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19th October 2009 Archive

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  • Microsoft names Visual Studio 2010 dates

    Again, with the repackaging

    Microsoft has struggled with the best way to sell Visual Studio's application lifecycle management ever since it introduced Team System against IBM's Rational four years back. As the company prepares to release Visual Studio 2010 for Windows 7, Office 2010 and a new line Windows servers about to come on tap, Microsoft is taking …

    Developer 19 Oct 04:36

  • Sun tunes its VirtualBox

    Will Oracle sell it? Or sit on it?

    The most popular virtualization tool distributed by Sun Microsystems - and one whose future as an Oracle product is in question - is VirtualBox, and the software was just updated with a new 3.0.8 release. Version 3.0 of VirtualBox - which is a type 2 or hosted hypervisor that runs atop an operating system such as Solaris, …

    Virtualization 19 Oct 05:08

  • Boffins fawn over dirt cheap server clusters

    Fast array of wimpy nodes

    A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have been studying how they can make cheap, low-powered, and relatively unimpressive server nodes gang up and do more work than the two-socket x64 server that is the workhorse of the IT industry. They have come up with an approach called FAWN, which is short for Fast Array of …

    Servers 19 Oct 05:18

  • What do Scotland, Australia and Africa have in common?

    Reg Reader Studies Answers on a postcard (or via our survey)

    Unified Communications (UC) is a pretty hot topic with analysts and vendors alike. Yet despite a push back from the market on the vagaries of the proposition and questions around ROI, vendors still haven’t nailed how they communicate with businesses. One of the key problems is that, for the most part, UC is presented as a …

    VoIP 19 Oct 09:02

  • When PCs went mobile

    Workshop Tears of joy or sorrow?

    Do you remember the first time you saw a laptop? Shiny bright LED screen, pixels individually visible, about the size of a breeze block. Portability probably didn’t concern the IT department because nobody in their right mind would try to carry one out of the office. But they did. Quite quickly, laptops became smaller and …

    PC Management 19 Oct 09:10

  • Beeb gets grief for Humpty Dumpty rewrite

    MP decries happy ending to wall-fall shocker

    The BBC is taking a bit of stick for rewriting Humpty Dumpty to protect wide-eyed kiddies from the terrible realisation that the combined ingenuity of all the king's horses and all the king's men proved insufficient to reassemble the poor chap. According to the Sun, CBeebies show Something Special featured a sanitised version …

    Entertainment 19 Oct 09:33

  • New minister for Whitehall IT

    Angela Smith, come on down

    Junior minister Angela Smith has been handed the government IT brief, with responsibility for security across Whitehall. She will take over some of the Cabinet Office responsibilities of "digital engagement" minister Tom Watson, who quit the front bench earlier this year. As well as looking after the information security and …

    Government 19 Oct 09:53

  • MSI intros HDMI full HD nettop PC

    Wind Box with discrete graphics

    MSI has introduced its latest nettop, touting the skinny clamp-on-the-back-of-your-monitor machine as a "great value... entertainment experience". MSI's claim that the PC, the Wind Box DE200, can put you "right inside the classiest cinema" with a big dose of sodium chloride, but the machine does have an HDMI port and is able …

    reghardware 19 Oct 09:57

  • UK.gov convinces just 2,000 Mancunians to join ID card trial

    All the momentum of a punctured bicycle

    The government's ID card pilot scheme in Manchester has failed to capture the North West's imagination with just 2,000 volunteers coming forward to date. Manchester, with a population of just under half a million, has been picked for the first public rollout of the scheme. Ministers apparently believe that its comparatively …

    Government 19 Oct 10:08

  • NASA: Lunar pole-shot plume shows up in pictures

    Pic Moon's dark bottom-dirt 'ejecta' soars miles high

    NASA chiefs have insisted that their recent mission to crash a pair of spacecraft into the eternally-dark crater deeps of the lunar south pole - which seemed at first look to have produced underwhelming results - was in fact a "smashing success", with definite evidence of a debris plume detected. Squint really hard and you …

    Space 19 Oct 10:12

  • Firefox blocks and backtracks on 'insecure' MS add-ons

    Plug-in peril confusion

    Mozilla disabled two Microsoft developed Firefox add-ons over the weekend after deciding the applications posed a security risk. It has since revised its safety assessment and set about removing the plugins from its blacklist. The Microsoft Framework 1.1 Assistant FireFox extension and Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation …

