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2nd July 2009 Archive

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  • Iomega eGo 320GB pocket external hard drive

    Review Pocket-flat backup bargain?

    Iomega has re-invented its eGo portable hard drives, opting for a 'value-added' theme: when you purchase the 'PS' (Protection Suite) edition of an eGo, you get a bundle of backup and data security software included, plus slimmer, ruggedised hardware and the promise of a three-year warranty. Iomega's new eGo: sexier styling …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 08:02

  • Ofcom decides on white-space parameters

    Location, location, location and a bit of sensing

    UK regulator Ofcom has been considering what restrictions to place on white-space-exploiting cognitive radios, and has concluded that a location-based database is the only way to be sure. The conclusion comes in a statement following up on the consultation Ofcom launched back in February, and concludes that detection …

    Mobile 2 Jul 08:02

  • Bidding war breaks out for T-Mobile UK

    Telefonica joins Vodafone

    Assorted mobile operators are lining up to bid for T-Mobile's UK business - or at least have a good look at its books. Deutsche Telecom has appointed advisers JP Morgan to help it shift its UK network. On Monday Vodafone was named as a possible bidder, either on its own or in partnership with 3. This has sparked interest from …

    Mobile 2 Jul 08:30

  • Astronomers sniff intermediate mass black hole

    X-rays point to 500 solar mass 'middleweight'

    Astronomers from the University of Leicester and the CESR astrophysics lab in Toulouse reckon they've spotted an intermediate mass black hole - one of an elusive group of beasts weighing in between single star black holes and their supermassive cousins. A team led by Sean Farrell was perusing X-ray sources dating back to 2000 …

    Space 2 Jul 08:31

  • File data to balloon sixfold by 2012

    Petabyte pandemonium

    The Enterprise Strategy Group is forcasting a sixfold growth in file archive capacity, from a little over 10,000PB in 2008 to 62,000PB in 2012. An ESG survey, asked respondents what they considered important when buying network-attached storage (NAS) systems. The top attribute was power and cooling-efficiency, with 75 percent …

    Channel Register 2 Jul 09:02

  • Russian's Bulgarian airbags burst mid-flight

    Airborne storm in an F-cup

    A Russian woman sporting a fine set of F-cup chesticles required urgent medical treatment when the Bulgarian airbags responsible for her enhanced assets burst during a flight to Los Angeles. According to Pravda, 45-year-old Irena D was en route from Moscow to California (aboard an Aeroflot Boeing 767-300, in case you're …

    Bootnotes 2 Jul 09:21

  • Dell's Mini 10 to become location aware

    GPS kit inbound

    GPS technology is coming to Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10 netbook family, the PC giant has announced. A combination of hardware and software packaged as the Dell Wireless 700 kit will allow you to establish your position using Wi-Fi base-station information or GPS, Dell said. The firm’s yet to say how the gadget will connect into …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 09:23

  • Users claim iPhone 3.0 GPS mis-map mishaps

    'Hi, luv. I'm under the sea, apparently.'

    iPhone owners have begun filling forums with grumbles that Apple’s latest firmware causes Google Maps to become more than a little inaccurate. The “GPS and Maps not working after 3.0 upgrade” thread on Apple’s own Discussions website is filled with comments from angry iPhone owners that the firmware update causes the bundled …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 09:37

  • Software firm goes after Google for internet invisibility cloak

    The more you ignore me, the closer I get

    A software company has sued Google not only for trade mark infringement in Google's AdWords advertising system but for making its website invisible to the Google search engine. Google has faced a string of law suits claiming that it breaks trade mark law when it allows third parties to buy the right for their ads to appear …

    Applications 2 Jul 09:40

  • Prof: People reject news which conflicts with beliefs

    Utter rubbish, according to open-minded observers

    It's well known that people have a tendency to seek out information which confirms what they already believe. Beancurd-scoffing hippies read the Guardian; mindless bigoted reactionaries read the Daily Mail; people who feel that the IT industry would benefit from the involvement of Paris Hilton in some way read the Reg. But now …

    Biology 2 Jul 09:47

  • Petrol station robbers cuffed after running out of petrol

    Pennsylvania pair in major criminal fail

    A couple of Pennsylvania master criminals who robbed a petrol station were cuffed after their getaway vehicle ran out of petrol a mile from the scene of the crime. According to AP, 29-year-old Lonnie Meckwood and 51-year-old Phillip Weeks hit the Quickway Convenience Store in Kirkwood, close to the New York-Pennsylvania border …

    Bootnotes 2 Jul 09:48

  • Apple grapples with wave of filth

    Underage smut on the iPhone? Surely not

    Apple has again been caught out by an app that delivers content from outside Cupertino's control - this time it's naked pics of girls puportedly as young as 15 using a social networking application. The app concerned, BeautyMeter, is one of the familiar hot-or-not style applications, where users can upload their own pictures …

