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15th April 2009 Archive

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  • Intel’s Otellini spots bottom on negative numbers

    Enterprise break on recovery

    Paul Otellini, Intel's president and chief exec, believes that: "We are seeing signs that a bottom in the PC market segment has been reached. I believe the worst is now behind us." His comments came during a phone call with analysts and reporters Tuesday, during which chipzilla released its first-quarter financial results for …

    Financial News 15 Apr 04:27

  • Trafficmaster preps mobile phone drive

    Info firm launches beta for smartphones

    The biggest mobile data user in the UK is just about to discover phones. Trafficmaster is expected to announce its smartphone offering in a couple of weeks and is currently recruiting beta testers here. It’s Windows Mobile only at the moment with BlackBerry and S60 to follow. There are no plans for Android, and iPhone is too …

    Mobile 15 Apr 07:02

  • Virgin Media switches to Gmail

    Knacker's yard for in-house platforms

    Virgin Media will today begin moves to transfer its almost four million broadband subscribers to Google's email service. The three existing in-house email platforms will be gradually decommissioned. At first only new customers will be invited to join the new outsourced service. Once 20,000 are signed up and the system is …

    Telecoms 15 Apr 08:58

  • Steptoe storage vendors cash in on junk platters

    Comment Why tech that could extend disk life was rejected

    Disks break - everyone knows that. Yet storage array vendors have rejected a technology that would get around this and save their customers pots of money. This resulted in Seagate writing off millions of dollars, and customers continuing to spend money buying products from storage vendors that could have been much more …

    Storage 15 Apr 09:02

  • More layoffs due at Yahoo!

    New broom clonks heads

    There are likely to be more job cuts at Yahoo! - the first since Carol Bartz took over the CEO's job in January. Official confirmation is unlikely ahead of the company's first quarter results on 21 April. A spokesman for the company refused to comment to The Register. Yahoo! cut 1,500 positions in December last year while …

    Financial News 15 Apr 09:05

  • Microsoft to cover ‘E74’ Xbox 360 error

    Problem linked to three flashing red lights

    The Xbox 360’s infamous three flashing red lights error has returned to bite Microsoft, with the company now confirming that it’ll cover “E74” errors under its three-year warranty programme. The "E74" error is now covered under the three-year Xbox warranty Image courtesy of 8BitJoystick Microsoft admitted that a “small …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 09:43

  • New e-waste rules may be too much for UK business, warns Gov

    We preferred when it was just kids collecting cans

    The Government has said that new electronic waste disposal demands from Brussels may be too difficult for businesses to meet. It has asked for industry's view ahead of summer negotiations on electronic waste. The European Commission is revising its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and plans a hike to the …

    Small Biz 15 Apr 10:01

  • Excel bulletin stars in Microsoft patch batch

    8 fixes, but no PowerPoint prob plug

    Microsoft released eight patches, five critical, on Tuesday as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle. The bulletins collectively cover 23 separate vulnerabilities, six of which have been targeted by exploit code. The updates cover a fix (MS09-009) for a flaw in Excel that's become the target of attacks of recent weeks …

    Security 15 Apr 10:03

  • ZuneHD en-route to Blighty?

    Mole talks of OLED Zune for '3D Xbox games'

    The Microsoft Zune Portable Media Player could finally land in Blighty this year, but as an HD-capable model with an OLED display. A mock-up of how the ZuneHD could look Image courtesy of WMPowerUser A mole talking to website WMPowerUser has claimed that Microsoft’s “ZuneHD” will have a multi-touch display, with 16:9 …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 10:22

  • Copyright Tribunal rules will change to fast track smaller cases

    That means cases involving small amounts, not dwarves

    The Government is changing the way that a copyright disputes body operates in a bid to save time and money. It has opened a consultation on the changes to the operation of the Copyright Tribunal. The Tribunal is the body that rules on disputes between users and collecting or licensing societies. These societies act for groups …

    Small Biz 15 Apr 10:24

  • Sage waves voluntary redundo plan at staff

    Software co won't say how many it wants to lose

    Software maker Sage is asking its UK staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy in a move to cut costs at the company. “The changing market we're in means that it is more important than ever to look at the costs we incur as a business and how we can become even more effective in the way we work,” said Sage UK and Ireland …

