The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

2nd June 2009 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Twitter hit with rogue anti-virus scam

    For-profit attack

    Twitter users over the weekend were the target of a scam that tried to infect them with rogue anti-virus software and other malware, in what is one of the first times the micro-blogging site has been hit by a known for-profit attack, a security researcher said. The problem started after a flurry of tweets directed users to a …

    Security 2 Jun 00:03

  • Microsoft buys gene-splicing software unit

    New meaning to 'Fatal Exception Errors'

    Microsoft is wading deeper into the health care industry today, announcing intentions to acquire Rosetta Biosoftware, a unit of Merck & Co. that makes software for analyzing genomes and conducting clinical studies. Redmond intends to roll Rosetta's assets into the health industry research management software platform it …

    Financial News 2 Jun 00:12

  • Intel reveals next-gen ultrathin chips

    Computex 'Thin is in'

    Declaring that in the notebook market "thin is in," Intel today announced a new ultra-low-voltage (ULV) processor, three new Core 2 Duo mobile processors, and a new low-power mobile chipset - and attempted a wee bit of benchmarking bait-and-switch regarding battery life. The announcements were made in conjunction with Intel's …

    PCs & Chips 2 Jun 04:02

  • Website liable for Google-generated page summary

    It’s Google’s snippet. But you’re to blame

    A Dutch website has been sued — and sued successfully — for the way Google summarized one of its pages. As reported by De Telegraaf and the Dutch blog 24 Oranges, a judge has ruled that the website Miljoenhuizen.nl is liable for a Google-generated page description, or “snippet”, that may or may not give the false impression …

    Music and Media 2 Jun 05:48

  • Scotland strikes national Oracle deal

    Four years unlimited use for pretty much everyone

    Procurement Scotland has agreed to pay Oracle £18.7m to obtain a four year unlimited use software licence and support for around 80 public bodies. The deal covers software and support for existing Oracle customers in Scotland's central government departments, local authorities, fire and police services. Procurement Scotland …

    Applications 2 Jun 07:02

  • Hitachi CP-RX80

    Review Low price, practical projector

    Price competition at the entry level for digital projectors is certainly becoming intense. Inevitably, the cheapest models are just new boxes containing legacy hardware: you get what you pay for. With the CP-RX80, Hitachi pushes gently against the tide with an attractively priced projector that is actually rather good. …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 08:02

  • BCS writes data Highway Code

    Mirror, signal, burn to disc

    The British Computer Society has created a Personal Data Guardianship Code to help businesses and individuals deal responsibly and safely with private information. The guidelines follow two years work during which there have been a series of major losses by government departments, private firms and even secret agents. Most of …

    Law 2 Jun 08:18

  • Asus and co. co-opt Nvidia's Ion for mini-PCs

    Computex Motherboard products in the pipeline too

    Yesterday, Asus was "considering" Nvidia's Ion platfom. Today, it has product to show. So have rather a lot of its rival Small, Cheap Computer makers. All of them are demo'ing Ion driven kit at Computex. Acer's Revo desktop is already launched, but alongside it we will now see similar machines from ASRock, ECS, MSI, Pegatron …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 09:20

  • Websense blocks Bing in IM snafu

    Coughs up to Chat confusion

    Websense users were temporarily blocked from enjoying the launch of Microsoft's Bing search engine on Monday. Similarities between the Bing domain and that used by a Microsoft IM app - rather than the ready availability of porn through the new search decision engine - were behind the temporary roadblock. Bada Bing block …

    Applications 2 Jun 09:46

  • BSA urges London companies to check for pirate software

    Protect against pirates, me hearties

    The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has written to more than 1,000 companies in London, asking them to complete a software audit as part of a two-month campaign against software piracy. London is responsible for more reports of software piracy than any other place in the UK, with one in five pieces of software in the capital …