    Mobile 2 Jul 10:28

  • Air NZ rolls out naked safety vid

    Bare air derrieres

    Air New Zealand has rolled out a radical solution to the problem of self-loading cargo paying no attention whatsoever to its pre-flight safety briefings: Staff sporting nothing more than body paint and strategically-placed lifejackets... The vid forms part of the airline's Nothing to Hide campaign, which also features a …

    Bootnotes 2 Jul 10:31

  • China not demolishing Green Dam

    Censorware not going anywhere after all

    China's controversial mandatory censorware has only been delayed rather than abandoned, according to state media. The Chinese government postponed regulations that PCs sold in China had to come with locally-developed Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software pre-installed just hours before the 1 July deadline, sparking …

    ID 2 Jul 10:51

  • ESA lifts world's largest telecoms satellite

    TerreStar 1 heads for orbit

    The "heaviest and most powerful telecommunications satellite ever launched" was yesterday carried aloft atop an Ariane 5 ECA lifter from the European Space Agency's Korou spaceport in French Guiana. The 7,055kg TerreStar 1 blasted off at 17:52 GMT, destined for a geostationary orbit above North America. It will "operate in …

    Space 2 Jul 10:52

  • Facebook promises privacy settings to suit 'everyone'

    And kills off regional groups

    Social network Facebook is road testing new privacy settings to replace the various privacy limits currently required for different applications and content. Users will be offered a transition tool to help them move their settings across to a new page. Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said the company had …

    Applications 2 Jul 11:11

  • Apple nixing Nvidia from 'Nehalem' Macs?

    Tough bargaining or faulty-GPU fallout suspected

    Apple won't be using Nvidia chippery in future machines, it has been claimed. That's according to website SemiAccurate - the clue's in the title - which says it heard the move was prompted by the problems Apple - and, it has to be said, others - had with failing Nvidia GPUs last year. But there's more here than meets the eye …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 11:19

  • Porsche bites back at e-car proponents

    Leccy Tech Still several tech hurdles to overcome, says exec

    Porsche has criticised e-car makers for dangling what it claims are unrealistic visions and vaporware in front of the car-buying public. Wolfgang Dürheimer, Director of development at the German sportscar maker, described such moves as “frivolous” in a recent interview with German motoring site Motorzeitung. Dürheimer hinted …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 11:23

  • Gmail turns into label junkie

    What folder are you wearing this season?

    Google has rejigged the labelling toolkit in Gmail to make it more accessible and interactive for users. It’s shifted labels to a more prominent location on the Gmail homepage. Mountain View has also provided a drag and drop function for emails to be added directly into labels. As a result, the company said it had ditched …

    Applications 2 Jul 11:24

  • Ofcom exempts wall-piercing tech

    Ultra Wide Band also to be allowed in cars

    Ofcom has published new proposals for the use of Ultra Wideband equipment, updating the measures which were rushed through to prevent the flood of grey imports from the USA. The regulator's new proposals increase the transmission power for all UWB equipment, and also permit the use of UWB in cars and trains in addition to …

    Wireless 2 Jul 11:36

  • Toshiba NB200

    Review The right way to design a netbook

    What is it with Toshiba's designers? Their first netbook, the NB100, was a boxy, angular affair that looked like it had appeared out of a rip in time from 1995. Undoubtedly stung by such criticism, Toshiba's design team have gifted the company's follow up, the NB200, with a much sexier design... only to go and spoil it with a …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 12:02

  • 'First-ever' flight of robotic ornithopter announced

    Vid Prototype 'nano' bugging-bug drone gets another $2m

    Famous crazycraft company Aerovironment has won a $2.1m contract to further develop its robotic "Nano Air Vehicle" (NAV), which flies and hovers using flapping wings like a hummingbird. The company has also released a video of the innovative craft in test flights. According to Aerovironment, the fluttering NAV achievement …

    Science 2 Jul 12:08

  • Germans and Swiss snub DAB

    Still too costly, reckon broadcasters

    The commercial radio industries in Germany and Switzerland have both rejected proposals that they should invest in developing the DAB digital radio system in their countries to replace existing FM/AM transmissions. The German argument against DAB was that the significant investment required simply did not justify the lengthy …

    Music and Media 2 Jul 12:21

  • Archos confirms Android tablet launch

    Coming this September

    Archos has confirmed that its previously announced Android-based Internet Media Tablet (IMT) will arrive this September. One of Archos' Android-based IMTs has a 5in display and 7.2Mb/s HSDPA At an event in central London this morning, Tony Limrick, Managing Director of Archos Northern Europe, advised those in attendance to …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 12:47

  • Bing slips into bed with Twitter

    Little one says 'roll over'

    Microsoft has added Twitter messages to some search results in a desperate attempt to snatch some market share from Google following the launch of Bing last month. Redmond’s revamped search engine has indexed some popular Twitter pages using the all-talk-no-trousers site’s public API. “We picked a few thousand people to start …

    Applications 2 Jul 12:48

  • Hyundai cans UK mobile phone plans

    The recession's latest victim?