    Operating Systems 19 Oct 10:25

  • Microsoft to ban 'unauthorised' Xbox 360 memory units

    Official HDD or memory stick storage, only

    The Xbox 360’s upcoming system update will prevent gamers storing data on "unauthorised" memory units, Microsoft has confirmed. The update – which also adds Facebook and Twitter support to the console, in addition to a news channel and dedicated music games store – will go out to Preview Program members this week and globally …

    reghardware 19 Oct 10:30

  • Google limbers up for Windows 7 with Apps billboard onslaught

    Behind every cloud is another cloud

    Google is doing its utmost to piss on Microsoft’s chips ahead of the official 22 October launch of Windows 7, by expanding its “Going Google” campaign to lure customers away from the software giant. Until recently Mountain View has characteristically shied away from marketing its products by splashing flashy ads on billboards …

    Channel Register 19 Oct 10:46

  • Tories would scrap 50p broadband tax

    'As soon as possible'

    A Conservative government would scrap the planned 50 pence per month tax on every landline - which the current government plans to use to subsidise faster broadband in rural regions - "as soon as possible", according to the shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. The levy hasn't yet been implemented but is a cornerstone of the …

    Telecoms 19 Oct 10:59

  • Robert Crumb begets Book of Genesis

    NSFW Christians divided on X-rated biblical romp

    Legendary underground comic artist Robert Crumb has caused a bit of a stir with his illustrated Book of Genesis - complete with biblical rumpy-pumpy and "gratuitous" violence, as the Telegraph puts it. The book prompted Mike Judge of God botherers' "think-tank" the Christian Institute to opine: "It is turning the Bible into …

    Bootnotes 19 Oct 11:01

  • Tories may cut Met Office funding

    Defence budget cuts may mean privatised climate change

    The UK's Met Office may receive far less cash - or none at all - from the Ministry of Defence under a Tory future government, the shadow defence minister has said. The BBC reports today that Liam Fox, Conservative spokesman on Defence, has said that funding for the Met Office may fall a victim to the need for cost-cutting at …

    Government 19 Oct 11:03

  • Moto Android 2.0 smartphone revealed

    Up close and personal with Droid

    Motorola’s upcoming Android smartphone has finally been revealed in a set of front-and-back pictures published online. Motoroal's Droid could be its first smartphone to run éclair Although not Motorola’s first Android-based phone – that award goes to the Dext - the Droid smartphone will likely be the firm’s first smartphone …

    reghardware 19 Oct 11:06

  • Sony designs 360° 3D TV

    'Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope...'

    With so many firms jumping on the 3D TV bandwagon, Sony has obviously felt compelled to push the envelope further still. So it has developed a 360° 3D display. Confused by the term? You shouldn’t be, because the prototype display is essentially a tube-shaped unit able to show a 3D image to anyone looking at it from – …

    reghardware 19 Oct 11:12

  • IT contractors aghast as FSA evicts self-cert mortgages

    Self-employed to live in old computer boxes

    IT contractors could be forced to live in HP's excess packaging if the government adopts Financial Services Authority proposals to scrap self-certification mortgages. Over a year after the property boom popped and the UK's financial sector had to be bailed out by the government, the financial regulator has proposed a raft of …

    Small Biz 19 Oct 11:49

  • MS claims early success for freebie security scanner

    Americans stuffed with Trojans, Brazilians hit by worms

    Redmond estimates 1.5 million users downloaded its freebie security scanner software during its first week of availability earlier this month. Microsoft Security Essentials, which comes at no extra charge to consumers running kosher versions of Windows, detected four million instances of malware of one type or another on 535, …

    Malware 19 Oct 12:01

  • Interead Cool-er

    Review Reading: the future?

    The time of the eBook reader may have come at last. With Amazon’s Kindle leading the charge and Barnes and Noble working with UK OLED display maker Plastic Logic for a similar offering next year, there’s growing awareness of the possible market for electronic readers. Interead’s Cool-er is an independent reader, trying to carve …

    reghardware 19 Oct 12:02

  • Microsoft's Sidekick restoration turns into farce

    Customers face long wait

    Microsoft played spot the difference over the weekend with statements on Saturday and Sunday that hinted at “steady progress” for the recovery of data its Danger subsidiary lost for many Sidekick customers. Sadly though, the software vendor hasn’t actually delivered the goods yet. Instead it seems to be pinning its hopes on …

    Mobile 19 Oct 12:06

  • Swissdisk suffers spectacular cloud snafu

    All user data may have vanished into thin air

    US cloud storage supplier SwissDisk has suffered a catastrophic hardware failure resulting in users being unable to access their data. Last week users reported problems accessing their data. After first saying emergency maintenance was underway and that users could "rest assured that (their) data is safe," SwissDisk support …

    Storage 19 Oct 12:40

  • Neanderthal woman could whup Schwarzenegger

    Modern man is big wuss, claims anthropologist

    An anthropologist has described modern man as “the sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet”, with even Arnold Schwarzenegger at his muscular peak no match for a Neanderthal woman in the arm-wrestling stakes. According to Peter McAllister, in Manthropology: the Science of Inadequate Modern Man, so …

    Biology 19 Oct 12:54

  • So how do you manage remote users?

