28th January 2009 Archive

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Mitsubishi to unveil i MiEV Sport Air at Geneva Motor Show

'Leccy Tech Vapourware?

Mitsubishi has dusted off its i MiEV Sport concept for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show and called it the i MiEV Sport Air. Out to impress fans of Apple's skinny laptop, perhaps? Mitsubishi's i MiEV Sport Air: concept today, reality in March Whatever, something very similar was shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon on 2007, but …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 00:02
Yahoo! welcomes! new! CEO! with! $303 million! loss!

Bartz mum on Ballmer

Yahoo! lost $303 million in the fourth quarter. And Wall Street is chuffed. For the quarter ending December 31, the online ad broker raked in revenues of $1.8bn, a one per cent drop from a year ago. And that translates to a net loss of 22 cents a share. But if you ignore certain one-time charges - including severance packages …

Financial News 28 Jan 00:25
Sun's OpenSolaris chief leads cloud-strategy hunt

Double or nothing?

Sun Microsystems has tasked its former OpenSolaris chief Ian Murdock - the founder of the Debian Linux distro - with devising a cloud-computing strategy for the company. Ian Murdock has been quietly named vice president of cloud-computing strategy following the re-organization last November that created Sun's cloud group and …

Software 28 Jan 00:39
Big Sparc crunches Sun's Q2

IBM memo lost on Schwartz

Server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems has reported financial results for its fiscal second quarter, and the news was as bad as Wall Street expected. Sun's sales fell 10.9 per cent to $3.22bn in the quarter, and the company booked a loss of $209m. Sun was pushed to the loss by a $222m restructuring charge relating …

Financial News 28 Jan 00:48
ICANN freezes over fast flux fury

Botnet deadlock

The non-profit group that oversees the internet's address system is seeking the public's help in deciding what to do about the growing use of a technology known as fast flux, which is used by cybercriminals to thwart take-down efforts, but which can also be used for legitimate purposes as well. The Internet Corporation for …

Security 28 Jan 00:58
Time to axe Microsoft's Zune

Comment Less really is more

If any Microsoft product group is a candidate for getting the chop during the next 18 months, surely - surely - it's the one leading the disastrous Zune. Either the technology people building it, those in marketing promoting it, or the channel group responsible for working with retailers to put the thing in the hands of …

Hardware 28 Jan 01:13
Boffin dubs global warming 'irreversible'

Environmental researchers are such downers

Economies may rise and fall every few decades or so, but at least the hard work we've put into global warming is "irreversible" on the human time scale. That's according to research from a team of US environmental scientists published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report claims that …

Environment 28 Jan 01:31
EU nixes Intel delay play

Anti-compete suit re-tracked

Adding to Intel's recent woes, the EU will not give the chipmaker more document-gathering time as it battles accusations of anti-competitive behavior. Last July, the European Commission issued a Statement of Objections (SO) that accused Intel of such anti-competitive maneuvers as paying rebates to a retailer to carry only PCs …

Channel Register 28 Jan 01:33
Big Blue iPod boss cleared for Cupertino landing

Papermaster returns

Apple announced today that Mark Papermaster will (finally) begin his new career at Apple on April 24th, assuming the lofty title of Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering. The former IBM exec agreed to become a technology adviser to Steve Jobs back in October, and that proposed position was immediately …

Financial News 28 Jan 02:15
Extended Brocade backbone virtualises SANs

HBAs brace up with OEM support

Brocade has extended its backbone data centre switching range and introduced a virtual SAN facility as its HBAs get more widely adopted. The first DCX backbone switch was introduced a year ago and offered 384 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel ports and a migration path to FCoE, Fibre Channel over Ethernet. Since then Cisco has emphasised …

Storage 28 Jan 08:02
Logitech Harmony 1100 universal remote control

Review One to rule them all?

