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15th May 2009 Archive

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  • Microsoft yanks preferred status from Daddy Gates' old firm

    Thanks for the briefs

    Microsoft will no longer seek regular legal counsel from a firm named after Bill Gates' father, after it was chopped from a list of regular suppliers. K&L Gates has been removed from Microsoft's list of preferred providers following a comprehensive review, the company said, which saw Microsoft seek competitive bids. Microsoft …

    Odds and Sods 15 May 00:07

  • Deleted cloud rebuilds self from scratch

    FlexiScale fluffs Amazon rival

    Nine months after an engineer accidentally deleted its Amazon-like compute cloud - and six months after a second major outage - FlexiScale has finally completed a software overhaul meant to avoid such extended blackouts. And if you're interested in building your own infrastructure cloud, it might even sell you this new code …

    Servers 15 May 00:17

  • Unsafe at any speed: Memcpy() banished in Redmond

    Larry? Steve? Linus?

    Memcpy() and brethren, your days are numbered. At least in development shops that aspire to secure coding. Microsoft plans to formally banish the popular programming function that's been responsible for an untold number of security vulnerabilities over the years, not just in Windows but in countless other applications based on …

    Security 15 May 00:39

  • Eurofighter Tranche 3: Oh please, God, no

    Comment BAE and Brown stick it to taxpayers, troops again

    So the fix is in. The Treasury's attempt during recent weeks to kill off the final UK tranche of cripplingly expensive Eurofighter combat jets will be quashed, on the personal orders of Gordon Brown. Money will be taken from taxpayers, and lives will be lost among British troops, to buy aircraft which won't be any use - some may …

    Government 15 May 07:02

  • Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition S8300

    Review Touchscreen, keypad and a killer camera, but where's the WiFi?

    While last summer’s Tocco proved a hit for Samsung, its follow up isn’t simply a feature-refreshed, identikit Mark II model. For this season’s flagship Tocco Ultra Edition, Samsung has reconfigured the original minimalist design with a significant extra – a sliderphone keypad – adding a different dimension to the look, feel and …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 08:02

  • HP hit by laptop recall

    Red hot kit

    HP is recalling thousands of laptop batteries after two machines overheated and caught fire. Although no one was injured it is clearly not comfortable, or safe, having a flaming lappie on your lap. The lithium-ion batteries were in HP or Compaq branded machines sold between August 2007 and March 2008. About 70,000* batteries …

    PCs & Chips 15 May 08:39

  • Google protects Colonel Sanders' privacy

    KFC off the menu on Street View

    It's good to see that Google, currently somewhat on the ropes regarding Street View privacy, is walking it like it talks it when it comes to protecting innocent individuals from international cyberexposure: Hmmmm. We suppose it could be argued that Street View is actually protecting impressionable kiddies from the delights …

    Bootnotes 15 May 08:51

  • BakBone stretches into email management

    Fires up with ColdSpark

    Fresh from buying collapsed Assempra's continuous data protection assets, data protection software supplier BakBone has splashed out $16m to buy ColdSpark, which sells enterprise e-mail systems. BakBone's president and CEO, Jim Johnson, said: “This acquisition provides BakBone with a strong entrée into the rapidly-growing …

    Storage 15 May 09:01

  • Hubble packing shiny new camera

    Servicing mission proceeds apace

    The Hubble Space Telescope now boasts a shiny new Wide Field Camera 3 following a seven-hour, 20-minute spacewalk by STS-125 mission specialists John Grunsfeld (in pic, below) and Drew Feustel. During the excursion, which ended at 20:12 GMT, the pair also replaced the bothersome Science Instrument Command and Data Handling …

    Space 15 May 09:15

  • LG confirms 12Mp cameraphone

    Where Idou treds, LG follows

    So far only Sony Ericsson has reached the dizzying heights of 12Mp cameraphone photography. But its Idou handset will soon have a rival, thanks to LG. The Korean company’s announced plans for a 12Mp cameraphone of its own which it’s promised to launch before this year’s out. Although it’s keeping mum about features, LG tried …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 09:48

