The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

30th March 2009 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Travel firm server glitch double dips on billing

    Easy-breaks easily broken

    A web-based travel agent scrambled to refund customers on Friday after a server problem meant customers' credit cards were billed again for holidays taken as long as a year ago. Short breaks specialist Easy-breaks.com told worried callers it had rebooted a server, which had triggered its billing system to deduct payements …

    Management 30 Mar 2009, 07:02

  • Wacky Jacqui spanked by husband

    Spending your money on smut, home sec's home sex

    Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has admitted getting the taxpayer to pick up the bill for two porn films watched by her husband last June. On Sunday, the Daily Express revealed that amongst the expenses signed off in respect of Jacqui Smith’s (second) constituency home was a bill for £67 in respect of films downloaded from Virgin …

    Government 30 Mar 2009, 08:02

  • Build your own ParaScale cloud storage

    Hey you, get onta my cloud

    Users can now download ParaScale's scale-out cloud storage software and turn Linux servers into a scale-out, loosely-clustered, cloud storage utility. ParaScale is a start-up, run by Sajai Krishnan, who used to run NetApp's StoreVault business when it was a separate operation within NetApp. The ParaScale Cloud Storage (PCS) …

    Storage 30 Mar 2009, 09:16

  • Linux on the desktop: cheap trick or pragmatist’s dream?

    Reg Tech Panel Are you experienced?

    Welcome to our third and final poll on desktop operating systems. First, we looked at Vista readiness for business use: you can check out a short write up of that one here. Then we moved onto one of the main contenders to desktop Windows, Mac OS X. In this week's poll we turn our attention to desktop Linux: the challenge is to …

    Tech Panel 30 Mar 2009, 10:02

  • Leeds council cuts contractor rates

    Recession really is opportunity

    Leeds City Council is telling all its IT contractors to take a ten per cent pay cut. This has become standard practice for many private companies, especially hard-up banks, but is less common in the public sector. The contractor who contacted us felt the council was taking advantage of the economic downturn to force cuts on …

    Management 30 Mar 2009, 10:02

  • China rubbishes cyber-espionage claims

    Spooky Ghostnet revives malware spying accusations

    China has been accused of using malware to spy against the Tibetan government-in-exile and the private office of the Dalai Lama, as well as numerous foreign embassies. The study, entitled Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network, alleges the Chinese government may be running a cyber espionage network of 1,295 …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 10:06

  • Action games 'improve eyesight'

    Call of Duty 2 better than carrots?

    Playing a certain type of videogame can help to improve adult eyesight, a study conducted by a North American university has concluded. Over the course of nine weeks, two groups of 11 adult volunteers each played a total of 50 hours of games. One group played action titles – including Call of Duty 2 - and the other set played …

    Games 30 Mar 2009, 10:19

  • Samsung P3

    Review iPod Touch worrier?

    After a little over a year as the standard bearer for Samsung's PMP range, it's time for the YP-P2, aka the Yepp P2, to retire. But is its replacement - the YP-P3 – an evolution or a revolution? And has it got what it takes to lure buyers away from the default purchases in the segment: the ubiquitous multifunction iPod Touch and …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 10:19

  • UFO fleet menaces east London

    Street View sighting rocks Bethnal Green

    The Sun has mobilised a crack team of hacks and ufologists to probe a sensational sighting of a formation of extraterrestrial vehicles swooping over the mean streets of Bethnal Green: "Baffled" expert Nick Pope, who apparently "used to investigate sightings for the Ministry of Defence", described the visitation as “truly …

    Bootnotes 30 Mar 2009, 10:25

  • NEC gives up on global PC sales

    Stuff this, we're going home

    NEC Corp declared over the weekend its intention to retreat from the PC market in the Asia-Pacific region and concentrate solely on domestic sales in Japan, following the firm’s decision to quit the computer biz in EMEA last month. The ailing tech vendor warned it would report a net loss of 290bn yen ($2.96bn) for its fiscal …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 10:29

  • Palm Pré to arrive next month?