    You the Expert According to reader experts

    We set you a challenge to join our expert panel and answer questions from our readers on how to deal with your desktop, and mobile desktop, environment. This week we've got the first of what promises to be regular installments on this topic. We welcome the first contribution from our resident reader experts, Adam Salisbury and …

    PC Management 19 Oct 13:24

  • Apple unbans banned 3G TV app

    Tries switching it off and on again

    Apple has apparently bent its own rules to rescind a ban on an iPhone app that allows users to stream TV over a 3G connection. Elgato's EyeTV app allows Jesus Phone users to watch live TV and recordings received and stored by their Macs. On Friday it was noticed that an unadvertised feature allows video streaming via a 3G …

    Mobile 19 Oct 13:25

  • UK fatties demand 'hate crime' status for lardo-baiting

    German study shows 'overweight' BMI perfectly healthy

    Woebegone British swingbellies have launched a campaign against anti-lardo "hate crime" and discrimination, even as a survey of possibly gutbusting Germans has revealed that being "overweight" is actually not a health hazard. The British flab-lib campaign is reported today by the BBC, which quotes Kathryn Szrodecki - described …

    Bootnotes 19 Oct 14:06

  • Apple Time Capsule catches plague

    Internal heat blows power supply capacitors

    Apple Time Capsule wireless backup boxes are failing, with 409 deaths reported so far on the timecapsuledead website. The Time Capsule is a combination of a SATA hard drive and Airport Extreme router, which can store backup data from Macs via their Time Machine software. It can also function as network-attached storage for …

    Storage 19 Oct 14:08

  • E-Wolf unveils extreme sports e-car

    Leccy Tech With "acoustic safety module"

    German car firm e-Wolf has unveiled plans for a leccy “extreme sports car”. E-Wolf's e-2 will be powered by four leccy motors Due to run as a prototype in 2011 and enter limited production soon after, the e-2 will be powered by four electric motors producing a combined power output of over 400kW (536hp). The e-2’s combined …

    reghardware 19 Oct 14:18

  • Revolting postmen force early Windows 7 launch

    Windows 7 Some Brits get software three days early

    Windows 7 orders are arriving in some UK customers’ letterboxes three days ahead of the operating system’s official launch. Currys and PC World have shipped some editions of the software early in a move to try and offset the pain customers face from Royal Mail's planned 48-hour strike on Thursday 22 October, which happens to …

    Channel Register 19 Oct 14:21

  • Oracle and Sun fingered for Sidekick fiasco

    Just think what they'll do to Microsoft when they merge

    The combination of Oracle and Sun has apparently scored a massive hit on Microsoft even before the firms consummate their merger. The Sidekick service crash involved an Oracle RAC database and Sun Solaris and Linux servers, according to reports. Oracle RAC (Real Application Clusters) involves a single database running across …

    Applications 19 Oct 14:48

  • Spotify shakes hands with 3

    ‘Buy HTC Hero get Spotify’ deal designed

    UK network operator 3 has signed a deal with Spotify to provide contract customers with unlimited access to the digital music service. Under the terms of the deal, anyone who buys the HTC Hero – reviewed here – for £99 ($161/€107) on a £35 monthly contract from 3 will be rewarded with free unlimited access to Spotify Premium …

    reghardware 19 Oct 14:55

  • UK cops to be kitted out with smartphones

    'Just collared @doccrippen'

    Smartphones look set to become the law of the land in Blighty, because it has been announced that most British police forces will be equipped with them by March 2010. According to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), which supports the police smartphone rollout, officers spend 30 minutes less per shift in police …

    reghardware 19 Oct 15:03

  • Android Eee phone to land this year?

