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27th July 2009 Archive

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  • Nokia snaps up unified address book vendor

    Web 2.0 spending spree not over yet

    Nokia is to acquire address-book-on-steroids purveyor Cellity, obviously hoping to bring some of that Palm Pre centralisation of data onto its own devices. Cellity is a small company of 14 people based in Hamburg, Germany. It produces a product called "Addressbook 2.0", which aggregates data from the usual social-networking …

    Mobile 27 Jul 2009, 07:02

  • Canon Selphy CP780

    Review Lab quality photo prints at a price

    The Selphy CP780 is a tiny personal photo printer for producing lab-quality 6 x 4in prints. At just 176 x 132 x 75mm it can sit unobtrusively on a shelf or at the back of a drawer, ready to be brought out quickly for those occasions when you want an ad-hoc hardcopy of a photo you have taken with your digital camera. Canon's …

    Hardware 27 Jul 2009, 08:02

  • Ericsson wins battle for Nortel assets

    BlackBerry bid jammed up in the courts

    Ericsson has won the bidding war for Nortel's CDMA and LTE Access business, after offering $1.13bn for it. The deal still needs approval from the bankruptcy courts and could also face a legal challenge from Research in Motion. The BlackBerry maker complained last week that it had been unfairly blocked from the auction process …

    Mobile 27 Jul 2009, 08:44

  • Endeavour crew prep for final spacewalk

    Fifth EVA to wrap STS-127 mission

    Spacewalkers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will today head outside the International Space Station for the fifth and final spacewalk of mission STS-127. The pair are tasked with wrapping some insulation around the the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, aka DEXTRE, and splitting power supply channels to two of the station …

    Science 27 Jul 2009, 09:22

  • Apple tablet unveiling brought forward

    Moles move launch from 'early 2010' to September 2009

    Apple addicts need no longer wait until early 2010 to get their hands on the firm’s long-rumoured tablet PC, because – contrary to an earlier report - it’s since emerged that the firm’s gunning for a launch within months. People briefed on the subject recently told newspaper the Financial Times that Apple’s working towards a …

    Hardware 27 Jul 2009, 09:51

  • NEC fumbles towards MRAM flip-flop

    Standing by for near-zero standby

    NEC has made more progress in its development of a flip-flop switch for system-on-chips that offers near zero electricity use in standby states by using magnetic RAM technology. Magnetic RAM uses the direction of a magnetic field in a memory cell to indicate a binary one or zero, and is one of the candidates posited to succeed …

    Hardware 27 Jul 2009, 10:09

  • Hubble snaps fall-out from Jupiter impact

    Impressive debut for Wide Field Camera 3

    The Hubble Space Telescope has turned its new Wide Field Camera 3 on the aftermath of the 19 July collision between the gas giant and an unidentified object: NASA describes the image as the "sharpest visible-light picture yet" of the atmospheric debris from the prang, first spotted by amateur Oz astronomer Anthony Wesley and …

    Science 27 Jul 2009, 10:11

  • Russian telecom firms weigh in against Skype

    Nyet to telephony Perestroika

    Russian businesses have banded together to lobby against VoIP services such as Skype, arguing that the technology poses a threat to national security, as well as their business. The lobby, called the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, is working with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's political party to draft " …

    VoIP 27 Jul 2009, 10:26

  • Mitsubishi to build range-extended hybrid

    Leccy Tech The cX concept car?

    Mitsubishi has confirmed plans to launch a range-extended hybrid at the end of 2010. Will Mitsubishi's range-extended hybrid be based on the cX concept? The company told Register Hardware that the vehicle will be a small SUV, akin to Nissan's Qashqai or Toyota's RAV4. This could suggest a car very similar in design to the …

    Science 27 Jul 2009, 10:49

  • Hilton's mum enjoys One Night in Paris

    Full French experience proves an eye-opener

    Paris Hilton's dear old ma Kathy got a bit of a shock when she finally got around to watching Adria Petty's documentary on the jetsetting Mother Teresa of Kigali, because the film contained extracts from legendary amateur grumble flick One Night in Paris. Mum was treated to a preview screening of Paris, Not France, ahead of …

