5th February 2009 Archive

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Novell cutting more heads?

Pick a number

Novell employees should brace for more layoffs, beyond the 100 or so the company has officially discussed. Chief executive Ron Hovsepian has told the company's employees in Germany that more cuts are coming, sources close to the company have told The Register. "The day after Hovsepian said no more cuts beyond 100, he told …

Financial News 5 Feb 00:19
Cisco waves excuse boilerplate as profits fall

Announces layoffs that aren't layoffs

Pop quiz: What did Cisco blame for a 28 per cent drop in profits during its second quarter. A) Somali pirates B) The number 7 C) Global recession D) Roger in accounting Congratulations readers who chose shrewdly selected C. You must be getting good at this. For the three months ending January 24, Cisco made a net profit …

Financial News 5 Feb 01:07
Apple iPhoto gets in your face

Review You look great. It's getting old

iLife has arrived. Again. And there are questions to be answered. Is this five-app pack of ease-of-use worth $79? Are the hyper-hyped new capabilities of its two marquee apps, iPhoto '09 and iMovie '09, all they've been cracked up to be? Is the new Learn to Play feature in GarageBand '09 useful for anyone other than a musical …

Applications 5 Feb 01:14
Amazon probed by US Mail

Postal Service seeks cash

Amazon is under investigation by the US Postal Service for "compliance with Postal Service rules," according to a one-sentence statement in the company's annual 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. "In January 2009, we learned that the United States Postal Service, including the Postal Service Office of …

Government 5 Feb 01:36
Pinch Trojan lives on after authors' convictions

Updated S'kiddies squeeze suckers

Variants of the Pinch Trojan are infecting users more than a year after the arrest of its two original authors, , who were recently jailed for their crimes. More than 4,000 PCs a day were getting infected by just one variant of the information-pilfering malware, according to net security firm PrevX, which bases this estimate …

Security 5 Feb 05:58
Logic3 Valve80 thermionic iPod dock and speaker set

Review Does pre-transistor technology make a difference?

Logic 3, maker of accessories for gadgets such as Apple's iPods, has gone up-scale with the launch of the Valve 80 amplifier. Logic3's Valve80: not shabby looking Ever since the invention of the transistor, valves have been somewhat sidelined. They're bulky, expensive and take time to warm up and become operational. That …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 09:02
Recession prompts job cuts at PC World call centres

Capita wields the knife

Capita will cut up to 42 jobs at call centres it runs for PC World owner DSGi in Sheffield and Nottingham because of falling call numbers. The outsourcing giant informed staff of the redundancy programme, which will hit mainly team leaders, on Monday. Those affected today enter a 30 day statutory consultation period. Some may …

Channel Register 5 Feb 09:02
Apple delays 17in MacBook Pro

New ship date for new machine

Anyone looking to pick-up the new 17in "unibody" MacBook Pro will have to wait a little longer than expected. Apple has delayed the laptop’s launch. Apple's new 17in MacBook Pro: will now arrive in mid-February The firm admitted that “wrapping up” the updated machine – which features an Intel 2.66Hz Core 2 Duo processor as …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 10:39
GM talks up EV battery longevity tech

'Leccy Tech How it'll make Li-ion go further (and not explode)

With some of our media colleagues giving the distinct impression that the current cold snap is on a par with the one that stopped the Wehrmacht at the gates of Moscow in 1941, Green Fuels Forecast have had a timely chat with some senior General Motors staffers about battery lifespans and operating temperature issues. …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 10:45
Old guard storms boardroom at ailing Lenovo

PC vendor sees shipments slide faster than industry

Lenovo's old guard Chinese management parachuted back into the boardroom yesterday as it released third quarter numbers that showed its shipments dropping faster than the industry average in every market except China. Sales at the Beijing-based PC vendor slipped 20.1 per cent to $3.6bn in the quarter ending December 31, while …

