19th March 2009 Archive

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Pro tip: Don't include SEC lawyer in your $4.6m botnet scam

Texas men settle lawsuit over spam scam

When running a botnet to spam millions with emails touting your illegal stock-scalping scheme, it's rarely a good idea to include a US Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer's work address on the mailing list. Alas, these kinds of oversights sometimes need to be learned the hard way, as allegedly is the case of two Texas …

Spam 19 Mar 00:01
Microsoft preps massive cloud expansion

Mix 09 Hal goes big

Microsoft will soon start a significant expansion of the hosting capabilities available in its nascent cloud, Azure Services Platform. The company told Mix 09 it will start running Azure in multiple North American data centers in the "next few months," so early adopters can chose different locations for their cloud …

Developer 19 Mar 02:48
Phone designers to improve reality

Multicore Expo New meaning for "deep pockets"

Future phones will recognize buildings and people by sight and replace reality with something better. They'll also have roll-out HD displays. Or projectors. Or they'll dock with your PC's display. At least, that's the vision of some visual-computing visionaries at this week's Multicore Expo, inspired by the graphic and …

Mobile 19 Mar 02:53
Has Microsoft matched Flash with Silverlight 3?

Mix 09 Redmond certainly hopes so

Traditionally, version 3.0 is the moment when everything comes together for Microsoft. Has the company pulled this off with Silverlight 3.0, the beta of which was announced today here at Mix 09 in Las Vegas? The list of new features is impressive, although behind almost every announcement, you can sense Microsoft looking …

Developer 19 Mar 03:07
Sun and IBM - What price Bigger Indigo?

Comment The server world goes mad

Innovation loves a crisis, Sun boss Jonathan Schwartz likes to say. But perhaps not so much as your competitors love your particular crisis. Witness the way IBM has quietly but gleefully watched Sun's power and fortunes wane in the aftermath of the dot.com bust. Every one of those wisecracks by Scott McNealy and Ed Zander a …

Servers 19 Mar 03:21
Wii-style games keep kids trim, finds study

Wii Sports burns more calories than GTA IV? Well i never!

An apple a day keeps the doctor at bay, so the old wives' tale goes. But so might certain videogames, now that researchers have finally quantified the benefits of playing active games like Wii Sports. In a study of 15 young ’uns by Nottingham Trent University, the Department of Health and Nottingham University Hospital, …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 06:02
A grim day for browser security at hacker contest

CanSecWest Safari, IE and Firefox all down for the count

Internet browser security took a beating during Day 1 of an annual hacking competition, with Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox all being felled in a matter of hours. The uncontested champion of the contest was a University of Oldenburg, master's candidate, who managed to fell Safari, IE 8 and …

Malware 19 Mar 06:11
Ofcom insists on emergency roaming

And will teach your gran to love broadband

Broadband and 999 calls are what the public needs most, according to Ofcom's consultation on Access and Inclusion. The latest consultation is about getting telecommunications to everyone in the UK, and sets out priorities for Ofcom. The regulator has a mandate to ensure everyone gets to be part of the information age, which …

Mobile 19 Mar 07:02
Secret Aussie blacklist leaked

Dental Nurse Daisy Chain Vol 1-90

The inevitable has happened - the secret Australian blacklist of banned websites has been published on the internet. The list contains some 2,395 sites about half of which do not contain child sexual abuse images. It includes online poker sites, fetish, satanic and Christian sites, Wikipedia pages, gay and straight pornography …

Government 19 Mar 08:52
Philips GoGear Spark MP3 player

Review The ideal iPod Shuffle antidote

We've not looked at any of Philips' GoGear media players before, so the arrival of the new Spark seemed like a good opportunity a poke one with Reg Hardware's metaphorical sharp stick. Philips' GoGear Spark: nice and smooth The basic design of the Spark is a little reminiscent of iRiver's Lplayer, with the navigation …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 09:02
Microsoft promises 'lessons learned' on IE 8 download day

Analysis Still fighting the last browser war?

