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11th June 2009 Archive

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  • Symantec, McAfee cough up $750,000 on auto-renewals

    'Hide the ball' suspended

    Symantec and McAfee have agreed to pay $375,000 apiece to settle charges they charged fees against customer credit cards without authorization. Under a settlement announced Wednesday by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, the antivirus software makers also agreed to more clearly disclose any automatic renewal fees and …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 00:39

  • Palm to out-iPod Apple with CEO pick

    RIM shot

    The individual credited with building the iPod is poised to square off against he who birthed the player, Steve Jobs - or at least his company, Apple. Palm has named Apple's former iPod division chief Jon Rubinstein as its chairman and chief executive officer, less than two years after he joined fresh from Apple as executive …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2009, 00:40

  • Mars projected to collide with Earth

    Billion-year alert

    Forget sending astronauts to Mars, the planet may come crashing right here to Earth if gravitational interactions substantially agitate its now-stable orbit. A new study in the June 11 issue of Nature predicts there's a real, albeit slim possibility of a planetary smash-up inside the inner solar system, largely thanks to …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 00:54

  • iPhone stuffed with crashing hard drive

    Simulated disaster

    The data-recovery virtuosi at DriveSavers have come up with an iPhone app that IT admins can use to explain to an unfortunate client exactly how and why their hard drive went south, taking all of that irreplaceable financial data with it. And, of course, seeing as how DriveSavers is in the business of data recovery and not …

    Phones 11 Jun 2009, 03:18

  • 'Grid computing Red Hat' out-Amazons Amazon

    Hadoop Summit Cloudera in the, yes, cloud

    In its mission to bring to world+dog the joys of Hadoop - that open-source grid-computing platform based on Google arrogance - Cloudera has out-Amazoned Amazon. Today, the star-studded Hadoop startup told the world that its commercial stuffed-elephant distro can now be run on Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in tandem with …

    Developer 11 Jun 2009, 05:08

  • Job cuts start to bite at Barclays

    IT department banking on limiting redundancies

    Barclays Bank is cutting 200 jobs from its IT department, but the bank is hoping it will reduce the number of redundancies originally announced. The redundancies are from its Global Retail and Commercial Banking department. We received an email from a Barclays worker which said 200 permanent jobs in technology and shared …

    Financial News 11 Jun 2009, 07:02

  • O2 Joggler family organiser

    Review More PMP than parental PDA

    The knack in marketing a product that can perform a multitude of tasks is obviously picking the right ones to focus on but, at the same time, not forgetting to mention anything really interesting. O2 has decided to pitch its new Joggler primarily as an interactive digital calendar for the busy modern family but, after a thorough …

    Mobile 11 Jun 2009, 08:02

  • Venezuela spits out Coke Zero

    Unspecified health concerns prompt ban

    Citizens of Venezuela have been deprived of the delights of Coke Zero following a government ban on its sale pending a health probe into the zero-cal beverage's ingredients. Health Minister Jesus Mantilla declared: "The product should be withdrawn from circulation to preserve the health of Venezuelans." Mantilla did not …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2009, 09:00

  • New tool tracks sites' small print shuffling

    Keep tabs on T&Cs at Google, Facebook, Twitter

    A digital rights group has created an automatic system for tracking changes to website terms and conditions and privacy policies. The tool is designed to help users of websites to keep up to date with their rights and obligations. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the digital rights advocacy group behind TOSBack.org …

    Law 11 Jun 2009, 09:03

  • Microsoft abolishes Money

    Credit crunch in action

    Microsoft is pulling the plug on Money - its personal finance and small business software package. The software will no longer be available to buy after 30 June and anyone who has bought MS Money needs to activate it before 31 January 2011. Microsoft Money was sold in four versions from $19.99 to $69.99. Microsoft will …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 09:11

  • US brain-plug interface gets live human trials

    Telepathic mouse kit could jumpwire paralysed limbs

    Boffins in America say that their new "neural interface" brain-plug equipment, intended to let users control computers and machinery merely by thinking, is about to embark on its second stage of clinical trials. The tech is intended initially to help patients suffering from paralysing illness or massive injuries, but has …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 09:33

  • Security holes poked in Chinese compulsory PC filter plan

    Green Dam it all

    Plans to mandate the use of a particular brand of censorware software in China pose a grave security risk, security watchers and net privacy activists warn. All PCs shipped to China from July 1 2009 onwards will be required to bundle a locally brewed application called Green Dam Youth Escort in order to prevent access to " …

    Security 11 Jun 2009, 10:14

  • A Geeks Guide2 ... Programming in Scala

    Programming discounts at Reg Books

    Geeks Guide2 Following on from last week's JavaOne Conference, we focus our GG2 attention on the Java Platform programming language Scala. Programming in Scala from Artima is co-authored by Scala creator himself Martin Odersky, and is a chapter-by-chapter tutorial which 'promises to help you master the Scala language and the …