    Bootnotes 27 Jul 2009, 10:52

  • UK.gov's Jobs Search site needs some work

    Updated Gissa job. I can do that. Go on, gissit

    Those of you unaware of all that the government's Directgov website can do for you, with regard to improving your skills and finding a new job, are going to be staying that way, for the time being at least. According to the government, Jobseeker.direct.gov.uk is designed to let you "search for jobs, training, career …

    Government 27 Jul 2009, 11:02

  • AT&T blocks 4chan, home of weird smut

    LOLcats cut off

    AT&T has apparently blocked DSL access to popular bulletin board and bad taste depository 4chan. The image site is the home of LOLcats and thousands of other, less pleasant, internet images. The boards cover bizarre Japanese animation along with other rather niche adult content. But apart from hosting weird tentacle porn the …

    Broadband 27 Jul 2009, 11:07

  • Apple-apeing Microsoft spins out retail store prototype

    Promises birthday parties, happy meals

    An insight into what Microsoft’s new Apple store might look like “leaked” onto the interwebs late last week. Gizmodo posted some screenshots of Microsoft’s retail store plans on Friday. The software giant later confirmed the designs were genuine. Design and brand consultant firm Lippicott worked from prototypes and concepts …

    The Channel 27 Jul 2009, 11:28

  • WD unfurls 1TB Scorpio

    Tiny titan packs mighty sting

    Leapfrogging Seagate again, Western Digital has announced the world's first 1TB 2.5-inch drive, a 3-platter Scorpio Blue. The company says it has the industry's highest areal density for such drives, 333GB/platter. Two drives are available with these platters: a 750GB one, available now from certain distributors and resellers …

    Storage 27 Jul 2009, 11:34

  • 'Gemini' BlackBerry Curve finally confirmed

    The 3G-less 8520

    Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a fresh addition to its BlackBerry Curve mobile phone family: the 8520. RIM's latest Curve: the 8520, which doesn't support 3G First rumoured to have been in development back in May, the latest Curve model measures 4.2 x 2.3 x 0.5mm, weighs in at 106g and sports an optical trackpad for …

    Phones 27 Jul 2009, 11:35

  • Botched judge threat probe downs Fathers 4 Justice website

    Exclusive Taxpayers stung for unjust email injunction

    The government faces accusations of technical incompetence and waste after it went to the High Court and shut down the Fathers 4 Justice website, wrongly claiming campaigners had threatened to publish the home addresses of 237 judges. Lawyers for Matt O'Connor, the controversial group's founder, are now preparing action …

    Law 27 Jul 2009, 11:41

  • Samsung R522

    Review Lo-Fi Wi-Fi budget laptop

    When conjuring up budget laptops for the mass market, manufacturers will usually do their level best to make them look more expensive than they actually are, and the R522 from Samsung is no different. Samsung's R522: 802.11n not welcome There's nothing particularly special about the innards – Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of DDR2 …

    Laptops 27 Jul 2009, 12:12

  • Labour MP quits over McKinnon extradition vote

    Disillusioned, done in

    A decision by Labour supporters of Gary McKinnon to back down in a recent parliamentary vote has proven the breaking point for MP Andrew MacKinlay, hastening his decision to retire. MacKinlay, an independent-minded Labour MP who has represented the parliamentary constituency of Thurrock in Essex since 1992, announced last …

    Law 27 Jul 2009, 12:13

  • Spotify: iPhone sideloads for £120 a year, unlimited

    Needs Jobs' blessing, though

    Streaming music sensation Spotify today announced a music download service for £120 a year. That's how much an annual subscription to Spotify Premium costs - and you'll need to be a Premium member to use its iPhone/iPod Touch native client. For now, it's all rather moot - there's no guarantee that Apple will approve this …

    Mobile 27 Jul 2009, 12:40

  • Tory landslide inevitable - maybe

    It all depends which (software) tool you listen to

    Get ready for a Tory landslide. That is the prediction of a new and sophisticated electoral forecasting tool, created by business modelling company, Resolver Systems. One recent poll places Tories on 39.5 per cent, Labour on 28 per cent and Lib Dems on 21 per cent. Traditional forecasters predict results ranging from a …

    Government 27 Jul 2009, 12:44

  • Microsoft bitchslaps Oracle over 11g pricing

    Says SQL Server 2008 'loves you long time'

    Microsoft has taken a swipe at Oracle's recent decision to jack up prices on some of its products. Redmond also took the opportunity to remind customers that it hadn't raised the cost of its Oracle 11g database rival - SQL Server 2008. All of which will leave Microsoft, which last week suffered some serious money troubles of …

    Applications 27 Jul 2009, 12:58

  • Is server virtualization delivering for you yet?

