7th April 2009 Archive

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Zend offers PHP cure for Java bloat

Application-server speed pill

Zend Technologies has built an application server for PHP that it hopes can slowly convert frustrated Java programmers as well as those relying on Java on the web and in the enterprise. On Tuesday, the company is expected to unveil the Zend Server, a paid-for PHP stack that comes with service agreements and support and the …

Developer 7 Apr 2009, 04:11
US Defense Dept shuffles self

Obama 'disarms America'

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday outlined a sweeping set of changes to the Department of Defense's budget that he described "will profoundly reform how this department does business". The changes cut many a congressperson's pet project, shuffle billions out of some programs and into others, and thoroughly reorganize …

Government 7 Apr 2009, 04:15
Egenera grooms Nehalem EP blades

Dell re-ups PAN Manager deal

Among the many niche server makers that are readying products that make use of Intel's "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500 processors announced last week, you'll find Egenera, the outfit that never quite made it as a volume server maker but that still has high hopes for its PAN Manager blade management software. Back in October 2007, …

Servers 7 Apr 2009, 04:28
Multiple security scanner bugs give users a headache

Kaspersky pop-up glitch, Symantec mouse madness

Once an occasional inconvenience, serious security bugs and vulnerabilities in anti-virus and security suite products are growing into hardy perennials. Once, running Windows anti-virus was like driving down a dual carriageway. These days, it's more like an unpaved road. Last week alone bought a confirmed snag with anti-virus …

Security 7 Apr 2009, 04:33
Isilon cuts staff, recruits NetApper

Fizz, not Fitz

Scale-out NAS supplier Isilon has made a first quarter loss, fired about 40 people, and recruited another NetApp sales exec to bolster its executive ranks. Prelimanary results for the first quarter of 2009 show revenue in the $26.5m to $27m range, which is 10-12 per cent up on the year-ago quarter. But it's also 15 to 17 …

Storage 7 Apr 2009, 04:39
Google digital book 'monopoly' feels heat

Redmond blamed

Complaints over Google's sweeping digital books settlement have reached a boiling point. And Google wants you to know that Microsoft is funding some of the heat. In October, Google reached a $125m agreement with the US Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, hoping to settle a three-year-old class action suit …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 05:48
As Sun unravels, it's time for a new suit

Opinion Update: Sun says not so

With IBM reportedly breaking off the engagement, Sun must reinvent itself if it is to go it alone. That means bringing in a Joe Tucci lookalike to reform and restructure the business. This is a highly personal opinion about how and why it should undertake that process. First of all, Sun's board and senior management need to …

Financial News 7 Apr 2009, 07:02
IPS misses its ID cards for foreigners target

Database contract goes to Big Blue

The Home Office has confirmed that it has issued half as many ID cards to non-EU foreign nationals living in the UK as planned. The trial of the cards was to issue between 40,000 and 50,000 cards by the end of March, but it has only issued 22,500. Identity and Passport Service Service chief executive James Hall insisted the …

Government 7 Apr 2009, 08:32
Motorola spends $216m on money-saving job cuts

You've got to spend a lot to save a little

Motorola has informed the Securities & Exchange Commission that it will be spending an additional $110m laying off staff in the first quarter of 2009, bringing the total to $216m. The filing explains that since the last filing, at the end of January, the company has approved 2,800 "workforce reductions". These will cost it $ …

Mobile 7 Apr 2009, 08:41
Sony W-series Walkman MP3 player

Review Eat this, Shuffle

Apple's recent re-design of its iPod Shuffle wasn't exactly greeted with universal enthusiasm. Now Sony has come at the idea of a screenless music player from a wholly different direction and decided to build the player directly into the earphones – or vice versa, depending on how you look at things. Sounds clever, but does it …

Hardware 7 Apr 2009, 09:05
LG eyes up comfy viewing monitors

Another excuse not to leave your desk

Having the biggest screen with the best resolution may be all the rage, but if your eyes hurt to look at it, what’s that point? So LG has launched a monitor said to offer a more comfortable viewing experience. LG's W53: eye-caring monitor The W53’s Auto Brightness feature allows the screen to automatically optimise its …

Hardware 7 Apr 2009, 09:13
Boffin: Titan moon largely made of LPG, not cheese

Patio-heater paradise in the outer solar system

An American scientist believes he may have come up with an explanation for the curious lakes of liquefied petroleum gas found at the polar regions of Titan, moon of Saturn. It could be because Titan is not spherical, but has a liquid layer which is. The LPG fields of the Saturnian moons: rich, but inaccessible. "Since the …