  • Intel shows glimpse of 32-core Larrabee beast

    Has a larra, larra processing power

    Intel has opened up a corner of its kimono and shown a picture of the upcoming Larrabee chip, indicating it will be a 32-core graphics processing engine. As reported here and elsewhere, Larrabee is Intel's response to Nvidia and AMD graphics processing chips. Larrabee will be, in its first iteration, a 32-core processor. Each …

    PCs & Chips 15 May 09:50

  • Ireland's 'most romantic man' is complete w*nker

    Craic'd one off while following women

    Ireland's most romantic man has been stripped of his crown following protests that he'd been convicted of "committing two acts which were offensive to public morals and decency", viz; "following women around Galway City in his car while masturbating". Aidan Clifford and partner Ellen Spence, who met on a skiing trip in 2007, " …

    Bootnotes 15 May 09:59

  • Exclusive: Mitsubishi's iMiEV UK launch revealed

    Leccy Tech Five-door e-car to land here in November

    The Mitsubishi iMiEV will go on sale in the UK this November, Register Hardware can reveal. Mitsubishi's iMiEV: 50 of the £20k motors will arrive in November Mitsubishi told us this morning that 50 of the five-door runabouts will arrive in the first batch, with a further 150 of the cars allocated to Blighty for the first …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 10:18

  • Computacenter: Life's not as bad as we thought

    Silver linings, green shoots

    Computacenter shares are up over five per cent today after the company said first half turnover and profits were much better than last year's. The reseller's chairman Greg Lock said: "Following the completion of our unaudited management accounts for the four months, a more meaningful comparison can be made. Group profitability …

    Channel Register 15 May 10:23

  • Entry-level Phenom II CPUs to launch in June

    Dual-core part to take on Core 2 Duo

    Expect AMD to take the wraps off a dual-core Phenom II processor aimed at low-cost desktops early next month. So say company moles, and with the Computex trade show kicking off in Taipei on 2 June - the day, they say, the entry level CPUs will be announced - we're not mightily surprised. The Phenom II in question is said to …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 10:58

  • Isilon filer guarantees 80 per cent utilisation

    Offers unique system up to 3.45PB at less than $1/GB

    Clustered filer supplier Isilon is offering a guarantee that its filers will give you more than 80 per cent storage utilisation, up to 3.45PB of file space, and cost less than a dollar a gig. In comparison, Pillar Data offers an 80 per cent storage utilisation guarantee on its Axiom block-level storage arrays. NetApp, …

    Storage 15 May 11:11

  • BlackBerry Storm 2 spotted in wild

    Like the original only skinnier

    Pictures of Research in Motion’s recently confirmed second-generation Storm smartphone have surfaced online. The Storm 2: touch-sensitive buttons are new The Storm 2 takes many visual cues from the original model, but we did notice several changes from the first-generation model. Is it slightly thinner? For example, the …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 11:13

  • Solar-powered netbook spied in Spain

    Free power on the Costa Del Sol

    Spanish firm Iunika has unveiled a solar-powered netbook. Iunika's GYY: uses solar power to top up its battery Branded the GYY, this 8in mini laptop has solar panels built into the outside of its lid. These will help supplement the battery and, apparently, help extend it beyond its basic four-hour untethered runtime. The …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 11:18

  • Canadian Sex Party stands proud at polls

    Priapic politics - one in the eye for the New Puritans

    Sex and politics, together at last - this week the Canadian Sex Party became the first of its kind in the English-speaking world to stand registered candidates in British Columbia, in Canada's provincial elections. One candidate, Sex Party leader John Ince, achieved a reasonably creditable tally of around two per cent of the …

    Government 15 May 11:23

  • Fujitsu Services shuts final salary pension scheme

    It's the final countdown

    The union Unite has condemned the decision by Fujitsu Services to shut its final salary pension scheme. The scheme was closed to new entrants in 2000, but the company will now start a 90 day consultation with the 4,000 staff who are still members from today. Peter Skyte, Unite national officer, said: “Fujitsu Services is a …

