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10th November 2009 Archive

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  • EU officially objects to Sunacle deal

    Eye on MySQL

    The European Union has officially raised objection to Oracle's proposed $7.4bn acquisition of Sun Microsystems. According to a Sun Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the EU issued a "statement of objections" involving the merger today, and these objections were limited to concerns over Oracle acquiring MySQL. "The …

    Applications 10 Nov 00:31

  • Symbian channels iPhone love into Android scrap

    Of rubber ducks and bar-room seduction

    Sure an iPhone could get you laid, but Symbian's biggest problem right now is its looming scrap with an Android. Symbian's got market share - around 50 per cent global smart phone operating systems and huge presences outside the US - but that market share's been slipping in the past 12 months. But in just two years, Apple …

    Developer 10 Nov 04:16

  • Microsoft and Seagate hunker down in EVault

    Cloudy for i365 days

    Microsoft is going to use Seagate software and its EVault cloud service to take on Symantec's backup products in heterogeneous Windows shops. Data Protection Manager 2010 will use Seagate's i365 software to bring non-Windows server environments into the Windows backup and recovery fold, and its EVault service to add cloud …

    Storage 10 Nov 06:02

  • Security firm chokes sprawling spam botnet

    Mega-D no more

    A botnet that was once responsible for an estimated third of the world's spam has been knocked out of commission thanks to researchers from security firm FireEye. After carefully analyzing the machinations of the massive botnet, alternately known as Mega-D and Ozdok, the FireEye employees last week launched a coordinated blitz …

    Security 10 Nov 06:02

  • Snow Leopard redumps Intel's Atom

    Zaps data-munching bug

    Now that Apple has released the final version of Mac OS 10.6.2 Snow Leopard into the wild, it appears that the shipping version does not support Intel's Atom processor after all. But according to Apple, it does fix the home-directory-eating Snow Leopard bug that has plagued many a fanboi in recent months. In recent days, …

    Operating Systems 10 Nov 06:02

  • Next generation spammers rise up in Asia, India and Brazil

    High-speed broadband allows worldwide miscreanting

    A new generation of spammers is rising up in regions such as Asia Pacific, Japan, and South America, and beginning to outstrip their North American counterparts in junk mail output. Asia Pacific and South America accounted for 23 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of global spam during October. That's according to a new …

    Spam 10 Nov 07:02

  • PMR heads for areal density limit

    Industry dithers over what's next

    Current perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) for hard drives is going to reach its areal density limit, and it looks like the industry has not yet decided on which candidate technology is going to replace it. PMR reaches its limit when the magnetised area is so small its north or south pole state can be flipped by random …

    Storage 10 Nov 07:02

  • Google Reader Koobface spotlights security risk 2.0

    Threat-resistant workers bypass Web 2.0 roadblocks

    The rising use of social networking and collaboration apps on corporate networks has spawned increased security risks beyond potential productivity losses, firewall vendor Palo Alto warns. The warning coincides with the appearance of a variant of the Koobface worm linked to Google Reader accounts controlled by hackers. Aside …

    Security 10 Nov 07:02

  • GlideTV Navigator

    Review The control every media PC must have?

    While hooking up a PC or nettop like the Acer Aspire Revo or Asus Eee Box to that huge flat-screen telly in your lounge for a spot of media playback or light web browsing is undoubtedly a Very Good Idea, the elegance of the set up usually takes a bit of a knock when it comes to controlling the thing. GlideTV's Navigator: …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 08:02

  • Cambridge Uni cheerleaders in naming FAIL

    'Cougars' not old, not very foxy, sometimes not female

    Cambridge University students have indicated that they may, as is commonly believed, be a trifle out of touch with the mainstream of modern life. It appears that the uni's cheerleading team is known as the "Cambridge Cougars", despite the fact that its members are neither especially attractive nor old - and several are not even …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 09:02

