7th September 2009 Archive

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Fancy winning a million quid from NetApp?

Only new customers with virtualised environments need apply

One lucky new customer could get a million quid's worth of NetApp gear, if they reduce their storage usage by half in a virtualised environment using NetApp kit. This is the UK version of a marketing initiative announced in the US at VMworld last week. Both follow on from a NetApp storage usage guarantee programme. The …

Storage 7 Sep 09:05
Apple's iPhone loses carriers money, claims researcher

Will someone please think of the operators...

The iPhone isn't the cash-cow many operators behave as though they believe it to be, a market watcher claims. Denmark's Strand Consulting says that operators have fallen over themselves to gain access to the trendy handset - and rather a lot of money has dropped from their pockets as a result. Operators pay much of their …

reghardware 7 Sep 09:57
Barclays online banking takes a dive

Again?

Barclays online banking services are mainly unavailable this morning. Several customers emailed The Register to complain that, once again, they could not access their accounts. A spokeswoman for Barclays confirmed there was a problem and promised us a call back when they knew what it was. Either the bank has been plagued …

IT Director 7 Sep 10:22
EU urges wise-up to combat rampant ATM crime

Don't stand so close to me

The rise in ATM-related crime has prompted a EU security agency to urge consumers to be more careful about withdrawing money from cash machines. ENISA (European Network and Information Security Agency) estimates that annual cash machine losses in Europe have increased to around €500m, a 149 per cent increase year-on-year. …

Crime 7 Sep 10:54
Boozy chess grandmaster passes out mid-game

Russian bad boy 'carried off' after 'refreshment' break

Roistering Russian grandmaster Vladislav Tkachiev, long famed as the Oliver Reed of the international pro chess circuit, reportedly passed out drunk during a tournament match in India and "had to be carried off". According to the Indian Express, grog-swilling brainbox Tkachiev - born in Russia but nowadays playing as a …

Bootnotes 7 Sep 10:56
Google acts to quell critics of book deal

Too little, too late?

Google has written a letter to 16 European Union publishers in an effort to allay some of their concerns about Mountain View’s digital books settlement in the US. According to today’s Financial Times, Google has agreed to have two non-US reps on the governing board of the registry that will oversee the settlement. …

Law 7 Sep 11:15
Investigators blind on P2P child abuse

Encryption on the rise too

Child abuse investigators plan to focus efforts on the use of peer to peer networks to distribute images, following a "wholesale move" in sex offenders' online behaviour . The "vast majority" of paedophile activity online now takes place on public and private P2P platforms rather than commercial criminal websites, the Child …

Policing 7 Sep 11:33
Explorers unearth cat-sized rat

Papua New Guinea volcano-dwelling beast

A BBC camera crew backed by biologists has identified a new species of giant rat. The massive rodent has been discovered living exclusively inside the crater of an extinct Papua New Guinea volcano. The team first spotted the beast on footage from an infrared camera trap inside the crater of Mount Bosavi, in the country's …

Biology 7 Sep 11:37
Dell Latitude 2100

Review Bash Street's favourite netbook?

A side-effect of Dell's last internal reorganisation is that the company has separate teams working on very similar products but aimed at different kinds of user. Taking the case in hand, the Latitude 2100 is a netbook aimed at major organisations – primarily educational – who want to buy machines of a predetermined spec in bulk …

reghardware 7 Sep 12:02
Vista and Lotus: Knowing when to let go of a brand

Hasta la Vista, baby

Microsoft spent an absolute fortune on the Vista brand. In marketing terms, the Vista campaign was huge by any standards, and was a big success insofar as raising awareness of Microsoft's next-generation Windows offering was concerned. Of course as we all know, things didn't work out too well for Microsoft. The the new …

Applications 7 Sep 12:39
Huawei pours cold water on Oz spy probe reports

Says embassy contact normal if you are Huawei from home

Chinese networking equipment maker Huawei has denied reports that Australian security agencies are investigating its business. Huawei told Bloomberg that it met the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) back in June only for what's described as a "routine briefing". Suspicions that there might be something more …

Telecoms 7 Sep 12:45
Sarko boosts standing by standing in front of dwarves

French prez (almost) towers above tech plant workers

The wheels appear to have come off French prez Nick Sarko's latest attempt to boost his international standing, after it was revealed he was backed at a motor technology plant speech by the shortest workers the company could rustle up. Sarkozy, whose modest 5ft 5in frame was shamefully snapped standing on a box to deliver a …

Bootnotes 7 Sep 12:58
Commodore 64 emulator hits iPhone

Apple okays pre-Amiga gaming

A Commodore 64 emulator - complete with 64 retro titles - has gone on sale for the iPhone and iPod Touch. And it's official. Well, as official as its gets when it comes to Commodore these days - the original company went bust in 1994, and it exists as little more than a brandname today. C64: old school 8-bit gaming on your …

reghardware 7 Sep 13:04
US Navy boffins invent aircraft-to-sub laser phone

Beam the noise

US Navy boffins say they have developed a method which could allow aircraft to communicate with submarines using frickin' laser beams. Dr Ted Jones of the Naval Research Laboratory has developed methods of generating acoustic effects in water by firing laser pulses into it. According to the lab: Optical properties of water …

Physics 7 Sep 13:20
Dell waves job axe in Bracknell, keeps schtum on numbers

If a tree falls in the woods...

