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30th July 2009 Archive

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  • Microsoft pact holds gun to Yahoo!'s stuffed elephant

    Updated Just when Yahoo! was relevant again...

    You didn't shed a tear over the death of Yahoo!'s independent search engine? That may change. As the two companies finally ended the epic gestation period for their inevitable web search pact, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced that Bing - Redmond's fledgling decision engine search engine - will be "the exclusive algorithmic …

    Servers 30 Jul 00:07

  • MySQL startup targets SSDs

    Stop moving!

    Need a MySQL storage engine tailored for solid-state drives? Start-up Hexagram 49 has unveiled an engine dubbed RethinkDB. The company says it's optimized for SSDs, claiming it can deliver performance ten times faster than existing databases. RehinkDB is the work of computer science students Michael Glukhovsky, Slava …

    Applications 30 Jul 00:13

  • IBM flings FUD at Neon zPrimers

    Cost-cutting mainframeware? Not so fast

    As El Reg anticipated when the zPrime mainframe acceleration software tool was announced by Neon Enterprise Software, the tool has not only gotten the attention of IBM, but has compelled Big Blue to warn its customers about using it. Two days after our story ran, Mark Anzani, the chief technology officer for IBM's System z …

    Servers 30 Jul 00:30

  • Wildcard certificate spoofs web authentication

    Black Hat SSL felled by null string

    In a blow to one of the net's most widely used authentication technologies, a researcher has devised a simple way to spoof SSL certificates used to secure websites, virtual private networks, and email servers. The attack, unveiled Wednesday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, exploits a weakness in the process …

    Enterprise Security 30 Jul 03:13

  • US Congress probes accidental top secret file sharing

    Protecting fed workers from themselves

    US Congress wants to know if new federal laws are needed to protect government employees from accidental file-sharing. A House of Representatives oversight committee gathered on Wednesday to discuss whether government workers getting their hands on peer-to-peer software poses a risk to privacy and national security. At issue …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 05:14

  • EU backs renewal of anti-terror bank scrutiny deal

    Follow the money

    The EU is in talks to renew an agreement allowing US authorities to scrutinise European banking transactions as part of US anti-terrorism efforts. Existing arrangements dating from 2007 - which existed in much the same form but in secret before then - allow US anti-terror investigators to access European bank transfer …

    Security 30 Jul 06:02

  • GlobalFoundries inks wafer baker deal with STMicro

    One down, many more to go

    GlobalFoundries, the wafer baker that was spun out of Advanced Micro Devices in March and which broke ground on a new $4.2bn chip fab in upstate New York last week, has its second customer: STMicroelectronics, of Geneva, Switzerland. STMicro makes all kind of chips, including those used in the automotive, industrial, computer …

    PCs & Chips 30 Jul 07:02

  • Mission control reacquires UK space cheddar

    Recovered intact in Bucks

    The UK's ambitious space cheese mission was yesterday spared total humiliation when the 300g lump of Somerset farmhouse cheddar sent into the upper atmosphere was recovered from a garden in Buckinghamshire. The intact wedge of dairy produce came down in Cressex - 74 miles from its launch point in Pewsey, Wiltshire. It had been …

    Space 30 Jul 07:59

  • BT profits hit by Global Services

    Steady performance though

    BT saw its profits for the first quarter ended 30 June 2009 hit by continued poor performance at its Global Services division. Group revenues grew by one per cent to £5.24bn, although this was actually a three per cent fall when currency movements are factored in. EBITDA was £1.3bn and profit before tax was £272m, compared to …

    Telecoms 30 Jul 08:00

  • Brother MFC-6890CDW A3 inkjet

    Review All you ever wanted in an MFD, but slower

    It is to Brother's great credit that the all-in-one MFC-6890CDW packs in as many wishlist features as reasonably possible without hitting buyers with an unfriendly price. This combined A3 colour inkjet printer and A3 scanner with a full-size glass plate is a big unit at 540 x 488 x 323mm, but not particularly heavy at 15.6kg. …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 08:02