  • Spain 'goes 50% wind powered' - in the small hours

    Comment Wind power: Ideal if you don't need the lights on

    The Spanish wind power industry has proudly claimed that it has "set a new record" in that it delivered more than half the electricity used in all of Spain for several hours. The "record" is less impressive than it sounds, however. It was achieved during the small hours of a Sunday morning, when electricity demand is lowest. …

    Environment 10 Nov 10:02

  • Loud sex a human right, says loud sex woman

    Appeals ASBO with 'involuntary vocalisation' defence

    A Tyne and Wear woman whose raucous lovemaking earned her an ASBO and multiple cuffings will declare in court that the order is a violation of her human rights. Caroline Cartwright, 48, of Washington, was dragged before magistrates back in April for five breaches of a noise abatement order requiring her to turn down the volume …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 10:13

  • HP scores SMB storage hat-trick

    Disk, DAT and the other

    HP is improving its small and medium business data protection with better snapshot, virtual tape library and physical tape products. Its LeftHand Networks P4000 small/medium business (SMB) storage area network (SAN) products will get application-integrated snapshots. The array software uses Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services ( …

    Small Biz 10 Nov 10:14

  • Brown's Building Britain website fail

    More government 2.0 twattery

    Gordon Brown is learning, once again, that it takes more than sprinkling some Web2.0 social networking nonsense around to create a political message. The "Building Britain's Future" website launched in June with modest ambitions. It aimed to be: "the Government’s plan to work with the British people to shape our economic …

    Government 10 Nov 10:29

  • Nvidia CEO says 'no' to x86 CPU biz

    'Very, very clear' focus on GPUs

    Nvidia is not going to get into the x86 chip business, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has stressed. Claims that the company will offer its own PC CPU are off the mark, Huang said. “Nvidia's strategy is very, very clear," he said in an interview with Cnet. "I'm very straightforward about it. Right now, more than ever, we have to focus on …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 10:40

  • iPhone goes Orange

    Network operator launches Jesus phone

    Network operator O2 will be feeling mildly pissed off today, because rival operator Orange has officially welcomed the iPhone onto its network. The hued operator announced in late September that it would “bring the iPhone 3G and 3GS to Orange UK customers later this year”, and today’s the day. Buyers can pick-up the iPhone …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 10:43

  • Melting ice sheets create new carbon sink, say boffins

    'Negative feedback' at work off Antarctica

    Boffins from the British Antarctic Survey say that melting of ice shelves and glaciers in Antarctica over recent decades has allowed green plants to grow, creating a massive new carbon sink which is removing the equivalent of 12.8 megatonnes of CO2 from the seas and skies each year. The BAS scientists say that during the last …

    Environment 10 Nov 10:59

  • Apple IDs the next-generation iPhone

    Cupertino wakes up to NFC?

    Evidence is growing that Apple plans to embed NFC into the next iPhone, but can Steve Jobs sell the technology that no one else seems to want? For the last few months there have been rumours that Cupertino has been showing renewed interest in Near Field Communications. This is backed by an Apple patent from two years ago, …

    Mobile 10 Nov 11:09

  • ICO investigates Play.com breach

    Hear the roar of the regulator

    The Information Commissioner's Office has confirmed it is investigating complaints into Play.com. The online seller of DVDs, CDs and games last week sent out dozens of order confirmation emails to the wrong recipients. One Reg reader received some 24 emails with personal details of 24 people. The company said it had fixed the …

    IT Director 10 Nov 11:12

  • Google Oz maps mashups herald brave loo world

    Dunny data sets and more opening doors

    Relief is at hand for Googlers who get caught short while out shopping - Google Australia may have got its hands on the National Toilet Database. This is just one of the new data sets that Google Australia is planning to incorporate into its Google Maps platform, courtesy of a major "open access" initiative by the Government 2 …

    Developer 10 Nov 11:49

  • Big Iron, big data, big networks, big problems

    Interview Intel's Wilf Pinfold talks us through SC09

    High Performance Computing (HPC) is the Formula 1 of the tech industry. It has been the catalyst of developments in SMP, clustering and parallel programming. Massive improvements in system price performance is fuelling the proliferation of HPC systems for business analytics. This fast growing market is much bigger than you …