Channel Register 5 Feb 10:56
Motorola kickstarts internal 4G tests

Hardware to follow later this year

Motorola has begun testing 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) broadband in the UK. The firm said the trial kicked off at a testing lab in Swindon with a “live, over-the-air, standards-compliant LTE call”, during which high-speed data services were streamed using a prototype LTE device operating in the 2.6GHz spectrum. Motorola aims …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 11:03
Texas creates videogame remembrance day

In memory of ~~our fallen virtual heros~~ money

Many countries set aside days to remember fallen war heroes, but now 3 February shall forever be known as Entertainment Software Day – in Texas, at least. The US state’s awarded the title – thought to be the first of its kind - to ensure that local inhabitants, including George 'Dubya' Bush, recognise the positive impact that …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 11:29
Fake parking tickets lead unwary to malware

Fluttery paper route to online scam

Hackers are using fake parking violation warnings to trick motorists into visiting malware-infested websites. The innovative social engineering trick was pulled off in Grand Forks, North Dakota using windshield fliers with a website address linked to a booby-trapped website. The fliers said: PARKING VIOLATION This vehicle is …

Enterprise Security 5 Feb 11:30
One-tonne 40ft snake prowled superhot prehistoric jungles

Global warming? Here be monsters

Scientists say they have discovered fossil remains of a colossal prehistoric snake that once roamed the superheated Paleocene jungles of South America. The one-tonne Titanoboa cerrejonensis would have been more than 40 feet long and ten feet around at its thickest. Investigating brainboxes say the mighty snake's huge size was …

Biology 5 Feb 11:59
Swindon embraces 4th generation

Town says hello Moto

Motorola, the bit that makes money selling networks rather than the handset division that loses money making phones, has been testing 4th generation networks in Swindon, demonstrating calls over Long Term Evolution (LTE) connections. The Swindon-based lab demonstrated voice calls and data streaming using the LTE standard, …

Mobile 5 Feb 12:07
MySQL daddy 'Monty' quits Sun

Swallows bitter apple, opens restaurant ~~at end of universe~~

MySQL creator Michael “Monty” Widenius has finally left Sun Microsystems following a long-drawn-out disagreement over what he saw as the firm’s “premature” release of MySQL 5.1. As we reported in September, the MySQL daddy was understood to have quit the company, less than seven months after Sun paid $1bn for the free database …

Developer 5 Feb 12:09
Stylish LG ~~iPhone~~ handset spied online

Not just one picture, but three!

A trio of pictures of what’s thought to be LG’s upcoming KM900 touchscreen smartphone have emerged online. Is this LG's KM900 smartphone? LG hasn’t officially announced the device yet, but a very official-looking image shows off the device in all its iPhone-like beauty. A separate shot that looks like it was snapped from …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 12:11
Yes! It's the cardboard PC!

2 x 4 option coming soon...

Green is the new black, or so it seems. So an enterprising designer’s inked plans to build a desktop PC that does away with the traditional metal and plastic exterior, in favour of… er… cardboard. Recompute: sports a cardboard body The Recompute PC would – if it ever makes it to the shops – have a body constructed from 12 …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 12:24
Sat scope discovers Earthlike 'sauna world'

Steamy nude alien babes thought relatively unlikely

Astronomers using the CoRoT worldfinder satellite say they have discovered the smallest extra-solar planet yet known. The newly-checked-out world is less than twice the size of Earth, may have a solid surface, orbits a sun-like star and appears to have plenty of water. Sadly, local temperatures appear to be more than 1,000°C. …

Space 5 Feb 12:37
You're barcoded: The sneaky under-25 route to compulsory ID

Comment That's how they getcha

There has been much tabloid fury about recent reports that two Royal Marines, just back from the front line in Afghanistan, were refused entry to a pub because they only had military ID. Is this just a storm in a pint glass, or evidence of yet more subtle pressure by Government to persuade all of us that ID cards would be a good …

Government 5 Feb 12:51
South Pole stilt-base builder to give lecture in Sadville

Sublime to ridiculous, much?