The latest in Logitech's line of universal remotes is essentially a revamp of a product the company introduced more than two years ago. The 1100 is all about refining the old Harmony 1000 for the design demands of 2009's consumer rather than 2006's. First impressions are good. This time round the brushed metal upper surface …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 09:02
Blogger can't sue over comment, rules High Court

Didn't like it, shoulda deleted it

A man who was criticised in the comments section of his own blog cannot sue for defamation because he did not delete the comment when he discovered it, the High Court has said. The Court said that the man consented to the comment's publication. Christopher Carrie is the author of a self-published book in which he claims to …

Law 28 Jan 10:29
Satyam finds bankers to find it funding

And now knows how many people it employs

Indian outsourcer Satyam has appointed two investment banks to help it find long term funding. Avendus and Goldman Sachs are talking to banks and are dealing with immediate operating expenses. Satyam has also lined up cash for January salaries from money received. Board member T N Manoharan said Satyam had received proposals …

Channel Register 28 Jan 10:37
iPhone SMS error bug won't go away

Updated Apple still not getting the message?

Some users of Apple's iPhone are still reporting problems sending SMS messages with no fix in sight, despite both Apple and O2 being aware of the issue for more than a month. The problem comes with the upgrade to software version 2.2. Some users have reported it surfacing well after installing the upgrade, but once it …

Mobile 28 Jan 11:13
Sony's 11in OLED finally lands in Europe

Credit-crunch defying price

Blighty will finally receive its first shipments of Sony’s first commercially available OLED TV, the XEL-1, later this week, but your pockets had better be deep. Sony's 11in XEL-1 OLED TV: lands in Europe this week The 11in XEL-1 was launched in Japan back in October 2007 and appeared on US store shelves in January 2008. …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 11:36
Vodafone snaps up Wayfinder

Hopes sat nav won't prove a dead end

Vodafone has taken another step towards providing services, rather than just connectivity, by completing its acquisition of Swedish sat nav software supplier Wayfinder. The purchase was proposed back in December, and with the deal's completion Vodafone will own more than 98 per cent of Wayfinder. The remaining shares will be …

Mobile 28 Jan 11:37
Airbus A380 bows out of Air Force One competition

Let Boeing have the unimportant deals, says EADS

European Aeronautics Defence and Space (EADS), parent company of Airbus, has announced that it doesn't intend to bid for the recently-announced contract to supply new US presidential aeroplanes. Aviation Week quotes Guy Hicks, EADS North America spokesman in Washington, as saying: "After careful review, we've determined that …

Government 28 Jan 11:39
Wi-Fi roaming: US T-Mobile gets it, BT drops it

Roam if you ~~want to~~ still can

While BT is busy cutting off its Fusion customers, T-Mobile USA has announced a deal with Meru to provide cellular roaming to Wi-Fi networks. BT is replacing BT Fusion Business with Office Anywhere, which the former monopoly describes as being cheaper and coming with a free BlackBerry too. But for customers who were using …

Mobile 28 Jan 11:42
Amazon Kindle 2 to arrive within weeks?

Announcement fuels speculation

Speculation is building that Amazon is ready to unveil its second-generation Kindle ebook reader within weeks. Amazon's first-gen Kindle: its successor will be more curvaceous Although talk of a second-gen Kindle is nothing new – rumours were doing the rounds all last year – various online sources have recently reported …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 11:48
Mayor Boris backs McKinnon in extradition fight

Asks if Brown and Darling are part of Lizard conspiracy

Gary McKinnon has attracted the support of London Mayor Boris Johnson. In his weekly column in the Daily Telegraph, the Tory mayor calls upon President Barack Obama to ask US prosecutors to abandon efforts to extradite the British hacker, who faces a seven-count US indictment of allegations he broke into US military and Nasa …

Law 28 Jan 11:51
Parallel importer jailed for up to nine months in Microsoft case

A very grey day indeed

A software distributor faces nine months in jail for selling 'grey' imported copies of Microsoft software. Sales firm ITAC's founder Barry Omesuh must pay £2.5 million in damages to the software giant. Omesuh was found guilty by the High Court of disobeying earlier Court orders about his behaviour and concealing his assets …

Channel Register 28 Jan 12:02
CPW aims to keep recession victims connected

TalkTalk offers Emergency Plan

TalkTalk subscribers won't be cut off if they are unable to pay their bill for up to six months during the recession, provided they can pay line rental, boss Charles Dunstone pledged today. From January 30, the struggling TalkTalk customers who call customer services will be considered on a case-by-case basis to switch to the …