    HPC 10 Nov 11:49

  • VMware brings fat graphics to thin clients

    Welcome to the Teradici

    VMware has integrated a new PCoIP screen protocol into its View 4 platform that it claims will give it an edge on Microsoft's RDP for desktop clients. The ability of thin client products to properly and fully render graphics-intensive applications has been limited. VMware thinks it has got the problem basically licked with its …

    PCs & Chips 10 Nov 11:51

  • Samsung to offer open Android alternative

    New smartphone OS announced

    Taking on Google may seem a tall order to some, but it's one that Samsung clearly isn’t afraid of. The manufacturer has launched its own open mobile platform, Bada, as an alternative to Android. The platform only allows developers to write applications for Samsung handsets, the firm said, yet is apparently "simple to use" and …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 11:54

  • UK.gov denies innocent will be hit by filesharing regime

    Simon says

    Forthcoming laws to reduce the level of peer-to-peer copyright infringement with threats of disconnection will affect "hardly anybody, other than the most serious and egregious recidivistic offenders", according to culture minister Sion Simon. The Digital Economy Bill, to be announced in the Queen's Speech next week, will …

    Law 10 Nov 11:54

  • MS forensics tool leaks onto the web

    COFEE spill creates nasty mess

    Microsoft's point-and-click "computer forensics for cops" tool has leaked onto the web. COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) is designed to allow law enforcement officers to collect digital evidence from a suspect's PC without requiring any particular expertise. Using the technology - which recovers a list of …

    Crime 10 Nov 11:55

  • Iraq launches tourism drive

    Security a 'minor problem', assures tourist chief

    Iraq is attempting what must rate as the biggest PR challenge since Nicolas Sarkozy ordered French media to convince the world he's actually six inches taller - that of enticing western tourists to sample the delights of the sun-kissed land astride the Tigris. This unenviable task has fallen to Hammoud al-Yaqoubi, chairman of …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 12:18

  • IBM's cool zero-emission data centre idea

    Not a whiff of CO2 - but still whiffs of hype

    IBM says it is working towards the introduction of technology to enable zero-emission data centres, which will give out not a single whiff of CO2. The claims were made by Bruno Michel of IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory at LISA '09, the Large Installation System Administration Conference, which happened to be in Zurich. …

    Servers 10 Nov 12:24

  • Silverlight dances with Facebook wolves

    Microsoft books dev toolkit seat in Web 2.0 pantomime

    Microsoft continues to plead with developers to tinker with Silverlight, the software giant’s ginger stepchild rival to Adobe’s Flash, by slotting the tech into Facebook. Coders can now get their mitts on a dev kit that allows them to create Facebook apps in Silverlight, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and other MS tech …

    Developer 10 Nov 12:26

  • Social net for nerds meets Twitter

    OMG! UR CV IS GR8!

    LinkedIn is linking up with Twitter. Users will soon be able to choose status updates on the business networking site to appear on Twitter, and vice versa. LinkedIn claims 50 million users. The updates will come online in the next few days and will allow you to share tweets with your followers on LinkedIn. When you're on …

    Small Biz 10 Nov 12:31

  • NASA hands over $900K for Laser propulsion system

    $1.1m still unclaimed

    LaserMotive has scooped a $900,000 prize from NASA for demonstration of an elevator powered from a ground-based laser. LaserMotive's climber crawled up 1km of rope held in place by helicopter, achieving an average speed of four metres per second and powered by a laser focused onto solar panels on the back of the climber. That …

    Space 10 Nov 12:32

  • Kiwis slap 'vacant' sign on Paris Hilton

    Celebutard's lawyers unimpressed by billboard campaign

    Paris Hilton's lawyers are preparing to move against the New Zealand firm who thought it would be a bit of wheeze to advertise empty billboard space in Auckland by sticking up a fetching snap of El Reg's fave celebutard with the slogan "Vacant". According to the Sunday Star Times, the outrage (pic here) is the work of Media5, …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 12:35

  • HTC Tattoo

    Review Cut-price Googlephone for the masses?

