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12th June 2009 Archive

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  • Firefox update squashes 9 security bugs, 4 critical

    Get yours today

    Mozilla has released a new version of its Firefox browser that plugs nine security holes, four of which are rated "critical," the foundation's highest vulnerability level. Version 3.0.11 squashes a javascript chrome privilege escalation bug, which Mozilla said allows attackers to execute malware on the computers of end users. …

    Malware 12 Jun 00:35

  • Apple's 13in MacBook Pro in online strip tease

    Photos Unibody exposed

    One item announced during Apple's keynote address at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference took most observers by surprise: the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. It didn't take long, however, for the teardown specialists at iFixIt to get their hands on one and take it apart. They found the operation to be reassuringly easy, …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 03:38

  • Jimbo Wales: No one can make money from Wikipedia...

    ...except me. And maybe this spammer

    A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange for cash. But the Wikicult can't decide if that's a problem. Earlier this week, someone noticed a post to an online job marketplace where an entrenched Wikifiddler was advertising his Wikiservices. "Besides technical writing, I also am an …

    Music and Media 12 Jun 04:05

  • Buffalo Terastation III

    Review The paranoid user’s Nas of choice

    Heading Buffalo’s Terastation range of Nas boxes, the new Terastation III is aimed at demanding users and businesses. It certainly feels heavy duty, weighing in at 6.3kg with a locking door to secure its drive bays. Secure storage: Buffalo's Terastation III A greyscale LCD on the front reveals a variety of information …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 08:02

  • LastMinute.com wins right to block last minute trade mark

    Court of first instance' last minute ruling

    Online travel company LastMinute.com has won the right to have a competing firm's European trade mark cancelled. The European Union's Court of First Instance (CFI) has backed the British firm, overturning a ruling by the EU office for trade marks. LastMinute.com objected to a European trade mark registration for the term Last …

    Law 12 Jun 08:14

  • Oz cops in Taser fatality

    Victim naked, armed and now dead

    A north Queensland man has died after being tasered by police officers during a "domestic incident", Australia's ABC News reports. Police were called to deal with "a naked man was acting aggressively and destroying property at a residence at Brandon", according to a statement. He was allegedly armed with an iron bar and …

    Policing 12 Jun 08:24

  • Moneymaker clinches licence to print passports

    De La Rue secures £400m deal

    De La Rue, the company which prints all British bank notes, has won a ten year contract to make biometric passports. The £400m deal is the largest so far handed out as part of the introduction of ID cards and upgraded passports. The new ID documents will include the ability to store fingerprints as well as other security …

    Government 12 Jun 08:38

  • Brits can't tell their heart from their elbow

    Grey anatomy

    A good proportion of Brits have almost no idea where their major organs are located, with just 50 per cent able to identify where eight key internal body parts lie. That's according to research by a King's College London team which quizzed 722 people from the out-patient departments of Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’s hospitals …

    Biology 12 Jun 09:29

  • EC rejects Microsoft's browser promises

    Smoke + mirrors

    The European Commission seems unimpressed with Microsoft's chest-beating - the company said yesterday it would release versions of Windows 7 without Internet Explorer in order to comply with EC competition law. The Commission has rejected Microsoft's pre-emptive move, announced yesterday, to give computer manufacturers the …

    Law 12 Jun 09:40

  • Carter to cart self back to big business

    Digital Britain minister headed for the exit

    Lord Carter, the former Ofcom boss currently finalising a major review of the next decade of technology policy, will quit the government soon after it is published, according a report. The communications minister and ex-public relations executive is eyeing a lucrative return to the private sector, The Times reports. Gordon …

    Government 12 Jun 09:43

  • Chinese firm hits back at cyberspy claims

    Exclusive Huawei welcomes UK.gov backdoor probe

    Chinese networking giant Huawei is battling suggestions it could be in collusion with the Beijing government and could cause massive disruption to UK communications in a future cyber conflict. Concerns have been raised at Cabinet level by senior intelligence officials over the presence of the firm's equipment at the centre of …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 09:44

  • Asus prices up tablet netbook

    Eee T91 Bouncing into Blighty next month

    The Eee PC T91 touchscreen tablet netbook will finally arrive in Blighty next month - more than six months after the machine was first demo'd. Asus' T91 tablet-cum-notebook The eye-catching T91 first turned heads back in January at CES, but Asus has left it until now to confirm that the machine will be available from “early …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 09:55

  • Tesla claims founder's lawsuit is 'fiction'

    Opening broadsides in electrocar kingpin wrangle

    Spokespersons for electrocar company Tesla Motors - makers of the renowned Roadster li-ion battery sports car - have roundly disparaged a lawsuit mounted against the company and its helmsman, colourful space-rocket kingpin and PayPal hecamillionaire Elon Musk. Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, ousted as CEO of the firm in 2007 …

    Environment 12 Jun 09:59

  • Chrome update completes busy browser patch week

    Time for an industry patch day?

