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20th October 2009 Archive

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  • Apple's Q4 'most profitable quarter ever'

    Rides iPhone, MacBook sales surge

    Apple has once again run the recession's undershorts up the flagpole during its fiscal fourth quarter 2009. Record sales of iPhones and Macs helped Cupertino's profits soar 46 per cent in the quarter compared to the same period a year ago. Revenue also increased 25 per cent in the quarter over last year. Apple describes the …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2009, 00:22

  • MPAA chief set for September exit

    Piracy-buster pursues 'extracurricular' interests

    The chairman and CEO of Motion Picture Association of America, Dan Glickman, will exit stage left when his contract ends this September. Glickman, a former Agriculture Department secretary and Democrat congressman from Kansas, has held the post as Hollywood's top lobbyist to Washington for five years following the retirement …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 00:30

  • Internet Archive uncloaks open ebook dream machine

    Will Google play?

    The Internet Archive and various like-minded partners have launched an open architecture for selling and lending digital books online, an effort to consolidate the fledgling market for net texts - and give Google a little food for thought. Dubbed BookServer, the open platform is meant to provide a standard means for …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 03:02

  • Data Domain soups up products

    Mid-range and entry-level refresh

    Data Domain has replaced its 500-series mid-range and 120 entry-level deduplication products with new ones. Data Domain is a subsidiary of EMC and manufactures deduplicating storage arrays. They carry out an in-line process deduplicating incoming data as it lands on the box rather than afterwards. The company is riding Intel's …

    Storage 20 Oct 2009, 05:02

  • Samsung Tocco Lite budget touchscreen phone

    Review Too Lite a touch?

    Having scored considerable touchscreen success with its debut Tocco F480, Samsung has been understandably keen to extend its Tocco-branded portfolio – first with the Tocco Ultra Edition GT-S8300 numberpad-packing slider/touchscreen combo, and now with a budget version, the Tocco Lite GT-S5230, also known as the Star in some …

    Phones 20 Oct 2009, 08:02

  • News archives can lose libel protection as stories change

    High Court Flood warning to papers

    A newspaper which continued to publish a defamatory article on its website after its subject was cleared in an investigation lost its right to claim a special journalistic defence against libel, the High Court has said. The ruling makes it clear that while responsible journalism is given some libel protection, that protection …

    Law 20 Oct 2009, 08:52

  • Wikileaks publishes BNP 'member list' (again)

    Updated Haters' data

    The BNP's "membership list" has been leaked for the second time in a year, it's claimed today. Wikileaks has posted an Excel spreadsheet containing just over 16,000 identities, including many addresses and phone numbers. The list is dated up to April 15 this year. The BNP said it had not yet confirmed whether the list was …

    Law 20 Oct 2009, 09:26

  • Astronomers spy 32 new exoplanets

    Galaxy packed with 'super-Earths'

    The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has announced its discovery of 32 new exoplanets - a bountiful harvest of new worlds to conclude the initial five-year phase of its High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) planet-sniffing programme. The 32 bodies range in size from five times the mass of Earth to 5-10 times …

    Science 20 Oct 2009, 09:34

  • Brussels lights way ahead for Euro book digi library

    Anything Google can do, we can do slower

    The European Union has promised a rapid reaction to the threat posed to Europe's cultural heritage by Google Books, deploying the twin weapons of a "stakeholder dialogue" and an impact assessment. The move follows Brussels' decision to deploy 12 million pages of European documents online, including the classic 1953 Report on …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 10:00

  • West Antarctic ice loss overestimated by NASA sats

    Incorrect allowance made for trampoline-like bedrock

    Scientists using a network of ground sensors emplaced in Antarctica say that NASA satellites have overestimated the amount of ice that is melting and running off into the ocean from the polar continent. The new results come from the West Antarctic GPS Network (WAGN), which uses 18 locator stations "bolted to bedrock outcrops" …

    Science 20 Oct 2009, 10:10

  • SGI gets OEM on BlueArc's Mercury

    Selling into HPC and federal markets

    SGI is OEM'ing rebranded BlueArc NAS products in its InfiniteStorage line. SGI is the rebranded Rackable, which bought the failing and bankrupt Silicon Graphics Inc in May. It's a good win for BlueArc which also has Hitachi Data Systems OEM'ing the Mercury network-attached storage (NAS) products, which were announced in July …

    HPC 20 Oct 2009, 10:34

  • Watchphone winging its way to BlackBerry users?

