12th May 2009 Archive

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Facebook denies denying Holocaust deniers

The fine line between jerks and the KKK

Facebook has once again found itself sizzling uncomfortably in the frying pan of user outrage recently, this time for apparently letting a bunch of Holocaust denial groups maintain shop on the site. The most prominent voice demanding Holocaust denial groups get the boot from Facebook belongs to attorney Brian Cuban, brother of …

Music and Media 12 May 00:31
HP moves OpenVMS dev to India?

No surprise there

The companies that create and modernize operating systems are under the same economic pressures as the IT departments of corporations - large and small - that create and maintain their own applications atop those operating systems. And it comes as no surprise that the development of the venerable OpenVMS proprietary operating …

Operating Systems 12 May 04:40
Doro PhoneEasy 338gsm

Review Fuss-free phone with dedicated panic button

Doro is a Swedish company which launched its first range of back-to-basics mobile phones in 2007, aimed at the elderly and people with limited dexterity. Using a Doro phone is like taking a step back in time. A time before smart phones, mobile internet or even camphones – this is an extremely basic handset. Doro's PhoneEasy …

Reg Hardware 12 May 08:02
Cops collar Russian punting dog dressed as lamb

Mutton on the menu in Moscow restaurants

Police in the Russian city of Orlov have detained a 50-year-old Kursk businessman en route to Moscow with a bootload of "dressed mutton" - actually 15 skinned dog carcasses destined for Moscow eateries. Officials from the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, aka Rosselkhoznadzor, said the mutt- …

Bootnotes 12 May 08:51
STEC sees SSD business boom

Enterprise exceeds expectations

Enterprise solid state drive use means booming sales for STEC which saw revenues for its Zeus SSD rise 267.1 percent year-on-year. Overall revenues for the first 2009 quarter were $63.5m, up 25.2 percent on the year-ago quarter's $50.7m, and up 11.6 percent from the last quarter of 2008, indicating a slow down in sales growth …

Channel Register 12 May 08:57
Nortel confirms fire sale

And shrinking revenues

Nortel is well-advanced in the process of splitting itself into self-supporting business units which could be sold off separately, if the firm cannot find a buyer for its whole business. The 100-year old Canadian communications company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. Since then it has split its business …

Data Networking 12 May 08:58
Gordon Ramsay breaches f**king broadcasting code

115 choice language cuts in 40 minutes

Ofcom has ruled that the 30 January culinary swearfest Ramsay’s Great British Nightmare - a two-parter which kicked off at 9pm - was in breach of the broadcasting code after racking up an impressive "115 instances of the most offensive language" in its first 40 minutes. The watchdog received 51 complaints about the programme …

Entertainment 12 May 09:02
Government failing on small biz skills

Apprenticeship schemes told: You're fired!

The British Chamber of Commerce, which campaigns for small business, is complaining that the government is failing to keep its promises on funding for training and apprenticeship schemes. The Learning and Skills Council distributes over £10bn for training young people, whether it is in further education or by helping …

Small Biz 12 May 09:05
WoW scores Blizzard lead in 'top developers' poll

Grand Theft Auto steals Rockstar top three position

World of Warcraft, Wii Fit and Grand Theft Auto IV are just some of titles that helped ensure top-ten rankings for their respective development firms in this year’s Develop100 poll. The annual list – described by compiler and gaming magazine Develop as the world’s top 100 most bankable games development studios – saw WoW firm …

Reg Hardware 12 May 09:09
High court judge: Data protection isn't defamation substitute

Act does not have your back

The Data Protection Act should not be a backup plan in failed defamation cases, a High Court judge has said. Mr Justice Eady has rejected a claim that an allegedly libellous statement was also a breach of the privacy law. The Data Protection Act (DPA) regulates the sharing of personal data, and says that someone processing …

IT Director 12 May 09:17
Greece grounds Google's Street View fleet

No more snooping pending 'additional information'

Google's Orwellian Street View snoopmobiles have been banned from prowling Greece's highways and byways, pending the search monolith coughing "additional information" as to just what it's up to. The country's Data Protection Authority issued the edict yesterday, according to AFP, simultaneously suspending a similar all-seeing …

