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12th January 2009 Archive

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  • Mattel demos thought-controlled game

    CES on Video On your marks, get set... concentrate...

      Click here to view a more bandwidth-friendly version of the video Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More CES Video Reports... 3M shines light on next-gen micro-projector tech D-Link demos double-up display for netbooks, laptops Samsung boffins demo transparent OLED screen In action: the …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 08:02

  • Rambus legal crusade blunted by paper shredder

    Destroyed papers it shouldn't

    Rambus has hit a major setback in its quest to wrest millions of dollars from Micron and Samsung in IP royalties. A judge has said its patents can't be enforced because it destroyed documents, that could affect the case, in an obstructive or misleading way. Rambus, which earns revenue by licensing its computer memory …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jan 10:04

  • Indian government holds Satyam execs in jail ahead of trial

    And new broom sweeps entire board out

    Ramalinga Raju, his brother, Rama, and Satyam's chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas are all in prison this morning after being arrested and charged with conspiracy and forgery offences connected to the $1bn fraud at the Indian outsourcer. The three men will stay in custody until a trial, scheduled to start 23 January. …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 10:16

  • Seagate to slash up to 10 per cent of staff

    Heads on platters

    Seagate's December sales were much worse than feared and the company is expected to respond to revenues falling off a cliff by sending up to ten per cent of its staff after them. In early December Seagate, the world leader in the hard disk drive market, lowered its quarterly revenue forecast to a $2.3bn - $2.6bn range, from an …

    Storage 12 Jan 10:25

  • GTA: ChinaTown Wars gets 18 rating

    DS-based mayhem

    Grand Theft Auto: ChinaTown Wars has been awarded an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). GTA: ChinaTown Wars could be the DS' first 18 game The body hasn’t said much about why it gave the upcoming Nintendo DS game an adult classification, but a BBFC briefing document has stated that the title …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 10:32

  • Plastic Logic pitches skinny, light ebook reader

    CES on Video Not out for a while, though

      Click here to view a more bandwidth-friendly version of the video Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More CES Video Reports... Boffins offers plastic printing service 3M shines light on next-gen micro-projector tech D-Link demos double-up display for netbooks, laptops Samsung boffins demo …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 11:02

  • Asus Eee keyboard specs tip up on the web

    Landing within six months

    Asus’s Eee keyboard received lots of attention at CES last week, despite the lack of published specifications. Now more juicy details about the keyboard that merges a PC with a touchscreen have been uncovered. Asus Eee keyboard was first seen at CES last week We already knew the keyboard has a 5in touchscreen. Now we learn …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 11:07

  • pureSilicon unveils 1TB solid state drive

    CES World's first

    pureSilicon took the "world’s highest-density" solid-state drive, the 1TB Nitro, for a spin at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. There is nothing particularly "consumer" about this, as the SSD is aimed at applications where "data throughput and power consumption are paramount: server, networking, datacenter, …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 11:34

  • McKinnon lawyers push for UK trial

    Joker played in attempt to avoid US extradition

    Lawyers for alleged Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon have written to UK prosecutors seeking a trial in Britain, in a move designed to frustrate attempts to extradite the UFO enthusiast for trial in the US. The Crown Prosecution Service is evaluating a request from McKinnon's solicitors offering a guilty plea in a UK trial for …

    Law 12 Jan 11:42

  • Hands on with Samsung's touch-controlled P3 media player

    CES Finger-flicking good

    As soon as you lay hands on the Samsung YP-P3, the first thought that will go through your head is what a nasty bit of plastic tat the P2 is by comparison. Clearly someone at Samsung has been looking at recent Apple and Cowon players and decided to up the quality of the company's builds. The results speak for themselves: with …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 12:02

  • Star Wars brainwave toy blows in

    Is the brainwave force strong in you?

    The latest toy to cash-in on the brainwave-controlled gaming fad has been unveiled and it’s a Star Wars-themed tube, of sorts. The Force Trainer The Force Trainer simply requires its user to strap a wireless brainwave analyser around their head and then to concentrate their thoughts on raising a ping-pong ball up a 10in …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 12:05

  • World Bank confirms Wipro is on contractor blacklist

    Wipro sharing Satyam doghouse till 2011

    The World Bank has revealed the full list of companies banned for bidding for future contracts because of alleged malpractice. Troubles at Satyam took a turn for the worse when it was revealed on Christmas Eve that it was banned from applying for World Bank contracts for eight years. Now it has emerged that Wipro, India's …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 12:08

  • Is the UK.gov IT gravy train heading for the buffers?