    Google has pushed out an update designed to fix a pair of vulnerabilities involving the WebKit application framework that underpins its Chrome browser. The most severe of the two flaws involved a "high risk" memory corruption flaw in WebKit, which creates a potential means for hackers to inject hostile code into the sandbox …

    Malware 12 Jun 10:16

  • German lad hit by 30,000 mph meteorite

    Size of a pea, luckily

    A 14-year-old German lad survived a close encounter with a meteorite when a pea-sized piece of rock which had entered Earth's atmosphere at 30,000 mph left him with nothing more than a "nasty" three-inch gash on his hand. According to the Telegraph, Gerrit Blank was on his way to school in Essen when a bright light in the sky …

    Space 12 Jun 10:17

  • Archos claims crown for 'world's slimmest' netbook

    10s skinnier than the Asus Eee Seashell?

    The Archos 10 was first leaked back in January, and now, five months on, manufacturer Archos has unveiled the netbook’s follow-up model: the 10s. Archos' 10s - the 's' stands for slim Archos said that the ‘s’ stands for slim, because its latest 10-series netbook is thinner than the earlier model's 28mm thickness. Archos …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 10:33

  • Surrey schoolkids whip out 12ft todger

    Prank pops up on Google Earth

    The powers that be have ordered the removal of a brick-based jolly jape carried out by pupils from Sutton Grammar School in Surrey - years after school leavers left a message for ET and months after sharp-eyed Google Earth scourers spotted the 12ft todger: Head Gordon Ironside has now ordered the profane sculptural …

    Bootnotes 12 Jun 10:58

  • Ice air con system aims for cool on the cheap

    Night time is the ice time

    Ice Energy, with its fiendishly simple Ice Bear product has got together with data centre air-conditioning company Data Aire to combine Ice Bear with its Data Temp cooling systems. The idea is to use cheap off-peak energy at night to freeze a tank of water (or "distributed energy storage system"), then use that great block of …

    Servers 12 Jun 11:01

  • BOFH: Stick this

    Episode 8 Extinguishing stupidity, one skull at a time

    "You've got to think of it in terms of sticks and carrots," I say to the PFY, "because users are complex - but stupid - stubborn animals, like donkeys." "Meaning?" "Meaning they respond to both rewards and punishment. So what you've got to do is find a balance between rewarding them for good behaviour - like not calling you …

    BOFH 12 Jun 11:02

  • HTC pledges allegiance to Windows Mobile

    Many Android phones to be launched but won't ship on time, warns exec

    Despite being the world’s first mobile phone maker to launch an Android-based handset, HTC still favours Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Frédéric Tassy, Grand Fromage of HTC France and Benelux, was recently asked whether he thought 2009 will be Android’s year. And although he thinks that, yes, this will be the year Android really …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 11:19

  • F1 waves goodbye to KERS

    Leccy Tech Cars to ditch kinetic drive tech for 2010 season

    Formula 1 racers must ditch Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) technology before next year’s season, the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) has decided. BMW Sauber (front) and Ferrari both spent time developing KERS, but with little reward KERS enables F1 cars to store 60kJ of energy while powering through races, with …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 11:40

  • Canon Digital Ixus 95 IS

    Review Small wonder?

    Some people want style. Others want simplicity. And then there are those who want both. If you belong to this last group, then Canon’s Digital Ixus 95 IS could be just the ticket. This compact camera is aimed at the point-and-shoot snapper who fancies a camera that looks good and takes decent pictures with the minimum of effort …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 12:00

  • Beeb says sorry after iPlayer network fail

    Updated Online tellybox shoots blanks

    Some BBC licence payers struggled to access the iPlayer yesterday due to problems with the Corporation’s network connections. Several readers contacted The Register to tell us that the online telly catch up service was on the blink. “On Thursday 11 June 2009 there was a problem with our network connections. We worked hard to …

    Data Networking 12 Jun 12:31

  • Mobile directory made legal threats to get personal details

    O2 cried foul

    The company behind a controversial new directory of private mobile phone numbers threatened O2 with legal action when it refused to provide its customers' personal details, The Register has learned. Start up firm Connectivity, which will launch its 118800 service next week, approached O2 18 months ago for access to its …

    Mobile 12 Jun 12:41

  • Belarus media sites under attack by zombies

    Echoes of Russia-Georgia cyberwar reverberate in Minsk

    The spectre of politically-motivated hacking attacks has once again risen in Eastern Europe. Media websites in Belarus, in particular news site Charter97.org, are under a distributed denial of service attack. Charter97 has been unavailable for several days and under lower-level attack for much longer, security tools firm Arbor …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 12:46