    Pictures emerge...

    BlackBerry handsets could soon gain a wristwatch accessory if there's something to the online publication of images of a so-called “smartwatch” for the Research in Motion phone range. The inPulse watchphone is said to work with BlackBerry phones The device in question is rumoured to be called the inPulse SmartWatch for …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 10:37

  • Google gives Voice users ability to not share their messages

    Why wouldn't you want your voicemail indexed?

    Google was forced into some quick tweaking of Google Voice last month after users spotted that transcripts of voicemail messages were being served up in search results. An alert user spotted what is clearly an oversight by the firm whose global mission is to index everything that moves. Or doesn't move. The service allows …

    Broadband 20 Oct 2009, 10:47

  • Blogging vicar casts Tina Turner into hell

    Pop-driven secular cremations simply not the best

    A blogging Tunbridge Wells vicar has caused a bit of a brouhaha by roundly condemning secular cremations where the dearly departed can expect nothing better than "a poem from nan combined with a saccharine message from a pop star before being popped in the oven with no hope of resurrection".* Father Ed Tomlinson, 35, of St …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2009, 10:59

  • Toilet texting not a faux pas, declares Intel

    40% think it's OK to use a mobile device on a date

    Intel has published a helpful guide to mobile use during the holidays, ruling that Americans believe it's rude to surf the web at the dinner table, but OK to slip off to the john for a swift Google. The chip giant commissioned research firm Harris Interactive to define the unwritten rules of mobile etiquette, just as Americans …

    Mobile 20 Oct 2009, 11:14

  • ITV reaches for remote by cutting loose techies

    Trims UK workforce, looks overseas

    Techies at ITV face an uncertain future after the company's management told staff about plans to "rationalise" and "centralise" the team as well as outsource some IT services. Workers at the loss-making commercial broadcaster were given the bad news on Friday 16 October by ITV's technology boss Richard Cross. One anonymous …

    Management 20 Oct 2009, 11:16

  • Adam Curtis uncovers the secrets of Helmand

    Heroin, hippies and hero engineers

    Documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis is trying something new on the web. It's unearthing a secret, patchwork history that reads like a novel. It's about Afghanistan, and what he calls "our dreams of Afghanistan, and their dreams of us". As part of a mission to unearth lost gems from the BBC archive, it's full of extraordinary …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 11:16

  • Software update spikes certain Freesat set-top boxes

    Fix for Goodmans, Bush and Grundig units coming soon

    A software update for Goodmans, Bush and Grundig Freesat set-top boxes that has caused owners widespread viewing problems could be fixed within hours. Harvard International, which owns all three set-top box brands, released the over-the-air software update for its boxes on 13 October. The new software is believed to have been …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 11:28

  • Office 2010 beta coming next month

    Testing times for Microsoft

    Microsoft plans to shove a Office 2010 public beta out the door in November. The software vendor's boss Steve Ballmer confirmed it will be made available next month during a keynote speech at Microsoft's SharePoint shindig in Las Vegas yesterday. However, Redmond hasn't announced a date for when in November the beta would …

    Applications 20 Oct 2009, 11:48

  • Freecom Hard Drive XS

    Review The fetishist's favourite?