It took nearly two years for the functionally inferior Internet Explorer 6 to finally be surpassed by the better IE 7 in terms of regular daily use. Microsoft blamed that delay on its own failure to explain the benefits of faster speed, improved usability and better security against phishing in IE 7 - not people's lack of …

Developer 19 Mar 09:08
Brussels: Old-school lightbulbs to be gone by 2012

Every ~~little~~ microscopic amount helps

The European Commission has adopted new regulations which will see ordinary incandescent lightbulbs phased out across Europe. Users will be able to choose in future from fluorescent lamps, including energy-saving "bulbs", and more-efficient halogen incandescents. "These groundbreaking measures respond to the request of the …

Environment 19 Mar 09:56
Google Street View hits UK streets

Gawpfest is go

Late yesterday, Google launched novelty snoop service Street View in the UK, offering views of, er, streets. At launch, 17 English cities, four Scottish cities, two Welsh cities, and one in Northern Ireland are available for exploration. Up to a point anyway; typically only major thoroughfares in city centres are covered, …

Bootnotes 19 Mar 10:34
Government funds IT security research

Bids invited for £6m pot

The government's Technology Strategy Board has invited bids for a £6m fund for research into improving information security. Organisations and individuals are invited to take part in what the board describes as the UK's only publicly funded investigation into a "critical challenge for modern society". The aim is to combine …

Enterprise Security 19 Mar 10:51
How police busted UK's biggest cybercrime case

Exclusive Sumitomo unpicked

The story of the investigation into the failed multi-million pound cyberheist at Sumitomo Bank can finally be told, following the recent conviction and sentencing of its perpetrators. The audacious Mission Impossible-style scam, which brought a pair of hackers and a bent insider together with other fraudsters, sought to spirit …

Crime 19 Mar 11:02
Intel desktop price cuts coming

More Core i7s too

Intel will be cutting the prices of some of its four-core desktop processors next month. It'll be adding some new ones to its line-up too, ahead of further introductions in May. So say Taiwanese PC manufacturers, local newssites report. The cuts will see members of Intel's Core 2 Quad range - specifically, the Q8200S, Q9300, …

PCs & Chips 19 Mar 11:18
Second Light not Surface 2, claims Microsoft

But we are working on a bigger version, hints exec

Microsoft has confirmed that Second Light isn’t a second Surface, despite reports claims to contrary. It also hinted that larger and more advanced models of the original interactive coffee table may be developed. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Numerous online reports, mostly taking their lead …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 11:26
Samsung stalking SanDisk again?

Toshiba in the frame too

SanDisk shares have shot up 43 per cent to $10.93 in a week with rumours that Samsung is trying to take it over again. SanDisk stock closed at $7.65 on March 9 and then started rising steeply. Bloomberg said this was due to speculation that Samsung and Toshiba could make a bid. Toshiba has a joint venture with SanDisk that …

Channel Register 19 Mar 11:27
Microsoft readies IE8 for lift off

But will download servers cope?

Web surfers across the world will be able to download Internet Explorer 8 later today. Microsoft’s browser should land at noon Eastern Day Time (16:00hrs GMT), assuming the software giant isn’t hit by any 11th hour problems with its download servers. The firm will officially take the wrapper off IE8 later today at its web …

Applications 19 Mar 11:32
Samsung punts popcorn flicks for pounds

You're gonna need a bigger purse

Samsung, in common with the rest of the mobile industry, wants to get into service provision, and today that means downloadable movies for phone and PC - as long as your phone is a Tocco Ultra and your PC runs Windows. The new service comes as part of Samsung's portal, and the company is boasting deals with Warner Bros, …

Mobile 19 Mar 11:37
Oracle grows despite recession

Ellison still complains diamond shoes are too tight

Oracle grew its revenues in its third 2009 quarter by two percent to $5.5bn - a decent performance, but still not good enough for CEO Larry Ellison. "But for the strengthening of the US dollar leading to unfavorable currency exchange rates," he grumbled, "our non-GAAP earnings per share would have increased 29 per cent [ …

Channel Register 19 Mar 11:51
IT vendors: Who’s hot and who’s not?

