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8th October 2009 Archive

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  • Feds net 100 phishers in biggest cybercrime case ever

    Operation Phish Phry

    US and Egyptian authorities have charged 100 people with conducting a phishing operation that siphoned at least $1.5m from thousands of accounts belonging to Bank of America and Well Fargo customers. Fifty-three defendants from California, Nevada and North Carolina were named in a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 01:22

  • IBM bulks out WebSphere's waistline

    "This is not vacuous integration"

    IBM is expanding its portfolio of WebSphere business process management (BPM) and service oriented architecture (SOA) products in a major refresh. "This is a substantial release for us where we have lined up and concurrently releasing a majority of our products around version 7," said WebSphere general manager Craig Hayman. " …

    Developer 8 Oct 2009, 01:36

  • DCSF opens ContactPoint rules consultation

    And what do you think of this brilliant idea?

    The Department for Children, Schools and Families has launched a consultation on the rules for using England's children's database. It has proposed a number of changes for the rules governing ContactPoint, which has been one of the most controversial government IT implementations of recent years. The database holds basic …

    Government 8 Oct 2009, 06:02

  • Scale-out SVC on the way from IBM?

    Nehalem and FCoE huddle

    IBM is exploring the idea of a scale-out architecture for its SAN Volume Controller (SVC) with possible involvement of flash memory and Nehalem processor. FCoE support may come when needed. The SVC (SAN Volume Controller) is a SAN virtualising controller attached to the Fibre Channel fabric linking application servers and …

    Storage 8 Oct 2009, 07:02

  • Altec Lansing Expressionist Plus v. Edifier E3350

    Review Two 2.1 speaker systems sound it out

    With most computers bulging at the seams with music and video files, the days of making do with even a cheap set of active stereo speakers, let alone laptop offerings, are truly dead and buried. A decent 2.1 active speaker system will not only pay dividends when it comes to playing your music but can also provide bowel trembling …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2009, 08:02

  • Fujitsu strike action ahoy

    Ballot begins

    Fujitsu is facing likely strike action. The Unite union is balloting its 1,500 members at the firm next week. The union believes cuts to pensions and pay will slash about 20 per cent from its members' total pay packages. The vote begins 12 October, and the result should be known by 30 October. A consultative vote on proposals …

    Financial News 8 Oct 2009, 08:15

  • Dell preps Googlephone for AppleT&T network

    Android all around

    Dell is preparing to launch a Googlephone on AT&T's iPhone-happy US wireless network. According to sources speaking with The Wall Street Journal, the PC seller could introduce its Android-based phone as soon as early next year. This would give Google's open source mobile OS a foothold on all four major US wireless networks. …

    Mobile 8 Oct 2009, 08:43

  • Carphone Warehouse trading peachy

    15,000 more customers

    Carphone Warehouse has lost fewer Tiscali subscribers than feared - but that means a bit more shelling out for the company. The final price Carphone pays for Tiscali is based on the number of subscribers who desert the service as a result of the merger, and it seems 62,000 Tiscali customers have disappeared. We're told that's …

    Broadband 8 Oct 2009, 09:10

  • Pré hitting Spain next week, says Palm

    Two days before the UK

    Spain will receive its first Palm Pré shipments on 14 October, the phone’s exclusive local operator, Telefónica, has announced. Specific pricing information isn’t yet available, but online reports suggest that the smartphone will cost between free and €219 (£202/€322) – depending on your chosen tariff. As previously reported …

    Phones 8 Oct 2009, 09:38

  • The Register primer on web based threats (and their changing nature)

    I'm Bad, You Know it

    The internet is a gold mine for bad people, who continue to think of innovative, clever ways to extract money from individuals and corporations. With this in mind The Register has teamed up with our analyst partner Freeform Dynamics to produce this independent primer, sponsored by Webroot, on web security. We think it will …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 10:02

