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6th November 2009 Archive

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  • Google unleashes internal JavaScript tools

    Channel the power of Gmail

    Google's critical mass online, combined with recent years' Web 2.0 fever, have helped consolidate 14-year-old JavaScript in the field of web development. Now Google has released some of the tools it used to build Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Maps that helped in that process of establishing JavaScript as a central player in …

    Developer 6 Nov 2009, 00:06

  • Apple under Jobs: from muck to mountaintop

    Fortune's CEO of the Decade

    Steve Jobs has been crowned CEO of the Decade by the preeminent house organ of US corporate shillery, Fortune magazine. Love him or hate him - or both - Jobs has earned the honor. Fortune's panting panegyric covers the now-familiar saga of Jobs's rescue of Apple from the jaws of disaster, spiced with details of how he …

    Software 6 Nov 2009, 01:00

  • Domain auction house says top exec juiced bids

    SnapNames dates alleged shill to 2005

    Snapnames - the net's largest domain name reseller - has told its customers that for the last four years, one of its own employees used a fake online identity to boost bidding on its online auctions. "Recently, SnapNames discovered that an employee had set up an account on the SnapNames system under a false name and, under …

    Networks 6 Nov 2009, 06:02

  • Backdoor in top iPhone games stole user data, suit claims

    Storm8's iSpy

    A maker of some of the most popular games for the iPhone has been surreptitiously collecting users' cell numbers without their permission, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. The complaint claims best-selling games made by Storm8 contained secret code that bypassed safeguards built into the iPhone to prevent the …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2009, 06:02

  • Fujitsu union confirms strike next week

    Outsourcer walkout imminent

    Fujitsu workers will walk out next week in what's billed as the first ever national strike at a UK IT company, following a dispute over pensions, pay and job cuts. Unite members voted by a three-quarters majority for a strike, and yesterday union bosses confirmed action on 12, 13 and 16 November. Fujitsu staff who are members …

    The Channel 6 Nov 2009, 07:02

  • Liquid Computing to float slushy Intel servers

    x64-commodity drip effect

    Liquid Computing is moving further away from its home-grown server design and more towards commodity x64 iron as it tries to ride the unified computing wave. At this month's Supercomputing 09 in Portland, Oregon, Liquid Computing will launch a cluster of rack servers using its variation on the unified server and storage fabric …

    Servers 6 Nov 2009, 07:02

  • Texas snatches voter system from $863m IBM contract

    Fears for lost data

    Texas has pulled its voter registration system from a $863m data center consolidation project being overseen by IBM, saying it distrusts the giant's ability to recover lost data. IBM is merging separate data centers from 27 Texas state agencies into two facilities under a seven-year outsourcing contract, to cut costs and …

    Policy 6 Nov 2009, 07:02

  • Sony Reader PRS-600 Touch Edition

    Review Real page turner?

    When we reviewed Sony's original PRS-505 Reader a little over 12 months ago, our only real criticism was that the plethora of buttons and switches that festooned the device would be better replaced by a touchscreen. Revised edition: Sony's PRS-600 Reader Touch Now Sony has released its next-generation Reader, the PRS-600, …

    Tablets 6 Nov 2009, 08:02

  • Don't panic over the secret copyright treaty

    Opinion At least, not until we know what's in it

    Secret gatherings of the world's governments are usually the stuff of fevered imaginings, but just one such gathering is this week generating its own fair share of paranoia. Some of the world's biggest economies are gathered in South Korea this week to discuss copyright law in secret. The plans they are coming up with are …

    Law 6 Nov 2009, 08:02

  • Nutt sacking row deepens

    Scientists want maximum respect

    The row over the sacking of Professor David Nutt is deepening, with a bevy of boffins calling for scientific government advisers to be treated with respect and allowed to speak as they see fit. The group of former and current advisers has sent the "Statement of Principles for the Treatment of Independent Scientific Advice" to …

    Science 6 Nov 2009, 09:47

  • Florida flasher deploys 'explosive diarrhoea' defence

    Cops find 'no evidence of uncontrolled bowels', however

    A Florida flasher who allegedly exposed himself to two women explained to cops that his state of undress was due to an "explosive diarrhoea" incident. Collier County deputies responded to a call on Monday that painter Todd Napodano, 42, stood up inside his white Chevrolet box-truck van in a Naples parking lot and "shook his …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 09:55