The man in charge of constructing a scientific base mounted on extending stilts at the South Pole will give a talk on his experiences next Wednesday - in Second Life, the online masquerade park popular with bedroom explorers. Jerry Marty is the facilities construction and maintenance manager for the National Science Foundation …

Science 5 Feb 13:11
Business Intelligence for the masses

Regcast Yes, it can be done

Last week we broadcast a show called Business Intelligence for the mid-market, which was based on research conducted with The Reg Tech Panel. This Regcast is now available on-demand. Business Intelligence for the mid-market sees our experts assess BI and why it’s relevant now more than ever. The team highlights findings from …

Tech Panel 5 Feb 13:13
Windows 7 'upgrade' doesn't mark XP spot

First, wipe your hard drive...

The road to Windows 7 for Vista-shy customers who want to jump straight from XP to the upcoming operating system won’t be an easy one. Microsoft confirmed yesterday that Windows XP fans would be able to purchase a licence and media to “upgrade” to the new OS once it lands. But this being Redmond there is a caveat: XP …

Channel Register 5 Feb 13:32
Congress gives analogue TV signal 4-month reprieve

Many Americans slow to switch to digital

The US Congress has agreed to delay the mandatory transition to digital television until 12 June, putting the sick, the elderly and the unemployed ahead of the first responders waiting for access to the released spectrum. The vote was split 264 to 158, but this time only needed a simple majority and was thus passed with …

Mobile 5 Feb 13:58
'Spam-friendly' domain registrars named and shamed

Pick your mates

The vast majority of spam (83 per cent) is linked to sites established through ten domain name registrars, according to a new study. An analysis of junk mail messages by anti-spam firm Knujon ("no junk" spelled backwards) found that while there are 900 accredited domain name registrars, spammers register their spamvertised …

Spam 5 Feb 14:00
Man accused of trying to kill girlfriend with WiiMote

Accessory to the alleged crime

Eating all the chocolate biscuits is a serious crime, but would you try and throttle your partner for doing so? A US man allegedly did – using a Wii Remote’s cord - after his girlfriend accused him of failing to keep his hands out of the cookie jar. Daniel Alvarez, aged 21 and from Austin, Texas, was reportedly woken up by …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 14:10
Miliband refuses to release torture documents

Weasel words from weasel

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has refused to release documents requested by Guantanomo Bay resident Binyam Mohamed and denied that his decision was based on fear of US reprisals. A damning High Court judgement yesterday said the documents could not be released because Foreign Office lawyers told the court that if they were …

Government 5 Feb 14:31
Jacqui Smith cracks down on gangs via computers, closets

You really could be nicked for wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area

The government will hit gangs where it hurts - on the internet and in their wardrobes. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today announced plans to insert provisions into the Policing and Crime Bill that would allow courts to impose a range of restrictions on individuals. These include not allowing individuals to enter a "specified …

Policing 5 Feb 14:36
Rogue sysadmin sues SF for $3m

Damages me? Damages you!

Terry Childs, the ex-network admin accused of holding San Francisco's computer network to ransom, is suing the city for $3m. Childs, who has been in prison since July and is still awaiting trial, wants compensation for lost wages, damages and emotional distress caused by what he claims was his wrongful arrest and imprisonment …

Law 5 Feb 14:59
Big labels or Google - who is the songwriters' worst enemy?

Interview Digital rights raise artists' hackles

Tired of being ignored by industry lobby groups, artists are now getting feisty about creators' digital rights. In the UK, the Featured Artists Coalition wants to take digital rights away from the nerds. In the US last year, Arts and Labs launched to counter big record labels and anti-copyright technology companies. A&L has …

Music and Media 5 Feb 15:02
Star Trek Communicator gains VoIP

Set phasers to fun!

