11th March 2009 Archive

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Online attackers feed off Norton forum purge

Silence isn't golden

Quick-moving attackers took advantage of a glitch in an update for Symantec anti-virus software, using an information vacuum that followed as an opportunity to lure panic-stricken users to websites that tried to install malware on their computers. The glitch began around 4:30 pm California time on Monday, when Symantec …

Security 11 Mar 00:22
Sun beefs servers with SSDs

Pushes open flash module

Server maker Sun Microsystems took a shining to flash-based solid state disks (SSDs) in late 2007, and today, it will finally announce SSD modules that plug into its entry and midrange server lineup. The company has already put SSDs in its "Amber Road" storage arrays, launched last November as the not-so-tersely named Sun …

Servers 11 Mar 05:40
BT job cuts start to bite ahead of March deadline

And contractor rates cut

BT contractors are continuing to leave the firm ahead of the end of March deadline. The telco said in November that it would cut jobs by the end of March and that most of them would be contractors. Mark Williamson's weekly internal BT newsletter addressed concerns about contractors leaving the company. The email, seen by The …

Telecoms 11 Mar 07:02
Atrato looks for cash to fill out sealed canister storage pitch

The other sealed drive supplier

Xiotech may have talen the public perception lead in shipping drive arrays based on self-healing and sealed canisters of disk drives, but Atrato is shipping the same Seagate-derived technology into the video surveillance market. It launched its product, the Velocity 1000, last year, but its public profile is near stealth-mode …

Storage 11 Mar 08:02
Game creator slams Wii MotionPlus

Didn’t really add anything, claims developer

A videogame developer will not support the Wii's upcoming MotionPlus peripheral because the add-on “didn’t really add anything” to gameplay, it claimed. Nintendo's plug-on MotionPlus cube: improves sensitivity? It was thought that MotionPlus - a small unit that plugs onto the end of the Remote and which it’s claimed will …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 08:50
Sennheiser MM50 for iPhone stereo headset

Reviews Time to chuck out your Apple set?

Sennheiser launched the MM50 last year, but it's just re-issued the set, this time in white as well as black, and with a nod toward Apple's iPod Touch and new MacBook laptops as well as the iPhone, which the 'phones were originally designed for. Sennheiser's MM50: tub-thumpers' delight? The MM50s are an in-ear set, sliding …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 09:02
Online gambling safe from EU regulation

Job for member states

The European Parliament has rejected calls for community-wide regulation of online gambling saying it is a job for individual countries. The Parliament accepted that online gambling: "is easier to access than traditional gambling, increases the risk of fraud, crime, gambling addiction, dangers to children and threats to the …

Government 11 Mar 09:40
Latest subject for peer review? You

Wisdom of crowds gets personal

Tired of twiddling with wiki biographes and writing unpaid reviews for Amazon? Perhaps you'd like to rate your co-worker, or boss, now that the wisdom of crowds has been applied to the great American public. In what must surely be the last gasp of Web 2.0 insanity we report the launch of PersonRatings, a site where visitors …

Music and Media 11 Mar 10:05
UK trade mark and patent fees to drop

Really? We'll take six!

The cost of registering trade marks in the UK will fall under plans proposed by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The move is a response to reduced EU trade mark prices and to falling demand for marks. The IPO has proposed reducing fees and introducing more flexibility into the payment terms and giving more assistance to …

Small Biz 11 Mar 10:30
Screeching rails close London Tube station

'Health and safety gone mad', thunders commuter

The Central Line platforms at Bank Tube station were yesterday closed for 90 minutes during the rush hour following "complaints that decibel levels from screeching rails were too high", the Evening Standard reports. City lawyer John Cooper told the paper: "We were all thrown out of the station. A member of staff told me it was …

Bootnotes 11 Mar 10:32
Pair of Nokias comes with more music

Third phone is Nokia's first with an internal FM antenna

Nokia wants to keep the beats flowing, so it’s added two more phones to its XpressMusic portfolio, along with a more basic model aimed at radio listeners. Nokia's 5730 is the first XpressMusic phone with a slide-out Qwerty keypad The 5730 and 5330 are both compatible with Nokia’s Comes With Music service – its iTunes-like …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 11:01
Apple allows Twitterers to f**k the iPhone

App offers unexpurgated obscenity

Apple has decided that Twitterers will henceforth be able to access profanity via the iPhones and iPod touch, Cnet reports. The company intially declined to offer application Tweetie 1.3 in its App Store because it allows access to "Twitter Trends", which excitingly "displays the most frequent topics or words on Twitter at any …