    IT Director 2 Jun 10:05

  • Volvo readies plug-in hybrid V70 estate

    Leccy Tech Different wheels driven, depending on power source

    Volvo has formed a partnership with Swedish power company Vattenfall in an effort to bring a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) version of the V70 estate to market in 2012. Volvo's plug-in V70 will feature rear- and front-wheel drive The leccy V70’s 11.3kWh lithium-ion battery pack will power an electric motor attached …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 10:16

  • Royal Navy trials 'paging system' for submarines

    HMS VANGUARD +++ Please call French missile sub +++

    US arms behemoth Raytheon says that the Royal Navy has tried out its new Deep Siren satcomms "paging system" for submarines, and was very impressed. The company quotes an unnamed UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson as saying that Deep Siren is "the first step toward a transformational capability that will change the way …

    Science 2 Jun 10:19

  • AMD ships dual-core CPU for thin'n'light laptops

    Computex Neo takes on Intel's CULV

    AMD's dual-core Athlon Neo, a chip aimed at the same makers of ultra-skinny laptops that Intel is currently pitching its small CPUs - aka CULV, for Consumer Ultra Low Voltage - to, is now available in volume. AMD has yet to detail the specifications of the dual-core chip, codenamed 'Conesus'. The single-core Athlon Neo MV-40 …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 10:21

  • Microsoft shows controller-less Xbox game control gadget

    Project Natal uses voice, motion detection

    Microsoft has finally confirmed that an Xbox 360 motion-capture gadget’s in the works. At the ongoing E3 games fair in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced Project Natal – its codename for a “revolutionary new way to play" that uses "no controller”. Microsoft's 'Natal': an Xbox 360 motion-capture gadget The firm’s keeping mum …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 10:28

  • Google Docs caves to MS Office 2007 file formats

    But misses out PowerPoint 2007

    Google has finally added support for Microsoft’s Word and Excel 2007 default file formats to its online Docs office suite. Mountain View confirmed the move yesterday. However, support for PowerPoint 2007’s file format remains out in the cold. The firm has added .docx and .xlsx to the list of file formats Google Docs accepts …

    Applications 2 Jun 10:58

  • Acer intros 'pro' netbook

    Business class, apparently

    Acer has formally launched the Aspire One Pro 531, a "business class" version of the already rather corporate-styled Aspire One 531. Acer's Aspire One 531 Pro: business class, apparently To be honest, we think the regular 531 is better looking, and since both vanilla and Pro machines are an inch thick, weigh just over a …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 11:08

  • What's the fastest USB 2.0 HDD?

    I need to purchase a very fast USB 2 external hard disk drive to carry out some radio-over-fibre experiments here at the University of Kent. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me which is the fastest USB 2 external hard disk drive? Would Flash storage be faster?

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 11:16

  • ISPs frosty on Jacqui's comms surveillance plan

    Home Office has a lot of persuading to do

    Jacqui Smith's plan to have ISPs create an enormous federated database of all online communications is receiving a frosty reception from the industry, multiple sources have revealed. Many internet providers are unhappy that Smith plans to order them to retain complete details of who contacts whom, when, where and how. She …

    Telecoms 2 Jun 11:16

  • Nintendo sells 1m DSi handhelds in Europe

    Older models selling well too

    Nintendo’s DSi console has been bought by 1m Europeans since its launch around eight weeks ago, the games giant has announced. The handheld console, which was released across Europe on 3 April, has also passed the 1m sales mark five weeks faster than its predecessor, the DS Lite, did when it was launched in June 2006. Not …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 11:21

  • Euro server slump makes Itanium look good

    Nuclear war could push market share beyond 10 per cent

    European server sales were so bad in the first quarter that Intel's long-unloved Itanium actually stood out as a comparative beacon of light. Figures from IDC show that server revenues in EMEA were down 34.3 per cent in the first quarter to $2.9bn, while shipments slumped 29.6 per cent to under 500,000 units. The EMEA slide …