    Android smartphones are fast losing their novelty status as more manufacturers get to grips with Google's open source operating system and go the widget way, often developing their own individual take of the basic style. Motorola and Samsung have been recent converts - with their Dext and Galaxy, respectively - but Taiwanese …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 13:02

  • Tagged.com pays $750,000 over deceptive emails

    The fine line between ambition and spam

    Tagged.com has paid $750,000 in penalties to New York and Texas after the states accused the social networking outfit of abusing its members' contact lists and spamming millions with deceptive promotional emails. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Monday his office reached an agreement with Tagged.com to pay $500,000 in " …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 13:02

  • Spectra launches T-Finity, plans beyond

    Aims to outshine Sun

    SpectraLogic is claiming the tape library top slot with its 30,000-plus slot T-Finity library, leaving IBM, Quantum, and Sun StorageTek in the dust. The T-Finity is designed for use in large enterprise IT, high performance computing (HPC), media/entertainment and the federal market, where users need to archive high volume, …

    Storage 10 Nov 13:05

  • HP, Dell punters furious over Windows 7 upgrade delays

    'Step up to the plate', people

    Some Hewlett-Packard and Dell customers are up in arms about delays to the Windows 7 upgrades promised to punters who purchased PCs from the hardware vendors earlier this year. Many computer makers hoped to keep sales ticking over ahead of the arrival of Windows 7 by promising customers an upgrade to the Vista successor once …

    Channel Register 10 Nov 13:10

  • US boffins hail lab-grown rabbit todger

    Repaired lapines going at it like, erm...

    US researchers have offered long-term hope to human sufferers of erectile disorder by restoring "sexual function" to rabbits with damaged penises. The team from the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center grew new penile tissue in the lab. They implanted it into their lapine guinea- …

    Biology 10 Nov 13:12

  • Ricoh launches camera with removable lenses, sensors

    Uses slide-on modules

    Ricoh has redefined the high-end compact camera, launching what it has claimed is the world’s smallest and lightest camera to sport an “interchangeable unit camera system”. Ricoh's GXR uses a slide-on interchangeable lens system The Ricoh GXR sees lenses attached to the main camera body using a slide-in mount system. Image …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 13:24

  • Retailer compiles ‘endangered tech’ list

    The devices doomed to die in 2010. Apparently

    Mobile phone chargers, the mouse and the Wii Remote have topped a list that predicts which of today's technologies face extinction next year. Self-titled gadget “experts” at online retailer Pixmania have assessed over 2500 gadgets to list the ten technologies which they believe face the greatest risk of “obsoletion” [sic] as …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 13:35

  • Catholic priests, scientists head to Rome to ponder alien life

    Little green men OK - female priests not OK

    The Vatican may be a little closer to deciding how it deals with the tricky problem of extra terrestrial - and most likely non-Catholic - life forms, as it wraps up a conference on astrobiology this week. The Vatican Observatory has been running a "joint study week" on Astrobiology this week together with the Pontifical …

    Space 10 Nov 13:48

  • Drivers for server change

    Workshop What do you mean, saving money is not at the top?

    Over the last few weeks we have looked at many facets of the server environment. A major question faced in every organisation concerns compelling events that necessitate changes. What is driving “change” and do you consider the changes you make to be strategic or tactical? As input to the report we’ll produce at the end of …

    Server Management 10 Nov 14:02

  • Santa in Phones4U booze'n'fags logo 'shock'

    Annoying phone co wishes customers a merry Pissmas

    Phones 4u have taken a rather modernistic stance with new website idents that show Santa Claus pissing on the company logo having knocked back a few tinnies. While sherry is generally known as the preferred tipple of Father C, this incarnation is busy knocking back beer with a fag in his hand, and he hasn't even managed to put …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 14:13

