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19th May 2009 Archive

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  • US gov polishes Energy Stars for servers

    Yellow means green

    Here is perhaps the best sign that computing has really gone mainstream: Starting today, servers can be equipped with the same kind of yellow Energy Star tags as a stove, microwave, or refrigerator. After more than two years of development in conjunction with server makers, power companies, data center operators, and other …

    Servers 19 May 00:59

  • Duke Nukem developer answers Take-Two suit

    'A bully tactic'

    Supposed Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms has responded to a lawsuit filed by the game's would-be publisher, Take-Two Interactive, calling it "merely a bully tactic" to seize the Duke Nukem franchise. Take-Two filed a lawsuit against the game maker on May 13, alleging it had breached a $12m contract by failing to …

    Music and Media 19 May 01:04

  • Appro bridges Tesla GPUs, Nehalems

    CUDA clusters

    Supercomputer cluster vendor Appro is a niche player in the cut-throat HPC market, and it's bringing the nVidia Tesla GPU and the CUDA programming environment to the knife fight with its new HyperPower clusters. The Tesla GPUs and their related CUDA tools went commercial last fall and they're been picked up by a number of …

    Servers 19 May 03:28

  • Startup sees iPhone through biz-colored glasses

    Pie in the sky

    In the beginning, the world questioned whether the iPhone was a business device. But not Santiago Becerra. In January of 2008, even before Apple unveiled the iPhone SDK, Becerra joined five other tech industry veterans in founding a company whose sole aim was to build new-age business apps for the Jobsian handheld. "It was a …

    Mobile 19 May 04:02

  • Wolfram Alpha - a new kind of Fail

    Comment Welcome to the internet, Stephen

    Wolfram Alpha, the not-quite-search-engine from self appointed mathematical genius Stephen Wolfram, launched last Friday, and oh my, has it been a great weekend for software reviewers. I took some time to play around with Wolfram Alpha, and aside from being the best damn Wikipedia search engine since Powerset, the only …

    Applications 19 May 04:15

  • OpenSSH chink bares encrypted data packets

    One in 262,144 chance = good odds

    Cryptographers are urging users of a widely employed network protocol to make sure they're running the latest version after discovering a flaw that could allow attackers to read data that's supposed to remain encrypted. All programs that incorporate the OpenSSH implementation of SSH, short for Secure Shell, should make sure …

    Security 19 May 04:28

  • Swimmer's camcorder surfaces

    Capture the briny deep's secrets

    A waterproof head-mounted camcorder for swimmers has surfaced on the website of quirky gadget retailer Thanko. Thanko's underwater camcorder: perfect for pool-side holidays? Measuring just 19 x 68mm, the camera’s designed to be threaded onto an elastic strap that water lovers could then put around their heads to capture a …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 05:02

  • DSGi sells Hungarian biz for €1

    Poland, next?

    DSG international, the UK’s biggest consumer electronics retailer, today confirmed it is selling Electro World Hungary for one euro. The soon-to-be owner is called EW Electro Retail (EWH) – could it be a management buyout? – will gain all nine stores, operations and employees. Quote time from John Browett, DSGi chief exec: "We …

    Channel Register 19 May 07:09

  • Plantronics .Audio 655

    Review First certified headset for next-gen Skype audio

    Skype’s voice-over-IP software has emerged as a major challenger to traditional telephone companies in the last couple of years, especially when it comes to saving money on expensive international calls. Now featuring SILK, a new wideband audio codec, Skype has raised its sonic standards and the latest Plantronics headset, the. …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 08:02

  • Vodafone writes off £5.9bn

    Spanish practises cost dear

    Data and India saved the day at Vodafone, which is writing off £5.9bn, mainly due to problems in Spain. For the year ended 31 March 2009 Vodafone made revenues of £41bn, up 1.3 per cent after favourable currency movements. Europe was up 13.6 per cent, Africa and central Europe up 11.2 per cent, while Asia Pacific and Middle …

    Mobile 19 May 08:10

  • Danger Mouse seems to want fans to pirate his blocked release

    He's the greatest, he's fantastic, his record has been blocked

    A legal dispute has led one of pop music's most exciting artists to take a novel approach to the release of his latest work: the album is a blank recordable CD on to which buyers can record illegally-downloaded versions of the album. Fans of Danger Mouse can buy a luxurious package of a poster and a book of photographs by cult …