Government 12 May 09:19
Kettering to London: 18 hours by rail, bus and pack mule

East Midlands Trains offers bank holiday overnight epic

Passengers who fancy catching a train on 23 May from Kettering to London St Pancras are advised to pack a sleeping bag and some heavy reading material because the normally one-hour-ish trip will take no less than 18 hours during which passengers will enjoy "seven changes, five bus journeys and a trip on the London Underground …

Bootnotes 12 May 09:46
iPod designer's private nature costs him jonathanive.com

I will surf Ive

Jonathan Ive, designer of the iMac, iPod and iPhone, has lost a claim for domain names carrying his name because his name is not a trade mark and because he shuns publicity. His name is not used enough in commerce to be protected, an arbitrator has ruled. Ive has applied for European Community trade marks but they have not yet …

Mobile 12 May 09:48
ViewSonic dials into smartphones

Monitor maker turns phone fan

You probably only associate ViewSonic with monitors and LCD TVs, but you’ll soon know the company for its handsets, it hopes. The firm has just announced plans to pump out smartphones. ViewSonic’s keeping mum for now about what features its 3G smartphone range will offer. But it said the first devices will be launched in China …

Reg Hardware 12 May 10:23
Q1 chip sales plunge reveals slowing demand for netbooks

Fad finished?

Demand for Intel's netbook-oriented Atom processors plunged in Q1, but only from computer manufacturers, it seems. Market watcher IDC this week said that Atom shipments were down 33 per cent during the first three months of 2009 when compared to the final three months of 2008. So no one wants netbooks now? Not necessarily. …

Reg Hardware 12 May 10:24
Uni students invent 'radiation-proof' cloth for Moon tents

Extraterrestrial real-estate bubble

In news which could be a boon for the fledging inflatable Moon habitat tent podule industry, a group of textiles students from North Carolina say they have invented a radiation-proof, solar power generating fabric ideal for lunar camping. As regular Reg readers will be well aware, most of the universe is too radioactive for …

Space 12 May 10:30
Samsung unfolds phone with e-ink panel

But for the keyboard, not the screen...

E-ink screens may be all the rage for e-book readers, but Samsung’s turned the display technology on its head by putting it to use as a keyboard on its latest phone. Samsung's Alias 2: has a morphing E-Ink keyboard The Alias 2 – successor to Samsung’s 2007 Alias – is described as a dual-hinge messaging phone with a …

Reg Hardware 12 May 10:36
XSS flaws found in sites of multiple anti-virus firms

Dirty half-dozen

Security researchers have revealed that the websites of no less than six anti-virus firms are vulnerable to cross-site scripting flaws, of a type that might lend themselves to phishing attacks. Some of the firms involved have admitted problems, while others say the issues raised have either already been fixed or are erroneous …

Enterprise Security 12 May 10:39
Vodafone opens gates to barbarians

App-wielding hordes get global access, billing system

Vodafone is set to announce a standard set of APIs, allowing third parties to create applications integrated with Vodafone servers around the world, including tapping the operator's billing system for micropayments. In an announcement billed as (yet again) "redefining the mobile internet," Vodafone is unveiling a set of …

Mobile 12 May 10:40
Taiwanese rat snake bites Taiwanese trouser snake

Herpetological lavatory mishap began with 'knife-like' todger pain

A Taiwanese man is recovering in hospital after a snake sank its fangs into his todger as he sat down on the toilet at his rural home, Reuters reports. The unnamed 51-year-old Nantou County victim suffered "minor injuries" to his wedding tackle during the attack. The China Times explains: "As soon as he sat down, he suddenly …

Bootnotes 12 May 10:50
No unified networking with Fujitsu's bladed server - yet

FCoE coming

There is no unified networking with FTS's freshly-announced Dynamic Cube - yet. But FCoE is coming. Yesterday's announcement of the BX900 by Fujitsu Technology Solutions showed that it supported both Ethernet and Fibre Channel connections, with Brocade and Cisco Fibre Channel switches being certified. There was no support for …

Data Networking 12 May 10:54
Sapphire lauds 'first' 1GHz-plus AMD GPU

High-speed card in a natty packaging

Graphics card specialist Sapphire has rolled out what it reckons is the first board to boast a gigahertz-clocked GPU - from AMD, at any rate. The Atomic HD 4890 runs its graphics engine at 1050MHz. To maintain the 'giga' theme, it's got 1GB of GDDR 5 on board too, connected over 256-bit bus. Sapphire's Atomic HD 4890: comes …

Reg Hardware 12 May 10:56
SAP buys carbon management tech firm

It's a gas, gas, gas!