    Comment What Dave could do next...

    Some of the world’s biggest and best known purveyors of IT services to the UK government could soon be feeling rather sickly, as IT contracts totalling several billion pounds may well be up for review within the next 12 to 18 months. A source of considerable revenue for the likes of EDS, Cap Gemini and PA Consulting – the usual …

    Government 12 Jan 12:21

  • CPS denies support for überdatabase

    Starmer pleads innocent

    The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has clarified comments by the UK's top prosecutor, denying that he supports proposals for a centralised warehouse of private communications data. A Home Office consultation is scheduled to open later this month on whether a system should be built to collect and store details of every call, …

    Law 12 Jan 13:01

  • Astro touts high-end gaming cans

    CES on Video Dolby Digital amp included

      Click here to view a more bandwidth-friendly version of the video Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More CES Video Reports... Linux-based gizmo construction kit gets extra bricks Bubble-gum cards go interactive Swedish musos mix up handheld hard-drive DJ deck Netgear pitches 'dog's bollocks …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 13:02

  • Web 2.0rhea hack mistaken for end of universe

    Fail and You Much aTwitter about nothing

    Kids these days. Used to be, when you were mad at your parents or your professors, you'd write an email worm in Visual Basic and spread it around via Outlook clients. Hacks like that didn't take a lot of talent, but they had some comic value. As a tech person, it's entertaining to watch someone who's not savvy work a machine …

    Security 12 Jan 13:02

  • Dell serves up Wasabi inkless printer

    Dell’s turning Japanese, I think Dell’s turning Japanese…

    Dell has launched an inkless printer that it hopes will be as hot as the Japanese horseradish that shares its name: Wasabi. Dell's Wasabi printer: hot stuff? Image courtesy Pocket-lint Little’s known about the printer yet, which was shown off at CES last week. But it’s been designed in conjunction with inkless printing …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 13:03

  • UFO wind turbine prang site sealed

    Black helicopters circle Lincolnshire

    Security operatives backed by snarling dogs have sealed off the Conisholme wind farm in Lincolnshire, to prevent alien hunters making off with the remains of the UFO which earlier this month seriously damaged one of the turbines, the Sun reports. Ufologists are pretty well convinced there is an extraterrestrial explanation for …

    Environment 12 Jan 13:23

  • Forget Google rationing: Only lighting farts can save the planet

    Analysis Green-IT maven ignores the true enemy within

    Assertions by a Harvard University environmentalist and green-website promoter that two Google searches cause carbon emissions equivalent to boiling a kettle appear to be based on questionable numbers. Building on the new research, the Reg can also exclusively reveal that three days of normal human farts cause the same amount of …

    Environment 12 Jan 13:42

  • Peter Mandelson exerts party discipline in cyberspace

    Lord says he's blogged before and 'enjoyed it'

    The Labour Party has let loose a virtual Peter Mandelson at the same time as the real Mandelson has kicked off the party's new online talking shop. The Daily Mail has warned its readers that the digiMandy will be stalking Second Life, campaigning against the Tories and dripping poison into the ears of virtual hacks writing for …

    Government 12 Jan 13:50

  • Seagate replaces CEO

    Updated Watkins out, chairman Luczo takes over

    Seagate has startlingly and suddenly replaced its long-serving CEO Bill Watkins with chairman Stephen Luczo. It's also lost its chief operating officer, indicating turmoil at the top levels in the company. Luczo continues as chairman of the board, possibly indicating that being CEO is a temporary appointment. He'll agree with …

    Storage 12 Jan 14:16

  • Vector buys security firm Aladdin

    Private equity firm builds up information security portfolio

    Private equity firm Vector Capital has agreed to acquire Israeli security tools firm Aladdin Knowledge Systems in a deal valued at $160m. Under the terms of an agreement, announced on Monday, Aladdin shareholders will receive $11.50 per share in cash, a premium of approximately 20 per cent on Aladdin's closing price on 9 …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jan 14:20

  • Dixons websites take a little lie down

    Routine maintenance?

