6th August 2009 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

XML flaws threaten 'enormous' array of apps

Updated Java, Python, and Apache - for starters

Security researchers have uncovered critical flaws in open-source software that implements the Extensible Markup Language in a staggering array of applications used by banks, e-commerce websites, and consumers. The bugs uncovered by researchers at Finland-based Codenomicon were contained in virtually every open-source XML …

Security 6 Aug 00:01
Apple fixes critical Mac holes triggered by image files

Attack of the killer PNGs

Apple on Wednesday patched 18 holes in its Mac OS X operating system, seven that could allow an attacker to remotely take over a machine when a user does nothing more than view a booby-trapped image. The ImageIO Framework, which helps Mac applications read and write popular image formats, was responsible for five of the image …

Security 6 Aug 01:03
MIPS open sources living room Android port

Embed this

Google's mobile OS is poised for life beyond the mobile - and the netbook. Two months after porting Google Android to its MIPS microprocessor architecture - widely used in set-top boxes, HDTVs, and other embedded devices - MIPS Technologies has open sourced the port, hoping to create a kind of Android standard for consumer …

Operating Systems 6 Aug 03:57
NFC Forum introduces discount membership

Only $5K to get involved with a redundant technology

Thinking of signing up to the NFC Forum, but balked at the $10,000 membership fee? Well now you can live your dreams of joining the premier cool-but-useless-technology forum for only half the price. The new level of membership is called "Implementer" and joins Associate ($10K), Principal ($25K) and Sponsor ($50K) as a fully- …

Mobile 6 Aug 08:02
Finn turns to ECHR after arrest for discussing DRM

Constitutional tussle rumbles into Strasbourg

A Finnish man has asked the European Court of Human Rights to defend his right to discuss encryption systems used by the entertainment industry. He says that Finland's implementation of the EU's Copyright Directive restricts his right to free speech. The Copyright Directive was transposed into Finnish law in 2006 and contained …

Law 6 Aug 08:02
Dennis the Menace buys FriendsReunited

ITV takes a £95m loss on the deal

ITV has sold Web1.0 social networking site FriendsReunited to DC Thomson, publisher of the Beano. DC Thomson's subsidiary brightsolid is paying £25m for the websites which include dating and genealogy services. Genealogy is big business online and brightsolid owns findmypast.com which claims 650m family records. The firm also …

Music and Media 6 Aug 08:17
Hitachi GST joins 2TB Club

And then there were three

The 2TB hard drive club just got its third member, with Hitachi GST joining Western Digital and Seagate. Pretty soon desktop PC cred will demand a 2TB spinner. The 7200rpm Deskstar 7K2000 3.5-inch drive a 32MB cache and a 3Gbit/s SATA II link to its host PC. There are five platters, which means Hitachi GST has not achieved the …

Storage 6 Aug 09:14
8GB iPhone 3GS inbound?

Leaked screenshots suggest so

Apple has secretly developed an 8GB iPhone 3GS that is currently winging its way to a Canadian electrical retailer, leaked images suggest. Is an 8GB iPhone 3GS inbound at Rogers? Credit: Boy Genius Screenshots of documents entitled “Rogers 8GB iPhone transitioning to 3GS” were picked up by website Boy Genius Report and …

reghardware 6 Aug 09:49
Met amends journo photo guidance to prevent interference

Hard cheese, copper!

Police officers should 'exercise caution' when asking to view images captured by members of the media, according to amended advice to officers published by London's police force, the Metropolitan Police Service. The Met faced criticism from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) last month when it published guidance that did …

Music and Media 6 Aug 10:10
Top vendors flunk Vista anti-virus tests

Outstandingly mediocre

Security vendors including CA and Symantec failed to secure Windows systems without fault in recent independent tests. Twelve of the 35 anti-virus products put through their paces by independent security certification body Virus Bulletin failed to make the grade for one reason or another and therefore failed to achieve the …