Telecoms 28 Jan 12:11
Nintendo unveils Wii health channel

Buy Wii - prolong life

Nintendo obviously cares about the wellbeing of its customers, because it’s announced plans to launch an interactive health monitoring channel for the Wii. The details are in Japanese, but you get the general idea Although specific details are still somewhat sketchy, it’s thought the channel will be called Wii Fit Check. It …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 12:19
Why conventional protection fails against web threats

White paper trail

And so to the Reg whitepaper library to inspect some security pitches. Here's a couple we thought deserved a wider airing. Web threats: Why conventional protection doesn't work This white paper from Trend Micro describes web threats, how they function, and their impacts. The paper argues that conventional security practices …

Enterprise Security 28 Jan 12:42
RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900

Review Bold junior

Looking a lot like Blackberry's flagship, the Bold 9000, the latest handset from Canadian email maestro Research in Motion (RIM), is a slightly more compact version of that phone but still manages to pack in almost all of the same features. There's Wi-Fi, GPS and a gloriously detailed screen, as well as Blackberry's trademark …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 13:02
Paris Hilton correctly identifies UK Prime Minister

'I had lunch at his restaurant yesterday'

Paris Hilton has pulled off a bit of a blinder at the London launch of her ITV2 show Paris Hilton's British Best Friend by fingering Gordon Ramsay as Prime Minister, the Telegraph reports. The talented amateur grumble vid performer responded to a request to name the PM with a confident: "I had lunch at his restaurant yesterday …

Bootnotes 28 Jan 13:06
Gmail goes offline to avoid flatline online

Google goes back to the future with PC-based Office

Google has finally added offline support to Gmail, allowing US and Blighty-based users to read and write email while unconnected to the interwebs. The firm said it was rolling out an “experimental feature in Gmail Labs” that will probably be a bit cranky and frustrating due to the fact that there are still “some kinks that …

Applications 28 Jan 13:12
Carbonite nabbed with hand in review jar

Comment Caught pulling a Belkin

Online backup service supplier Carbonite has been fingered by a disgruntled user for writing its own reviews on Amazon. Bruce Goldsteinberg signed up for the service from Boston-based Carbonite, and everything went well until a system crash when he found that the restore process broke. He phoned Carbonite support, taking time …

Storage 28 Jan 13:23
Apple gets censory on iBoobs'... ass

We don't think you're ready for this jelly

Apple has ordered the developer of the iPhone Wobble application to remove the words "boobs" and "booty" from his publicity, despite selling more than 20,000 copies of the epically pointless app. Jon Atherton took a call from a "nice fellow in developer relations" at Apple who told him those two words are not acceptable …

Mobile 28 Jan 13:28
US considers audible warnings for cameraphones

'Attention! Possible voyeur taking picture!'

Proposed US legislation could, if adopted, force manufacturers to produce cameraphones that issue audible warnings each time you snap anything from friends and family to your neighbour’s bloomers on the washing line. The Camera Phone Predator Alert Act – put forward earlier this month by New York Republican Peter King - is …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 13:45
Hybrid fusion-fission reactors to run on nuclear 'sludge'

Most nuke waste actually useful fuel, say boffins

Texas-based boffins say they have figured out a cunning new method of dealing with America's nuclear waste, using fusion technology - which at the moment can't produce power - to turn 99 per cent of fission reactors' waste into useful energy. "Most people cite nuclear waste as the main reason they oppose nuclear fission as a …

Environment 28 Jan 13:51
Orange mobile internet takes a lie down

Dongles dangle

Orange subscribers have been hit by with an unidentified problem with the firm's mobile network that has cut them off from the internet today. At lunchtime, Orange said it had a temporary fix allowing mobile phone and dongle users to get back online and that it was working on a full solution. It sent this statement: We can …

Mobile 28 Jan 13:59
I'm a sceptic now, says ex-NASA climate boss

Hansen supervisor takes aim at thermageddon

The retired scientist formerly in charge of key NASA climate programs has come out as a sceptic. Dr John Theon, who supervised James Hansen - the activist-scientist who helped give the manmade global warming hypothesis centre prominent media attention - repents at length in a published letter. Theon wrote to the Minority …

Environment 28 Jan 14:18
Gunman leaves flatmate PS3 sale checklist

"I'm shooting myself tomorrow, can you sell my PS3 and cancel the milk?"