    DSGi is cut off from the digital world today, with its two main websites falling off the net. Dixons.co.uk is down at the time of writing, along with PCworld.co.uk. A spokesman for DSGi told us: "We had some routine maintenance last night which has caused problems - it looks like a few more hours work to get it fixed." …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 14:29

  • Greenwich celebrates International Year of Astronomy

    Lots to do down at the Royal Observatory

    The Royal Observatory has announced a packed programme of events in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (slogan: “The Universe – yours to discover”) - 400 years after Galileo turned his attention to the heavens and made the case for a heliocentric solar system. The Observatory plans to get ten million …

    Space 12 Jan 14:30

  • GM's Lutz shows luxury 'leccy Cadillac

    'Leccy Tech Voltec based

    In what must be one of the most unlikely announcements ever made at a motor show, a sleek extended range EV coupé concept has been unveiled by... Cadillac. Called the Converj and designed by British designer Simon Cox, the frankly rather impressive Cadi concept uses the same running gear as the Chevrolet Volt – now being …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 14:36

  • Palm Pré WebOS: the UI in action

    Video The PDA pioneer's revival starts here?

      Click here to view a more bandwidth-friendly version of the video Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More Palm Pré WebOS Videos Hardware hands-on Universal search and browser Synergy technology demo'd CES 2009 Complete Coverage

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 14:43

  • Sony pitches Webbie HD webcam at YouTubers

    CES Watch out, Flip and Creative

    Bought a Creative Vado or Flip Ultra recently? We hope you kept the receipt because Sony is about to enter the YouTube camcorder market like a bull entering a china shop. Just released in the US is the $199 (£132/€148) CM1 Webbie HD mini camcorder complete with 2.5in LCD screen, H.264 video recording at 1440 x 1080, 1280 x 720 …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 15:11

  • Palm Pré WebOS: Synergy technology demo'd

    Video True smartphone app integration?

      Click here to view a more bandwidth-friendly version of the video Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com More Palm Pré WebOS Videos WebOS in action Hardware hands-on Universal search and browser CES 2009 Complete Coverage

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 15:12

  • UK.gov funds web video product placement venture

    Taxpayer coughs for logos everywhere

    At a time when the wisdom of of pinning the UK's economic fate to the fortunes of the global financial sector is being questioned, it's good to know there are people in government concerned with how to encourage innovation - via the monetisation of thousands of hours of poor quality web video. The government has given a £1.5m …

    Government 12 Jan 15:25

  • How you pay for tomorrow's scares, today

    Disaster addiction - and the cost of your insurance

    In a remarkably gullible news item, the BBC reported that 2008 was a ‘huge year for natural disasters’. "The past year has been one of the most devastating ever in terms of natural disasters... climate change [is] boosting the destructive power of disasters like hurricanes and flooding,” it proclaimed. This was drawn from a …

    Environment 12 Jan 15:34

  • G1 app stops drivers from texting

    Safety software for worried parents

    If you’re worried your son or daughter is speeding around town in the family saloon and simultaneously tapping away on their G1 Googlephone, then rest easy. Because an Android platform application’s been developed that prevents texting when driving. Textecution blocks text messaging on moving phones Although the firm behind …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 15:37

  • Sony rallies chums round proprietary standard

    Hands up who wants TransferJet! Anyone?

    Sony has been telling anyone who will listen that its personal variant of Ultra Wide Band is the way of the future, and at CES has convinced Toshiba to go public and join with various camera manufacturers in endorsing the "standard". TransferJet is developed and owned by Sony, but at CES it has been Toshiba demonstrating …

    Wireless 12 Jan 15:54

  • Chrysler turns on Circuit at Detroit Motor Show

    'Leccy Tech Shows 200C tourer too

    Chrysler seems determined to forge ahead with plans for an electric fleet if its presentations at the Detroit Motor Show are anything to go by. First on show was the final design of the two-seat Dodge EV coupé, now officially called the Circuit. It may be an electrified Lotus Europa underneath but in its new corporate Dodger …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jan 16:10

  • Red Hat tries on new head for Europe

    Cisco man joins open sourcers

    Phil Andrews is Red Hat's new regional director for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Andrews was previously at Cisco as business development director for its European data centre business. He's also worked at Autodesk and Intermec. The excellently-named Werner Knoblich, Red Hat's general manager for Europe, Middle East and …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 16:10

  • Welcome back, Palm

    Analysis Three cheers for the broken promise

    After years in a persistent vegetative state, Palm has come roaring back with a gadget that's going to prove hard to beat in 2009. Palm has a new smartphone (Pre), a new platform (webOS), and it deserves all the plaudits that have come its way since it unveiled both at CES in Las Vegas last week. Want an iPhone with a proper …