    If you’re a Hyundai driver looking forward to pairing your motor with one of the firm’s mobile phones, then we have some bad news to report. Hyundai has canned plans to launch its handsets in the UK. Hyundai already sells branded mobile phones in several European countries and, back in January, announced plans to supplement …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 12:54

  • Spam levels bounce back after botnet takedown

    Even botnets have backup now

    Spam levels are returning to normal following the recent takedown of crime-friendly ISP 3FN, which temporarily interrupted the operation of a significant spam spewing botnet. Junk mail volumes dropped 30 per cent after the Federal Trade Commission forced the closure of 3FN in early June, according to Google. Google's latest …

    Spam 2 Jul 13:02

  • Seagate's SSD may be a bit late

    SoC problem makes for schedule jam

    An investment bank briefing note says that Seagate has suffered a setback in its solid state drive (SSD) development project and may not ship product for testing until 2010, having previously said it will announce its enterprise SSD this year. The note is by Kevin D Vassily, an analyst at investment bank Pacific Crest …

    Storage 2 Jul 13:07

  • CPW and Vodafone finally make up

    Operator discovers who's wearing the trousers

    Customers wanting a Vodafone contract will be able to get one at Carphone Warehouse from 7 July, signalling the end of a two-an-a-half-year experiment to see how much power network operators actually had. Vodafone cut Carphone Warehouse out of selling contract connections back in October 2006, claiming that Phones4U had better …

    Mobile 2 Jul 13:10

  • Marie Curie voted top female boffin

    Scientifically radiant, New Scientist poll shows

    Marie Curie has topped a poll to name the most notable female scientist of all time, beating Brit biophysicist Rosalind Franklin into second spot. Polish-born Curie, later a French citizen, is celebrated for her part in the discovery of polonium and radium, as well as pioneering work in the treatment of cancers using …

    Physics 2 Jul 13:26

  • VirtenSys virtualises RAID controllers

    Storage controllers and disk drives

    VirtenSys has enabled the sharing of LSI MegaRAID host bus adapters between servers connected to its IOV switch. Typically a RAID controller will provide RAID protection for a set of disk drives that it controls and represent them to a server. The VirtenSys IOV (I/O Virtualisation) switch is an external PCIe switch that …

    Virtualization 2 Jul 13:48

  • Trading Standards calls for online knife sale ban

    Conscience pricked by underage web blade spree

    Trading Standards is making a call for Government to block any sites attempting to sell underage products in the UK, after sending a bunch of kids out to pick up some sharps with not unpredictable results. The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) has been doing some research tempting retailers with underage shoppers. They sent …

    Law 2 Jul 14:06

  • Satanic blob beast menaces North Carolina

    Sewercam vid captures pulsating subterranean horror

    Those of who who've just eaten or are generally of a nervous disposition are advised to look away now, because here is some sewercam footage captured under Raleigh, North Carolina, and which has been horrifying interweb citizens for the last couple of days: Quite disturbing, we're sure you'll agree. Mercifully, we can now …

    Bootnotes 2 Jul 14:31

  • Mrs Slocombe's pussy vanishes from Twitter

    Naughty memorial hashtag kiboshed

    Even in death, Mrs Slocombe’s pussy continues to excite controversy. Following a heated exchange here at Vulture Central as to the relative comedic merits of Mollie Sugden, John Inman and Sid James, we were impressed beyond belief to discover not only that MrsSlocombesPussy had gained the accolade of a hashtag on twitter – but …

    Bootnotes 2 Jul 14:59

  • US employers cut 467,000 jobs in June

    Back into the woods, not seeing it for trees

    The US Department of Labor wanted to give out a little good news about the economy ahead of the July 4th holiday weekend in the States, but unfortunately that was not possible. The rate of job losses accelerated in the US in June, with 467,000 employees let go across all companies and industries excepting farming. As El Reg …

    Financial News 2 Jul 15:28

  • Boomerang attack against AES better than blind chance

    Updated Pesky algorithm not invulnerable

    Cryptographic researchers have uncovered a chink in the armour of the widely used AES algorithm. The attacks pose no immediate threat to the security of AES, but they do illustrate a technique for extracting keys that is better than simply trying every possible key combination. Instead of such a brute force approach, the …

    Enterprise Security 2 Jul 15:33

  • UK DVD sales plunge...