Science 7 Apr 2009, 09:15
Grav-mapping satellite fires ion engines

GOCE xenon-fed drives 'performing nominally' says ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed that both the electric ion propulsion engines aboard its Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite are "performing nominally". The "cutting-edge" drives - built by Qinetiq - are designed to compensate for "the tiny amount of drag generated by the …

Science 7 Apr 2009, 09:18
Phoenix predicts hitting end of year mark

Walk the line

Phoenix IT Group confirmed today that trading, cash generation and non-recurring costs for the year ended 31 March 2009 have been in line with expectations. The company said it is saddled with net debt of £72.4m compared to bank facilities of £109m, and finance lease liabilities were about £16m. Non-recurring costs relating …

The Channel 7 Apr 2009, 09:56
Go-Between actress backs McKinnon extradition fight

The US is a foreign country. They do things differently there

Oscar winning actress Julie Christie has joined the campaign to save UFO conspiracy theorist turned hacker Gary McKinnon from extradition to the United States. The star of Dr Zhivago and The Go-Between has joined supporters from the music business - former Police frontman Sting and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour - as well as other …

Bootnotes 7 Apr 2009, 09:58
HP and Fusion-io now quicker than QuickSilver

A million IOPS with less flash: Next stop, a squillion!

HP and Fusion-io have built a ProLiant storage I/O powerhouse that achieved the same performance as IBM's Project Quicksilver with just two thirds of the NAND flash. Fusion-io builds ioDrives, solid state drives (SSD) connected directly to a server's PCIe bus which links the server's processors, main memory and interface ports …

The Channel 7 Apr 2009, 10:00
Japanese unleash Jedi Obama

Prez also available in James Bond and Samurai versions

Those of you who've been wondering why US prez Barack Obama has not yet solved world poverty and hunger, halted global warming and given a lovely puppy to each and every child on Earth will be relieved to learn he's still on the case, but has just been a bit tied up of late on intergalactic business: We kid you not. Ladies …

Bootnotes 7 Apr 2009, 10:03
Symbian maps out mighty app hangar

Painting it yellow, in its own sweet time

The Symbian Foundation threw open the doors of its application warehouse this week, declaring it will be "unique". The "Day 1" announcements from the Foundation weren't limited to a childish logo and rebranding - there is some meat to the plans. The Foundation is taking a new approach to distribution that will see it …

Mobile 7 Apr 2009, 10:12
GM, Segway to unveil iPhone-driven ~~wheelchair~~ e-car

'Leccy Tech Sorry, 'the future of personal urban mobility'

General Motors may be knock-knock-knocking on heaven's door, but it clearly still has the time and money to fanny about with left-field ideas like Project P.U.M.A. - or the Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility vehicle. GM and Segway's Puma: wheelchair or car? A tie-up with personal-mobility guru Segway, the Puma is a …

Science 7 Apr 2009, 10:14
Balls saves history lessons from Facebook and Twitter

Twittering won't replace Empire Building

Ed Balls pulled middle Britain back from the brink yesterday, by telling a teachers' conference that children won't be forced to learn to Twitter and Facebook instead of studying the Victorians and Roman Britain. The Daily Mail reading classes were sent into apoplexy last week over a "leaked report", which apparently dictated …

Government 7 Apr 2009, 10:17
Zune exec Tweets of 'new Zune hardware'

When? Where? How? What? Why?

Microsoft will announce some Zune hardware this year, according to a Zune executive’s Twitter post. Seitz's Twitter page Brian Seitz, Group Manager of Zune, Tweeted just hours ago the short-but-sweet message that “new Zune hardware [is coming] this year”. Unfortunately, that’s all Seitz was willing to say, leaving everyone …

Hardware 7 Apr 2009, 10:19
Sony Ericsson intros basic Walkman phone

The latest - but not greatest

The W205 is Sony Ericsson’s latest music mobile, but - given the amount of space the firm’s dedicated to explaining the handset’s musical features - you’d be forgiven for thinking you were being sold an iPod. Sony Ericsson's Walkman 205: basic Being the latest in a long line of Walkman phones, the W205 is targeted at anyone …

Phones 7 Apr 2009, 10:23
Bacon sarnies cure hangovers: Official

Good news for boozers, bad news for porkers

It's official: The classic post-bender bacon sarnie really does help cure your hangover, thanks to the dual chemical benefits of the bread/sliced pig combination. Elin Roberts, science development manager at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, told the Daily Mirror: “Food doesn’t soak up the alcohol, but it does increase your …

