2nd January 2009 Archive

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Huawei E176 Micro SDHC-ready HSUPA 3G modem

Review A fast USB dongle with worldwide connectivity

Huawei is the big cheese in the world of USB HSPDA 3G modems, though you might not know it. It makes the modems the likes of Vodafone, BT, 3, T-Mobile and others stamp their own names on before selling them on. Among Huawei's latest offerings is the E176. It builds on last year's E170, upping the radio specification and adding …

Reg Hardware 2 Jan 09:02
Nokia 'Curse of Silence' SMS exploit uncovered

Old bug, new tricks

Mobile phone security vendors were rejoicing last night when it emerged that an obscure bug in an old version of the Symbian OS could allow an attacker to crash a target's mobile phone with a specially-formatted text message. The attack has been rather dramatically branded the "Curse of Silence", and is a genuine bug that …

Mobile 2 Jan 11:08
South American president found on Facebook

Don't poke the prez

The President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo is warning people that an apparent profile of him on Facebook is in fact the work of a dastardly impostor. According to reports yesterday Jagdeo complained to police that someone had set up a profile page in his name on Facebook - he had similar problems with another networking site in …

Government 2 Jan 11:28
Microsoft heralds 'record' prison terms for Chinese pirates

Happy New Year to you too

Microsoft patted itself on the back on New Year’s Eve by announcing that the alleged ringleaders of a Chinese piracy gang, who sold at least $2bn worth of counterfeit software, have been sentenced to harsh prison terms. The company said that 11 defendants were handed sentences that ranged from one and a half to six and a half …

Channel Register 2 Jan 11:37
Facebook breastfeeding pic takedown gets backs up

Milk is off

Facebook has made itself ever so unpopular with online mothers after yanking breastfeeding pics from the site. According to the Telegraph many users displaying shots of breastfeeding in their profiles have been threatened with banishment from the online procrastination mecca, while thousands have had pictures removed as " …

Bootnotes 2 Jan 12:00
Norfolk children get £310,000 of free laptops

Broads-based giveaway

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has given Norfolk County Council £310,000 to purchase laptops for more than 400 children. The money from the government's Home Access ICT scheme will be used to target groups of young people who live in deprived areas, who are persistent absentees, traveller children, those in …

Government 2 Jan 13:07
HMRC gets it wrong on one in ten personal records

A very wobbly framework

Almost one in ten records within the Inland Revenue's frameworks database contain errors, the government has admitted. The frameworks database feeds information into various other databases held not just by HMRC but other departments too. The problems came to light after enquiries by Tory MP for Putney Justine Greening …

Government 2 Jan 13:27
Windows 7 beta washes up on Pirate Bay

If we build it they will come

Microsoft is set to release the first beta of its upcoming operating system Windows 7 at some point this month, but ahead of that release the trial version has already – unsurprisingly – landed on BitTorrent sites. Anyone who is actually eager to get their mitts on the beta, which has the build number of 7,000, can download it …

Operating Systems 2 Jan 13:46
New Year, new deal for Time Warner and Viacom

US viewers get SpongeBob Savedpants

Time Warner Cable customers have been saved - they'll still be able to watch SpongeBob Squarepants and other shows from Viacom. The cable company carries 19 channels from Viacom including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, but was refusing to pay increased fees for them. However, the two companies said yesterday that they …

Telecoms 2 Jan 14:08
SMS bug: Nokia's Conversation goes mute

Comment Not a word, so far

Did you have a quiet Christmas? What about New Year? While New Years Eve is the busiest time for text messages, maybe you didn’t get any. And if you're a Nokia user, there may be a reason for that. You might have been struck by the Curse of Silence bug that has been floating around for a while, and has been recently made …

Mobile 2 Jan 14:09
SpaceX assembles Falcon 9 rocket

First ISS lifter comes together at Cape Canaveral

SpaceX has announced that it's completed assembly of its first Falcon 9 rocket - destined to deliver cargo to the ISS following a recently inked supply deal with NASA. The 54.9m (180ft) beast now awaits raising into the vertical, once SpaceX has carried out "a tremendous amount of welding" to assemble the rocket's launch …

Space 2 Jan 14:43
Kamikaze ballooning Brazilian soars to Darwin Award

Antonio de Carli, come on down

The voting has not yet closed, but kamikaze ballooning Brazilian priest Antonio de Carli looks a dead cert to secure the 2008 Darwin Awards crown for the most impressive contribution to improving the gene pool by removing himself from it. The Roman Catholic daredevil decided back in April it was a really bright idea to attempt …

Bootnotes 2 Jan 15:40
Lenovo 'planning' to slash 200 jobs

Management reshuffle expected

Chinese computer maker Lenovo looks set to axe 200 jobs at the firm’s headquarters in Beijing. According to Reuters, which quoted state reports in China on Wednesday, the vendor has cited tough economic conditions for the decision to slash jobs. Caijing magazine, which cited anonymous company sources, reported that only about …

PCs & Chips 2 Jan 16:06
Swoopo - eBay's (more) evil twin

How much would you bid for a bid?

I have never expected much out of a Silicon Valley startup with a name that sounds like a baby word, but Swoopo is a rare exception. It's an online auction site with a dastardly twist. When you bid on products at Swoopo, you don't specify a price. You pay 75 cents for the bid, and that bid increases the price of the item by 15 …

Applications 2 Jan 17:02
2009 - Thomas the Tank's journey to IT Hell

The passengers are revolting

As Sodor wakes to a new year, Thomas and his friends notice some very disturbing things... The end of the IT world train is arriving at platform one Cheaper hardware and software prices in 2009 means that IT becomes an increasingly throwaway business. We're there with printers, and other plug-ins: expect much the same with …

IT Director 2 Jan 18:18
Semi-suckalicious semiconductor sales

Numbers are bad, but they've been a lot worse

Chip sales took it on the chin in November, according to a new report by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), with sales dipping 9.9 per cent worldwide when compared to November of 2007. The news is worse if you're in the Europe or the US - European sales were down 13.9 percent while the US absorbed a hefty 19.5 per …

Business 2 Jan 19:23
Virgin Galactic leases itself a spaceport

Now looking to book Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes

Virgin Galactic has signed with the state of New Mexico to build the nation's first rocketplane spaceport for flinging wealthy customers out of Earth's atmosphere. The suborbital-tourism firm owned by British billionaire Richard Branson inked the 20-year lease agreement this week to establish its HQ at the planned state-funded …

Space 2 Jan 20:38
Apple's latest patent brilliance: the iGlove

"Pull my finger" has a whole new meaning

The US Patent and Trademark Office yesterday released Apple's most recent application, in which the company files for patent protection for ... wait for it ... a glove. No, not a Power Glove. Patent #20090000010 is for what Apple calls a High tactility glove system designed to aid users in operating their multi-touch devices …

Music and Media 2 Jan 22:12
Wikipedia exceeds $6m donation goal

Wales' personal begging earns last $2m

A personal plea for cash by Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, has melted enough hearts to keep the ubiquitous online encyclopedia running for another fiscal year – and then some. The Wikimedia Foundation announced today that it's raised more than $6.2m since launching a fund-raising campaign in early November. The website …

Music and Media 2 Jan 23:04