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12th August 2009 Archive

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  • Sequoia e-voting machine commandeered by clever attack

    Return-oriented programming strikes again

    Computer scientists have figured out to how trick a widely used electronic voting machine into altering tallies with a technique that bypasses measures that are supposed to prevent unauthorized code from running on the device. The method, known as return-oriented programming, has already been used to defeat security measures …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 00:17

  • Nokia applies branding iron to Qt's other cheek

    Frameworks hits factory

    Qt Software, maker of the popular cross-platform API and widget set, has undergone its second Nokia re-branding in less than two years. The operation will now be called Qt Development Frameworks, with the software given a new online destination - qt.nokia.com. Daniel Kihlberg, director of global sales, marketing, and services …

    Developer 12 Aug 2009, 00:56

  • US tech jobs grow (a bit)

    Well, up beats down

    Buried deep in the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics employment report is a startling statistic: Employment in the computer industry is on the rise. In its Economic News Release for July 2009, the Bureau's head-counters revealed that during July 2009, seasonally adjusted employment in "Computer systems design and related …

    Management 12 Aug 2009, 01:01

  • WordPress bug resets admin password

    Fixed for now

    This story was updated to correct details of the bug. It allows attackers to reset passwords, but not take over accounts. Developers of the widely used WordPress blogging software have released an update that fixes a vulnerability that let attackers reset the administrator password. The bug in version 2.8.3 is trivial to …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 01:29

  • Google File System II: Dawn of the Multiplying Master Nodes

    Updated A sequel two years in the making

    As its custom-built file system strains under the weight of an online empire it was never designed to support, Google is brewing a replacement. Apparently, this overhaul of the Google File System is already under test as part of the "Caffeine" infrastructure the company announced earlier this week. In an interview with the …

    Servers 12 Aug 2009, 02:12

  • NetApp fully embraces FCoE

    Brocade and QLogic also on board

    NetApp is the first storage vendor to offer end-to-end Fibre Channel over Ethernet by partnering with Brocade and QLogic. Not letting any depression about being denied Data Domain get in its way, NetApp is plunging whole-heartedly into Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoe), certifying and offering Brocade and QLogic Converged …

    Storage 12 Aug 2009, 07:02

  • DoH rate-my-doc site won't name and shame individual docs

    Or at least it will try not to

    The Department of Health is launching a doctor rating service in October, but it will not name and shame individual doctors. The idea was announced back in December by then-Minister for Health Ben Bradshaw. He said at the time he wanted a site which would do for doctors what Amazon has done for the book trade. The news …

    Government 12 Aug 2009, 08:02

  • Texan judge outlaws Word

    Pssst! Wanna buy some word processing

    The US District Court of Eastern Texas has granted an injunction to prevent Microsoft from selling copies of Word because it infringes a patent owned by another company. The long-running court case was brought by Canadian software firm i4i which won $200m in damages from Microsoft when a jury found it had willfully infringed a …

    Applications 12 Aug 2009, 08:51

  • Nokia set to bring the Office to Symbian

    Redmond gives Finns a kind Word

    Nokia and Microsoft are set to announce that Pocket Office will be coming to Nokia handsets, upsetting the blogosphere that was getting hyped on the idea of Windows-powered Nokia handsets. The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is set to be announced today, at a joint press conference that had formerly been taken, by …

    Applications 12 Aug 2009, 09:13

  • Crystal ball torches woman's flat

    Didn't see that coming

    The owner of a 4-inch diameter crystal ball got a nasty shock when she returned from visiting a chum to find the vitreous ornament had torched her flat. According to the Sun, the "unforeseen" blaze in Worle, Somerset, was caused by the £30 sphere focusing the sun's rays onto the back of 53-year-old Kim Yeates's telly, which …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2009, 09:16

  • Robot cauliflower harvesters to replace vanishing migrants

    UK's bouncing-bomb lab develops key veg-scanner tech

    UK government boffins have announced that they will develop a sophisticated new infravision system, intended to let robotic machinery harvest cauliflowers and lettuces. With the migrant labourers who normally do this deserting Blighty's shores in droves, droid harvesters are seen as the only way to prevent crops rotting in the …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 09:21

  • CV lies multiply in recession, says survey

    Why would Microsoft's chief sex instructor apply here?

