to wear silly …

    Reg Hardware 30 Dec 09:02

  • Demise of British tank industry foretold admitted

    Comment Can't make flintlock muskets any more, either

    Oh woe! The country which invented the tank (Blighty) may soon no longer have a tank industry! The end of yet another era is at hand. It's just like Concorde! And the Vulcan, Lightning, etc. Let gloom be unconfined - Santa won't be bringing any more British tanks for Christmas in years to come. Or so says the British tank …

    Government 30 Dec 09:02

  • Google Calendar phishing scam surfaces

    Mark your diary

    Fraudsters are using Google's Calendar service as a means to develop a new strain of phishing scam. The ruse appears in the guise of a Google Calendar email notification. Would-be marks are told their accounts will be deleted unless they submit their Google username, password and date of birth. But rather than coming from …

    ID 30 Dec 09:47

  • AMD details job cuts

    More than expected

    AMD laid off 600 people in the fourth quarter of 2008, rather than the 500 it expected to let go. Severance payments and other benefits will cost the chip maker $34m, $13m will be spent on ending contracts and programs, $17m has been written off the value of its assets and $6m will be spent on closing factories and offices. In …

    PCs & Chips 30 Dec 10:39

  • Windows Media Player flaw denied

    Security pantomime

    Researchers reckon a security bug in Windows Media Player creates a means for hackers to inject hostile code onto vulnerable systems. However Microsoft has denied this, saying that the bug only creates a means to crash the software without posing a more damaging security risk. The WMP integer overflow bug reportedly kicks in …

    Security 30 Dec 10:41

  • Record industry refused Jammie Thomas appeal

    Judge scratches 'making available'

    The judge in the Jammie Thomas filesharing case has refused the Recording Industry Ass. of America's (RIAA) attempt to revive arguments that "making [music files] available" is copyright infringement. The record industry had been asking to appeal a decision in September, when federal judge Michael J. Davis ruled that his …

    Law 30 Dec 11:36

  • Free wireless broadband boosted

    FCC proposes smut for all

    FCC Chair Kevin Martin has proposed dropping the content-filtering requirement attached to the AWS band, in the hope that someone will build a network if they're not required to remove all the pornography. The proposal, which was revealed in a call to Ars Technica, suggests the successful bidder for the Advanced Wireless …

    Wireless 30 Dec 11:45

  • HP caught flogging to Iran

    Inkjet printers of death

    HP has been selling printers via a third party distributor to Iran, in probable breach of US sanctions. Although the print giant seems to have limited sales to low-level printers this is still likely to fall within the US's general ban on technology exports to Iran unless specifically licensed. HP sells kit to Iran via a …

    Channel Register 30 Dec 11:48

  • French get iPhones everywhere

    Orange is not the only fruit

    French retailers have started selling iPhones, previously only available from network operator Orange, though at such a high mark-up that the offer is not that tempting. French law restricts anti-competitive behaviour such as exclusive availability or locking hardware to specific networks, which has threatened Apple's business …

    Mobile 30 Dec 12:32

  • Motor quango thumbsup for satnav speed restrictions

    Sorry Dave, I can't let you go that fast

    A new report from an influential quango looking into the idea of satnav speed governors for cars has come out in favour of such plans. The Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT), working with the Motorists' Forum, believes that useful safety gains and some carbon-emissions savings could be achieved by the use of the devices …

    Government 30 Dec 12:36

  • Health minister promises Rate-My-Doc! service

    AManFromMars for medics

    Ben Bradshaw, the UK health minister, wants the NHS Choices website to include a rate-your-doctor section where patients can mark their GP's skills, bedside manner and even post anonymous comments. Bradshaw told the Guardian that NHS Choices already allows patients to comments on hospitals. Bradshaw has told civil servants to …

    Government 30 Dec 12:52

  • Kiwis deploy nut-crush powered jumbo

    Oily juice triumph in Antipodes

    Air New Zealand says it has successfully carried out the first airliner flight test using "second generation" biofuel, manufactured from plants which don't require good farmland to grow. Such biofuels-2.0 potentially have no ill effects on food prices or deforestation, yet could seriously lower airlines' carbon numbers. Flight …

    Environment 30 Dec 13:06

  • Ghost of Lennon punts laptops for kids

    Breathtaking digital wizardry resurrects moptop

    Fans of Ollie Reed's posthumous exit from Gladiator - digitally knocked together from outtakes after the hellraising thesp inconveniently popped his caligulae during filming of the Roman epic - will doubtless enjoy this punt for One Laptop Per Child, featuring a seamless performance from John Lennon: Well, we know it's all …

    Bootnotes 30 Dec 13:08

  • Tiscali TV's Italian cousin gets whacked

    Nothing but static in the UK

    Tiscali has told subscribers it will close its Italian IPTV service, raising questions over the future of its apparently unpopular UK equivalent. The firm told its about 50,000 Italian TV customers in a letter that broadband channels will go blank at the end of December and the final month's subscription refunded. No reason …

    Music and Media 30 Dec 13:13

  • Government pipedreams on internet ratings doomed to fail

    Secrecy, police censorship and no appeal are the norm

    Proposals by UK Culture Secretary, Andy Burnham, to introduce cinema-style ratings for websites across the globe might benefit from a little more fact-finding and a little less rhetoric. On the other hand, the danger of open-minded research, is that it might just expose New Labour waffle to the harsh realities of how things …

    Law 30 Dec 13:21

  • Google scrubs urinating woman from Street View

    Spymobile caught taking the piss

    If you're ever caught short in broad daylight and decide you really must relieve yourself behind a parked car, it's probably a good idea to make sure there isn't one of Google's Orwellian Street View spymobiles lurking nearby: According to Spanish paper El Mundo, this delightful Madrid scene was spotted last Tuesday by sharp- …

    Bootnotes 30 Dec 13:30

  • Boffins bust web authentication with game consoles

    PS3 fleet spoofs SSL certs

    Researchers have uncovered a weakness in the internet's digital certificate system that allows them to forge counterfeit credentials needed to impersonate virtually any website that relies on the widely used security measure. Armed with more than 200 PlayStation 3 game consoles, the researchers are able to create a secure …

    Security 30 Dec 14:18

  • Chilean anti-piracy law drafted on pirated software

    .doc shocker in the houze!