    Music and Media 19 May 08:55

  • Israeli boffin invents "OkayToKiss™" pocket bad-breath test

    Check before you neck

    Top Israeli stinks boffins have developed a small breathalyser-style test device which can accurately tell a user if he or she has bad breath, putting an end to the stress and uncertainty of the unreliable blow-in-your-hand method. The new test is dubbed "OkayToKiss". OkayToKiss comes to us from the fertile brain of Professor …

    Biology 19 May 09:04

  • Home Office: IPS to hang onto snaps of fingerprints

    How handy

    The Home Office has revealed more about the workings of the biometric database that will support the National Identity Scheme. In response to questions from GC News, the IPS said the National Biometric Identity Store (NBIS), which will be built by the Identity and Passport Service under a £265m contract with IBM, will hold …

    Government 19 May 09:37

  • Motorola's handheld self abuse continues

    Language gets more colourful as CFO prepares for court

    Associated Press has been going over documents concerning the suit filed by Motorola's former Chief Financial Officer, providing more details of Paul Liska's accusation that he was given the elbow for blowing the whistle on the company's finances. The filing details how Paul Liska gave a presentation to a board subcommittee on …

    Mobile 19 May 09:43

  • Pad punted to cool your laptop

    A cure for singed sausage syndrome?

    If you're fed up with the heat pumped out by your laptop, you'll like this: a slim, liquid-filled pad that manufacturer Nexus claims will knock 17°C off a notebook's operating temperature. Nexus' TDD-9000: cool Dubbed the TDD-9000, the pad measures 400 x 290mm and is thin enough to be folded up for easy storage. It's no …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 10:01

  • Next-gen e-book readers to slim down

    Fatty Kindle already desperately unfashionable

    Within weeks of Amazon's announcement that its Kindle e-book reader was supersizing to focus on documents and textbooks, two companies have announced cut-down e-book readers better suited to beach reading than perusing the Wall Street Journal. British company C*oler Books [sic] will be launching their Cool-er reader on 27 May …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 10:08

  • Police force eBay scammer to cough up ill-gotten gains

    Jailbird only has £102,206.04 to hand

    Lancashire Police have obtained a confiscation order to seize over £100,000 from a convicted eBay scammer. Jonathan Hartley, of Scotland Road, Nelson is currently banged up for obtaining services by deception, fraud and money laundering. The 26-year old is serving 18 months for the offences. He sold fake or defective …

    Crime 19 May 10:11

  • More June Palm Pré launch evidence emerges

    Still no official word, though

    Evidence is mounting that Palm will launch its Pré smartphone next month. The New York Times yesterday quoted “people briefed on the company’s plans” as stating that Palm will officially launch the Pré during the first week of June. Whether the date refers to a worldwide or purely North American launch isn’t specified. The …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 10:21

  • Blighty's black honeybee comes in from the cold

    Co-op invests £10,000 in Plan Bee

    Britain's native black honeybee could be "key to reversing the decline in the UK's honeybee population" - more than 100 years since Victorian apiarists rejected it for being too lazy and aggressive. That's according to a Co-operative supermarket-backed study by the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders' Association (Bibba), which …

    Biology 19 May 10:24

  • Fox terminates The Sarah Connor Chronicles

    She won't be back

    Fox has announced that it's terminated The Sarah Connor Chronicles after two series, the Hollywood Reporter reports. The Terminator spin-off, starring Brit thesp Lena Headey, had evidently failed to deliver audience bangs-per-buck. Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly explained: "It was not an inexpensive show. We looked …

    Entertainment 19 May 10:25

  • Gut instinct no protection against net scams

    OFT research hits the right mark

    Those who rely on gut instinct and are open to persuasion are more at risk of falling prey to internet scams, according to a research sponsored by the UK Office of Fair Trading. Far from being naive and easily led, many scam victims are often decent decision-makers in their everyday life, psychology researchers at the …

    Crime 19 May 10:31

  • Slimline PS3 pic publication prompts legal threat

    Snaps must be accurate, then

    A website that published pictures of what's claimed to be the new slimline PlayStation 3's bodywork has been told to axe the shots. An unnamed Chinese company told Engadget to “immediately remove those pages” that contained images of the slimline case. The shots were originally published on a Chinese-language blog. An …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 10:44

  • Charges against London tube tourist snapper thrown out

    Win for photography rights

    Westminster Magistrates have dismissed charges of breaching the Public Order Act brought against a Greek tourist for taking photographs on the London Underground. Had the case gone differently, we would have been forced to revisit our long-cherished assumption that the law does not restrict the right to photograph in the UK. …

    Policing 19 May 11:01

  • Win an HTC Touch Diamond2!