Mobile 11 Mar 11:03
Critical kernel fix stars in Patch Tuesday updates

Excel 0-day threat remains unpatched

Microsoft released the promised three patches on Tuesday, including one critical, as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle. The critical patch in the batch (MS09-006) covers input validation vulnerabilities in the Windows kernel. The flaws create a possible mechanism for hackers to inject hostile code onto vulnerable …

Enterprise Security 11 Mar 11:10
French yoof offered Halo-esque electric buggy

'Leccy Tech Can be disabled with a text message

Strange things can often be found off the beaten track at car exhibitions, and the dustier corners of the Pavillon Vert at this year's Geneva Motor Show proved no exception. Courb's C-Zen: pour les enfants terrible The C-Zen - 'C'est Zéro Emission Nocive', or 'No Harmful Emissions' – from French company Courb is a powered …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 11:36
Supercontinuum tickle-spot offers analogue-to-digital leap

Boiling optical mega-waves mastered in analogy flurry

Californian boffins say they have mastered the well-known phenomenon of freak waves - mathematically similar to the ship-swallowing monsters of the great southern ocean - occurring in supercontinuum light generators, by finding a magic optical "tickle-spot". Daniel Solli, Claus Ropers, and Bahram Jalali of UCLA believe that …

Data Networking 11 Mar 11:41
Sony to unveil PSP... car?

The Citroën C-Crosser to come bundled with console

A picture has popped up online which suggests Sony may have teamed up with Gallic car maker Citroën to make a PlayStation Portable-branded car. Citroën's C-Crosser Exclusive PSP: yet to be confirmed The leaked picture’s source isn’t known, but it clearly shows a PSP logo stuck onto the back of the car manufacturer’s C- …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 11:45
ID and Passport Service brings in ad men

What about... an orang-utan... playing guitar?

The Identity and Passport Service has signed up an advertising agency to develop campaigns for its services. Abbot Mead Vickers BBDO won the contract following a three-way pitch organised by the Central Office of Information against CHI & Partners and VCCP. It will work in all media across the agency's entire area of work, …

Government 11 Mar 12:00
UK's net radicalization plans are 'crude, costly, counter-productive'

Get with the positive, says report - but will that wash?

Negative government measures to counter online radicalisation are crude, costly and counter-productive, says a report released yesterday - if it's serious about the issue, it needs to harness the positive. Present measures designed to deny access to radical content on the web or restrict its availability are crude, costly and …

Government 11 Mar 12:02
AMD has sold Nintendo 50m Wii GPUs

Lotta consoles, lotta chips

AMD today say it has now sent Nintendo a total of 50m 'Hollywood' graphics chips destined to drive the videogames pioneer's Wii console. The number's no great surprise. Up to the end of December 2008, Nintendo had shipped almost 45m Wiis globally, each of them containing a Hollywood chip. That's not to say Nintendo has …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 12:06
Health department data practices are sick, frowns ICO

Doctors not impressed either

The Department of Health has been told by the Information Commissioner's Office and the British Medical Association to improve the way it looks after patients' records. The ICO issued a formal practice recommendation to the Department on Monday. It is the second time the ICO has imposed formal recommendations on the DoH - last …

Government 11 Mar 12:12
Google tosses free texting

iPhone app vendors betrayed

Google is pulling access to the XMPP API that allows third-party applications to send SMS messages with the Mountain View chocolate factory footing the bill, much to the annoyance of app developers. Most notable amongst the companies taking advantage of Google's largess is Innerfence, whose "Infinite SMS" iPhone application …

Mobile 11 Mar 12:27
UK extends VAT crackdown as EU OKs cut-rate cobblers

Bike menders, hairdressers to spearhead recovery

The EU has given the green light to the UK to extend its reverse charge VAT scheme aimed at cracking down on carousel fraud. The two year extension to the UK's efforts to claw back VAT on alleged dodgy mobile phone and computer chip deals came at a meeting of European finance ministers that also OK'd a raft of VAT changes to …

Channel Register 11 Mar 12:31
Russian pops сабоs in pancake-eating contest

Winning face-fill proves fatal

A Russian man participating in a pancake-eating contest found out the hard way that it's probably not a good idea to stuff your face with 43 banana and cream-packed delicacies - dropping dead as he claimed the prize for his gut-busting gluttony. Boris Isayev, 48, triumphed in the pancake challenge in the town of Chernyakhovsk …

Bootnotes 11 Mar 12:37
Acer K10 DLP pico projector

Review Smaller than its own power brick

Acer’s website describes the K10 as a "travel projector", but we reckon the tiny size and weight of this LED unit qualify it as a Pico Projector. Acer's K10: lighter than its own power supply The photos don’t do the K10 justice. Its dimensions are a diminutive 127 x 122 x 52mm tall, including the rubber feet. The weight of …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 13:02
Channel 4 fails to open archives to Mac, Linux fans