    More would-be bankers than ever are lying on their CVs, according to an annual lie-check conducted by an employee screening company. Powerchex says that 19% of job candidates in the financial services industry had a discrepancy on their CVs. The company said that the number of CVs containing lies submitted to IT contracting …

    Management 12 Aug 2009, 09:44

  • Nokia to cull Symbian from smartphones?

    Could be lining up Linux instead

    Nokia smartphones may soon be shipped running the phone giant's Linux-based Maemo operating system instead of Symbian, it has been claimed. Maemo – also known as the Internet Tablet OS – has been around since 2005 and was originally designed for Nokia’s family of handheld internet gadgets. Now a report by the Financial Times …

    Phones 12 Aug 2009, 09:45

  • Snaps show BlackBerry Storm 2 with Wi-Fi

    Rim's touchphone gets 802.11 at last

    The evidence is mounting that Research in Motion’s second-generation BlackBerry Storm will indeed feature Wi-Fi, a technology missing from the phone's predecessor. Wi-Fi's widely expected to be coming to the Storm 2 Source: benezblog.de Rim has already confirmed plans for a Storm 2, but a German blogger has since allegedly …

    Phones 12 Aug 2009, 09:56

  • Ofcom mulls what to do with 8MHz of prime spectrum

    Free to a good home?

    Ofcom is seeking opinions on what to do with 8MHz of prime spectrum, with everything from selling to the highest bidder to allowing unlicensed usage on the agenda. The spectrum is in two blocks of 4MHz; one starting at 872MHz and the other at 917MHz. These are perilously close to the spectrum used by Vodafone and O2 for their …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 10:05

  • Intel's 'Sandy Bridge' 32nm CPU out in Q4 2010

    Tick follows tock follows tick

    Intel's first next-gen microarchitecture microprocessor will arrive in Q4 2010, Taiwanese moles have claimed. Whether they have it from the horse's mouth or are simple extrapolating from the chip giant's process introductions over the past few years isn't something stated by the DigiTimes piece in which they PC maker sources …

    Hardware 12 Aug 2009, 10:17

  • Nine MS security bulletins create busy updates workload

    Patches needed for almost everything - except IE

    Microsoft released the expected nine patches - five critical - as part of a busy August Patch Tuesday update that focuses primarily on client-side vulnerabilities. The bulletins collectively address 19 security flaws. The batch includes a bulletin covering a flaw in Office Web Components (MS09-043) that has served as the …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 10:27

  • TV crime show host 'ordered ratings-boosting hits'

    Eliminated rival drug dealers, Brazilian police claim

    The host of campaigning Brazilian TV crime show Canal Livre has been accused of coming up with an extreme method of boosting his ratings: ordering the murder of at least five people. Suspicions that former police officer Wallace Souza had arranged the hits were aroused when his camera crews in Manaus, Amazonas, demonstrated an …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2009, 10:30

  • Best Buy demos Dell netbook running... Mac OS X

    Unofficially, natch

    Clearly uninspired by Windows XP Home, one Best Buy staffer slapped Mac OS X on one of the chain's demo Dell Inspiron Mini 910v netbooks, if pictures posted on the internet are to be taken at face value. Best Buy's hackintosh netbook (allegedly) Source: Gizmodo Whether snapped by a vistor to the shop, the Best Buy employee …

    Hardware 12 Aug 2009, 10:42

  • Sony Ericsson 'designer' handsets hit catwalk

    Diamond-shapes are a girl's best friend

    There is communication and then there is “chic communication”, according to Sony Ericsson, which has launched a mobile phone designed to be the perfect fashion accessory. Jalou: the style director's choice of phone? Dubbed Jalou, the haut couture handset apparently exudes style and substance from its 73mm long body by …

    Phones 12 Aug 2009, 10:58

  • Kyocera FS-C1020MFP

    Review Fast, efficient and well-built all-rounder for small offices

    The multifunctional device (MFD) has arguably been the killer corporate business machine of recent years, so the appearance of affordable A4 versions for smaller offices is extremely welcome. With the FS-C1020MFP, Kyocera continues to speed up performance in this demanding market. Clean lines and compact appearance, Kyocera's …