  • Sony turns to touchscreen tech

    Finger-friendly all-in-one desktops launched

    Sony has made good on its recent promise to launch touchscreen editions of its Vaio all-in-one PC. Sony's Vaio L: the touchscreen version comes in two flavours The Vaio VPC-L11M1E/S and VPC-L11S1E/S both run the upcoming 64-bit version of Windows 7 and feature Intel Core 2 Duo processors inside. But while the L11M1E/S …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2009, 10:04

  • US Army doubles fleet of enormous floating eyes

    'Beholder'-esque aerostat blimps spy Afghanistan

    The US Army is doubling its fleet of moored spy balloons, deployed in overseas warzones to provide continuous unblinking overwatch around fortified American camps and bases. Giant, floating, all-seeing eyes in the sky r us Arms behemoth Lockheed Martin announced yesterday that it has been awarded a $133m contract to provide …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 10:21

  • US DoJ investigates IBM mainframe biz

    Big Blue faces probes from both ends

    The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into IBM's mainframe business at the instigation of the CCIA. The move means IBM faces the prospect of competitions probes from both sides of the Atlantic, after rack server company t3 filed a complaint with the EU over IBM's mainframe business practices back in January …

    Virtualization 8 Oct 2009, 10:26

  • UK Supremes to deliver McKinnon hearing decision

    Anxious wait for Pentagon hacker

    A decision on whether Gary McKinnon will be allowed leave to appeal to the newly-established UK Supreme Court will be given on Friday (9 October). McKinnon's spirited four-year-long campaign against extradition to the US on hacking charges has featured failed appeals to the House of Lords and European Court of Human Rights …

    Government 8 Oct 2009, 10:32

  • How's your desktop support service desk looking?

    Workshop Messy, pained, astonished?

    As everyone working in IT support knows, the job would be so easy if it wasn’t for hardware and software problems getting in the way. Oh, and of course the users. Every help desk call has at least one irate and annoying user attached to it. Without users getting on the phone and sending emails complaining about life, the …

    PC Management 8 Oct 2009, 10:33

  • MP urges Royal Mail rethink on postcode site takedown

    Petition demands free database for non-profits

    Tom Watson MP has fired off a letter of complaint to the Royal Mail Group, in which he grumbles that the UK postal service’s legal action against a two-man operated postcode lookup site was a "heavy handed" and "deeply regrettable" move. The Labour politician and ex-government minister for digital engagement asked the Royal …

    Law 8 Oct 2009, 10:42

  • US clears the air for flying drones

    Remote controlled metal needs radio

    Remotely controlled aircraft need frequencies in which to operate - and quite a lot of them, if the latest US submission to the World Radiocommunications Conference is to be believed. While the military might play fast and loose with unmanned aerial vehicles - to the point of crashing one or two - civilians tend to be more …

    Broadband 8 Oct 2009, 10:59

  • Greens more likely thieves and liars, says shock study

    Trick-cyclists v hippies - who to trust?

    Psychologists in Canada have revealed new research suggesting that people who become eco-conscious "green consumers" are "more likely to steal and lie" than others. The new study comes from professor Nina Mazar of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and her colleague Chen-Bo Zhong. "Those lyin’, cheatin’ …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 11:12

  • CBS hit for $1.2m over Chinese censorware

    Net sitter firm files chicken feed damages demand

    Solid Oak Software has hit media giant CBS with a demand for $1.2m, after the media giant's tech subsidiary posted downloads of the Chinese government's Green Dam Youth Escort software. Green Dam was the centrepiece of Beijing's abortive effort to force PC manufacturers to preload filtering software that would protect young …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 11:18

  • Sony claims 'lightest notebook' crown

    Atom-based super-skinny X series launched

    The fight for the right to claim ownership of the world’s lightest notebook has been won by Sony, the company claimed today, thanks to its launch of the Vaio X. Sony's Vaio X: good lookin', but Atom-based Weighing in at just 655g, the... ahem... “exquisitely crafted” notebook measures 278 x 185 x 13.9mm and is available in …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2009, 11:23