Malware 6 Aug 10:24
Sony waves in Panoramic Sweep Cyber-shots

Bridge model spec comes to compacts

Sony has added its funky Sweep Panorama shooting mode – as found on the firm's HX1 bridge camera – onto its two latest Cyber-shot compact cameras. Sony's WX1 Cyber-shot has a 5x optical zoom The mode enables owners of the new TX1 and WX1 cameras to capture super-size horizontal or vertical landscapes with a field of view up …

reghardware 6 Aug 10:49
Panasonic DMR-XS350EB

Review Freesat DVR

Freesat recorders are currently rather few and far between with Panasonic only the second company to launch models supporting this service. In doing so, it has adapted its existing DVD recorders by adding satellite tuners. It’s a slightly different approach to hard-disk recorders like the Humax Foxsat-HDR or Sky+, which have no …

reghardware 6 Aug 11:02
SCO sale blocked by court

Trustee appointed to oversee management

A US judge has blocked SCO's attempt to sell off part of its business in order to fund its ongoing litigation, and appointed a Chapter 11 trustee to oversee the company's next moves. SCO was hoping to sell off some of its assets, in order to fund its court battle against IBM and Novell for claimed Linux licenses. For its part …

Financial News 6 Aug 11:15
Robotic personal photographer unveiled

Sony's self-snapping camera dock

Everyone hates people who insist on photographing everyone and everything at parties. Now, thanks to Sony, you can replace them…with a robotic photographer. Sony's Party-shot snaps pictures on your behalf The Japanese electronics giant’s Party-shot personal photographer – also known as the IPT-DS1 – is essentially a self- …

reghardware 6 Aug 11:20
Microsoft releases Windows 7 to MSDN, TechNet today

Final code reaches select few

Microsoft is shoving the finalised version of Windows 7 out the door today for a select bunch of customers. The operating system, which was released to manufacturing last month, is now available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers. Additionally, some independent software and hardware vendors can also expect to get their mitts on …

Applications 6 Aug 11:21
Global banking collapse fails to dent broadband

We know you were all worried about that one

Well, here's a thing. According to Ofcom's latest penetrating research, released today, people avoid cutting back on broadband and mobile phones as a result of the recession, if they can. Asked what expenditure they would choose to cut back on, 47 per cent of the 862 polled by the communications regulator said going out for …

Telecoms 6 Aug 11:31
Murdoch says Page 3 won't be free from next year

News Corp to throw up pay walls, burn Kindle

Rupert Murdoch will refashion the internet in his own image over the next year, as News Corp begins to start charging for content. The media giant has also warned Amazon over its terms and conditions for the Kindle, after revealing financial figures for what it described as its "most difficult year in recent history." For the …

Music and Media 6 Aug 11:47
First success for vulture breeding programme

Carrion breeding

The RSPB is celebrating the first successful captive breeding of a slender-billed vulture in India. The charity, with help from the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, began a campaign to outlaw use of the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac in cattle, which causes severe kidney failure in the birds of prey. It set up three …

Biology 6 Aug 12:13
MoD to bin F-35B navy jumpjets in favour of tailhook birds?

'Jobs bloodbath at Rolls', says bizarre Telegraph report

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is set to make a major change to the design of the new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, according to a newspaper report. It's suggested that the ships will now be equipped with catapults and arrester wires, allowing them to operate normal carrier aircraft rather than the complex, expensive …

Government 6 Aug 12:20
Google polishes another Chrome beta

Still no sign of Mac OS X version, though

Google has added support for HTML 5 video in its latest beta for the Windows-only Chrome browser it first released last autumn. Mountain View has also loaded a slew of tweaks into Chrome 3.0.195.4, including a redesigned new tab page and an overhauled Omnibox for searching and inputting internet addresses. Many of the …

Applications 6 Aug 12:23
Brit diplomats' mission to expose Scientology's 'diploma mill'

Doctored doctorates and L. Ron Hubbard

British diplomats exposed the academic qualifications obtained by L. Ron Hubbard - the controversial founder of Scientology - as a fraud 30 years ago, as part of UK government efforts to thwart a potential lawsuit by the Church of Scientology, it has emerged. The British government made a decision to block pilgrimages to …