    Freecom appears to be taking a leap out of LaCie's book. Once known for cheap but plain looking storage products, Freecom has been bitten by the design bug. Freecom's XS: do hard drives really need clothing-style labels? Take the XS, claimed by its maker to be the world's smallest external 3.5in hard drive. This boy is clad …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 11:59

  • EU says 3G on GSM now the law

    Gives regulators six months to sort it

    The European Union claims to have cleared the path for an expansion of wireless broadband across Europe and saved the economy by officially mandating the opening up of the GSM band for new mobile services. The move, detailed in the EU's Official Journal and therefore now law, will allow 3G phones to use GSM frequencies, …

    Mobile 20 Oct 2009, 12:16

  • New police crime-mapping system crashes on first outing

    Can't map out for falling down

    The shiny new police crime-mapping system popped up yesterday – and promptly fell back down again. This is the long-awaited interactive mapping system, launched this week, and designed to allow individuals to compare crime figures across England and Wales. In practice, widescale public interest in the site has been its …

    Law 20 Oct 2009, 12:16

  • Ares I-X trundles to launchpad

    Headed for the future or the scrapheap?

    NASA's Ares I-X test rocket is currently trundling towards Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre ahead of a slated 27 October first test flight. The vehicle, described by NASA as the "essential core of a safe, reliable, cost-effective space transportation system" and built on "cutting-edge launch technologies, evolved …

    Science 20 Oct 2009, 12:18

  • Overland hurls PwC auditors overboard

    They said howwid things about our viability

    Overland Storage management seems to have taken exception to PricewaterhouseCoopers' auditing of its accounts and fired the firm. For the past two financial years PwC has added a stern warning to the accounts, saying that there was substantial doubt about Overland's ability to continue as a going concern. While even …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2009, 12:32

  • UK.gov's G Cloud may have security silver lining

    It'll do in lieu of lead for UK.gov

    Information security experts have said the government can take advantage of the G Cloud project to improve practices in the field. John Colley, European managing director for ISC2, the certification body for information security professionals, and Professor Howard Schmidt, president and chief executive officer of the …

    Government 20 Oct 2009, 12:54

  • Spycatchers accuse nuke boffin of selling secrets to 'Mossad'

    'Cash is fine... you can eat it, drink it or screw it'

    A senior US government satellite scientist has been arrested for attempted espionage after being caught in a complex sting operation targeting his links to Israel. Stewart David Nozette, 52, is expected to make an initial court appearance today. He will stand accused of attempting to sell classified information to an …

    Government 20 Oct 2009, 13:35

  • BBC Trust boots 'Open iPlayer' plans into touch

    Pooh-poohs caring, sharing terrestrial TV proposal

    The BBC Trust has shelved a plan that would have allowed broadcasters such as Channel 4, ITV and Five to share the Beeb's iPlayer. The so-called "Open iPlayer" project was meant to establish a new commercial service separate from BBC Worldwide, that would licence the Corporation's hugely popular video-on-demand technology to …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 13:36

  • 'Unbreakable' 6in bendy e-paper designed

    To launch next year

    Taiwanese manufacturer AU Optronics (AUO) has designed a supposedly unbreakable 6in e-paper screen that could go on sale next year. AUO's bendy and unbreakable 6in e-paper screen AUO’s flexible e-ink can display 16 levels of grey, has a 9:1 contrast ratio and a 33 per cent reflectance level, the firm claimed. The screen …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 13:50

  • Barnes & Noble whips out Nook e-reader

    Wants to screw over Kindle

    Details of Barnes and Noble's electronic reader hit the internet today ahead of the device's expected launch. Nook: The Barnes and Noble e-reader Details of the electronic reader leaked onto the web today, and seemed to set tech writers drooling. The machine will be based on Android and features a touchscreen. It's packing …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 13:52

  • Call of Duty PC gamers peeved as dedicated servers ditched

    Modern Warfare 2 gets adults-only certificate too

    Call of Duty developer, Infinity Ward, has announced that multiplayer Modern Warfare 2 games on the PC will now run through online matchmaking service IWNet. MW2, the latest instalment in the Call of Duty videogame series, will hit UK consoles and PCs on 10 November. Until now, multiplayer PC CoD games ran on dedicated …

    Games 20 Oct 2009, 14:02

  • What is it about supporting remote workers?

    Mini Poll More or less problematic?

    Thanks for your feedback on this week's workshop topic, which could loosely be defined as 'remote desktop support' but actually translates more into 'trying to explain how to put out a fire using a periscope, tin can and string'. As usual we're interested in bottoming out your views, particularly to gauge whether providing IT …

    PC Management 20 Oct 2009, 14:04

  • Microsoft 'restores' Sidekick contacts, sort of

    Still working on photos, notes...