  • Amazon eyes wander as Royal Mail strike looms

    Still faithful in 'long-term'

    Online retail giant Amazon is mulling "contingency measures" to deal with a looming national strike at the Royal Mail, but it has insisted that no "long-term contracts" had been cancelled with the UK’s largest postal carrier. The Guardian reported yesterday that Amazon had ended its contract with the Royal Mail to deliver …

    Media 8 Oct 2009, 11:26

  • IBM wins benchmark crown with SSD power

    Another tick in STEC's box

    IBM has blasted the SPC-1 benchmark into the stratosphere with a flash-equipped POWER6 server. The Power 595 server, using 48 cores and 84 STEC flash drives, achieved 300,993.85 SPC-1 IOPS (pdf). The total system cost was $3.2m with the per-SPC-1 IOPS being $10.77. IBM held a previous record with its SAN Volume Controller ( …

    Storage 8 Oct 2009, 11:32

  • Ex-GCHQ superspook can lobby MoD on crypto

    No rules broken

    Thales UK, the French-owned defence giant that hired recently-retired GCHQ chief Sir David Pepper as an advisor, is bidding for a massive government cryptography system that GCHQ has been closely involved in designing - including under Pepper. The firm is leading one of just two industry consortia vying to implement the …

    Government 8 Oct 2009, 11:45

  • Nissan demos leaning e-car

    Leccy Tech Land Glider tackles corners

    Nissan has demoed its latest take on the electric car, which takes the word ‘futuristic’ to a whole new level. Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com Technical details about the Land Glider – which we assume is a concept – are scarce. But we do know that the vehicle continues Nissan’s Zero Emission e-car …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 11:47

  • PC tune-up software: does it really work?

    Round-up Part Two: Windows Vista

    Installing tune-up and registry fixing software was hit and miss when we tested on a five-year-old Windows XP laptop. Faster Microsoft Office and Windows boot-up times were possible with some software packages, but occasionally performance took a dive and a similarly priced Ram upgrade thrashed the rest of the field. Some of …

    Software 8 Oct 2009, 12:02

  • Google search index prettifies PDF view

    Kiss me quick

    Google’s search results now include a feature that allows web surfers to more easily view formatted PDFs from within their browser. Previously, Google’s search engine included a "View as HTML" feature for documents created in the Portable Document Format standard. Mountain View said it had added a "Quick View" option to some …

    Media 8 Oct 2009, 12:02

  • Virgin Media to trial IPTV off-cable network

    Fibre optic Cornwall trial

    Virgin Media will trial delivering its TV and broadband services via copper phone lines as part of plans to expand its footprint beyond the cable network laid in the 1990s. The firm will run a small trial in Cornwall in partnership with fibre optics firm Vtesse Networks this winter. Residents of Higher Pill, in Saltash, and …

    Networks 8 Oct 2009, 12:08

  • Canada laid bare on Street View

    Google's virtual invasion continues apace

    Google has extended its Street View coverage to Canada, with Banff, Calgary, Halifax, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Squamish, Toronto, Vancouver (see pic), and Whistler now exposed by the Great Satan of Mountain View's all-seeing eye. Those Canadian readers who fear their privacy may be violated by …

    Media 8 Oct 2009, 12:19

  • Ralph Lauren DMCAs thin Photoshop skills

    Tiny pelvis takedown nonsense

    Ralph Lauren may or may not have a knack for fashion. But we can safely say the American clothing giant needs a little help with Photoshop. And the DMCA. And the Streisand Effect. Late last month, the always amusing PhotoshopDisasters blog spotlighted this disaster of a Ralph Lauren ad: PhotoshopDisasters and BoinBoing pile …

    Bootnotes 8 Oct 2009, 12:26

  • The experts view on data center agility

    Reg roundtable re-run for your aural pleasure

    The Register's recent Agile Data Center Summit brought readers together with a line up of experts and analysts from across the industry. In our second on-demand audio extract from the event, the panel rounded out proceedings in typical Reg fashion - a straight talking, open forum crammed full of expert opinion, informed …