    Yes, Tweets Logicom CEO

    The much-hyped Palm Pré could be launched next month, according to Tweets posted by the head of one firm thought to be testing the would-be iPhone killer. Jim Van, CEO of Logicom, reportedly updated his Twitter feed last week to say that the phone’s release date will be 30 April. It’s worth taking the news with a pinch of …

    Phones 30 Mar 2009, 10:30

  • BT network 'vulnerable to Chinese attack'

    Spy chiefs warn over Huawei gear in 21CN

    Spy chiefs have reportedly briefed ministers that Huawei hardware bought by BT could be hijacked by China to cripple the UK's communications infrastructure. At a meeting in January, Alex Allan, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told the Home Secretary that while BT had taken steps to secure its network, "we believe …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 10:32

  • Pics show North Korean rocket ready to go

    Norks ready for biggest shot yet

    A satellite picture has been released showing what appears to be a large three-stage rocket stack erected by a gantry in North Korea, confirming news reports indicating an imminent launch. Rattling a sabre has become very expensive. Credit: DigitalGlobe The image, released by commercial satellite Earth-imaging firm …

    Science 30 Mar 2009, 10:52

  • Busted! Conficker's tell-tale heart uncovered

    Researchers find super worm cure, just in time

    Security experts have made a breakthrough in their five-month battle against the Conficker worm, with the discovery that the malware leaves a fingerprint on infected machines that is easy to detect using a variety of off-the-shelf network scanners. The finding means that, for the first time, administrators around the world have …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 11:02

  • HP Mini 2140 netbook

    Review VIA out, Intel Atom in

    While most manufacturers seem happy to hurl out new netbook models at the rate of knots, HP is positively lumbering along. Back in May 2008, it released its first model, the Mini-Note 2133, and it's only just got around to releasing an updated version, the Mini 2140. HP's Mini 2140: familiar, decent design HP may have opted …

    Laptops 30 Mar 2009, 12:19

  • Charter Communications files for bankruptcy

    Paul Allen's cable firm done for by credit crunch

    US cable firm Charter Communications Inc, which is controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday. The firm confirmed last month it would make the move by 1 April following a deal it had agreed with senior debt holders. Charter said it had previously been able to pay for or renew its …

    Broadband 30 Mar 2009, 12:22

  • Storage in the new Fujitsu Technology Services

    Global storage competence centre

    Tomorrow Fujitsu Siemens Computers will become Fujitsu Technology Services, as Fujitsu completes its buyout of Siemens' 50 per cent share of FSC. FTS becomes Fujitsu's global storage competence centre. FTS is responsible for selling and supporting Fujitsu IT products and services in Europe, the Middle East and India, and …

    Storage 30 Mar 2009, 12:25

  • World's first shaving phone unveiled

    Not RAZR, razor

    Until today, men could only have a quick shave between phone calls if they were willing to carry around an electric razor. But now a phone’s gone on sale that’ll help you look presentable and make calls. The Cool758: it calls, it texts, it... er... shaves Asian online retailer Solomobi has launched the Razor Phone that, as …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 12:28

  • Artist slices gadgets using CT scanner

    Medical machine creates hi-tech artwork

    Ever wondered what your gadgets look like on the inside? One artist has, and has begun capturing the inner workings of everything from the iPhone to laptops – without taking a screwdriver to them. The iPhone, as seen through a CT scanner Student Satre Stuelke snaps images of gadgets using a CT scanner, which slices through …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 12:42

  • Irish boffins tackle cow-fart ecopocalypse with fish oil

    Planet-busting bovine guff cloud forestalled?

    Irish boffins believe they may be able to save us all from the scourge of cowfart-induced ecological catastrophe, according to reports. It seems that adding fish oil to the parping bovine planet-wreckers' diet can reduce their methane emissions. As any fule kno, methane (CH4) - produced in the guts of various animals including …

    Science 30 Mar 2009, 12:49

  • Western Digital snaps up SiliconSystems

    Flash for cash

    Western Digital is buying solid state disk supplier SiliconSystems for $65m in cash, and will supply SSDs to the netbook, notebook and enterprise markets. While saying it is open to supplying SSD products alongside its existing hard disk drive products, Western Digital - the world's number 2 supplier of hard drives - has not …

    Storage 30 Mar 2009, 13:03

  • Women's lust for shopping linked to periods

    Lock up the credit card during 'luteal phase'

    Research by the University of Hertfordshire has suggested that women's desire to hit the shops may be linked to hormonal changes during their menstrual cycle. The most dangerous time to be wielding a credit card is, according to Professor Karen Pine, the ten days before a woman's period - the "luteal phase" - during which they …

    Science 30 Mar 2009, 13:18

  • iPhone finally gets Skype

    But why?

