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23rd March 2009 Archive

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  • IBM sics lawyers on Bigger Indigo deal

    Sun scrutinized

    IBM has deployed its lawyers to scrutinize a possible acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The Wall Street Journal has become the unofficial conduit through which details about the acquisition talks - however sketchy - are coming to light. On Friday afternoon, the Journal reported that IBM's lawyers were hard at work looking at all …

    Servers 23 Mar 05:02

  • Girls Aloud obscenity trial delayed

    Legal arms race holds things up

    Readers expecting the long-awaited and landmark "Girls Aloud" obscenity trial to start last week in Newcastle will have to wait a little longer. Last year Darryn Walker, a 35-year-old civil servant from South Shields was charged with publishing obscene material in respect of a story he posted up on the alt sex story repository …

    Law 23 Mar 09:02

  • Pan-European network share for Vodafone and O2

    Better coverage or better margins?

    Vodafone and Telefonica, which trades as O2 in the UK, have signed a massive network sharing deal to work together across Europe. The two will share networks in Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK. Talks are still going on to finalise a similar deal in the Czech Republic as well as looking at other areas of possible …

    Mobile 23 Mar 09:19

  • The death of mobile innovation?

    Comment Rampant Qualcommification

    I’ve written before about the demise of competition in the Old Kent Road/Mediterranean Avenue end of the mobile market, but I’ve always thought that the Park Lane/Park Place and Mayfair/Boardwalk end was safe. We’ve got Symbian, Windows Mobile, more flavours of Linux than Ben and Jerry could dream of, Palm with two OSes and more …

    Mobile 23 Mar 10:02

  • Ministers spending billions on unlawful databases

    Rowntree Trust unwraps everyday 'Transformational Government'

    A report on the Database State (pdf) claims that 40 out of 46 key government databases are not fit for purpose, and 11 of those are "almost certainly illegal under human rights or data protection law and should be scrapped or substantially redesigned". The report comes as the government prepares to sneak legislation on data- …

    Government 23 Mar 10:16

  • Carbonite tells Promise: You're toast

    Update RAID supplier sued

    Online backup service supplier Carbonite is suing Promise Technology, a supplier of disk drive array technology, for failing to protect data as it promised it would. Carbonite filed its suit for breach of contract in Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, and says it bought more than $3m of RAID array hardware from Promise via …

    Channel Register 23 Mar 10:33

  • Eclipse to unwrap Swordfish in early April

    Takes stab at open-source SOA software

    The Eclipse Foundation will soon be unwrapping the first release of Swordfish, an open source Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) run-time framework that's taking aim at the market's many proprietary approaches to SOA. Swordfish enterprise service bus (ESB) is built on existing standards like OSGi, JBI, and SOAP with the goal …

    Developer 23 Mar 10:35

  • Compellent promises fast hot data and cooler temps

    Automatically tiering solid state drives

    SAN drive array supplier Compellent is going to offer solid state drive storage (SSD) in its arrays with active and inactive data being transferred to and from the SSDs automatically. Compellent's SAN software tracks block usage and moves data blocks from slower to faster tiers of storage and back again automatically. Up until …

    Storage 23 Mar 10:39

  • The Register’s third annual Good, Bad and Ugly IT vendor survey

    Who's hot and who's not?

    Roll up, roll up to the The Register’s third annual Good, Bad and Ugly IT Vendor survey. In previous years, we have garnered many thousands responses. We'll compare this year's views with past surveys to measure how things are changing. But we need your input. So, if you want to praise good performance or castigate failure, …

    Tech Panel 23 Mar 10:44

  • Zero-G vanishing bone issue solved, says prof

    Just tighten up that ISS treadmill bungee a bit

    American brainboxes funded by NASA say they have found a way to deal with one of the most severe problems of space flight - that is, the way one's bones gradually become as flimsy as dry twigs after long exposure to microgravity. According to researchers at the University of Washington, the problem of bone loss in microgravity …

    Space 23 Mar 11:15

  • Nude Oz politico snaps a 'con'

    Newspaper apologises to Pauline Hanson

    Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph has apologised to right-wing Oz politician Pauline Hanson over the publication of nude photographs it claimed were of the One Nation party founder, admitting the whole thing was "one giant con". The paper obtained the snaps from former army commando* Jack Johnson, who said they were taken during a …

    Bootnotes 23 Mar 11:21

  • BT names first 29 exchanges for fibre rollout

    Is yours on the list?