    Servers 2 Jun 11:25

  • Digital Spy struggles to pin down tainted ad infection

    Updated Mystery malware assaults online gossips

    UK celebrity gossip website Digital Spy has apologised after serving up banner ads laced with malware earlier this week. Digital Spy site specialises in news about celebs and reality TV programmes, in particular Big Brother, in great (perhaps unhealthy) detail. Whatever you might make of that it's a winning formula that has …

    Enterprise Security 2 Jun 11:32

  • A Geeks Guide2 ...Windows 7 Training

    Free Windows 7 Training at Reg Books

    Geeks Guide2 If the development of Windows 7 were a Grand Prix, Microsoft would be coming up to the final straight. Whether or not it will cross the line a winner or come crawling into the pits remains to be seen, but as the release date comes ever closer, Microsoft has begun delivering training content for Windows 7. In the …

    Operating Systems 2 Jun 12:15

  • Microsoft guns down 13 unlucky products

    Encarta faces firing squad

    Microsoft shuttered, put a hold on and let go of 13 products in the past eight months to help it cut costs, following a profits dive at the company that led to job cuts. According to a report published yesterday by analyst outfit Directions on Microsoft, Redmond is expected to cull more of its software and web-based products …

    Applications 2 Jun 12:16

  • Qinetiq strike action could increase risk to British troops

    Analysis 'Profiteers' v unions. Why not get shot of them all?

    British staff at Qinetiq, the company formed from an uneasy mixture of privatised UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) research facilities and profitable US war-tech companies, have voted to strike in protest at pay freezes and redundancies. Prospect, which represents some 2,000 of Qinetiq's UK staff - whom it describes as " …

    Science 2 Jun 12:31

  • Promise Smartstor NS4600

    Review Stylish storage with server pretensions?

    The term Network Attached Storage or NAS seems rather simplistic and doesn’t really do justice to a device like Promise’s Smartstor NS4600, which comes with four drive bays and a heap of server abilities. Add to this its polished black shell, funky blue lights, built-in power adapter and exquisitely quiet fan, and you’ve got …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 12:42

  • Atlantis hitches a ride to Florida

    While NASA preps Endeavour for ISS trip

    Space shuttle Atlantis is today at Biggs Army Air Field, El Paso, Texas, having hitched a ride yesterday atop a modified 747 from Edwards Air Force Base, California. NASA is closely eyeing the weather to see if the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft can make the final leg to Kennedy Space Center in Florida this afternoon. Atlantis …

    Space 2 Jun 12:46

  • Gordon 'to sacky' Wacky Jacqui

    Reshuffling off on Monday

    Jacqui Smith will leave the Cabinet on Monday, it was reported today. Citing "impeccable sources", Sky News said the Home Secretary will be a casualty of the expenses row. Revelations that she had claimed for her husband's pay-per-view porn kicked off the scandal over MPs dodgy expenses back in March. It later emerged she …

    Government 2 Jun 12:52

  • Dell axes hackintosh makers' favourite netbook

    Farewell, Inspiron Mini 9

    It's official: one of the most hackintosh-friendly netbooks, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, is no more. Dell has knocked the 9in machine on the head, preferring instead to point punters at the 10in Mini 10 and Mini 10v. The latter offers the same spec as the Mini 9, but with a bigger screen and keyboard, and a 160GB hard drive. …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 12:55

  • Acer taps Q4 for Android smartphone launch

    Also signs into Open Handset Alliance

    Acer has promised to launch its first Android smartphones during the fourth quarter of this year. The announcement builds on recent comments by Aymar de Lencquesaing, the head of Acer’s phone division, who said last month that the company will launch around ten handsets this year. He hinted at the time that only one will be …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 12:56

  • Twitter Yi not, as Beijing bins Bing

    Tiananmen-wary China crushes Hotmail and Flickr

    China today cut citizens' access to MS search engine Bing, Flickr, Hotmail, MSN Spaces and Twitter - just two days before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In a move described by the Times as "hardly a co-incidence", the powers that be decided that services such as Twitter, which "allows words or phrases …

    Government 2 Jun 13:19

  • Jailed Phil Spector wigs out on Twitter

    When you were in prison did you have a laptop?

