The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

19th January 2009 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • HTC Touch 3G Windows Mobile smartphone

    Review A very well-connected handset

    Hot on the heels of the Touch Viva - the budget Touch - comes the 3G version. Smaller, neater, and with more features, including - of course - 3G connectivity, Assisted GPS and a 3.2Mp camera, this is the next stage up the Touch ladder. HTC's Touch 3G: compact and stylish Like the Viva, the layout resembles the original …

    Phones 19 Jan 2009, 09:02

  • Business Intelligence for the Mid-Market

    Regcast Can't measure, can't manage

    The Reg expert panel discusses findings from recent reader research on sentiments of IT pros toward the Credit Crunch, in an hour-long webcast on 29 January at 2PM GMT. The team also tackle the role of IT in enabling business performance. What can I expect to learn? Thoughts and opinions from the Reg community on the impact …

    Tech Panel 19 Jan 2009, 09:33

  • First-ever pics of lunar polar crater interiors released

    Pic Indian probe snaps hidden Moon-bottom rim shots

    A NASA radar instrument aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 Moon orbiter has sent back the first ever images of hidden crater interiors at the lunar poles. Space boffins hope to use such pictures to discover deposits of water ice, which could be invaluable for future Moonbase astronauts. At last, a good view of the Moon's bottom …

    Science 19 Jan 2009, 10:29

  • Phone features baffling users

    Advanced features adding to the problem

    Configuring mobile phones and setting up applications has become too complex for many users, a report’s concluded. Of 4000 people questioned across the UK and US by consultancy Mformation, 85 per cent said just getting a new phone up and running is a frustrating and difficult affair. Around 95 per cent said they would be more …

    Phones 19 Jan 2009, 11:03

  • Satyam investigators start to chase missing money

    Gov investigation looks at subsidiaries

    The Indian government suspects Satyam's disgraced former chairman Ramalinga Raju may have diverted money into a maze of subsidiary firms. Minister of State for Company Affairs Prem Chand Gupta told the FT that there had clearly been serious irregularities in the firm's figures: "On the face of it the Registrar of Companies …

    The Channel 19 Jan 2009, 11:13

  • DSGi announces new chairman in eye of retail storm

    John Allan joins at 'important time in its development'

    Fraught UK electrical retailer DSG International (DSGi) has appointed John Allan as the company’s new chairman. He will succeed John Collins who announced he was hanging up his DSGi boots last June. Allan will be handed the keys to the chairman’s door when Collins retires on 2 September. Allan is the former boss of logistics …

    The Channel 19 Jan 2009, 11:28

  • OGC cracks one off on with new logo

    LogoWatch Finally unleashes revised brand frontage

    Fears that the UK's Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - the Treasury department "responsible for improving value for money by driving up standards and capability in procurement" - had bottled out of deploying its sensational new logo have proved unfounded. According to an inside source, the OGC is "rolling the new brand in …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2009, 11:29

  • UFO wind turbine prang site: Exclusive photos

    What really went down in Lincolnshire

    The recent Conisholme wind farm incident - in which one turbine shed a blade in highly mysterious circumstances - provoked a level of black helicopter activity not seen since NASA faked the 1969 Moon landing, with many suggesting extraterrestrial involvement. Well, we at El Reg have spent some time analysing a satellite image …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2009, 12:08

  • Gome appoints new chairman as police continue investigation

    Tries to draw line under probe into ex-boss

    Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings has rejigged its management team while a police probe into the former chairman's finances continues. China’s biggest electrical retailer has been attempting to distance itself from former chairman Huang Guangyu and his wife after he was asked to leave the company last month amid allegations …

    Financial News 19 Jan 2009, 12:21

  • Prison warders told to can 'hurtful' language

    Psycho lags now suffering 'mental health issues'

    Scottish prison warders have been ordered to can "hurtful" language which might offend the delicate sensibilities of Caledonian lags, the Times reports. Among the vocab for the off, as outlined in Plain Talking: What We Say Can Hurt People issued by the Scottish Prison Service and Capability Scotland, are “daftie”, "nutter" …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2009, 12:27

  • Nokia, HTC and RIM dragged into patent dispute

    US firm seeks gadget import ban

    Gadgets made by a host of big-name manufacturers, including Nokia and HTC, could be banned from import into the US, if a patent violation investigation being conducted the US International Trade Commission (ITC) rules in the claimant’s favour. The government body has voted to investigate claims by patent purchasing firm Saxon …

    Phones 19 Jan 2009, 12:41

  • Inventor designs raindrop MP3 projector

    'Raindrops keep falling on my head...'