A US man left his flatmate with instructions for how to sell his PlayStation 3 and how much to ask for it - shortly before randomly opening fire on a group of people and then shooting himself in the head. Erik Salvador Ayala, aged 24 and from Portland, Oregon, wrote his flatmate a highly detailed note that said his “100 per …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 14:21
Sony unwraps 'world's thinnest' LCD TV

Wireless HDMI linkage on board

If you can’t afford Sony’s super-expensive 11in XEL-1 OLED TV, yet crave a slim telly, check out what the electronics giant has claimed is the world’s thinnest LCD TV. Sony's ZX1: measures 9.9mm and is wireless The Bravia ZX1 measures 9.9mm at its slimmest point and combines a 1080p resolution with three screen size options …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 14:29
'Anonymous' pwns Digital Camera Mag website

Updated 'This forum is now 4chan's bitch'

The website of Digital Camera Magazine was taken offline on Wednesday morning following an attack by denizens of 4chan. Malefactors subverted the DC forum admin to send an abusive message. Members of the 4chan image board have been responsible for formulating and popularising internet memes such as lolcats and rickrolling. The …

IT Director 28 Jan 14:46
Co-op weighs into battle to save honeybees

Suppliers banned from using eight pesticides

The Co-op has announced that suppliers of its own-brand produce will henceforth be banned from using eight pesticides "implicated" in Colony Collapse Disorder - the unexplained disappearance of millions of honeybees which has hit hives worldwide. The supermarket chain said growers on its 70,000 acres of land in in England and …

Biology 28 Jan 14:47
Websense buys Defensio to fight blog comment spam

Sexy Russian girls are not waiting to meet you

Web security and content filtering firm Websense has bought Defensio!, a security startup specialising in defending against blog-comment spam. Terms of the deal, announced Tuesday, were undisclosed. Defensio's technology aims to weed out link spam from blogs, user forums and other sites that allow user generated content to be …

Spam 28 Jan 14:48
F1 chiefs ready post-prang battery safety scheme

'Leccy Tech Helping track marshals avoid zaps after shunts

The introduction of KERS - Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems - into Formula 1 has not been without mishap. There was a battery fire at Red Bull, and a BMW engineer received a nasty electric shock during a test at the Jerez circuit in Spain. Now F1 safety supremo Charlie Whiting has announced that track marshals will be issued …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 14:49
Dell and Cisco best buddies - for now

Strictly come network dancing

Cisco has introduced new converged data centre switching products and announced an expanded Dell relationship that could be threatened if the networking vendor's twinkle in the eye servers spring into being. The 7018 joins the existing 7010 as a flagship data centre switch and has a 16-slot chassis supporting 512 10GigE ports …

Channel Register 28 Jan 15:39
Bruised SAP cuts 3,000 jobs as profit disappoints

Margins squeezed, workforce trimmed

SAP is slashing 3,000 jobs worldwide to cut costs, as its 2008 net profit fell two per cent after the economy plunged late last year. The German software giant, which is the world’s largest provider of biz apps, also declined to give a specific outlook for 2009 sales. SAP boss Leo Apotheker said that for the year ahead he …

Channel Register 28 Jan 15:55
Saving ISPs and the music biz: Is it even worth it?

Comment Not when they behave like this

The banks have done it. America's car industry has done it. Now it's the turn of Britain's ISPs and its music business to see what favours they can eke out of government. The Digital Britain report, due to be published tomorrow, will reveal the extent of this back-scratching. There's just two things to bear in mind: neither …

Music and Media 28 Jan 16:01
Panasonic's wind, water, dust-proof 720p camera

Also cuts out background wind noise on videos

Panasonic has taken the wraps off what it’s claimed is the world’s first waterproof, shockproof and dustproof camera capable of snapping 720p HD videos. The 12.1Mp Lumix DMC-TS1 can capture video and stills from a depth of up to 3m, but you’ll have to pluck it out and dry it off after 60 minutes. If you’re more into rock …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 16:23
Overland makes snap CEO switch

A change is as good as... well, change is good

Struggling disk and tape protection vendor Overland Storage has suddenly promoted board member and ex-Snap Appliance CEO Eric Kelly to become its new CEO with incumbent Vern LoForti staying on as president. Kelly arranged and led the purchase of NAS product supplier Snap Appliance from Quantum in 2002 for $10m. He became Snap' …

Storage 28 Jan 16:33
Unveiled: love tutor headphones

Shag-nav

Sex toys have been around for years, but one’s now available that the manufacturer’s promised will boost your performance in bed and help overcome the dreaded brewer’s droop. LoveTrainer: boost your bedroom performance with narration and music The LoveTrainer’s essentially a pair of sporty headphones with an attached heart- …

Reg Hardware 28 Jan 16:37
KDE hopes to fill boots with 4.2 release

A Windows man, a Linux man and a Mac man walk into a bar...