    Financial News 15 May 11:35

  • Mozilla marks June for Firefox 3.5 release candidate

    Code freeze expected next week

    Mozilla plans to spin out the release candidate version of Firefox 3.5 in the first week of June. The browser maker’s director Mike Beltzner confirmed late yesterday that Mozilla was “setting an aggressive code freeze target of next Wednesday, May 20th for Firefox 3.5 RC”. He added that the Firefox team was down to 52 code …

    Applications 15 May 11:36

  • USAF raygun boffins clocking planet-buster asteroid threats

    Really, Really Distant Early Warning line in Hawaii

    US airforce raygun boffins have awarded a further $7m in funding to a project which detects and tracks asteroids which could hit Earth and kill us all. Defense Industry Daily reports that the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) project, run by the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy …

    Space 15 May 11:48

  • Malware infested MPs' PCs inflate leak risk

    Comment Four in five Parliamentary machines pwned in last year

    "That's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential security briefings. You leak. He has been charged under section 2a of the Official Secrets Act." (Bernard Woolley, Yes Minister) The ongoing MPs' expenses row has brought public opinion of politics and politicians in the UK, never very high, towards unplumbed …

    Enterprise Security 15 May 12:04

  • Organised crime cops seek international hacking powers

    Euro-cops could offshore hacking work - to UK

    British law enforcement agents are quietly working with European counterparts on changes to national legislation that will allow them to share intelligence gained by hacking into suspects' PCs. Sharon Lemon, director of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency's (SOCA) e-crime unit, told The Register data laws in some EU …

    Policing 15 May 12:11

  • Samsung etches tiny mechanical shutter for cameraphones

    Will end blurred snaps, video, firm claims

    Here's a pic of Samsung's clever micro electro-mechanical (MEMS) shutter, designed to make high-megapixel cameraphones take rather better photos than they currently can. The tiny shutter - it's just 2.2mm across - is made up of 36 triangular strips that curl back away from the pin-hole iris. They're attached to a circular …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 12:30

  • Acer to launch Gateway-branded netbook this year

    But needs to launch its desktops and notebooks first

    Acer will finally launch its Gateway branded desktops and notebooks next week, and plans to launch servers and netbooks under the revived badge by the end of the year. The Taiwanese vendor announced in February that it was reviving the Gateway brand it acquired back in 2007, and said it would ship machines aimed at SMEs and …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 12:35

  • Mac update has 3D issues with VMware Fusion, ATI card

    Maybe it needs some of those special glasses

    Mac users have been told not to install Apple’s latest update to OS X 10.5.7 if they are running VMware Fusion on a Mac that comes loaded with an ATI video card. VMware Fusion is used to run virtual Windows operating systems. When it is used on a Mac Pro or iMac that has an ATI video card with 3D graphics enabled, the OS X 10. …

    PCs & Chips 15 May 12:37

  • New script outstrips all other drive-by download risks

    Major malicious domo

    A newly-created malicious script has become the source of almost half the drive-by download attacks tracked by one security firm. JSRedir-R accounts for around 43 per cent of all malicious infections found on websites over the last week, according to a study by net security firm Sophos, published on Thursday. The malware crops …

    Security 15 May 13:03

  • Archaeologists unearth oldest known 3D pornography

    German cavemen carved jubtabulous mammoth-tusk lady

    Topflight archaeologists have unearthed a 35,000-year-old figurine carved out of mammoth ivory by prehistoric Germans, depicting a woman with enormous breasts. The find is thought to be the oldest known example of 3D pornography in the world. Early German 3D jazzmag. Credit: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. The find was …

    Bootnotes 15 May 13:07

  • UK tech quango eyes 10Gbit broadband

    £1m funding leg-up for researchers

    Networking researchers will get a £1m funding boost to develop technology capable of delivering internet access at 10Gbit/s to homes and businesses. The pot of cash for projects costing between £30,000 and £100,000 was today allocated by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), a quango sponsored by the Department for Innovation, …

    Telecoms 15 May 13:29

  • Tony Hawk prepping skateboard gaming peripheral?

    Video points to high-tech skateboard

    Gaming peripherals look set to become much more realistic, following the revelation that skateboarding superstar Tony Hawk’s latest title will use a hi-tech skateboard add-on. Will this board be sold with Tony Hawk's latest title? Activision – the firm behind his new Tony Hawk Ride videogame – has released a promotion video …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 14:11

  • Canon EOS 500D

    Review DSLR with HD video trimmings, but has Canon sliced off too much?