Bootnotes 6 Aug 12:34
A Geeks Guide₂ ...The Google Way

40% discount at Reg Books

Geeks Guide2 It's the start of another sweltering British summer month and the beginning of yet another set of Geeks Guide2 offers. We begin with 40% off The Google Way from French author and management consultant Bernard Girard. The Google Way analyses the elements and philosophies that have made Google into the force it is …

Developer 6 Aug 12:34
EA makes motion-control promise

Project Natal and Motion Control games for 2010

Videogame publisher Electronic Arts (EA) has committed itself to releasing titles for both Sony’s and Microsoft’s recently demoed motion-controlled gaming peripherals. John Riccitiello, EA’s CEO, said during a recent conference call that the firm’s “really positive on both” the PS3’s Motion Control and Xbox 360’s Project Natal …

reghardware 6 Aug 13:02
Is Google spending $106.5m to open source a codec?

The price of web standards

After acquiring On2’s video compression codecs in a deal valued at approximately $106.5 million in stock, will Google simply turn around and open source them? It certainly looks that way. In both the press release and the blog post announcing the acquisition of On2, Google makes a point of saying that it believes “high- …

Developer 6 Aug 13:37
Wasted billions of government IT spending exposed

Quills and abacuses cheaper, possibly more efficient

The massive increase in government IT spending under New Labour has had no impact on the productivity of the public sector, a new analysis reveals. Work by Jerry Fishenden, who was until recently Microsoft's national technology officer for the UK and is now a visiting senior fellow at the London School of Economics, shows that …

Government 6 Aug 13:44
Japan's central bankers look in brothels for green shoots

Red light district visits for BoJ

The Bank of Japan is probing the country's sex workers as it tries to get a grip on the state of the nation's service industries. The central bank launched a survey of brothels in the Susukino district in Hokkaido as it tries to calibrate demand for services in the outwardly straitlaced but often strangely kinky country, …

Bootnotes 6 Aug 13:47
HMRC calls for more care with tax log-in details

Don't lose your details: That's our job

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is warning users of its online filing system that they need to keep their log-in details as safe as they would a PIN for a cash card. The warning comes because a small number of users have had their details and passwords used to make fraudulent claims. But the Revenue remains confident in the …

Government 6 Aug 14:12
Dastardly DDoSers down Gawker

Consumerist.com drags everything else down with it

New York-based media news and gossip blog network Gawker is recovering from a debilitating denial of service attack. The assault, which began on Sunday, flooded its servers with bogus traffic, leaving legitimate visitors unable to view its network of sites. The attack ebbed and flowed on Sunday before reaching its peak on …

Enterprise Security 6 Aug 14:17
Electric car powers across land, ice and water

Leccy Tech Modern-day paddle steamer

Many drivers baulk at the thought of driving during the MET Office’s warnings of treacherous road conditions. So a team of designers has dreamt up a concept leccy car able to power its way across pretty much any surface, including water. The Amphibious Hybrid would work just as well on water as it would on tarmac The secret …

reghardware 6 Aug 14:18
HP forces swingeing pay cuts on EDS staff

Want to keep your job? Want a 30 per cent pay cut?

HP is asking US based EDS staff to take their third pay cut of the year - this time as much as 30 per cent of their salaries. Staff in the UK and Ireland have already been asked to take cuts of up to five per cent, and have also been encouraged to take unpaid leave over the summer. But The Dallas Morning News reports that EDS …

Servers 6 Aug 14:29
Brit firm sells hi-tech fabric vehicle armour to DARPA

Colonials seek know-how from advanced mother country

In normal times, amazing new military technology is developed in the USA and Blighty trails far behind, either reinventing American wheels or simply importing them. But today the process is reversed in a small way, as the Pentagon's bleeding-edge research bureau has decided to try out British-made tech which is already going …

Science 6 Aug 14:48
Twitter goes titsup

Updated Mystery hackers knock-over micro-blogging service

Twitter was knocked offline on Thursday after the site became the victim of a distributed denial of service attack. Users of the micro-blogging service are used to seeing the fail whale, a graphic that appears when service is over capacity, but this time around the site was left completely unreachable from around 1500 on …