4oD stays locked behind Windows

Broadcaster Channel 4 has admitted the archive section of its web-based service will remain unavailable to Mac and Linux users. The terrestrial TV company’s popular 4oD service, which offers viewers thousands of hours of archive TV shows and films to stream, download or rent, remains a Windows XP and Vista-only domain, C4 told …

Music and Media 11 Mar 13:02
PRS v YouTube: No UK vids, but royalty row runs and runs

Not talking but hopeful

The row between YouTube and the Performing Rights Society - which collects royalties for musicians - shows no sign of ending, although talks yesterday were described as positive. PRS said yesterday: "The meeting was positive. We are committed to ensuring our 60,000 songwriter and composers members receive a fair deal and that …

Music and Media 11 Mar 13:08
Swedes say nej to Sofia 'Dark Knight' Englundh

Batting away Ledger fan's name plan

The powers that be have decreed that a 19-year-old Stockholm lass may not change her name to Sofia "Dark Knight" Englundh, The Local reports. Sofia Englundh (evidently surnamed in honour of the famous drunken England footie fan chant), told the paper: "I love the film and the actors, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. Also I don …

Bootnotes 11 Mar 13:08
Apple restyles iPod Shuffle

Controls off the player onto the earphone cable

Apple has quietly revamped the iPod Shuffle - removing all its control in the process and making it half the size of the previous model. Apple's iPod Shuffle 3G: look, ma, no controls Well, sort of. The body of the player still has a power switch that also doubles up as the shuffe/sequential play slider. But the main …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 13:18
Microsoft tempts enterprises with 'temporary' license cuts

Recession-busting 25 per cent off

Microsoft is giving big customers discounts of up to a quarter on licensing of major server and communications software in an apparent reaction to the recession. Customers on its Enterprise Agreement (EA) volume-licensing contracts have been given until July 3 to claim a 25 per cent discount on its licensing and Software …

Channel Register 11 Mar 13:19
Call of Duty kicks Grand Theft Auto at awards night

Game biz hands out gongs

Winning an Oscar’s the pinnacle for actors and their films, but the videogame industry’s finest were recognised in London last night at the British Academy Video Games Awards. One of the night’s biggest losers was Register Hardware favourite Grand Theft Auto IV. It went away empty handed, despite being nominated in several …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 13:32
Chinese crackers create counterfeit iTunes racket

Talkin' 'bout key generation

Chinese crackers have reportedly cracked the iTunes gift card system. The hack has spawned an active trade in counterfeit but functional iTunes vouchers on Chinese auction sites, such as Taobao.com. As the trade has grown over the last six months or so prices have fallen from around $47 for a $200 card to 18RMB ($2.60). Music …

Crime 11 Mar 13:39
Have IT vendors been hit harder than IT departments?

Comment: Less hiring, more firing, but still a net gain

I don't know about you, but I keep wondering where the disconnect is between the US unemployment rate and IT departments. And if there is a disconnect, as there seems to be from looking at the data, I am grateful on both your behalf and my own. The rest of the IT Jungle team is grateful, too. None of us - you, me or them - wants …

IT Director 11 Mar 14:20
Gov: High-tech engineering (car making) will save Blighty

Analysis Squeaky wheel gets the grease

More news from the British government's push to revitalise the economy through high tech today, as the Trade and Investment Minister - a former banker - briefed reporters on a new national marketing effort for UK "advanced engineering". In essence, the government want to let the British people - in particular the …

Government 11 Mar 14:28
BBC mobile gets pimped

Making the most of screen estate

The BBC has launched a new beta of its mobile service, allowing punters to set up the kind of news coverage they are interested in displaying on the limited space available on a mobile phone. The BBC has always had a pretty good mobile version, but the latest beta (accessible at http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/betahome) adds the …

Mobile 11 Mar 14:36
BT rebuts database security breach claims

The very idea

BT has dismissed the significance of supposed vulnerabilities on its systems detailed by infamous hacker Unu on Tuesday. The Romanian hacker posted screenshots illustrating what he claimed highlighted SQL injections in a posting at Hackersploit.org. "A faulty parameter, improperly sanitized opens the vault to the pretious ( …

Enterprise Security 11 Mar 14:59
Phorm CEO clashes with Berners-Lee at Parliament

Ertugrul demands privacy panel opt-in

An exasperated Kent Ertugrul took on Sir Tim Berners-Lee in a tense encounter at a discussion on internet privacy at the Houses of Parliament today. The Phorm CEO was in the audience at a packed event sponsored by the Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Miller and organised by the privacy activist website NoDPI.org. Fellow peers, …