    Digital SLRs are generally aimed at three distinct groups: beginners, advanced users and pros. Occasionally, a model emerges that doesn’t fit so neatly into any of these categories. Take the Canon EOS 500D – a high-end, entry level DSLR perhaps? Then again, it could also be a low-end, mid-range camera. So is the EOS 500D simply …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 14:18

  • Banned US shock-jock demands Clinton intervention

    Savage goes cap in hand to 'fraudulent huckster' over Blighty snub

    US shock-jock Michael Savage has asked Hillary Clinton to intervene on his behalf following UK home secretary Jacqui Smith's decision to name him on a list of 16 identified individuals she'd rather not see pass Blighty's immigration controls. Wacky Jacqui recently "named and shamed" Savage along with a couple of unpleasant …

    Music and Media 15 May 14:19

  • Acer readies HD netbook

    720p screen, H.264 decode chip, mini optical drive on board

    Acer appears to be preparing a rather more HD-friendly netbook than many of its past mini laptops have proved to be. The Aspire One 571 - not to be confused with the recently launched Aspire One 751 - has the same shell as the Aspire One Dx50 series but comes with a 10.1in, 1280 x 720 display. Acer's Aspire One 571: mini …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 14:46

  • The V-Max dust is settling

    Comment How will EMC's competition respond?

    EMC raised a marketing whirlwind with its highly scalable Symmetrix V-Max last month, and much dust was raised as competitors and EMC made claims and counter-claims. What will EMC competitors actually do, though, as they assimilate the impact of V-Max? It's possible to discern likely steps forward in enterprise array design by …

    Storage 15 May 15:07

  • EU selects satellite broadband providers

    But will blighty get covered?

    The EU has awarded Inmarsat Ventures and Solaris Mobile enough radio spectrum to run trans-Europe satellite data networks, but Ofcom remains undecided if they'll still have to pay market rates to run their network down to the UK's street level. The spectrum concerned, two blocks around 2GHz, has been allocated to satellite …

    Mobile 15 May 15:13

  • Mickey Rourke to star in Mona Lisa rehash

    'It's a diabolical liberty', Part III

    Evidently not satisfied with taking a hatchet to Get Carter and The Long Good Friday, Hollywood has now decided Neil Jordan's 1986 gangster film Mona Lisa would benefit from a rehash starring Mickey Rourke. According to Variety, Handmade Films is the guilty party producing the reinvention, which will see Rourke playing "an ex- …

    Entertainment 15 May 15:14

  • Sony, Nintendo: release your next-gen handhelds now

    Sooner they do, the faster sales will climb, forecasts analyst

    Attempts by Sony and Nintendo to freshen up their handheld consoles will see global sales of such gadgets grow by 4.9 per cent this year, according to analyst iSuppli. The market watcher predicted that sales of handheld consoles, such as the PlayStation Portable (PSP), will increase by 4.9 per cent in 2009. As a result, total …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 15:21

  • Asus to slash retail Eee PC line-up

    'Luxury' and 9in models for the chop?

    Asus today confirmed a version of its MacBook Air-like netbook, the 1008HA, with a removable battery will indeed be coming to the UK, part of a scheme to streamline the Eee PC line-up here. By July, Asus will be offering three key Eee PC netbooks to the general public - all of them 10in models pre-loaded with Windows XP and …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 15:22

  • Facebook users warned over renewed phishing assault

    As Gray Lady's fashion blog gets pwned

    Facebook users are facing a new wave of phishing attacks following a previous barrage in April. Fraudulent messages from already compromised accounts on the social networking website attempt to trick users into handing over their login details to one of a series of fake sites. The assault follows the pattern of a previous …

    ID 15 May 15:38

  • Emulex rebuffs Broadcom's advances again

    Comment Naff off. Or come back with more cash

    Emulex has reinforced its opposition to a revised Broadcom bid to take the company over. In its latest rebuttal to Broadcom's latest $9.25/share offer, it virtually repeated the statement it made following the first unsolicited attempt. The Emulex statement says the Broadcom offer "significantly undervalues Emulex's long-term …

    Storage 15 May 15:53

  • White House confiscates hack's handset

    Video I'M IN A PRESIDENTIAL PRESS BRIEFING!