    Developer 11 Jun 2009, 10:20

  • Microsoft wins competition court case

    Not a headline you often see

    Microsoft has finally won a competition case - albeit a civil case brought in South Korea by two rival software providers. Digito.com was seeking $23.9m in damages and Sanview Technology wanted about a third of that. The two companies accused Microsoft of damaging their businesses by bundling instant messenger and Windows …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 10:28

  • Comet opens e-car power car park

    Leccy Tech Recommends emailing ahead to check cable availability

    If you're delaying the purchase of a leccy car because of the cost of the juice, then electrical retailer Comet may have a solution: free power. Plug it in while you load it up From today, Comet will offer customers free e-car power from "Plug & Go" points located in the car park of its Purley Way superstore in Croydon. …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 10:41

  • CMOx shows its face in flash race

    Another technology candidate to follow on from NAND

    Heard of CMOx? Here we are in the midst of a rush towards NAND flash replacing fast hard drives and successor technologies are already jostling for prominence. Unity Semiconductor came out of stealth last month and has unveiled its CMOx technology with claimed technology advantages over NAND and manufacturing advantages over …

    Storage 11 Jun 2009, 10:49

  • World Copyright Summit: The unprintable bits

    World Copyright Summit A bloggy buffet of wit, wisdom and WTF

    There were lots of interesting tidbits from the biennial Copyright Summit, which didn't make it into the main coverage but are too interesting not to share. Here's a round-up. Starving, hysterical, naked Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, reminded me that he was a pupil of Professor Charlie Nesson, founder of the Berkman …

    Media 11 Jun 2009, 11:17

  • SFR rolls out family organiser tablet

    Just like the Joggler, Tabbee - only smaller

    Wi-Fi family organisation gadgets seem to be flavour of the month - for carriers. Orange has its Tabbee and O2 has the Joggler. Now French network operator SFR has launched its own version, the Hubster. SFR's Hubster: a handy video cookery aid? Hubster is a miniature tablet equipped with a small touchscreen display, Wi-Fi …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2009, 11:25

  • uSwitch up for sale

    How much for this price comparison site?

    Price comparison site uSwitch is up for sale. US media group EW Scripps bought uSwitch in 2006 for £210m. The site specialises in utility and broadband price comparisons although it offers similar services for insurance, bank accounts and credit cards. uSwitch makes money on commission when users change provider, leading to …

    Financial News 11 Jun 2009, 11:27

  • Last.fm co-founders pack up record boxes

    Hoxton trio ditch CBS-owned firm

    The co-founders of Last.fm have quit the CBS-owned company. CEO Felix Miller, COO Martin Stiksel and CIO Richard Jones confirmed they were leaving in a blog post yesterday. The trio will stay on as consultants at the firm until September. CBS Interactive’s boss Quincy Smith said Miller, Stiksel and Jones would hang around to …

    Media 11 Jun 2009, 11:33

  • Futurama back from dead again

    Good news everyone!

    Futurama is to return with 26 new episodes, six years after Fox first cancelled the animated show. Comedy Central, which previously commissioned four feature-length specials, will begin screening the new half-hour shows of the animated series on US cable TV next year, following the agreement of a deal between Fox and Comedy …

    Bootnotes 11 Jun 2009, 11:41

  • Broadcom could raise its Emulex bid

    We'll throw in the girls and the car, OK?

    Broadcom is dangling the carrot of a potentially raised bid in front of Emulex, but says it needs access to inside information. Reuters reports that Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor made the offer in an email to Emulex CEO Jim McCluney. Broadcom, an Ethernet switch supplier, is trying to take over Fibre Channel server adapter …

    Storage 11 Jun 2009, 11:47

  • Intel Core i7 975 Extreme

    Review Nice - but the cheaper, updated i7 920 is nicer

    Intel launched its new Core i7 975 Extreme on the first day of Computex and now it’s time to put this über processor through its paces. The old Core i7 965 Extreme has a clock speed of 3.2GHz (24 x 133MHz) and the new 975 Extreme runs a tad faster, 3.33GHz (25 x 133MHz), so we’re looking at a four per cent increase in …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2009, 12:01

  • Blubber-wrapped Linux kernel 2.6.30 hits the decks

    Well-oiled 'Man-Eating Seals of Antiquity' surfaces

    A new version of the Linux kernel has been unleashed, 2.6.30 — dubbed "Man-Eating Seals of Antiquity" — just three months on from Linus Torvalds’s previous release. The latest Linux kernel sped through eight release candidates before it landed yesterday. "I'm sure we've missed something, and I know we have some regressions …

    Operating Systems 11 Jun 2009, 12:03

  • Tesla Motors founder Eberhard sues Elon Musk

    Says his personal Roadster was supplied 'wrecked'

    A founder of legendary electrovehicle firm Tesla Motors, maker of the much-fancied Roadster battery sports car, is suing the firm and its present chief - famed tech zillionaire Elon Musk. Martin Eberhard alleges that Musk has slandered and libelled him, mishandled the fortunes of Tesla Motors, and deliberately supplied Eberhard …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 12:05

  • Grand Theft Auto firm praises controller-free gaming

    Motion-controlled GTA anyone?