    Reader Workshop Real world, real benefits?

    In one of our recent Tech Panel surveys, conducted towards the end of 2008, we asked respondents to call out what they felt were the most positive trends in the IT industry during the previous 12 months. In answer to this totally unprompted question, the word ‘Virtualization’ came up more than four times as often as any other …

    Software 27 Jul 2009, 13:07

  • Tory Grandee puts boot into NHS Google plans

    'I wouldn't trust Google with my data' says David Davis

    Conservative MP David Davis this week slammed the idea of using Google as part of the NHS IT solution as "naïve" and "mad". Writing in the Sunday Times yesterday, he said: "I could only hope that it was an unapproved kite-flying exercise by a young researcher in Conservative HQ. If not, what was proposed was both dangerous in …

    Government 27 Jul 2009, 13:19

  • Taiwan consumer org 'froze' Dell bank account

    Incompetence followed by indignity

    Taiwanese authorities froze one of Dell's bank accounts for two days during a consumer law suit about pricing fiascos, local media report. The account lockdown was part of the fallout after the company's Taiwanese online store incorrectly priced 19-inch LCD monitors at only $15, instead of $148. Twenty-inch monitors were also …

    The Channel 27 Jul 2009, 13:41

  • Barclays online banking borked

    New improved = service unavailable

    Barclays Bank customers have had to manage without online banking today after the institution unveiled its innovative "brand new look". We've had dozens of emails from unhappy customers today and some dating back to Friday. The bank doesn't have much luck with its technology - the ATM network went down last month and the …

    Small Biz 27 Jul 2009, 14:10

  • AVG update gags iTunes

    Security scanner strikes a duff note

    A dodgy AVG update over the weekend left users with crippled iTunes installations. The faulty signature update meant iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll library files were falsely labelled as infected with the Small-BOG virus, and consigned into quarantine. As a result, AVG both prevented iTunes from working and the re- …

    Security 27 Jul 2009, 14:14

  • Acer touts TravelMate 8000 Timeline trio

    With Laminar Wall Jet technology

    Acer hasn’t yet managed to develop a notebook slimmer than a sheet of A4, but its latest trio are still slim, lightweight and able to keep working for eight hours. Acer's TravelMate 8000 Timeline notebooks: available in 15.6in, 14.1in and 13.3in options The firm’s TravelMate 8000 Timeline series consists of the 15.6in 8571 …

    Hardware 27 Jul 2009, 14:18

  • Blyk goes bye-bye

    Freetard mobile proves unsustainable

    Blyk, the MVNO which eschewed charging customers in preference to giving away services, has run out of advertisers and will be shutting down UK operations come the end of August. The Blyk premise was to fund the whole operation from advertising to its customers, giving away telecommunications in exchange for targeting …

    Mobile 27 Jul 2009, 14:38

  • Tokyo battles monstrous murder of crows

    'They have returned', admits shaken crowfinder general

    Tokyo is renewing its bitter battle against crows which, despite the city's best efforts to wipe them out, continue to circle over its mean streets in search of unprotected rubbish and unsuspecting air-to-ground attack victims. The war on the massed squadrons of jungle crows (Corvus macrorhynchos) began back in 2001, when one …

    Science 27 Jul 2009, 14:41

  • Smut page ransomware Trojan ransacks browsers

    Pay or it'll display

    Russian cybercrooks have come up with a variant of ransomware scams, which works by displaying an invasive advert for online smut in users' browsers that victims are extorted to pay to remove. The Ransompage Trojan will display a persistent ad inline on every page that a surfer on an infected Windows machine visits. The ad for …

    Security 27 Jul 2009, 14:44

  • AT&T unblocks 4chan after DDoS scare ban

    Updated: Smut site restored

    US internet service provider and telco AT&T has restored access to 4chan, blaming a denial of service attack, not smutty content, for the temporary ban. 4chan has been under attack for some weeks now - as revealed on its status page here. A spokesman for AT&T said: Beginning Friday, an AT&T customer was impacted by a denial- …