Dell is continuing to trim its workforce in the UK, but has refused to comment on how many of its employees have been affected by the latest cuts. The Register has learned that 25 staff at the computer vendor’s Bracknell site will be laid off next month. Dell, when asked, refused to comment specifically on the individual jobs …

Channel Register 7 Sep 13:53
Labour calls for free Wi-Fi on trains

Just in Scotland. Shrug

The Scottish Labour Party is calling for trains and buses to offer free Wi-Fi, following the tradition of parties not in power of calling for impractical, but populist, measures. The idea is to get people out of cars by improving public transport, and skips over the fact that public transport in Scotland is run by private …

Wireless 7 Sep 14:10
China 'orders Baidu cleanup'

When the music's over, turn out the lights

The balance of power in China's internet search market could soon change, as the government orders home grown music services to clean up their acts. But it could be worse news for Wall Street investors who have backed the Chinese giant without fully assessing the risks. According to sources cited in the Wall Street Journal, …

Music and Media 7 Sep 14:17
Worm wiggles through weary WordPress

Spam-friendly malware spanks Scoble blog

Hackers are exploiting older installations of WordPress to distribute blog comment spam and disguise links to malware-contaminated sites. The worm-based attack targets an older version of the popular blog publishing software. Although the worm attempts to hide its tracks, coding errors mean that links on a blog wind up getting …

Spam 7 Sep 14:35
Office online and Windows Mobile: Ballmer's last laugh

Radio Reg Word the least of his woes

It wasn't the glazed expression or the tired nod. It was the dismissive laugh that characterized how Steve Ballmer and Microsoft failed to fully comprehend the iPhone. "$500, subsidized with a plan!" That was the reaction of Microsoft chief executive to the unveiling of the iPhone by Apple wunderkind and control freak Steve …

Microbite 7 Sep 15:01
Spider from ~~Mars~~ Malaysia dubbed David Bowie

Eight legs, but boy can he play guitar?

A newly-discovered spider has been dubbed Heteropoda davidbowie, in the hope that slapping the rock star's moniker on the beast will help raise awareness about the plight of endangered arachnid species worldwide. Peter Jäger, the man who identified the spider from Mars Malaysia, told the Observer that "naming spiders after …

Biology 7 Sep 15:25
Tory MP to sue over sex smear email

Writs for McBride and Draper

Conservative Nadine Dorries today issued libel writs against former Downing Street spin doctor Damian McBride and Labour activist Derek Draper, who together over email planned to smear her private life. McBride, who was Gordon Brown's press chief, suggested Draper should publish allegations that Dorries had an affair with a …

Government 7 Sep 15:45
Facebook Fan Check scareware begets malign ware-scares

How very meta

Searching for information about a supposed virus threat affecting Facebook might itself be hazardous. The blogosphere was alive with talk (here and here) about an application called "Facebook Fan Check" and the possible threat it might pose. However, searching for the term "Facebook Fan Check Virus" might itself be hazardous, …

Malware 7 Sep 15:55
Japanese mobile operators shout 'Avast' at piracy

Walk the packet inspection plank, scabrous dogs

The Japanese are considering forcing packet inspection on mobile networks in order to identify, and disconnect, copyright infringing pirates. The plan requires all network operators to monitor downloads for copyrighted material. If dodginess is discovered a warning would be issued to the user, and if they persisted then their …

Music and Media 7 Sep 15:59
Google-fixated EC chiefs ask Europe to revise copyright law

Monkey see, monkey do

Brussels needs to rethink its copyright laws to cover digital books, two Eurocrats declared today. The information society Commissioner, Viviane Reding, and the internal market and services Commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, issued a joint statement in which they called for a revision of copyright legislation that takes into …

Law 7 Sep 16:00
Bank of America demands thumbprint from armless bloke

Refuses to cash cheque in absence of hands

A Florida man is a bit hacked off with the Bank of America after it refused to cash a cheque made out to his missus unless he provided a thumbprint - a slight impediment to the transaction, because he has no arms. Steve Valdez, 54, explained to the Today show yesterday that he went to his wife's branch, but "teller and branch …

Bootnotes 7 Sep 16:04
Lotus details meths-drinking hybrid e-car engine

Leccy Tech Developed for e-Jag?

Lotus has announced details of an engine designed specifically as a range extender for hybrid e-cars. According to the Norfolk-based car maker, the three-cylinder 1.2l engine has been optimised to perform at two power generation points, developing 15kW (20bhp) at 1500rpm and 35kW (47bhp) at its maximum 3500rpm via an …

reghardware 7 Sep 16:11