9th June 2009 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Google mentor drowns in swimming pool

Brin remembers Rajeev Motwani

Rajeev Motwani - the Stanford University professor who served as mentor to Larry Page and Sergey Brin as they developed what would become Google - was found dead on Friday morning after an apparent accidental drowning. Though he was not Page and Brin's official adviser at Stanford, the Stanford computer scientist co-authored …

Music and Media 9 Jun 00:03
Apple security is 'struggling,' researcher says

Laments lack of 'formal security program'

A well-known security consultant says Apple is struggling to effectively protect its users against malware and other online threats and suggests executives improve by adopting a secure development lifecycle to design its growing roster of products. "Based on a variety of sources, we know that Apple does not have a formal …

Malware 9 Jun 00:52
Apple takes Snow Leopard for walk

WWDC Claws Windows, embraces Exchange

Apple today released some intriguing details about the next version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, including the surprise good news that it will cost a mere $29 and the expected bad news that it will run only on Intel-based Macs. Snow Leopard's debut at Monday morning's Worldwide Developer Conference cotillion keynote broke little …

Operating Systems 9 Jun 03:52
Mike O'Brien becomes NHS IT minister

Fun job

A former ecommerce minister has been given responsibility for NHS IT, as one of the Department of Health's two ministers of state Mike O'Brien, MP for Warwickshire North, has been appointed as minister of state for health services, where his brief includes Connecting for Health and NHS IT. He will also cover other areas …

Government 9 Jun 07:02
Orange Vegas

Review Less Elvis, more Johnny?

Would you take a punt on a sub-£50 touchscreen phone? With a wallet-soothing price but few must-have features, Orange’s own-brand Vegas plays a very different hand to most high-rolling touch-operated devices currently available. Orange's Vegas: budget touchscreen There are no iPhone-alike pretensions here, as you might …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 08:02
LxLabs boss found hanged after vuln wipes websites

Shocking development in VAserv megahack affair

The boss of Indian software firm LxLabs was found dead in a suspected suicide on Monday. Reports of the death of K T Ligesh, 32, come in the wake of the exploitation of a critical vulnerability in HyperVM, a virtualization application made by LXLabs, to wipe out data on 100,000 sites hosted by the UK web hosting firm VAserv. …

Virtualization 9 Jun 08:38
EC asks: Been leant on by Microsoft?

MS investigated during another MS investigation

The European Commission is asking computer makers what communication they have had with Microsoft over its ongoing browser bundling case. A questionnaire sent out asks OEMs whether Microsoft asked them to make certain statements about the case or about its proposed settlement - giving people a choice of browsers. The "ballot …

Channel Register 9 Jun 08:55
Computer-related injuries in US 'increase sevenfold'

Falling-monitor bloodbath eased by LCDs, though

American medical eggheads have issued a stark warning today about the latest deadly health scourge to hit the developed world. It's one particularly relevant to Reg readers. We refer, of course, to the unprecedented rise in computer-related injuries, which have - shockingly - surged by a shocking 732 per cent in America during …

PCs & Chips 9 Jun 09:20
Storage software following hardware downwards

Symantec doing well, though

According to market intelligence firm IDC, you're not buying as much storage software as you did last year. Their report shows a 5.2 per cent decline in the first quarter of this year compared to a year ago. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker reports revenues of $2.8bn in the quarter, half that of the quarter's …

Storage 9 Jun 09:24
ContactPoint offers tokens for access

Restricted to three government departments, 100 local authorities

The Department for Children Schools and Families has begun to roll out the authentication process for access to the ContactPoint database. The first registration authority for the Employee Authentication Service (EAS) went live on 8 June 2009, beginning to issue tokens to a few hundred staff involved in the department's …

Government 9 Jun 09:39
Russian porn starlet brands DD jubs

MMO currency firm spunks $500k to ink 'ample canvas'

Simona Halep take note: "Rising" Russian porn star Anna Morgan has offered the "ample canvas" of her DD assets to an MMO virtual currency outfit, and will for two years carry the company's logo and URL tattooed across her heaving jubs in return for a cool $500k. The 19-year-old (pictured) has apparently just signed a multi- …