The Linux K Desktop Environment project is hoping to bag a few ordinary computer plebs with the latest release of its desktop suite. KDE 4.2, which carries the slightly self-congratulatory codename “The Answer”, was released yesterday in a variety of flavours for Linux, Windows and Mac lovers everywhere. Freetards can now get …

Software 28 Jan 16:55
USAF seeks diamond gunports for electropulse ray-cannon

Plus: Fibre optics offer hope of shark-portable lasers

The US Air Force has made an appeal for a range of new technologies which it will need in building its planned new arsenal of aerial rayguns. In particular, it wants large artificial optically-correct diamonds for use as portholes through which to shoot electropulse microwave blaster cannons. Under its "Directed Energy [Weapon …

Science 28 Jan 18:02
Kaspersky Labs denies panic mongering

The papers just made it up

A mild warning from anti-virus labs Kaspersky has been inflated into a full-blown panic by the Australian press that is warning of an imminent meltdown once infection reaches Australian shores. The Couriermail even quotes a Kaspersky representative as stating that "it would only take one call to an Australian mobile from an …

Security 28 Jan 18:06
Apple scores 'power connector' patent

Priapic IP

Apple was recently granted a patent for a device it calls a "power connector." However, the device is so substantially similar to a standard automotive 12-volt power plug - in less health-conscious days called a cigarette-lighter adapter - that the penetrating intelligence of the US Patent and Trademark Office would surely not …

Odds and Sods 28 Jan 18:20
DDoS attack boots Kyrgyzstan from net

Russian bears blamed

The central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan was effectively knocked offline for more than a week by a Russian cybermilitia that continues to flood the country's internet providers with crippling data attacks, a security expert said. The attacks, which began on January 18, bear the signature of pro-Russian nationalists believed to …

Security 28 Jan 19:57
iPhone juices AT&T profits

BlackBerry buoys Verizon

AT&T today reported its earnings for both 2008's fourth quarter and the full year. Compared with 2007, there's good news and there's bad news - and the good news starred the iPhone. First the bad. Fourth-quarter net income was down 23.3 per cent year-on-year, with $2.4bn in 2008 compared with $3.1bn in 2007. Wired voice- …

Financial News 28 Jan 20:35
US broadband stimulus could reach $9bn

Senate draft adds $3bn, tax incentives

The latest draft of President Obama's $835bn infrastructure economic stimulus package increases the budget for expanding broadband to under-served areas from $6bn to $9bn and includes tax breaks for ISPs that build new wired and wireless networks. While the US Senate is still drafting its version of the stimulus package, its …

Government 28 Jan 20:39
Sun will Rock in 2009

UltraSparc hope

Sun's president and chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz declared yesterday that the company's long-planned Rock processors remain on track for release this year. This is good news for Sun watchers. With two rounds of layoffs that server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems announced in 2008 biting into the company …

Servers 28 Jan 21:16
Microsoft to act on IE8 'show stoppers'

Standards committed - to a point

Microsoft's still taking feedback on Internet Explorer 8 but will only act on "show stoppers" according to browser chief Dean Hachamovitch. Hachamovitch, IE general manager, told Microsoft's Channel 9 "we are still listening for feedback, we are listening very critically for classically what's called show-stopper feedback". …

Applications 28 Jan 22:28
US cable giant to throttle P2P

No, not that one

Cox Communications - America's third-largest cableco - is on the verge of testing new network technology that will fast-track certain "time-sensitive" internet traffic during periods of congestion. This also means that "less time-sensitive traffic" will be slow-tracked. As it announced late last night with a post to its …

Telecoms 28 Jan 23:05