    Hardware 12 Aug 2009, 11:02

  • Tr.im calls in Web 2.0 doctors, gets stomach pumped

    URL service cancels date with reaper for now

    Tr.im, the URL shortening service, has granted itself a stay of execution while it tries to convince someone to buy the unprofitable firm. On Sunday the company, which is owned by Nambu Networks, declared it was shutting down its operations after failing to make money from the site, which is used by Twittertards who want to …

    Applications 12 Aug 2009, 11:02

  • STEC goes on range extension rampage

    Third gen speed increase and a load more goodies

    STEC has set out on a range extension exercise, offering faster speeds and interfaces, and cheaper multi-level cell (MLC) flash variants. It currently offers fast single-level cell (SLC) ZeusIOPS SSDs for enterprise storage arrays, as selected by EMC, Compellent, HDS, HP, IBM and others. The MACH8 product line is lower …

    Storage 12 Aug 2009, 11:09

  • Twitter briefly knocked offline by hackers (again)

    Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Twitter...

    Twitter suffered from yet more security jitters on Tuesday night, after another attack left the site briefly unavailable. The outage lasted only about 30 minutes, from about 2020 (BST) and was far less severe than an attack last Thursday that took out the site for around two hours and left it offering impaired services for …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 11:15

  • Brain-jacking fungus turns living victims into 'zombies'

    Makes them hang from trees as horror nest-womb cocoons

    Scientists say they have discovered a horrific flesh-eating fungus which is able to infect living creatures and turn them into "zombies". The hapless victims are then compelled to shamble away to a location where their immobilised bodies - as they are gradually consumed from within, acting as food supply and nest to the ghastly …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 11:15

  • Reg reader captures Perseid meteor

    Nice snap from Surrey

    We're very much obliged to reader Bill Pinnell who, despite our doomongering yesterday, was able to capture this splendid snap of a Perseid meteor at 4:33 am this morning in Worcester Park, Surrey (click for a bigger version): Good effort. ® Bootnote Bill's photo is, of course, copyright.

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 11:16

  • Men in Green step back from GM's 230mpg Volt claim

    Leccy Tech E-car not tested by us, warns EPA

    The US Environmental Protection Agency has cast a shadow over General Motors' bullish claim that the Chevy Volt - aka the Vauxhall Ampera - can do 230 miles on a single US gallon of fuel. In a statement released last night, the organisation said: "The EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore can't confirm the fuel economy …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 11:27

  • Lawsuit accuses T-Mobile of asking staff to email 'off the clock'

    Employees sue for out-of-hours unpaid work

    T-Mobile could face a class action lawsuit over claims that it made employees work without pay using mobile phones and email devices. The US suit highlights concerns about employee rights at a time of always-on communications. Law firm Pelton and Associates in New York has put out a call for people to join a class action over …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 12:02

  • Government stamp of approval for fake weed

    Whaaat? It actually works?

    The government's drug advisory board is calling for action on "legal highs" containing synthetic cannabinoids. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs recommended a ban in a report it has just sent to the Home Office, called "Consideration of the major cannabinoid agonists". It focussed on the brand 'Spice' - which has …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 12:03

  • µTorrent 2.0 beta drops anchor

    Throttle ye not

    The upcoming second version of µTorrent, the world's most popular BitTorrent client, has moved into beta. It comes loaded with new "transfer cap settings" to help users whose ISP bandwidth is regularly throttled to better track their usage in megabytes. They can also stop the client torrenting when that limit is exceeded. " …

    Applications 12 Aug 2009, 12:09

  • O2 UK denies pre-Halloween Pré launch

    30 October release date incorrect, apparently

    A report that O2 will launch the Palm Pré in the UK on 30 October is false, the network operator has told Register Hardware. An anonymous O2 employee recently told hacks at website My Pre that Palm's iPhone rival would be released in Blighty at the end of October. However, O2 today insisted that the leaked Palm Pré …

    Phones 12 Aug 2009, 12:14

  • Apple hunts down Win and Mac flavoured Safari flaws

    Return of the Mac attack Trojan

    Apple has patched six security holes in its Safari web browser software. Safari version 4.0.3 fixes separate buffer overflow bugs in the CoreGraphics and ImageIO components of the Windows version of the browser that each create a critical code injection risk. In each case, visiting a maliciously crafted website with an …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 12:28

