29th October 2009 Archive

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Microsoft counters Windows 7 upgrade hack advice

Sweeps 'crapware' under carpet

Microsoft has wagged its finger at users to dissuade them from hacking upgrade versions of Windows 7 to get a full copy of the new operating system on their PC. Reacting to tips being served up online, Microsoft has warned that while it's technically possible to perform what's known as a "clean" install of Windows 7 on a PC, …

Operating Systems 29 Oct 00:25
Google music search thingy revealed

Cures lyricosis, allegedly

Google has officially rolled out its new music-search service, after widespread rumors it was on the way. The web giant unveiled the service - dubbed Music OneBox - at an event in West Hollywood, California, this afternoon, The New York Times reports. Music OneBox is essentially a beefed-up search result. If you type a song …

Music and Media 29 Oct 00:25
China's The9 sued over Warcraft ditching

Caught outside the Blizzard

A US shareholder is seeking a class action lawsuit against Chinese game operator, The9, over its financially devastating loss of a contract to host World of Warcraft in the country. The lawsuit alleges The9 made numerous false and misleading positive statements to shareholders regarding the company's health and status of …

Music and Media 29 Oct 00:31
Ubuntu's Karmic Koala bares fangs at Windows 7

Review Shuttleworthian scrap

Ubuntu 9.10 - aka Karmic Koala - is taking the fight to Microsoft and its new Windows 7 operating system. The Koala - due for its official release today - brings faster boot times, a revamped software installer, better disk encryption, online services, and quite a bit more to the popular Linux desktop. We took the release …

Operating Systems 29 Oct 06:02
Watford council punts parents from playground

It's just not appropriate, OK?

The final push toward state control of children began this week in Watford, as the Council declared two adventure playgrounds were no-go areas for parents. Council rules excluding adults apply to two undercover play areas - Harwoods and Harebreaks. Early reports suggested that parents now needed to be CRB checked in order to …

Government 29 Oct 07:02
VMware Workstation plays lucky 7

Virtualizing you know what

Server virtualization juggernaut VMware got its start on the desktop a decade ago, and it still makes a sizeable chunk of change virtualizing PCs and workstations so they can run multiple operating systems. In the wake of last week's Windows 7 blitz, VMware is kicking out its Workstation 7 hypervisor for x86 and x64 machines, as …

Virtualization 29 Oct 07:02
Westminster readies 'wave and pay' parking meters

No more texting the phoneline

Westminster City Council is to trial "wave and pay" parking meters. Drivers with contactless debit or credit cards will be able to wave them at the relevant meter from the New Year. The technology - being used for the first time in the UK - will be trialled on 20 meters in the West End, but could be extended if it is …

Government 29 Oct 08:02
Consoles & Gadgets Rapid Fire

Review Cheating death – are you game?

One of the problems with being a newcomer to any multiplayer combat gaming platform is that, up against experienced sharp shooters, you probably won't survive for long. You really do get to learn the hard way. Although technically outlawed – offending the gaming community’s sense of fair play – a modified controller with rapid- …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 09:02
Nvidia names next-gen GeForce chips

Accidental disclosure

Nvidia has acted rapidly to remove references to its unannounced GeForce 300M-series GPUs after they were spotted on the company's own driver download site. A list of drivers that included the GeForce GTS 360M, GT 335M, GT 330M, 310M and 305M was spotted by a contributor to Notebook Review's forum. The 300M line is Nvidia's …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 09:29
Geeks play Guitar Hero without guitars

Muscle movement replaces button bashing

We’ve all been air-guitar gods at some point in our lives. But now a band of boffins have proven that you don’t need frets, a pick or even a controller to be a Guitar Hero. Nerds from Microsoft, the University of Washington and the University of Toronto have jointly developed a “muscle/computer interface” able to control the …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 09:30
Telcos to offer Asus e-book reader in Q1 2010, hint execs

Multiple wireless options on board

Asus' upcoming e-book reader will incorporate Wi-Fi, 3G and WiMax technologies, company executives have apparently claimed. They've said almost nothing else about the device, mind. Even the screen size - said to be 9in - and the price - hoped to be under £100 - come from speculation and gadget buyer desire rather than official …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 09:49
Yahoo! Microsoft! deal! delayed!