    BT has released new details of its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) rollout, including a list of the first 29 exchanges to be upgraded to offer faster broadband in early 2010. Engineers will run fibre optic cables between the exchanges and street side cabinets, closer to homes and businesses. Downstream speeds will be improved to …

    Telecoms 23 Mar 11:23

  • Firms fight over LG Arena launch date

    Could be this week, could be next month

    Much has been written about LG’s upcoming Arena smartphone, but panting punters have never been told when they can get their mitts on the handset - until now. LG's Arena: released soon, we think... Unfortunately the phone’s release date comes from two online retailers, Expansys and Mobiles.co.uk, and both disagree over when …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 11:33

  • Data Domain shows second quadcore box

    Shiny new DD660

    Data Domain has introduced another quadcore deduplication array, the DD660, slotting underneath the top-end DD690 and replacing the older DD580 product. The DD690 offers up to 48TB of raw storage and has an inline deduplication throughput of 2.7TB/hour. The DD660 has a 36TB raw capacity maximum and a 2TB/hour aggregate …

    Channel Register 23 Mar 11:46

  • Street View caught taking the piss - again

    Reg hack also nailed on Google Maps

    It's evident that Google is having a busy time of it down on Blighty's mean Street View - pulling dodgy content left right and centre as quickly as net wags gleefully pinpoint outrages against common decency. Birmingham has proved fertile ground for such spots, including some poor geezer taking a slash (now pulled), and this …

    Bootnotes 23 Mar 12:02

  • Apple Time Capsule

    Review One network, multiple standards, simultaneously

    This update of Apple’s Time Capsule Wi-fi access point-cum-NAS box went rather unnoticed amid the recent barrage of Mac revamps. However, it works well and boasts an ease of use that justifies its slightly above-average price tag. Apple's Time Capsule: updated for simultaneous dual-band wireless usage For those who aren’t …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 12:02

  • Asus unfolds Origami laptop launch window

    To be pitched at MacBoor Air alternative

    Asus has confirmed that its Origami-style folding laptop will be available to buy later this year. Asus' Airo: will be available later this year Jerry Shen, Asus' CEO, told website Tech Radar that the machine – known as both the Airo – “will be available around September or October time” this year. Shen didn’t add if the …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 12:08

  • Overland off Nasdaq non-compliance hook - for now

    Nasdaq withdraws letter

    Struggling data protection vendor Overland Storage has avoided being booted off the main Nasdaq index because of its weak share price and market capitalisation. It's now off the delisting hook "because the company currently meets an alternative maintenance standard." On February 19 Overland received a Nasdaq Staff Deficiency …

    Financial News 23 Mar 12:11

  • Bletchley Park fires up replica Turing Bombe

    Engineering award for legendary Enigma-busting kit

    Bletchley Park will tomorrow fire up a replica Turing Bombe to celebrate the Engineering Heritage Award which recognises the 13 years of hard graft which have gone into recreating the legendary Enigma-busting kit. The Bombe was the brainchild of Alan Turing and Gordon Welchman, and the 210 machines manufactured by the British …

    Science 23 Mar 12:15

  • Scareware affiliates playing search engines

    Scam gets results

    The growing trade in rogue security software is being driven by the gaming of search engines to direct surfers to sites peddling scareware. Scareware affiliate networks are using black-hat search engine optimisation techniques to drive traffic volumes. To promote their wares, these well-organised cybercrooks are compromising …

    Crime 23 Mar 12:20

  • German Mickey Mouse radio snoops on cops

    Kids tune into Polizei chatter

    The German powers that be are investigating a kids' miniature Mickey Mouse radio which apparently entertains nippers with police radio traffic. The Chinese-made novelty came with issue 12 of Micky Maus magazine, which hit newsstands last week. Parents reported the eavesdropping to cops, who picked up a few copies to check out …