  • UK to build robot stealth raygun jet/copter

    Bids for droid tail-sitter with pop-out chopper

    Aerospace firms are competing for a "classified" UK MoD contract to build a robotic military stealth aircraft which would be able to hover like a helicopter or fold its rotors and fly as an aeroplane. The "novel air concept" would be able to operate "within urban canyons" and deploy radical new weapons such as microwave or laser …

    Science 10 Nov 14:17

  • Legless woman falls onto Boston train tracks

    Narrowly avoids becoming literally legless, CCTV shows

    A Boston woman who'd evidently had a very, very robust session on the sauce narrowly escaped becoming literally legless last Friday after falling onto the tracks at the city's North Station: Mercifully, rather alarmed fellow passengers were able to alert the driver of an oncoming train, who pulled up short with some hard …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 14:21

  • UK2's email still borked

    Migration worthy of an Attenborough doc

    Customers of web hosting firm UK2.net are putting up with yet another day without emails. Of course they're probably used to it by now - email was unavailable for most of last week. We spoke to managing director Martin Baker on Friday. He blamed a storage array failure for the snafu but promised all emails would be moved …

    Telecoms 10 Nov 15:02

  • Firefox flaws make up 44% of all browser bugs?

    Updated But numbers game ignores the big picture

    Firefox flaws accounted for nearly half (44 per cent) of all browser bugs in the first half of 2009 - according to a survey which fails to factor in the seriousness of browser flaws. A study by web application security firm Cenzic makes a decent fist of providing an overview of server-side web, but blots its copy-book with a …

    Applications 10 Nov 15:03

  • Pentagon chiefs buy net-security early warning system

    'Arming the cyber warrior'

    US weapons megacorp Raytheon is chuffed to announce that it and allied firms have landed a $28m deal from the Pentagon to provide an early-warning system for defence against cyber attacks on military networks. The programme in question is referred to by the Defence Information Systems Agency (DISA) as "Network Operations …

    Science 10 Nov 15:52

  • Apple pushes out Blue Monday patch batch

    Tell me now how do I feel?

    Apple pushed out a major update to its Mac OS X operating system on Monday. Mac OS X 10.6.2 addresses 58 security flaws, some of which might lend themselves towards taking over vulnerable systems, as explained here. Flaws in Apache Portable Runtime, CoreGraphics, Dictionary, Disk Images, Help Viewer, and other applications …

    Security 10 Nov 15:53

  • Cisco keeps schtum on big iron plans

    Comment More SMP scale and Opterons required

    There is no question that networking giant Cisco Systems wants to be a player in the server racket, and its recent Acadia partnership with EMC to sell preconfigured Vblock setups, complete with Cisco blade servers and networking, VMware server virtualization, and EMC storage and system management tools, drives the message home. …

    HPC 10 Nov 16:14

  • Netflix streamed onto PS3

    Console welcomes all-you-can watch film and TV

    Netflix has launched a film and TV-show streaming service for the PlayStation 3. The subscription service allows you to rent as many movies and programmes as you like each month and also ropes you into Netflix’s established DVDs-by-post service. Sadly, the streaming service is currently only available in North America, priced …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 16:16

  • Glenn Beck loses and wins domain name case

    Handed site after doing satirist's work for him

    Conspiraloon Glenn Beck has lost, but also won, a case to win control of a domain he believed was infringing his copyright. The Fox News reporter lost the case, but won back the web address anyway. Florida resident Isaac Eiland-Hall had registered the domain glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. The website, now …

    Law 10 Nov 16:19

  • GTA IV updates coming to Windows?