Still searching for agreement

Yahoo! has told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it needs more time to sort out its search deal with Microsoft. The two firms had promised investors everything would be done and dusted by 27 October. The filing read: "Given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized. The …

Financial News 29 Oct 10:14
Compellent pulls off a strong quarter

Boringly booming business as usual

Compellent has shown steady growth again, recording $32.2m revenues in its third 2009 period in a 31 per cent rise on the previous quarter. The result was a 12 per cent increase on 2008's third quarter. Net income was $2.3m, up from the year-ago period's $0.46m. The company gained 136 new customers in the quarter taking its …

Storage 29 Oct 10:16
Nintendo confirms big-screen DSi

Updated From 3.2in to 4.2in

Just days after rumours of an upcoming DSi with larger screens first broke, Nintendo has confirmed that just such a handheld console will be delivered in time for Christmas. Nintendo's DSi LL has two 4.2in screens The redesigned machine – officially called the DSi LL - will feature two 4.2in screens, meaning that each of …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 10:30
Russia planning nuclear-powered manned spaceship

Reactor cruiser aimed at Moon, Mars missions

Russian space chiefs are considering plans for a manned spacecraft with a nuclear powerplant aboard, according to reports. Indications are that the nuclear kit would provide electrical power rather than being used directly for propulsion. RIA Novosti reports that Anatoly Perminov, chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, …

Space 29 Oct 10:52
Change your views: OS X tags exploited

Mac Secrets Apple windows insider

Time to conclude our exploration of Apple's mysterious CoreGraphics framework. This time I'll show you how to change the behavior of windows by setting so-called window tags, and I'll exploit window properties to show how to snoop on the windows of another process. Window tags represent another interesting little corner of the …

Operating Systems 29 Oct 11:02
Top drug boffin renews criticism of cannabis policy

High on science

The Home Office's chief drug advisor has today stoked the row over the reclassification of cannabis and ecstasy, accusing the government of "devaluing" scientific evidence. Professor David Nutt heads the committee of boffins that advises the Home Office on drug classification. Last year then-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith …

Government 29 Oct 11:13
Wii HD coming in 2010, claims mole

Netflix-for-Wii too

A seemingly well-connected gaming executive claims to have discovered that Nintendo will launch its long-rumoured HD Wii next year, in addition to a Netflix-for-Wii film and TV streaming service. Dan Rayburn – self-styled “voice for the streaming and online video industry” and Executive VP of streamingmedia.com – said on his …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 11:22
Eurostar frustrated by 'illegal' e-Borders scheme

Still waiting for government response

Government legal officials are still investigating whether aspects of the £1.2bn e-Borders scheme are illegal, a year after concerns were raised by Eurostar. Lawyers for the cross-channel train operator believe the system will require it to break European data privacy laws. They have been pressing the UK Border Agency to …

Government 29 Oct 11:50
UK gets final warning over Phorm trials

Updated Change the law, or we'll see you in court

The UK government today came a step closer to international embarrassment over its failure to act against BT and Phorm for their secret trials of mass internet snooping technology. The European Commission said it had moved to the second stage of infringement proceedings after the trials, revealed by The Register, exposed …

Government 29 Oct 11:59
Symantec secures profit rise as revenues fall

Swings meet roundabouts

The good ship Symantec has adjusted to the recession and is making 19 per cent more profit despite three per cent lower revenue. For its second 2010 quarter revenues were $1.47bn; they were $1.52bn a year ago, while net income was $150m, compared to $126m previously. The $24m profit increase was down mostly to cost-cutting. …

Financial News 29 Oct 12:13
Asus intros first USB 3.0 motherboard

SuperSpeed joined by 6Gb/s Sata too

Asus has taken the wraps off what's certainly its first USB 3.0 motherboard and very possibly the first one of its kind at all. The Xtreme Design P7P55D-E Premium board is based on Intel's P55 chipset, which doesn't support SuperSpeed USB, so Asus has integrated an unnamed third-party USB 3.0 controller which is hooked up to a …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 12:17
Sony recalls 69,000 AC adaptors

Electric shock risk

Sony has asked more than 69,000 owners of some of its all-in-one desktop Vaio PCs to return the machines' AC adaptors in order to avoid the risk of electric shock. The China-made adaptor, the VGP-AC19V17, is a 19.5V unit and was supplied with the VGC-LT and VGC-JS2 Vaios. These machines - plus a couple of Vaio laptop dock …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 12:18
Motorola fesses up to Droid