    Legendary record producer and paragon of sanity Phil Spector is apparently Twittering from his prison cell, having been permitted to keep a laptop, but not his wig. The Telegraph excitedly burbles that the 69-year-old has been kvetching like a good 'un about his new life, earned by fatally shooting the actress Lana Clarkson in …

    Bootnotes 2 Jun 13:43

  • HMRC goes underground to find new tech boss

    Good luck with that

    Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has found a new man to head up its IT department, but he won't be starting until September. Phil Pavitt is currently CIO at Transport for London. It emerged late last year that he was under investigation for alleged irregularities in TfL's hiring policies - Pavitt was a non-exec director of a …

    IT Director 2 Jun 13:49

  • EMC hopes for Data Domain 'I do'

    Comment NetApp left standing at the altar

    Dan Warmenhoven must have gnashed his teeth. Just when he was showing off his bright and shiny brand new Data Domain toy, up comes EMC and gazumps him, offering 20 percent more - and all cash at that! - to Data Domain shareholders. Ouch. Joining the NetApp CEO in grimacing would have been Quantum CEO Rick Belluzzo, whose …

    Storage 2 Jun 14:02

  • Retailer reveals Gametrak Freedom launch, price

    Winging its way onto Xbox 360

    An online retailer’s revealed the launch date and price of the Xbox 360’s upcoming Wii Remote-style controller, Gametrak Freedom. Gametrak Freedom: out in October for $70 The controller’s been listed on website ebgames.com and is scheduled to go on sale, in North America at least, on 15 October. It can be pre-ordered now …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 14:04

  • Napster: Ex RIAA boss rues lost opportunity

    Where legals daren't

    It's the tenth anniversary of Shawn Fanning's Napster - and former RIAA chief Hilary Rosen has again regretted not being able to legitimise the service. "I've been quoted as saying the record companies should have jumped off the cliff and signed a deal. I thought it at the time. It was well documented that I privately urged …

    Music and Media 2 Jun 14:13

  • Astronauts suffer 'exploding' space headache

    A microgravitational pain in the butt

    Dutch scientists have discovered that a good number of astronauts have suffered "space headache" - a unique condition apparently unrelated to the usual woes of space motion sickness (SMS) and characterised by an "exploding" pain. Researchers from the Department of Neurology at Leiden University Medical Centre questioned 17 …

    Space 2 Jun 14:41

  • IBM gets RamSan cached flash boost

    TMS bursts in on SVC/Fusion-io love-in

    Texas Memory Systems has acted to counter the courting of IBM's SAN Volume Controller (SVC) by Fusion-io's ioDrive flash memory by getting its RamSan-500 solid state drive certified interoperable with the SVC. The SVC is a fabric-located controller that virtualises storage arrays in a storage area network (SAN). A …

    Storage 2 Jun 14:43

  • EC pressure on Microsoft grows

    Kroes trains legislative guns on Redmond

    The European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes is considering ordering Microsoft to offer rival browsers with its own software bundle. As we reported in January, Microsoft warned shareholders of the possibility of such an action, which could even see older machines updated. One suggestion is that Microsoft could use its …

    Software 2 Jun 14:47

  • Bike kiosk grumbleflick shocks Spaniards

    Better than the funny feeling from riding over cobbles

    A hacked display in a public bicycle kiosk treated passers-by to a dose of porn last week. Instead of displaying software connected with its role of managing bike lending the display in a kiosk in Zamora, Spain displayed extended extracts from a grumble flick, alternately amusing and shocking onlookers. City official …

    Bootnotes 2 Jun 14:50

  • Google slips Reg reader £500k!!!!!

    Really doing no evil during '10 Years Anniversary Awards'

    We've decided to give Google a break this afternoon, and have curtailed the usual Reg whining about the search monolith's dark ambitions to enslave humanity to its will, using stored search data and Orwellian black Opels. The reason? The following astounding missive from Google Ghana. No we didn't realise Google had a Ghanaian …

    Bootnotes 2 Jun 14:51

  • DARPA killer AI robots to 'participate in own construction'

    Foolish meatsack! OF COURSE I need nuclear weapons!