  • Red-faced Times abandons fishy eco ad

    Another bogus scare, another re-Greta-ble cockup

    The Times newspaper says it won't be repeating an advertisement that contained a false and misleading piece of environmental alarmism. The advert, part of a series boasting its eco-credentials, claimed that the world's oceans would be free of fish by 2048. But the prediction was debunked when it was made three years ago, and the …

    Science 6 Nov 2009, 09:57

  • Dell details 'world's thinnest' laptop

    Adamo XPS debuts

    Dell has been teasing us for months with spy shots of a super-thin laptop. But now the firm has decided it’s time to officially spill the beans about the latest addition to its Adamo line. Dell's Adamo XPS: measures just 9.7mm top to bottom The Adamo XPS – actually the third machine in the Adamo series – is, judging by its …

    Hardware 6 Nov 2009, 10:09

  • Intel replicates 'bricked SSD' bug, pledges fix

    Says solution a 'high priority'

    Intel has once again promised a fix for the glitchy firmware update tool it released for its 34nm solid-state drives last month. But it still can't say when the new version will arrive. The chip giant released new firmware for the drives on 26 October. The following day it pulled the software after a number of users running 64 …

    Hardware 6 Nov 2009, 10:50

  • Is this the world's dirtiest PC?

    Reader snap reveals Quatermass-style horror

    We're obliged to reader Danny Lee for forwarding evidence of what appears to be a Quatermass-style lifeform, which has attached itself to a PC and pretty well explains why the thing had ceased to function: Chilling stuff indeed. Anyone out there who has experienced The Invasion of the Ventblockers is urged not to approach …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 11:02

  • Controversial email blocklist SORBS sold

    GFI confirms purchase of reputation service

    GFI Software has confirmed the purchase of sometimes controversial spam blocklist provider SORBS for a reported $451,000. Spam and Open Relay Blocking System (SORBS) has maintained a list of email servers suspected of sending or relaying spam since 2002. Inefficiencies in its spam blocklist database removal procedure, a …

    Security 6 Nov 2009, 11:05

  • Booze shops get ID card lessons

    More shops than cards

    Government workers have hit the streets of Manchester to promote the ID cards scheme to shop owners, who currently outnumber members of the public who have volunteered for a card. The city is the first place in the country the public can apply for an ID card, which requires a fingerprinting session. This week Identity and …

    Law 6 Nov 2009, 11:12

  • The decentralisation effect

    Workshop Server architectures and their impact in operations

    This week’s poll spawned some very interesting responses. We asked you where you keep your servers, and how these relate to the kinds of issues you face. Looking at locations first of all, you told us that in the majority of your organisations the machines that form the backbone of IT operations now reside in one or a small …

    Server Management 6 Nov 2009, 11:23

  • US woman to drop sprog live on internet

    Promises 'tasteful' birthing coverage

    A 23-year-old US teacher has decided to broadcast the drop of her first sprog live on the internet, thereby becoming a human "textbook" for those seeking birthing enlightenment. Minnesota mum-to-be Lynsee (pictured), will share the experience with registered members of MomsLikeMe, where she's been blogging like a good 'un as …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 11:27

  • Sun's Facebook-slapping hits wrong target

    Comment Paedo-threat coverage risks more restrictions for all

    A series of negative stories about Facebook by The Sun newspaper could lead to yet more government intervention directing how individuals are allowed to interact with the internet. The Sun has seen a host of anti-Facebook stories run over the last 12 months, paralleled by positive coverage of near-rival, MySpace. Last week, …

    Law 6 Nov 2009, 11:40

  • H Ross Perot Jr fails to grab rhino by the horns

    Denied hunting trophy following 'bungled' shot

    H Ross Perot Jr, the son of former US presidential hopeful and EDS founder H Ross Perot, has been told he can't after all have the head and skin of a white rhino he shot back in July in KwaZulu-Natal's Mkhuze game reserve, after the beast made good his escape from the hunter's "bungled" attempt to down him. According to SA's …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 11:49

  • HP plans a trillion-sensor global stethoscope

    Hearing the heartbeat of the Earth

    Getting the vision thing right is important for technology announcements and HP has it nailed, twinning a great vision with advances in its sensing technology. Here's Peter Hartwell, a senior researcher at HP Labs: "With a trillion sensors embedded in the environment, all connected by computing systems, software and services, …

    Hardware 6 Nov 2009, 11:53

  • 'Something may come through' dimensional 'doors' at LHC

    Attack of the Hyperdimensional Juggernaut-Men

    A top boffin at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) says that the titanic machine may possibly create or discover previously unimagined scientific phenomena, or "unknown unknowns" - for instance "an extra dimension". "Out of this door might come something, or we might send something through it," said Sergio Bertolucci, who is …