German software firm SAP has acquired a privately-held carbon management tech firm for an undisclosed sum. Clear Standards is based in Sterling, Virginia and New York. The company designs apps for measuring greenhouse gas emissions. SAP boss Leo Apotheker said in a statement yesterday that the acquisition, which is expected …

Applications 12 May 11:08
Zero CTO unveils SS 'micro sports bike'

Leccy Tech Model SS to follow the Model S

Zero Motorcycles is readying a ‘leccy sports bike that may just be the two-wheeler we’ve all been waiting for: a lightweight electric road racer equivalent of its soon-to-ship 125cc model S sports bike. Zero's model S: will be sold from soon-to-open UK stores Neal Saiki, CTO of Zero, told magazine Hell for Leather that “ …

Reg Hardware 12 May 11:13
Major law firm drops filesharing threats

Exclusive Staff continue 'bullying' at smaller outfit

Davenport Lyons, the high profile London media law firm, has dropped its mass letter writing campaign on behalf of copyright holders, which accused internet users of illegal filesharing and threatened court action if they did not quickly pay hundreds of pounds compensation. However, the campaign has been taken up by a much …

Law 12 May 11:27
Sony prices up OLED-screened iPod Touch rival

Walkman X out tomorrow

Sony's OLED-equipped portable media player, the Walkman X, goes on sale tomorrow the company has just announced. Pricing is exactly what you'd expect if you've been keeping an eye on online retailers who leaked the details months ago. Sony's Walkman X: clear and crisp OLED screen Sony itself will be asking £209 for the …

Reg Hardware 12 May 11:32
Lost jungle tribe research: Nice guys can get the girls

Sign of a society about to wipe itself out, though

Interesting news today for male Reg readers living in primitive, murderous jungle warrior societies. New research indicates that, while in general the more violent and aggressive you are the more success with the ladies you will have, there is a point at which diminishing returns set in. News regarding the limitations of …

Biology 12 May 11:41
US students 'required' to buy iPhones

Funding loophole favours fruity firm

A North American college has urged new journalism students to buy iPhones, exploiting a funding fiddle to promote the gadget as a learning aid. According to a local newssite's report, incoming students at the Missouri School of Journalism (MSJ) will now be sent a letter telling them to buy either an iPhone or iPod Touch before …

Reg Hardware 12 May 11:55
Juniper tops off Ethernet switches

Wee one on the way

On Tuesday, Juniper Networks rolled out the final - and biggest - hunk o'hardware in the line of Ethernet switches they announced back in January of 2008. "It's the end of the beginning," said Chris Spain, the company's VP of product management and technical marketing for its Ethernet Platforms Business Group. Spain - who …

Data Networking 12 May 12:02
Linutop 2

Review Linux desktop lightweight – in more ways than one?

A whole heap of companies have started offering miniature Linux-powered PCs in the last few years, from Zonbu, Sumo and Koolu to DecTOP, that sells the device formerly known as AMD's Personal Internet Communicator. A number bear an almost suspicious resemblance to x86-powered thin clients, being based around inexpensive, low- …

Reg Hardware 12 May 12:04
US teen pleads guilty over Scientology DDoS attacks

Anonymous botnet hacktivist faces spell behind bars

A US teenager has admitted involvement in a high profile denial of service attack against Scientology websites last year. Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, New Jersey, 19, pleaded guilty on Monday to charges of using a botnet of compromised PCs in order to flood Church of Scientology-related websites with spurious traffic back in …

Crime 12 May 12:06
Euro elections go Web2.0

Watch out Facebook

The European Parliament is treading bravely into the world of social networking in order to get the kids involved in the exciting world of European politics. Bureaucrats have created profiles on popular social sites including Facebook, MySpace and photo sharing site Flickr. There will also be ad-word campaigns and banner ads …