    You've got your robots which can make copies of themselves, of course. That's pretty scary - a runaway exponentially-multiplying machine horde, potentially able to overrun the human race in an eyeblink. But how much more scary would it be if you had a machine which could not only make copies of itself once complete, but could …

    Science 2 Jun 15:23

  • Obama administration joins Google

    Reverse takeover almost complete

    Steve Jobs may have engineered the most audacious reverse-takeover in tech history when Apple "acquired" NeXT in 1996. Within a year, Jobs and his NeXT colleagues had purged Apple executives from all the key positions (although the chief accountant remained - which may tell you something about chief accountants). But that's …

    Music and Media 2 Jun 15:55

  • Triangular buttons key to touchscreen typing success - inventor

    Square ones sub-optimal, apparently

    A British inventor has submitted a patent application for a wacky touchscreen keyboard design which, he claims, could spell the end for accidental key presses. The Crocodile Keyboard: triangular keys are better for data entry on touchscreen phones, apparently David Baker’s Crocodile Keyboard is so named because its keys are …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 15:59

  • Acer: Android netbook coming in Q3

    Rumours of Windows' death very greatly exaggerated

    Acer will indeed make and sell an Android-based netbook, a company executive has said. We're just unconvinced it'll be any more successful than its Linux netbooks. The confirmation came from Acer's head of IT products, Jim Wong, by way of Bloomberg. Wong said the Android netbook will debut in Q3, the newsagency reports. We …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 16:08

  • IBM BladeCenters still touring Shanghai as Istanbul beckons

    Trying to find its x64 legs in choppy economic seas

    While the six-core "Istanbul" Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices were launched yesterday, not every vendor is ready on day one to get the chip into existing or new products. This seems to be the case with IBM today as it tweaks its BladeCenter boxes that support Intel's quad-core "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500s, which were …

    Servers 2 Jun 16:09

  • Smera tilting e-car debuts in Paris

    Leccy Tech Loves the Arc de Triomphe, roundabouts, slalom races

    Despite looking like a slightly crushed Smart car, Lumeneo’s Smera e-car has gone on sale in Paris. Lumeneo’s Smera e-car is now available in Paris The leccy car costs €29,500 (£25,413/$41,654), including VAT and the battery pack. But French buyers should be eligible for a €5000 (£4307/$7060) government e-car rebate. …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 16:33

  • Netizens tell court NebuAd's not dead

    Phormalike 'whack-a-mole'

    NebuAd appears to be dead. And its lawyers have asked to withdraw from an ongoing class action suit against the Phorm-like behavioral ad targeter. But those suing the company have asked the court to deny this request on the grounds that NebuAd has a talent for resurrecting itself. In November, fifteen American netizens sued …

    Networks 2 Jun 18:01

  • Google puckers up to biz world

    Goes after big fish, little fish with new products

    Google released a brace of new products today pitched at SMBs and high-end, tech savvy corporations. The latest version of Search Appliance, which Google first launched in 2001, is aimed at large organisations with tons of paperwork to plough through. Google said in a blog post that version 6 of the tool has the capacity to …

    Applications 2 Jun 18:26

  • Intel paints rosy future at Taiwan confab

    Computex Meltdown? What Meltdown?

    Despite the inarguable fact that the computer industry is mired in its worst sales decline ever, Intel is upbeat about the future. In his keynote speech on Tuesday at the huge Computex trade show in Taipei, Tawian, Intel's EVP and chief sales and marketing officer Sean Maloney chose to focus not on today's problems, but …

    PCs & Chips 2 Jun 18:38

  • Apple plugs QuickTime and iTunes flaws

    Hinted-at QuickTime exploit walled up

    Apple has released updates for QuickTime and iTunes designed to plug multiple security vulnerabilities. The updated version (7.6.2) of QuickTime, released on Monday, addresses security bugs that create a possible mechanism for hackers to pwn either Macs or Windows PCs after tricking users into opening booby-trapped movie or …