Your chance to name – or shame

Roll up, roll up to the third instalment of The Register’s Good, Bad and Ugly IT Vendor study, where you get the chance to express your views about the purveyors of IT goods and services that you use in your business. Whether you want to praise good performance or castigate failure, now’s the chance to sit down with a cuppa and …

Tech Panel 19 Mar 12:02
Virgin Media to battle modem hackers

Fraudsters grab free high speed broadband

More than a thousand hackers are using reconfigured cable modems to fraudulently access free high speed Virgin Media broadband, sources have revealed. The hack has been made possible by the recent launch of Virgin Media's 50Mbit/s "XXL" package. It relies on new equipment running the upgraded DOCSIS 3.0 data transmission …

Telecoms 19 Mar 12:02
Dell's Studio One 19 gets UK date, price

Coming next month

Seven days after it officially unveiled the Studio One 19 all-in-one PC to the world, Dell has announced when the machine will arrive in Blighty. Dell's Studio One 19 PC: coming to the UK next month Available from the 27 April, the desktop machine will cost upwards of £579 ($831/€615). Its chassis is a combination of …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 12:11
Blighty orders first 3 supersonic stealth jumpjets

Fleet Air Arm still has tough battle ahead

The UK has ordered its first three Joint Strike Fighter (aka F-35 or "Lightning II") supersonic stealth jumpjets. The initial trio of UK planes will be prototypes built as part of the F-35's development phase, giving Blighty access and input to the jet's final design. The F-35B operating as a normal runway plane. "The Joint …

Government 19 Mar 12:25
UK fraud strategy 'more worthy of Uzbekistan'

Cambridge don lets rip

A UK government strategy for tackling internet fraud has been criticised by a senior banking security researcher. The UK's first National Fraud Strategy, launched on Thursday, aims to crack down on fraud that costs Britain £14bn a year, by "strengthening the counter-fraud community’s response to their activities and providing …

Crime 19 Mar 12:30
Samsung bashes out ruggedised ringer

Well 'ard

As adventurous types begin packing their bags for sunny rock climbing holidays and such, Samsung has unveiled a rugged mobile phone that it hopes you’ll see fit to pack into your Berghaus rucksack. Samsung's Xplorer B2100: one tough phone? The Xplorer B2100 has, according to Samsung, three core attributes: its “robust …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 12:37
Sony seeks underwriter for Ericsson 'split'

It's not me, it's you

Sony is reportedly in talks to buy out Ericsson from the cooperative deal that led to the creation of Sony Ericsson in 2001, assuming the Japanese giant can get the cash together. The report comes from Manager-Magazin.de (in German) and claims that Sony is talking to bankers about borrowing enough money to buy out Ericsson and …

Mobile 19 Mar 13:02
Manufacturers notch up weakest output since 1980

Too much supply, not enough demand says CBI

UK manufacturers expect to slash factory output in the coming months as orders for March fell at their sharpest rate in 17 years. Business group the Confederation of British Industry issued a dire forecast today in which it said that output levels were likely to mark the weakest demand for UK manufactured goods since the last …

Small Biz 19 Mar 13:16
Air France trials biometric boarding cards

Fingerprints and smart cards

Air France has started trialling RFID-equipped smartcards which store passenger fingerprints to allow automated boarding. The card contains an encrypted version of forefinger and thumb prints. It can be used at a dedicated gate, which checks the card, compares it to the passenger's finger or thumb print and, assuming the dabs …

ID 19 Mar 13:21
Astroboffins probe mysterious 'blazar'

Like looking into a bizarro cosmic blowtorch, seemingly

An international team of astronomy brainboxes say they have gained valuable initial insights into the behaviour of faraway, molto weirdo space objects known as "blazars". What a blazar would look like if it wasn't a blazar*. A blazar, according to the boffins, is like a quasar but, erm, blazier. The theory goes that you …

Space 19 Mar 13:24
Sky calls for access to cable network

Virgin Media monopoly 'increasingly anomalous'

Sky has called on the government and regulators to open up Virgin Media's infrastructure to competitors, claiming it will speed roll-out of high speed broadband services. In its response to Lord Carter's interim Digital Britain Report, Sky said it was "increasingly anomalous" that the cable network is closed to competition …

Telecoms 19 Mar 13:42
Fennec leaps into beta

Is that a fox in your pocket?

