11th February 2009 Archive

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Salesforce woos punters with Spring cloud

On-demand platform adds social Genius

Salesforce.com has rolled out the Spring edition of its hosted customer relationship management platform. The cloud software dealer said the release adds more than 50 features, including some new sales collaboration toys. Salesforce CRM Spring '09 debuts "Opportunity Genius," a feature that helps users find other sales reps …

Applications 11 Feb 00:41
US lawmaker injects ISP throttle into Obama rescue package

'Network management' meets child porn

US Senator Dianne Feinstein hopes to update President Barack Obama's $838bn economic stimulus package so that American ISPs can deter child pornography, copyright infringement, and other unlawful activity by way of "reasonable network management." Clearly, a lobbyist whispering in Feinstein's ear has taken Comcast's now famous …

Government 11 Feb 00:43
Evesham Technology confirmed dead

End of the road for UK system builder

Evesham, the defunct British computer maker, has been dissolved following a lengthy administration. A Companies’ House document has revealed that Evesham Technology Ltd, Evesham Technology Holdings Ltd, and Mertec Evesham Technology Ltd moved from administration to dissolution status on 30 January 2009. "All assets of the …

Channel Register 11 Feb 00:47
Dell punts green gear with 0% interest

Environment-friendly finance

Here's a new twist on an old idea.Dell US announced today that it was extending a zero per cent interest, 36-month financing deal from its high-end EqualLogic disk arrays to laptops and servers suitable for small and medium businesses. But, rather than just providing financing across its whole product line, Dell is only offering …

PCs & Chips 11 Feb 01:05
Microsoft takes scissors to Srizbi

Botnet's last stand

Microsoft security teams have struck what they hope is a fatal blow at Srizbi, the once-powerful spam botnet that has been fighting for its life since last year's demise of two US-based network providers that offered vital lifelines. The company's Malicious Software Removal Tool has already proved invaluable in mass …

Security 11 Feb 01:14
Red Hat cranks up JBoss rollouts engine

So much after so long

The next few months should see three supported and modular versions of Red Hat's JBoss application server rolled out, scaling from web to full enterprise-class scenarios. Red Hat's vice president of middleware Craig Muzilla told The Reg three profiles of the JBoss Application Server 5.0 would be delivered in the "next few …

Developer 11 Feb 01:48
IDC themes: Quick fixes and virtualized storage

Ooh goody, it's the European storage survey results

European storage buyers are looking for quick fixes, cost reductions and virtualized storage to match their virtualized servers. IDC's seventh annual European storage survey reveals that the two strong themes affecting storage buyers are the tactical one of responding to the recession and a second consequent on the strategy of …

Storage 11 Feb 08:02
Morse taps new boss, new structure

New losses

Morse has appointed a new chief exec as it continues to restructure the business. The firm sold off its Jersey-based investment consultancy yesterday which leaves it with four independent business units - infrastructure services and technology units in the UK, Spain and Ireland and a business applications business. The heads …

Channel Register 11 Feb 09:53
Americans get indoor iPhones

Femtocells supersize while picocells go femto

Femtocells have arrived on the AT&T network in the USA, or "microcells" as it prefers to call them. Whatever the name, they will still offer 3G connectivity for iPhone users from the comfort of their own home, and over their own broadband. Base stations are getting increasingly complicated - tiny-cell specialist ip.access has …

Mobile 11 Feb 10:02
Sony Ericsson hits road with Bluetooth jukebox

I've been drivin' in my car

Sony Ericsson has promised that its new Bluetooth stereo streaming unit will turn your car into a wireless jukebox. Sony Ericsson's AB900 streams mobile music to your car stereo The AB900 measures 120 x 69 x 16mm and straps onto your car’s sun visor, allowing you to stream tracks to it from your mobile phone. The A2DP …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 10:09
Mobile app could Save lives

Car crash app automatically calls ambulances

A mobile phone application has been developed that’ll summon the emergency services after your car's hit something, bounced across the tarmac, rolled down the ravine and hit a tree. The Sun Java-based Automatic Vehicular (Save) accident reporting system takes advantage of various sensor technologies found in phones and satnavs …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 10:09
Vladimir Putin denies penchant for Abba

No private Bjorn Again gig, Russia insists

Russia has written a mildy-worded letter of protest to the Times denying that Abba tribute band Bjorn Again performed a private gig for Vladimir Putin at a cost of £20,000. The paper last week ran a shock report in which the band insisted they'd jetted to Moscow, been whisked 200 miles by bus to "a remote location near Lake …