Enterprise Security 6 Aug 15:10
Chip sales bounce but PC sales sink

The chips aren't down

Research group IDC reckons chip sales rose 10 per cent in the second quarter of 2009 - but that doesn't mean real sales are up. From the first quarter to the second quarter, PC processor shipments went up 10.1 per cent. Compared to a 10.9 per cent decline from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009 this sounds …

Channel Register 6 Aug 15:41
Internet Archive orders Google to delay culture grab

No more cake for you

Google says it believes in pushing for federal legislation that would lay down the ground rules for digitizing so-called orphan books. And the Internet Archive wants the web giant to put its pending orphan monopoly where its mouth is. After Google book scanning guru Dan Clancy told a Silicon Valley audience that orphan works …

Music and Media 6 Aug 16:15
Twitter sued for patent infringement

The devil is in the details

Megapopular microblogger Twitter is being sued for patent infringment by a Texas company that alleges the 140-character messaging system is based on its patented digital-notification technology. The suit was filed TechRadium, a Sugar Land, Texas-based company that, according to its website, "delivers the world's leading edge …

Music and Media 6 Aug 17:36
Cisco claims unified computing is taking off

California blades are (finally) shipping

It took longer to get its "California" Unified Computing System out the door than networking giant Cisco Systems would have wanted, but in July the machines started shipping to customers. Welcome to the server business, where delays in chips and servers are the bane of your existence. Oddly enough, it wasn't Cisco that first …

Servers 6 Aug 18:24
Websense sharpens the axe as sales fall

Pink slips for one in 20

Web filtering firm Websense is reportedly planning to lay off 5 per cent of its workforce to cut costs. The move is a response to a slowdown in security spending during the recession. PC World reports that Websense plans to lay off 70 people from its worldwide workforce of 1,400. In a statement, Websense confirmed it was …

Enterprise Security 6 Aug 18:29
Feds seek $566m from man in online gambling case

File under 'online crime pays'

Federal prosecutors have accused a Canadian man of laundering more than $350m for offshore internet gambling operations to skirt US laws prohibiting payments to American citizens trying to cash out their winnings. Douglas Rennick, 34, was charged with three felony counts related to the alleged scheme by the US Attorney's …

Crime 6 Aug 20:38
Open-source .NET seeks touchy iPhone developers

Gamer no more

A project building an open-source version of Microsoft's .NET development framework is trying to attract iPhone developers building business applications. The Mono Project is recruiting "adventurous" iPhone developers interested in trying Mono for the iPhone and its now feature-completed MonoTouch APIs. MonoTouch consists of …

Developer 6 Aug 20:40
Kick me again, RIAA. Please!

Nesson: the biggest legal fail in history?

A while ago I joked that perhaps the RIAA had secretly recruited Charlie Nesson to be its court opponent. Everyone from Ray Beckerman at the "Recording Industry vs The People" blog to Nesson's old pals at the Berkman Centre at Harvard had advised him to knock it off - or at least not pursue a crackpot defence. But when it comes …

Music and Media 6 Aug 20:58
SGI chases Cray with baby cluster

Ours is bigger, er, smaller

Cray thinks there is a market for baby supercomputers that bridge the gap between fast two-socket workstations with peppy graphics cards and the rack-based parallel supercomputer clusters that run large-scale simulations. And the new Silicon Graphics, the result of the acquisition of the old SGI by Rackable Systems, agrees. As …

HPC 6 Aug 21:19
Apple denies censoring App Store swear words

We censored "urban slang"

Slipping completely out of character, Apple has responded to a firestorm of complaints over its seemingly random efforts to police content offered on its App Store. Apple insists it didn't reject a dictionary app for including common swear words. It rejected the app for "providing access" to offensive "urban slang." Yesterday …

Music and Media 6 Aug 22:53
Sony's Windows 7 virtualization switch-off (partly) reversed

Vaio buyer beware

Angry Sony PC customers who've splashed out nearly $2,000 on a new Vaio laptop should give up hopes of running Microsoft's XP virtualization technology in Windows 7. The consumer electronics giant has said it will enable Intel's Virtual Technology (VT), which supports Windows XP Mode in the forthcoming Windows 7, only on …

Virtualization 6 Aug 23:19