  • Extra large condoms hit UK supermarket shelves

    Keeping up with the Joneses getting harder

    Tesco started selling a new range of Durex Extra Large condoms today, in what it insists is a response to surging consumer demand. Tesco's healthcare buyer claimed that customer research had show there was "growing demand for an extra large condom" with the store apparently receiving 200 calls last year from customers …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2009, 13:15

  • Oracle spells out VM tools plans

    Still no word on Sun virtualisation though

    In the wake of its acquisition of Virtual Iron, and its hammering out of a converged roadmap for the Oracle VM Server variant of Xen hypervisor, Oracle's techies are still at work, making tools that wrap around the existing Oracle VM Server hypervisor to make it more useful. First up is a gadget called Oracle VM Template …

    Developer 12 Aug 2009, 13:46

  • Airliner black-box 'real time data streaming' tech developed

    Unnamed airline to start tests 'within weeks'

    A Canadian firm has announced imminent flight tests of aviation data-streaming technology which would transmit information normally recorded in an aircraft's "black box" accident recorders "in real time". In cases such as that of the recent disappearance of Air France flight 447 above the Atlantic, there would be no need to …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 13:55

  • Sony coughs to faulty Vaio notebooks

    Dud Nvidia GPUs to blame

    Sony has admitted that faulty Nvidia graphics chips are causing havoc for some Vaio laptop owners. The Japanese electronics giant said the problem dates back to July 2008, when Nvidia announced that some notebooks fitted with unspecified versions of its graphics processors were “failing in the field at a higher than normal …

    Hardware 12 Aug 2009, 14:27

  • How do you take your server virtualization, sir?

    Regcast Virtualization Strategy Boutique

    As part of our Virtualization Workshop series, we've invited a studio full of proper virtualization experts to tackle your questions on anything and everything to do with Server Virtualization. You can join them right here. Your host for the 1hr event is The Register's own Tim Philips, who will be introducing Reg regular Jon …

    Software 12 Aug 2009, 14:36

  • openSUSE will sacrifice 10.3 release on Halloween

    But confirms 11.2 for this fall

    The openSUSE project, which creates the Linux development distro that ultimately ends up being Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise in desktop, server, and other variants, is mothballing an old development release. The project icing just as it has taken another step toward meeting its goal of delivering a new release this fall. The …

    Operating Systems 12 Aug 2009, 14:37

  • Dell unpacks 'easy to own' Vostros

    Mid-size laptops with middle-of-the-road features

    Dell has beefed up its Vostro PC range with the creation of three… ahem… “easy to buy” and “easy to own” laptops. Dell's Vostro trio come in two sizes: 14.1in and 15.6in Quite what the PC manufacturer means by either statement isn’t clear and it's also keeping mum on the full technical specifications of the Vostro 1014, …

    Hardware 12 Aug 2009, 14:40

  • Facebook slims down for developing countries

    In Russia, bandwidth eats you

    Facebook today launched a low bandwidth version of its site, for users on slow connections. Facebook Lite, currently on trial in Russia and India, is billed as a "faster, simpler version similar to the Facebook experience you get on a mobile phone". It includes the basic communication and photo-sharing functions of the usual …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 14:58

  • Judge slaps ban on RealDVD software

    'What happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas'

    A US federal district court judge has handed a preliminary injunction to Hollywood studios, to prevent RealNetworks from selling its RealDVD product to US customers who want to copy DVDs using the software. "The RealDVD products, by their very nature, open a veritable Pandora’s box of liability for Real,” wrote Judge Marilyn …

    Media 12 Aug 2009, 15:25

  • Report: US planetsmash-asteroid scan running years late

    No other nation doing anything at all, though

    An official study by a heavyweight science and technology panel has said that "there has been relatively little effort by the US government" to tackle the threat to planet Earth from possibly devastating asteroid strikes. Politicians in Washington have directed NASA to make a start on dealing with the issue, but without …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 15:50

  • Nokia and Microsoft cosy up in small Office space

    Best of enemies go gooey with mutual admiration

    Two of the losers in the smartphone wars are cuddling up. Historic enemies Microsoft and Nokia today announced a wide ranging partnership covering mobile software, services, and eventually GUIs. Or as the execs put it today, as they exchanged dopey-eyed looks, the pair will "jointly design a range of new user experiences". …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 16:10