    Channel Register 15 Apr 10:35

  • Android army marches into living rooms

    Japanese set-top box this way comes

    Japanese telco KDDI will be showing an Android-based set-top box later this year, as the perfect partner for the cellphone looking to extend its reach. The Android-based au Box The box, named by EE Times as the "au Box", will be able to rip CDs and play music through integrated speakers, but will also synchronise that …

    Mobile 15 Apr 10:38

  • Toshiba Portégé M750

    Review The tablet PC soldiers on

    Still alive yet often ridiculed, tablet PCs haven't exactly had the easiest of times since their conception at the turn of the century. HP is attempting to breathe new life into the tablet by aiming its new TouchSmart TX2 at home users, but Toshiba's Portégé M750 takes a more traditional business-oriented approach. Toshiba's …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 11:02

  • UK's visa fingerprint system fails

    Foreign fingers cut off

    The UK Border Agency, which became fully independent this month, is already celebrating its first technology failure - the system by which applicants for UK visas must send their fingerprints to London for checking went down last week. A Reg reader got in touch because his South American sister-in-law was having trouble …

    Government 15 Apr 11:09

  • D-Link creates home network starter kit

    Plug 'n' Play simplicity

    If you think that creating a home network’s an arduous task, then think again. Because D-Link’s launched a home starter kit that’s quite literally boasts plug and play simplicity. PowerLine wall plugs from D-Link's DHP-303 starter kit The firm claimed its DHP-303 PowerLine HD Ethernet Adapter Starter Kit is the ideal way to …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 11:17

  • Smear site leads back to Commons

    Who'd a thunk it?

    The website supposedly set up to smear the Tory Party in the run-up to a general election was registered to a House of Commons address. A cunning someone used the name Olly Cromwell and opted to keep their address private. But The Times reckons a Commons contact address was used when theredrag.co.uk was registered last …

    Government 15 Apr 11:33

  • Nokia sees easy meat with Easy Meet

    Dump snaps on friends and relatives from afar

    Nokia's BetaLabs has conjured up a virtual meeting system with an emphasis on mobility and informality, rather than the usual ability to administer death by PowerPoint from a distance. Nokia's BetaLabs generally turns out interesting, if niche, applications for Symbian-based handsets. Easy Meet is cross-platform, however, …

    Mobile 15 Apr 12:00

  • Scammers use Ford to drive users to scareware sites

    Mondeo man offered malware by black-hat SEO fiends

    Scareware scammers are trying to game search engines into promoting crudware sites when a surfer searches for information on Ford cars. Attacks of this type, themed around events such as the recent tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson, are becoming increasingly commonplace. However, attacks themed around a single well- …

    Malware 15 Apr 12:10

  • Clock starts ticking: Office 2010 will definitely ship in... 2010

    Microsoft to serve up 64-bit version

    Microsoft is expected to announce later today that Office 2010 will be released to manufacturers in the first half of next year, and it will come in 32-bit and 64-bit flavours. "Yes, Office will have two separate 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Office 2010 will be the first to do this," an MS spokesdroid told Ars Technica. …

    Channel Register 15 Apr 12:35

  • 'Let me use poo-flinging Roman siege engine against burglars'

    Croc-wrestling wife-lob dancefloor kingpin's plea

    A colourful businessman who says he is being harassed by burglars and arsonists has deployed a modified Roman siege engine to protect his premises. For use as a non-lethal security measure the catapult is loaded with chicken excrement, but even so its use has been forbidden by the police - apparently resulting in more break-ins …

    Bootnotes 15 Apr 12:50

  • Germany not a hard-line censor after all

    Wikileaks.de suffers chronic lack of teutonic efficiency

    Rumours of state censorship in Germany may turn out to have been just a little exaggerated. However, plans for putting their child abuse blocklist on a legal footing may yet have far-reaching consequences for internet users in that country. Earlier this week, we were hearing reports that wikileaks.de – the German offshoot of …

    Government 15 Apr 13:13

  • Gadget-laden travellers given free Heathrow juice

    Airport installs 47 'Power Poles'

    Power-poorly passengers passing through Heathrow Airport can now recharge their gadgets for free. Power Poles let Heathrow's travellers recharge for free The airport has spent £300,000 ($447,560/€337,953) researching, producing and installing a total of 47 Power Poles across terminals one and three. A Power Pole rollout is …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 13:46

