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31st December 2008 Archive

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  • AMD unleashes open-source 3D code

    Big bang in the GPUniverse

    AMD has released "the fundamental Linux code" needed to develop open-source 3D-acceleration drivers for its R600 and R700 ATI graphic-processors series. This is good news not only for those wishing to create drivers for those potent GPU series - known to non-AMD watchers by their marketing names of ATI Radeon HD 2x00, HD 3x00 …

    Developer 31 Dec 2008, 01:42

  • Clickfree Backup external hard drive

    Review A driver's airbag for your data

    Anything that can make backing up your files a simpler task has got to be good. Spending time recreating important information after accidents is no fun, but like belting up before driving, not everybody does the sensible thing. Clickfree is like an airbag to back-up tools' seat belts. Now, a spot check. Are your important …

    Hardware 31 Dec 2008, 09:02

  • Private firm may run UK spy über-database

    Former top prosecutor slams planned 'data hellhouse'

    A private sector firm may be given the job of maintaining a proposed super-database tracking the telephone and internet records of Brits. The option of turning over the task of running the planned communication database to a private firm, due to feature in a Home Office consultation document due out next month, would be …

    Government 31 Dec 2008, 11:36

  • Android runs (on) free(runner)

    Open OS on open hardware

    Google's mobile phone platform, Android, has been ported to the OpenMoko's open-sourced hardware platform, though it's not quite the perfect combination as yet. The OpenMoko Neo is an open source handset - the hardware design is freely available for implementation, or modification, by anyone conforming to the open source …

    Mobile 31 Dec 2008, 11:41

  • 2008: A year of cowboys in IT security

    The good, the bad and the ugly

    Security pundits are fond are characterising personalties in information security with reference to Westerns - hence hackers wear either a "black hat" or a "white hat" like their cowboy counterparts. More recently these analogies have been replaced by comparisons with the horror genre. Security firms (usually ill-advisedly) …

    Security 31 Dec 2008, 11:43

  • Columbia disaster 'not survivable', NASA concludes

    Cabin depressurisation killed space shuttle crew

    NASA's comprehensive final Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report (pdf) has concluded that the 1 February 2003 space shuttle disaster was "not survivable by any currently existing capability". Columbia distintegrated on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, having suffered launch damage to its left wing caused by a piece of …

    Science 31 Dec 2008, 12:10

  • RIM sues Motorola

    Staff, not patents, this time

    Research in Motion is suing Motorola for not allowing laid-off employees to seek work with the owner of the Blackberry brand, who is hoping to scoop up some cheap engineers now that Motorola is shedding so many. The two companies signed an agreement, back in February, to prevent either company from pinching staff from the …

    Mobile 31 Dec 2008, 12:13

  • Terry Pratchett knighted for services to literature

    Arise, Sir Discworld

    Terry Pratchett has admitted he's "flabbergasted" to be awarded a knighthood for services to literature in the New Year Honours list. The 60-year-old Discworld scribe told the BBC: "There are times when phrases such as 'totally astonished' just don't do the job. I am of course delighted and honoured and, needless to say, …

    Media 31 Dec 2008, 13:09

  • UK gov to issue child boozing guidelines

    Happy New Year kids, have a large scotch

    The government is to tackle the potential menace posed to society by kids boozing at home - legal from the age of five under "parental supervision" - by issuing guidelines offering "clearer health information for parents on how drinking alcohol at a young age can affect children and young people". According to the BBC, mums …

    Government 31 Dec 2008, 14:31

  • What the Freetard Photo book tells us

    Pictures of vanity

    Powerful aristocrats throughout history have commissioned portraits by master artists to immortalize their achievements. Now amateur photographer and Creative Commons advocate Joi Ito is offering that immortality to bloggers, bureaucrats, coders, CEOs, and other obscure Free Software functionaries, in an expensive limited- …

    Media 31 Dec 2008, 14:32

  • DECT wireless eavesdropping made easy

    Security bypass attack

    Conversations relayed through cordless household phones might be far easier to snoop upon than previously suspected. A new attack against phones based on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) technology - demonstrated during the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin earlier this week - might be carried out …

    Security 31 Dec 2008, 14:36

  • Dell replaces execs in global reorg

    President, marketing chief depart

    Two high-level Dell execs are leaving the PC maker as part of a Meltdown-battling global reorganization. Mike Cannon, Dell's president of global operations, will retire as of January 31; chief marketing officer Mike Jarvis will depart sometime during the current fiscal quarter - which also retires on January 31. According to …

    Financial News 31 Dec 2008, 15:44

  • Viacom to remove Time Warner's Spongebob Squarepants

    Addled by sinking ad revenues

    Media giant Viacom is threatening to remove its 19 cable TV networks from Time Warner Cable if the operator doesn't agree to a carriage fee increase by midnight Eastern time tomorrow. Viacom's networks include MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon. In a statement released yesterday, the Sumner Redstone-run outfit said it's …

    Media 31 Dec 2008, 17:35

  • Microsoft plague threatens 30GB Zune extinction

    Updated Worldwide mass media-player death

    It would appear that a Microsoft software bug has put the world's 30GB Zune population on the verge of extinction. According to Zune owners from across the globe, thousands of Microsoft's 30GB iPod imitators suddenly gave up the ghost at exactly midnight Pacific time last night. "We've got two Zune 30GBs," says one poster to …

    Media 31 Dec 2008, 19:05

  • Atom challengers poised for 2009 debut

    Intel rivals prep dual-core netbook chips

    2009 promises to be the Year of the Dual-Core Netbook, what with low-power dualies from Freescale, AMD, and VIA Technologies poised to join Intel's dual-core Atom 330. AMD's and VIA's are full-fledged dual-core processors and Freescale's chip, a new member of its i.MX family, will include dual graphics cores that provide …

    Hardware 31 Dec 2008, 20:35

  • Is Google's culture grab unstoppable?

    Monopoly Money from Digital Books

    Google dealt itself a powerful piece of the future in the proposed settlement of the "Google Books" case in 2008. The plaintiffs, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, permitted Google to pay itself to build a proprietary technology infrastructure for a "Book Rights Registry". This effectively creates a …

    Media 31 Dec 2008, 20:54

  • SexSearch not responsible for underage hookup (again)

    User profile says she's 18? Check her ID

    A US appeals court has once again ruled that websites aren't responsible for the stupidity of its users. And as a legal bonus, it has also verified that "your honor, her profile said she was 18" won't get a man off the hook. As spotted by Eric Goldman, the case of John Doe v. SexSearch.com has rolled back into court, with …

    Law 31 Dec 2008, 21:29