Bootnotes 9 Jun 09:40
Opera Mobile 9.7 beta lands

ET phone home

Opera released the beta version of its latest Windows-only mobile browser yesterday. The Norwegian open source browser maker said new features in Opera Mobile 9.7 include faster surfing using the firm’s Opera Turbo technology. Opera claimed data transfer was up to 25 per cent faster compared to older versions of the software …

Applications 9 Jun 09:49
ECHR overturns Court of Appeal prisoner privacy ruling

No fair peeking at cons' medical correspondence

Prisoners have the same right to privacy in medical correspondence as they do in relation to communication with their MPs, the European Court of Human Rights has said. The Court has overturned a ruling of the UK's Court of Appeal. The Court said that fears that a prison inmate might send secret messages to the outside world …

Law 9 Jun 09:51
She Wolf of the SS mourns her Grindhouse master

Cult helmsman Don Edmonds dies at 73

Don Edmonds, the director of 1975 "Naziploitation" classic Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS, has died aged 73, Variety reports. The veteran helmsman, who also gave the world Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, went to the great Grindhouse in the sky on 30 May as a result of liver cancer. Originally from Kansas, Edmond's career …

Entertainment 9 Jun 09:52
Millions opted into UK mobile phone directory

Are you one of them?

A public mobile phone directory for the UK will launch later this month, loaded with millions of private numbers bought from marketing departments. From June 18, callers to 118800 will be asked for a first name, a surname and a town*. If a match is found, they will be connected to that person's mobile for £1. Connectivity, …

Mobile 9 Jun 10:17
iPhone 3G S in the UK: what you need to know

Updated We unpick O2's small print

Apple’s latest iPhone, the 3G S, is currently the talk of the town. But if you’re a prospective O2 customer itching to buy the latest model, or an existing iPhone users hoping to upgrade, then you’d be wise to read the small print. O2 has already confirmed that the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3G S models will cost pay-as-you-go …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 10:46
Acer talks up 3D notebook

Gunning for October launch

Acer has unveiled plans to launch a notebook with a 3D-capable display. An Acer Aspire with 3D-capable display Image courtesy DigiTimes Campbell Kan, Vice President of Acer’s mobile computing arm, said the 15.6in notebook will be launched towards the end of October. Taiwan-based manufacturer Wistron will also play a part …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 10:55
T-Mobile hack data is genuine

How deep does the rabbit hole go?

T-Mobile has confirmed that files posted on a full disclosure mailing list are genuine - but the company fails to explain whether or not cybercriminals really got full access to its systems, IDG reports. Hackers published system config files from T-Mobile's US network on Saturday along with claims they had compromised the …

Enterprise Security 9 Jun 10:57
Nintendo pooh-poohs Xbox, PS3 motion control

Wii better, company chief claims

Microsoft’s Project Natal camera-based motion-control technology grabbed headlines last week, but Nintendo’s President has said the Wii's approach is way better. Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo has already produced experimental games which use cameras to measure the player's movement – the technology used by Project Natal — …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 10:59
E-bike TT race to include e-cars next year

Leccy Tech Plus battery-swap pit stops for bikers

The flag’s yet to drop on eGrandPrix’s inaugural zero-emission TTXGP trials, but that hasn't stopped the organiser from announcing its plans for next year’s race. LifeBatt's prototype R2 EV: will race in 2010's TTXGP Come 2010 riders will cover two laps of the Isle of Man’s famous Mountain Course, with riders also able to …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 11:39
Corporate social responsibility - ya gotta love it

Papering over the governance cracks

Three papers plucked from the Reg White Paper Library this week - all about aspects of governance, regulation and all round squeaky cleanness. Six technology tactics to promote corporate social responsibility This paper from Epicor lays out the conceptual ground rules that underpin corporate social responsibility (CSR). The …

IT Director 9 Jun 11:44
Windows 7 boss predicts 'modest' initial shipments

But will the price be right?