Government 12 May 12:07
Microsoft insists debt issue not a prelude to SAP bid

That's random, says Ballmer

Microsoft confirmed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it plans to sell a multi-billion-dollar debt offering, and in turn kicked off rumours that Redmond could be mulling a possible takeover of German software maker SAP. MS boss Steve Ballmer has since poured cold water on the speculation, but what’s …

Financial News 12 May 12:11
Fetish club forces ID scanner climbdown

As MPs give security industry a spanking

Good news for fetishists wishing to protect their privacy on a night out in South London. Less good news for the rest of us, as Police and Government obsession with crime prevention continues to make inroads into our personal privacy and security - but some comfort, as senior politicians from all parties take up an issue first …

Policing 12 May 12:12
Intel's netbook roadmap downplays HD chipset

Insufficient demand for GN40?

So farewell then, GN40, Intel's next major netbook chipset but now apparently destined for the chop before it was even launched. That, at least, is what can be read from Intel mobile platform plans announced in Asia this week. Sources within Taiwan's notebook manufacturer community cited by DigiTimes indicate that Intel's …

Reg Hardware 12 May 12:57
Adblock developer offers 'please unblock me' tag to sites

Site says ads are cool, user says I'm no freetard, peace and love follows

Fresh from a bizarre food fight with rival Giorgio Maone of NoScript, Adblock Plus developer Wladimir Palant has offered an olive branch to publishers - and along with it, an opportunity for his users to show that they're not a bunch of parasitic freeloaders. Essentially, Palant is offering up a dialogue where publishers first …

Applications 12 May 12:58
Dell punts £199 10in netbook

Takes price fight to Acer, Asus et al

Dell is now offering a 10in netbook for a pound under 200 quid. The Inspiron Mini 10v lacks the internet tablet-oriented Intel Atom Z-series processor of the existing Mini 10, replacing it with the Atom N270. Dell Inspiron Mini 10v: N270 CPU but a more crammed display To get the price down under 200 quid, Dell has dropped …

Reg Hardware 12 May 13:17
Film industry turns up P2P heat on Carter

Updated Hardens enforcement stance

The UK film industry today backed the record industry's long-running campaign for laws to force ISPs to cut off persistent illegal filesharers from the internet. At a conference in London today, a coalition including Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), the UK film sector's copyright enforcement body, will aim to put …

Music and Media 12 May 13:36
Europe calls for rules on RFID chips

Reding outlines responsibilities for companies

The European Commission has put out a series of recommendations to protect European citizens from the privacy risks associated with RFID chips. Radio Frequency IDentification chips are used across the continent. Applications include Oyster travel cards, building access cards and for tracking inventory. Retailers are …

ID 12 May 14:11
Pirate Bay co-founder demands new police probe

Claims too many ties to opponents

One of the Pirate Bay’s co-founders is calling on Swedish police to conduct a new investigation into the notorious BitTorrent site’s operations. Peter Sunde - aka BrokeP - said in a blog post yesterday that himself, and the three other Pirate Bay men who were convicted of being accessories to breaching copyright laws last …

Music and Media 12 May 14:46
Google blames cheeseburgers for destroying the planet

OJ, newspapers guilty too

Google has declared newspapers, orange juice and cheeseburgers that much more harmful to the planet than running a vast network of datacentres. Urs Hölzle, senior vice president operations at Happyland Central, took to the Google blog today to put its claims that the average Google search "uses about 1 kJ of energy and emits …

Environment 12 May 14:48
Pirate-pursuing lawyers get DDo$ money transfer slap

Micro-payment cash-drain caper in Pirate Bay case

P2P-ers furious over the Pirate Bay case are being asked to get back at lawyers for the entertainment industry via the counter-intuitive route of ostensibly giving them money. By sending very small amounts of money of 1 SEK ($0.13) to Danowsky & Partners, who brought the prosecution, through the Swedish web-based payment …

Music and Media 12 May 15:12
World's slimmest 3.5in external HDD uncovered

Freecom's Hard Drive XS

Freecom has unveiled what it’s claimed is the world’s smallest 3.5in desktop hard drive. Freecom's 3.5in Hard Drive XS The 180 x 112.5 x 30mm Hard Drive XS weighs in at just 860g, yet will provide a storage capacity of 1TB. Its rubber body should help minimise any risk of your sweaty hands dropping the drive – it’s not an …