    Microsoft has told Sidekick customers who lost their data following an extremely humiliating server breakdown that some contacts have now been restored. However, the software vendor hasn't recovered photos, notes, to-do lists, high scores or other data for Sidekick users yet. Microsoft said it was working "around the clock" …

    Mobile 20 Oct 2009, 14:37

  • Philips GoGear Muse

    Review A good all-rounder to ponder on?

    Philips' media player range has been undergoing something of a renaissance of late. Both its Spark and Opus players struck us as a thoroughly respectable little devices that sounded good, worked well and represented decent value. Now Philips has released the Muse and, even from a cursory glance at the spec sheet, it is clear …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 15:02

  • AMD revs Athlons for Windows 7 assault

    Catching the small PC wave

    In the rush to catch the PC upgrade tsunami that may or may not materialize after the Windows 7 earthquake this Thursday, chip seller Advanced Micro Devices has had its wafer baker, GlobalFoundries, cook up new Athlon II processors for mainstream desktop PCs. The Athlon II chips come in dual-, tri-, and quad-core variants and …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 15:04

  • Much ado about IBM's mainframe monopoly

    Comment Time to foster clones of proprietary platforms

    The business and trade press has been abuzz with the news that the US Department of Justice had opened up an investigation of IBM's monopolistic practices with regard to the mainframe market. While it is always a welcome sight to see the DoJ at least interested in making sure monopoly power is not abused, it is a little late …

    The Channel 20 Oct 2009, 15:22

  • Scareware Mr Bigs enjoy 'low risk' crime bonanza

    RSA Europe 2009 It's like a licence to steal, a licence to do anything

    Cybercriminals are growing rich by franchising out scareware distribution operations. The trade in rogue anti-virus application can make top-tier distributors an estimated $1.2m (£ 850,000) a year, net security firm Symantec estimates. A study by Symantec into the psychology of the scam found that 93 per cent of users …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 15:52

  • Apple Store down - new cultware coming?

    'We'll be back soon'

    Apple has taken the Apple Store down for maintenance, which is generally an indication that new products are on the way. The site has been down since at least 7am Pacific time Tuesday and remains down at 9:10am: During its fourth quarter earnings call yesterday, Apple said would be hit with higher freight costs than usual …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 16:18

  • Bond's Dr. No dies at 91

    Farewell, Wiseman

    Joseph Wiseman, the stage and screen actor who played the title role in "Dr. No," the first James Bond film, has died at the age of 91. Speaking with The New York Times, his daughter, Martha Graham Wiseman, said her father had recently been in declining health. Based on the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, "Dr. No" …

    Bootnotes 20 Oct 2009, 17:27

  • IBM slides Voltaire's 10 GE switches into HPC clusters

    SGI beefs cloud boxes with BNT gear

    Back in June, InfiniBand and now 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch maker Voltaire announced its first 10 GE switch, the Vantage 8500. Today, Voltaire begins shipping the box, and it has inked a reseller agreement with server maker IBM to help peddle it. Specifically, the reseller agreement will see Big Blue put the Vantage 8500 …

    Data Networking 20 Oct 2009, 17:48

  • Top NASA scientist busted for leaking satellite intel

    Key networks not secured

    A former NASA scientist who helped discover evidence of water on the moon has been arrested on charges he tried to sell Israel classified information about US military satellite systems. Stewart Nozette, 52, of Maryland, was arrested in a sting in which an FBI agent posed as an Israeli intelligence officer. According to …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 17:51

  • Apple preempts Win 7 with fresh iMacs, Macbooks

    Lets you multitouch its mouse

    Apple has announced a major overhaul of its iMacs, a new unibody white Macbook, and updated Mac Minis for its holiday lineup. The Cupertino company also unveiled a new wireless multitouch mouse featuring a completely touch-sensitive top side. The company refreshed its line of iMacs today with additional two screen sizes: a 21. …