Android 2.0 smartphone coming Q4 '09

Motorola has finally confirmed the existence of Droid – the first smartphone set to come with Android 2.0 pre-installed. Motorola's Android 2.0-based Droid: out during by year's end Droid will ship before the end of the year, Motorola said, although the firm hasn’t yet confirmed which locations that date will apply to. So …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 12:25
Reanimated Picsel lays off staff, plots with Samsung

Patents mortaged in mystery deal

Picsel, developers of innovative mobile rendering software, is back from the dead with the same management, but many fewer employees and financial backing from Samsung. The original managers bought the company from the administrators, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, along with the patents held by the company that represent the real …

Financial News 29 Oct 12:32
Government to protect children from zombie paedophiles

The dead may walk - but they can't work in teaching

The Vetting database will protect children not only from living predators – but from dead ones too. That is the startling conclusion from an official response given this week by Meg Hillier MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, when asked whether there are any procedures "to remove information about an …

Government 29 Oct 12:40
Microsoft ditches MSN Direct

Out, damned SPOT

MSN Direct, Microsoft's data broadcast network, is to be switched off in 2012, leaving literally dozens of users bereft of updates and another Microsoft initiative in the dust. Microsoft will be switching off broadcasts over its MSN network at the end of 2011, ending the company's half-decade foray into wireless consumer …

Mobile 29 Oct 12:45
Motorola Dext Android smartphone

Review Well, hello Moto

Few would be surprised to learn that US brand Motorola has struggled of late. Since the flush of success it enjoyed with the Razr series back in 2004, Motorola has singularly failed to set the mobile world alight, seemingly watching as other brands grasped the smartphone nettle and raced to the future. Motorola's Dext: better …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 13:02
GTA guide hints at fifth edition

"Liberty City, it's over"

No-one ever reads the manual, right? Well you should, because eagle-eyed gamers have claimed that one page of the latest Grand Theft Auto instalment’s manual hints at a fifth version of the popular game. Click for an larger version Credit: GTA Forums Turn to page 13 in the manual for Episodes from Liberty City - a disc- …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 13:49
Renegade weatherman drops his kimono

Moon also plays part in solar method, says Corbyn

Piers Corbyn gave a glimpse into his methods of long-range weather forecasting yesterday. Corbyn can claim an extraordinary degree of accuracy for predicting extreme weather events. So much so, it makes the professionals look stupid. Corbyn's WeatherAction is a successful private business, with farmers, big insurance, and other …

Environment 29 Oct 13:55
Brit space agency to probe 'crackpot' antigravity device

Niobium superconductor flying cars proposed

A controversial British antigravity device is to be investigated by the government's National Space Centre, according to reports. If the technology really works, it would be able to counteract the force of gravity using only electrical power, permitting the easy building of Jetsons-style flying cars or hoverships and hugely …

Space 29 Oct 13:58
DEFRA loses tapes - and plot

Situation normal - usual staggering government incompetence

It has been revealed that the UK's Rural Payments Agency (RPA) lost tapes five months ago which contained the payment details of more than 100,000 farmers in the UK. It told DEFRA and DEFRA told nobody else, certainly not the farmers. DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ) is pointing the finger at IBM for …

Government 29 Oct 14:51
Amazon peddles payment service

Web payments for all in US this Christmas

Amazon.com is offering PayPhrase which allows you to pay for purchases at several different websites using your existing Amazon profile. First you set up a phrase and a four digit PIN on your Amazon profile. You can then use this combination to pay for stuff on partner websites including buy.com, DKNY and Jockey without having …

IT Director 29 Oct 15:31
Egypt crafts mobile phone 'code of conduct'

Thou shalt not call home to say "I'm at the pyramids"

Think twice before using your mobile phone next time you're in Egypt, because the country has drawn up an “ethics code” for mobile phones. The guide – written by the country’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and Consumers Rights Protection Committee (CRPC) – contains 16 points designed to regulate your behaviour …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 15:34
Leaked Lotus doc hints at e-Evora

Leccy Tech Another Lotus-made electric speedster, anyone?