Reg Hardware 12 May 15:48
Court upholds 'hacking' charge against smut-surfing worker

Interesting definition leads to severe legal flagellation

A US court has turned down an appeal from a man convicted of computer hacking offences for using a workplace computer to post nude pictures of himself onto a swingers website. Richard Wolf used his work PC to upload naked pics of himself to show prospective buddies through the Adult Friend Finder website, as well as surfing …

Crime 12 May 15:52
HP forges Netweaver XML appliance

Making SAP sit up and bark faster

German software giant SAP is hosting its annual Sapphire user and partner conference this week in Orlando, Florida, and all the majors in the IT community (many of who use SAP to run their own businesses) want to get a little piece of the PR action. In the case of Hewlett-Packard, Sapphire is all about promoting its expertise in …

Servers 12 May 15:58
France says 'Oui!' to three strikes for music pirates

Stern letters in the post

French politicians have handed the international music and video industries a victory against online media pirates with legislation to punish offenders. The bill, backed by pro-business president Nicolas Sarkozy, slipped comfortably through the National Assembly with a 296-to-233 margin. It's set for a vote in the Senate on …

Music and Media 12 May 18:31
Iron-pumping Microsoft SQL Server due this summer

Warehouse appliance

The next blocks in Microsoft's SQL Server and appliance-based data-warehouse strategy will be put in place starting this summer. A Community Technology Preview edition of SQL Server 2008 R2, codenamed Kilimanjaro, will be made available in the second half of this year, Microsoft has said. CTP is the first opportunity you'll …

Applications 12 May 18:36
Hitachi scores largest loss in Japanese manufacturing history

NEC optimistic

Hitachi and NEC have reported their their fiscal 2008 results, and the numbers are not good. Hitachi set a new record for the largest annual loss by a Japanese manufacturing company as NEC struggled. On the up side, though, NEC was optimistic about the coming twelve months. Hitachi, which is an extremely diversified …

Financial News 12 May 19:01
eBay fees rejig will still hit casual auctioneers

Sticker shock

eBay announced today it's removing listing fees for users who only occasionally auction their wares on the online flea market - but seller beware. The website is simplifying how it charges folks who only auction just a few items per month, but it's not necessarily becoming cheaper as advertised. eBay charges sellers twice per …

Music and Media 12 May 21:29
IBM kicks out Nehalem-free racks, towers

Not everyone needs it. Yet

While Moore's Law is cramming more and more computing power into a processor socket, not every customer needs a quad-core "Nehalem EP" two socket box to run their applications. Selling into the SMB channel with its System x server line has been tough for IBM in the past three quarters, particularly because in a tough economy …

Servers 12 May 22:24
'Della': Dell's very special site for women

Separate spheres alive and well

Fear not the musty, masculine stench and wet towel snapping at Dell's regular website, lady shoppers. The computer giant has baked up a very special separate place for your delicate female sensibilities! Dell launched a new site this week geared specifically towards women, called Della. Yes indeed. If you thought computer …

Music and Media 12 May 22:41
Sun proxy details its dating game

Three suitors and wacky questions

You've been curious about the back story when Sun Microsystems, as Intel chief executive officer Paul Otellini succinctly put it, "shopped around the Valley and around the world." And now, thanks to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the preliminary merger proxy statement Sun has to file by law as part of Oracle's …

Business 12 May 22:57
Sun admits Oracle didn't want the hardware biz

Hope Larry gets a receipt

Oracle's management has been putting a positive spin on its proposed $5.6bn purchase of Sun Microsystems. Chief executive Larry Ellison - a man with an Ahab-like obsession for hardware appliances - has said the deal potentially makes Oracle the Apple of enterprise systems. Elsewhere, management has been dancing around the fact …

Software 12 May 23:00
Google answers Twitter's real-time search

Searchology What's new now

Google has rolled out its answer to Twitter's much-discussed real-time search. Beginning today, the world's largest search engine will offer a new "search options" page that gives users the power to instantly sort results according to certain, predefined criteria. Among other things, you can leap to what Google describes as …

Music and Media 12 May 23:22