    From tomorrow iPhone users will be able to download a Skype application from iTunes, though they'll still be prevented from making calls over 3G connections, and will still miss out on the functionality offered by alternative Skype clients. Announced at the CTIA show currently taking place in Las Vegas, the native iPhone …

    VoIP 30 Mar 2009, 13:39

  • Rumour: Sun pink slips to fly today

    Move to channel sales costs jobs

    The word on the street this morning is that the second part of the 5,000- to 6,000-person layoff by struggling server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems will kick in today. The layoff, which was announced back in November, aims to remove $700m to $800m in costs from Sun's books, and will cost somewhere between $500m …

    The Channel 30 Mar 2009, 13:58

  • 3 and T-Mobile announce site provider

    3G networks finally start to merge

    Mobile Broadband Network Limited, the company set up to manage the UK's combined 3G network for operators 3 and T-Mobile, has announced that Arqiva will be providing 5,100 cell sites to be used by both networks. More than year after signing a deal to set up a shared network, Arqiva has signed a deal to provide the sites, a …

    Mobile 30 Mar 2009, 14:33

  • Asus slides out first 'optical drive included' Eee

    The latest member of the Eee PC family

    Keeping up with Asus’ ever expanding Eee PC range is getting tricky, especially now the firm has just unveiled the line's first model with an integrated optical drive. Asus' 1004DN: the first Eee with a built-in optical drive The 1004DN is fitted with a multi-format DVD writer. Alongside it is an Intel 1.66GHz Atom N280 …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 14:37

  • Russian mag teases with netbook MacBook specs

    Does April come early over there?

    Is this the face of Apple's unannounced netbook? Russian mag's MacBook Mini Image courtesy 9to5mac.com According to one Russian magazine it is, and the title even lists specifications for the MacBook Air-like machine, website 9to5mac notes. Well, kind of. There are some inconsistencies. The 10.4in, 1280 x 768, LED-backlit …

    Hardware 30 Mar 2009, 14:38

  • MPs lambast Forces' new personnel database

    Job-slashing machinery plagued by "human errors"

    The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has come in for yet more scathing criticism from its parliamentary oversight committee. The committee's report into the MoD annual accounts says that the introduction of a new personnel database system, run on the MoD intranet, has been a fiasco. The Joint Personnel Administration (JPA) system …

    Government 30 Mar 2009, 14:44

  • IBM tries to patent offshoring

    Zombie patent back from the dead

    Two years ago, red-faced IBM executives ordered a patent application on offshoring jobs to be withdrawn. Last week it returned, more sophisticated than ever. The latest application, describes how to weigh various constraints, such as lack of a skilled workforce, against incentives such as tax breaks. It's called a "Method and …

    Financial News 30 Mar 2009, 14:48

  • Firefox update fixes pwn2own vuln

    Early arrival

    Mozilla responded to reports of vulnerabilities by pushing out a new version of Firefox on Friday. In addition to the "pwn2own" vulnerability used to hack into systems running Firefox at the recent CanSecWest conference, version 3.08 of Firefox also addresses a separate critical flaw involving XSL Transforms. Mozilla …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 15:34

  • IBM-led Open Cloud Manifesto: Who's in, who's out?

    Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce.com, Google play dodgeball

    The Open Cloud Manifesto, spearheaded by IBM, landed today with a small thud - but it's the vendors left off the list of supporters who are making the biggest bang. Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Salesforce.com are all notably absent from declaring their support for a document that claims to be a “call to action for the …

    Applications 30 Mar 2009, 15:38

  • Nokia kicks OEMs to the kerb

    $5bn worth of handsets won't happen in 2009

    Nokia is getting out of third-party manufacturing, a move that will see the Finnish giant spending $5bn less on making handsets, according to specialists iSuppli. Seventeen per cent of Nokia's manufacturing was outsourced to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in 2008, according to Reuters, and that’s the business from …

    Mobile 30 Mar 2009, 15:39

  • LG talks up transparent touch phone

    The see-through GD900

    LG has unveiled more of the features of its upcoming transparent mobile phone, the GD900, announcing that the handset will include gesture recognition and several other tech treats. LG's GD900: features gesture recognition and a see-through keypad First seen at Mobile World Congress in Spain last month, the slider phone’s …

    Phones 30 Mar 2009, 16:21

  • Fujitsu talks big on x64 server sales

    Sparc, mainframes get honourable mentions at FTS

    The European arm of Japanese server maker Fujitsu, to be called Fujitsu Technology Solutions, is staking the growth of its server business on the IA platform. The new company came about after the €450m buyout of the half of the business formerly owned by German conglomerate Siemens. At a press conference which spanned Tokyo, …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 16:28

  • Delivering sustainable security

    Regcast Audio + Slides

    In the third in our series of Regcasts assessing the state of the IT security market, the experts look at the mechanisms required to ensure security solutions evolve to match the ever changing threat landscape. Freeform Dynamics’ Tony Lock and Jon Clay of Trend Micro provide their expertise and opinion throughout. Together …