    Reg Lucky Draw Get your mitts on the best iPhone botherer yet

    The Register has teamed up with our retail partner eXpansys to give one lucky reader the chance to get his or her hands on HTC's best handset yet, the Touch Diamond2. The Touch Diamond2 features a lovely 3.2-inch, 480 X 800 touch sensitive screen and Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA/WCDMA connectivity to keep you in touch. A …

    Site News 19 May 11:02

  • 250kg Russian drops healthy 2kg sprog

    Doctors 'surpised' by heavyweight pregnancy

    A 34-year-old Russian woman who tips the scales at 39st 5lb (250kg) has "surprised" doctors by dropping a perfectly healthy 4lb 6oz (2kg) baby boy, the Times reports. The heavyweight mum, who suffers from a hormonal disorder, is named only as Nonna M by Russian newspaper Tvoi Dhen. Describing the pregnancy as a "shock" after …

    Biology 19 May 11:08

  • Google backs newspaper rollup

    'Allow local monopolies to battle our web monopoly'

    Google has joined calls for antitrust laws to be relaxed, to allow local newspapers to merge to help them compete with, er, Google. In a submission to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which is reviewing media ownership rules, the dominant search firm said local rags now faced competition from the web, not just other local …

    Music and Media 19 May 11:18

  • NEC ready to sample 'world's first' USB 3.0 controller chip

    SuperSpeed part out next month

    NEC has taken the wraps off what may be the world's first control chip for USB 3.0 - aka SuperSpeed USB. The µPD720200 implements the most recent version of the USB 3.0 specification to deliver data-transfer speeds of up to 5Gb/s - more than ten times faster than USB 2.0's peak. NEC's µPD720200: powering USB 3.0 PCs by the …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 11:26

  • BASF to develop 350-mile e-car 'super battery'

    Leccy Tech Lithium-sulphur to rain on lithium-ion from great height

    German firm BASF and US company Sion Power have agreed to co-develop a battery technology with the potential to deliver five times the capacity of a conventional lithium-ion battery of the same size. The battery is based on lithium-sulphur chemistry, which Sion’s been tinkering with for some time. Now it's time to take the …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 11:38

  • DARPA to try out goose v-formation trick with jets

    'Only birds do this, and they can't explain it to us'

    Geese don't fly in V formation just for fun: it makes long flights a lot easier for the following birds. Pentagon scientists are now looking to exploit this effect to save fuel in military aircraft. The US military research effort is called the "Formation Flight For Aerodynamic Benefit", and it builds on previous work by NASA …

    Science 19 May 11:43

  • Palm: Pré to launch on 6 June

    Firm finally names the date

    The Pré smartphone will launch on 6 June, Palm has officially confirmed. Palm's Pré will launch in the US next month Palm said this morning that North American customers will be charged $200 (£129/€146) for the device – what you've paid after you've received the proceeds of a $100 mail-in rebate coupon. You'll also have to …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 11:47

  • Linux group, Microsoft form unholy alliance against US lawyers

    Relations defrosted for unprecedented joint smackdown

    Microsoft and the Linux Foundation have penned a joint letter to the American Law Institute, in opposition to its proposal to create an implied warranty that software goods ship with “no material defects”. The odd coupling between the openista group and software multinational came about over a common beef the two parties had …

    Channel Register 19 May 11:54

  • Wacky Jacqui defends Michael Savage ban

    Tories slam 'ludicrous' US shock-jock snub

    The home secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday faced an indignant Tory MP, who described her decision to ban US shock-jock Michael Savage from darkening the UK's shores as 'ludicrous'. Smith recently included Savage on a "name-and-shame" list of 16 undesirables not welcome in this Sceptr'd Isle, which also included a Russian …

    Government 19 May 11:59

  • Asus Eee PC 1008HA Seashell

    Review The skinniest netbook yet - and the best?