    Nintendo may have rubbished Microsoft's Project Natal motion-controlled gaming, but the CEO of videogame publisher Take-Two has given the technology a big thumbs up. “The ability to just stand in front of a display and motion with your hand or talk - that's what people want,” Ben Feder told website Games Industry. “The closer …

    Games 11 Jun 2009, 12:33

  • Disties braced for autumn reseller collapses

    Is that why they call it fall?

    Distributors expect the pace of reseller collapses to pick up later this year, despite a perceived bottoming-out of the economic slump. Speaking at the Global Technology Distribution Council conference in London this week, Bell Micro EMEA boss John Toal recalled the recession of the early 1990s, when there was a sharp spike in …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 12:52

  • Berners-Lee hired as gov internet adviser

    Eminently sensible idea shock

    The prime minister has appointed the inventor of the world wide web as the government's adviser on information delivery. Sir Tim Berners-Lee will lead a panel of experts to advise the relevant Cabinet Office minister on how government can best use the internet to make non-personal public data as widely available as possible. …

    Government 11 Jun 2009, 13:09

  • Pressure group demands UK apes China net filter plan

    Without the political censorship...obviously

    "All computers should be provided with net filtering software loaded - and the default position for such filters should be on." That is the view of Miranda Suit, one of the organisers of Mediamarch - a voluntary group seeking to reduce the harmful effects of the media on our children, families and society. Ms Suit was speaking …

    Government 11 Jun 2009, 13:36

  • RIP Personal Computer World

    Comment - Updated What did happen to the likely lads?

    If you could find the subscription list of Personal Computer World Magazine (PCW) in its startup year, 1978, you’d have a Who’s Who of the UK tech business today. The mag has died – killed by the banking recession, and Private Equity leveraging – but the industry it kick-started will always remember it. I was a founder …

    Vintage 11 Jun 2009, 14:02

  • Boffins: Bebo interstellar spam aliens don't exist after all

    Gliese 581d 'too crusty' for civilisation to arise

    Astroplanet boffins in America say that humanity may not, as had been expected, soon be the target of an interstellar assault from alien civilisations unwisely enraged by Web-2.0 teenybopper portal Bebo. It appears that the planet Gliese 581d - which might have mounted an invasion of the Solar System as soon as 2049 - cannot …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 14:21

  • Nokia ships phone camera with mechanical shutter

    The 8Mp N86

    Nokia has started shipping a phone that it claims is its “best mobile imaging device”. Nokia's N86: available to buy in July The N86’s main photo feature, aside from its 8Mp sensor, is the fact that the phone packs a mechanical – rather than digital – shutter. It operates at up to 1/1000 second. Mechanical shutters are …

    Phones 11 Jun 2009, 14:30

  • Apple fans targeted by smut-punting malware

    Uh, it's a booby trap

    VXers are targeting Mac fans via a pair of new malware-themed attacks, one of which is on offer through what purports to be a portal for adult videos. The Jahlav-C Mac-specific Trojan poses as an ActiveX update needed to watch grumble flicks, as explained by ParetoLogic here. The same booby-trapped website, which runs code to …

    Security 11 Jun 2009, 14:36

  • Old guard want to save Nortel

    Need some cash, though

    A consortium of old guard Nortel execs led by ex-CEO Bob Ferchat believe they can save Nortel, if only the Canadian government will help them out with a bit of funding - say about $1bn. Bob Ferchat is supported by other senior Nortel figures - including David Paterson, David Mann and Ian Craig. Ferchat is an ex-president of …

    Data Networking 11 Jun 2009, 15:13

  • AMD cooking up low-power, twin server

    Making Istanbul cool(er)

    Advanced Micro Devices may have moved up the delivery of its six-core "Istanbul" Opteron processors by some four to five months, but the related "Fiorano" platform and SR5690/SP5100 chipset that is paired with Istanbul is still on its original schedule for some time in the second half of 2009. As it turns out, there is not …

    Servers 11 Jun 2009, 15:56

  • 'Bionic ear' can detect Wi-Fi, FM,GPS signals simultaneously

    Electronic cochlea a step toward universal radio?