    Science 6 Nov 2009, 12:02

  • Firefox and Chrome updates spike stability bugs

    Bonfire Night alternative browser fixes

    Mozilla has pushed out a new version of Firefox that fixes a number of stability bugs that pose possible security concerns. Firefox 3.5.5, which comes only a week after the release of 3.5.4, addressed a start-up crash problem and crashes in the GIF image decoder of the open source browser, among other bugs (as explained here …

    Applications 6 Nov 2009, 12:03

  • Memory maker to sell films on Flash

    Kingston Technology partners with Paramount

    Memory specialist Kingston Technology is to sell movies on memory cards. In a deal announced with Paramount last night, the company will pre-load the cards with full-length films. The devil will surely be in the detail, and that's probably why neither Kingston nor Paramount provided any. Which movies will be included? When …

    Hardware 6 Nov 2009, 12:12

  • LibDem backs IBM staff in pension row...

    ...with call for mass firings

    Hampshire MP Sandra Gidley has intervened in the row over IBM closing its final salary pension scheme, but hers is a confusing brand of support staff might rather do without. The Liberal Democrat has called on the government to boycott the firm, a move that would guarantee thousands of job cuts. "I have written to the …

    Financial News 6 Nov 2009, 12:16

  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6

    Review Super-zoom for the cost-conscious

    Panasonic’s DMC-TZ6 could be considered the little brother or, if you want to be a little less charitable, a stripped-down version of the DMC-TZ7 we looked at in August. Both models are super-zoom compacts or Travel-cams, designed for the person who wants a big optical zoom in a pocket-sized camera. The DMC-TZ6 is around £60 …

    Hardware 6 Nov 2009, 13:02

  • Net hasn't isolated Yanks - they've just misplaced their friends

    Net chums replace some neighbours

    Americans have not become more isolated thanks to the advent of mobile phones and the internet - it's just that they've mislaid a third of their closest friends in the last few years. A study by the Pew Internet and American Life project countered findings earlier this decade, which declared that Americans were becoming more …

    Networks 6 Nov 2009, 13:20

  • Web host lunches clients' emails for a week

    Hardware blamed for snafu

    British web hosting company UK2.net is still trying to restore emails to customers almost a week after it first reported problems. Currently its live support service is offline too, and customers are still waiting to get their messages back. Apart from losing incoming messages customers are also struggling to send messages out …

    Broadband 6 Nov 2009, 13:26

  • The Desktop refresh

    On demand Should I? Shouldn't I?

    For those of you who missed our recent live webcast on refreshing the desktop estate, the panic is over. Here it is, recorded it in full colour, for your viewing pleasure. The webcast is, as alway, hosted by Reg front man and all round good egg, Tim Phillips. He’s joined by desktop gurus from Intel and Freeform Dynamics. The …

    PC Management 6 Nov 2009, 13:28

  • Non-Intels rally 'round LTE spec

    Speaking with 'One Voice'

    A gaggle of LTE proponents have released a tech spec for voice and SMS over that 4G wireless standard, moving LTE one more step ahead of its Intel-championed competitor, WiMAX. Mobile providers and handset manufacturers AT&T, Verizon, Orange, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and others announced the technical profile in a joint statement …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2009, 14:02

  • Anna Friel spectator brings up his Breakfast at Tiffany's

    Pukes from upper balcony during musical number

    Plucky* Anna Friel has proved she got the thesp Right Stuff by battling on with a performance of Breakfast at Tiffany's, despite the fact that a punter puked over six fellow Haymarket Theatre audience members. Poor old Friel (pictured, as Holly Golightly) was halfway through a musical number when the spectator discharged a …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 14:11

  • US unemployment rate breaks ten per cent

    Telcos and IT services add jobs

    There may be signs that the Great Recession in the US is on the wane, but employers didn't get the memo and another 190,000 people lost their jobs in October. According to this morning's jobs report (pdf) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the States rose to 10.2 per cent through the end of October, …

    Financial News 6 Nov 2009, 14:26

  • Three critical fixes in store for MS November Patch Tuesday

    Has another crack at some October uberpatch flaws

    Microsoft plans to deliver six updates - three critical - as part of its November Patch Tuesday cycle. All three of the critical updates due on 10 November involve patches for Windows. Tuesday is also due to bring two "important" (ie. slightly lower risk) updates for Office and another "important" Windows-related security fix …