Bootnotes 11 Feb 10:21
Cambridge Silicon Radio buys into GPS

Bluetooth experts bite into Sirf

UK wireless-chip specialists CSR, makers of Bluetooth and WiFi chips used by everyone from Nokia to Samsung, has bought up GPS-chipset manufacturer Sirf at a knockdown price Sirf has had a bad year, losing $398m during 2008, enabling CSR to snap up the company for a valuation of only £91m despite it having more than £80m in …

Wireless 11 Feb 10:34
Nokia E63 Qwerty keyboard smartphone

Review E71 pared back for price

Last year, Nokia introduced the E71, a do-it-all smartphone clearly modelled on recent examples of the Qwerty-keyboard toting BlackBerry. Unlike many other would-be BlackBerrys, it proved to be a worthy rival, with a solidly functional keyboard, fault-free push email, 3.2Mp camera, A-GPS, HSDPA 3G and Wi-Fi, all in a slimline …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 11:02
Data Retention Directive has sound legal basis, rules ECJ

It's economics, not policing judges say

The European Union's Data Retention Directive has a sound legal basis because it connects to policing but does not actually cover policing functions, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said. Ireland and Slovakia had objected to the Directive, which orders countries to pass laws requiring telecoms companies to retain phone …

Law 11 Feb 11:06
ICO tears school CCTV a new peephole

Shoe-secretion snooping not actually crucial to safety

The debate on the use of CCTV in schools moved on this week, as the Information Commissioner ever so politely read the riot act over the use of CCTV systems in schools and colleges. The dressing-down followed a report by the Daily Mail of a distressing incident in which a school’s threat to "rewind the tapes" was used to …

Law 11 Feb 11:08
Squatting spammers take over Facebook protest site

Make bucks, not war

Spammers have seized control of a 1.5m user Facebook group. A group campaigning against Facebook's redesign last year, entitled "5,000,000 against the new version of Facebook", has been taken over by get rich quick spammers, who have plastered the group's page with ads. The stated aims of the group have shifted as a result of …

Spam 11 Feb 11:41
Virgin Media trials longer bandwidth throttling

And cutting weekend data allowances

Virgin Media's heaviest cable broadband users will be hit with tighter bandwidth throttling at peak times, as the firm tries to cope with increasing demand across its network. A trial has begun in the Preston area that sees the period when downstream and upstream speeds are cut extended by several hours. Once customers breach …

Telecoms 11 Feb 12:00
EMC gives nothing away

Comment We like not talking, and not not talking

What's the term for a collection of hints that don't exist? Right, it's an absence of hints, and that's what we see on the EMC World 2009 agenda. In May in Orlando, Florida, EMC will host the faithful in its world and dazzle them with clarion calls about its new products and getting great benefits from its existing ones. …

Channel Register 11 Feb 12:02
Adobe relaunches AIR developer's trading website

Roll up, roll up

Adobe Systems hoped for second time lucky yesterday with the relaunch of its directory of AIR applications that it has dubbed “Marketplace”. Users can finally search for around 400 Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) apps - the firm’s rich web product - by both name and developer. "The goal of the release is to provide a more user …

Channel Register 11 Feb 12:14
Armed cops contain Wild ~~West~~ Leicestershire toy gun menace

Fancy dress bash 'goes with a bang'

A Leicestershire couple who decided it would be a wheeze to celebrate renewing their wedding vows with a Wild West-themed party got a bit of a shock when armed police backed by a helicopter descended on the bash. According to the Telegraph, Roy and Val Worthington were "targeted" by law enforcement operatives as they left the …

Bootnotes 11 Feb 12:20
Beeb borrows copyrighted Flickr image

TV news surprise for Brum snapper

A Brum snapper is a little annoyed with the BBC after it apparently borrowed a copyrighted snap from Flickr showing Birmingham's crepuscular skyline and used it as a "live" news backdrop. Here's Mike Bailey's original picture... ...and here's how it later made its TV debut: Well, Mike wrote to the Corporation demanding an …

Bootnotes 11 Feb 12:30
Jobs market bleak for grads as banking weakens

Serious dose of fries-with-that-itis

Graduates being spat out by the UK's sprawling Higher Education sector this year will face the first fall in the number of grad job vacancies since 2003. There has been a 5.4 per cent fall in jobs for graduates since last year. Graduates who do find jobs will find starting salaries have not increased from last year's average …