Telecoms 11 Mar 15:30
Windows app store breaks old ground for Microsoft

Pitches 'honesty' not better price at Apple

Microsoft hopes to differentiate its online app store against Apple with the promise of honesty if not better pricing. The company has said it'll charge developers 30 per cent of any revenue made from sales of applications posted to Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Also, Microsoft will charge you an …

Channel Register 11 Mar 16:00
'WALL-E' robot grunt obeys military hand signals

Vid 'Follow' 'Stop' 'Door Breach' '~~Kill All Humans~~'

American robo-profs have developed control software which will allow the droid ground-troops of tomorrow to be controlled by their fleshy comrades using standard military hand signals. You know in the movies, where the soldiers are creeping about on patrol and they raise a hand to halt the column or get it moving again? Now …

Science 11 Mar 16:36
Child offered for sale on Xbox Live

Cops on the case

US police have launched a criminal investigation after a child was advertised for sale on Xbox Live. This Xbox Live mock-up was created after a girl was offered for sale online Image courtesy of Kotaku The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, based in Florida, said that an Xbox Live member recently posted the message “ …

Reg Hardware 11 Mar 17:53
Apple preps ~~netbook~~ 10-inch touch screen thingy

Tablet anyone?

The web is aflame with rumors that a 10in, touchscreen "netbook" will arrive from Apple later this year. But we see things differently. As we reported on Monday, the rumor-fest began with a brief article on the Taiwanese industry-watching website DigiTimes that Apple's iPhone-display supplier, Wintex, will be supplying …

PCs & Chips 11 Mar 18:42
Microsoft's IE regulatory date with fate extended

End of 'traditional' IE suggested

Microsoft's been given additional time to rebut European regulator's findings it broke the law by shipping Internet Explorer with Windows. The European Commission has reportedly given Microsoft until April 21 to file a response, following a request by Microsoft's legal team. Microsoft was in January judged by the Commission …

Applications 11 Mar 18:45
Google plugs your surf history into ad money machine

Wades into ~~interest-based ads~~ behavioral targeting

Google has unleashed a new behavioral ad targeting scheme onto YouTube and partner sites in its AdSense advertising network - though it has carefully avoided the term behavioral ad targeting. Google prefers "interest-based advertising." Whatever you call it, YouTube and AdSense sites are now showing ads to websurfers based on …

Music and Media 11 Mar 18:47
Kremlin-backed youths launched Estonian cyberwar, says Russian official

Mea Culpa without the culpa

Members of a Kremlin-backed youth group spearheaded the cyberattacks that paralyzed Estonia's internet traffic in May of 2007, a Russian government official has admitted. Until recently, Russia has denied any involvement in the DDoS (or distributed denial of service) attacks, which followed a diplomatic row between the two …

Security 11 Mar 19:11
Spansion gets Nasdaq delisting notice

Flash giant spiral continues

Floundering flash mem giant Spansion has received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq stock exchange. The Sunnyvale, California-based company says the notice arrived in part because of its recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. A joint venture of AMD and Fujitsu, Spansion is the world's third-largest flash maker. But its NOR …

Financial News 11 Mar 19:42
Real ID law to receive makeover under Obama

Battered, not dead

A law requiring US citizens to present federally mandated ID cards for "official purposes" such as boarding a plane is likely to be shaken down at the door under the US Department of Homeland Security's new secretary, Janet Napolitano. The ex-governor of Arizona, tapped as chief homeland spook by Obama in January, has been …

Security 11 Mar 20:22
National Semiconductor to lay off 1,725

Two plants down, three to go

National Semiconductor announced Wednesday that it would immediately lay off 850 employees and follow those layoffs with an additional 875 over the next "several quarters" as the company closes two plants: one in Suzhou, China and a second in Arlington, Texas. The layoffs, which will total 26 per cent of the analog and mixed- …

PCs & Chips 11 Mar 20:45
Hitachi cops to Dell LCD pricing conspiracy

'Bilateral meetings'

A Hitachi subsidiary has agreed to a $31m fine for its role in an industry-wide conspiracy to fix the prices of monitors sold to computer and handset manufacturers. Tuesday's guilty plea by Hitachi Displays came the same day the US Justice Department filed a one-count indictment that claimed the Japanese monitor maker actively …

PCs & Chips 11 Mar 20:53
SEC: Magical stock brokering software was a fraud

Two Californians allegedly steal $40m with fairytale app

US trade regulators are accusing two California men of orchestrating a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme by convincing clients they owned a special stock option trading computer program with a near-flawless record for choosing winners. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday said it has charged Anthony Vassallo …

Crime 11 Mar 23:17