    Bootnotes 23 Mar 12:29

  • Nikon Coolpix S225 unveiled

    Latest point and shoot

    Nikon’s Coolpix range of compact point-and-shoot compact snappers has expanded with the creation of a new feature packed model - the S225. Nikon's Coolpix S225: The 10Mp camera has a 2.5in LCD that’s coated with an anti-reflective material to ensure you’re able to see on-screen images while snapping in the sunshine. ISO …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 12:35

  • North East, Nissan to explore e-car promo plan

    'Leccy Tech Agree to talk about holding talks

    Regional development agency One North East (ONE) continues to try to make the north east of England the centre of 'leccy car stuff in the UK. ONE and Nissan have agreed to explore the development of a zero-emission mobility programme in the UK. The signing took place in the presence of Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 12:36

  • Emotional arguments do not make Street View illegal

    Opinion Bad hair days not Google's problem

    A privacy campaigner has vowed to bring a legal challenge over the launch of Google Street View in the UK. It is understandable that some people are uncomfortable with Google making an enormous photo album of 25 towns and cities, but that doesn't make it illegal. Privacy International's Simon Davies argues that Google should …

    Law 23 Mar 12:44

  • Aussie ISP pulls out of firewall trial

    Can't reconcile with corp responsibility

    iiNet, Australia's third largest Internet Service Provider, is withdrawing from the government's censorship trial. Communications minister Stephen Conroy is pushing ahead with a trial of filtering technology to clean up the internet as seen by Aussie citizens. Conroy claimed the list of banned websites were all related to …

    Government 23 Mar 13:09

  • Parents in dark about kids' school life

    Turn on the PC says Becta

    Becta has warned that a three-way communication breakdown between schools, parents and kids could have a harmful affect on individuals’ educational performance. Unsurprisingly the UK government’s technology agency, which published a new report today, was keen to underline what it sees as the importance of IT in the classroom …

    Government 23 Mar 13:10

  • New ISS piss-recycler still troublesome

    Sweat and tears only for parched astronauts

    Technical snags continue to bedevil one of the key new technologies being installed aboard the International Space Station (ISS): one critical to plans for larger crews. We speak, of course, of the troubled urine-recycler space drinks machine - intended to turn golden astronaut juice into cool, lipsmacking refreshments. …

    Space 23 Mar 13:17

  • Samsung unveils curvy, colourful netbook

    Funky colours, funky keyboard

    The latest addition to the growing netbook market has emerged: a colourful, stylish machine, courtesy of Samsung. Samsung's N310: has a frameless screen and 'pebble' keyboard The N310 has a scratch-proof and “frameless” 10.1in, 1024 x 576 display, while the body also features a pebble-esque keyboard. Apparently the machine’ …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 13:20

  • Russian spy agencies linked to Georgian cyber-attacks

    Follow the bear prints

    More circumstantial evidence has emerged linking the Russian authorities to cyber-attacks on Georgia that coincided with a ground war between the two countries in July and August last year. Security researchers from Greylogic published a report on Friday which concluded Russia's Foreign Military Intelligence agency (the GRU) …

    Crime 23 Mar 13:23

  • Web giants urged to bar Phorm

    Google and Microsoft encouraged to opt out

    Privacy activists have urged top web firms to ensure they tell Phorm not to monitor communications with their users, ahead of BT's proposed deployment of its interception and profiling system. In an open letter to privacy officers at Amazon, AOL, eBay, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!, campaigners claim the system, which …

    Telecoms 23 Mar 14:06

  • Intel responds to Psion countersuit

    Liar, liar, portable handheld pants on fire?