The evidence that Lotus may launch a leccy version of its Evora sports car is mounting, following a leaked company presentation highlighting how the model could be used as the basis for a sporty e-car. Lotus' Evora: is a leccy model be in the works? Lotus’ engineering document outlines the Evora’s suitability as an electric …

Reg Hardware 29 Oct 15:35
Symbian Foundation bulks out board

Fujitsu signs up, Qualcomm joins by proxy

Fujitsu has signed up to the Symbian Foundation, while Qualcomm's new open source lab has also got itself a boardroom seat. Fujitsu has been making Symbian handsets for the last eight years, for the Japanese market within which 40 million Symbian-based handsets have shipped. Qualcomm is new to Symbian, but its Qualcomm …

Mobile 29 Oct 15:41
UK Supremes question vetting scheme

New rules for enhanced CRB checks

Britain's top judges have warned that new background checks to vet millions of adults for contact with children carry a "real risk" of infringing human rights and undermining public confidence in protection measures. The comments about the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) were made today as a nursery worker who lost …

Law 29 Oct 16:24
Brit robo-sub dives to 3.5 miles on seabed volcano quest

Battery bottom-probe does 20000 leagues under the sea

British oceanography boffins are celebrating successful trials of their latest robot submarine, which has now autonomously navigated itself about at a depth of three-and-a-half miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic. The British battery-powered bottom probe at work. The Reg has reported before on earlier iterations of …

Physics 29 Oct 16:26
Sun aims for sky, shoots self in foot

Targets not acquired

As European regulators drag their feet on approving Oracle's $7.4bn acquisition of Sun Microsystems, the securities laws for public companies back home in the States compel Sun to still do its paperwork. Sun has dutifully sent out the proxy notices to shareholders telling them to mark their calendars for the annual shareholder …

Servers 29 Oct 16:56
Google finds voice to respond to FCC

It's only 100 numbers, so stop being mean

Google has responded to accusations that it blocks calls to certain numbers by reducing the quantity of blocked numbers to around 100, rather missing the point of network neutrality. In a letter to Sharon E. Gillett, Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau, Google asserts that blocking calls to certain numbers is necessary as …

Telecoms 29 Oct 17:04
Sony recalls defective power bricks

Shocking admission

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall for tens of thousands of power adapters for Sony VAIO desktops. According to the notice, 69,000 faulty VGP-AC19V17 AC adapters were included with Sony's VGC-LT and VGC-JS2 VAIO Desktop series computers, along with VGP-PRBX1 and VGP-PRFE1 docking stations. The …

PCs & Chips 29 Oct 17:28
Internet pops champagne on (second) 40th birthday

Lo and behold: It all began with a memory overflow...

Today, the Internet celebrates its second 40th birthday. Some date the dawn of the net to September 12, 1969, when a team of engineers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) connected the first two machines on the first node of ARPAnet, the US Department of Defense–funded network that eventually morphed into the …

Data Networking 29 Oct 17:46
Juniper spruces up products, burnishes identity

New hardware, software, and cloudy vision

Juniper Networks is launching a fleet of new software, hardware, and partnerships today under a major retooling of the company's brand identity. Complete with a new logo, Juniper's announcements include a new application-development platform for Junos, an integrated software client, a new chipset for MX routers, and (but of …

Data Networking 29 Oct 18:54
Microsoft applies lipstick to MSN butterfly

Bigger, fewer wings

With Windows Live and Bing, Microsoft's MSN butterfly has had its wings ripped from it in recent years MSN was once the flagship of Microsoft's online aspirations, led by the familiar butterfly logo introduced in 2000. The effort spanned search and advertising, Hotmail, Messenger, shopping, and maps, while serving content such …

Music and Media 29 Oct 19:22
Intel aims 30W Nehalem at 'microservers'

Two-core 'Clarksdale'

Intel will soon offer a two-core 'Clarksdale' processor rated at a mere 30W, aiming to slip this low-power chip into the super-svelte "microservers" it first trumpeted at its developer forum last month. Speaking with reporters at an event in San Francisco this morning, Intel high-density computing boss Jason Waxman said the …

Servers 29 Oct 21:16
Apple blueprints the iShoe

Prepare your trotters

Providing further proof that the days of Apple Computer are far behind, the US Patent and Trademark Office published two of Cupertino's latest patent filings on Thursday: one for a head-mounted MP3 player, and a second for what might well be described as the iShoe. The first, Wireless Headset with Integrated Media Player, is …

Music and Media 29 Oct 21:27
Palm Pre evicted from iTunes (yet again)

Stop us if you've heard this one

Apple's Thursday update to iTunes - version 9.0.2 - yet again kicks the Palm Pre off Cupertino's media-sync reservation. At least that's the word from pre|central.net. Palm did not immediiately respond to our request for confirmation, but considering the long and contentious will-sync/won't-sync back-and-forth between Palm and …

Mobile 29 Oct 23:13