    Security 2 Jun 18:41

  • HP leads pack with Istanbul iron

    Double dense Nehalems too

    Server maker Hewlett-Packard advanced to the pole position in the x64 server race this morning as it launched a slew of new iron, some using Advanced Micro Devices' new six-core "Istanbul" Opterons 2400 and 8400 series processors announced yesterday and others rounding out the new ProLiant and BladeSystem machines that came out …

    Servers 2 Jun 19:24

  • Sun succumbs to Apple envy with Java Store push

    JavaOne I spit my last breath at thee

    Sun Microsystems' outgoing chief executive Jonathan Schwartz has opened his swansong JavaOne with a parting challenge to Apple's success on mobile. Almost a year after Apple launched the App Store, Sun has unveiled an online shop and warehouse for posting, selling, and downloading apps built in Java and JavaFX - the company's …

    Mobile 2 Jun 19:29

  • 40,000 sites hit by PC-pwning hack attack

    'Beladen' bedevils web surfers

    More than 40,000 websites worldwide have fallen under the spell of a sneaky piece of attack code that silently tries to install malware on the machines of people who visit them, security experts from Websense have warned. The mass attack has been dubbed Beladen because beladen.net is one of the internet domains used to unleash …

    Security 2 Jun 19:36

  • US Patent Office backs Nvidia with Rambus rejection

    41 infringement claims swatted

    Nvidia said Tuesday the US Patent and Trademark Office has initially rejected 41 claims by Rambus that accuse the graphics chip maker of aping its memory controller tech without paying. The 41 jilted claims relate to seven of the nine patents Rambus alleges have been infringed by Nvidia. The IP-only memory company filed a …

    PCs & Chips 2 Jun 20:05

  • Ellison pits Sun and Oracle against AJAX and Google

    JavaOne JavaFX for OpenOffice and netbooks

    Under Oracle's charge, Sun Microsystems will fuel PCs and phones with Java and JavaFX, challenging Google's Android on netbooks, Oracle's chief Larry Ellison has said. The CEO has also made it clear he expects the Sun-backed OpenOffice project - and potential challenger to Microsoft's Office - to dump AJAX and switch to Sun's …

    Developer 2 Jun 20:16

  • AMD trumpets HDTV-on-PC chip

    Computex Worldwide acronym love

    AMD jumped into the hot TV-on-PC market Tuesday with the release of the ATI Theater HD 750 chip, which provides HDTV capabilities to desktop and mobile PCs. Announced today at the Computex mega-show in Taipei, Taiwan, the ATI Theater HD 750 has worldwide compatibility, being able to accept HDTV, DTV, and broadcast signals in …

    PCs & Chips 2 Jun 20:28

  • Windows 7 to ship October 22

    Development wraps in July

    Windows 7 will hit store shelves on October 22, Microsoft confirmed today. The successor to Windows Vista was originally slated for a 2010 roll-out, but last month, Redmond admitted that the OS would arrive in time for the crucial holiday shopping season. Microsoft said Tuesday that Windows 7 code will be finalized and sent …

    Operating Systems 2 Jun 21:06

  • Rumor mill coughs up $99 4GB iPhone

    When scuttlebutt collides

    With less than a week to go before Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, at which new iPhone - or iPhones - is/are widely expected to be announced, the rumor mill is heating up. And the latest buzz is about a $99 4GB model. But first the traditional caveat: Buzz is merely buzz, rumors are merely rumors, and Apple isn't …

    Mobile 2 Jun 21:33

  • Sony shows off PS3 motion-control magic wand

    Great tech, but too late?

    Hot on the heels of Microsoft's hands-free 'Project Natal', Sony showed off its own motion controller today at its E3 press conference. And that means all three major video game consoles will offer a motion control gadget. Playstation Motion Control, which is still in the prototype stage, is a wireless wand topped with a color …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jun 23:52