    Boffins have developed a potential “universal radio receiver” that’s capable of detecting a whole range of wireless signals simultaneously. A close-up of the RFC and antenna The Radio Frequency Cochlea (RFC) is an ultrabroad-band radiob embedded onto a 1.5 x 3mm silicon chip. It can receive mobile phone, GPS, FM radio, Wi- …

    Broadband 11 Jun 2009, 15:58

  • SAP hits on-demand button

    U-turn a go-go

    SAP, in a spectacular U-turn, has leapt on board the software-as-a-service bandwagon - the company confirmed its new selling strategy yesterday. The German software giant, which was speaking at an On-Demand conference in Amsterdam on Wednesday, said it will launch SaaS functionality add-ons for its existing Business Suite ERP …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 16:00

  • Google recaptures $761 from Facebook nemesis

    If you badmouth us, we'll play hardball

    After it was successfully sued in small claims court by a man who says he invented Facebook, Google has appealed the decision, returned to court, and persuaded a judge to return its $761. In March, famous Facebook nemesis Aaron Greenspan sued Google in a North California court, claiming that Google terminated his AdSense …

    Media 11 Jun 2009, 18:08

  • Web servers get 'leccy bill

    SPECweb2009 fights the power

    The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, or SPEC for short, has been providing benchmarks for PCs and servers for more than two decades, and in the past year, it has been adding power components to its benchmark suites. SPEC and server players AMD, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, and Sun Microsystems have got …

    Servers 11 Jun 2009, 18:44

  • HP taps Symantec cloud backup

    More Norton for HP PCs and notebooks

    HP is distributing Symantec's cloud backup software on its consumer PCs and notebooks, which also include a 60-day version of Norton Security. Customers will get a 30-day trial of Norton Online Backup. The software is pre-installed, and the offer includes 5GB of cloud storage. HP recently shut down its own Upline cloud backup …

    Applications 11 Jun 2009, 19:01

  • Periodic table adding new element

    Super-heavy 112 gets official nod

    Move over, Roentgenium. There's a new super-heavy chemical element joining the periodic table. The yet-to-be-named "element 112" has been officially recognized by the table's governing body, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. A team of scientists, lead by Sigurd Hofmann at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 19:16

  • TTXGP e-bikers finish qualification run

    Leccy Tech Winner hits 102mph on Sulby Straight

    The first official practice and qualification runs for the upcoming zero-emissions motorbike GP – TTXGP - have taken place on the Isle of Man. Rob Barber (above) finished the TTXGP qualification in first place Of the 14 bikes that lined up for the first qualifying session, 10 managed to complete the demanding 37.7-mile …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 20:02

  • Microsoft plays recession card with Novell

    Who's helping who?

    Linux and open-source companies have made much about how the recession is creating opportunity at the expense of proprietary and licensed-based software as IT budgets are cut. For proprietary and license-charged, read Microsoft and Oracle. Now, Microsoft is attempting to exploit its controversial relationship with Novell to …

    Operating Systems 11 Jun 2009, 20:19

  • Yahoo! names! new! finance! chief!

    GE vet joins Bartz revolution

    Nearly four months after announcing that CFO Blake Jorgensen would be leaving the company, Yahoo! has named his replacement: 40-year-old Tim Morse, a 15-year veteran of General Electric. Morse joins Yahoo! after serving as CFO at Altera Corp., a semiconductor outfit specializing in programmable logic devices. Jorgensen …

    Business 11 Jun 2009, 21:56

  • Voltaire punts monster 10 GE switch

    Weighing in at 15U with 288 ports

    In early May, InfiniBand switch maker Voltaire said it would start two-timing with a line of 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches, and the company has not taken long to kick out its first product. Well, the spec sheets for it, anyway. This week, Voltaire launched the Vantage 8500 Ethernet switch, which it's pitching as a data center- …

    Data Networking 11 Jun 2009, 21:59

  • Junior astronomer spots junior supernova

    14-year-old student finds new type of solar explosion

    A 14-year-old student from New York state has become the youngest person in history to discover a supernova. And her find is also one of the most peculiar supernovae spotted to date. For a massive stellar explosion, this one appears to be a dud. Using a relatively small telescope, Caroline Moore spied the faint object located …

    Science 11 Jun 2009, 22:29

  • Intel crowds ultrathin chip space

    Cut-rate Celerons rumored

    Intel is said to be preparing the release of new low-power chips for ultrathin notebooks, even as it watches its current chips dip in market share when compared to those from arch-rival AMD. According to a report from Taiwanese market watchdog DigiTimes, those ever-gabby "sources at notebook makers" say that two new …

    Hardware 11 Jun 2009, 22:38

  • Microsoft to bomb Europe with IE-free Windows 7

    Updated You want antitrust?

    Microsoft's approach to packaging of its signature desktop operating system couldn't be much more different than Apple's. Instead of a single, packaged Windows 7, the new operating system - like Windows before it - will see Microsoft segment like crazy with six editions. Unless you're in Europe, in which case you're going to …

    The Channel 11 Jun 2009, 23:17