    Chilean lawyer Guillermo Frêne is having a bit of a bad hair day after it was revealed that draft legislation aimed at cutting the internet connections of illegal downloading ne'er-do-wells was presented in .doc format written on pirated software. The full outrage was exposed here, which shows that the firm of attorneys …

    Law 30 Dec 14:42

  • US only kidding about 'clear to fly' January deadline?

    ESTA mandatory but also optional from 12th, allegedly...

    Do you feel lucky? Registration with ESTA, the US 'clear to fly' system for visa waiver programme travellers to the US, is currently optional, but as of 12th January becomes mandatory. Or possibly, not - sort of mandatory but not compulsory instead. So how does that work? ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), is …

    Government 30 Dec 14:54

  • Bank robber leaves pay stub at scene of blag

    How not to write a threatening note

    Criminal mastermind Thomas Infante's bank-robbing days look to be over after he wrote a threatening note on the back of a pay stub and then left it at the scene of the heist - helpfully providing the FBI with his name and home address. According to the Chicago Tribune, 40-year-old Infante last Friday handed the written demand …

    Bootnotes 30 Dec 14:55

  • Sand storm menaces Scottish Highlands

    Aviemore braces for unseasonable weather

    Those of you up there in the Scottish Highlands who are bracing for the expected -130°C big chill predicted yesterday by the Daily Star would do well to add Bedouin protective headgear to your inclement weather clothing checklist, if the BBC's five-day forecast for Aviemore is correct: We have no doubt this is all down to …

    Bootnotes 30 Dec 15:06

  • German beaver escapes from Dartmoor

    Bucktoothed Boche bole-botherer bustout brouhaha

    A German beaver being held prisoner behind an electric fence on Dartmoor has escaped, according to reports. The furry trunk-muncher is now carving a swathe of destruction through Cornwall, mowing down mighty trees like corn to satisfy its animal lusts. The Guardian reports that the bucktoothed Boche bole-botherer busted out of …

    Biology 30 Dec 15:16

  • Social networks talk hidden architectures

    Back-stage bytes

    Social networks are almost pervasive. Even if you're not actually on one, it's becoming impossible to avoid hearing of them and often it's the same networks that keep popping up, such as Facebook or MySpace. While they might be well known, though, the companies tend not to discuss the architectures that underpin their services …

    Software 30 Dec 17:02

  • Microsoft eyes metered-PC boondoggle

    One dollar for an hour with Office

    Microsoft hopes to charge you for PC hardware and software in much the same way wireless carriers charge you for text messages. As detailed in a patent application recently unveiled by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Redmond seeks exclusive rights to a "Metered Pay-As-You-Go Computing Experience." This would involve …

    Software 30 Dec 17:42

  • LG trumpets 3G wristphone

    'Flattop' Jones surrenders

    LG Electronics has lately been trumpeting its plans to debut a 3G wristwatch phone with a touch screen technology at the Consumer Electronics show in January. The LG-GD910 watch phone is expected to first be punted in Europe next year, although an exact release date has yet to be determined. LG's upcoming handset wristset …

    Reg Hardware 30 Dec 19:12

  • Glastonbury new-agers protest WiFi

    Claim ley line interference

    The new-age residents of Glastonbury are up in arms about the council's deployment of WiFi, claiming the wireless networks are interfering with their chakras and generally getting them down. The news comes courtesy of The Telegraph, which reports local hippies are up in arms (well, placidly protesting) about the already- …

    Wireless 30 Dec 19:42

  • Music labels in talks with Hulu

    YouTube don't pay the bills

    Several major record labels have recently discovered a global system of interconnected computer networks they believe could be used as a new platform for distributing musical videos. This "information super highway," (or "Internet" as those who've adopted this technology call it) could revive an ailing music video biz if …

    Music and Media 30 Dec 20:02

  • Apple media server rumored for Macworld Expo

    In yo' face, HP

    The pre-Macworld Expo rumor machine has been in low gear this year - perhaps due to Apple's SVP Phil Schiller taking over keynote duties from His Steveness - but thanks to 9to5Mac, we have a new bit of speculation to report: an internet-based media server from Apple. This scuttlebutt comes hot on the heels of HP's recent …

    Servers 30 Dec 20:39

  • iPhone gets Hong Kong eye transplant

    Stick-on lenses

    If you're an iPhone owner who's disappointed with that oh-so-popular device's oh-so-limited camera, there's good news from Hong Kong gadgeteer USBfever: stick-on lenses. Thanks to the sharped-eyed trend-spotters at MacNN, we learned today of this trio of magnetically mountable lenses for the myopic iPhone. Three are available …

    Mobile 30 Dec 21:56

  • BusinessWeek hails quantum porn engine

    Still NSFW The year of Cuil

    In response to our recent look back at the most ridiculous moments of the year in Silicon Valley tech, one loyal Reg reader asked why we'd failed to include the debut of Cuil. It's a reasonable question. At the end of July, when a trio of ex-Googlers launched a search engine of their own - still pronounced "cool" - it was …

    Applications 30 Dec 22:19