    Asus confirms smartphone plan

    Asus has promised to launch a smartphone before the year’s out, fuelling speculation that its much-rumoured Eee handset could soon see the light of day. During a recent meeting with local Taiwanese media, Asus’ Chairman, Johnny Shih, and company President Jerry Shen both said that an Android smartphone will be unveiled by the …

    reghardware 19 Oct 15:06

  • UK.gov back to the drawing board on DNA retention

    Once more, with feeling

    The government has dumped a heavily-criticised plan to retain the DNA profiles of innocent people for up to 12 years, after the researchers behind evidence it was based on disowned the policy. Today, the Home Office said the forthcoming Crime and Policing bill won't include the proposals. It's now unclear what ministers plan …

    Government 19 Oct 15:09

  • VoIP hack suspect fugitive extradited back to US

    And you may tell yourself: this is not my 40' boat

    A Venezuelan hacking suspect arrested in Mexico last February on computer hacking and fraud charges faces a court appearance in New Jersey on Tuesday, following his extradition to the US last week. Edwin Pena, 26, a former Miami resident, fled from US justice in August 2006 two months after he was bailed on charges of hacking …

    VoIP 19 Oct 15:09

  • Pirate Bay appeal slips into next year

    November rain postponed

    The Pirate Bay appeal that was originally set to take place next month has reportedly been pushed back to summer 2010. A Swedish court announced today it had delayed the appeal until next year, according to The Local. The appeal launched by the four men found guilty of being accessories to breaching copyright laws in The …

    Music and Media 19 Oct 15:44

  • IBM installs temp server GM after insider trading furore

    Readies another dynamic infrastructure blitz

    IBM has put an executive in charge of its server, storage and chip business after the incumbent was put on a temporary leave of absence in the wake of an insider trading scandal that erupted last Friday. Bob Moffat, who was senior vice president and general manager of IBM's Systems and Technology Group, no longer holds those …

    Financial News 19 Oct 16:14

  • Dell refunds PC user for rejecting Windows

    Sucks on Linux Mint

    An enterprising PC user has been refunded on his copy of Windows, after he rejected Microsoft's operating system and license Reg Reader Graeme Cobbett was paid $115 (£70.34) by Dell after he bought a Studio 1555 notebook with Windows Vista already loaded and complete with a free upgrade to Windows 7. Rather than accept the …

    Operating Systems 19 Oct 17:47

  • SCO boots boss McBride

    Linux lawsuits live

    Unix code claimant SCO Group has jettisoned its controversial captain, Darl McBride, as part of the company's latest scheme to emerge from bankruptcy. The serially litigious SCO's executive ousting was revealed in a filing today with US regulators, although corresponding paperwork gives McBride's actual dismissal date as …

    Operating Systems 19 Oct 18:50

  • Micron's new flash dies live longer

    Increased write endurance

    Micron is sampling new flash dies that can write data many more times than other flash chips before they expire. Micron calls its new products Enterprise NAND and is using a 34nm process to build them. It has a new 16Gbit single-level cell (SLC) die capable of up to 300,000 write cycles. Micron says this is three times more …

    Storage 19 Oct 18:56

  • Google frees up Virgin America in-flight WiFi

    Holiday hit

    In-flight WiFi's been slowly encroaching on airlines, but you've had to pay. Now, Google will provide free service aboard Virgin American flights over the holiday period. The Mountain View Chocolate Factory is certainly not shy about magnanimous gestures. If this were ancient Roman times, Google would provide the masses with …

    Wireless 19 Oct 21:38

  • BMC eats Tideway for discovery tools

    Acquire or be acquired

    Systems management software maker BMC Software continues to snap up other software players as it bulks up to do battle with the likes of IBM, CA, Hewlett-Packard, and now EMC in its chosen market. Today, the company paid an undisclosed amount to acquire British software company and BMC-partner Tideway Systems. Tideway, which …

    Software 19 Oct 21:39

  • MySQL daddy backs EU's Snoracle probe

    My baby needs a new home

    MySQL author Monty Widenius has come out in favor of regulators probing Oracle's ownership of MySQL - and against Sun and Oracle execs past and present. Widenius has said he not only supports the European Union's probe of Oracle's proposed $5.6bn purchase of Sun Microsystems - which would give the database giant ownership of …

    Applications 19 Oct 21:48

  • Gartner: IT spending growth next year

    But don't expect another 2008 before 2012

    The final quarter of 2009 is just getting under way, and Gartner's analysts have assembled to give 2009, the IT industry's "worst year ever", a happy send off. Well, more like a mumbled good riddance as it welcomes the prospect of a better 2010. Gartner is hosting its Symposium/ITxpo in Orlando, Florida this week, and says …

    Business 19 Oct 22:04

  • Teradata unveils SSD Blurr appliance

    Feels need for speed

    Teradata has previewed a concept appliance based on Solid State Disks (SSDs) and codenamed Blurr to partners. Unveiled at the company's Partners User Group Conference in Washington, DC, the first device - called Teradata Extreme Performance Appliance - is going onto a customer site in two weeks time. Before you ask, yes, it …

    Storage 19 Oct 23:23