    Screenshot signals PC edition of TLAD

    PC gamers look set to gain access to Grand Theft Auto IV’s downloadable episode updates, if a Games for Windows Live (GWL) screenshot is anything to go by. GTA IV's downloads are currently only available on the Xbox 360 Source: GTA Net A screenshot of GTA IV’s achievements page on GWL has appeared online. It lists five of …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 16:33

  • Brazilian uni readmits miniskirted student

    National outrage provokes Arruda U-turn

    Sao Paulo's Bandeirante University, aka Uniban, has decided to readmit the student expelled for wearing an insufficiently long skirt to campus, a garment which provoked a near riot as a baying mob of fellow students hurled abuse at the 20-year-old "whore". The case of Geisy Arruda provoked nationwide outrage in Brazil, …

    Bootnotes 10 Nov 16:37

  • Visual Studio gets Linux dose with Mono

    No laughing matter

    The idea of Microsoft releasing Visual Studio for Unix and Linux was once - quite literally - a joke. Not only was Visual Studio only built for Windows, but Microsoft's licensing had prevented people using its premier development environment with non-Windows platforms. Now, there's a little less to laugh about. Microsoft …

    Developer 10 Nov 17:43

  • Amazon uncorks Kindle for PC

    Updated Available worldwide (sort of)

    Amazon's Kindle for PC app is now available to world+dog. The über etailer first unveiled the app last month, at Microsoft's Windows 7 launch in New York City, and now you can actually download the thing. Much like Amazon's Kindle app for the iPhone, the new Windows app replicates the software built into Amazon's physical …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 18:29

  • iPhone-shunning Wintel mobo bug squashed (for some)

    Intel chipset learns to love Apple

    Two motherboard manufacturers have issued BIOS updates designed to fix a bug that prevents certain Wintel mobos from talking to the iPhone. Late last month The Reg reported that some motherboards based on the Intel P55 Express chipset were exhibiting problems when attempting to sync with Apple's iPhone while running Windows 7 …

    PCs & Chips 10 Nov 18:56

  • What do you call a flash-based super?

    Gordon, of course

    Boutique supercomputer maker Appro International has won a deal at the San Diego Supercomputer Center to create a next-generation parallel supercomputer that has lots of flash memory and software to create a virtual shared memory infrastructure that spans the server nodes in the cluster. The flash-based server, called Gordon …

    HPC 10 Nov 19:34

  • Eight charged in $9.5m payment processor hack

    Gone in 12 hours

    Eight men connected to an international crime ring have been charged with hacking into Atlanta-based bank card processor RBS WorldPay and stealing more than $9m in 12 hours. The men - from Russia, Moldova and Estonia - are accused of gaining access to the RBS computer network and retrieving payment card data as they were being …

    Crime 10 Nov 20:04

  • Microsoft yanks Windows code on GPL violation claim

    Third time's the charm

    Microsoft has pulled a Windows 7 media and administration tool from the Microsoft Store site for apparently violating the GPL. The company yanked ImageMaster after Within Windows blogger Rafael Rivera spotted the disc reading and burning tool was a CodePlex project licensed under GPLv2. Microsoft appears to have violated the …

    Developer 10 Nov 20:05

  • Apple's mini DisplayPort added to Vesa standard

    Proprietary no longer

    Vesa - the organisation overseeing DisplayPort - has added Apple's compact version of the digital monitor connector to its specification sheet. Apple introduced its mini DisplayPort connector in 2008, rolling them out with the first metal MacBook, later renamed the 13in MacBook Pro. The company subsequently offered the …

    Reg Hardware 10 Nov 21:32

  • Google search primed for 'Caffeine' injection

    A shot in the back-end

    Google has completed testing on "Caffeine," a semi-mysterious overhaul of its back-end search infrastructure, and it will soon roll the new platform behind its live search engine. In mid-August, Google unveiled a online sandbox where it invited world+dog to test the new infrastructure, but as noticed by Mashable.com, the …

    HPC 10 Nov 23:18

  • Intel punts portable text reader for the blind

    Point, shoot, listen

    Intel has introduced a handheld device designed to help dyslexic, low-vision, and blind persons by using a combination of a point-and-shoot camera and text-to-speech technology to read text that for them would otherwise be difficult or impossible to comprehend. The Reader has a list price of $1,499. The user points the device' …

    Music and Media 10 Nov 23:34