Financial News 11 Feb 12:34
Top MI6 spy: Terrorism less serious than bird flu

Counter Terror Expo Secret global databases 'unlikely', threaten freedoms

A former Assistant Chief of the UK's shadowy Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6) has played down the threat of jihadi terrorism, saying that other dangers are more serious. The ex-spy also said that global counterterrorism database plans were "unlikely ever to succeed". Nigel Inkster, who was an SIS officer from 1975 to …

Government 11 Feb 12:39
Score 18%, pass a science exam

It must be 'too hard' then, says examiner

The Royal Chemistry Society says it's disappointed with the response of British examiners, after discovering that pupils needed to score only 18 per cent in a science exam to gain a pass grade. Despite an abundance of educational quangos, inspectors and regulators - including OFQUAL - the problem has only emerged after six …

Science 11 Feb 12:43
Mobile heavyweights mass to get Carter over 2Meg for all

Spectrum smackdown imminent

Heads of three of the five UK network operators are meeting with Lord Carter, the communications minister, tomorrow morning, along with representatives of the other two, to talk about his demand for 2Mb/sec for all and how to achieve it. Lord Carter's proposal sees mobile operators trading spectrum to increase coverage, and …

Mobile 11 Feb 12:48
Vatican endorses Darwin, slights intelligent design

Creationism is a cultural phenomenon - like Paris Hilton

The Vatican gave the Creationist lobby a left right sign of the cross today, announcing it would stage a conference on Darwinism next month and declaring that it was one of the Fathers of the Church that thought up the idea in the first place. At one point the conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University wasn't going to …

Biology 11 Feb 13:02
Take-apart phone launching this year

Modu comes together, finally

The firm behind a mobile phone that can be physically altered to suit different requirements has unveiled the handset’s first “jackets” - and confirmed that the interchangeable talker will be available later this year. Modu's Express (left) and Night jackets Unlike Nokia’s Xpress-On covers, Isreal-based Modu – which first …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 13:02
Analyst predicts cut-price, updated 3G iPhone models

Original iPhone to re-appear, sort of

A market analyst has compiled a list of potential features that he’s claimed could be included on an upcoming cut-price iPhone. Abramsky's predictions for a cut-price iPhone (left) and updated model The list comes from RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Abramsky who - according to a report by Silicon Alley Insider - has …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 13:07
Dell confirms Wasabi portable printer

Inkless printing on the run

Dell has officially unveiled its oddly named Wasabi inkless photo printer. Dell's portable Wasabi printer The printer, which is also known by the slightly more palatable “PZ310” moniker, was first spied in a picture published online last month. But the printer’s technical specifications didn’t emerge alongside the image. …

Reg Hardware 11 Feb 13:10
Red Dwarf touches down in Coronation Street

Preview snap shows cast enjoying Rovers Return

Friday 10 April will, as we previously reported, see the first installment of Red Dwarf: Back to Earth - digital channel Dave's resurrection of the classic sci-fi series which forms part of its Red Dwarf weekend. The new outing is written by the show's co-creator Doug Naylor and features Chris Barrie as Rimmer, Craig Charles …

Entertainment 11 Feb 13:14
SanDisk shows off multi-level cell make-over

X4 and X3 flash dies

SanDisk and Toshiba have announced the world's smallest NAND flash die and the world's highest-capacity flash die using 32nm and 43nm process technologies. At the International Solid State CIrcuits Conference in San Francisco the two announced they will start manufacturing the world's highest-capacity 64Gbit die using 4-bits …

Storage 11 Feb 13:19
Obama orders 'root and branch' cybersecurity review

Reboot

President Obama has ordered a wide-ranging review of the US's cybersecurity defences. The 60-day exercise promises a root and branch review of the state of US cyber security efforts that is likely to result in major revisions of how the US responds to threats from hackers, malware and foreign intelligence agencies. Obama, who …

Enterprise Security 11 Feb 13:27
Microsoft kills off public availability of Windows 7 beta

Torrent sites are where it's at

Microsoft has slammed the door shut on its Windows 7 beta download program, though anyone still keen to get their mitts on it can simply trundle along to Pirate Bay or similar for a copy. The software giant put out a reminder late on Monday that those who wanted to play around with the beta, AKA build 7000, of its upcoming …