    Mobile 12 Jan 16:36

  • Create high-resolution displays for OS X

    Mac Secrets Cut to the CoreUI

    OK, I lied. Last time I said I'd continue our exploration of symbolic hotkeys. That can wait, though, as since then I found myself buried in the guts of Apple's new CoreUI framework and found a pressing need to talk about it. What exactly is CoreUI, you ask? As you may know, Apple is moving towards a fully-scalable, vector- …

    Software 12 Jan 17:02

  • Citrix rides virtualization into 2009

    Nonexistent machines cut costs

    You might be thinking that Citrix is bummed out by the Meltdown. Little more than a year ago, it shelled out a whopping $500m for open source hypervisor startup XenSource. But Citrix sees virtualization as just thing a slumping economy needs. As 2009 gets going, however slowly, Citrix is planning on using virtualization as a …

    Virtualization 12 Jan 18:21

  • Wireless HDTV set for 2009

    SiBEAM snags deep-pocket partners

    Those déclassé wires tethering your wide-screen TV to your set-top box or Blu-Ray drive may finally disappear when ultra-wideband HDTV sets hit the market later this year, thanks to a group of announcements at this year's CES. According to a report by the IEE Times, wireless-chip designer SiBEAM "snagged three major design …

    Hardware 12 Jan 19:24

  • Intel answers AMD Neo with 'ultrathin' laptop chip

    Agent Smith, anyone?

    Intel is reportedly cooking up a mobile processor designed for a new category of mobile platforms that is quite similar to what AMD announced just last week. From the Consumer Electronics Show, Cnet reports that Chipzilla will release a new Core-architecture processor for laptops that fits somewhere between low-end netbooks …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jan 19:35

  • Microsoft ad campaign urges more IT spending

    It's our business!

    Microsoft has joined Dell by asking customers to continue paying them during the recession rather than slash spending on IT. The company is spending a reported $150m on an ad campaign that updates its three-year-old "people ready business" message with the "it's everybody's business" slogan. Microsoft called its television, …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 20:54

  • Red Hat, Novell rejigger execs

    That time of year

    Commercial Linux distributors Red Hat and Novell have both made some changes to their executive ranks as they gear up to go after the money in IT budgets this year. Red Hat has tapped Greg Symon to be vice president and general manager of its North American sales operation, the largest piece of the company's business. Facing a …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 21:03

  • Microsoft gets touchy with $24m N-trig investment

    Feel the future

    Microsoft has joined a consortium of investors putting $24m into touch-screen and pen-based input specialist N-trig. The company has partnered with Aurum Ventures, Challenger, Canaan Partners, and Evergreen Venture Partners to commit the money to N-trig, based in Israel. N-trig said the funding would be used to continue its …

    Financial News 12 Jan 22:38

  • New York judge OKs Amazon Tax

    Genius recognized

    A New York Supreme Court judge has approved the state's new-fangled Amazon Tax. Earlier this year, Amazon.com and Overstock.com sued New York over an ingenious new law that forces the big-name online retailers to collect sales tax if they maintain affiliate networks in the Empire State, and this afternoon, Judge Eileen …

    Channel Register 12 Jan 22:40

  • AMD upgrades mobile GPU lineup for laptops

    Or: Honey, I shrunk the Radeon HD 4000 series

    AMD's RV770 graphics processor went portable at the Consumer Electronics Show with a new range of Mobility HD 4000 GPUs for notebooks. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs are similar to their desktop cousins in many respects and will come in flavors for high-end gaming laptops, low-cost notebooks, and the mobile …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jan 22:41

  • New chip aims HD video at iPhone

    Imagination Tech punts a scorcher

    England's Imagination Technology, designer of the PowerVR MBX hardware that powers the iPhone and iPod Touch, has announced its latest and greatest graphics processor IP core, the PowerVR SGX543. The four-pipeline SGX543 is the first iteration of Imagination's fifth-generation Series5XT architecture and is "available in both …

    PCs & Chips 12 Jan 23:08

  • How the Google stole Christmas

    A heart two sizes too small

    When Google unloaded the world's largest collection of desktop search ads onto the Apple iPhone, it didn't ask advertisers for their approval. It just unloaded, happily collecting the extra revenue. As iPhonies began clicking on those ads, advertisers were obliged to pay for them - whether they were interested in mobile clicks …

    Financial News 12 Jan 23:26