  • Blackpool acts to avoid fall of Pericles

    New revenues and benefits software urgently needed

    A group of 10 councils led by Blackpool is rushing to find a replacement for the Anite Pericles revenues and benefits system. The authorities estimate they will spend between £1m and £5m on replacing their Pericles systems. Northgate, which bought Anite in August 2008, is discontinuing the software next year. Blackpool …

    Applications 30 Jul 09:12

  • LG unwraps second-gen Chocolate's specs

    Glossy pictures paraded, too

    Following its release of some craftily darkened product pictures earlier this month, LG has now released several glossy shots and specifications for its upcoming second-generation Chocolate mobile phone. LG's BL40 is the second phone from the Chocolate range Set to the called the LG-BL40, the candybar sports an 800 x 345, …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 09:35

  • Nikon simplifies DSLRs

    'Hold here, twist this, press that...'

    Nikon has launched what it’s claimed is its simplest and most accessible Digital SLR to date. Nikon's D3000 DSLR aims to simplify professional photography The D3000 may look like every other DSLR already on the market, but anyone new to the world of professional photography shouldn’t be put off by all its buttons and turn …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 10:22

  • iPhone actually good at making calls shock

    Smart phones tested for dumb functions

    Testing specialists Broadband Testing have turned their attention to what remains the killer app for mobile phones - the ability to make phone calls - and has discovered that some smart phones are not so bright. While all mobiles have to pass radio conformance testing that only covers the minimum of capabilities, in exhaustive …

    Mobile 30 Jul 10:27

  • Tiny typo blamed for massive IE security fail

    That'll teach you to keep your ampersands in order

    One small typo in Microsoft's code caused the security vulnerability that prompted Microsoft to release an out of sequence patch on Tuesday, it has emerged. A rogue ampersand ("&") created a security hole in a the MSVidCtl ActiveX control that hackers began exploiting early this month. A blog posting on Microsoft's Security …

    Enterprise Security 30 Jul 10:28

  • Fujitsu coughs to Q1 loss, pushes up profit forecast

    Bets big on electronic components

    Fujitsu Ltd reported a first quarter net loss of ¥29.1bn ($303m) today, for the three months ended 30 June. Despite that, Japan's largest IT services company upped its income forecast for the full year by 13 per cent to ¥90bn ($948m), citing "rebounding demand for electronic components." It said total Q1 net sales tumbled …

    Channel Register 30 Jul 10:32

  • Scotch lovers asked to cough up £10,000 per bottle

    Now, where'd I leave my £5k bottle of coke

    A Scottish distillery has launched a 50-year-old single malt at an eye-watering, throat-burning £10,000 a bottle, or £357 a tot. Glenfiddich laid down a couple of casks of its single malt 50 years ago, and now plans to bottle the stuff and flog it at the rate of 50 bottles a year over the next decade. The first bottles were …

    Bootnotes 30 Jul 10:33

  • Compellent sparkling less brightly

    Growth, but only just

    SAN vendor Compellent recorded its 15th consecutive quarter of growth, but only just, with revenues up 2.3 per cent sequentially for its second 2009 quarter. The figure of $28.7m was up 37 per cent on the same quarter a year ago, but only marginally increased from 2009's first quarter revenues of $28.1m, showing that the …

    Storage 30 Jul 10:43

  • El Reg to launch space paper plane

    Your input invited for audacious upper-atmosphere mission

    It's official: We here at the Vulture Central Science Bureau have had enough of writing about space shuttles, orbiting Japanese laboratories and Chinese taikonauts, when the best the UK's space programme can offer is to lose touch with a 300g wedge of Somerset farmhouse cheddar somewhere over the south of England. Accordingly …

    Science 30 Jul 10:43

  • N97 Mini pictures emerge

    Coming later this year?