    An inventor has designed a wacky MP3 player that does away with a traditional LCD screen in favour of a projection system. Gowoon Jeong's Music Drop player projects track names The Music Drop player, so named because of its raindrop shape, casts track names, artist details and play progress onto surrounding surfaces, from …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2009, 12:43

  • 'Obama quits' spam recruits zombie drones

    President-Elect heading for office, not Pacific island

    Scammers are capitalising on worldwide interest about Barack Obama's inauguration via a spam email campaign that claims the Illinois senator turned prez44 plans to turn down the office he fought so long to obtain. The messages falsely claim the President-Elect doesn’t want the responsibility of saving a "sinking ship". This …

    Security 19 Jan 2009, 12:44

  • DHS deploys undercar Kraken tentacle-bombs

    'Inspired by Spiderman and giant squid'

    Contractors working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have developed an innovative remote controlled car-stopping landmine using technology inspired by giant squid, Spiderman and extending party squeakers. The new tentacular vehicle trap is known as SQUID, for Safe Quick Undercarriage Immobilization Device. It …

    Government 19 Jan 2009, 12:46

  • TomTom launches Kylie and Connery satnavs

    'Especially for you...'

    TomTom hopes to tug at singletons' heartstrings this Valentine’s Day, with the launch of four sexy celebrity satnav voices. For men, the drive back from the off-licence on 14 February could be accompanied by the voice of Aussie temptress Kylie Minogue telling you that you’ve reached your destination. Alternatively, you could …

    Science 19 Jan 2009, 12:49

  • Govt uses Obscenity Law to stuff up cartoon sex loophole

    We Need To Talk About Lisa

    New Parliament, new legislation – and time for the government’s favourite pastime of "closing loopholes". This time it's about even more dangerous pictures, or maybe less dangerous, given that the subject matter is - allegedly - cartoons. The government last week proposed, via s49 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, to make …

    Law 19 Jan 2009, 13:07

  • Online campaign urges MPs to block secret expenses

    TheyWorkForPerks.com

    MPs are being pressed to vote against a controversial amendment to the Freedom of Information Act later this week that will exempt them from having to publish detailed expenses. The digital democracy charity mySociety.org is leading a letter-writing campaign to stop parliamentarians changing the law to keep their use of public …

    Government 19 Jan 2009, 13:12

  • Where has all the bad storage gone?

    Comment It's all too darn good these days

    Spare a thought for the humble storage columnist looking for targets to skewer. It's a tricky job if you want to sound off - everything is just so basically good these days, and with no stand-out dismal products, what is there to knock? It was different a few years ago. Ever tried backing up your PC to Travan tape? I made that …

    Storage 19 Jan 2009, 13:30

  • Addonics NASU2 micro USB NAS adaptor

    Review Tiny gadget that shares your USB HDD on the network

    You've got yourself a big old external hard drive. You've got yourself a network. How do you bring the two together? Addonics' NASU2 NAS Adaptor is a good place to start. It's a tiny, 70 x 32 x 25mm black box with a USB 2.0 port at one end and a 10/100Mb/s Ethernet port at the other. There's a dinky 285mm patch cable in the …

    Broadband 19 Jan 2009, 13:32

  • Nokia N97 to land late Q1

    March, to be exact

    The chaps over at online retailer Play.com have begun listing a price and launch date for Nokia’s recently unveiled N97 touchscreen webphone. Nokia's N97 comes to Play.com in March Despite making waves at this year’s CES, Nokia’s kept mum about when the phone will be available from and – crucially – how much it’ll cost. …