Fennec, the mobile version of Firefox, has gone to beta. Though currently only available for the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, it appears to be functional and stable. Firefox introduced many innovations into desktop browsing, most of which have since been emulated by the competition. On mobile phones the competition is already …

Mobile 19 Mar 13:47
Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-ray Disc player

Review Top-end performance at an affordable price

It's not been easy for Pioneer of late, what with the painful withdrawal from the high-end plasma TV market that it had dominated with the Kuro, the best plasma family on the planet. However, life goes on and this spritely little Blu-ray Disc player should go some way to putting the spring back into Pioneer’s step. Pioneer's …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 13:56
British International Motor Show cancelled

Econodoom does for trade show

The British International Motor Show has cancelled next year's show as the recession starts to bite. Last year's show - it is on every other year - welcomed just under half a million visitors to ExCel in London's Docklands. But the recession has stuffed it up for next year's showcase. A statement on the website says: "The …

Bootnotes 19 Mar 14:02
IBM joins rivals in cutting contractor rates

300 face Spartan rates

IBM UK is cutting some contractor rates. IBM UK uses Hays, a specialist recruitment group, as a source for contract staff. According to Claire Fowler at Hays, "This week technical subcontractors engaged on IBM business have been notified of changes to their daily rates." She added that Hays always tries to ensure rates are …

IT Director 19 Mar 14:04
Street View captures traditional British Christmas

Updated Shoreditch, antlers and vomit

And so it begins. Just hours after it launched here, we're much obliged to patriotic reader Russ for the first image from Google's Street View to capture the true spirit of Blighty. Our tableau vivant is set in Shoreditch's Curtain Road, which lies at the heart of London's Nathan Barley country. The star of the show is …

Bootnotes 19 Mar 14:06
IT contractor charged over US oil rig hack

Roughneck cracker charges

An IT contractor has been charged with sabotaging offshore oil rig computer systems. Mario Azar, 28, of Upland, California, allegedly damaged a drilling firm's computers out of spite after it declined to offer him permanent employment. Azar faces an indictment for unauthorised impairment of a protected computer, an offence …

Crime 19 Mar 14:50
Sony tunes in to stereo TV stands

Looks great, sounds great

Sony has expanded its range of stereo-cum-telly stands with the launch of a set for big screen TVs. Sony's G950 stereo TV stand: pumps out 470W The RHT-G550 was unveiled back in August, designed for 32-40in TVs. The latest model – the RHT-G950 – can accommodate screens of between 40in and 46in. The G950 incorporates a 5.1- …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 15:14
Elgato H.264 encoder gains 1080p processing

Turbo.264 HD launched

Mac TV tuner specialist Elgato has updated its Turbo.264 video conversion dongle by bunging 'HD' on the end of the name and equipping it with the ability to handle 1080p content. Elgato's Turbo.264 HD: 1080p? No problem The Turbo.264 is all about converting video content into the H.264 format favoured not only by Apple's …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 15:14
Advertising watchdog okays 'gaming equals early grave' ad

Discouraging sedentary lifestyle, not gaming

The Advertising Standards Authority has stood behind an advert that some consumers complained connected videogames with an early death. Advert A-OK, rules ASA The UK's advertising watchdog ruled that “the ad did not claim that playing computer or console games alone would lead to illness or premature death”. It's believed …

Reg Hardware 19 Mar 15:27
Symantec opens Norton door to cloud

Norton extended to become backup brand

Symantec is offering consumers a backup to the cloud service through its Norton brand, with 25GB of space costing a smidgen under $50/year. Norton Online Backup can protect up to five household computers and operates via a software agent in the Windows XP/Vista PC or notebook. You can select specific files/folders to backup, …

Storage 19 Mar 15:35
Cisco snaps up pocket video maker

Flippin' eck

Cisco is to buy Pure Digital Technologies, manufacturers of the Flip range of handheld digital video cameras. The networking giant is continuing its move into consumer technology after its acquisition of Pure Networks, producers of software for networking home appliances like TVs and PVRs, not just computers and printers. …

Financial News 19 Mar 15:39
Intel chip flaw gets double exposure

Security researchers converge on cache vuln.