    Recent murmurs that Nokia is developing a miniature version of its N97 mobile phone have since gained fresh credibility, following publication of images which show the slimmed-down model in the flesh. The N97 (left) beside a phone thought to be the rumoured N97 Mini Images courtesy of Engadget Earlier this year a Vodafone …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 10:54

  • Small biz warns on contractor law

    Recovery threatened by red tape

    The British Chamber of Commerce has written to Lord Mandelson, asking him to delay changes to temporary workers' rights which they fear will cost the UK economy as much as £1.5bn a year. The Agency Workers Directive is EU legislation which seeks to improve rights for temporary staff. The law aims to give temps equivalent …

    Small Biz 30 Jul 11:07

  • Exposed activist accuses Tiscali of putting life in peril

    Exclusive High Court threat for 'recklessly' publishing address

    A woman who passed national security information to UK authorities spent six months in fear for her life, after Tiscali published her phone number and address in public directories, despite repeated requests to keep the information secret. Tiscali now faces broad questions about the safety of its other ex-directory subscribers …

    Telecoms 30 Jul 11:23

  • Intel rejects Pine Trail delay claim

    'Shipments in the second half of the year'

    Intel has rejected recent reports that the launch of its next-generation Pine Trail chips will be delayed. “Pine Trail is on schedule”, said Mooly Eden, general manager of Intel’s mobile platforms group, in a presentation at the Intel Technology Summit in San Francisco yesterday. “We are going to ship revenue shipments in the …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 11:28

  • IBM demonstrates dedication to deduplication replication

    Diligently developing Diligent

    IBM is adding replication to its ProtecTIER deduplication product, which it acquired by buying Diligent in April 2008. ProtecTIER products will be able to replicate deduplicated data to a remote site and thus reduce any needs customers might have to ship tapes to a remote site for disaster recovery. Transmitting deduplicated …

    Storage 30 Jul 11:47

  • Intel warns over bare-metal BIOS bug

    Set bug panic meters to 'important'

    Intel has warned that some of its motherboards contain a flaw in their BIOS setup that creates a privilege escalation vulnerability. As a result of the security bug, users already logged in as administrators could change code running in System Management Mode. SMM is a privileged operating environment that operates outside of …

    Enterprise Security 30 Jul 11:49

  • Microsoft to launch UK ad-funded online video player

    Updated Silverlight a no-show

    Microsoft plans to launch an online TV player in the UK next week, which serves up telly shows long after they've aired on the box. The software giant's ad-funded MSN Video Player will be made available to Blighty broadband customers and will feature TV programmes from BBC Worldwide and All3Media. Strangely, though, MSN Video …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 12:01

  • Dell Inspiron Mini 10

    Review Hi-res display netbook, anyone?

    Dell's cheap and cheerful Mini 10v is a firm favourite here at Vulture Central but some potential customers are doubtless more interested in capability and functionality rather than absolute economy. So, with that in mind, we thought it wise to take a quick gander at the top end of Dell's netbook offering, the Mini 10 complete …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 12:36

  • Mozilla makes rough notes on Firefox 3.6

    For those about to Namoroka

    Mozilla is instructing developers to go back to school in readiness for the changes that will come in Firefox 3.6, and helpfully it’s published a new guide detailing the latest tweaks. Many have already agonised over Mozilla’s plans to shake-up Firefox, following the release of mockups showing new iterations (3.7 and 4.0) of …

    Developer 30 Jul 12:38

  • O2 does Apple-flavour customer service

    Everything is fine! Even when it's not

    O2 seems to have picked up more than the iPhone from Apple - the operator has also been taking lessons in how to ignore press enquires and stonewall its customers. O2's network seems particularly prone to problems lately: iPhone users travelling abroad have been erroneously charged for roamed data, while those at home have …

    Mobile 30 Jul 13:13

  • Lads from Lagos cut off

    419ers go back to the telex

    The lads from Lagos, and lots of other more deserving folk, have lost all internet access, thanks to the failure of a submarine cable linking West Africa to Spain and Portugal. Reports suggest Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Togo have all lost connections. Telcos are trying to find alternative routes, such as satellite links, but …