    Servers 8 Oct 2009, 13:01

  • SiRF launches tiny fast-fix satnav chip

    Wider range of GPS gadgets en route, claims firm

    GPS chip maker SiRF has hinted that a wider variety of location-aware gadgets could find their way to market next year, following the firm’s launch of its latest satnav pick-up. SiRF unveiled the Star IV platform back in July, with the GSD4t chip - intended for use in smartphones – becoming one of the first products to make …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 13:02

  • Hotmail 'phishing' campaign is small peanuts

    Black market bulges with webmail logins

    Access to the 10,000 compromised Hotmail accounts at the centre of a high profile breach might be obtained for as little as $90 on the black market. Rik Ferguson, a security researcher at Trend Micro, argues that the importance of the online publication of 10,000 Live ID login credentials on developer website PasteBin.com and …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 13:31

  • iSnack 2.0 morphs into Cheesybite

    LogoWatch Kraft rebrands Vegemite 0.2

    Kraft has announced that the spread formerly known as iSnack 2.0 will henceforth grace Oz's kitchens under the name of Vegemite Cheesybite. The rebrand follows a furious backlash against the original moniker for the cream-cheese-enhanced Vegemite, selected from over 48,000 candidates submitted by the unwashed masses. …

    Bootnotes 8 Oct 2009, 13:36

  • Care assistant sacked over porn shop internship

    'One more blow below the belt' wails unemployed Swede

    The inflexible nature of the Swedish government's employment policies was starkly illustrated this week, after a would-be care assistant was forced out of his job after taking on an internship in a porn shop. Niclas Nilsson has accused his local employment office of discrimination following being axed from his part-time job as …

    Bootnotes 8 Oct 2009, 13:48

  • Hands on the Sony Vaio X

    First Look We get our mitts on the World's lightest, most expensive... er... netbook

    Sony's Vaio X is a skinny so and so, to a degree that puts even Apple's MacBook Air to shame. Likewise its weight. But is it too compact for a notebook? Sony's Vaio X: pricey for a notebook, very expensive for a netbook... which is what it is Sony is pitching the machine at business travellers, and since the entry level X …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2009, 14:22

  • Coin-sized nuclear isotope battery minted

    Charge your cell for a thousand years

    A boffin in Missouri has invented a nuclear-powered battery the size of a penny. Professor Jae Kwon believes that radioisotope batteries can hold a million times as much juice as today's chemical types, perhaps offering the potential for devices like torches and cellphones which would never run flat. The thousand-year …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 14:26

  • Gay man offered lesbian neighbours slug pellet curry

    After allegedly kidnapping their three-legged cat

    A gay man has admitted he gave his lesbian neighbours curry laced with slug pellets after he was accused of kidnapping their three-legged cat. According to the Daily Mail, Gary Stewart, 37, and Beverley Sales and Marie Walton had enjoyed cordial relations when they first became neighbours in Denton, Manchester. Over a period …

    Bootnotes 8 Oct 2009, 14:28

  • Mitsubishi builds monster OLED telly

    Almost four metres - and it could go larger...

    LG’s 15in OLED TV is no longer the world’s largest, because Mitsubishi has just shown off a whopping 155in organic LED screen in Japan. Mitsubishi's 155in OLED panel Credit: IDC It's a wee bit of a cheat: Mitsubishi’s Diamond Vision OLED display is constructed from individual OLED panels – each about the size of your palm …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2009, 14:48

  • Adobe steps on developer toes (again)

    Making you pay for fresh AIR

    Adobe's Shibuya project, enabling AIR developers to charge for their applications, has upset at least one developer: the chap who had already launched the same thing commercially. Shibuya is Adobe's toolkit for creating revenue-generating AIR applications. Developers drop in a few lines of code and a button appears allowing …

    Developer 8 Oct 2009, 14:51

  • Google maximizes minimalist homepage madness

    Rainmen test one word search site

    Google has taken its Rainman-like minimalist-homepage obsession to new extremes, testing a page that includes nothing but the Google name and an empty search box. And a very small trademark symbol. It looks like this: But there's, well, more. It is no doubt with great pain that when you mouse over this bare-bones test page, …

    Applications 8 Oct 2009, 15:00

  • Skype sees off one patent threat...