    Phones 19 Jan 2009, 13:35

  • Jaunty Jackalope alpha 3 spotted in wild

    Ubuntu readies latest distro ahead of April release

    The third alpha of Ubuntu’s forthcoming 9.04 distro, dubbed Jaunty Jackalope, has been released. Alpha 3 includes the Linux 2.6.28-3.4 kernel and comes loaded with support for using the Ext4 file system. However, Ext3 is expected to remain the default file system for Jaunty Jackalope. The release also comes with improved …

    Operating Systems 19 Jan 2009, 13:42

  • TV's digital dividend could be superfast broadband

    Carter mulls spectrum for speed bargain

    Lord Carter could recommend that the government give away the old analogue TV spectrum to telecoms companies in exchange for commitments to invest in fibre rollout for high speed internet access, according to the latest leak from his forthcoming Digital Britain report. Flogging the UHF band to the highest bidder once it is …

    Networks 19 Jan 2009, 14:43

  • Unlimited music: Punters prefer ISPs to Nokia

    And how many freetards are there, really?

    Nokia and other gadget manufacturers face an uphill struggle getting people interested in music services - even if they're "unlimited". Punters would much prefer such services come from their ISP, according to a survey of attitudes in the UK, France and the USA. Only five per cent would prefer to get music provided by their …

    Media 19 Jan 2009, 15:02

  • Europe PC sales sagged in 2008

    Only floating on a raft of netbooks

    PC sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa grew just 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the economic crisis began to bite. Stefania Lorenz, director at IDC, said: "The worldwide financial and credit crisis has hit the largest markets in Central and Eastern Europe [CEE], causing the PC market to contract, by 23.8 …

    The Channel 19 Jan 2009, 15:10

  • Security boffins attempt to freeze out cold boot crypto attack

    Cache from chaos

    Security researchers have developed prototype countermeasures to defend against the recently developed cold boot crypto attack. Cold boot is a technique for snatching cryptographic keys from memory, creating a means to circumvent disk encryption. A targeted machine that's been left hibernating would be turned off and quickly …

    Security 19 Jan 2009, 15:12

  • Isle of Man wants legal P2P blanket

    Tax haven proposes tax

    Tax haven the Isle of Man, with a population of around 80,000, wants to introduce a compulsory blanket licence for music downloads. Broadband ISP subscribers would pay a "nominal" compulsory tax, but be able to share music legally. Surprisingly, the proposal has won approval from the chief executive of the BPI, Geoff Taylor …

    Media 19 Jan 2009, 15:16

  • Yes! It's the wristband battery!

    Watch-like device for charging gadgets

    Having enough power at your fingertips to charge a flat iPhone is one thing. But how about having enough power at your... er... wrist? The Wrist Band Portable Battery As its name suggests, the Wrist Band Portable Battery (WBPB) is a battery pack that’s worn like a watch yet designed to juice up your flatlined phone. …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2009, 15:58

  • China plans global satnav system

    Big sticks only work if you're in the navsat club

    With navigation satellite constellations rapidly becoming a must-have for any major world power, China has joined Europe and Russia as an aspirant to match US sat nav technology. The People's Republic has announced that it will upgrade its localised Beidou satellite system to global coverage by 2015. The Chinese state Xinhua …

    Government 19 Jan 2009, 16:33

  • Chinese exam cheats employing spy-tech

    Ancient tests, modern naughtiness

    More than 1000 cheats were caught in last year's Chinese civil-service exams, some using "spy technology" including micro earpieces - but it was conformity of answers that betrayed most of them. The Chinese state media said 300 candidates were caught while sitting in the exam room, presumably trying to tune their micro- …

    Bootnotes 19 Jan 2009, 16:34

  • IBM helps partners punt software to midrange shops

    Enlightened self-interest

    Before the US economy went into meltdown, and before we knew officially that it had been in recession for a year, common thinking was that IT spending growth at small and medium businesses was going to be significantly higher than at larger enterprises, which spend lots more per company but which tend to tighten their belts …