    Intel has formally responded to Psion's countersuit, itself launched in response to a lawsuit from the chip giant in a bid to have Psion's Netbook trademark revoked. Central to Psion's counterclaim is that it continues to sell its Netbook Pro handheld computer and thus its trademark, acquired in the late 1990s, is still valid …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 14:21

  • Google designer quits over performance obsession

    All cut up by 'sword of data'

    Google’s visual design leader quit the company on Friday because he was irked by the web giant’s obsession with performance data. Douglas Bowman said in a blog post on 20 March that he had “grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions” after a team at Google couldn’t choose between two blues. Instead they decided to …

    Developer 23 Mar 14:47

  • Cybercrime server exposed through Google cache

    UK and US IDs exposed to world

    A reported 22,000 card records have been exposed through cached copies of data stored on a defunct cybercrime server. iTnews in Australia reports that 19,000 of the 22,000 exposed details referred to US and UK cards and that data came from Google cache records of a disused internet payment gateway, a line picked up by Slashdot …

    Crime 23 Mar 15:30

  • Numbers should be portable, insists Reding

    One-day porting plea

    As the EU finalises the demands it's going to make of mobile phone operators in Europe, Viviane Reding has posted a passionate video arguing for 24-hour number portability across Europe. Unusually, it's not the UK that comes off worst this time around. The UK's few days pale into insignificance when compared to the 38 days …

    Mobile 23 Mar 15:32

  • Microsoft claims IE8 is 'a leap forward in web standards'

    ...as it fails Acid3 test

    Microsoft may have failed the Acid3 test with the release of its Internet Explorer 8 browser, but that hasn’t dampened Redmond’s spirits a jot – in fact the company is busy making all sorts of noises about its new-found web standards credentials. The software giant claimed on Friday that the arrival of IE8 represented “a leap …

    Developer 23 Mar 15:51

  • Satyam shortlist gets even shorter as iGate bails

    Final countdown this week

    The shortlist of possible bidders for Satyam is likely to be finalised this week, after the companies made their final "expressions of interest". There is no official statement from the company, but the board is believed to have met over the weekend for final discussions. Successfully shortlisted firms will then get full …

    Channel Register 23 Mar 15:55

  • UK's child protection database delayed again

    Government IT fail? Shurely not

    The government's child protection database, which will have entries for 11.3 million people who have contact with children or vulnerable adults, has been delayed again. The Independent Safeguarding Authority's system will now be fully-functioning by 26 July 2010 rather than 12 October. Legislation was introduced in 2006 after …

    Government 23 Mar 16:10

  • Ad-supported webcam border surveillance hits Texas

    Aussie pub boozers turn Web-2.0 Virtual Nark™

    It has emerged that Australian pub boozers occasionally while away an idle hour monitoring drug smuggling and illegal immigration on the US southern border over the internet. The Guardian quotes Don Reay of the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition, referring to his organisation's webcam crowdsource twitchcurtain stool-pigeon …

    Policing 23 Mar 16:13

  • Mod man turns toaster into SNES

    From Morphy Richards into Super Nintoaster

    If your toaster’s nearly had it, then why not follow in one weirdo’s visionary’s footsteps by turning your crumbly old bread-warmer into a games console. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The guy behind website Stupid Fingers has already created a NES-based toaster, so naturally his latest project …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 16:32

  • YouTube gets new mobile client

    30,000 dancing cats on your phone

    Video-sharing moneypit YouTube has launched a new mobile client, for S60 and Windows Mobile devices, providing mobile access to more than 30,000 videos of dancing cats. Most mobile access to YouTube has been through a limited interface which links to the on-device media player for playback. We've never had a lot of luck …

    Mobile 23 Mar 16:33

  • Oracle raises software prices on IBM's Power6 iron

    Anything IBM can do...

    Oracle has quietly jacked up software prices on IBM's Power6 iron by 33 per cent, after removing a multicore scaling factor that was in effect to reduce prices. The change was spotted by an intrepid reader at El Reg, and can be confirmed with a visit to Oracle's website. After coming under pressure in late 2004, for pricing …

    IT Director 23 Mar 17:10

  • LG pegs April for next netbook debut

    X120 launch dated

    The rise of the 10in, 1024 x 576 netbook continues. This time, it's LG's X120 now officially said to be out over here in April. LG's X120 and friends: movie-friendly aspect ratios? The X120's claim to fame is integrated HSDPA 3G and stylish looks, but we're not impressed by the shift from a 16:10 ratio display to a 16:9 one …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 17:19