Operating Systems 11 Feb 13:34
Jacqui Smith ecstatically ignores more scientific advice

Don't let statistics get in the way of making stuff up

Jacqui Smith is set to again ignore scientific advice on drug misuse by rejecting advice on reclassifying ecstasy. The Home Office will ignore a report from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs which has just finished a detailed examination of the actual harm caused by ecstacy. The group suggested moving ecstacy from …

Government 11 Feb 13:40
IDC confirms PC chip sales have fallen off a cliff

Only Intel's Atom offers any warmth

PC and microprocessor shipments dived into the depths in the last quarter of 2008, IDC reports, with the first quarter of 2009 already looking bleak. IDC's survey of recent worldwide microprocessor shipments holds few surprises, confirming a mostly negative picture. The last quarter of 2008 saw a 17 per cent decline in …

Channel Register 11 Feb 14:02
EU threatens 'formal action' against UK.gov on Phorm

Exclusive Brussels increases pressure over secret trials

The European Commission has given its strongest signal yet that it will hold the UK government to account for its failure to act over BT and Phorm's secret and allegedly illegal internet monitoring trials in 2006 and 2007. Telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has again demanded answers from the UK as to why no enforcement …

Telecoms 11 Feb 14:19
Novarra offers to infest mobile data on laptops too

Interstitial content not limited to phone browsers

Novarra, the company providing the technology that inserts Vodafone's branding into Vodafone Live sessions and which has just relaunched US Cellular's mobile internet service, is expanding its capabilities into laptop browsing. Novarra Vision is a software package that optimises content on its way to a mobile browser, …

Mobile 11 Feb 14:39
Firefox's Fennec trots onto Windows Mobile

Just without actual functionality. But hey!

Fennec, the mobile version of the Firefox browser from Mozilla, has reached a milestone release with a version for the HTC Touch Pro, though initial reports seem to indicate it lacks key functionality. The milestone release is intended for Windows Mobile devices with VGA screens, though the Fennec blog mentions the HTC Touch …

Mobile 11 Feb 15:19
German Interior minister's website pwned in wiretap protest

Schäuble Schadenfreude

Lax password security allowed hackers to bust into the German interior minister’s website. Hacktivists pwned the website of Wolfgang Schäuble on Tuesday in protest against new wiretapping and data retention laws They posted links inviting visitors to a protest website "Vorratsdatenspeicherung". Administrators reacted quickly …

Security 11 Feb 15:49
Vanessa Redgrave braces for The Day of The Triffids

BBC announces cast for forthcoming remake

The BBC has announced the cast for its remake of John Wyndham classic The Day of The Triffids, including mother and daughter thesp pair Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson. Scottish-born actor Dougray Scott - of Desperate Housewives and The Crow Road - will tackle main man Dr Bill Masen, supported by Brian Cox, Eddie Izzard …

Entertainment 11 Feb 15:50
Civilisation is awful: Let's stop it right now

Andrew's mailbag On China, India and CO2

"Let's find out what everybody is doing - and stop them doing it" - A P Herbert Last week, the UN's Nobel Prize-winning climate jobsworth, Raj Pachuri, said he thought anti-industrialisation measures should not be taken against China and India. It's just one man's opinion, but a politically significant one: Pachuri heads the …

Letters 11 Feb 16:27
Last US sat radio gang mulls bankruptcy

Tits nearly pointing skyward

Sirius XM, the remaining satellite radio broadcaster in the USA, is reportedly considering filing for chapter 11 protection from creditors as it becomes unable to service its huge debt. Unable to make debt repayments of $175m, due at the end of the month, the New York Times reports, Sirius XM has taken on advisers to help …

Financial News 11 Feb 17:39
Dell gets the finger from Pivot3

Comment Disruptors get disrupted

A US casino operator video surveilling its customers has ripped 90 Dell servers and replaced them with Pivot3 storage arrays. Dell's mantra is to simplify technology. By getting rid of the Dell servers, three Choctaw casinos in Oklahoma will simplify their IT technology and save around 70Kwatts of power and $300,000 on lowered …

Storage 11 Feb 17:47
NetApp boss flying high on Phenom?