    State of Security 30 Mar 2009, 16:39

  • Verizon to ape AT&T with netbook sales

    Summer subsidy

    US cellco giant Verizon Wireless will begin selling netbooks before the middle of the year. According to multiple news outlets, the company will roll out some sort of 3G-enabled, low-cost laptop by the end of the second quarter - or possibly by the beginning of June. The company has not responded to requests for comment, but …

    Mobile 30 Mar 2009, 17:03

  • Microsoft and TomTom settle 'Linux' kerfuffle

    Payments to Redmond

    Microsoft and TomTom have settled the much-discussed patent infringement suits they tossed at each other earlier this year. As Microsoft announced this morning, the two companies have entered a five-year agreement that will see GPS maker TomTom pay Microsoft for coverage under the five car navigation and three file management …

    Software 30 Mar 2009, 18:42

  • Intel unmasks Nehalem Xeons

    Server blitz

    Intel has officially unveiled its "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500 processors for two-socket servers. With their QuickPath Interconnect technology, these quad-core chips will likely offer between three and four times the memory bandwidth of the current Xeon 5400 series processors. The chips were first outed earlier this month when …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 19:02

  • IBM punts two racks, a blade, and a hybrid thingy

    Nehalem Day Enterprise avant garde

    IBM is looking for the new Nehalem EP-based servers to kick start its System x rack server and BladeCenter blade server business, which saw a steepening decline in sales as 2008 wound down. Big Blue will today announce two new rack servers, a blade server, and some configurable compute and storage nodes for its avant garde …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 19:07

  • HP goes to 11 with ProLiant launch

    Nehalem Day Strength in numbers

    When you are the volume leader in the x64 server racket, as Hewlett-Packard is, you have customers who have all kinds of different needs, and when Intel launches a new processor for the workhorse two-socket portion of the server market, you go broad and you go deep to protect the HP server biz. So it comes as no surprise that …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 19:09

  • Dell girds iron from the tower to the blade

    Nehalem Day Racks included

    Dell has officially announced its new "Nehalem EP" server lineup. You already got the sales pitch for the servers from Dell based on Intel's "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500 processors last week, so there is no point in going over that ground again today. Let's get down to the feeds and speeds, starting with the PowerEdge tower box, …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 19:37

  • DHS battles Axis of Exorbitance with software overhaul

    Department of Homeland Efficiency

    The US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday it's seeking a "leaner, smarter" way to preserve our freedoms and fight the global war on terror by launching an agency-wide efficiency program to cut wasteful spending. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced her first hostilities against the axis of exorbitance will …

    Government 30 Mar 2009, 20:31

  • Gartner sees flat biz software biz in 2009

    Forecast sinks again

    Software spending will be stagnant this year, according to market research firm Gartner, but companies should finally start loosening their purse strings after the first quarter of 2010. This is at least the third time Gartner has lowered its forecast for world-wide enterprise software sales in 2009. Gartner now expects …

    Financial News 30 Mar 2009, 20:35

  • Intel showcases 'transformational' Nehalem

    Nehalem Day It's the next Pentium Pro, apparently

    Intel's "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500 series of processors for two-socket servers were announced this afternoon. Finally. Now, the server market can breathe a sigh of relief and set about the difficult task of trying to peddle better boxes in a worsening economy. Which sure beats trying to sell last year's machines this year. Today, …

    Servers 30 Mar 2009, 21:37

  • Google launches free (legal) music search in China

    Music labels bang heads over Baidu

    Together with the world's four largest music labels, Google has formally launched an ad-based MP3 download service in China to combat easily accessible illegal downloads that have effectively killed the country's music industry online. The venture, which also has the backing of 14 independent labels, will compete against …

    Media 30 Mar 2009, 22:31

  • Romanian phisher gets 50 month prison term

    No credit for good grammar

    A Romanian man has been sentenced to serve more than four years in US prison for taking part in a sophisticated phishing scam that cost financial institutions at least $150,000. Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman, 23, of Craiova, Romania, received 50 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In July, he …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 23:02

  • Google caches payment card details for 19,000 Brits

    Stolen info wants to be free

    More evidence of Google's success in organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible: Payment card details for 19,000 Brits were recently found hosted in the search engine's web cache. The details included the names, addresses, card numbers and expiry dates for UK-based holders of Visa, MasterCard and …

    Security 30 Mar 2009, 23:39

  • Microsoft kills MSN Encarta

    Wikipedia dunnit

    Microsoft is pulling the plug on its MSN Encarta encyclopedia websites and software, following Wikipedia's obliteration of the online reference market. In a message posted on the MSN Encarta website, Microsoft said the sites worldwide will be discontinued on October 31, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be stayed …

    Media 30 Mar 2009, 23:48