    Bootnotes 30 Jul 13:21

  • Wii and PS3 sales slide

    Nintendo's profits slip as Sony drops into the red

    Sales of Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have experienced sharp declines during the last three months, both firms’ first quarter financial reports have revealed. Nintendo sold just 2.23m Wii units worldwide during its first financial quarter, ended 30 June. The Japanese gaming giant shifted 5.17m Wiis during the same …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 14:21

  • Johnson signs off ID card for UK citizenry

    Bloody British, they all look the same

    Home Secretary Alan Johnson has shown off the design for the national ID card for British citizens. The government has already dished out 50,000 cards to foreign nationals resident in the UK. For British citizens the card will look like this: Johnson also said that residents of Northern Ireland would be able to apply for a …

    Government 30 Jul 14:40

  • MI5 website vuln builds mountain out of molehill

    Team Elite: Mission Implausible

    Hackers have uncovered information security shortcomings involving MI5's website, even though the problem is nowhere near as severe as one tabloid paper claims. A breathless Daily Express "exclusive" on Thursday claimed the breach created a possible means for hackers to attack the computers of surfers visiting the security …

    Enterprise Security 30 Jul 14:59

  • GGF says plenty of treasure for Pirate Bay purchase

    It's not Wayne's World, it's mine

    Global Gaming Factory X AB (GGF) has broken its silence about the planned acquisition of notorious BitTorrent tracker site The Pirate Bay, by saying it expects the deal to complete on 27 August. The move follows days of uncertainty about the Swedish company's ability to fund any takeover of TPB, after ex-Grokster boss Wayne …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 15:09

  • Application QoS – where's the measuring tape?

    Taking the business view of metrics

    IT has undergone a major development in the last few years, namely the acknowledgment that end users have little or no interest in how the application or service is delivered to them - so long as it is delivered and meets their own service level criteria. The background mechanics of the delivery should be of no concern to the …

    Applications 30 Jul 15:14

  • Mozilla Labs' Weave 0.5 aligns Firefox planets

    It's all a question of synchronicity, darling

    Mozilla Labs has pushed out a new version of a prototype app that syncs up the "Firefox experience" across multiple browsers. Weave Sync 0.5 was released by the open source outfit yesterday. Mozilla said the tool encrypts and securely syncs Firefox usage across desktop, laptop and mobile phone browsers. The idea behind the …

    Applications 30 Jul 15:59

  • Sky switches on 3D TV channel in 2010

    Goggles box

    Sky is to launch the UK’s first 3D TV channel in 2010. Click for an explanation of how Sky 3D works The channel will offer a broad selection of 3D content, including movies, entertainment and sport. All content will be captured using HD cameras and broadcast over the firm’s existing HD infrastructure, making use of …

    Reg Hardware 30 Jul 17:02

  • EMC's Data Domain deal changes Quantum future

    Meanwhile, income makes a Quantum leap

    Quantum's first quarter 2010 revenues show a continuation of financial pain and determined effort, but there is some reward, despite the clouds gathering over the tie-up with EMC. Laat year EMC licensed Quantum's DXi deduplication technology for use in its Disk Library products. It also partnered with Dell so that Dell can …

    Storage 30 Jul 17:28

  • Red Hat Enterprise clone poised to 'die'

    Updated CentOS airs dirty laundry as admin 'vanishes'

    According to six concerned CentOS developers, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux clone is poised on the edge of the abyss. In an open letter posted to the CentOS website and the project mailing list, six fellow developers accuse project co-founder Lance Davis of putting the entire project at risk by disappearing from everyday …