    OK, so we all forget to switch phones off when we go into theatres, concert halls, meetings with the boss. Usually, we're spared blushes because the darn thing doesn't ring, but at least we know that, if it did, we wouldn't have it taken away. Pity then, one US hack whose inability to covertly turn off a ringing mobile - or at …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 17:02

  • D-Link exposes WiFi routers with new 'security feature'

    It's not a lock. It's a key

    A new security feature added to some D-Link wireless routers actually makes users more susceptible to network intrusion, according to a hacker blog, which provides enough evidence to be taken seriously. Manufacturer D-Link was still busy congratulating itself for adding a CAPTCHA designed to prevent malware bots from logging …

    Security 15 May 18:31

  • Atlantis crews begins second Hubble spacewalk

    Fresh set of gyros and battery swap

    Two NASA astronauts ventured out of space shuttle Atlantis today for the mission's second of five spacewalks to repair and upgrade the Hubble Telescope. "Trained my whole life for this," said Michael Massimino as he squeezed his six foot frame inside the cramped quarters of the aged space observatory. Massimino and fellow …

    Space 15 May 18:34

  • Google trademark grab defies mounting lawsuits

    Court costs no match for money machine?

    Despite facing multiple lawsuits over the sale of trademarked keywords on its web-dominating ad machine, Google has expanded the use of trademarks by US advertisers. Yesterday, with a post to the Google AdWords blog, the company said it will soon allow the use of trademarks in the text displayed by its online search ads. "We …

    Music and Media 15 May 19:58

  • Microsoft's JavaScript strategy hurting IE 8?

    A total-package decision

    Microsoft's focus on selected improvements in Internet Explorer's handling of Javascript has cost its latest browser in the race against competitors. Internet Explorer 8 is ninth in a list of 10 browsers that have been tested for speed, with the previous version of Microsoft's browser - IE 7 - coming last. This list arrives …

    Applications 15 May 20:03

  • IBM supers shun nukes for biz analytics

    BAO. It's the next ERP

    As part of its briefings to Wall Street and investors this week, IBM trotted out its recently announced System S streaming system and the "Watson" QA super. Both are variants of its BlueGene/P Power-Linux supercomputer lineup, but both are aimed at solving business problems instead of simulating weather or nuclear explosions. …

    Servers 15 May 21:09

  • Hacked flight sim site in catastrophic crash and burn

    Avsim, RIP

    A popular website for users of flight simulation gear has been felled, most likely fatally, after malicious hackers attacked both of the servers housing more than 12 years worth of content supplied by its 60,000 members. Tom Allensworth, the founder of Avsim.com, said in a statement that that an attack on Tuesday left the site …

    Security 15 May 21:30

  • Take-Two sues over death of Duke Nukem Forever

    'Nobody steals our checks... and lives!'

    The abrupt meltdown of PC gaming's most infamous vapourware, Duke Nukem Forever, isn't going to pass without some legal fallout. DNF's intended publisher, Take-Two Interactive, is accusing the defunct dev house 3D Realms of contract breach for failing to deliver the long-long-awaited game. 3D Realms was supposedly designing …

    Reg Hardware 15 May 21:33

  • Ocarina dedupes better than NetApp

    Says commissioned Swiss tester

    Ocarina is better at data reduction than NetApp according to a commissioned Swiss Tester, being better with just deduplication and much better when its compression (content-aware optimisation) is switched on. The report (pdf) was commissioned by Ocarina from Storage Switzerland, and compares Ocarina deduplication and …

    Storage 15 May 21:57

  • Dell taps VIA Nano chips for custom mini-servers

    Keeping hosters happy

    In the Web hosting world, you can charge a premium for customers who have dedicated servers. But Moore's Law and every-more powerful processors combined with server virtualization puts pressure on Web hosting companies to do shared servers for their clients because no modest Web customer can use a whole one-socket or two-socket …

    Servers 15 May 22:10