If you’re thinking of Star Trekkin’ across the universe, you’ll need a decent communications device to alert crew members that there are Klingons on the starboard bow. Enter the Star Trek Communicator. The Star Trek Communicator works over VoIP According to online reports, web-based gadget retailer Dream Cheeky is poised to …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 15:19
California to get 'space age' three-wheel EV

'Leccy Tech From Logan's Run to shopping run

Another day, another odd looking 'leccy car from a start up. Today, it's the turn of Californian car maker Aptera to foist its vision of the future of the automobile upon us, and it's shaped like this: The first three pre-production examples of the 'leccy three-wheeler, dubbed the 2e, rolled out of Aptera's Vista, California …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 15:50
Satyam finds a boss and money

Insider gets tug for tough job

Satyam's board of directors took two days to decide, but has now appointed a new CEO to replace Ramalinga Raju, who is still in jail awaiting trial for an alleged billion-dollar fraud. A S Murty, a 15-year Satyam veteran, starts as CEO immediately. He is informally known as ASM and previously worked at Tata. Board member …

Channel Register 5 Feb 16:10
App brings calls, texts to iPod Touch

A cheap route to an iPhone?

Calling all iPod Touch owners! IP telco Jajah has launched an application that adds call functionality to your poor man’s iPhone. Jajah's app adds calling and texting functions to the Touch The firm’s promised that its app will turn the Touch into “a fully functioning mobile phone”, able to make calls and send text messages …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 16:30
Third-gen iPhone to run on Nvidia chippery?

Analyst names Apple as key Tegra design win

Will Apple's next iPhone pack an Nvidia ARM-based system-on-a-chip? That's what one US analyst thinks. Enter Doug Freedman of AmTech, the market watcher formerly known as American Technology Research. Freedman tracks Nvidia, and he reckons the chip maker is pumping development resources into "additional mobile operating …

Reg Hardware 5 Feb 16:30
SCO boss to customers: 'Blah. Blah. Blah'

Beautifully measured missive shows way forward

SCO Group boss Jeff Hunsaker has done away with corporate speak in his latest seasonal note to partners and customers and replaced it with a terse, blunt message that reads: "Blah. Blah. Blah." Sadly the CEO and president of the bloodied and bruised software company was not immediately available for comment, but we think this …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 16:43
US Navy spends $12m on electric hypercannon

Railgun dreadnoughts to rule the waves?

The US Navy has handed out a $12m contract to Texan academics to carry out research into electromagnetic hypervelocity railguns. According to the Pentagon contracts feed: The Institute of Advanced Technology at the University of Texas, Austin [will] perform railgun assessment including laboratory testing and scalability …

Science 5 Feb 17:07
Chipzilla sits on its Tukwila

Itanium delayed six months

Chip maker Intel has quietly copped to another delay with its "Tukwila" quad-core Itanium processors. The company is revamping the quad-core Tukwila processor design, which will push deliveries of the chip out to the middle of this year. And that means system shipments will be even later. This six-month hold-up is by no means …

Servers 5 Feb 17:36
IBM launches very serious enviro-commitment programme

Big Blue turns pale green

Big Blue wants world+dog to know it's deadly serious about green technology, and to underline that commitment, the company has launched its "Ready for Energy & Environment" validation program for biz partners. Cynics may suggest that IBM's failure to consult any environmental groups about its plans before going ahead and …

Channel Register 5 Feb 17:43
Gates looses mosquitoes on tech conference bloodsuckers

Malaria message in a jar

Bill Gates opened a jar of mosquitoes on stage at a conference for elite technology bloodsuckers on Wednesday to make a point about the spread of malaria. "Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Gates said before unleashing the insects at the Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) conference in Long Beach, California. "I …