    Operating Systems 30 Jul 17:40

  • Ballmer: People don't 'get' Microsoft's Yahoo! marriage

    FAM Synergies 101 for financial dummies

    Steve Ballmer has had to sell Microsoft's search and advertising marriage with Yahoo! to financial hawks baffled by the deal. Microsoft's chief executive told investors and analysts Wednesday "nobody gets" the deal because it's "a little bit complicated". The chief source of that confusion? No acquisition was made and the …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 17:55

  • Cisco patches DoS vuln pair in IOS

    No exploit spotted

    Cisco has issued a pair of updates today patching two remote denial of service vulnerabilities affecting certain devices running its Internetwork Operating System (IOS). The vulnerabilities are limited to kit running Cisco IOS software with support for four-octet Autonomous Systems number space (AKA: 4-byte AS number) and …

    Security 30 Jul 18:26

  • Intel's Moorestown left homeless?

    Smartphones vanish MIDs market

    Intel believes its upcoming 32nm processor shrink will move it firmly into the pocketable, internet-enabled device market - but that focus may leave the 45nm Moorestown mobile platform out in the cold. At Wednesday's Technology Summit in San Francisco, the company's sales skipper Sean Maloney focused solely on the company's …

    Mobile 30 Jul 19:17

  • Microsoft ultra-thins to 'out cool' netbooks, Apple

    FAM Windows netbook price leap

    Microsoft is betting ultra-thin laptops can steal business from netbooks and Apple this Christmas while providing the opportunity to sell more expensive copies of Windows. Speaking at Microsoft's annual Financial Analyst Meeting in Redmond, Washington, chief executive Steve Ballmer told investors that Microsoft, Intel, and PC …

    PCs & Chips 30 Jul 20:06

  • Groovy punts SQL turbocharger

    Touts 'real-time' RDB

    Groovy Corporation has launched an SQL database acceleration appliance, boasting of extreme speeds. According to Groovy, its Groovy SQL Switch "was 105 times faster and processed 37 times more orders per minute than the fastest relational database" when running the Dell DVD Store Database Test Suite. Groovy claims that when …

    Hardware 30 Jul 21:56

  • Microsoft's Yahoo! marriage skips China

    Alibaba already spoken for

    Microsoft and Yahoo!'s search engine marriage will not include a Chinese honeymoon due to Yahoo!'s existing nuptials with the e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group. Despite calling the duo's new search and advertising tie-in a "global deal," Microsoft must in fact overlook the country with roughly 20 per cent of the world's …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 22:05

  • Microsoft kills Zune phone talk

    FAM Concedes Windows Mobile 'uncool'

    Microsoft has killed any lingering hopes, fears, dreams, suspicions or conspiracy theories involving a Zune challenge to Apple's iPhone. At the same time, Microsoft executives committed to improvements in Windows Mobile, saying the software's been too square for consumers. But the company won’t commit to the possibility of …

    Mobile 30 Jul 22:46

  • Google hints Bing! pact will curb competition

    We're still thinkin'

    Though it controls somewhere between 65 per cent and 73 per cent of the US search market, Google is hinting that the Microsoft-Yahoo! search pact will hinder competition. "There has traditionally been a lot of competition online, and our experience is that competition brings about great things for users," reads the company's …

    Business 30 Jul 23:02

  • Dutch court clogs Pirate Bay

    Say goodbye to the Low Countries

    A Dutch court has ordered The Pirate Bay to remove itself from the Netherlands within 10 days or face fines of 30,000 euros per day. The ban is unsurprisingly the result of a copyright lawsuit and call for action filed by the local recording industry lobby group, Stichting Brein. A judge on Thursday ordered the three Pirate …

    Music and Media 30 Jul 23:22

  • Meter insecurity raises specter of free parking hacks

    Black Hat Cloned card could allow unlimited parking

    Hackers have figured out a way to trick San Francisco's computerized parking meter system into giving away unlimited free parking by cloning the smart cards used to pay fees. Speaking at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, hackers Jacob Appelbaum, Joe Grand and Chris Tarnovsky said they were able to compromise the …

    Security 30 Jul 23:50