Security researchers are due to publish research on how an Intel chip flaw might be used for potentially malign purposes on Thursday. Both Joanna Rutkowska, of Blue Pill renown, and Loic Duflot have separately announced plans to release a research paper and proof of concept exploit code on how an Intel CPU caching …

Malware 19 Mar 17:08
Penguin floats hybrid Linux supers

The CPU-GPU one-two punch

Linux supercomputer maker Penguin Computing is ramping up its use of nVidia Tesla graphics processing units as co-processors for its x64-based Linux clusters. Back at the SC08 supercomputing show in November, Penguin was showing off what it called a "personal supercomputer," the "Bumble Bee" Niveus HTX workstation, which uses …

Servers 19 Mar 17:09
Obama CIO's 'youthful indiscretion': shirt thieving

Fled security guard with four button-downs

Why was America's inaugural CIO cuffed for petty thievery as 21-year-old? He swiped four dress shirts from J.C. Penney - and made a run for it. In 1996, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press, a J.C. Penney security guard watched as future US chief information officer Vivek Kundra put four dress shirts …

Odds and Sods 19 Mar 17:11
Ballmer hails Windows Mobile for Welfare™

Fancy iPhone screen not recession-friendly

Steve Ballmer on Thursday said Microsoft's smartphone strategy for the recession is to be a soup kitchen for the mobile market. That apparently means not adding premium features in Windows Mobile like support for a capacitive touch screen – something he claims would make phones too expensive for phone manufacturers to make. " …

Mobile 19 Mar 19:00
Google kicks Amazon in the Kindle

Sony pact opens ebook war

Escalating the ebook wars, Google has backed Sony's Reader Digital Book with more than half a million public-domain titles coded in the open ePub format. The move, announced today, gives Sony's eBook store more than 600,000 titles in total, dwarfing the roughly 245,000 closed-format titles currently available for the much- …

Music and Media 19 Mar 20:41
Sun banks future on multicore virtualization

Multicore Expo Your data center needs a window

Sever virtualization is at the top of most IT admins' to-do lists, but it's still has a long way to go in the development of management software, I/O technology, and storage technology before its full value can be realized. Or so said Denis Sheahan, a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, in a presentation at this week's …

Virtualization 19 Mar 20:45
Online game given real-life bank permit

Offworld banking through Entropia Universe

Publishers of the online game Entropia Universe have been granted a real-life banking license by Swedish officials. They plan to open a government-insured virtual bank for the game within a year. The sci-fi universe of Entropia already lets players exchange real money for virtual funds used to but items, business, and trade on …

Music and Media 19 Mar 23:06
Richardson death used to bait scareware traps

Off-piste

Criminal hackers are exploiting interest in news of the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson on Wednesday to bait scareware traps. Cybercrooks are busy creating malicious webpages and filling them with keywords related to the actress's untimely death following a skiing accident earlier this week, according to net …

Security 19 Mar 23:11
HP streams 'confidential' town hall meeting to world+dog

All in the family

When HP senior vice president and general manager Joe Eazor opened today's EDS "Global Town Hall" meeting, he gave employees a stern warning about the evils of sharing top-secret HP info with anyone outside the company. HP employees have been known to share internal memos with the likes of, well, The Register. Just this week, …

Odds and Sods 19 Mar 23:17
Boffins sniff keystrokes with lasers, oscilloscopes

CanSecWest I know what you typed last summer

Researchers have devised two novel ways to eavesdrop on people as they enter passwords, emails, and other sensitive information into computers, even when they're not connected to the internet or other networks. Exploiting vibrational patterns and electromagnetic pulses that emanate with every character entered, the Italian …

Security 19 Mar 23:30
Sun's Niagara gets Linux (again)

A Wind River runs through it

Server maker Sun Microsystems has a new Linux partner for its "Niagara" family of multicore processors and their related servers: Wind River Systems. Sun has plenty of sway with telecom companies and the network equipment providers that make the switching gear they use. But since the dot.com bust, Carrier-Grade Linux has been …

Servers 19 Mar 23:43
iPhone 3.0 beta reveals mixed blessing

Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away

On Tuesday evening, Apple released a beta of the iPhone 3.0 software it had announced that very morn. Details are now hitting the web - big-time. Some of the new features will please iPhoneys, while others spell death for popular applications now available on the iTunes App Store. Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away. Apple …

Mobile 19 Mar 23:57