  • FEV talks up Caliber ReEV

    'Leccy Tech A Dodge Caliber in disguise

    Although General Motors (GM) is yet to announce specific technical details about the drive train for its Volt plug-in Extended Range (ER) e-car, American auto-engineering firm FEV has been more than forthcoming about its own upcoming ‘leccy motor. FEV's Caliber ReEV is based on the chassis and body of a Dodge Caliber (above …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 13:51

  • Farmers furious at EU's sheep-chip scheme

    Get orf my laaamb

    British farmers have pledged to fight to the "bitter end" over EU plans for all sheep to be fitted with electronic ID tags as the UK government ruminates on how to implement the scheme. The EU has long recognised that all sheep tend to look alike to humans, and is looking to RFID technology to ensure animals can be tracked …

    Government 15 Apr 13:53

  • Phorm director advises UK.gov broadband minister

    Conflicts denied as Amazon opts out

    A member of Phorm's board also works as a taxpayer-funded broker at the heart of UK internet policy, in the very department tasked this week with responding to European Commission demands to tighten privacy laws. Kip Meek defended his dual role today, insisting his job for the Digital Britain review was completely separate to …

    Telecoms 15 Apr 14:28

  • Numonyx bets on Phase-Change Memory

    Virident says thanks for the memory

    Flash memory supplier Numonyx is betting that servers will use Phase-Change Memory (PCM) to provide dramatic increases in performance for in-memory applications. It's signed a deal with Virident to supply NAND flash, and PCM for use as sub-DRAM tiers of storage in Virident's Green Gateway servers. The PCM could theoretically …

    Servers 15 Apr 14:38

  • LG Germany cock-up uncovers Viewty successor

    Exclusive Official blog unveils phone too early, but gets name wrong

    LG’s German division could be in a spot of bother, because it published details about the firm’s upcoming successor to the Viewty handset ahead of schedule and called it by the wrong name. This is LG's Viewty successor, but a name hasn't been decided The company’s official German blog recently posted technical …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 14:52

  • Cabinet Office promises auto-sacking for breaking email rules

    O'Donnell dampens flames with warm flannel

    Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell has confirmed that Number 10 special advisor Damian McBride's email activities, which emerged at the weekend, were a serious breach of government rules. Replying to a letter from MP Francis Maude, O'Donnell confirmed that using government resources for party political purposes is in breach of …

    Government 15 Apr 14:54

  • Mozilla considers dumping Firefox support for Win2k, early XP

    Procrastination is all in a day's work...

    Mozilla execs have taken to their developer forum to mull whether to ditch support for versions of ageing Microsoft operating systems when it releases Firefox 3.5’s successor in 2010. Over the course of the past day, the browser maker’s developer team and company execs have been discussing which Windows operating systems …

    Applications 15 Apr 14:58

  • DARPA AI will trawl petabytes of UAV vid for enemy cows

    Will see horses, deduce existence of evil cattle

    Renowned Pentagon tech-tomfoolery agency DARPA has announced a new plan to create mighty artificial intelligences. The so-called "Deep Learning" machines will be used to trawl through petabytes of video from robot aircraft prowling the skies - initially, apparently, seeking out threatening horses and cows. According to DARPA …

    Science 15 Apr 15:13

  • McAfee: Save the planet - use a spam filter

    Junk mail makes monster carbon emissions? Oh noes!

    Spam is more than a nuisance - it's damaging to the environment, according to net security firm McAfee. McAfee reasons junk email contributes to green house gas emissions because of the computer resources allocated to processing unwanted messages. Annual spam uses the equivalent electricity of 2.4m US homes or creates the …

    Spam 15 Apr 15:22

  • Microsoft courts the upwardly mobile

    WLTM anyone with 10 years' MS experience

    A job advert posted on the Microsoft website points to plans for a Windows Mobile update system, extending the customer relationship beyond a sticker on the box. "Have you wished to see your Windows Mobile phone with new features 'magically' show up without you buying a new one?" says the advert, spotted by Ars Technica, …

    Mobile 15 Apr 15:49

  • IBM-led tech outfit backs EC in Microsoft browser fight

    Sticking the interoperability boot in

    Tech group ECIS has today been granted third party status to testify in the Brussels probe into whether Microsoft abused its dominant browser market position. The organisation that represents the likes of IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems confirmed today it had joined Google and Mozilla in being allowed to have its voice heard …