  • Imagine! Government to legislate against badness

    Poverty soon to be a crime

    It's official: the government is today publishing a bill that will make child poverty illegal. A surprise announcement from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) explains that the new child poverty bill will enshrine in law a duty to eradicate child poverty by 2020, "so that all children have the best start …

    Law 12 Jun 12:52

  • NASA working on 'open rotor' green (but loud) jets

    Want to save the planet? Put up with noisier airports

    NASA and General Electric have teamed up with French industry to revive a type of fuel-efficient aircraft engine shelved in the 1980s, in an effort to tackle aviation carbon emissions and high fuel costs. The "open rotor" engines, despite their relatively green characteristics, will still be unpopular with many anti-aviation …

    Environment 12 Jun 12:56

  • Windows 7 to push up netbook prices

    Especially if you want Atom 2.0

    Anyone putting off purchasing a netbook until the next-generation Atom processor, the N450, arrives in October, should expect to pay a premium thanks to the extra cost of Windows 7. Netbook makers are currently lobbying Microsoft to reduce the price of its upcoming operating system revision, which, DigiTimes reports, is …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 13:35

  • Sun's top brass get golden parachutes...

    ...all we got was this old T-shirt

    As top Sun execs get ready to deploy their golden parachutes as Oracle prepares to devour the company for a mere $5.6bn in July, someone is about to make a killing on T-shirts. Paul Humphreys has reminded everyone in his blog at Sun about Network, a faithful hound who got things for you when you needed them and who was for a …

    Bootnotes 12 Jun 13:36

  • Indian politico's webmail hacked to punt lost-wallet scam

    PLEASE SEND $3,500. MOST GRACIOUS.

    Fraudsters hacked into the webmail account of an Indian politician in a bid to sponge money from his contacts. Senior Congress politico Mani Shankar Aiyar's Hotmail account was broken into on Wednesday in order to send messages claiming he'd lost his wallet and was in urgent need of cash to settle a $3,500 hotel bill in …

    Spam 12 Jun 13:41

  • Any uses for an old Mac G4?

    I have an old Apple 12in PowerBook G4 sitting in a cupboard. It's way behind the curve, PowerPC-equipped - no good for Snow Leopard, in other words - and the battery's had it. Everyone I know who I'd would have passed it on to in the past has, by now, got a more capable machine. But it seems a shame to chuck it away. So, Reg …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 13:48

  • Opera applauds scepticism on MS browser pledge

    Promises are too little, too late

    Browser maker Opera has applauded EU officials for rejecting Microsoft's promises not to include Internet Explorer in European copies of Windows 7. The European Commission indicated this morning the pledge would not satisfy its anti-trust investigators. Opera, which is frequently critical of Microsoft's dominance, reacted to …

    Law 12 Jun 14:16

  • Israeli army develops one-eyed robot trouser snake

    Vid Erects rigidly to penetrate smugglers' route

    The Israeli armed forces are developing a flexible man-portable robotic snake equipped with a camera, intended for battlefield surveillance missions. The experimental military snake was displayed on television this week. Needless to say, YouTube footage is available: (You need Flash and suitable firewall privileges to …

    Physics 12 Jun 14:21

  • Rambus hopes lower prices will placate EC

    Cap on royalties could end case

    Rambus Inc has offered to license some of its chip technology at capped royalty rates, in a bid to end a long-running legal spat with European anti-trust watchdogs. The US-based memory designer has been fighting allegations that it had deceived an industry standard-setting organisation. The European Commission claimed that …

    Storage 12 Jun 14:28

  • Endeavour 'in really good shape to fly'

    Shuttle launch to ISS tomorrow

    NASA has declared space shuttle Endeavour "in really good shape to fly" for tomorrow's slated blast-off on the STS-127 mission to the International Space Station - the 23rd ISS construction mission. Endeavour will depart Launch Pad 39A at 11:17 GMT carrying the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility and Experiment …

    Space 12 Jun 14:42

  • Twitter profile hack pwns Mormons

    RT @whereisyourgodnow

    Microblogging Mormons are up in arms after the Twitter account of the Church of Latter Day Saints was hijacked by pranksters. Scallywags broke into the profile, probably by taking advantage of a weak password, to post tweets suggesting that the founder of the church, Joseph Smith, was a liar. Mendacious updates to the @ …