  • CA auto-immune update trashes systems

    Updated eTrust security software quarantines self, MS apps

    A beserker update to CA eTrust anti-virus software created all sorts of confusion on Wednesday. The 33.3.7051 update labeled a large number of binaries (.DLL and .exe files) - including some components of eTrust itself - as infected with something called StdWin32. These files were sent off to quarantine, resulting in disabled …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 16:42

  • Apple poaches eBay data center guru

    Here's $1bn. And a muzzle

    As it preps a $1bn data center in North Carolina, Apple has hired away eBay's senior director of data center services and strategy. According to Dave Ohara and his Green Data Center blog, eBay's Olivier Sanche will join Apple as its director of global data center operations. In early June, after the North Carolina lawmakers …

    Servers 12 Aug 2009, 16:54

  • Man gets 3 years in prison for stealing IDs over LimeWire

    Dodgy download redux

    A Washington state man who admitted using the LimeWire file-sharing program to steal tax returns and other sensitive documents has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison. Frederick Eugene Wood of Seattle was ordered to serve 39 months for a fraud scheme that prosecutors said was a "particularly pernicious …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 18:36

  • Exploding iPhone injures French teen

    'He did not lose an eye'

    A French teenager has been injured by his girlfriend's exploding iPhone, little more than a week after Apple was accused of trying to suppress news of an exploding iPod Touch. According to the AFP, Marie-Dominique Kolega contacted Apple after her son was hit by a flying piece of Jobsian status symbol. Apparently, the iPhone …

    Phones 12 Aug 2009, 19:24

  • Dell: Linux v Windows netbook returns a 'non-issue'

    OpenSource World Demand (not technology) in question

    Dell has delivered a dose of reality for both Microsoft and the Linux community on the subject of netbooks. Speaking at OpenSource World, a Dell executive deflated Microsoft's enthusiasm for making a case out of the number of Linux netbooks returned by unhappy customers. Todd Finch, Dell senior product marketing manager, said …

    Operating Systems 12 Aug 2009, 20:23

  • Stephen Hawking both British and not dead

    Obama health reform critics face inconvenient truth

    In perhaps the most amusing effort to discredit US President Barack Obama's plan for nationalized health care - if not the most ridiculous - US financial newspaper Investor's Business Daily has said that if Stephen Hawking were British, he would be dead. "The controlling of medical costs in countries such as Britain through …

    Bootnotes 12 Aug 2009, 21:13

  • Apple talks down (another) iPhone App Store critic

    Words are easy. Action is hard

    Again lifting its famous veil of silence, Apple has responded to a prominent blogger angry about its arbitrary iPhone App Store approval procedures. But Apple's new found, uh, openness is not being expressed in official company pronouncements or press releases, but rather through personal emails sent by the company's SVP for …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 21:42

  • Citrix touts XenServer hypervisor ramp

    Will downloads mean dollars?

    Citrix Systems - which has made a good living peddling products that allow desktop users to run server-based applications - wants to make even more money with desktop and server virtualization. The only problem is that VMware got started earlier and has the lion's share of the market. That's why in February, Citrix put out …

    Virtualization 12 Aug 2009, 21:51

  • Apple update patches serious DNS flaw in Mac OS X

    In a BIND no more

    Two weeks after internet overlords warned of a serious vulnerability in one of the most widely used programs for resolving domain names, Apple has updated its Mac OS X operating systems to fix the security bug. The update, released Wednesday, patches a hole in BIND, the net's most popular domain name system package. It's …

    Security 12 Aug 2009, 23:13

  • Palm accused of spying on Pre owners

    You're collecting what?

    If you're a Palm Pre user, it appears that your phone is telling Palm where you are, which apps you're using, how long you're using them, and when those apps crash. So says a blog post by one Unix-savvy Pre investigator. Debian-developer Joey Hess told The Reg that he had no idea Palm was uploading his personal data until he …

    Mobile 12 Aug 2009, 23:16

  • Boffins showcase do-it-yourself flying spy drone

    Aerial surveillance on the cheap

    French engineering students have designed a do-it-yourself unmanned aerial vehicle that can provide high-resolution, geo-referenced surveillance images in real time. At the Defcon hacking conference in Las Vegas earlier this month, Antoine Gademer and Corentin Chéron, two of the students from l'Ecole Supérieure d'Informatique …

    Science 12 Aug 2009, 23:41