    Applications 15 Apr 16:03

  • Open-source iPhone plan to control your home

    JBoss disrupter returns

    Two open-source heavyweights and their team have announced a proof-of-concept milestone to control all your home gadgets from an iPhone and iPod touch. The project, OpenRemote, is being shepherded by Marc Fleury whose middleware start-up JBoss ran circles around the closed-source app server big boys before becoming the subject …

    Music and Media 15 Apr 17:41

  • Chambers' Cisco not interested in Sun's body

    Speed-dating king could use the brains

    Cisco Systems chief executive has taken his company out of the running for a possible Sun Microsystems acquisition. John Chambers has reportedly said if his networking giant and server wannabe were interested in a deal, then that deal would have happened by now. "Cisco moves very rapidly on acquisitions," he said. "If we were …

    Business 15 Apr 17:44

  • Olympic champ's mom sues Google for dead blogger's post

    Good luck with that

    The mother of US Olympic speedskating phenomenon Shani Davis is suing Google for refusing to remove a posting to its Blogspot site that was made by a user who has since died. It's questionable how far the lawsuit, filed last week in Illinois state court on behalf of Cherie Davis, is likely to get. Legal scholars say the …

    Music and Media 15 Apr 18:12

  • BNT and IBM discover patent love to block Unified Cisco

    Cross-licensed, re-branded and ready

    Blade Network Technologies, the private equity-backed blade networking spinout from now-bankrupt Nortel, has rebranded its blade switches, dumping the old Nortel moniker. And to battle Cisco Systems, coming into the blade server space with its California blade servers featuring integrated and virtualized switching, BNT has …

    Hardware 15 Apr 18:34

  • The amazing disappearing Omnia HD

    Man makes video using invisible phonecamera

    Samsung only launched the Omnia HD in February, but the phone’s already disappeared – sort of. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com The firm’s created a video in which a man films himself in a mirror using the Samsung phone. However, halfway through he briefly covers over the phone’s rear-mounted camera …

    Reg Hardware 15 Apr 19:02

  • Wanted: Creative spark for iPhone games

    Comment Mobile renaissance in dark ages

    The phrase "recession proof" has been bandied about a lot lately to describe the games biz, as people seek their own entertainment at home rather than spending on the cinema or in restaurants. And in many ways, the games industry is thriving more than ever. In 2008, Americans spent more than $21bn on games, hardware, and …

    Music and Media 15 Apr 20:21

  • Attention Symantec: There's a bug crawling on your website

    XSS strikes again

    Symantec has been outed for hosting gaping security holes on its website that could allow miscreants to remotely execute malicious code on the computers of people who visit it. The XSS, or cross-site scripting, bugs allow attackers to steal the web cookies Symantec sets on visitors' hard drives. Such cookies are frequently …

    Security 15 Apr 20:32

  • Microsoft Office for Mac fix falls at first hurdle

    Updated If at first you can't install, re-install

    Microsoft on Tuesday released an Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.7 update. By Wednesday, some fundamental problems with its installing had surfaced. According to multiple posts on Mac-news site MacInTouch, multiple users are experiencing installation failures. The update is intended to patch remote code execution vulnerabilities in …

    Security 15 Apr 20:57

  • NASA rejects democracy, names ISS node 'Tranquility'

    Get sweaty on the COLBERT

    NASA has selected the name "Tranquility" for the International Space Station's new living quarters, not only rejecting attempts by Comedy Central's Steven Colbert to get the new node named after himself but also largely ignoring a popular vote on the subject. Despite "Colbert" winning the space agency's Help Name Node 3 …

    Physics 15 Apr 22:03

  • McKinsey: Adopt the cloud, lose money

    Virtualize your datacenter instead

    The logic - as ever with crowd-based movements - is self-evident: cloud computing will save you money because you will no longer need to own your own servers. As ever with the wisdom of crowds, the truth isn't quite what it seems. Sure, you no longer need to buy or run those servers, but along with the cloud comes a whole new …

    Virtualization 15 Apr 22:06

  • AT&T seeks additional year of iPhone lock-in

    Apple's mutual dependency

    AT&T is reportedly trying to cajole Apple into adding another year onto their iPhone-exclusivity deal, extending it until 2011. The Wall Street Journal has reported that AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson has been in discussions with Apple about the possible extension. AT&T investors and employees will no doubt be …

    Networks 15 Apr 22:50