A Microsoft wonk has admitted that PC vendors are unlikely to see a huge rise in shipments when Windows 7 hits the shelves on 22 October. Bill Veghte, who is Redmond's senior veep of the company's Windows biz, made the comment at the UBS Global Technology and Services conference yesterday. He said it was quite normal when …

Channel Register 9 Jun 12:00
Japanese lunar orbiter to go out with a bang

Moon impact tomorrow for Kaguya

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency will be keeping its eyes peeled tomorrow for some brief fireworks when its Kaguya lunar orbiter slams into the Moon's surface at 6,000 km/h. Since launching in September 2007, Kaguya (formerly called Selene), has probed the Moon's gravitational field, surface and composition, in the …

Space 9 Jun 12:03
The best netbook-friendly Linux distros

Android on your Eee, anyone?

We loved the Xandros based OS the Asus put on the original Eee PC for its simplicity and direct access to applications. Likewise Acer's version of Linpus, installed on the Linux versions of its Aspire One netbook. For 90 per cent of the tasks anyone's likely to perform on a netbook, they're spot on and allow the machines to boot …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 12:08
TomTom maps route onto iPhone 3G S

Unveils satnav app and car kit

TomTom has jumped on the iPhone 3G S bandwagon by launching a satnav application and car kit for the must-have smartphone. TomTom's iPhone 3G S car kit Much like existing TomTom car kits, the 3G S-specific package is designed to stick onto your windscreen. It supports hands-free calling and will let you charge your phone …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 12:20
Firefox 3.5: In, out, shake it all about

Mozilla does hokey-cokey with inbetweeny preview release

Mozilla has spun out a post-beta, pre-release candidate version of Firefox 3.5. The build of the browser was released yesterday. Mozilla only wants developers to test run the inbetweeny version, dubbed Firefox 3.5 Preview. It’s advising everyone else to sit tight until the official release of the browser. The open source …

Developer 9 Jun 12:30
'D'oh!' tops fave kids' TV catchphrase poll

Yabba Dabba Doo!

Homer Simpson's "D'oh!" has topped a poll of kids' top TV catchphrases, with Fred Flintstone's "Yabba Dabba Doo!" and classic Dalek imperative "Exterminate" voted second and third in Brit viewers' affections. This isn't, however, necessarily what today's nippers actually favour, since The Baby Website quizzed 7,431 adults as …

Entertainment 9 Jun 12:32
Drayson back at MoD, retains biznovation portfolio

'Malodorous' supersonic-car lord returns

Controversial former military equipment purchasing boss Lord Drayson has been made a Defence minister once again. Details of his portfolio have yet to be announced, but Drayson will outrank the current equipment minister - and will retain a position at the new department of "Business, Innovation and Skills". According to the …

Government 9 Jun 12:52
McKinnon launches second extradition challenge

Belt and braces strategy

A judicial review of former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's handling of the Gary McKinnon extradition proceedings began in London today. The hearing, which is expected to last two days, will consider whether Smith acted correctly in allowing extradition proceedings against the UFO-hunter-turned-hacker to proceed, despite his …

Law 9 Jun 12:54
WD drops 4TB whopper

Supersize My Book

Like Burger King, Western Digital believes in whoppers; it's just announced a 4TB capacity My Book external drive. Inside this My Book Studio Edition II is a pair of 2TB SATA drives with four interfaces to a host PC: eSATA and FireWire 800 for maximum performance, with FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 for more pedestrian and wide- …

Storage 9 Jun 13:25
Zac Efron to catch Saturday Night Fever?

'Tragedy, when you lose control and you got no soul...'

Whatever your feelings on Saturday Night Fever, this will bring a chill to your heart: Simon Cowell is planning a remake of the 1977 movie, with Zac Efron in the frame to step into John Travolta's shoes as Tony Manero. Cowell has apparently been locked in negotiations for several weeks with Robert Stigwood, who owns the rights …

Entertainment 9 Jun 13:26
Data watchdog clears mobile phone directory

You agreed for your details to be used like this, right?