    Broadband 27 Jul 2009, 16:18

  • SGI renews Itanium super love (sort of)

    AMD shared memory box flirt

    For a company that has been trying to bolster its position in the supercomputing market for the past several years, Silicon Graphics has been pretty vague about its commitment to future Itanium processors for Intel. Lucky for the SGI - which is now Rackable Systems with some SGI legacy products and customers - Intel keeps …

    HPC 27 Jul 2009, 16:29

  • Verizon to cut 8,000 (more) jobs

    Less profits, more smartphones

    Verizon on Monday released news of job cuts, income slippage, and future smartphone plans. A Verizon spokesperson told The Reg that the US's largest wireless service provider is planning to cut 8,000 employees and contractors during the remainder of this year, primarily in its landline division, as it switches its emphasis to …

    Business 27 Jul 2009, 17:53

  • New attack resurrects previously patched security bugs

    Coming soon: The Windows killbit bypass manual

    Researchers may have figured out how to bypass a common technique Microsoft and other software makers have used to fix hundreds of security vulnerabilities over the past decade, according to a brief video previewing a talk scheduled for later this week at the Black Hat security conference. The video, posted here by security …

    Security 27 Jul 2009, 19:16

  • IE icon too familiar for Microsoft EU settlement?

    Updated Natural bias in question

    Details could undermine Microsoft's proposal to let Windows users pick their browser, the company's effort to keep Internet Explorer on the right side of European Union regulatory law. Speaking with TechFlash, Opera Software CTO Hakon Wium Lie has questioned the use of the famous IE icon in a ballot screen Microsoft said it's …

    Applications 27 Jul 2009, 19:21

  • Kit makers trash New York e-waste recycling

    Door-to-door pickup 'crushing' and 'irrational'

    Can't be bothered to recycle your old television set? Under New York City's new e-waste program, electronics manufacturers will be required to show up on residents' doorsteps and spirit away aged equipment free of charge. But two major electronics industry groups are fighting the city's new door-to-door recycling mandate …

    Science 27 Jul 2009, 20:26

  • Google urged to self-police ebookworm tracking

    No more concrete foundation mold snooping

    US net watchdog The Center for Democracy and Technology has warned the world that Google's $125m book-scanning pact with US authors and publishers will give the web giant an "unparalleled view of people’s reading and information-seeking habits," urging the company to explain how it plans to protect user privacy if the settlement …

    Media 27 Jul 2009, 21:50

  • Foxconn answers critics over suicidal iPhone engineer

    Free laptop for bereaved girlfriend

    Foxconn, a manufacturer of Apple's iPhone, has sought to deflect the firestorm of criticism that followed the suicide of a company engineer, Sun Danyong, who reported that an iPhone 4G prototype had gone missing. According to The New York Times, Foxconn general manager James Lee said in an interview that "Several times [Sun] …

    Mobile 27 Jul 2009, 21:59

  • IBM, Novell to slash Linux prices for mainframes

    Keep those MIPS a-rollin'

    With System z mainframe revenues down 39 per cent - and MIPS mainframe capacity shipments off 20 percent in the second quarter - IBM is keen on boosting mainframe sales. And it wants to use Linux as a lever. Commercial Linux distributor Novell has a more than 80 per cent share of Linux revenues on IBM's mainframe platform. The …

    Servers 27 Jul 2009, 22:49

  • eBay hands badges to top-rated sellers

    Fee discounts for the popular

    eBay plans to hand out new discounts and merit badges to big sellers who leave more customers happy. The online auction house said Monday it's conjuring a new "top-rated seller" status to those given high marks in customer feedback. The status nets celebrated sellers a 20 per cent discount on their final value fees while …

    Media 27 Jul 2009, 22:57

  • Schooner nabs $20m in venture funding

    And a storage hired hand

    Money might be tight right now, but venture capitalists are still cutting checks for ideas they think have a chance of going big out there in IT Land. So it is with Schooner Information Technology, a Silicon Valley startup that came out of stealth mode in April with x64-based web-caching and database-acceleration appliances, …

    Servers 27 Jul 2009, 23:58