500 employees get pink slips. He gets a new jet

As 500 NetApp staffers get their pink slips, it appears their their boss has a new airplane, an EMB-500 turbo-jet. The jet is made by Embraer-Empresa of Brazil and has a serial number of 50000010. You can see the US FAA record for this jet registered to Dan Warmenhoven here. (Click on the 673DC link). It is a light business …

Odds and Sods 11 Feb 17:55
Hackintosh maker leaves web doors unlocked

'Enough junk to choke a horse'

Add Psystar to the growing list of companies that have have allowed sophomoric mistakes to jeopardize the security of their websites in recent days. It turns out the unauthorized maker of Mac clones has been broadcasting sensitive information about the configuration of the MySQL database running its website to anyone who knows …

Security 11 Feb 19:33
Google axed Android multitouch at Apple's request?

Don't cross the cult

It seems there's a reason that T-Mobile's new G1 touch-screen smartphone doesn't have a multitouch display: Google doesn't want to upset Apple. Google - maker of the Android operating system used by the G1 - is cozily in bed with the Cupertino Fruit Company in a number of areas, from iPhone and iPod mapping capabilities to …

Mobile 11 Feb 19:47
Nvidia to power Dark Knight on Vista netbooks

Home Premium is where the heart is

Want to play Medal of Honor or enjoy The Dark Knight on a Windows-Vista-powered netbook? Your chance could be coming this summer. Microsoft has certified drivers for Windows Vista Home Premium for use with Nvidia's small and sexy ION graphics acceleration platform, which juices netbook performance. The development means games …

Operating Systems 11 Feb 19:50
Dell launches ~~perfume ad~~ teaser site for Macbook Air rival

We want some fraking details!

Dell is definitely taking a page from Apple with the imminent launch of its Adamo ultra-portable laptop. Not only does the PC giant have the anticipated mobile pinned as a Macbook Air killer, Dell has been as tight-lipped on details as the Cupertino-based cult. Dell's been seriously milking the Adamo intrigue business for …

PCs & Chips 11 Feb 19:57
IBM lobs biz software at Amazon cloud

Will it float?

If compute clouds want to succeed as businesses instead of toys, they have to run the same commercial software that IT departments deploy internally on their own servers. Which is why a deal struck between IBM and Amazon's Web Services subsidiary is important, perhaps more so for Amazon than for Big Blue. Today, IBM announced …

Applications 11 Feb 20:11
Authors Guild to Amazon Kindle: Shut up

Robotic reader riles writer

Amazon's new eBook reader, the Kindle 2, was just announced on Monday, but it's already drawing complaints from the publishing industry. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Kindle 2's Text-to-Speech capability is being called a copyright violation. The WSJ quotes Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors …

Music and Media 11 Feb 21:08
Prime Minister out-nonsensed by Conservative Wikifiddler

German econ czar in Walesian circlejerk

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales still hopes to equip his free online encyclopedia with its very own nonsense filter. But at the moment, the Wikinonsense is alive and well. Earlier today, the BBC reports, the UK Conservative party admitted that a member of its staff had changed a Wikipedia entry in an apparent attempt …

Odds and Sods 11 Feb 22:22
Fugitive VOIP hacker cuffed in Mexico

More than 10 million minutes hijacked

A fugitive hacker accused of illegally rerouting millions of dollars worth of VOIP calls through telecommuncations companies' networks has been apprehended in Mexico. Edwin Andres Pena was arrested Friday by Mexican authorities, Assistant US Attorney Erez Liebermann said. He had been on the lam since August 2006, when he …

Security 11 Feb 22:33
Microsoft celebrates 10,000 US patents

Weeeeeee!?

Microsoft announced it's been awarded its 10,000 patent in the US. The big "ten-oh-oh-oh." Quintuple digits. That works out to an average of 294 patents per year since Microsoft was founded. This milestone from IT's number four patent grubber is apparently something for us – who presumably aren't members of Redmond's legal …

Software 11 Feb 22:56
Palm unfazed by Apple patent threat

'Bring it on'

Palm CEO Ed Colligan isn't worried about a possible legal battle with Apple over the upcoming Palm Pre smartphone. After telling investors that there will be no more PalmOS devices after the Centro retires - and that the Pre won't be limited to software downloaded from Palm's Software Store - Colligan turned to the subject of …

Mobile 11 Feb 23:13
Red Hat to help liberate Oracle 'hostages'

Tired of playing hardball?

Red Hat is piling the open-source pressure on Linux predator Oracle with a project targeting the giant's massive application server business. The Linux outfit has announced JBoss Migration Assistance (MASS) in conjunction with JBoss solution partners, a community open-source project to build tools and resources to help …

Applications 11 Feb 23:42