    Hardware 20 Oct 2009, 18:16

  • Data collector charged $275,000 for leaking personal data

    $20 a head. 13,750 heads

    One of world's biggest collectors of consumer data has agreed to pay $275,000 after federal authorities accused it of exposing the personal information of 13,750 people. The payment, which settles charges the Federal Trade Commission brought against Choicepoint, amounts to just $20 per exposed consumer. The breach was the …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 19:46

  • Fedora 12 beta code is go

    Constantine dons Red Hat

    Red Hat has announced the first and only beta of its next Linux development release, Fedora 12. Emperor Constantine the Great knew a good means to hold a crumbling empire together when he saw it - namely, Christianity - and by code-naming the 12th release of Fedora after Constantine, Red Hat is by no means suggesting that the …

    Operating Systems 20 Oct 2009, 20:15

  • IBM and Canonical pitch Ubuntu + cloud package at US firms

    Sniff mightily at Windows 7

    With the imminent release of Windows 7, IBM and Canonical are clasping hands to sell an Ubuntu Linux- and Lotus-based desktop package to US businesses targeting low-end PCs and netbooks. The duo initially launched their Ubuntu-powered IBM Client for Smart Work desktop bundle to Africa back in September. But IBM said it decided …

    Software 20 Oct 2009, 21:51

  • Sun slashes (another) 3,000 jobs

    EC fiddles while Sun burns

    Sun Microsystems doesn't want to talk to anyone anymore unless it has permission from Oracle, but the Securities and Exchange Commission has funny rules about disclosure that mean it has to tell investors - the ones who still own Sun's shares - what it is up to. And this afternoon, after Wall Street closed, Sun filed a report …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2009, 21:55

  • iPhones and social networking add to IT security headaches

    RSA Europe 2009 A security admin's life is not a happy one

    The flood of consumer devices such as iPhones into the enterprise and workers giving away snippets of potential sensitive information via social networking sites have emerged as new threats in the information security landscape. During a roundtable at the RSA Conference Europe 2009, in London, Herbert Thompson, chief security …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 21:58

  • Yahoo! profits! soar! on! falling! revenues!

    And that's what they call stability

    Google says the worst of the economic meltdown is behind us. But Yahoo!'s take on the matter is a bit more guarded. After its revenues took another dip during the third quarter, dropping 12 per cent year-on-year, the best Carol Bartz and company can say is that the economy is "loosening-up a bit." Controlling more than 60 per …

    Financial News 20 Oct 2009, 22:27

  • Man posed as teen lesbian to snare girl's nude photos

    Before killing faux lesbian and posing as her mother

    A Maryland man has admitted he posed as a teenage lesbian to trick a 15-year-old girl he met online into sending him sexually explicit photos. Michael Speelman, 52, of Adelphi, Maryland, went on to feign the suicide of "Lisa Stauffer" - his teenage lesbian alter ego - after she and the victim had established a romantic …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 23:38

  • Barnes & Noble's ebook reader takes its bow

    Nook what we have here

    To the surprise of no one, Barnes & Noble has unveiled a $259 Android-based ebook reader known as the Nook. Word had already leaked onto the web, but the American book seller officially announced the US-only device with a press release this afternoon. In an apparent effort to appeal to the world's Google lovers, B&N bills its …

    Media 20 Oct 2009, 23:43

  • Auto thief foiled by guardian satellite

    OnStar and the case of the aborted car jack

    A 21-year-old man was arrested Sunday after the 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe he is accused of carjacking was electronically disabled as he sped away from two police cruisers. The SUV was stopped by OnStar, the satellite-enabled system that allows drivers to receive remote assistance during accidents and other emergencies. Police were …

    Security 20 Oct 2009, 23:46

  • Fedora 12 polishes Linux for netbooks

    Review RHEL power management

    The Fedora Project has released the first beta of Fedora 12, the next major revision of the Fedora Linux line, and though it's still a work in progress, there are already some standout features, including a much improved power management system and support for the Moblin project, Intel's effort to make Linux work better on …

    Operating Systems 20 Oct 2009, 23:52