Odds and Sods 5 Feb 18:32
Norwegians swallow iTunes threat

Snowed by DRM turnabout

The Norwegian government has dropped its legal action against Apple's iTunes Store. Last November, Bjoern Erik Thon, a Norwegian consumer mediator, said that he would take Apple before that country's Market Council for limiting use of the iTunes Store to iPods and the iPhone. Had the Council ruled against Apple, it could have …

Music and Media 5 Feb 19:20
World's power grids infested with (more) SCADA bugs

Swarm overtakes e-terrahabitat

Areva Inc. - a Paris-based company that serves nuclear, wind, and fossil-fuel power companies - is warning customers to upgrade a key piece of energy management software following the discovery of security bugs that leaves it vulnerable to hijacking. The vulnerabilities affect multiple versions of Areva's e-terrahabitat …

Security 5 Feb 19:45
Microsoft mojo deflated by Seinfeld Vista ads

Not a dream spot

Jerry Seinfeld hasn’t recorded a fresh edition of his eponymous sitcom in eleven years. Yet the once wildly-popular show about nothing has lived on, zombie-like, in the twilight world of US cable syndication and Microsoft Windows Vista adverts. Guess which is the more successful. A Seinfeld-fronted TV ad, part of a series …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 20:01
Phishing scam aims to hoodwink hotel habitants

Counterfeit site ruse proves hard to pin down

Phishing fraudsters have moved on from banking sites with an attack designed to hoodwink hotel customers, according to a team of security volunteers. Hotel chains including Hyatt, TraveLodge, Comfort Inn, Ramada, Days Inn, and Wyndham are being targeted in the reported scam. More than 71,000 travelers each month have been …

Security 5 Feb 20:41
Intel shuts Shanghai plant

Chinese job shift

Intel plans to shut down an integrated circuit-packaging plant in Shanghai as a cost-cutting measure that will affect about 2,000 workers. The company said today its chip manufacturing facility in the open economic development zone of Pudong, China will be shuttered over the next 12 to 18 months. Intel spokesman Chuck Malloy …

Financial News 5 Feb 21:17
Opera revs JavaScript engine of the future

It goes to eleven

Opera is building a new JavaScript engine. And one day, the Norwegian browser mavens say, it will be the fastest the web has ever seen. Under development for several months now, the new engine is known as Carakan, and according to private Norwegian tests, it's already two and a half times faster than the JavaScript engine …

Applications 5 Feb 21:26
Apple's Snow Leopard may know where you are

Smells like an iPhone

Apple's upcoming Snow Leopard operating system will include location awareness and multi-touch capabilities. Or so it seems. Citing an anonymous source, AppleInsider says that Snow Leopard, aka Mac OS X version 10.6, will include the CoreLocation framework introduced last March in the iPhone 2.0 SDK. The iPhone runs a slimmed …

Operating Systems 5 Feb 21:29
Windows 7 UAC vuln not a vuln, MS repeats

Fixes it anyway

When is a Windows 7 vulnerability not a vulnerability? When the malware that's been written to exploit it can't be installed without the user's OK. That's according to Microsoft's Windows core operating system division senior vice president Jon DeVaan, who felt moved to post a lengthy blog standing behind the security of …

Applications 5 Feb 22:44
Teen accused of 'sinister' Facebook sex extortion plot

31 victims fooled by bogus profile

An 18-year-old male student from Wisconsin has been accused of posing as a female on Facebook in a plot to trick at least 31 male classmates into sending nude pictures of themselves and then using the images to blackmail them into performing sex acts. Anthony Stancl of New Berlin was charged Wednesday with five counts of child …

Crime 5 Feb 23:27
Amazon pulls beta tag from PayPal foe

New tools for fancy transactions

Amazon's Flexible Payments Service has been taken out of its 19-month run as a limited beta, opening the online vendor's payment infrastructure to everyone. To get things rolling, it's also launched Amazon FPS Quick Starts, a series of APIs to make it easier for developers to include fancy transaction processing tricks like …

Applications 5 Feb 23:29