    We liked the Asus Eee PC 1008HA - aka Seashell - when we first saw it at the CeBit show this past March. Asus has done 'luxury' netbooks before - most notably the Eee PC S101 - but they never won us over. Just too darn angular for us. You might as well have a regular netbook and pay a lot less for it. But the 1008HA, with its …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 12:02

  • Ford crushes half-price hybrid hoax

    Credit crunch car sale nonsense quashed

    Ford has stepped forward to debunk a hoax email suggesting the motor firm was selling new models of a hybrid car at half price in response to the global financial crisis. The bogus emails, ostensibly from a Ford sales manager in Michigan, claim 500 Ford Fusion Hybrid cars are on offer at the bargain price of $15,500, instead …

    Spam 19 May 12:19

  • Vodafone Magics up a little Google glitter

    Comment Puts marketing bag over HTC head

    Vodafone's latest handset might be known as the "HTC Magic", but you won't find the network operator pushing HTC's brand more than it has to - it would much prefer to be associated with a certain search engine than an Asian manufacturer. Vodafone might be obliged to refer to the handset as the "HTC Magic", but it knows that …

    Mobile 19 May 12:47

  • 'Better IT could have stopped 7/7 bombings'

    Spooks cleared of operational failures

    Better connections between police and MI5 intelligence databases may have helped stop the July 7 suicide bombings, according to a parliamentary investigation. The report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), published today, found that MI5's failure to prevent 52 deaths on London's public transport in 2005 was the …

    Government 19 May 13:01

  • 'Air fuelled' battery tech invented in Scotland

    Oxygen-sucking kit won't be popular in submarines

    Boffins based in Scotland believe they're on the track of rechargeable batteries which could broach a barrel of whup-ass on any now in service - and even more advanced types in development. The new super batteries gain their advantage by absorbing atmospheric oxygen as they discharge, and giving it up again as they charge. …

    Physics 19 May 13:15

  • Microsoft's answer to MobileMe goes public

    Anything you can do we can do nearly as well

    My Phone, Microsoft's cloud repository of mobile data, has gone into public beta, offering an online backup of contacts, calendars and files, but is still suffering a few early glitches. The service is intended to provide Microsoft-hosted storage, 200MB of it, to the legion of non-corporate Windows Mobile users that Microsoft …

    Storage 19 May 14:14

  • LG claims crown for world's thinnest LCD TV

    Thanks to edge backlighting

    LG has turned to edge lighting technology to create what it claimed is the world’s thinnest LCD TV panel. LG's edge-lit LCD is 5.9mm thick Only available in 42in and 47in screen sizes, the technology sees LEDs placed around the edges of an LCD screen – instead of behind it – to light up the display. Each LG screen is 5.9mm …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 14:59

  • MP expenses leaker may never be found

    Dibble drops investigation

    The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it is ending its investigation into who leaked politicians' expenses information to the media. The Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command met lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Service yesterday to discuss misuse of Parliamentary expenses. The group will meet again, but for now there …

    Government 19 May 15:09

  • HP, Microsoft hook up to snare SMBs

    Tech giants ink $180m deal in storage, comms, software jamboree

    Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have inked a multi-million-dollar partnership to dish up integrated unified communications and collaboration software over the next four years. The tie-up was announced today at Interop Las Vegas 2009. Both tech giants plan to shell out $180m in product development, professional services and joint …

    Storage 19 May 15:10

  • Nortel spin-out preps FCoE switches for blade servers

    Rack switches with FCoE later this year

    Blade Network Technologies - the spinout from Canadian telecom giant Nortel that has built a nice little business supplying switches for blade servers - is today at the Interop extravaganza in Las Vegas showing off the Fibre Channel over Ethernet converged switches that will eventually be resold by IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and …

    Storage 19 May 15:20

  • Excess of cola floors Oz ostrich farmer

    Soft drinks hard on health, doctors warn

    A report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice is warning of the perils of quaffing too much cola - a habit which can, by lowering blood potassium levels, result in symptoms from mild muscular weakness to paralysis. The doctors behind the fizzy doom-mongering cite the extreme case of the Oz ostrich farmer who, …

    Biology 19 May 15:26

  • Downing Street on Phorm: 'Meh'

    ICO recipient of passed buck

    Downing Street has palmed off responsibility for enforcing the law around its web monitoring and profiling technology to the Information Commissioner. The Prime Minister's response to a public petition today comes despite his Home Office having given a positive pre-launch legal opinion in private to Phorm and BT. The petition …

    Telecoms 19 May 15:42

  • Daimler buys ten per cent of Tesla

    Leccy Tech Joint e-car manufacture to follow?

    Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG has acquired a ten per cent stake in US e-car maker Tesla Motors for a “double-digit million Euro sum”. The pair today announced that, in the immediate future, Tesla will supply battery packs for Daimler’s Smart electric vehicle – scheduled for worldwide availability in 2012. Executives from …

    Reg Hardware 19 May 15:42

  • BBC asks nicely to run second hacking demo

    Lovely manners make new Trojan attack a happier experience

    The BBC has followed its recent controversial botnet demonstration with a new filmed demo of how a Trojan attack works - except this time it made sure to ask nicely. In a clear change from the earlier exercise, which provoked intense ethical debate, this time around the corporation has gone out of its way to make clear it …

    Enterprise Security 19 May 15:48

  • Intel and AMD begin server war dance

    Istanbul vs Nehalem EX vs Tukwila

    Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are gearing up to take each other on in the server racket and are apparently readying some major announcements. This week, Intel passed around an invite to the IT trade press for a briefing on May 26 to talk about "the next evolution in high-end server architecture." Which could mean just about …

    Servers 19 May 16:39

  • Six months on, Macs still plagued by critical Java vuln

    No Java applets for you!

    More than six months after Sun Microsystems warned that a flaw in its Java virtual machine made it trivial for attackers to execute malware on end users' machines, the vulnerability remains unpatched on Apple's Mac platform. Most other operating systems, including Windows and major Linux distributions, fixed the bug months ago …

    Security 19 May 18:05

  • Dell punts germ-free netbook for school kids

    Latitude 2100 with dodgeball finish

    Dell is now flogging a series of colorful netbooks aimed at the clumsy, snot-nosed germ-factories affectionately known as school children. The new Dell Latitude 2100 netbook line for the educational sector can be loaded with custom kid-intended kit like an antimicrobial keyboard, rubberized kickball-like exterior, and a …

    PCs & Chips 19 May 19:11

  • Intel 'Pine Trail' amputates Atom's third chip

    Moblin II gets face transplant

    Intel has confirmed that its next-generation Atom processor, code-named Pineview, will include an on-chip memory controller and an integrated graphics processor. Echoing a processor roapmap leaked to the press in February, the company told reporters this morning that Pineview would arrive "in the second half of the year" as …

    PCs & Chips 19 May 19:30

  • Deleted Tweets found living in the hereafter

    Web 2.0 - Where blunders never die

    Careless Twitterers are in for a healthy dose of Web 2.0 reality with the advent of a site that shows it's not really possible to purge errant tweets, as the microblogging site might have them believe. It has long been plenty easy for world+dog to find a user's deleted posts by using Twitter's advanced search page. Now, a site …

    Security 19 May 19:59

  • Michael Dell faces questions in crime-camera case

    New Orleans deposition

    Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of the eponymous computer vendor, has been deposed by a New Orleans judge in a lawsuit concerning double-dealing in that famously corrupt city's crime-camera program. The lawsuit is heinously complex, but we can safely say that it accuses the computer vendor of acting improperly when providing a …

    Channel Register 19 May 20:04

  • Gumblar Google-poisoning attack morphs

    Drive-by download juggernaut relocates and picks up speed

    A Web attack that poisons Google search results is getting worse, according to security researchers. The attack first relies on compromising normally legitimate website and planting malicious scripts. US CERT reports that stolen FTP credentials are reckoned to be the main technique in play during this stage of the attack but …

    Malware 19 May 20:37

  • Apple patents all-seeing display

    Here's looking at you, kid

    Apple was granted a flurry of patents today, including one that describes a flat-panel display that doubles as a camera. More on that "Integrated sensing display" in a moment. The other six patents are a curious mélange of history and forward-thinking ideas. One merely describes how an iPod - or most any media player, for …

    Music and Media 19 May 21:41

  • NebuAd knocks at death's door

    So long, American Phorm

    NebuAd - aka the American Phorm - is just about dead. In a court document filed Sunday, a lawyer for the infamous behavioral-ad targeter said the company will soon assign all its remaining assets to creditors and will "cease to exist as an ongoing concern." NebuAd now operates with a "skeleton staff," and soon even the …

    Telecoms 19 May 21:45

  • Napster crossbreeds streaming, download plans

    Cat comes back. Again. Again.

    Napster - the outfit that shares a name with a bygone music piracy pioneer sued into oblivion - is back with a new $5-per-month streaming/download hybrid plan following its purchase by Best Buy last year. For a fiver a month, US subscribers can now stream music from Napster's claimed catalog of over 7 million songs as well as …

    Music and Media 19 May 22:05

  • Cybersecurity groups band together in malware fight

    'A chain of trust'

    Three cybersecurity groups said Tuesday they plan to band together to combat the growing scourge of malware. The Anti-Spyware Coalition, National Cyber Security Alliance, and StopBadware.org said the Chain of Trust Initiative will link together vendors, researchers, government agencies, network providers, and other groups …

    Security 19 May 23:14