    ...and still massively outsell 'booming' Blu-ray

    Britons may be turning away from the DVD, but Blu-Ray Disc isn't replacing the decade-old format in consumers' affections. The British Video Association (BVA) this week said DVD sales in the UK during the first six months of 2009 were down 9.5 per cent by volume - and considerably more than that by value - compared to the …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 15:34

  • Grand Theft Auto IV coming to the iPhone?

    Video teases gamers

    The appearance of mysterious video has got the gaming world convinced that Grand Theft Auto IV is coming to... the iPhone. The video hints that GTA IV's coming to the iPhone On a website called coming-on-iphone.com, you're shown a horizontally placed iPhone underneath the banner heading: "You have no idea what’s coming on …

    Reg Hardware 2 Jul 17:02

  • Microsoft distances self from IE 8 puke ads

    Windows 7 family pack grounded?

    Apparently, puking about porn was too much for Microsoft's delicate sensibilities on Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft has distanced itself from an ad fronted by TV's ex-Superman Dean Cain that featured a woman vomiting over her partner after she discovered the porn stash hidden in his browser history. The ad has been pulled …

    Software 2 Jul 17:51

  • Speculation mounts over AVG plans for OS X client

    'Mac users have no antibodies'

    AVG bosses aren't saying much, but there's new evidence the anti-virus maker is seriously considering building an application for the Mac. A job posting on the company's website seeks a senior software developer who is familiar with the OS X platform. Responsibilities for the full-time position include the following: …

    Malware 2 Jul 18:00

  • Dell cracks open EMEA PC services

    Stretches to non-Dell iron plus servers

    Looking for leverage and a few extra euros and pounds in EMEA, Dell has rolled out a set of modular services to help companies manage their PCs and - eventually - their servers. The offerings for Europe the Middle East and Africa are a variant of services Dell delivered in the US last year and that have more than 5,000 …

    Hardware 2 Jul 18:33

  • Apple patents karaoke lessons

    MaSfPRTFfK?!

    The US Patent and Trademark office today released a flurry of 22 Apple patent applications, the most earth-shaking of which may rid the world of one of nightlife's most maddening menaces: off-key karaoke singers. We'll get to some of the others in a moment, but first: Methods and Systems for Providing Real-Time Feedback for …

    Music and Media 2 Jul 20:05

  • Web 2.0 not liable for real-world assaults, says court

    Decency Act deflects MySpace suits

    Social networking sites like MySpace are not liable if underage users are sexually assaulted by people they meet on the website, a California appeals court has ruled. The Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles found that MySpace is protected by the US Communications Decency Act from charges it allegedly "made a …

    Law 2 Jul 20:12

  • PC giants ship Chinese censorware anyway

    The porn filter that keeps you from typing

    Though the Chinese government has delayed plans to require the shipment of the highly-controversial Green Dam filtering app with all new PCs, several big-name PC manufacturers are shipping the thing anyway. According to the Associated Press, Acer, Sony, and China's the Haier Group are including Green Dam on disk with new PC …

    Government 2 Jul 20:15

  • Iran ends text message blackout

    Three weeks after election day

    Iran's ban on SMS texting has been lifted for the first time since the country's disputed presidential election, according to reports. Mobile phone text-messaging systems in Iran have been unavailable since June 11, just hours before polls opened. The BBC now reports the 20-day blackout of SMS text messaging services has ended …

    Government 2 Jul 21:21

  • iPhone crashing bug could lead to serious exploit

    Updated More fun with SMS

    This story was updated to correct factual errors contained in an IDG News article that first reported the vulnerability. If you own an iPhone, security researcher Charlie Miller can knock it off the network. And if his hunch is right, he just might be able to do a lot more, at least until Apple fixes the flaw. Exploiting a …

    Security 2 Jul 21:30

  • Google code cloud in six-hour blinkage

    App Engine stalls

    Google App Engine - the development and hosting cloud that serves up third-party apps and websites - was on the fritz for a good six hours this morning. According to a public note from Google's App Engine team, the service began experiencing problems at around 6:30am Pacific. "We're currently seeing elevated Datastore latency …

    Developer 2 Jul 21:35

  • AT&T's iPhone 'iLaunch' sets record

    'Best-ever sales day'

    An internal AT&T memo leaked to MacDailyNews crows that "iLaunch day 2009" - yes, you read that correctly, "iLaunch" - set multiple Big Phone sales records. Here's the pertinent portion of the self-congratulatory missive: iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the …

    Mobile 2 Jul 21:38