The UK data watchdog has given the green light to a controversial directory of millions of mobile phone numbers, which launches next week. News of the 118800 mobile directory raised privacy worries today, but the Information Commissioner's Office said it was satisfied it would comply with the law. Start up firm Connectivity …

Mobile 9 Jun 13:37
Site news: Unique commenter handles coming

Here’s why

We have changed the way we manage reader “handles” for story comments. Each commenter will now have a unique ID published on the site. This means that some readers — about 5000 — will see their handles change. These are people who share the same handle as others, or who have registered using more than one email address, using …

Site News 9 Jun 14:07
EMC sends love letter to Data Domain

The big bad wolf is really soft and cuddly

EMC supremo Joe Tucci has sent an open letter to Data Domain staff saying their company has an exciting future inside EMC - which has lots of great takeover stories to tell, unlike a certain other company. EMC is trying to take over Data Domain and its market-leading target deduplication products with an all-cash $30/share $1. …

Storage 9 Jun 14:30
Companies to be Bob the Builder with Firefox 3.5

Mozilla hopes firms will fix it themselves

Mozilla is working on a program that will give firms the opportunity to build their own bespoke browsers, using the upcoming version of Firefox. Big companies will be able to slot such a customised browser more easily into their corporate environment, reports IDG. The Build Your Own Browser program won’t kick off until after …

Applications 9 Jun 14:52
Capita snares Carillion IT Services

Rings the changes in Scotland

Capita is buying the IT reseller arm of the construction services group Carillion plc for £36m on a cash free, debt free basis. Carillion IT Services Ltd, or CITS for short, was inherited by Carillion in 2008, as part of the acquisition of the UK construction company Alfred McAlpine. CITS sells outsourcing, managing services …

Channel Register 9 Jun 14:57
Engineers are troublesome 'expert loners', says prof

Media image, student foolishness blamed

US researchers say that graduate engineers tend to be egoistic loners who can't work properly in teams, much to the aggravation of their employers. Responsibility for this distressing state of affairs lies partly with the media, which portrays a misleading image of what it is to be an engineer, and partly with older students at …

Physics 9 Jun 15:03
Red Hat goes one louder with Fedora 11

And why not?

Linux distributor Red Hat and its affiliated Fedora Project, which creates the development release that eventually becomes Red Hat's commercially supported Enterprise Linux distro, have gone one louder this morning with the release of Fedora 11. The new release has incremental improvements to lots of features, much as prior …

Operating Systems 9 Jun 15:07
McAfee downplays service pack fail

Virus update leaves PCs unbootable

A recent McAfee service pack led to systems being rendered unbootable, according to posts on the security giant's support forums. The mandatory service pack for McAfee's corporate Virus scanning product, VSE 8.7, was designed to address minor security bugs but instead tagged windows system files as malware. The software update …

Malware 9 Jun 15:17
Can Dell hack it as a services company?

Open forum for Reg readers

The Register expert panel is quizzing Dell on its move into services with cloud-optimized SaaS offerings live and online. Register readers will able to join the debate and get answers to the questions that matter from (11am PST, 2pm EST, 7pm BST) on 16 June. Modular Service offerings from Dell claim to do a lot of things. …

IT Director 9 Jun 15:29
Samsung debuts germ-proof gaming laptop

~~Domestos~~ R270

Samsung has unfolded its latest R series laptop, the R720, which the firm hopes might catch the eyes of film fans and gaming geeks alike. Samsung's R720: a germ-phobic gamer's delight? Based around an unspecified Intel Core 2 processor, the R720’s equipped with an AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 graphics chip that drives a …

Reg Hardware 9 Jun 16:45
AT&T jettisons the last of its Usenet

A bad year for newsgroups

AT&T has dealt another blow to the internet relic known as Usenet. Sometime next month, the American telcom giant will terminate its entire newsgroup service. "Please note that on or around July 15, 2009, AT&T will no longer be offering access to the Usenet netnews service," reads a note sent to AT&T and posted on the company' …

Telecoms 9 Jun 17:10
Microsoft spins out intellectual property business

Two-years and you're out

Microsoft has spun out an intellectual property business unit it acquired two years ago, apparently to control the company's costs. Working in tandem with Enterprise Ireland and a trio of entrepreneurs, Redmond has turned its Software Licensing and Protection (SLP) Services unit into a business called InishTech. InishTech will …

Small Biz 9 Jun 17:54
Apple tight-leashes 'Snow Leopard' Server

WWDC Only Intelified Xserves need apply

You were hoping that Apple would spend a little less time at its Worldwide Developer Conference on the iPhone, the health of Steve Jobs, and the desktop and laptop variant of the "Snow Leopard" Mac OS X and maybe launch the server variant of Snow Leopard? You were hoping it would flesh out a real server product line? Well, you …

Servers 9 Jun 19:14
Palm Pre breaks Sprint sales records

By ??? amount!