    Enterprise Security 12 Jun 14:46

  • Team Agni scores e-bike grand prix victory

    Leccy Tech Rider Rob Barker wins first TTxGP

    The inaugural TTxGP has been won by Rob Barber on the Team Agni bike. Barber completed the course in 25 minutes 53 seconds, at an average speed of 87.434mph. His bike is a converted 2007 Suzuki GSXR 600 fitted with two Agni 95 reinforced motors and a 63-cell, 16kWh Kokam lithium-polymer battery. Winner: Team Agni's Rob …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 15:06

  • Archos updates internet-enabled PMP range

    The sheets come off the Atom-based Archos 9

    The Archos 5 internet-enabled personal media player scored a whopping 90 per cent in Register Hardware’s review back in October. But now manufacturer Archos has upped the stakes with an updated model called, simply, Archos 9. The Archos 9 will run Windows 7 The first thing to point out about Archos 9 is that it will run …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 15:26

  • Samsung shines a light on first solar cellphone

    But it's no iPhone 3G S

    Samsung has spent the last few months talking up solar-powered handsets, but its first commercially available model has finally been unveiled. It’s called Crest Solar. Samsung's Crest Solar: 60 minutes in the sun yields ten minutes' talk time Also known as the E1107, the phone isn’t powered exclusively by solar cells. But …

    Reg Hardware 12 Jun 16:02

  • Opera to 'reinvent the web' in four days

    Head in the clouds

    Opera Software has told the world it will soon "reinvent the web." With a cryptic post to its website - at the url www.opera.com/freedom - the Norwegian outfit claims this epic feat will be accomplished in less than four days. "On June 16th at 9:00am (CEDT)," the post reads, "we will reinvent the web." Opera boast We asked …

    Applications 12 Jun 16:13

  • Cisco California pricing revealed

    Exclusive $3,000 for a blade with no innards

    Cisco Systems is fixing to start shipping its "California" Unified Computing System blade servers with their integrated networking for servers and storage, and it looks like one of the key features not on the list of components for the California boxes is going to be a red discount pen. Cisco is charging some pretty high prices …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 16:35

  • Buggy 'smart meters' open door to power-grid botnet

    Grid-burrowing worm only the beginning

    New electricity meters being rolled out to millions of homes and businesses are riddled with security bugs that could bring down the power grid, according to a security researcher who plans to demonstrate several attacks at a security conference next month. The so-called smart meters for the first time provide two-way …

    Security 12 Jun 18:02

  • Video game sales hit three-year low in US

    23 per cent tumble

    US video game sales took a 23 per cent tumble in May compared to the previous year, dropping below the $1bn sales mark for the first time since August 2007. Recession was fingered as the root cause of the slump by the number-crunchers at NPD Group, although there's certainly other variables at play. Total industry sales - …

    Music and Media 12 Jun 19:24

  • iPhone owners are superior beings, says survey

    Younger, wealthier, better educated...

    iPhone users are often accused of acting as if they believe they're a cut above the common rabble. Well, they are. At least according to a survey by Forrester Research of over 32,000 working Americans, brought to our attention by AppleInsider. According to Forrester's research, iPhone users are wealthier and better-educated …

    Mobile 12 Jun 19:30

  • Lightning strikes Amazon cloud (honest)

    The dangers of sky-high computing

    Amazon's cloud was struck by lightning earlier this week. And that's the truth. On Wednesday evening at about 6:30pm Pacific time, some Amazon cloud sitters saw their floating servers disappear - and yes, the company blamed the temporary outage on a lightning strike. According to a web post from the company, the strike zapped …

    Servers 12 Jun 19:38

  • Ex-Borland's Delphi owner re-ignites cross-platform dream

    Linux and Mac not ripe in 2001

    Embarcadero Technologies, having itself been been bought by private capital in 2006, acquired Borland Software's CodeGear division just over a year ago. CodeGear's developer products include Delphi, a RAD tool that creates native code Windows executables, and the JBuilder Java IDE now based on Eclipse. These products have an …

    Developer 12 Jun 22:06

  • Dell tweets $3m in revenues

    Money to be made after all

    Twitter itself can't be bothered to come up with a business plan, but Dell at least seems to be making out gangbusters on the micro-blogging service. The PC vendor said Friday it's generated more than $2m in revenue directly through promotions on its @DellOutlet Twitter feed. An additional $1m was earned via the web 2.0 naval- …

    Financial News 12 Jun 22:12

  • Behind Microsoft's IE-free, Windows-for-Europe ploy

    The slacker Euroreaucrat offensive, reworked

    Microsoft's offering what it's called the best solution to shipping Windows 7 in Europe while staying within European regulatory law. The answer? For European Union (EU) member states to get 12 versions of the forthcoming Windows 7, each without the browser. IE will be available to Windows 7 customers "separately and on an …

    Channel Register 12 Jun 23:21