Science 7 Apr 2009, 10:58
Realtors charged with Glengarry Glen Ross-style rival hack

Closers face cracking charges for webmail peek

Three real estate agents in North Carolina face charges over allegations they hacked into the webmail account of a rival. The Hotmail account of Nicole Hayden of Exit Realty was allegedly snooped upon by three agents who worked for RE/MAX Tri City Realty of Rockingham, North Carolina, between 1 March and 20 March. The …

Security 7 Apr 2009, 11:02
Online casino pays off US investigation

US bets remain off

Shares of online casino PartyGaming jumped 17 per cent today after it announced a legal settlement with US authorities. The US Attorney General has been investigating the site since Congress outlawed online gaming for US citizens by passing the Safe Port Act in 2006. PartyGaming stopped taking bets from US customers, which it …

Financial News 7 Apr 2009, 11:06
Photocops: Home Office concedes concern

Zooming in on the snapper-stoppers

The Home Office has at last conceded that the policing of photographers requires a little more scrutiny. Tory MP and Assistant Chief Whip John Randall extracted an admission from the Home Office that it was an issue in need of further review. Print Display worker Piers Mason can bear this out, having been stopped and …

Law 7 Apr 2009, 11:37
Report: Legalising drugs would save UK plc huge packet

Comment Common sense doomed by Guardian/Daily Mail axis

New research has confirmed a reality which is obvious to many, but which can seldom be acknowledged in British mainstream politics: that it is primarily the fact of drugs being illegal which makes them so damaging to society. Furthermore, if drugs were legalised - even assuming a huge increase in their use - the public purse …

Law 7 Apr 2009, 11:51
Google's trademark keyword sale kyboshed by Appeals Court

'Use in commerce' ruling overturns earlier judgement

A US court was wrong when it ruled that Google's selling of a trade marked term to a competing company to be used as a trigger for advertising was not 'use in commerce'. The appeals court has said that the use could infringe the trade mark. Google sells advertising space beside its search engine results. The adverts are chosen …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 12:05
Drobo doubles up storage robot capacity

4 slots good, 8 slots better

Desktop external storage supplier Data Robotics has doubled up the slot capacity of its Drobo product to produce the 8-slot Drobo Pro, enabling it to sell networked block storage into markets served by low-end commodity NAS (network-attached storage) vendors such as Buffalo, Iomega, Seagate and others. The original Drobo …

Storage 7 Apr 2009, 12:29
Firm finalises Wii weights design

Bulk up while playing videogames

Whether or not you agree that videogames are a healthy pastime, you can now become the next Stallone or Schwarzenegger by simply switching on your Wii. Riiflex dumbbells beef you up and keep you entertained, apparently Register Hardware recently brought you news of a set of prototype dumbbells into which the Wii’s Nunchuck …

Games 7 Apr 2009, 12:30
Wi-Fi BlackBerry Storm rumour blows in

Storm 2 to replace Storm... er... 1?

The BlackBerry Storm’s lack of Wi-Fi support is arguably its most disappointing feature. But all that will change if rumours of a Wi-Fi capable model prove true. Called, unimaginatively, the Storm 2, “a source very close to the issue” has told website Slash Gear that US network operator Verizon has given the Storm’s …

Phones 7 Apr 2009, 12:32
Aussies get gov-backed uber-broadband

Women will glow, men will chunder

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has created a public private partnership to sort out the country's shonky broadband network. Rudd promises to link 90 per cent of Aussie homes, schools and businesses with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. The remaining ten per cent of premises will get wireless or satellite links …

Broadband 7 Apr 2009, 12:41
Boffins list sci-fi words which wormed their way into dictionary

Nine words that came from deep space

The Oxford University Press has come up with a list of nine words that originated in science fiction, but which have now become part of the language of science. Robotics is probably the most familiar, but Gas Giant, Zero Gravity and Deep Space are also sci-fi terms co-opted into the real world, according to the OUP blog. We …

Bootnotes 7 Apr 2009, 12:57
Amazon UK kicks off low-end price scuffle with iTunes

Hunt for lesser-spotted 59p track begins at Apple store

Amazon has kicked off what some members of the soar-away press are describing as an MP3 price war, after it slashed over 100 of its top-selling tracks to just 29 pence a pop in the UK. However, the online retailer has only made the chop to a slender number of its huge MP3 catalogue. The move has clearly been orchestrated to …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 13:21
Arizona teen's mobile shops him to cops