Palm Pre has arrived in America, and now that the lines have dispersed and as the buzz dies down, folks are eager to know if the smart phone debut was a victory rally or Palm's swan song. Neither Sprint nor Palm are discussing specific sales figures, but the former announced Pre's debut broke first-day and first-weekend sales …

Mobile 9 Jun 19:22
Google lets you code for Googlephones on Googlephones

Android's mobile scripting kit

Google has introduced an Android scripting environment that lets you code stuff for the Googlephone on the Googlephone. It's called, well, the Android Scripting Environment. ASE, for short. It sits on the Android handset itself, giving coders the power to write and run scripts in Python, Lua, and BeanShell - without help from …

Developer 9 Jun 19:25
Fedora 11 leaps into filesystem unknown

Review Data vanishes along the way

It seems like Fedora 10 came along just yesterday, but already Fedora 11 is here. If the quick turnaround time smacks of the sort "upgraditis" that proprietary operating systems push on users, fear not. Fedora isn't trying to reinvent the wheel every six months. Instead, the move from Fedora 10 to 11 promises to carry on with …

Operating Systems 9 Jun 19:38
Google wraps Gmail and Co. in Microsoft comfort blanket

Redmond client, Mountain View cloud

As part of its ongoing effort to destroy Microsoft Exchange, Google has unleashed a new tool that lets you access its so-called cloud apps via Outlook - Redmond's very own Exchange client. With Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, you can tap Google's web-happy Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts services directly from Redmond's …

Applications 9 Jun 21:43
AT&T squeezes wannabe iPhone upgraders

You can have an S. For a price

AT&T will charge current US iPhone 3G customers a hefty fee for the privilege of upgrading to an iPhone 3G S before their two-year contracts are up, and American owners of the soon-to-be-second-rate 3G model are none to happy about it. AT&T has announced new pricing for existing iPhone 3Gs, plus rates for the upcoming iPhone …

Mobile 9 Jun 21:44
Novell musing Moblin open-source app store

Schooling netbookers on software feebies

Novell is considering making a one-click "open-source app store" for its upcoming Moblin-based OS for netbooks. The scheme is intended as a selling point for average users largely unfamiliar with free software alternatives outside a Microsoft platform. According to PC Pro, Novell believes baking an open-source software …

Operating Systems 9 Jun 21:51
Isilon clusters having swell time

To 5.2PB and 144 nodes

Amazing what software can do. In May, Isilon's maximum capacity was 3.5 petabytes per cluster. Now, with new software, it can grow to over 5PB. Isilon sells scale-out NAS clusters with each IQ node running the OneFS operating system and acting as a peer in the cluster. Version 5.5 OneFS raises cluster capacity from 96 to 144 …

Storage 9 Jun 21:55
Publisher defends Google Books 'sell out'

World Copyright Summit Fox raising chickens is good for chickenhood, says exec

Richard Sarnoff, the man who signed off on the historic authors settlement with Google, took to the stage to defend the deal today. If it survives antitrust scrutiny, the Settlement between Google and US authors promises to give Google a monopoly on out-of-print books in digital form. Isn't the accumulation of knowledge in one …

Music and Media 9 Jun 22:00
Nokia enlists Adobe and .NET armies on mobile web

Is that a WRT in your pocket...

The world's largest handset manufacturer is reaching out to designers using Adobe and to Microsoft's army of .NET coders, urging them to build web apps for phones running its S60 platform. Nokia's released Web Runtime Extension for Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 4 and the Standard and Professional editions of Visual Studio 2008 …

Developer 9 Jun 22:58
Germans fire up 200 teraflop Juropa2 super

Sun makes good on Constellation promises

French server maker Bull might be the prime contractor on the 200 teraflops Juropa2 massively parallel supercomputer installed at the government-sponsored Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), but beleaguered server maker Sun Microsystems wants everyone to know that the box that was turned on last Friday is comprised of its InfiniBand …

Servers 9 Jun 23:05