    ...plenty more to go

    Skype is claiming a victory in one of the many IP suits that are plaguing the P2P phone company at the moment. Robert Miller, Skype's general counsel, said in a blog post the other day that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had ruled in favour of Skype and sort-of-ex-parent eBay, over a brace of patents asserted …

    VoIP 8 Oct 2009, 15:01

  • NASA tweaks killer asteroid's trajectory of death

    Bruce Willis can stand down, agency confirms

    NASA has recalculated the trajectory of asteroid Apophis and concluded that Bruce Willis can stand down from a state of doom-body-busting readiness. Apophis - agreeably described by the agency as "approximately the size of two-and-a-half football fields"* - has got a lot of press since its discovery in 2004, when it was …

    Science 8 Oct 2009, 15:16

  • Recidivist stock fraud hacker pleads guilty to ID theft

    Go directly to jail. Do not collect $200

    A former stock fraud hacker has pleaded guilty to new fraud and identity theft charges. Van T Dinh was jailed in 2003 for 13 months, after he was found guilty of offloading failed investments by hacking into the account of another stock trader and buying a percentage of the worthless derivatives Dinh was holding. Instead of …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 15:37

  • EMC outs Atmos compute cloud

    Storage and processing - smells familiar...

    EMC has been growing its profile in the IT sector, expanding beyond storage and obliquely into servers and software for some time. Now, it's getting ready to take a slightly more direct shot at the server biz with a forthcoming compute cloud offering under the Atmos brand, now in beta. The company announced its Atmos storage …

    Servers 8 Oct 2009, 17:51

  • FBI chief barred from online banking by wife

    Domestic surveillance

    America's chief spook has been banned from internet banking by his wife after nearly falling prey to a common email phishing scam. FBI Director Robert Mueller was in San Francisco on Wednesday to advocate public vigilance against cybercrime. Speaking to the non-profit public affairs org, the Commonwealth Club of California, …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 19:41

  • Microsoft plays ads-funded Office 2010 Starter gambit

    Fully-loaded, key-card start-up

    Microsoft plans a brand-new edition of its forthcoming Office 2010 in a push to loosen customers' vice-like grip on old versions of its productivity suite an upgrade. The company has announced Office 2010 Starter Edition, a functionally limited version of Office 2010. It will come pre-loaded on only new PCs and be will funded …

    Applications 8 Oct 2009, 19:46

  • Critical Adobe Reader vuln under 'targeted' attack

    No patch till Tuesday

    Attackers once again are targeting an unpatched vulnerability in Adobe Reader that allows them to take complete control of a user's computer, the software maker warned. Adobe said it planned to patch the critical security bug in Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3 for Windows, Mac and Unix on Tuesday, the date of the company's previously …

    Security 8 Oct 2009, 20:10

  • Dell cuts North-Carolina plant despite $280m sweetener

    Repayment in full expected

    Dell has settled a long-running dispute over a $280m incentives package to open shop in North Carolina by shutting the facility and cutting 905 jobs to control costs. Dell announced Wednesday it will close its disputed desktop computer manufacturing plant near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by the end of January. The news …

    The Channel 8 Oct 2009, 21:27

  • Cisco makes up term 'dark web,' fights it with appliance

    Web 2.0 tripe filtered on the fly

    In the absence of proper categorization, egregious websites rule the internet, free to terrorize the hapless workers of web 2.0 with wanton non-productivity. Or at least that's how Cisco paints the landscape of a so-called "dark web," a term the networking giant has coined for an estimated 80 per cent of the internet that's …

    Data Networking 8 Oct 2009, 23:56