Rings 911 while owner boasts of theft

An Arizona teen was cuffed after his mobile phone rang the police while he was boasting about the theft of a car stereo, the Phoenix New Times reports. The unnamed 16-year-old, from Peoria, was recorded "bragging to his homies" by local law enforcement operatives, who heard him say of the stereo: "It was bolted down - I had to …

Mobile 7 Apr 2009, 13:32
EC blasts mobile masts away from schools and hospitals

Report inconclusive, sides with campaigners anyway

The European Commission has formally adopted a report recommending that radio transmitters should not be placed near schools and hospitals, as the general public feels uninformed about the issue. The report (pdf) comes from Frédérique RIES, and recommends that schools, crèches, retirement homes and healthcare institutions are …

Mobile 7 Apr 2009, 14:02
BT blocks up to 40,000 child porn pages per day

Cleanfeed busy

Between 35,000 and 40,000 attempts to access child pornography sites via BT Retail's broadband network are blocked every day, it was revealed today. Extrapolated to the entire UK broadband market*, the figures mean there are more than 58 million attempts to access sites on the Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF) blocklist …

Broadband 7 Apr 2009, 14:03
DSi UK sales off to strong start

92,000 sold during week one

Despite only launching in the UK last Friday, Blighty’s gamers have already grabbed almost 100,000 Nintendo DSis. UK retailers shifted a whopping 92,000 DSi handheld consoles on Friday and Saturday last week, according to figures from market watcher GfK-ChartTrack. However, last week’s UK DSi sales still weren’t enough to …

Games 7 Apr 2009, 14:20
Sony Ericsson says phone makes snapping, shooting simpler

S312 camcorderphone debuts

If navigating your way around sub-menus to find your phone’s camera application often proves difficult, then why not trade up to one that puts photo features exactly where you need them? Sony Ericsson's S312: snaps, shoots and plays music Despite only having a 2Mp camera, Sony Ericsson’s S312 phone has dedicated shortcut …

Phones 7 Apr 2009, 14:28
Wi-Fi Beeb viewing may break law

Live net telly could be licensing foul

Users of the BBC's trial of TV-over-Wi-Fi networks will break the law if they plug in their mobile phones in locations not covered by a television licence, the TV Licensing Authority has warned. The BBC has begun a beta trial of live television over Wi-Fi networks. The owners of phones with Wi-Fi connections can go online and …

Mobile 7 Apr 2009, 15:12
State-owned RBS to axe 9,500 workers

Cutting taxpayers to pay off taxpayers

RBS will cut up to 9,000 jobs in its back office, call centre and IT operations, the floundering newly state-owned bank announced today. The bank, which is now 70 per cent owned by the UK government, said it had begun consulting unions and other employee representatives about "a business plan for its back office operations …

Financial News 7 Apr 2009, 15:27
Apple plays catchup with Nehalem EP-powered Xserves

But Mac servers still short on memory

Apple has announced that it is delivering Intel's quad-core Xeon 5500 "Nehalem EP" processors in its Xserve server lineup starting today. Apple jumped the gun on the Xeon 5500 launch by a few weeks, saying in early March it would add Nehalem EPs to the two-socket Mac Pro high-end PCs. That Apple is making a two-socket Xserve …

Servers 7 Apr 2009, 15:43
Brocade launches FCoE switch and adapters

End-to-end Ethernet storage networking in sight

Brocade has announced a top-of-rack Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switch, together with Converged Network Adapters for servers to use when connecting to the switch. Brocade is the volume leader in shipping Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) switches and directors that link servers to SAN storage disk drive arrays …

Storage 7 Apr 2009, 15:46
Microsoft to offer Windows 7 downgrade to XP

Gives Vista predecessors the nod

Microsoft has agreed to allow Windows 7 customers to downgrade not just to Vista but also to XP. The software firm confirmed it had planned downgrade rights for XP when Windows 7 shipped, which is expected later this year. "Microsoft will be offering an n-2 downgrade option with Windows 7 to help customers plan their …

The Channel 7 Apr 2009, 15:49
MS pushes back Forefront security offensive

Sterling recast and postponed until 2010

Microsoft will delay the release of the next version of its Forefront security product range. The company's announcement of the delay suggests it wants to improve the technology, but business reasons provide a more plausible - though unproven - rationale for the postponement. Instead of shipping the product release, codenamed …