    Operating Systems 6 Nov 2009, 14:30

  • EMI saves world from unauthorised Beatles downloads

    Takes Old Brown Shoe and kicks BlueBox with it

    EMI appears to have recleansed the internet of Beatles music, forcing Bluebeat.com to ditch the 25 cents per Fab Four song offer it launched this week. The music giant's US arm, Capital Records, hit BlueBeat with a copyright infringement suit yesterday and the Beatles tracks swiftly disappeared from the service, the LA Times …

    Media 6 Nov 2009, 14:32

  • Legendary McLaren F1 designer talks up e-car plan

    Leccy Tech And gets £4.5m of Govt money to build it

    Mention the phrases 'Gordon Murray' and 'electric car' in the same sentence and images of gold-plated battery powered hypercars probably spring to mind. But you couldn't be more wrong, because Murray - designer of the McLaren F1 - has come over all environmentally conscientious as his latest brainchild, the T.27 electric city …

    Science 6 Nov 2009, 14:57

  • Skype founders drop licence threat against eBay

    Bluff pays off for European duo

    A legal row that threatened the existence of Skype has been settled, with the free net phone service's founders regaining a significant portion of the firm from eBay. Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis will get 14 per cent of Skype and seats on its board under the deal, announced today. In return the pair will make a " …

    VoIP 6 Nov 2009, 15:11

  • Google countersues in Android Specht-spat

    Punitive damages and attorney's fees, please

    Google has come out fighting against Erich Specht who sued the search giant over the Android name, launching a countersuit demanding damages and "disgorgement of ill-gotten gains". Google has filed suit against Specht asking the Illinois court to order a dismissal of the plaintiff's trademark registration of "Android", and …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2009, 15:21

  • Sony to bring Risk to the big screen

    Coming soon... Ludo: The Motion Picture

    Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the rights to produce a movie based on Hasbro's classic strategy boardgame Risk, offering the delicious possibility that the company might follow it up with Ludo: The Motion Picture and Mahjong: Tiles of Destiny. Those of you wishing to object to the plan are directed to /FILM, which …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 15:22

  • Eat my dust - it's time for Comment of the Week

    CoTW Bring your conjecture to the slaughter

    Good afternoon, parasites. I expect after a long hard week of aggravating wittering on the Reg threads you'd like nothing better than to sit back and enjoy a nice hot drink and a bit of a blowback of said burblings, eh? Well, don't say I never do anything for you. Here is the inaugural Comment of the Week, with the promised …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 16:33

  • T-Orange puts names on dotted lines

    Very nearly on schedule, too

    T-Mobile and Orange have signed their merger agreement, paving the way for the new operator to come into existence next year. After spending a mere two months in due diligence T-Mobile and Orange have put their names to the merger contract that will see the operators combine operations into a new entity to be jointly owned by …

    Mobile 6 Nov 2009, 16:38

  • Mossad hacked Syrian laptop to steal nuke plant secrets

    Evil Maid attack led to air raid

    Mossad reportedly used a Trojan to hack into a Syrian official's laptop while he stayed in a London hotel. The information extracted was used to plan a bombing raid at a suspected nuclear reactor facility in Syria, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. The air raid on the partly-constructed Syrian nuclear facility in September …

    Security 6 Nov 2009, 16:38

  • Boinkfest clicks 'Delete' on woman's memory

    Orgasmic amnesia

    If your weekend plans include a frisky horizontal mambo, you might want to first tape your ID card to the bedstead. After a rousing ride on the baloney pony, you may need a bit of help rediscovering who you are - as was the case for one American woman. As reported by the Telegraph, a woman identified only as Alice - no last …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 18:57

  • Doctor sentenced for massive online Rx factory

    Over 100,000 served

    A Virginia doctor has been sentenced to serve a year in prison on charges he wrote as many as 100,000 internet prescriptions over a three-year span. Torrino Jennings of Mechanicsville, Virginia, received the sentence after pleading guilty in July to 11 felony counts, including introducing misbranded drugs into interstate …

    Security 6 Nov 2009, 19:17

  • Intel lampooned by Nvidia toons

    Graphic ridicule

    If anyone needs any further proof that there's no love lost between chipmakers Nvidia and Intel, they need look no further than a cartoon collection linked from Nvidia's corporate blog, nTersect The small but growing compendium of anti-Intel funnies, snarkily titled "Intel's Insides", seems specifically intended to boil blood …

    Bootnotes 6 Nov 2009, 21:03