    The Channel 19 Jan 2009, 16:42

  • Talking pets: Obama's guru wants animals to sue you

    Making an Ass of the Law

    Obama's "regulation czar" Professor Cass Sunstein wants animals to be able to sue. Animals can't reason or express themselves, naturally, so the litigation would be handled by human lawyers, acting as ventriloquists on behalf of the animal kingdom. Think Mister Ed the talking horse, crossed with Eliot Spitzer. "Any animals …

    Law 19 Jan 2009, 16:46

  • Hyundai steers into UK mobile market

    Mirror, signal, manoeuvre connect

    You may know Hyundai for its cars, but the firm’s switched lanes and inked plans to sell mobile phones into the UK. Hyundai's MB500 phone Hyundai has already released around 15 phones into other parts of Europe, including Germany, since September last year. It’ll now supplement this with between ten and 15 phones a year …

    Phones 19 Jan 2009, 17:04

  • Fisker posts Karma Sunset shots

    'Leccy Tech Prepare to drool...

    Hot on the heels of its appearance at the Detroit Motor Show last week, Fisker has released a pair of piccies of its epically gorgeous Karma Sunset hard-top convertible. Gentlemen, prepare to drool... Fisker's Karma Sunset: roof retracted... ...and ready to repel rain There's no word on the exact price of the Sunset, …

    Science 19 Jan 2009, 17:26

  • Opera sings praises of Microsoft-browser statement

    Commission getting "serious"

    Microsoft browser-rival Opera Software has welcomed a European Commission statement that the company has broken European competition law by including Internet Explorer with Windows. Opera chief executive Jon von Tetzchner said the Commission's statement demonstrated that it's serious about getting Microsoft to "start competing …

    Applications 19 Jan 2009, 18:31

  • Microsoft releases Vista virtualization

    Migration avoidance

    Microsoft has released a public beta of desktop virtualization software to run legacy Windows applications on Windows Vista. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) will let you run Windows XP and Windows 2000 applications on Windows Vista without the need for testing or migration, the company said. MED-V creates …

    Software 19 Jan 2009, 19:42

  • IBM reaches out to SAP, RIM with Notes

    Things get LinkedIn

    IBM kicked off its annual Lotusphere event dedicated to its Lotus Notes and Domino groupware and collaboration environment this weekend, having already launched Notes and Domino 8.5 at the recent Macworld. First up at the Orlando, Florida, event was a peanut butter-and-chocolate combination of the Notes and Domino groupware …

    Applications 19 Jan 2009, 20:50

  • The Vatican tempts the YouTube generation

    Pope 2.0

    The Vatican this Friday will announce details of a partnership with Google to launch the Holy See's own YouTube channel. According to The Telegraph, the channel will offer "video footage and audio of addresses by Pope Benedict XVI," the current occupant of the Papal Apartments in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace. This won't be …

    Media 19 Jan 2009, 20:55

  • AMD's dual-core Neo set for 2009 release

    Netbooks need not apply

    AMD plans to release its dual-core version of the low-power Athlon Neo in the second half of this year. As we wrote late last month, the dual-core chip - code-named Conesus - will be aimed at what AMD senior vice president Randy Allen identified as customers who don't want a "compromised PC experience." In other words, the …

    Hardware 19 Jan 2009, 21:13

  • Three in 10 Windows PCs still vulnerable to Conficker exploit

    Worm food

    Three in ten systems remained unpatched against the exploit fueling the spread of the infamous Conficker worm, according to security tools firm Qualys. Conficker, aka Downadup, which began circulating in late November, exploits the MS08-067 vulnerability patched by Microsoft last October. The worm also spreads over network …

    Security 19 Jan 2009, 22:15

  • Virtualization minnow goes agnostic

    Thinks broad and deep

    As everyone expected when server virtualization took off on x64 iron a few years back, the hypervisors that provide the ability to carve up a machine into multiple virtual machines have rapidly commoditized. When you pay for a VM tool, you are getting all of the extra goodies, like live migration and backup and recovery, that …

    Servers 19 Jan 2009, 23:26