Security 7 Apr 2009, 15:58
Obama & Gates vs the US military-industrial complex

Analysis Battle of Porkbarrel Hill begins

The US Defence Secretary has signalled a serious attempt on his part and that of President Obama to reform the world's largest military machine. If the two men get their way - and that's a big if - the Pentagon will become much less a capital-intensive tech porkbarrel and much more an organisation of properly-backed combat …

Government 7 Apr 2009, 17:02
Indian Feds arrest more for Satyam fraud

Blame list growing

The Central Bureau of Investigation - India's federal investigators - have arrested three of Satyam's financial staff they believe were involved in the fraud. The beancounters are suspected of helping Satyam's founder Ramalinga Ramu forge documents to provide evidence of inflated revenues to auditors. Ramu wrote a bizarre …

The Channel 7 Apr 2009, 17:02
YouTube a 'half billion dollar failbucket'

What this means for musicians

A financial analyst has cast a new light on Google's ongoing battle with the music business. According to Credit Suisse's Spencer Wang, YouTube will lose parent Google $470m this year, because it can't generate worthwhile income from advertising. This is interesting, because Google is no tuppeny startup. It's the world's …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 18:27
Microsoft killing free XP support next week

Office 2003 on chopping block too

Microsoft will drop free support for handful of aging products next week, including consumer versions of Windows XP and Office 2003. On April 14, the Redmond giant ends "mainstream" support for Office 2003 in addition to Windows XP Home and Professional. This means the software will no longer include no-charge incident support …

Operating Systems 7 Apr 2009, 18:29
AMD offers Opteron upgrade discounts

Drops Istanbul's price before launch

AMD said today it's offering discounts to businesses that upgrade their servers with newer Opteron processors. The chip designer's new upgrade program includes a discount of up to 35 per cent for dual- and quad-core Opterons, as well as AMD's sex-core "Istanbul" processor currently on track for release in the second half of …

Servers 7 Apr 2009, 19:37
Linux device developers not weird, just mainstream

CE Linux Forum Intel man hopes embedded distinction disappears

Developers putting Linux on consumer devices aren't weirdos mining a niche, according to the Intel man who last year volunteered to help maintain embedded Linux. David Woodhouse told the CE Linux Forum on Tuesday embedded Linux is the computing mainstream thanks to the ubiquity of Linux on millions of media players, PDAs, …

Software 7 Apr 2009, 19:58
Blade server standards coming this year

But who will adopt them?

A standard to which no big vendors adhere is as intimidating as a tiger with its teeth and claws removed. And so it might be with the standards for blade servers that the Server Systems Infrastructure (SSI) forum is trying to get into the field. Since the advent of commercial blade servers at the turn of the millennium, …

Servers 7 Apr 2009, 20:15
Apple iTunes unwraps (precious few) 69 cent tracks

Vanilla Ice. Still 99 cents

Apple today followed up on its promise to remove all DRM from music for sale on its iTunes Store and to institute a new pricing structure of $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29 per song. When Apple's SVP Phil Schiller announced these changes during his keynote presentation at Macworld Expo in back in January, we wondered how many tunes …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 21:30
Double-Take expands beyond server replication

It's now called workload optimization

Double-Take Software, a maker of data-replication software for Windows and then Linux servers, has been expanding into the virtualization-management realm to chase a few virtual dollars. To that end has rejiggered its existing products and created some news ones to comprise what it is calling a workload optimization suite. …

Servers 7 Apr 2009, 21:31
Animal rights group protests seal clubbing in World of Warcraft

Stages battle against ~~Canadians~~ undead

Animal rights stunt-group PETA' is protesting Canada's culling of adorable baby seals this year by hosting a battle royale in World of Warcraft. This Saturday, PETA is calling on activist gamers to combat a team of Horde "seal killers" set on bashing soft, furry heads on WoW's Whisperwind server. The demonstration takes place …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 21:36
Dungeons & Dragons slays its digital distribution

Loses saving throw against piracy, pulls PDF products

Wizards of the Coast, publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, has pulled all digital editions of its products from online stores today in response to finding that its new D&D Player's Handbook is being illegally distributed over P2P and file-sharing websites. The Washington-state-based gaming company also filed three lawsuits today …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 22:36
Google taps your IP address for Starbucks targeting

Except when it does something else

Google's search engine monopoly now offers so-called local results - even if you neglect to key in your particular location. Today, with a post to the Official Google Blog, the Mountain View Chocolate Factory trumpeted a worldwide roll-out of new tech that serves up local search results according to your IP address. "When you …

Media 7 Apr 2009, 22:38