  • TomTom flexes Linux muscle in Microsoft's face

    Signs up to Open Invention Network

    TomTom has belatedly joined a patent holding company, which champions the Linux ecosystem, in a clear message that the GPS maker won’t take its escalating legal spat with Microsoft lying down. The Dutch firm said in a statement today that it had become a member of the Open Invention Network (OIN). TomTom joins a long list of …

    Operating Systems 23 Mar 17:19

  • Apple says sorry for Mac Perl breakage

    Fix on the way

    Apple has apologized for breaking Perl with its latest Mac OS X security update, saying it will distribute a solution to the problem with a future update. In a note to The Reg and a post to the Apple support forums, Senior Apple programmer Edward Moy apologized for "the unforeseen problems that the 2009-001 security update has …

    Developer 23 Mar 17:22

  • Blu-ray Disc added to UK shopping basket

    Office of National Statistics takes out MP3 players

    HD has officially entered mainstream consumer conscience, because the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) has added Blu-ray Discs to its list of everyday purchases. The ONS maintains a list of 650-odd products and services, and updates the selection annually. The list is intended to reflect public spending habits and is …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 17:31

  • Salesforce.com to empower corporate Twitter snooping

    Cloudy conversations

    Twitter has become Salesforce.com's latest Web 2.0 darling, with a plug-in to the company's customer relationship management (CRM) system. On Monday the company announced Salesforce.com CRM for Twitter, which it said would let CRM users search, monitor, and "join" conversations and Tweets. Salesforce CRM for Twitter is due to …

    Applications 23 Mar 17:32

  • Intel freezes top salaries, reprices options

    Meltdown strikes again

    Intel will freeze the salaries of its top five officers for 2009 and restructure its stock-option plan, allowing employees to exchange their overpriced options. In the company's Schedule 14a preliminary proxy statement filed on Monday, the Board of Director's Compensation Committee stated that "Given Intel’s financial …

    Financial News 23 Mar 18:15

  • iPhone rumor mill conjures multiple models

    Video capture, faster net access

    Rumors about the next-generation iPhone continue unabated, with the latest focusing on doubled internet-connection speeds and - finally - video-capture capability. And maybe more iPhones. Silicon Alley Insider reports that a "plugged-in source in the mobile industry" says that the next-gen iPhones (possibly four models), …

    Mobile 23 Mar 20:21

  • Stallman warns open-sourcers on Javascript-browser trap

    Seductive charm of AJAX

    Free-software activist Richard Stallman has warned the open-source community against falling into the trap of downloading Javascript code that's not "free". Stallman said the spread of AJAX-based web services like Google Docs means you many be running Javascript code on your machine that's not free without realizing it. He …

    Developer 23 Mar 20:23

  • Qualcomm startup punts '4th game console' for developing nations

    GDC 09 Beating piracy with wireless distribution

    A California-based startup backed by Qualcomm is launching a 3G-enabled home game console for emerging markets using hardware normally intended for high-end smartphones. Zeebo unveiled what it describes as the industry's "fourth console platform" today at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The company hopes to …

    Reg Hardware 23 Mar 21:44

  • Battlestar Galactica eyes 'technology run amok'

    Spoiler Alert Remind you of anything?

    Near the end of last Friday's finale of Battlestar Galactica, two of the characters most responsible for touching off the genocidal campaign that nearly wiped out civilization - or their "angels," if you believe in that kind of thing - reflect on the events taking hold on Earth, the planet called home since taking refuge there …

    Odds and Sods 23 Mar 21:57

  • Google behavioral ads tap DoubleClick eyeball

    It's not the ads. It's the behavior

    So, Google is now using your surf history to tailor online ads to your particular online interests. It's a rather creepy thought, but that's not the problem. The problem is that Google won't say how much of your surf history it's capturing - or how long it plans on keeping this potentially ginormous data hoard. When Google …

    Music and Media 23 Mar 22:01

  • Will Big Blue mainframes run Windows?

    z/VMs get Microsoft rumor

    An obscure mainframe software company called Mantissa Corporation bragged last summer on the IBM VM listserv - which is dedicated to virtual mainframe environments - that it was creating a product called z/VOS that would allow slices of a Windows operating system to run atop z/VM, the hypervisor-as-operating system for IBM …

    Servers 23 Mar 22:34